Posted on 02/24/2005 9:12:40 AM PST by Willie Green
A waitress at one of my favorite Strip District restaurants last week used one of the industry's oldest cliches. She delivered a meal and reminded me that she "really didn't do this" for a living.
Waiting tables, she explained, was simply something she was doing until a well-paying job opened up in the field she studied during six years in college.
While this is rote conversation for wait staff in places like New York and Los Angeles, where everyone with a tray of linguini in their hands is waiting for a slot on NBC's "Fear Factor," it's unusual for Pittsburgh.
Or is it?
The waitress, it turns out, spent all that time and nearly $150,000 of her family's money studying social sciences, but after graduating she became disappointed with the entry-level salary of her chosen field.
"I can make, like, twice what I'd make as a social worker waiting tables," she confided, "so I'm probably going to just stay here."
(Excerpt) Read more at pittsburghlive.com ...
Every cop or sheriff I know was a marine. May not be the right time to go into the armed forces, but it will give him the background and discipline he will need to be a cop.
I've spent my entire career as an engineer in both the aerospace and defense sector with a short detour in nuclear power.
You can enter the sector either as a technician (no degree required) or as an engineer (degree required).
Most large defense contractors will reimburse you for any costs you incur while pursuing an advanced degree.
I would recommend a masters but not a PHD. PHD's are a waste of time unless you want to teach at the University or do pure research. Hands on experience in design, devlopment, testing and production is were the action is. To work in this area as a MTS (Member Technical Staff) requires a BS in engineering as a minimum.
Defense contractors put a premium on ex military technicians as well as engineers. If you put ex military in your resume, especially if you have experience with a weapon system that the company is currently manufacturing and maintaing you are almost guaranteed a job.
At my company ex-submariners (both enlisted and officers) were common. Many of the ex-Navy officers were graduates of Annapolis.
There are also many good careers working for the Dept of Defense as a federal employee. The government has a multitude of aeropspace/defense testing and research facilities throughout the US. Just think; Rumsfeld could be your boss. ;^).
If nothing else, the fight you have just finished, successfully, will have prepared you to work hard for your future employer. I do pray that you find something good. A mom of 6 kids, how wonderful. Twice as many as me.
"I can make like, twice..."
Blech. Like, it sounds like being a waitress is, like, where it's at for her.
THanks for the encouragement. I could use it today!!!!
I'm the first to admit that the legal profession is screwed up. I've seen surveys that something like 40% of lawyers wish they were doing something else.
There are golden handcuffs. Fresh out of lawschool at age 25, I made $165,000 my first year out. Some of my classmates made even more.
After a while, though, the money doesn't compensate for working in an environment where a disturbing number of your co-workers have some type of personality disorder. I've been in private practice for 5 years now and I plan to move into politics or government in the next couple of years.
A friend of mine was considering law school a couple of years ago. My advice was "don't."
This is a big pet peeve of mine. Since most people go to college to learn a profession, colleges should be more like vocational schools. If plumbing students don't have to take electives in literature, why should a physics student? You should just take exactly what you need. I'll bet you could whittle down a lot of 4 year programs to 2 or 3 and save tons of money.
Do it sooner rather than later. I'm glad I was single, and not dating, at the time I was reviewing for the exam.
You would have high school grads designing nuclear power plants and skyscrapers and voyages to the moon? I think not!
So is Bill Gates.
I agree it is remarkable, but I have a different take on success.
There is no need for a degree to succeed.
A salesperson, for example, may be taught the specifics of what is needed to know about a product, and once they have that, they need interpersonal skills, and the ability to get information they do not have in their brain.
Some of the most successful people have made it on the basis of their own hard work, not a diploma. That is precisely what makes this country so great.
In this country, anyone, and I mean ANYONE who wants to work and get ahead, can do it, and do it brilliantly.
It just takes hard work.
I never equated sucess with a college degree.
My personal idea of success would be to make a living for my family doing what I do well and love to do.
