Value of Technical Degrees on the Rise

We’ve all heard the horror stories about students with college debt and who can’t find jobs to lift themselves out of that debt. But understandably, many people conclude that they still have to go through the traditional liberal-arts degree routine, because what else can they do? They need a degree to have any hope for a job.

But this article shows that certain two-year technical degrees, tied closely to particular occupations, are outperforming bachelor’s degrees across a variety of programs in terms of post-graduation income.

The caveat is that when it comes to lifetime earnings, those with the four-year degrees tend to outperform people in these technical programs. I wonder if that isn’t because our new circumstances are so new that we haven’t had long enough to study long-term earnings across enough people. Also, the two-year folks graduate with much less debt.

The point isn’t that no one should bother with a four-year degree, but simply that people shouldn’t unthinkingly enroll in such a program without giving serious thought to their academic skills, their likely lines of employment, etc.

pro

I wonder if people in high school are starting to hear this message. I certainly was not exposed to any warnings related to how student loan debt can impact your future.

Luckily, in-state scholarships provided me with free tuition. I highly doubt any of my teachers, councilors, or parents would have tried to stop me if I decided to go to a private school, which would have required me to take out massive loans.
Anonymous

In my particular area of expertise (integrated system/equipment troubleshooting and repair) my troubleshooting, electronics, and computer training from the Navy (and the certs that they paid for) is equivalent to, or in many cases better than, what you’d get from a tech school (plus I have experience). There is a lot of work in this field, but much of it is through government contractors or the government itself.

There is a large pay gap between those techs in the real private sector and those who work for government contractors/agencies, and I am talking something along the lines of $30k a year vs $60-70k for comparable positions. Obviously, the pay also depends on where you live (the market in that region), what your actual job is, what specific field you’re in, and if you will be required to travel often (which is typically the case for the bigger money). I would be using these skills right now if this weren’t the current reality (and I love both travel and troubleshooting).

It’s a great field, and it’s not labor intensive in most cases, depending on what your niche is you will almost always work in air-conditioned spaces. Obviously, you’ve got to be pretty intelligent from the outset, and it helps if you already have interests/hobbies in this field. Most areas of employment in the tech field can be broken down into three primary categories: design, manufacture, or service/maintenance.

I personally prefer coming up with new ideas to problems and fixing current problems, so design and troubleshooting is what I tend to be good at (maintenance is ok, but it gets boring very quickly for me). Manufacturing isn’t as big as it used to be, so it is more often that you’ll be maintaining/servicing the equipment that does the manufacturing, but in the cases of actual manufacture it can be more of a routine-oriented area of the field (for those who prefer routine). I tend not to like manufacturing unless it is on some custom builds, prototype builds, or rebuild/new-build of some older vintage designs; that’s a very cool area, but it also typically requires the most experienced builders (i.e. not me).

I’ve seen plenty of people who got into the field for the wrong reason, or just weren’t made for it. There’s plenty of diversity with regard to specific jobs, but for the most part you have to be good at theoretical ideas, risk taking, practical knowledge and application, as well as problem-solving, and it helps if you actually enjoy these things and are very quick at accomplishing them. Without these things, you probably won’t do well in this field. There’s also the certification monkey that’s always going to be jumping on your back, so be prepared to be constantly getting new certs or re-certs.

If you want the big bucks, then you pretty much have to accept, as well as be naturally inclined to the successful handling of the fact, that each day will have no plan and that you’ll constantly have to stay on your toes, because it is a fast-paced and quickly changing field, and it knows no borders (national or otherwise). “Routine” is like dropping the F-bomb at your grandmother’s funeral, you just don’t do it.