Re: OT - Changing careers, crazy to go into electronics in this economy?

If trained as an electronic technician there are many ways you can
branch out in the field. After getting electronics theory under your
belt then you have a good foundation for many fields. If you decide to
go for a EE later you will have a head start over your competition.
Local elec tech training at a community college near here includes
some PLC and industrial electronic courses along with hands on traning
in other areas also. The company where I worked had quite a few
technicians. Peaked at 50+. Some were just barely proficient and
others enjoyed what they did and it showed in that they continued to
learn and ended up being almost indispensible. What ever you decide
to do be sure it is in an area that you will enjoy.
KS


On Mon, 12 Jan 2009 14:00:52 -0800 (PST), sales@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
wrote:

On Jan 12, 3:09 pm, btrip <bryont...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Jan 12, 1:10 pm, sa...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx wrote:





45 years old, have worked in the freight industry for the last 12
years. Was downsized from the charter airline I worked at and dont
expect it to ever return to what it was, so have to look elsewhere.
I've learned a lot on here about game repairs and like tinkering
around with the little bit of knowledge I have so
I enrolled in school for an electronics/electrical technology
Associates degree program - after 6 months you receive a certificate,
I'm hoping I can get my foot in the door somewhere with that while I
finish up the rest of the program for the degree.
I know some of you guys are technicians of one sort or another - is it
crazy to go into a field like this right now?
What can I hope to be doing when I finish up the schooling? What did
YOU guys do?

Really at a crossroads. NOT what I expected to be worrying about at
this point in my life.
Any insight appreciated.

Thanks
Don

I would recommend running as far away as you can from those crappy 6
month vocational schools.

I got a "diploma" in computer technology from Vaterott College and it
was the biggest waste of 20,000 dollars ever.  I knew more than most
of the "teachers".  Not to mention they pay these "teachers" so little
they just don't give a crap.  Also, a lot of the "students" were
either on parole, fresh out of prison, AA,  rehab, or any combination
of these things.  They were just there figuring they could make a
quick buck and really could care less about computers.  To put it
bluntly, these people were not very smart at all.  I couldn't believe
how they couldn't grasp the simplest of concepts.  Just an example,
one of the teachers didn't know how to spell "modem".  I believe her
spelling was "modim".  We told her she spelled it wrong and she said
"Oops!", erased it, and wrote "modum".  Seriously.  I really hesitate
to call it a college.  It really was just a toilet I threw my money
into.

After wasting a year and a half at that school I went and got my BS in
Computer Science at a REAL accredited university (none of the
"credits" transferred from Vaterott even though it was suggested to me
that many would) and got a good job.  I hear some of my fellow
classmates from Vaterott are doing grunt tech work and phone tech
support and are making 15 dollars an hour.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I live in Michigan, the economic dustbowl. The degree is from a
community college, not one of the 6 month blow-through schools.
I am drawing unemployment for about a year - I wanted to go into
medical but the wait list for the radiology classes i wanted to take
is 2 years, full time course. So I had to pick something I could get
into right away. The state of MI gives displaced workers 5k a year for
2 years (10k total)to use for retraining, just thought i'd give
electronics a shot.
Not getting the warm fuzzies right now though......
.

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