Quote: Tommy DeVito

I'm in IT/Telecommunications, and believe me, as cool as you might think it is to work on computers, it's not. What it really is, is life long school. Technology changes so rapidly now, and you'll have to keep up with it (I'm talking about routers, switches, servers, etc) if you want to make your way in this field. It gets really old, constantly HAVING to learn something new ALL the time.

This is so true. My husband has a computer-related degree and worked in the field for about 5 years. We moved and he ended up getting a job in manufacturing. Now that he's been out of computers for a few years there is no way he could find a job in the field again without more education. And it turns out, he prefers working with his hands over sitting at a desk all day, and will be going back to school for a trade next year.

Just something to consider before deciding to go the computer degree route.

Timothy,

At the risk of boring you, I'm going to tell you my story. I was a mediocre high school student who had a knack for science and did very well in chemistry. I decided I wanted to go to college and become a chemist. My girl friend (my future wife) decided to go to the local community college and so for no other reason than I wanted to be with her I went to the same community college. After a year she decided she wanted to go to a four year school about 90 miles north of where we lived, and so I followed her up there.

I was a mediocre student but eventually graduated with a degree in chemistry and my girl friend and I got married. College was the very last time I stepped foot in a chemistry lab.

I was married and unemployed and being supported by my wife. The economy was in the hole, Boeing had let go of thousands of workers and I couldn't find a job. My college room mate, who majored in biology, also couldn't find a job and he ended up joining the army. More about that later.

My wife got a job with a state agency and they trained her as a computer programmer. I worked a series of temporary low paying jobs while watching her get raises and promotions. Finally we decided I should go back to school and learn data processing (that's what we called it in the olden days.) Half way through my second quarter a state agency interviewed and hired me and it has been up up and away for me ever since. I worked as a systems programmer for that agency, then a bank, and then went to work as a technical specialist for a humongous technology company which we have all heard of.

The thing is, even though I didn't study computers in college, even though I haven't been in a chemistry lab in over 30 years, what allowed me to compete for that first job was my college degree. That state agency hired me over a more experienced person because I had a four year degree and he didn't. It opened doors for me. The moral here is that just having the four year degree can open doors for you.

Now let's talk about my room mate. He had his degree in biology. He ended up in the army doing biological weapons defense research (how to defend against biological weapons) for the army. After he left the army he was able to start a career as a radiation control technician at nuclear plants. Things have worked out very well for him.

Another story: my son-in-law is in the army and has served one tour in Iraq and will be going back next year. He's told me his life's story and I have to believe that the army has given him a future. I couldn't have gotten a better son-in-law if I had picked him myself (and believe me when I tell you I tried) and I believe the army has done a lot to help him figure out what is important in life and what isn't.

I don't know if any of this helps. The one thing I would like you to take away here is that life will throw you a lot of curves and while it is true that some people know what they want at age 18, and know how to get it, that isn't true of all of us. It wasn't true for me, my college room mate, my son-in-law, and I didn't even tell you my wife's story, but it wasn't true for her either.

You have a lot of time to decide what you want to do with your life in terms of career. The important thing is that you do something with it now, even if it just means trying different things to figure out what you like, what you want to do. As others have said, having a job that you don't like is no fun, but it can be a lot of fun and rewarding to try different things to figure out what you want to do.

If college appeals to you, go to college. If the military appeals to you, do that. Just do something, don't sit on your butt waiting for life to come to you, you go to it. And Timothy, it is OK to try something, decide you don't like it and change your mind and do something else.

Good luck to you. You have all the opportunity in the world in front of you and some day you'll look back and realize how exciting a time this is in your life, even if you can't see that now.

Rich

Have you thought at all about being a police k9 handler? I don't know anything about the field, so maybe someone else can comment.

You could also go the ROTC route, combining college and military. If you go with the Army, you can get tuition paid off each year, and a nice books stipend and monthly living stipend. The only downside is that you can only request a branch/mos (branch and mos are the same thing. enlisted talk about mos, officers talk about branch). I don't know anything about Navy or Air Force ROTC.

I'm an Army ROTC cadet. If you have any questions feel free to ask. p.s there is no money or incentives to recruit officers.

