Greetings all!
In line with experimenting with a podcast, a young reader and I have been doing a series of interviews titled "Confessions of a Worthless Degreed Person." Specifically, Jorge Gonzales, a young reader contacted me and wanted to share his experiences starting from high school to graduating from college to trying to find a job today. He wanted to share his story as a means to advise and warn young people about to enter college about the risks and pitfalls he faced in the hopes others could avoid them.
The series is still being recorded, but we have the first few installments recorded. Here is the first segment,
"The High School Vegan Kid."
(ps - if people are still having "bandwidth" problems downloading these MP3's let me know!)
Carl Karcher dropped out of school after eighth grade to work on the farm where his father was a sharecropper.
ReplyDeleteHe went on to become the millionaire owner of a chain of more than 1000 fast-food restaurants.
Sometimes you need to employ yourself when others will not hire you.
Doesn't Aaron's advice to pursue STEM degrees contradict his philosophy of "enjoying the decline"? Why stoke the fires of economic "progress" by becoming an engineer when we could be taking it easy? Most western states are now bankrupt, industrialized economies are on the brink of collapse, so why bother?
ReplyDeleteI like these podcasts, but you should really put them on SoundCloud or iTunes instead. Box.net is amazingly unwieldy.
ReplyDeleteI could download this time. I'll be listening later.
ReplyDelete"Doesn't Aaron's advice to pursue STEM degrees contradict his philosophy of "enjoying the decline"? Why stoke the fires of economic "progress" by becoming an engineer when we could be taking it easy? Most western states are now bankrupt, industrialized economies are on the brink of collapse, so why bother?"
ReplyDeleteExactly, doesn't geting a stem degree contradict your philosophy of "enjoying the decline ?". Is there something your not telling us Aaron? And isn't your degree in economics useless as well? (I'm sorry if the tone of this post sounds aggressive, it isn't I'm just curious)
Because earning a degree in engineering/surgery/etc, will allow you to command a salary high enough you need only work an hour or two per week instead of slaving away for 40 or 50 hours a week at Wal Mart.
ReplyDeleteIf you read "Enjoy the Decline" you'll see it all spelled out there.
I just finished listening and I can't wait to hear more!
ReplyDeleteDisclaimer: I haven't read the book.
ReplyDeleteQuote: "Because earning a degree in engineering/surgery/etc, will allow you to command a salary high enough you need only work an hour or two per week instead of slaving away for 40 or 50 hours a week at Wal Mart."
First, I've never heard of an employer that will allow you to work only "an hour or two"(!) per week, especially as a professional engineer. I doubt they exist, but correct me if I'm wrong.
Secondly, I doubt that most engineers will continue to enjoy the same high middle-class incomes in 10-15 years. The jobs of the future are mechanics, electricians, farmers, DIY-types, and anyone with a practical, real-world skill that allows civilized life to be possible. Most engineers (but not all) are dependent on the consumer economy. Their value is restricted to providing gadgets and toys for indebted Americans (two possible exception to this are civil and power engineering) Still, entire subsets of engineering will be rendered worthless as time goes on.
Minining engineering: even if the economy sinks, gold will still be desired, potash and phosphates will still be needed, sand and gravel will be required.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me, based on experience, that many mining engineers could be reallocated to manufacturing and even agriculture if needed.
I'm going to have to agree. Any engineer or surgeon worth his salt isn't being paid by the hour, but on salary. Over and above that, you cannot perform at professional standards if you only perform your craft one or two hours a week unless you are just a natural genius in your field, which is statistically highly unlikely.
ReplyDeleteCouldn't download due to bandwidth issue. Feb 4 10:15 AM EST.
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