# Jobs that don't require college **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 29, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411 "2009-06-29T23:47:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![RandMcnally](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b782af/32.png) [@RandMcnally](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RandMcnally)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/21 "2009-06-30T03:46:31Z")
> [@Shagnasty](#): > > Don’t dismiss trade school. Plumbers, electricians, welders, and contractors can make some serious cash especially if you own your own business. The contractor that restored our house after a massive tree strike owns a true mansion with a fleet of sports cars. He is unusually good at project management but he doesn’t have a college degree. You might be like that too. I wasn’t being dismissive about trade schools at all. Hopefully I didn’t come across that way. I meant it as, it makes a lot more sense, trade school does, than college. It seems a lot more practical. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/22 "2009-06-30T03:47:20Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Yeah OP, if you want to be a famous Hollywood actor, just go for it and fuck all else. Your chances of success are great! > > My REAL asperations was to be a lotoin boy for the Hawaiian Bikini team. But alas, I was irresponsible and went to college. Now here I am stuck in this nice beatiful house with a nice brand new truck and a healthy 401k. > > Gee, I sure do wish I would have followed my heart; instead of “sucking it up” and dealing with shit I don’t always want to do. > > Talk about not enough roll eyes. I never said going to college was irresponsible, a bad decision, or wrong. What I said is that I didn’t like it, it’s not for everyone, and declining to go does not doom one to a life of menial jobs, and people with attitudes about that fact piss me off. BTW, I made six figs last year, and know how to spell “aspirations,” “lotion” and “beautiful.” 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/23 "2009-06-30T03:48:36Z")
You could be an airline pilot, though if it’s not something you’ve already thought about then don’t bother, you have to want it pretty badly to get through the various obstacles in your way. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/24 "2009-06-30T03:52:21Z")
[quote=“1920s Style “Death Ray”, post:23, topic:501411”] You could be an airline pilot, though if it’s not something you’ve already thought about then don’t bother, you have to want it pretty badly to get through the various obstacles in your way. [/QUOTE] Even then you have to know basic algebra, how to read and use graphs, and so on. History is interesting and, I think, worthwhile. But English, Political Science, Pyschology, and other knowledge helps put it into context. ---
**Author:** ![friedo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/8edcca/32.png) [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/25 "2009-06-30T04:00:18Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Even then you have to know basic algebra, how to read and use graphs, and so on. :eek: If someone didn’t know basic algebra and how to read graphs before he went to college, I would not want him flying any airplane I was in. ---
**Author:** ![Hello\_Again](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/85e7bf/32.png) [@Hello\_Again](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hello_Again)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/26 "2009-06-30T04:02:46Z")
Court Reporter is a pretty good career - you have to take a certificate course which I believe takes two years (may vary by state) but it is pretty much all hands on practical training. You do have to have a bit of a strong stomach because let’s face it you’re transcribing verbatim testimony about people’s bad deeds and poor judgment. You can work for the court or as an independent contractor. You can even do closed captioning for TV. You might also consider the Post Office. Civil service exams are usually required, depending on the exact position you apply for. I believe some preference is given to veterans in Federal hiring. Have you any interest in law enforcement? Some college is usually required but not necessarily a degree, and your military experience would be an asset to your application. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/27 "2009-06-30T04:20:08Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > :eek: If someone didn’t know basic algebra and how to read graphs before he went to college, I would not want him flying any airplane I was in. Well, yeah, it’s high-school algebra. ‘I have 38 gallons of usable fuel. I burn nine gallons per hour. I’ve been aloft for one hour and forty minutes. Given the current winds, am I still good for my primary destination with a half-hour of fuel in reserve?’ And the only graphing I’ve done involves multiplying weights and distances from the datum, adding the results, and seeing if they fall within the weight-and-balance envelopes. (And checking density altitude, and making sure I don’t fly in the ‘dead man’s curve’, and that sort of thing.) ---
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/28 "2009-06-30T07:05:45Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I never said going to college was irresponsible, a bad decision, or wrong. What I said is that I didn’t like it, it’s not for everyone, and declining to go does not doom one to a life of menial jobs, and people with attitudes about that fact piss me off. > > BTW, I made six figs last year, and know how to spell “aspirations,” “lotion” and “beautiful.” 🙂 Fair enough. FWIW, my snark wasn’t meant towards you or even the OP. My frustrations comes from this attitude of “I don’t want to do something because it’s hard or it sucks.” Maybe I’m just being a grumpy old man, but jeez! Kid’s these days. I also hope the OP realizes that the probability of him dealing with shit he doesn’t want to do increases exponentially with out a degree. The OP could go to college and get a degree and _then_ pursue whatever floats his boat. If his dream doesn’t pan out; he’s always got that degree to fall back on. As far as my spelling goes. Hey, give me a break. I graduated from Devry. