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Question about jobs...

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Ok so Im a senior in highschool. I was originally planning on going to college for Electrical Engineering. But I changed my mind. The job market is not looking good, and EVERYONE seems to be going into the computer industry. So I figured if I want a good chance at making a good living I should do something else. Now what could that something be? I pondered for awhile, and now Im starting to think I want to go into Law. College will be expensive, and long but in the long run would it be worth it? If I get thru it will I be assured atleast a chance at a good job? I don't have to want to worry about my future all my life. I want to work hard these next few years and get a good solid job.



Also on a side note. Im moving to Tampa Florida in about a month. Im pretty decent with computers, I have no certifications but I have some pretty erratic knowledge in different areas of computers, and I learn quick. Its a great hobby if nothing else. So do you think Ill be able to land myself a part to full time job working on computers at some place. I don't care if its a little shop or best buy or whatever, I just would like to work with computers. What are my chances?
 

dabuddha

Lifer
Apr 10, 2000
19,579
17
81
cheesy answer but a true one. Do what you like, not what other people tell you to do.
 

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Originally posted by: dabuddha
cheesy answer but a true one. Do what you like, not what other people tell you to do.

No one has guided me on this decision. Im just trying to be as informed as possible about my possibilites before I go jump into some major in college and decide 2 years down the road thats a bad route to take. Its so hard to decide at this age what I want to do with the rest of my life. I dunno how anyone can do it!

 

If you like Electrical Engineering, go into it. If you hate law, then $60,000-$100,000 of your money will have been wasted when you realize that you want to go back to school to do EE.

As the above poster said: do what you want to do, not what the so-called 'trends' push you to do.

As for me, I like law enforcement. I'm going into that field.
 

Jzero

Lifer
Oct 10, 1999
18,834
1
0
Originally posted by: dabuddha
cheesy answer but a true one. Do what you like, not what other people tell you to do.

My sentiments exactly. If you go into law just for the money, you will spend long, boring hours being miserable. Say what you want about lawyers, no amount of money would satisfy me doing the boring drudge job they do staying up until 11PM poring over some book working on this case or that brief.

Ugh.

Find what you like and stick to it. If you don't know what you like right now, keep searching. Do what you can to avoid being pressured into finding your niche if you are not ready.
 

ryzmah

Senior member
Feb 17, 2003
474
0
0
If you want to go into law, you can do so with almost any major so take what you're interested in. If you don't know what you want to do start out by taking a bunch of general education courses -- if I was looking for a good job I might go into actuarial science or nursing -- but you should try to find out what you enjoy and do it. Life may seem crappy even with a good income if you don't like your job.
 

Soybomb

Diamond Member
Jun 30, 2000
9,506
2
81
As everyone has said do what you like. First EE doesn't limit you to computers at all. But also even if thats where you want to go if you know what you're doing you'll do fine.
 

xirtam

Diamond Member
Aug 25, 2001
4,693
0
0
I can count on one hand the number of people I know who like their job.
 

human2k

Diamond Member
Jun 21, 2001
3,563
0
0
Porn Star




Great job, great benefits, great pay.


BTW most offer 401k plans too.
 

edmicman

Golden Member
May 30, 2001
1,682
0
0
Originally posted by: human2k
Porn Star




Great job, great benefits, great pay.


BTW most offer 401k plans too.

speaking from experience? my understanding was that very few guys succeed in that unless accompanied by a hot chick that will exclusively use them.
 

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Originally posted by: edmicman
Originally posted by: human2k
Porn Star




Great job, great benefits, great pay.


BTW most offer 401k plans too.

speaking from experience? my understanding was that very few guys succeed in that unless accompanied by a hot chick that will exclusively use them.

The fact that you have an understanding of the buisness is surprising. No I won't be a porn star lol.

 

Shade4ever

Member
Mar 13, 2003
120
0
0
Heh, you want to be in the computer field, you should do Computer engineering, I would say...It's what I'm studying right now, and I'd say we'll be able to find jobs in the near future. Remember, also, that you've got four years at least until you'd be out, and the playing field can shift a lot in that time...

OTOH, if you feel that law is more your thing, then by all means go for it. Just don't enter it b/c you don't think you can find a place in the computer world.
 

yoda291

Diamond Member
Aug 11, 2001
5,079
0
0
I'm a little skeptical on the future of Computer engineering because there isn't the software to support those wonderful toys. Think about it, you have cool crap like inifiniband and RDMA, but software is so crippled with latency issues and throughput issues that they're aren't feasible and you don't actually realize the gains to be made.
 

Cuda1447

Lifer
Jul 26, 2002
11,757
0
71
Also on a side note. Im moving to Tampa Florida in about a month. Im pretty decent with computers, I have no certifications but I have some pretty erratic knowledge in different areas of computers, and I learn quick. Its a great hobby if nothing else. So do you think Ill be able to land myself a part to full time job working on computers at some place. I don't care if its a little shop or best buy or whatever, I just would like to work with computers. What are my chances?


Anyone got any input on this?

 

RudeBoie

Platinum Member
Feb 28, 2000
2,017
0
0
Don't worry about the job market. In 4-6 years, who knows what will be going on. Go with what you want, and you may find that in the middle of college, you won't like EE or maybe then you can decide the market is too poor for you. Changing paths in college is very very common, even for people who think that they're set.

