4 year college is expensive as hell, what all degrees are there that are 2 year, 1 year, 6 month, etc. that a person can get and make $10/hr or so on?
alot of 2 year degrees that are medical in nature aren’t really 2 years from what i’ve seen, they are 2 years of medical classes and 1.5 years of pre-requisites and applying to the program. im looking for something that really is 2 years or less total, not a 3.5 year degree.
truck driver, auto mechanic (aka automotive technician), medical technician/assistant & engineering technician all come to mind. anything that is an assistant or technician would probably take under 2 years to do. what else.
CAD tech. Getting certified in either AutoCAD or Microstation won’t even take two years. I think there are two year programs but you don’t really need one. You’ll make good money, have a good working environment and a highly portable job. Best of all, if you work in a civil engineering firm, the job market is very stable. Civil engineering job are among the few jobs that cannot be exported overseas since most DOTs dislike foreign firms. Most community colleges have CAD courses.
Dental Hygienist comes to mind, but you may just want to lump that into “medical technician/assistant.”
What your looking for is something often called “trade” “technical” or “vocational” degrees. In reality, they’re more like certificates of training, rather than true degrees. In fact, yesterday I heard a commercial from the carpenters’ union, looking for people to enroll in their 2-year training course.
I think many paralegal assistants also go through a two-year or less training program. Certified child care/pre-school workers also have a farily short program, but the pay is awful.
Don’t rule out truck driving. The actual classes are measured in weeks, not months, and the pay is pretty good, assuming you can stand the brutal schedule.
Is a CAD technician a civil engineering technician?
Also, the problem with things like ragiological technician, nurse, dental hygienist, etc is that here in indiana you cannot take the core courses until you are accepted into the specific program, making the degree about 4 years long.
Like for an engineering AS degree or most other non-medical AS degrees you can start jan of 04 and graduate dec 05. with a nursing or dental hygienist program you’d start jan 04 and graduate may 07 or so.
I thought that you could get a AS Nursing Degree in 2 years. A Registered Nurse has to one of the best paying, most marketable jobs that exist today. You can move most anywhere and find a job quickly. The pay is good too. There are about 40 openings at our hospital at this time.
Well I don’t know where you are but check out any local Tech colleges…
The one here offers a ton of courses a good portion of which can take up to 2 years (they do offer some four year courses as well). They have the certificates needed for working the oil fields, chef courses, Business Administration… lots of stuff.
[QUOTE=Wesley Clark]
Is a CAD technician a civil engineering technician?
[QUOTE]
It stands for Computer Aided Drafting. The CAD tech draws up the plans the engineer gives them. You have to learn a little engineering (usually trained on the job) on how to interpret the information the engineer gives you. Senior Cad techs can often work quite independently and make pretty good money. It’s tough to find bright CAD techs with a good work ethic who make an attempt to understand what they’re drawing instead of just mindlessly copying stuff. I do a fair amount of CAD work myself (I’m a structural engineer) and it can be fun. (can also be pretty boring tho’). Usually, I just put on my headphones and zone out when I’m drawing. Also, I’ve seen several CAD techs get interested in the engineering side of things and go bakc to school to get their engineering degree. They have a head start becasue they already know a lot about how the engineering world works.
Im in indiana and instead of a bunch of community colleges we have about 15 ivy tech colleges. most offer CAD programs but some only offer AS programs. Do you know if a technical certificate (33 credit hours) is enough to qualify someone in the job market tremorviolet?
Toddly - maybe in other states, but not indiana.
with all degrees there are usually 2 types of credits, general education credits and core credits. With a degree like an AS in engineering in Indiana you can take the general education credits (math, biology, Arts & humanities) at the same time as core credits (engineering design, etc). With a healthcare AS in indiana you have to complete all/most of the general education credits, then get accepted into an educational program, then complete about 40 hours of core credits so overall its about 4 years for a 2 year degree in Indiana.
$10/hr is not a lot of money. YMMV, but those aren’t high wages.
You should check out the trades – i.e. carpentry, plumbing or electrical. Most of them have apprenticeship programs where you can learn the trade while working and earning a living. There is a demand for people to work in these areas, and if you persist long enough to have your own business you can make a very comfortable living.
You can still get a nursing certificate in two years, but at least around here, most of the positions require a B.S. in Nursing, which is a 4-year program.
Have you looked into Lincoln Tech in Indianapolis? They offer several 14 month degrees with certifications all along the way. You can train to work as an automotive tech in several specific areas, or for nascar, and even for specific companies like BMW and other high-end manufacturers.
