Friday, September 10, 2010
6-Figure Jobs...No Degree Required
In our generation of students, many of us are here at OWU to get our degrees, moving on to the real world, getting our big paychecks, and living our happy, wealthy lives. But, in this "real world" there are several jobs out there that require a high range of expertise, but also a very low interest from our generation. Not to mention, this "expertise" required for these jobs are more street-smart than book smart...more-so than any college campus can offer. Air-Traffic controllers, Fire Chiefs, Elevator Technicians, and Court Reporters are all analyzed in this article and all these professions have a median salary above $50,000, some well above that benchmark. How do people today make such a large amount of money without a college degree? It seems outrageous but in reality it makes perfect sense. Fire Chief, for example, is not a simple job. It requires a lot of hours in both an office and on the scene of events and emergencies that firefighters are needed. You may be saved the four years and expenses of college, but with these jobs, you'll certainly make the time up in the hours of labor you put in.
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These professions definitely require a lot of dedication and time and are certainly not unskilled. While firefighters, elevator technicians or court reporters may not be required to have a college degree they are required to complete intense training programs. It's like getting a non-traditional degree. Their experience and organized training make them as valuable and skilled in their fields as our degrees, we hope, will make us in the fields we choose.
ReplyDeleteSome professions like fire chief and air traffic control are not unskilled. However, they do not require many skills acquired at many universities. But, the reason why they are still making a lot of money today is because more and more people are going to college. Furthermore, since more people are going to college there are less and less people to do these "blue" collared jobs. As a result of there being less people to do these jobs, their salary tends to still be high.
ReplyDeleteI think it's because so many people have college degrees nowadays that these jobs become more lucrative. I mean the US is getting more and more specialized. You have to to good at something to go somewhere. This is getting morelike Europe.
ReplyDeleteYet if you have high academic caliber, college is still a number one choice for you. Those jobs, appealing as it seems to do easy and get money as anyone else, involve a lot of risks and physical capacity. So you basically trade risks for money. Plus, these jobs are often done by men. Women are still exclusive.
No matter, what there will always be demand for jobs that require little "academic" skill. For those individuals who work well under pressure and have developed specialized skills that don't fall along the the lines of ordinary jobs may be the lucky ones with high pay. Individuals who are in Air Traffic control and Fire Fighting, have extensive skill and require massive amounts of time and are extremely high pressured. Though for jobs like these, there is always a high demand, but to accompany it, there aren't many job openings for these positions. This would drive the wage up. Lastly these positions are highly competitive.
ReplyDeleteThese jobs in fact require skills that are far more rare and scarce than a mere college degree. As discussed, with ever increasing portions of our population graduating from a four-year university, the value of each degree is increasing. On the other hand, the number of people who have completed the years of training and have the experience necessary to be a fire chief, for example, is much lower, so it would make sense that the wage would be higher. If there is not high interest in these jobs, that would also drive wages up since they have a hard time getting applicants.
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