I was one of those people!

If you're thinking about law, you can go to law school even after an EE degree.

Then you could specialize in technology law!
 

jimmyhaha

Platinum Member
Jan 7, 2001
2,851
0
0
anything healtcare related.

RN = 2 yrs community college ? + pass the board exam = 50+k
dental hygienist = 2 yrs community college ? + pass the board exam = 50+k
car technician = some tech school = 30-40k

just don't be a doctor, lawyer or p0rnstar

btw, IT is dead.

 

Silex

Golden Member
Nov 24, 2001
1,829
0
0
I was an EE major and lemme tell ya, do what you want! Geez, but okay to answer you other Tampa question, get an Regional Occupation Program certification and go work for CompUSA under their computer repair tech sector. According to my sources, they have the best compair repair service out of all the big service businesses.
 

tontod

Diamond Member
Oct 12, 1999
3,244
0
71
Originally posted by: Cuda1447
Ok so Im a senior in highschool. I was originally planning on going to college for Electrical Engineering. But I changed my mind. The job market is not looking good, and EVERYONE seems to be going into the computer industry. So I figured if I want a good chance at making a good living I should do something else. Now what could that something be? I pondered for awhile, and now Im starting to think I want to go into Law. College will be expensive, and long but in the long run would it be worth it? If I get thru it will I be assured atleast a chance at a good job? I don't have to want to worry about my future all my life. I want to work hard these next few years and get a good solid job.



Also on a side note. Im moving to Tampa Florida in about a month. Im pretty decent with computers, I have no certifications but I have some pretty erratic knowledge in different areas of computers, and I learn quick. Its a great hobby if nothing else. So do you think Ill be able to land myself a part to full time job working on computers at some place. I don't care if its a little shop or best buy or whatever, I just would like to work with computers. What are my chances?


Go with Electrical Engineering. I find it hard to believe that things wont have gotten better in about 4 years, I think things have started turning around. EE gives you more options than CS or Comp. Eng. (in my opinion anyway). You can specialize in digital or analog systems, there's quite a bit of variety in EE.
 

NormanTheCow

Member
Sep 21, 2000
146
0
0
pharmacy...that's a good way to go and a very good pay. New pharmacists get pay about 70000 a year if not higher. The salary will be about that level even if you become a senior pharmacist...but the thing is that it's stable.
Healthcare in general is good because the baby boomers are getting old and will need healthcare.
 

xuanman

Golden Member
Oct 5, 2002
1,417
0
0
Originally posted by: jimmyhaha
anything healtcare related.

RN = 2 yrs community college ? + pass the board exam = 50+k
dental hygienist = 2 yrs community college ? + pass the board exam = 50+k
car technician = some tech school = 30-40k

just don't be a doctor, lawyer or p0rnstar

btw, IT is dead.

what's wrong with being a doctor, lawyer or p0rnstar?
 

Winchester

Diamond Member
Jan 21, 2003
4,965
0
0
First off let me say do the EE. Law schools like diversity VERY much. They are more likely to take someone from a EE field rather than Pre-law. Also, law school applications have went up over 50% in the last 2 years alone, so the chances of someone getting in are slim. This also means that more lawyers will be graduating, so they will be a dime a dozen, which will translate to low pay. Unless you want your mom to have scruffed up knees, your chances of getting on at a law firm are also slim, even then the pay sucks. Look forward to starting out at around $30,000 if that. Lots of law firms make you work for free for a year or so; pretty much like boot camp, once you wade through all the chit then you might get a chance to file for another year or two before you even get to try a case. Lawyers dont make much until about 10-15 years after they get their law degree and the hours you have to put in, most require 12 hours min, 7 days a week, 50 weeks a year. The law firm my sister is going to be working for gets at work at 7AM and do not leave until 9 or 10PM. Try having a family on that schedule. It is something that you want to do with all your heart. If you go just for the money you will be sadly mistaken. If decide that is what you want to do, I still strongly reccomend doing EE and minoring in English or some other that you write a CHIT LOAD OF PAPERS. I havent even mentioned studying for the LSAT, which takes a good year of hard studying, (once again, my sister studied 3 to 6 hours a day, and upwards as test date came closer) to do good.

Anyway, I hope this gives you an insight and that it helps in someway.
 

JEDI

Lifer
Sep 25, 2001
29,391
2,738
126
Originally posted by: Cuda1447
Ok so Im a senior in highschool. I was originally planning on going to college for Electrical Engineering. But I changed my mind. The job market is not looking good, and EVERYONE seems to be going into the computer industry. So I figured if I want a good chance at making a good living I should do something else. Now what could that something be? I pondered for awhile, and now Im starting to think I want to go into Law. College will be expensive, and long but in the long run would it be worth it? If I get thru it will I be assured atleast a chance at a good job? I don't have to want to worry about my future all my life. I want to work hard these next few years and get a good solid job.



Also on a side note. Im moving to Tampa Florida in about a month. Im pretty decent with computers, I have no certifications but I have some pretty erratic knowledge in different areas of computers, and I learn quick. Its a great hobby if nothing else. So do you think Ill be able to land myself a part to full time job working on computers at some place. I don't care if its a little shop or best buy or whatever, I just would like to work with computers. What are my chances?

goto film school, then be a porn director :p