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/29 "2009-06-30T07:43:37Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > Fair enough. FWIW, my snark wasn’t meant towards you or even the OP. My frustrations comes from this attitude of “I don’t want to do something because it’s hard or it sucks.” As a young man, when I first entered college I was absolutely and completely guilty of this. I ended up dropping out. > [@SHAKES](#): > > I also hope the OP realizes that the probability of him dealing with shit he doesn’t want to do increases exponentially with out a degree. After a few years in the “real world” and degreeless, this is why I am now back in school finishing my degree. 😃 It still gets to me sometimes (see my thread about an English teacher I’m currently dealing with. He’s a pretentious, insufferable blowhard who required 5 of his own books for the course including a volume of his of his crappy poetry, and reads it aloud to us in class), but for the most part I’ve gotten over myself. I’m ready to do whatever the hell it takes, including sitting through listening to some asshole’s bad poetry and then writing an essay about the symbology in it. Still beats the fuck out of working at Domino’s. ---
**Author:** ![ashman165](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8e8cbc/32.png) [@ashman165](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ashman165)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 8:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/30 "2009-06-30T08:21:36Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > I never said going to college was irresponsible, a bad decision, or wrong. What I said is that I didn’t like it, it’s not for everyone, and declining to go does not doom one to a life of menial jobs, and people with attitudes about that fact piss me off. This is quite true, but the converse is that things are oftentimes harder without a degree simply because tons of good paying jobs want one. It’s curious that it needn’t be related to one’s work, only that simply _having_ it somewhere is somehow dispositive. BTW, I made six figs last year, and know how to spell “aspirations,” “lotion” and “beautiful.” 🙂 [/QUOTE] How many of them to _left_ of the decimal? =P ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/31 "2009-06-30T11:30:07Z")
> [@friedo](#): > > Yes, this is absolutely correct. Without a college degree, the OP is doomed to a life of menial labor, working for minimum wage until the day he dies in a freak three-way collision French-fry-grease-powered lawnmower, a bus, and a taxi which simultaneously plow into a construction site where they were building the new office mailroom for Starbucks HQ. > > There aren’t enough rolly-eyes smilies in the world, but then again I’m used to this attitude from people who are convinced that they aren’t worth anything if they don’t go tens of thousands of dollars into debt for a piece of paper that says they know how to learn things. I assumed by “college” we could also exclude trade school, community college or any other formal education after high school. Also the OP said he was “not mechanical or industrious”. These are actual jobs I either worked before I had a college degree or happen to know don’t require a degree or much formal training. Who do you think works those jobs? I guess another route if you know computers really well is to become some sort of IT contractor. Or maybe some sort of entrepreneur. Quite frankly I’m sick of the attitude from people who didn’t go or didn’t like college who are conviced it’s just a rubber stamp for getting a job. While there are plenty of successful people who never went to college, unless you happen to be particularly smart, industrious or entrepreneurial, lacking an advanced education limits your options. There are also a lot of valuable life lessons to be learned from college that go beyond the coursework. If you can’t deal with a pretentous jerk of a professor how will you deal with some pretentous jerk of a boss? If you can’t figure out how to get along with a bunch of over-privileged frat-guy assholes in school, how are you going to get along with them in the real world when you have to deal with them as coworkers or clients or as your boss? Also, a formal education gives you a positive sense of entitlement. I proved I’m smart and hard working enough to complete my program. I don’t need to show up those smug college boys or worry if my lack of a degree is somehow holding me back. What the OP does is his own business, but “aerial gunner” doesn’t really have a lot of skills that transfer to the civilian world. I’m also not surprised the OP doesn’t really like college either. He’s at least 4 years older than a typical college freshman and I’m sure after flying in SAR helicopters in the military, much of it seems stupid and immature. I would just try different things to see what I liked. His grades are fine and he already knows he doesn’t like child psychology. > [@friedo](#): > > :eek: If someone didn’t know basic algebra and how to read graphs before he went to college, I would not want him flying any airplane I was in. Well if you are flying a plane traveling west from New York at 500 mph and “B” is traveling east from LA… ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/32 "2009-06-30T12:40:26Z")
> [@gonzomax](#): > > In Studs Turkel’s "Working’ ,the most satisfied were garbage men. No commitment other than completing a route . They were well enough paid and left the job at work They did not sweat overnight about what was waiting for them. Wrong. It may be the case that garbagemen are very satisfied _with their jobs_, but that doesn’t mean they are very satisfief _period_ (ie, with life in general). Also, Working doesn’t contain any explicit comparison of job satisfaction across different jobs, so your idea of “the most” is not supported at all by the book. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/33 "2009-06-30T13:20:58Z")
> [@Rigamarole](#): > > … including a volume of his of his crappy poetry, and reads it aloud to us in class)… I’m ready to do whatever the hell it takes, including sitting through listening to some asshole’s bad poetry and then writing an essay about the symbology in it. Is he a Vogon? ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/34 "2009-06-30T13:49:51Z")
