The most important thing you can do to increase your pay is to go back to
school and get a
MARKETABLE technical degree or certification or trade.
Go to community college and start taking classes (between work) once you've narrowed down a field you think you can get good enough grades in or certs you can get completed competently. Set up an appointment with community college advisor AND tech department head for advise on good paying careers. Go
ONLY to CC...
AVOID at all costs, private expensive tech schools (ITT, Devry, U. of Phoenix, etc) that'll
rape you for life with their loans.
The
best pay/return on effort I've seen is getting certs in Cisco related
networking (CCNA to start, CCIE($100k+), etc). I know
several people at Cisco/Juniper, etc who only had a
high school degree who are still
VERY YOUNG, have become managers, and are earning
over $100k from the Cisco certs they've worked on.
In Silicon Valley/tech networking world, tech certs/degrees are worth more than an MBA and pay accordingly and you can rise up the ranks fairly quickly without prejudice you have in other industries where only people from prestigious universities are mentored to rise.
While taking your classes, FIND internships in your related field. Even if they're unpaid, contacts will lead to other contacts and eventually some serious contacts/leads (it
ALWAYS works out this way). These internships are
GOLD as they count as "work experience" and sets you immediately and
totally apart from the other "no work experience schmo"s from your school!
......If you're willing to move (especially Silicon Valley), the job offers will be there! Heck, after a couple of years in the industry, you may find a job that you can "telecommute" and still do your tech job from your home town. Again, I know of SEVERAL people who
DO this (earn six figs, live in Hawaii, etc and work from home while going to the company's satellite offiice once or twice week!!)
The MOST IMPORTANT thing to understand in all of this is to find a field that you can do mentally/competently. Know your limitations. You don't need an EE degree to be successful. No field is perfect and people ALWAYS complain at EVERY level. Very good pay may ease your burdens and getting it is
easier than you think if you know
where and how to find it, are WILLING to be
CONSISTENT to get to the goal (i.e. don't abandon your studies--the sooner you get the education out of the way, the sooner you can start earning and climbing the mountain) and have the
PATIENCE (i.e. unrealistic "show me the money" sense of
immediate entitlement will make you unhappy) to put in the time in internships and less than ideal "jobs" to get you the
experience to eventually work at the "real deal" companies.....
.
.
.
The bottom line in your next few years is to get
educated(!!).......in the RIGHT
MARKETABLE field that your brain/body can
realistically handle. Keep chipping away at the marble stone. Eventually the chipping will get you that statue!
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