Swapping a 4 year degree path for a 2 year welding cert, night and day difference

I dropped out of a university in Columbus after 3 semesters because I was drowning in gen eds I didn't care about. Took a 2 year welding certificate at a community college instead. The big difference was how fast I got to actual hands-on work. In the university I spent 9 months on theory before touching anything real, but in the cert program I was in the shop by week 2. That changed how I learned, suddenly every class had a clear reason and a visible result. I finished the cert at 20 and had a job offer from a local fab shop before I even graduated. Has anyone else found that a trade path just clicks better than a traditional degree? What did you switch to and how long did it take to feel worth it?

2 comments

2 Comments

seth_martinez211d ago

My buddy Kyle did the exact same thing down in Austin, switched from a business degree to an HVAC program after two years. He said the first week they had him wiring up a real unit and he just knew it was right. Took him about six months into the program before he stopped feeling like he'd made a mistake and started feeling like he was ahead of the game. He's been working steady for three years now and makes more than his old roommate who finished the business degree. Sometimes you just gotta trust the timing of things, you know.

kellyg143h ago

Wait, only three years and he's already outearning the business degree guy? Seriously? That's crazy. I mean, I know trades are doing well but I didn't think it was like that. My cousin finished her marketing degree last year and she's still doing coffee shop shifts on the side. Six months to feel like he was ahead of the game though, that's the part that gets me. I feel like I'd still be second-guessing myself for a year at least, wondering if I made the wrong call. Maybe Kyle just had the right attitude from the start.