My brother is currently enrolled there, he’s 7 years younger than me, but I think when he gets done, he’ll easily be making a lot more money than me.
Lincoln tech is a private college, tuition is about 18k a year. Ivy Tech, a public college, also has automotive technician programs for closer to 3k a year so if i did one of those i would just go there.
If all you’re after is $10/hour, then take one typing class and go register with several temp agencies. Most data entry jobs hover around $10/hour.
I dunno about the training involved, but my understanding is that training to become a licensed massage therapist maybe takes 6 mos. to 1 year. I pay mine about $50-60 an hour. You can set up your own “practice” and take your massage table to your clients to reduce overhead.
I don’t know about other states and the job market for CAD techs outside of civil engineering but in Texas, that’d be all you need. Really, if you can just demonstrate proficiency, you don’t even need a degree.
For instance, I have a friend who’s taken ONE CAD class. He has another frined at a civil firm who can get him hired. Once he’s hired and learns on the job, that’s all he needs. He’ll never need to take another class. Another firm just hired a guy who has years of AutoCAD experience but absolutely no Microstation training. The firm knows this guy is a good worker and that he’ll learn on the job so he was hired without any certification in Microstation.
And I just talked to my Cad tech here. She did a two year program at the local community college. She said if you make good grades, the instructors can recommend you to firms for part-time jobs while you’re still in school. And that there are also a lot of job postings at the school.
So the trick with civil firms is to get your foot in the door. Take the classes, make good grades, and get along with your instructors. Once you get that first job, work hard, be interested in your work, and don’t argue with the engineers. I think you’d do really well in this field. You’ve previously demonstrated interest in engineering and you seem like a bright guy. Gambatte!
Yes…I was just thinking about how that whole “Civil Engineering” degree worked out great for me. :rolleyes:
Actually, many civil engineering jobs can be outsourced. Unless you are project manageing a site or performing some other job that requires you to be physically present, there is no reason that someone in India or China or whereever couldn’t perform the design and drafting work (which is what CAD is after all). Transportation is just one aspect of civil. DOT might not care for foreign firms but there’s no reason a private developer couldn’t hire anyone they choose to build their skyscraper.
Why not just go to DeVry, Lincoln Tech, Apex Tech or any other chain-schools web site? I’m sure they have a list of all kinds of degrees in HVAC repair, truck driving, office management and many other rewarding and exciting vocations.
Personally, I think you are better off just sucking it up and going to 4 year college for your BA or BS.
'Round here, you can get a 1 year Licensed Vocational Nurse, a 2 year Associate Degree Registered Nurse, a 4 year Bachelors Registered Nurse, and on up to a Doctorate in Nursing. I think it would be generally safe to say the LVN’s start at 12-18/ hour, the 2 year RN’s 18-24/hr. I don’t know about the 4 years, though. Pay rates do vary regionally- sometimes greatly.
Any manufacturer-certified mechanic certificate for auto/motorcycle is excellent, especially if you can get higher-status certs (i.e. not Ford or Honda) in vehicles that break down often or are expensive to repair Think Subaru, Saab, etc.
My brother started with Harley Davidson, then added Ducati and a couple others, and can now write his own meal ticket in just about any major city on the planet if he so desires.
kunilou mentioned paralegal/legal assistant back up the thread a bit. Not knowing where you are in Indiana–I found Vincennes University offers an ABA approved associates degree program in paralegal studies and has a cost of $96/credit hour or about 3k/year after fees.
I have an AAS in paralegal from WDTI in South Dakota and while I have gone on to get a BA in Sociology, I have worked in the field. There really isn’t much call for paralegals in SD, get used more as an over-educated legal secretary, but it pays about $10-15/hours here. From various job postings I’ve looked at, starting paralegals earn about $25-35k in more populated states and cities. If you’re interested in law, research, writing, keeping track of a thousand little details, and wiping your lawyer’s nose occasionally-- it may not be a bad thing to look at if you are just looking for an AA degree.
I guess it really comes down to what you want to do, not many hints in the OP.
yeah ive looked at paralegal. however i’d have to go to ivy tech to get it as Vincennes University is in Vincennes, which is far from here.
Do you know if you need an AS degree or would a certificate be enough to find employment?
i have 54 credit hours already, and about 18 done for the 60 hour paralegal degree. right now im in a 4 year institution studying chemistry. i love anything tiny (nano) and organic so im studying chemistry with maybe a microbiology minor but i want to look at back up degrees in case this chem thing doesn’t work out or if i want to just graduate as fast as i can with a 1-2 year degree.
Think Subaru, Saab, etc.