The Hourglass

Now that I have established some foundational information about the college degree versus work experience debate I can begin to specialize in certain career fields. In the time since my last blog post, I have found that the list of career fields and categories is infinite. Therefore, I decided that in order to maintain specificity I will be keeping my search local to Jefferson Academy. I have also conducted research on career fields that strictly require education. I have also found the different forms of work experience that I will be analyzing.

What Do You Want to be When You Grow Up?

If I were to explore every career field, this study would take a lifetime. As a result, I chose to take a poll. I created a survey for highschooler at Jefferson Academy to choose their top two career fields they wish to pursue. The list includes:

• Agriculture
• Architecture
• Business (Finance, Management, etc.)
• Criminal Justice
• Communications
• Computers and Technology
• Construction
• Education and Social Services
• Engineering
• Fine Arts/Liberal Arts
• Health Care and Allied Health
• Hospitality and Tourism
• Journalism
• Law
• Political Sciences
• Psychology
• Science
• Trades and transportation

The survey has been out for two days and so far I have received twenty-four responses. The results are portrayed in the following bar graph:

Overall this data is just the beginning of the numbers I need to make a final decision on what specific fields to analyze. However, if these patterns continue in this form then I will be specifically evaluating the benefits of a degree and experience in psychology, engineering. Business studies, and criminal justice. By the end of my study, many students will understand all of the opportunities available to them.

Education-Based Jobs

A main factor that must be considered in the debate is the fact that certain occupations require a college degree and education. The three main fields in the demanding category are law, medicine, and education.

Law

To be a lawyer or even a lawyer’s assistant, one must have some type of college and law school education. A lawyer’s job is one with high stakes and requires extensive knowledge in an individual. However, considering the fact that the average cost of law school is $39,000 per year. This education is one that is post-undergraduate meaning the overall cost for eight years of education is astronomical. Consequently, students are in immense debt and some are never able to fulfill their career potential since they cannot afford the college requirements. Hopefully, in the future, we will see more alternatives in the law field.

Medicine

Doctors literally take lives into their own hands. Due to this fact, it is extremely important that anyone in the medical field is highly educated and experienced. Since the occupation is risky the only experience based alternative to a college education is the military. A combat medic undergoes extensive training and when they leave the military they can use their experience to obtain a job in a variety of medical positions including a physician, EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), nurse, etc.)

Education

Education another career that requires education. There are no alternatives to obtaining a teacher’s degree through education. This is a valid requirement considering these people are responsible for educating others. The only slightly less rigorous path to becoming a teacher is by completing teacher preparation and certification training in courses outside of college and/or online. For instance, one program is a two-year preparation course and leads to a master’s degree.

Types of Experience

One of the main ways to obtain establish rapport in the workforce is starting at the bottom of the chain of command. For example, I work at Chick-Fil-A in Thornton, Colorado. Currently, my official title is simply “team member”. However, after one year of employment, I was offered higher-level positions such as trainer (a position of training new team members with a $0.50 hourly pay increase) and part-time shift leader (manager position that includes leadership requirements with a starting pay of $12 per hour). These positions are under the full-time shift leader position which is a management position requiring extensive hours and leadership qualities. The starting pay here is $15 per hour. Above this position is store director which requires full hours and includes increasing pay with bonuses. After that, a person is able to apply to be a store operator which is a challenging process and highly competitive position. However, all of these occupations are obtainable without a college education. The only necessary element is work experience. It is evident that in the time one gets a college degree, another could be working their way through a company’s chain of command. Therefore, part-time and full-time work is an excellent way to gain experience.

Work experience can be obtained in other ways as well. Volunteer opportunities and internships are readily available in every city. These positions give people to opportunity to test their interests and find the topics they are passionate about.

Looking to the Future

In the next few weeks, I will be diving deeper into my specific research. Based on my survey results I will interview people in each career field. I will also be making a chart of the benefits and disadvantages of each pathway regarding long-term benefits.