A Successful Career Path: Then Vs. Now [Chart]
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So very true...isn't it?
Replywrongful death attoneys rule the world.
This even applies to people with decades of experience. My friend, who has been working in the restaurant business (everything from executive chef to brand president) was turned away from a job because he didn't have a Bachelor's Degree. He got his Associate's back when there was only one culinary school in the country, and that was the only degree they offered. Job market = horseshit.
ReplyI got my first real job by lying about my experience. I used the internet to look up all the stuff they wanted me to know. Two years later I was lab manager and the company paid for me to get a degree. Ethics!
ReplyTwo corrections I'd like to make to the right column:
Reply Hide All See All 4 RepliesThird step should read "Do you have 5 years of experience in addition to said degree?"
Fourth step should read "Almost ignoring everything prior to this, do you know someone who both works here and is generous enough to tell me to hire you?"
THEN say "No? Go screw yourself."
There are plenty of people with a degree, myself included, who get looked over because of lack of additional experience. "Entry Level" hardly exists anymore, yet one has to start somewhere. How do we start if everyone only wants tenured workers? It's bullshit. And then you have experience and get passed over by the idiot with a 2-year community college degree because his best friend works there. That's even more unfair.
Absolutely true!
Hear hear
Hey, there is nothing wrong with community college. We can't all afford to go to a university. It is true about knowing people though, just think about how hard it is for those of us who are smart, but can't afford to go to a four year college AND have no connections.
There's also the fact that now, with so many people out of work, that people with 20 years experience are applying to those same low-level jobs that people with little to no experience are applying for, so businesses are picking up these incredibly experienced workers for entry level prices.
I have to agree with this. I hate how much "education" is treated as the high and mighty when really - would you rather have the guy with 20 years experience or the one fresh out of school without a clue how to do the actual job? Gimme a break.
ReplyNot to mention I know of people with degrees that make little to no money and then I know of people that have not even graduated high school that make very decent wages. Plus, if you are family or friends with someone - you're in no matter how unqualified you are.
That very last bit is absolute truth. Almost everyone I know, degree or not, who has a good job got it via a friend or relative.
Try having five years experience but an unrelated degree and get looked over.
VERY few positions are open to people with an education, but no experience, or experience, but no education. I feel bad for those without educations, because I've had more employers more interested in someone who's been to school than someone who hasn't, especially if their job-record is short or spotty in any way.
But really, it has always been and will continue to be "who you know." I originally thought an education would change that, and it is far from the truth. Cronnyism begets Cronnyism.
Who needs jobs anyways. Nobody wants them that's why we're cutting them down. Supply and demand people.
Reply Hide All See All 4 Repliesbravo to you, sir.
I applaud your cleverness sir.
nobody wants a job? what country are you in?
@ljdarten
Nobody really /wants/ to work. They just have to if they don't want to die poor and alone in a gutter.
This must be said:
Reply Hide All See All 5 RepliesEach and every person must take personal responsibility for their results, and put themselves first, as long as it does not harm other people.
There is no right time, and you're never going to have the exact amount of _____ (money, education, connections, time, etc.)
I have known some people with the best advantages in the world, (wealthy parents, great education, good looks) and they have done very little other than party and do drugs, and will spend most of their adult lives in rehab, or die young.
Then there are other people who have faced far greater adversity than most of you can fathom, and they did just fine, and some even changed (will, or are) art, business, and technology.
The "crazy ones".
You yourself would do quite well to support them or even become like them if you want to improve the world, because waiting for someone else to, is not going to happen.
Obviously the 19th century way of education and business is not working. Will you wait until people realize this?
Each and every single person in America is responsible for shaping the future of this country, not just the "evil" corporate types, God, your parents, or your school(s).
What YOU do based on what happens to you matters far more than what other people do. None of us have direct control over our circ*mstances or other people, but we can choose to stay in our comfort zone, or face the fear and do it anyway.
Even today, in the world "there's no way you can succeed because of the rules", people are.
Some people are even rewriting them, in spite of what you say or believe to be true.
If everyone played by the rules and waited for approval from someone else, you wouldn't have your iPhone, Twitter, or be able to fly to Mexico for vacation, and I daresay, most of the music you love would never be heard.