If you have any sort of academic aptitude go to college. If you want a military career go ROTC. I dropped out of college to make what I thought were big bucks 35 years ago and now those big bucks don`t seem so big. Teachers now make way more then me. 2 of my boys are college grads and doors open for them in fields that aren`t even related to their degree just because of the sheepskin.

I'll jump on the military bandwagon, only I'd recommend Air Force. The educational and learned skill opportunities are more abundant. Join the Security Forces, they have K9 and a pretty darn good start on the K9 adventure. Being a retired Air Force member, sure I'm a bit biased. I also spent 23 years in the Military Working Dog Program. It can be done. As others have said, the military will teach you more about yourself than most other careers you might consider.

DFrost

David is right, the Air Force is a good choice, as well. (If you don't mind being a member of the Chair Force. Kidding, kidding.)

Security Forces is a very good pick.

The only way a female in the United States Military can go to Sniper School is to be a member of the Air Force Security Forces.

Security Forces is in high demand right now, and they'll offer you a ton of specialty schools and enlistment incentives to choose the AFSC (is that right? I can never remember y'all Airedales acronym for MOS).

 Quote: will rambeau

Go into the Military.

Yes, we're in a war now - but combat will teach you things about yourself and life that you can not learn any other way. ( Trust me on this )

Serving your country is a duty and a privilege - you step up and place your life on the line and become something bigger than yourself.
The very concept of "duty" and "sacrifice" is virtually unheard of today ( outside of law enforcement and fire service ) and you'll look back someday with pride in your service.

AMEN! I wouldn't trade my time spent in combat for anything on earth.
Duty, Honor, Country.

I've been tired, I've been hurt, I've been sick.
I've been spit on. I've been harassed. I've been called a baby killer (yes, in this day and age).
I've been thanked. I've been hugged by complete strangers in grocery stores. I have loved complete strangers more than my own family, because they became my family when the chips were down. I've been snowed on, rained on, shot at, blown up, sat through sandstorms that would choke a camel.

The one thing I've never done, is regret it for a second.

 Quote: will rambeau

Bah! MOS 18D will give you the most well-rounded human and animal medical training.

Last time I looked into it, they were still doing pecker checks before they issued the green beanies.
I failed my Airborne physical anyway.
*Sniff*, s'not fair.

I'll also recommend the military, it's been good to me.

I've got 21 years in now, spent most of my time in Ranger and special mission units. I enlisted right out of highschool and went to OCS after 9 years of service, took advantage of a degree completion program, and now I'm in a grad school program. So in addition to the experiences I wouldn't trade for the world, I'll leave the Army with a graduate level education that the Army paid me to attend.

 Quote:

I wouldn't join the army, at least not right now. I don't wish this to go into a political discussion so I'll leave it at that.

The military is apolitical, so this is an invalid arguement.

My second recommendation is to go to college (no surprise). It's less important what you study in college than the fact that you went there and graduated. The biggest things you should get out of undergraduate education are writing and critical thinking skills, which in my opinion are more important than anything you can learn about hard sciences or social studies. In most fields, what degree you have really doesn't start to matter until the graduate level.

My last recommendation would be to look into healthcare. If you can get over the male nurse "Focker" thing, you will NEVER have to worry about finding a job in nursing. There are also a plethora of specialized fields like being a nurse practicioner or nurse anesthetist which starting salaries pay over 100k in most areas.

I would hate to dissuade the next potential Michael Ellis away from pursueing his passion for dog training, but I would probably go for a less risky route, which can lay a better foundation for you to return to dog training in the future if that's what you really want to do.

Good luck!

 Quote: kurt smith

 Quote:

I wouldn't join the army, at least not right now. I don't wish this to go into a political discussion so I'll leave it at that.

The military is apolitical, so this is an invalid arguement.

I think what the gentleman was trying to convey was that in his opinion, it is unwise to join the military while an "unpopular" war is being fought.

And I'll leave it at that, lest I be banished for life.

 Quote: alyssa myracle

... I think what the gentleman was trying to convey was that in his opinion, it is unwise to join the military while an "unpopular" war is being fought. ... And I'll leave it at that....

Yes, we'll leave that discussion for other boards. Thanks!