I’m finishing my masters right now. With fairly bad grades that is, because I really don’t care about putting in any effort anymore. Which probably means that just like with my equally shit bachelors degree I won’t be able to get a proper engineering position. The thing is that if you apply even to entry level positions, companies usually have more than enough candidates that don’t took 10 years to finish college with barely passing grades. And even on the off chance that a company is desperate enough to hire you, it’s usually a really bad one. I’m currently working as a student. Which pays very good by the hour, but is limited in the amount of hours you can work. So yeah while I get a decent hourly wage, it’s a lot less money monthly than even the worst paying trade jobs. And I’m prohibited by law to take on more hours or a second job while enrolled college (or more precisely the employer is not allowed to give me more hours). I also earn a little money on the side but all together is just barely enough to cover the bills. So yeah, don’t be like me and push yourself into a dead end where you’re too overqualified for unskilled labor, too inexperienced for skilled labor and too financially unstable to start over.
Comment on Anon doesn't have a plan
protist@retrofed.com 16 hours agoI’d rather would have done an apprenticeship some 10 years ago and would have had a steady, less paying job, than this worthless engineering degree and zero real job experience. The issue is that now the cost of living is way to high to afford living on an apprenticeship salary for a few years, which is way below minimum wage
Are you working using your engineering degree? You make it sound like you’re unemployed, so how is an apprenticeship salary worse than no salary? I don’t know where you’re located, but here in the US, there are many trade programs at community colleges that are very affordable. Your engineering background being applied to a trade also puts you in a position to differentiate yourself in a few years once you’re independent. You should let go of what your parents want right now and start planning for your own future. What are you, about 36? It’s def not too late.
LouNeko@lemmy.world 9 hours ago
Bane_Killgrind@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 hours ago
What kind of engineering?
Low voltage is not a registered trade in some places, so data com/access control installation is easy to get into.
LouNeko@lemmy.world 5 hours ago
Mechanical
BoxOfFeet@lemmy.world 4 hours ago
Oh, man. I’m sorry to hear youre having such a bad time with it. I’m a mechanical engineer, and love it. I only have a bachelor’s, though. So maybe I got out of school while it was still fun. It took me a couple years after graduating to get something in my field, I came out of school during a recession. I worked 3rd shift on an assembly line those years. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy Mech Eng at some point.
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 15 hours ago
The cost of living for someone with a job can be higher than an unemployed person as they need to live where they can commute from, which can make things like living with parents or not having a car infeasible. If the job doesn’t pay well enough to cover this, then having no income leaves you better off.
protist@retrofed.com 13 hours ago
In the short-term, maybe? But if you have the skills to be employed, you will be much better off over time starting to work somewhere. Having a job sets you up to obtain a better or higher paying role in the future
AnyOldName3@lemmy.world 11 hours ago
The long-term prospects are better, but if someone doesn’t have some kind of buffer like savings or the bank of mum and dad to cover the period where their earnings aren’t enough to break even, then the short-term problems make the long-term benefits impossible to actually reach.