How are you Monetizing using your Degree or Certificates

[IrishJohn]

I haven't been fairing in the job market very well since older people are going after what should be entry level jobs in this market. People with 10-20 years of experience are being hired for jobs that pay $30k-$35k a year.

I'm one of those older workers who had to take a much lower paying job thanks to this wonderful economy. /sarc My degree hasn't benefited me much either since I lost my job back in 2011 and was forced to change careers, temporarily in a blue collar job that doesn't require more than a high school diploma or GED! I made more than this 15 years ago! Ah well. As my dearly departed Grammy used to remind me, "count your blessings, others have it much worse than you do!". Thanks Grammy, love you a lot and all but I always found that annoying. True, but still annoying.

At any rate, while my degree hasn't helped me much yet I expect that it will as I finally transition into teaching sometime next year. That is something I was planning on doing one day but just not this soon. Ultimately though I'd like to teach at the local community college which is why I'm working on a MA in History. If I was planning on staying in public schools for my teaching career I would just complete an MAT through Morningside College, with extensive use of VESI, and call it a day. But at this point in my life it's time to go with my dream no matter how difficult it may be. Truth be told I was growing to hate the job I was laid off from when the company folded. Yet with the huge salary cut after the job loss and the long period of unemployment I endured I have decided to take it slowly on finishing my master's. This means I'll be teaching at the public schools for about 4-5 years as I complete my MA one class a semester, paid for out of my pocket with minimal loans. In some ways this might be good anyways because it will give me experience in teaching I can use at the community college later.

Now the Big Question: do I regret getting my degree? Not at all. Even if I never use it (very unlikely), it had been something I chased for nearly 20 years off and on but could never line up the time, finances and commitment due to work. I'm very glad to have achieved that goal of earning my bachelor's and now am pleased to be working on my master's! Until I discovered this forum and TESC I had just about given up, despairing of even completing an Associate's. So again, I don't regret finishing my degree at all. At least I can say that I paid for all of it out of my pocket while I still had the great paying job instead of financing it through loans to drown myself in. I leave that up to my underwater mortgage to keep me barely holding my head up above the waves.