Plans for our children

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Permalink Reply by William on July 10, 2008 at 11:42pm

Since I have two girls, my plan is basically to keep an eye on every penis in the world and make sure they stay away from my girls! LOL

On a more serious note, as anal-retentive as I can be, I don't really have a plan (yet). As far as college, I'm flexible. I'll be happy to discuss the benefits and downfalls of college with my girls and help them make the decision that is right for them. I'm a college drop out, and at my age (32) I think I make pretty damn good money for a college drop out. College is great if you know what you want to do. I don't think the majority of 18 yr old kids really know what they want to do. They've never experienced anything other than school. I found college a repeat of high school, and to top it all off, I didn't know what I wanted to do.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Enochs on July 10, 2008 at 11:45pm

I'm a college drop out sort of. But I have went back and received my associates and almost done (within a year) of my bachelors. My thing is that I do good as well but my life would be so easier if I had a degree. Maybe it wouldn't but I see things in my company that are offered to people with no experience and a degree while the others are left behind. I do not want my kids in that boat I had to work hard physically to get where I am at. I do want to pass down my work ethic to them.

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Permalink Reply by Bravo on July 11, 2008 at 12:06am

I am a college drop out also. I do alright,but I am sure it would be better if I would have finished. But like Kenny stated at the high school grad age we really don't have a clue about the outside world. So like myself some of us are in careers that would have been different if we would have known for certain what we really wanted to do. I definately would have been a Master Technician (mechanic) and had nothing to do with IT. lol Anyone that knows me, knows I am definately in the wrong career path. I like the people I work with, and have worked with over the years being in IT. But I am positive that I would have had more fun being a greese monkey. I have talked to my son about planning his future at a young age and of course the all famous questions come about. He does know for certain that the better job he has the easier life will be. He of course asked for some jobs that make lots of money, and his favorite is CEO. lol But of course I know that all will change before he is out in the free world. But he does know that his mom and dad would like for him to go to college.

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Permalink Reply by William on July 11, 2008 at 12:08am

I think degrees depend more on the type of job you are interested in. If my girls wanted to be lawyers, then yes, college is a must. If they wanted to be programmers like me, I think a degree is optional (at least a traditional 4 yr degree). Technical jobs do require training and education, but most will make no use out of biology, chemistry, anatomy, world history, etc.

I guess my point is that I'm not going to make them go to college. It will be their decision and I will be there to help and support them. Obviously I will emphasize that education is important no matter what they want to do.

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Permalink Reply by Eric Enochs on July 11, 2008 at 12:34am

The only thing I disagree with you William is the degree thing. I do not think I have to have a piece of paper (including certifications) that says I know how to do this. I want my experience to speak for itself.

Where I disagree about the degree is that its not up to us anymore. If you work for a company that values the paper then you have no choice to not get it. I have a choice and that is to leave but the positives outweight the negatives. I do not mind getting it now because now I am more valuable and the company is paying for some of it.

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Permalink Reply by William on July 11, 2008 at 12:53am

I can say from experience in the IT industry that having certifications are nice, and help you get the first interview, but they are not enough. Demonstrated, documented experience is what gets you the job, and that usually comes in the form of a verbal or written test in your 2nd interview.

Certainly a degree in Computer Science would help, but in the last few years I've had several interviews and not one has ever mentioned anything about me not having a degree, or even asked if I planned on getting one. It's always come down to experience and the "test", demonstrating my knowledge of the programming languages the job requires. Heck, it's even come down to knowing the acronyms.

Don't get me wrong, degrees are helpful and certainly required in some industries. But I feel the weight that an employer places on a degree varies across industries and job levels. Obviously the higher up in the food chain you go (e.g. managment) the more necessary a degree becomes.

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Permalink Reply by William on July 11, 2008 at 12:56am

BTW Don, you ARE a grease monkey! LOL

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Permalink Reply by Bravo on July 16, 2008 at 12:26am

Kenny, I know I am at heart. Just wish I had the certs to go with it. lol :)))

William (aka Kenny) said:

BTW Don, you ARE a grease monkey! LOL

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Permalink Reply by Eric Enochs on July 16, 2008 at 12:36am

LOL...Grease Monkey.... I'm picturing William and Bravo dancing on a car with Jon Travolta right now.

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Permalink Reply by Bravo on July 16, 2008 at 12:49am

Well my wife bought me two signs for my garage. One say Knuckle Busters auto repair, the other Greese Monkey Institute since 1961. lol I doubt we catch William dancing. lol

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Permalink Reply by William on July 16, 2008 at 1:28am

Uh, hell no!

Eric Enochs said:

LOL...Grease Monkey.... I'm picturing William and Bravo dancing on a car with Jon Travolta right now.

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Permalink Reply by Michael Lombardi on July 17, 2008 at 9:52am

I have a bachelor's degree and have no idea what I want to do. I make less now than I did straight out of college (only slightly more than when I was in high school). I'm a strong believer that college is not for everyone.

That said, college can be a wonderful thing, and if I had to do it all over again I would. Knowing what I know now, I think college was the right place to spend my resources on despite not being a career success. Most people attend college for a springboard into a job or career. Believe it or not, I went for an education. Sure maybe if I would have gone looking for a J.O.B. and not a B.S. I might be making much more money now, but I'm okay with that.

Based on my own experience, I want my kids to decide their post-high school plans on their own. I would like them to have more education, whether at the bachelor's level or not. When growing up my options were college and nothing else. My kids should choose what makes them happy and pursue that education, be it culinary school, law school, tech school or any programs they can find the letters RN, PhD, MBA, etc. after their name.

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