College degrees are overrated!!!

[Jvargasbronx]

That's what I noticing in the US that every job containing college experience is extremely common and it gets harder for a person like myself who never attended college and obtained a high school diploma and I wanted to be a A+ Technician with PC Repair. But I'm not sure if its guarantee, I just want a career without college experience. Here's my questions.
1. what are high paying careers without college experience?
2. is having a career as an A+ Technician with PC Repair guarantees you a career right away?

Jvarg,

1. There are some careers that pay well without a college degree but you will usually have to learn a trade. This is most likely an electrician, plumber, welder (which is popular in other English speaking countries like in Australia/Canada)

2. IT field is another monster in itself. There are members (including myself) who are in the IT field. I started out with an IT degree and was able to start out at help desk years ago. It is not good but you have to start somewhere. I then was able to get my A+/Network+/Security + CE and then looked into desktkop support/pc repair. I am currently doing this but this job on average even in NY is probably $37k-$55k in the capital area it is more but usually you need experience and usually the college degree helps in taking away the years of experience that you need.

A+ Tech + PC Repair experience does help in looking for a career but I feel that the Desktop Support tech path is really saturated most often in Metro areas (DC, Boston, Philadelphia, NYC). You can get work but usually companies want more experience before they pay $24/hour at least.

Another career (in IT) you can try is to become a developer. It is not an easy field but the pay off is good especially if you go into SharePoint and/or cloud computing (storage) which is becoming more important in the future.

I am sure other people can help you.

Lastly, have you looked on Dice for work.

My goal is to be a A+ Technician with PC repair and there's a place call Manhattan Educational Opportunity Center where one of the vocational programs has A+ Tech + PC Repair. Its tuition free and the program lasted for 15 weeks, but you got to take admission tests in order to be qualified. It said "The program prepares students for the widely recognized Comp TIA A+ exam. The program covers PC hardware and systems software, including operating systems." But my other goal is to travel overseas in parts of the Philippines or Costa Rica to experience a new life ahead. and I have not looked on dice for work; But I like to know more information since I'm from New York city.

[Jvargasbronx]

That's what I noticing in the US that every job containing college experience is extremely common and it gets harder for a person like myself who never attended college and obtained a high school diploma and I wanted to be a A+ Technician with PC Repair. But I'm not sure if its guarantee, I just want a career without college experience. Here's my questions.
1. what are high paying careers without college experience?
2. is having a career as an A+ Technician with PC Repair guarantees you a career right away?

First, what is your goal and how does the A+ cert in PC Repair fit in reaching this goal?

Say if your goal is to go abroad. PC hardware repair is not a high value portable skill. Your chance or opportunity in making a living with it overseas is questionable, versus if you did industrial/manufacturing robotic repair (field service tech), the company would pay you to fly to customer sites overseas.

If you want to go overseas and do freelance type work, it's much harder to find hardware support type gigs on sites such as oDesk, elance, etc. It's easier to find remote software support gigs.

Or, if your goal is to make a lot of money, save and invest wisely before moving abroad, then the A+ cert is not going to make you a lot of money. PC/hardware support positions also lack upward mobility. Other positions such as NOC (network operations) would pay better.

At minimum, I'd suggest getting an AA degree at your local community college, just so that you can tick off the "college degree" job requirement check box. It's not always easy to evaluate the cost-benefit of college degree vs job experience, but I'll say that it's better to have both than just one. Personally, I didn't attend college "full time", I was always working and attending college part-time.

Well all I need is a Certificate for a career to earn income so that I can go overseas and its frustrating for a man who lives in NYC finding a career that don't have college experience which is the huge majority of jobs have college experience. You mention network operations pays better and I can't say much cause I need more info about it and I want to do freelance work but you said software support gigs but How can I do so? I need your help.

[momopi]

Well all I need is a Certificate for a career to earn income so that I can go overseas and its frustrating for a man who lives in NYC finding a career that don't have college experience which is the huge majority of jobs have college experience. You mention network operations pays better and I can't say much cause I need more info about it and I want to do freelance work but you said software support gigs but How can I do so? I need your help.

1. Check freelancer sites and see what kind of IT related jobs are posted. Read the posts, send messages to the poster if needed and ask about requirements.

2. Check job sites for NOC tech or network tech job description and requirements. Note that NOC tech jobs are not freelance, they're full time and you'd sit in the command center all day (or all night).

Sometimes the employer can be a little flexible on the collect requirement. Even if the job says "college degree required", if you're attending college you could list it on your resume as currently attending and "candidate for XYZ degree" at XYZ college (see resume sites for examples). HR and the hiring manager may make an exception for you.

Understand that if you want to work in a support or troubleshooting position, you need to have the mentality of a problem solver who'd go and find the answers on your own. People will come to you for help and expect YOU to find a solution for them in a cost-effective way. You will not be in a position to ask others for help all the time, and if you do, you wouldn't last on the job.

[Rayn]

I think the main problem here is that people everywhere are holding faith in universities being some hallowed institution turning green initiates into full-fledged experts. It isn't.

If you look really way back to the earliest universities - the ones that were built in Europe and Middle East around the Middle Ages - they were built for the primary purpose of educating working grownups to further their craftsmanship - in other words, for them to be even better at doing the things they were already doing.

Universities traditionally weren't about teaching basic skills to young novice students - they have apprenticeships for that. And yes, in stark contrast to today's world people actually take part in apprenticeships first before pursuing a university education rather than the other way around. And apprentices were typically treated like real employees given real tasks in business compared to interns today who are typically treated like underpaid paper-pushers.

And yet...somehow for some unknown reason it has been implanted in everybody's mind that the best way to be knowledgeable at something is to rush into the university at the earliest age possible rather than you know, roll up your sleeves and dabble at doing the things you are interested in doing yourself. Ask the professors themselves and even they will all agree that higher education is more meaningful when you have gained real-like experiences beforehand.

[Jvargasbronx]

Well all I need is a Certificate for a career to earn income so that I can go overseas and its frustrating for a man who lives in NYC finding a career that don't have college experience which is the huge majority of jobs have college experience. You mention network operations pays better and I can't say much cause I need more info about it and I want to do freelance work but you said software support gigs but How can I do so? I need your help.

1. Check freelancer sites and see what kind of IT related jobs are posted. Read the posts, send messages to the poster if needed and ask about requirements.

2. Check job sites for NOC tech or network tech job description and requirements. Note that NOC tech jobs are not freelance, they're full time and you'd sit in the command center all day (or all night).

Sometimes the employer can be a little flexible on the collect requirement. Even if the job says "college degree required", if you're attending college you could list it on your resume as currently attending and "candidate for XYZ degree" at XYZ college (see resume sites for examples). HR and the hiring manager may make an exception for you.

Understand that if you want to work in a support or troubleshooting position, you need to have the mentality of a problem solver who'd go and find the answers on your own. People will come to you for help and expect YOU to find a solution for them in a cost-effective way. You will not be in a position to ask others for help all the time, and if you do, you wouldn't last on the job.

well I know I'm not gonna ask for help at all times when I'm employed, every now and then when I'm looking for a program that I'll join I'll ask for tips and advice and also thanks you for your tips.