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#): > > Is he a Vogon? Maybe he’s a Prostetnic in the Vogon Instructor Fleet :). To the OP: how about a career in finance? You don’t need a degree to become a financial adviser, for example - in the UK at least, you can just take a number of below-degree-level courses while working and learning the trade. It’s reasonably interesting, IMO - YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/35 "2009-06-30T16:45:14Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > To the OP: how about a career in finance? You don’t need a degree to become a financial adviser, for example - in the UK at least, you can just take a number of below-degree-level courses while working and learning the trade. It’s reasonably interesting, IMO - YMMV. I think in the US you just have to sponsored by a FINRA registered firm for the Series 7 exam. You would probably be doing mostly Boiler Room style cold-calling, if you are ok with that. ---
**Author:** ![Jettboy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@Jettboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jettboy)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/36 "2009-06-30T17:14:17Z")
I worked the Art Department of several different printing firms before I got into my current “artist/stay-at-home-dad” gig. I was one of the only people there with a degree. Oddly enough, I was one of the lowest paid employees. The printing press operators— pressmen— made considerably more money than me and none of 'em had been to college (although a few had been to a trade/tech school). ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/37 "2009-06-30T17:21:30Z")
> [@Rand\_Rover](#): > > Wrong. It may be the case that garbagemen are very satisfied _with their jobs_, but that doesn’t mean they are very satisfief _period_ (ie, with life in general). Yes, yes, poor people are unhappy, have bad teeth, smell funny, and reproduce too much. We know they are lacking in gumption because they are not rich, and we know the rich have gumption because they buy it at Whole Foods for $325 a pound. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/38 "2009-06-30T17:48:15Z")
I’ll add two more things on this thread. The OP states he is concerned about security more than high earnings. There is a school of thought today that security now comes more from flexibility than from specific skills. Some of the listed jobs pay well because they are currently done by skilled, often union or government, labor. That business model may not be stable in the long term. The people who figure out how to automate stuff are going to focus their attention on those jobs, because that’s where there’s money to be saved. Especially if you have some military funding for college, you might want to take some of the classes that will lay a foundation for quick learning and flexibility throughout your career, whether or not you go for a 4-year degree. Only you can judge how much of this you already learned elsewhere, but these are some things I’d recommend learning before you give up on education - How to write non-fiction to a college-level standard (journalism, business writing, could even be history classes that require research papers. Literary criticism, like a lot of English Lit 101, is not what I’m getting at here.) At least one college-level math class. Statistics would be a good choice. A semester of economics. Don’t take that first semester as gospel though. It’s usually extremely oversimplified. A public speaking class. If your college has a class that introduces students to the MS Office suite, that would also be a good bet. There’s a lot to those programs that people don’t usually learn on their own. Very useful if you’ll be going into business for yourself. The idea is to get the groundwork to take information in, analyze it, and have it come out articulately in writing or speech. Because the people who have essentially never done any critical thinking and are apparently being blindsided by the disappearance of their factory jobs are in a world of hurt. This is the more practical side of college, rather than focusing on stuff that is interesting but doesn’t pay, like psychology or history. That said, if what attracted you to child psychology was a desire to help kids with problems, there are jobs that don’t require a degree working with disabled children. They are stressful and don’t pay well, but are unlikely to be automated or offshored. The jobs would be something like this: [http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/21-1093.00](http://online.onetcenter.org/link/summary/21-1093.00) ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/39 "2009-06-30T18:14:01Z")
> [@Ravenman](#): > > Yes, yes, poor people are unhappy, have bad teeth, smell funny, and reproduce too much. We know they are lacking in gumption because they are not rich, and we know the rich have gumption because they buy it at Whole Foods for $325 a pound. You are in the wrong forum for this type of comment, sir, so I won’t respond in kind. ---
**Author:** ![Ruminator](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9bd4f/32.png) [@Ruminator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruminator)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2009, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411/40 "2009-06-30T18:24:17Z")
> [@SHAKES](#): > > If his dream doesn’t pan out; he’s always got that degree to fall back on. I hear this advice often but to be honest, I personally don’t know anybody that “fell back” to their degree as plan B after wiping out on Plan A. Maybe football players with that didn’t get drafted into the NFL “fall back” to their degree–and become an accountant. I don’t know any athlete candidates so I can’t comment. But then again, the candidate had to go to college in the first place to be noticed by NFL scouts. The people I know that failed at Plan A, the then try Plan B (another job) but that job has nothing to do with their degree, and then if that fails, Plan C also has nothing to do with their degree. I’m not saying that the “fall back on your degree” advice is wrong but this contingency plan doesn’t seem to happen in my observations. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jobs-that-dont-require-college/501411.md?page=3)