You vote with how you spend your time, energy, and money.
Your choices are the best power that you have, and when you give it up foolishly, you can end up with poor results.
We still have time to Move the World toward something better, but it begins with you, and you alone.
Choose wisely.
Quite whining about how horrible and unfair everything is, and do something. Doing something and failing is better than waiting for the planets to magically align.
Write that book.
Or even a page of it, it's something.
Post your song on Youtube, or write a measure of it.
Work on your business or product idea, even if it's just sketching the way it will look.
Talk to that guy or girl you've had your eye on. They might say no, but they also might end up being your future spouse or even a good friend.
You won't know unless you do it.
You will upset other people when you take a risk, but the question I will ask each and everyone of you is:
Do I want to be 65 and regret the things I chose not to do because I didn't have any balls?
I respect someone who fails, and lives to tell the tale, but I do not respect people who do not even try and blame everyone else.
(Read Ayn Rand, Gary Vaynerchuck, Pam Slim, and Seth Godin. You don't have to agree with them, but give them a whirl.)
Read Ayn Rand, couldn't stand her philosophy. Read your comment, found it rather interesting. Please don't sell your own beliefs short by associating them with a writer with less talent than Stephenie Meyer. It will do you no good.
Hi Will!
Thanks for commenting.
I mentioned Rand because her ideas have influenced or repelled people.
I have also read the works of many other authors and philosophers, as well as engage in discussion with people regardless of background whenever possible.
Rand is far from perfect, and she does come off as a bit hard, but so do Marx and Nietzsche.
In my opinion, I find her essays to be more enjoyable and understandable than her novels.
I would be willing to read material I have not read yet if you and others have suggestions.
Some of Rand's philosophy is a bit useful, but it is flawed.
Basic stuff I like personally:
People should think rationally.
People shouldn't be forced to sacrifice themselves or expect it of others. (Choosing to help someone you value isn't a sacrifice, because you value them).
People should exchange value for value as trading partners, not in a master/slave relationship.
What is far more important than any sort of philosophy from Rand to Socrates to 50 Cent is, alternate perspectives are far more valuable. It's why I attempt to listen to others, even if I do not agree.
I think she was a product of her experiences and her time, as we all are.
To change the world I will become a teacher, for what better way to change the future than to be the hand guiding it.
Just tell me how a middle class college sophomore in the middle of Kansas who has been trying and failing for 3 years to find any sort of employment can do make it in the dog eat dog world that has become America. I can't figure it out.
These are for comments...not add-on articles. Jeez.
Ha! Things are different now than they used to be!
ReplySo funny 'cause it's so true only now you need a Master's degree all thanks to education inflation and the cult of credentials.
ReplyNo, I have a Master's Degree, and it still doesn't help.
My mother worked 32 as a teacher. Then they made some changes at her academy, and she became unqualified for the job she had been doing, while a snot nosed kid straight out of college, with previous employmet at a 7/11, was perfectly quelified.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesI'm kinda surprised you were quelified to leave that comment.
Oh, snapdoodles, biznatch! Where's your teacher for a mother now?
yes, because typos equal uneducated. uh, "burn". although i'd think that not being able to recognize the difference between stupidity and a typo is more of a mental defect.
While this seems appropriate on a larger scale, I will say that I work in the mailroom for a major Corporation and I could easily follow the path on the left if I so desired. The real problem I see is that its more about who you know than your actual skills. I got hired because my parents knew the previous mailroom clerk. End of story. I was told straight up that I was way overqualified for the job, so I pretty much got hired on recommendation alone.
Reply Hide All See All 3 RepliesYou were overqualified to be a mailroom clerk? Working in the mailroom work generally requires only that you not swallow your own tounge.
@ Evb: Yeah and if you are overqualified they think that means you'll expect higher pay. They want that guy/girl who can on just barely not swallow their tongue so they can pay minimum wage and not have to worry about future promotions or pay raises.
oh and congrats ddayo for getting the job, wish I knew someone...
I'll agree with this.
So accurate it is scary
Reply Hide All See All 9 Repliesfunny add-on
my current boss, went to school for accounting, masters in accounting (whatever you call a number cruncher, accountant, banking services, jew)
anywho, wanna know what he does for a living, he runs a cellphone store.
