Most people would say after you finish high school, then it is time for your college career. Taking a ton of courses around a topic that you find interesting, and hopefully would want to work on for the next few decades.
That is the "traditional path", that your father and father before him took right?
That isn't always the same path for each person, but for the most part the shoe fits. What they don't tell you is just how behind you'll be once you get in the real world.
It used to be well the price wasn't too expensive, and the four years sort of flew by. That at the end you'd be behind, but the degree would help you catch up. Some folks used to say college was the interim experience to get you ready to be on your own, paying bills, etc. What you find out is that you were woefully under prepared.
Like living life on the training wheels...
However somewhere along the way (around the 90's), the process stopped worked, and no one noticed. Then in the 2000's some more outlier type people, noticed, and starting talking about it out loud. Yet the were not heard.
Scrambling to Find time for Experience
The opportunity cost of taking those years to finish the degree, and the amount of time that could have been spent working. That isn't to say you made the wrong choice, but it is hard to gain experience while taking a full course load.
Not only did you waste a bunch of your youthful years, but what do you have to show for it? The traditional degree takes years to complete, and you don't always learn the most up to date facts either. Such is the case with digital marketing or programming for example. Meaning that you aren't even the top knowledgeable in those newer fields in tech, that make the most money usually.
Meaning that you'll have to spend the next year or two catching up to everyone else after finishing your degree. Which then of course you spend more of your youth not doing things that are fulfilling in life.
I don't just mean partying on the beach while your body can still take the alcohol, although that is true too I guess. I mean that when you are at the prime of your physique, where you could go bouldering, scuba diving, or some other life experience. You're stuck locked away learning something that may or may not help you in your career.
So much time and money for a Piece of Paper
That is a very valuable piece of paper, for some worth hundreds of thousands of dollars even. However it means nothing to the outside person, and in some fields they don't even LOOK at your education history.
The ones that do simply check off that you got your bachelors, and then the program they use sends you to their desk. It isn't even a person most of the time that checks it. So who cares if it is Rice or Harvard, right?
To be frank, that is LITERALLY what you are going to school for, it doesn't matter what your reasoning is. I.e. networking, postponing "adult life", or whatever. In the end all you truly get is the paper. Plus academic network connections, don't generally help you that much in the professional field anyways most times.
Now you're in debt, can't find a job, and are stuck.
Oh let's not forget you are in crippling debt, and the loan sharks are circling around you too!
So what do you do?
It is time to upskill. I know I know. You literally just got out of spending years of your life learning, but now you got to learn the things that will set you apart from the rest. A lot of your competition has this skill that is semi quick to learn, but they don't have a degree. Meaning if you have both, then you are the more quality candidate.
Also, for most company recruiters too, it seems that the age old saying is true. It isn't WHAT you know, but WHO you now. No amount of college networking events, or professors that liked you is going to really help here. You need real world experience with folks in that industry. Start a podcast and interview them, find out where they like to go and interact, watch their presentations, just something!
Choose to live the life you want to live at this point, if you want to postpone your career, and there is some way you can afford to. Then do it. Go for a gap year after high school, take a bootcamp instead of starting your college degree, etc. If you're after university already, then find a way to make up for lost time.
Find new ways of learning, and find the new skills that are most important.
Market yourself, learn new skills that aren't in the school curriculum yet, and network with others in your field.
If you want to learn something quick, then I recommend using a Modular Degree:
Dustin Miller | PolyInnovator
Previous Shorter Version:
This was one of my "social articles", an experiment to create medium sized blog posts, akin to newsletters. Across a variety of social blogging networking platforms. Such as Medium, and Linkedin. Since it didn't quite land; I decided to take these posts and remake them into more full length creations.
Dustin Miller - PolyInnovator
