Is a degree necessary? Debate on that here.

[Raptor]

Well, since the car challenge thread is getting polluted with school and degree questions, lets just argue that stuff here.

Personally, I have a secondary education from Dunwoody welding and I wouldn't do it again. It never effected my income ever in that field. I have no formal education in automotive which has also not effected that income and I made 80K and turned down jobs for 6 figures in network administration for about ten years. All self tought. If you know what you are doing it in most tech fields and can represent yourself correctly, you do not have to have a degree. So it isn't required. I have hired and fired more college educated idiots than you can imagine. Is that the law and does it apply to everyone, no. If you have natural talent and go to school, you will likely be better off. If you have no natural talent and go to school, you could end up getting in the door of many jobs and find yourself out of work a month later when they realize your capabilities.

[1Fst14B]

I do not belive a degree is necessary. If i had to do it over again, i dont think i would go to school.
I know i could be doing the same thing, making the same money, at the same place, if i didnt have anything.
How i would acually get a job, im not sure. if you are going to be working for someone, it may be necessary. if you venture out yourself, you are fine.

[Kougar]

Speaking in the tech field, I don't really believe it is necesary to hold a degree, but for the majority of the remaining job fields, I think it is. Many jobs won't even consider you unless you meet their requirements, IE a degree. In order to 'represent yourself' without a degree, you'd have to be extremmely talented AND pretty lucky. Even though you may constantly get fired, having a degree at least gives you the oppertunity to get in the door in the first place.

[MustGoFaster]

Depends on who you are and what kind of job your going for.

[Super Bleeder!!]

do you NEED a degree these days? the simple answer is no. though some of us have aspirations that can't be attained WITHOUT a degree.

i live a very comfortable life in a middle class family, all provided by my parents. neither of them have college degrees, but decades of expierience in their respective fields. they have from day one told me they would help me out in any way they could towards getting a college degree. why is that? because at their jobs, advancing beyond a certain point requires that expensive piece of paper that says " i worked hard to get this, and i should be paid accordingly." at some places degrees mean nothing, and at others it is in the company policy exactly how far a non-collegiate can go on the ladder

some kids choose to get degrees that are worth almost nothing. things like: communications, philosophy, dance, etc. spending your money on shit like that is a waste.

i choose engineering (mechanical) as my major, and to be honest its hard as fuck. calc, physics, statics, dynamics, electrical networks, differential equations, the damn list goes on and on. NONE of these classes can be just cruised through, you have to study and work at it way more than you want to. but you know what? when you get through it all (eventually) you have a degree in something useful and unique. you know you won't be making a living off of your back and knuckles, and the base pay is outstanding.

to sum it up, if you have goals and the drive to do something with your life, yes a degree is a good idea. if you don't really care what you do as long as you have enough $$ to just chill back and enjoy life, then its probably not for you :)

[slowbubblecar]

You can fulfill a good life without a degree but depending on goals and what field ou want to work in you might need one to even step in the door unless your uncles step brother is the owner. I see many places requiring degrees in the future that people would not dream needing a degree.

[Raptor]

Well as stated at the beginning of this, I have made decent money and turned down an income of 120K a year because my wife at the time didn't want to sell our house in Cambridge and move to Bursnville, she was more content with me driving that far each day. The position required me to be that close to respond to network issues quicker. When I turned it down, I left my Job at 80K because I didn't want to deal with people I had once hired being above me. The owner of that business was not a friend or relative or otherwise and Network administration and Unix administration requires a lot of knowledge. It doesn't have to come from school if you can back up what you claim. 4 years after I started working there, I went and took the Cisco Certification tests and had no trouble passing them with almost perfect scores. They were not needed and none of the people I worked for as a consultant after that or was ever employed by cared about the Certs. So paper is not always required. I started a welding and machine shop when i was 22 that in it's first year did 335K in business, owned it for 3.5 years and sold it. Point of that is that you can have high goals and not need a degree to attain them. I quite going to Dunwoody for welding after the first year as it wasn't teaching me anything beyond what I knew and the degree didn't matter.

Of course I don't think everyone in the same situations would do the same, but I do stand by the fact that a degree is far from a requirement to get a good high paying job without laying on your back scraping your knuckles. It also doesn't preclude you from making a very good living. I would venture a guess that the majority of successful CEO's in this country did not hold any degrees before they started their companies.

I would actually say getting a degree is a bit like following a recipe for performance with a DSM. You can do it with the right amount of time and money, it is clearly defined and well proven to work if you follow through and when you are done, you will be about the same as everyone else who also followed the "recipe". The guys that break records and turn heads are at the front of the pack from pioneering ways to go faster, creative people with proper motivation etc. Similar to those who invent products, start companies etc.

[Iceman]

A degree is well worth the money these days. A degree gives you more options in life. Which for me is something I need/want. Expect the worst, hope for the best seems to come to mind.

As for the whole UTI vs. wyotech. I have seen where wyotech is and let me tell you that not a lot of people could handel it out there. In fact I have met numerous people that went to wyotech and now goto UTI. Why did they come to UTI after wyotech. Well I have heard a couple of different answer. One is the area. Sapposedly there is nothin to do and its riddled with very red necks. The girls will ride you. The big one was the way they teach though. Fast and not very direct/detailed. The one thing that got them all was, the hype.

Good points to wyotech are: Cheap, Out in the middle of nowhere (some people like that). 8 hour days (cram 8 hours of info in a day wouldn't be to bad. Also used to mimic a working day).

All of my info is based off of what students at UTI have said. Also a instructer.

So for any of you future auto technicians I would highly recommend UTI to anyone trying to set themselfs apart from the rest.

[LightningGSX]

Instead of goind to a technical school, you guys should go back to 1st grade and learn how to spell correctly.Even with the best schooling on your resume, if you spell like a 5 year old, you're not getting the job.

[santa]

its all going to be just like that. I've been told be a student that went to uti that it sucked there as well. Yes the town blows!!! it plain and simple sucks I wont dissagree. It helps you focus on school. they dont cram things down your skull, but they get the lessons done and they do it well. They are very direct and detailed. The only want students dont get it is if they dont pay attention which half the Kids don't.. I have stayed above 90% my whole stay here and its been hard at times but if you pay attention in class, and ask questions you can do alright. I also have had a long long time of experience. I've been under the hood of cars since I was about 8 years old with my old man. He was a master ase certified tech for years! It surely does help having him around and he tought me a lot well before I made my selection of school and profession. Hes now a St. Paul fight fighter because well lets face it being a tech KILL's your body. I would come back here anytime. plus its free to return anytime you want.

Kevin