College ain't got nuttin'(necessarily) to do with that!
When in high school, I worked fast food (Captain D's) during the summer. One evening while talking to the night manager, he told he had earned a history degree. That was an educational moment for me: The adage about all degrees not being equal really sunk in right then and there.
I graduated from High School in 1975. My dad was a 30 USN vet who had retired in 1973, so I grew up a navy brat. My whole life, I thought I wanted to be a doctor. But I was an absolutely horrible student, and as I went through my last two years, my parents kept saying "Are you thinking about college? You better apply..." etc.
I knew I wasn't college material. I finally decided to join the Navy, which is what I really wanted to do all along. My parents were wonderful about it, and proud.
I did my time as a jet mechanic and saw things most people in the USA don't get to see while working the flight deck. I went to a lot of foreign countries, drank a lot of alcohol on liberty, and came to the conclusion that I wanted to go to college. I took some courses while on the ship, got into college, and did well as a chemistry major. Not bad, taking Physical Chemistry for someone who had only passed two math courses in Elementary and High School with a D+ and C. It was all about motivation. I hated school with a passion that I find difficult to recall. I loved going to college. I loved the challenge. Again, the motivation was everything.
The point is, the military is a great profession, and a great springboard. There is no better way to motivate a young person than immersing them in work, and letting them find out what they DON'T want to do for the rest of their life.
And if they do like it, some of the most talented Americans populate the ranks of our military. It is just one of the reasons they are that good at what they do.
Agreed!!!
Yeah...that's what a lot of people who don't really know what it is say all the time.
I've run into so many people that tell me that....until I show them my paycheck.
And you know what?........the way business is set up today.....the one on top always gets the real money...........just like in networking...except in networking you can become the one on top with the right company.
The waitress in the article works in Pittsburgh PA. There are few entry level jobs in Pittsburgh PA. It's a very competitive marketplace. She'd do better to move to another city, where she'd possibly get higher wages for her entry level job.
>>except in networking you can become the one on top with the right company.
With the exception of Amway, Pampered Chef, Tupperware, and Excel telephone, there is little money to be made..
Even so, one has to be way up on the chain to be making real dough...
If you are fortunate enough to be in a position to join network marketing and be a "regional" person, ie a person at the top of the chain for a particular region, there is loads of cash...Anybody would be a fool not to jump in at this level, provided the products being sold have actual demand...
For a majority of people, however, there isn't much money to be made, except off of the relatives they pester...
And then there is the old spiel.. "do you want to be in business for yourself"... "You want to be rich right".. which ends up in a pitch for a lunch meeting to discuss amway, etc..
The pitches remind me of people on infomercials selling crap. They use what I call "mulitlevel marketing logic" -- sounds good, sounds logical on the surface, but in reality it falls short.
For a very small few, networking marketing works because they are at the top of the money chain..
There is nothing like being pestered from a friend or a stranger about their new "business"....
I'd rather hear from my lawyer...
Sorry, some residue of disgust over some of the attitudes expressed on that other thread spilled over into my last post on this thread.
To clarify, I see nothing wrong with thinking one may find good spouse material during college. It's just that some were expressing that spouse-shopping or partying are fine and dandy as *primary* reasons for attending college, which I still find plain stupid.
And it's not just the huge waste of money--it's also the fact that such people worsen the educational system rather than better it.
***That's fine by me. As long as engineers, software developers, business people, and other "hard scientists" continue to be completely unable to communicate in English, this liberal arts undergraduate major and liberal arts graduate degree holder will always have a well-paying job.***
The statement I made was in jest. I respect alot of the liberal arts majors out there. However, it is hard to take some majors seriously. For instance, a friend of mine is majoring in "the art of living." Yeah.
Also, I believe the stereotype of the "introvert" engineer is going to fade, as schools are now requiring they take more (and advanced) technical writing and communications courses.
I meant no offense to you. =P
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