It is accurate. Could have done without the Jew comment.
yeah, d******d, it's f**king 2011. get over the jews already.
But they killed our Lord and Savior.
No, I'm pretty sure it was the guy who speared him in the side.
Also the Roman dudes who nailed him to the tree.
Italians are the new Jews!
SO what are the old Jews? Are they Australian?
So a Jew, a banker, and a Mel Gibson hater walk into a bar...same guy! Hahahaha! Am I cool yet, dudes?
What? What you're saying is that Jews are well-educated? And run businesses? Because their religion teaches them that work ethic and social justice are the keys to success, rather than sitting on their fat asses praying all day?
oh god so true. companies require such absurd qualifications for jobs these days when most of the time half the job is browsing the internet for hours at a time.
ReplyIt's true in Australia, too. So true.
ReplyOf course, if you've got a f**kton of experience, it helps. But don't expect to get paid more. My dad was installing mobile phone base stations all over SE Asia, after forty years in the telecommunications biz - but he had no degree, started as an trainee at the government-run phone company, did nothing but telco work. He ended up getting paid less than one of his subordinates, who was fresh out of uni...with a degree in geology. But he had a degree, any degree, so he was worth more, apparently.
Yeah, that the unions for you. Doesn't matter about your experience, get a degree, any degree, and your wages will jump 30-200% despite it not being relevent. It can work in your favour but then they wonder why the bosses don't give payrises to every body. It's cause they're overpaying shit-kickers and shorting ther guys that know what they're doing
Sidenote - I responded to a dog-walking ad in Washington DC some time ago and they responded asking if I had my bachelor's degree. "In what?" I asked. "Anything," they said. "No," I said. "Sorry, position filled," they said. :(
ReplyHah! That, right there, is America, my friends. You need a bachelor's degree to walk dogs. Reedick.
oh how true it is.
Replycompanies still have mailrooms? At my company almost everying is emailed...
Replyapply to the e-mail room. do you have a degree in e-mail science?
College is the most successful scam going on today. And it's showing no signs of changing any time soon.
Reply Hide All See All 7 Repliesunless you are going for a technical degree like engineering or your trying to be a doctor. then its not a scam
Found that out the hard way . . . $30K in debt and working at Wal-Mart. Wooo!
But you're a Jedi.
Yes, college is totally a scam - because you're definitely going to be a CEO without any education higher than a high school degree...
No. You know what? Never mind. Forget I said anything.
The problem is with the way college is set up in the states. You start there taking a random bunch of courses and then specialize later. That makes people choose the path of least resistance. So instead of studying engineering or chemistry or physics, they study some liberal arts stuff. And we all know the world needs more people whose only skill is to have sophisticated smalltalk about ancient greek literature at a dinner party.
I think it's far important what you do with the opportunities you are given, or even create them. People say to play it safe, but after all, JK Rowling has a degree in literature, and Rachel Ray has no post-secondary education, and she's an empire. 50 Cent is worth half a billion dollars, and has very little education at all, and most people in his situation don't survive to the age of 30. All of these people had the right kind of stubbornness to not allow other people to tell them no, and they did not set their standards low.
Yeah, Voltage, it's almost as if those people you mentioned are exceptions to the norm.
There are millions of people trying to live the dream, man. I don't think the reason they succeeded where 10 million for each of them failed because they were the only ones "who didn't allow people to tell them no" You sound like a walking seminar.
Look, newsflash: life is not "just believe in yourself and bam, you'll become a billionaire!" Millions upon millions of people work hard, study hard and go into the world confident and do their best and work at Wal-Mart or Mcdonald's for ten years. What happens to you matters. Where you grow up matters. Who you know matters. Things outside of your control matter.
I get your whole "everybody can be special and wonderful if we all just believe!" thing, but leave that in elementary school, where it belongs. Life is a massive, incredibly complicated thing. There is no magic f*****g bullet to becoming a success. If there was, WE WOULD f*****g DO THAT.
best chart ever
ReplyI've rarely seen our current economy summed up better. Well done, Dr. Gentleman.
Reply