College Graduates - Question.

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Jayce

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For what money you guys spent going to school, when you got out and got your first job, were you making considerably less than you expected?

I took the job I got and I love it. It has room to grow. It has potential to lead up higher and higher as time goes on. It's also experience to add to my resume.

I guess I was just clouded with the "oh when you graduate you can make 60 a year to start!"

Granted, I have a 2 year degree, but oddly enough I've begun to realize that some businesses prefer a 2 year tech degree from the college I went to vs a traditional 4 year. I know this because the school board is made up of network administrators and business owners in the area, and they told us what they look for when it comes to potential candidates.

But at the end of the day, sometimes it's just a crapper to realize that I spent more money in 1 year's time than I will make in a year from my job. At the same time, I like what I do... and at the same token, the job market is in the crapper right now... A friend of mine, straight A's, great standing, amazing references... she's gone through soooo many interviews (easily 2 dozen). No job yet. I was convinced she'd be the first to land a position... and she's one of the last in my graduating group to get a job.

So, tell me. What was your story when you got out of school? Were you looking at average pay? Did you climb the ladder at a decent rate?

Some have told me that when you graduate college, you're only halfway there... and that it takes a good 1-2 years to build up experience before you begin to have leverage on what type of place you end up at.

Thoughts?
 
Still in school 2nd year of senior high school, looking forward to IT/ Graphics design or maybe both :D. Many jobs like IT are kinda tough to find work in here as it is a very popular job and even if you find it will be mostly on school but i hate being a teacher, graphic design might be also famous but it is rather easy to find work here especially when you are good. Graphic design isn't paid well here as in other countries. 540 euros minimum and 1400 euros maximum. In Greece universitys are so messed up, there are some popular (like architecture and medicine school) that you need to have a 98-100% final universal exam mark and some that you can pass even without having passed the class (fish growing, ain't know the term in english) 20% or something, i know it is kinda rtarded but it is also normal as nobody wants to go there. Public universitys are good because 80% of the population can study but also are devastative at the same time. Everyone wants to go on high paid jobs and this leads to lower salaries for popular jobs and high salaries for not so fond-sobs. Nowadays an electrician or a plumber can get 2000-3000 euros a month because they are not enough :eek:
 
Anybody who believes they will make that kind of money right out of school is either naive or is going to school for something other than IT. IT grads simply don't normally make that money right off the bat.
 
If i hadnt been a slacker, i could have been making that kind of money when i graduated. But i basically barely got through college and by the time i got out i was so sick of school that i didnt want to get my masters. Graduated may 01, right before the tech bubble popped and flooded the market with tons of people with experience. So i got screwed. Took me almost 2 years out of school to find a decent job. Now i'm still underpaid where i'm at, but since its a state agency, the benefits are great, plus i'd basically have to either kill someone or sexually harrass someone to get fired.

I get 10 holidays a year, 18 days paid vacation, full dental, health insurance costs me 38 bucks a month, and my commute is 4 miles each way.

Oh ya, and if i stick it out here, i can retire at 55 :)
 
Not bad, veedub.

Yeah, I think it is much more realistic to shoot for an IT job paying around $30-40k if you're lucky. The best IT job right now is software engineers and they can sometimes make quite a bit more if they are really in demand. How much did you spend on 2 years of college if you won't be making it up in a full year of work?

My college is a well noted University and full time student only costs me $3000 per semester. So unless you were paying like $6250 per semester and have a job that pays less than $25k a year, you should make as much as you spent. Otherwise you are getting VERY VERY VERY underpaid and spent way too much for school. Right now my job while in college makes $14 an hour and if I did this full time I'd be making close to $30k a year, so I'm slightly baffled by your situation.
 
Heh, my last sememster of school, taking 18 hours cost me like 1700 in tuition. 7 years later, its like doubled in cost. I'm so glad school was fairly cheap when i went, so i dont have tons of student loans. Was actually able to work my way through school without taking out loans. Also helped that i lived 8 miles from campus :p
 
Holy cow! What was your degree and what college did you go to? I'm guessing you went to a large university and that cost included your stay on campus? I am talking just tuition here. If I counted living costs, it would be a lot more, but I live in my own apartment, so it's still less than living in dorms.
 
Ya i have a 4 year degree and paid almost 50k total. It was a larger university and you had to stay on campus, and for a short period of time i just went to school and didn't work.

I'm kinda weird in that i've been in my current position before even graduating. But yes, unless you land a good job with a good company, college grads (depending on the area) will usually make between 30 and 40. Most believe prior to graduation that they will make easily 60k, which just doesn't happen in todays world. Experiences comes first, then the pay.

Right now you really can't be too picky either, a lot of company's have frozen hiring (NOT ALL, just a good amount).
 
Not bad, veedub.

Yeah, I think it is much more realistic to shoot for an IT job paying around $30-40k if you're lucky. The best IT job right now is software engineers and they can sometimes make quite a bit more if they are really in demand. How much did you spend on 2 years of college if you won't be making it up in a full year of work?

My college is a well noted University and full time student only costs me $3000 per semester. So unless you were paying like $6250 per semester and have a job that pays less than $25k a year, you should make as much as you spent. Otherwise you are getting VERY VERY VERY underpaid and spent way too much for school. Right now my job while in college makes $14 an hour and if I did this full time I'd be making close to $30k a year, so I'm slightly baffled by your situation.

I paid 38,000 dollars for 2 years of school. That includes book costs, a pretty nice tool kit, a removable hard drive for me to store stuff on, etc. So that 38k is an all-in-one thing... however, I commuted everyday. My degree is in Cyber Security Technology... it basically is your typical Computer Systems Specialist degree, but I have a solid platform in computer forensics, security, etc.

In comparison to other computer programs for the same price at two other schools in the area, I got the best bang for the buck. Out of my graduating class (which, in my particular class there was only 8) we're all having an awful time finding a job. I got a job in June, so I'm still within my 90 day period. I'm also part time, but with how busy we've been I'm going to fight for full time. I work 34 hours a week. I get no benefits as of now, but I pay 60 bucks a month out of pocket for health insurance, etc. I make my own schedule... as long as I work 34 hours a week, I can do whatever I want, basically. If I decide, ahh, next week I want to have Wednesday off, just pick up a few hours Mon Tues Thurs Fri and bam, it's done.

It's really not a bad gig, and I work in a school district. I enjoy it a lot. I like what I do and I like the atmosphere. But there's a few things here that aren't where I want them to be. For one, I want to be full time and have overtime opportunity - something not available to me being part time. Two, I'm within my 90 day region.

I almost rejected this job... but I took a look at my buddies trying to get a job and not finding anything and just knew that I had to take it. It's experience, it's money, it gets me out of the factory I'm in, and it's what I want to do. Also, I just ran the calculation through... I forgot, earlier when I was coming up with the calculation where I found that I make less in a year than what I spent a year for school, I was intentionally undercutting myself by a few bucks an hour to make consideration for taxes. So, I guess I can correct my last statement by saying that it wasn't as bad as I originally thought.

Still, it's just a blah situation. I like my job, I like money, but it doesn't seem like I can have both right now. The job market sucks so nobody seems to care I have a degree. I guess I'll just have to stick it out for a solid year or two, build up some references, build up some experience, and see where things go.
 
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