When is your investment in education just TOO much?

[ChrisCJ99]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

That is an insane amount of debt. IMO having a BA already gives you a heads up in finding a job. A second BA or even an MA will not help with much more than adding more debt. My opinion is find an entry level job with promotion opportunities, especially in design. You gotta work your way up as you work there, gain more responsibility, then eventually get to do something related to design. If anything it will pay the bills.

Well, that's the problem..... I really don't mind moving back home and taking online classes to basically strengthen my skills. But the main question is.......

Where in Florida can you get a job in Multi Media/ Motion Graphics???

 

[LChinoz]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

I have a Masters Degree. What does it do for me? an extra $90 a month even though it cost me about $5500 to get. As a teacher it doesn't make much sense to go deep into expensive education because you'll never make it back. That is when the investment is too much. I owe $36,000 in student loans, a lot but one of my colleagues who makes the exact same as I do went to St. Mary's College and owes $125,000 for the exact same education. My student loans will be paid off before I retire....his.....well he went too far.

I can't think of many fields an MA really makes sense in getting. After that might as well get a PhD.

 

[The Ween]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

In our school system a Master's Degree in teaching makes you alot more money, that's why so many teachers, even after already teaching, take classes to get their Master's. That's our system though.

As for Chris.....try and get a job with what you have now, and take other classes when you can.

 

[LChinoz]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

Well, that's the problem..... I really don't mind moving back home and taking online classes to basically strengthen my skills. But the main question is.......

Where in Florida can you get a job in Multi Media/ Motion Graphics???

I graduated with a degree in Multimedia. I was a Summa Cum Laude graduate, 4.0 gpa from a good school and had a 50 page portfolio of my work prior to graduation. After applying to a few jobs in TV, no one really seemed that interested in me. I interned and did some graphic design work, as well as writing work at our Governor's office as a Junior in school. After finishing my internship I didn't think much of the job, but to my surprise my old boss called me up when she heard I graduated telling me she referred me to a TV station and I got an interview. Well I got the job and am really enjoying the work I do. I do not know the moral of the story, except sometimes it is who you know (my current job) and sometimes it is just chance (being selected for the internship in the first place). Keep your eyes and ears open always, even if you find a job.

 

[LChinoz]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

In our school system a Master's Degree in teaching makes you alot more money, that's why so many teachers, even after already teaching, take classes to get their Master's. That's our system though.

As for Chris.....try and get a job with what you have now, and take other classes when you can.

Oh no doubt an MA is a good idea in teaching. If my goal was to teach, I would honestly go for a PhD. I would have free reign to teach at any level I wanted. Other than teaching I can't think of another field.

 

[The Craw]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

to read makes our speaking english good.

 

[hairlesswookiee]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

Well, that's the problem..... I really don't mind moving back home and taking online classes to basically strengthen my skills. But the main question is.......

Where in Florida can you get a job in Multi Media/ Motion Graphics???

I wouldn't look in Tampa area. Its the worst in the state for job searchers and why I"m moving away.

 

[BlueLeader]

Re: When is your investment in eduction just TOO much?

I wouldn't look in Tampa area. Its the worst in the state for job searchers and why I"m moving away.

Try DISNEY WORLD.

And don't get me started on college costs. I worked and took out student loans, graduated, and a few years later joined the USAF...which would have paid for my entire expenses for college to begin with. Even so my career as an Officer in the USAF was worth every penny and I would do it all over again and wish I could still be serving now.
One word of advice that I followed and we preached to the Lt's and Capt's is to do the best you can at the job you are doing, even if it isn't what you wanted to do. And you will be rewarded with self respect for a job well done, and the next job you transfer to may just be what you really wanted. I worked 6 years in a career field and jobs I wasn't interested in but worked my rear end off in each job. And I was rewarded by getting to change career fields, and getting promoted to Major, and getting to do some extremely awesome things that I never imagined I would get to do.
Anyway, good luck to everybody here that is on the job hunt and try to remain positive.

 

[Skiman]

whats your first BA in?
what kind of work have you done in the past?
how are your personal web pages coming along? do you have any?
have you made sites for your friends?
does anyone you know own their own business and could hire you to design their site? (even for free)
the more on hands experience you can lay claim to and add to your portfolio the more others would be inclined to hire you.
i'm just saying from my friends experience, even before he graduated he was like an expert in computers and web design. it was his hobby before it was his career. those are the types of people you are going to be competing with... the guys that web design and do flash stuff (at least back in 2000 it was flash ) just for the fun of it.

I agree with a lot of what DC said and this part along with Prog. Chris you know me all ready that I'm in the computer/software industry and love what I do. I have my Masters in Computer Science Engineering and love learning information daily. I'm driven to learn more and more every day. I think this is the attitude you'd have to have in order to enjoy a job and want to excel at your job at the same time. I wouldn't of acquired my Masters degree if it weren't for my company. I believe in this industry it's about experience and what you know, now I'm not saying that a degree will not help you but it's just the foot in the door. Once you get you foot in the door you have show why you rise above the rest. I'm a IT supervisor/lead software programmer this days so I lead a team of IT professionals but I also program software, utilities in order to help our company. I might spread myself thin sometimes but I'm one of those individuals that can multi-task the ____ out of anything, unlike Apple j/k but yea. I never really had any debt but I can say from the age of 18 I had $0.00 to my name whenever beginning college. I was lucky that my athletic skills gave me scholarships plus acquiring some academic scholarships paid most of my load for my Bachelor's degree. I mainly got connections from people at colleges/universities on word of mouth for jobs, internships, connections, etc... I did excel in a lot of my classes and became one of the best/better programmers in my class and people/teachers took notice, this open the world up tremendously because then there's multiple people spreading the word about you and what you can do. I think it's more about word of mouth whenever someone is looking for an individual; with a certain skill. It all came pretty easily after graduating although I did go to having any job I wanted here in Saint Louis with about 30-35 offers to almost two hands full of landings because of 9/11 whenever the job market literally hit the fan.

Now back to what Prog was saying, I believe the success for me in this career was making this more than a job, it's my life/hobby/and desire of the field to learn more and educate myself besides what I learned in college. The only way to learn more and teach yourself is to dive into the material head first, not knowing anything about it and just getting yourself familiar with all the tools. Whenever I started college I would say that I had about 6-8 years of programming experience before I took my first programming class. Whenever I first enrolled in the basic Comp Sci class "C" CIS150, I basically laughed and didn't even have to attend the classes and showed up for test after writing the programs and finishing them before the teacher was done with the lecture. This success in courses I can only attest to his becoming knowledgeable with the material before hand and studying/playing around in my own spare time.

Today I enjoy my job, I don't like babysit people here at work but that's the Supervisor role I've been appointed to and I think everyone on my team knows that if a project were able to come up I'd be the first to dive in and get dirty to finish it and hit a certain go-live date if I had to.

Hope that helps out on your situation, I do hope success for you buddy

 

[ChrisCJ99]

Thanks for the input Ski!

Yeah, you seem like a real sharp cookie though. With the high post count on here in such a short time, you gotta be a fast reader to keep up with all this forum madness! Me? I have really bad ADD.

But I know I'm just going through the fear of the student loans hanging over my head (just like everyone else does in my situation). Even people that have already graduated are still asking themselves this question.....

So once again, I'm doing my yearly "soul searching" phase.... And weighing out the pro's and con's of my investment. But it always seems that people tell me "Stay away from Florida!" It just sucks that I've been away from home for so long... Kinda miss it, but kinda DON'T!!! I just haven't established myself anywhere, and made strong connections with people yet.... That's why I get nervous!