Career Options

[sanantone]

I live in Texas, so the wages should be similar to what you'll see. Beginner IT jobs in call centers pay $10-15 an hour. You're going to have to learn how to program to make more, but there is a lot of competition for full-time employment in remote positions. That's why people freelance.

[Thorne]

I live in Texas, so the wages should be similar to what you'll see. Beginner IT jobs in call centers pay $10-15 an hour. You're going to have to learn how to program to make more, but there us a lot of competition for full-time employment in remote positions. That's why people freelance.

If you can find a beginner IT job, then sure. I've applied for upward of 50 with nothing coming back, despite being qualified for all of them.

[Ideas]

Yeah, it's easier to go remote after 2-5 years of experience, especially if you convince your current employer to let you go partly remote, then they see how it works out.

The $20/hr phone job sounds good. Most seem to pay at most $15/hr

[kalishakti]

Thanks for the replies.

Did any of y'all feel this way after completing your degrees? In the competency-based education world, there's always some test or project where you can prove yourself, and your progress and achievement is measured by specific skills you've developed and topics you've mastered, as demonstrated by said projects and tests.

Even at the B&M college I got my AA from, the fact that I was the first woman in my family to graduate with a degree and being only 19 years old was something that was celebrated. The school interviewed me and used the video as marketing on their social media pages.

In K-12 education, being interested in and reasonably good at everything with no particular "specialty" is highly rewarded...I was the straight-A student who liked and was good at everything from Chemistry to Wood Shop to Choir to French. In middle and high school, there was also always some test you could take or contest you could enter that would immediately open doors for you, like the ACT, PSAT/National Merit Scholarship test, AP exams, spelling bees, essay contests, etc. I got a 33 on the ACT and made it into my hometown newspaper and received several scholarships. When I won my school and regional spelling bees, nobody cared that I was only 11 and in sixth grade, and if anything, being younger and having no experience made it more of an accomplishment. I was the only girl in my state to make it to the finals of the Geographic Bee and won $500 and a big trophy. And, if nothing else, you could always fall back on charm, persuasion and negotiation. I convinced my principal to let me skip a grade when I was 11 (yes, I won the spelling bee about a month after talking my way into the sixth grade) so I could graduate high school by 17. I got countless extra credit points in high school by baking mole cookies for my chemistry class and various other little projects.

The self-employment, contractor and freelancer space also is generally more skill-oriented and personality-oriented and less tenure-oriented.

Now, trying to break into traditional employment where so much is all about YEARS feels like hitting a big ol' brick wall.

[Ideas]

Yes, it upsets me that large numbers of people attend years of school and can't find a decent job. I wish school were more practical, so that as soon as you graduated, your employer was confident that you could do the job already. As if you'd already completed a year or two internship somewhere. That kind of confidence. It's not how our system works, however, so I'm glad we can speed up the process and get our degrees this way. But a lot of people don't know about this route.

Google and other companies are trying to achieve something like I spoke about. Training where the person completes hands-on projects, so they are more confident in their ability, simply based on the few projects.

However, then you mention "charm, persuasion and negotiation". I think that's alive and well. People with great "soft skills" can get ahead much faster. In fact, I almost recommended it to you in my previous reply. Basically, since you want a hard to find position, I think you'd need to know someone in the right position, or at least know someone who knows someone.

[dfrecore]

While I understand where you're coming from, I also understand where employers are coming from. They want people with a proven track record. They want someone who has not just the skills to do the job, but has some years of experience actually working. Most jobs aren't just specific skills doing the job - they also include lots more things that are harder to measure, like being politically astute, getting along well with others, working on group projects, etc. Much easier to look at a resume of someone who has done all of those things, and much easier to have that on your resume when you've been out in the workforce for a while.

I think that the problem, and I'm not trying to be critical of you, is that you're asking for too much. You are 19, but want a meaningful, high-paying job with benefits, where you can work from home. I think ALL 19 year olds want that, but honestly, that's a lot to ask. When I started my first job at 19 in the business world, I was just happy to struggle along at minimum wage, working crappy hours so that I could go to school. When I finally proved myself and got a better gig at that company (full-time in accounting), I was 20, had already worked a bunch of jobs to support myself since 18, had worked at that company for over a year, and they knew what they were getting. I was making WAY more than my friends by then (it took years for most of them to catch up to me even after they got college degrees).

You want the golden ring, but haven't put in the work to be able to reach it. A degree is just not enough to get you where you want to go.

Does this situation with your relative look like it's going to go on for many years? If so, then I think you're going to have to come up with some additional solutions to help take care of him/her. Giving up your life to take care of someone is admirable, but not very practical. I don't think it can go on for a very long time, without taking a huge toll on your future. I feel for you though, and think it's wonderful that you're willing to help. You sound like a good person.

[Ideas]

Unfortunately, just a few years of being out of the workforce can really affect a person's future income, possibly forever

[eriehiker]

On the other hand, this is an extremely good time to be looking for a job. We are pretty much at full employment and these tax cuts are going to completely overheat the economy.

[kalishakti]

You are 19, but want a meaningful, high-paying job with benefits, where you can work from home. I think ALL 19 year olds want that, but honestly, that's a lot to ask.

You want the golden ring, but haven't put in the work to be able to reach it. A degree is just not enough to get you where you want to go.

Thanks for the replies! I appreciate the feedback and I do understand my goals/requirements are ambitious. I am trying to explore careers or industries where I can get certifications and additional experience that will meet my requirements.

I absolutely understand the need to prove a track record. I’m just finding it to be a bit of adjustment moving from environments where track records were measured by credits earned, test scores, grades, performance statistics (my current pay is heavily determined by my performance on the client’s metrics) rather than by sheer amounts of time. I understand it, it’s just a whole new world for me.

Maybe I would do well in sales. I like the idea and the challenge of being paid commissions and having that opportunity to push my earnings higher, prove myself through my numbers, and use my soft skills to my advantage.

I am actually 22, I was 19 at the time I got my AA.

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I feel for you though, and think it's wonderful that you're willing to help. You sound like a good person.

Thank you! I love my family with all my heart and want to get out of the high-crime, high-tax, natural disaster-prone area where we currently have our permanent residence and live full-time where we are safe and happy.

I am also looking into alternative ways to access medical plans such as group insurance through a professional association or faith-based sharing programs, if anyone has any experience with either.

[Ideas]

I have seen "small business owner" health insurance before. I don't remember anything more.

Although many of the higher-paying sales jobs require travel, some should be phone only. Many of them want experience, but it's worth seeing what you can get.