For context, I am 24 and basically have wasted my life so far. I'm trying to get my shit together now, but I realize I am behind in my career goals compared to many others.
I currently have an Associates degree in Psychology (got this before I figured out I wanted to work in IT), and an A+ and GoogleIT certification.
I have gotten a few job offers for customer service desk, but nothing that pays above minimum, and I see most of the better job postings list a bachelors as a requirement.
Would it be smarter in the long term to try and work my way up to higher roles and better pay by starting out with these minimum wage service desk jobs, or to work at Starbucks or something to get tuition assistance for a bachelors at ASU/WGU?
LMAO, you are completely clueless. The tech industry is literally on fire right now between the bidenconomy/silicon valley bank collapse and the AI apocalypse. College degrees are toilet paper. It's never getting better. Invent something or find a grift. There are no tech monkey jobs for you anymore.
Location dependent. Also, that they are posting that require bachelors degree, does not mean that they NEED that degree. Often you can get in to these posts without degree, BUT you need to have skills which are required. If you have those, and are capable to show it, then there is good chance that some friend or acquaintance will recommend and vouch for you, if there will be some new opening in company where he is already working.
Anyways, first job will kinda suck anyway. You will feel miserable for first months, until will get up to speed and productivity you are expected.
>I currently have an Associates degree in Psychology (got this before I figured out I wanted to work in IT), and an A+ and GoogleIT certification.
Just use your psychology to make a gacha game
Yes, spend 100K on more education so that you can compete for the 10 jobs opening alongside 1,000,000 H1Bs. If you aren't a Black person, a woman, or a troony you have zero chance.
Go back and network. The paper is worth nothing and won't get you a job
Connections will
spend 2 years infiltrating the git repos of an open source library and then backdoor SSH and sell the private key for 10,000 BTC.
work at starbucks and get some kind of business degree
I would recommend going back in your case so long as it is in-state unless money is just not an issue. You can also go work at starbucks to establish residency in the state you know you want to go to school in and study on the side.
>to get tuition assistance for a bachelors at ASU/WGU?
>WGU
I have no idea whata ASU is but im assuming it's like WGU.
You are insane, why in the world would you want a degree like that.
Arizona State University. It's a public diploma moll.
>You are insane, why in the world would you want a degree like that.
It's cheap, fast, and gives you a shot at the places that require degrees. Why wouldn't you go that route?
ASU is a public university that has gone a bit degree-milly recently. They do have a decent online program relative to everything else though,
*mill
>I am 24 and basically have wasted my life so far.
It's actually over for you. At the very least you do have a degree so you aren't permanently stuck in the wagie class but man, you fricked up.
why is it over?
He's stupid. You can get a new career rolling at any age. Learning to network is the most important thing.
This is correct. I went back to school at 26. It's about doing the right degrees and also networking like he said. Make sure you know what degree you should get as well as employment outcomes and go all in. You really can do it if you give it your all.
is it worth going to college if you HATE being around people younger than you? I'm 24 and I HATE being around them. it's demoralizing and makes me want to kms. can I go through college without interacting with ANYONE AT ALL? I don't even want to look at them or talk to them or anything. also are there people my age in college I can be friends with? I'm not talking about rare exceptions I'm talking about AVERAGE, surely half the class must be my age? if not will I just be alone in college?
Just don't treat them any differently. You aren't that much older, just make it clear how old you are and reach out to form study groups. That will be your social in and will help you a lot as you are sure to be around people younger than you for the rest of your life lol.
but do I HAVE to interact with them? am I forced to? I fricking HATE kids. I can't treat them the same. I'm a mature adult and they're a bunch of fricking stupid kids.
can I just like about my age and everything? just say say I'm 18 around the people in college and also then applying for a job and just create a fake persona? what's the worst that can happen?
>It doesn't matter how old you are. If you just give it your all like I did, you too can achieve your dream of landing a $50k entry-level IT position as 30.
Luckily I did not go back for CS. Definitely do not do that.
Read the thread next time moron.
He did not mention CS, just certs. So, I looked up WGO and ASU online offerings. ASU online offers a ton of degrees, even engineering (not sure how that works, but they do have ABET accreditation). There are a lot of CS-adjacent degrees that make more sense to go back for and will get him a decent-paying job right out the gate, possibly even six figures. I went back for EE personally.
is it worth going back to college if you already have $200K debt from dropping gout of college? I'm guessing after I graduate my debt will be $500K. can I pay that back?
no, but you’re basically already a debt slave anyway
What the frick. How could you even end up in that much debt? I am very much in favor of going back to college even at a bit older age, but 200k? 500k? Does this involve private schools with no aid or sub loan of any kind? I don't think you could achieve those numbers at a public school in even three degree.
A degree is normally just a way to get your foot in the door, once you have experience in a job you can begin to job hop and when doing that past experience counts for way more than the degree, at that point certs are probably more valuable because they back up a claim you make about being proficient in something.