Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
11/19/13 6:01 p.m.

So, my boss decided to halve my hours. I'm now at 16 hours a week; barely enough to cover our car payment and phone bill. It really sucks, because I missed out on half of the Challenge this year over having to go into work for a shift that I'm "not cut out for".

I'll take this opportunity to take on some money-generating side projects and get into school. Does that sound like the right path to you guys? It sure as hell does to me.

Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
11/19/13 6:05 p.m.

BTW, thanks to Challenge sweetheart, dollraves, for the words of encouragement Friday night.

novaderrik
novaderrik PowerDork
11/19/13 6:19 p.m.

i feel your pain...i used up all my vacation over the summer in order to keep my 40 hours of pay, and now that i'm out of vacation and sick days to use up i only get 33 hours in on a good week and don't have any sick or vacation time to use to make up for it...

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess MegaDork
11/19/13 7:44 p.m.

I think a better plan would be to take your new spare time and find a better job.

Spoolpigeon
Spoolpigeon SuperDork
11/19/13 7:58 p.m.
Dr. Hess wrote: I think a better plan would be to take your new spare time and find a better job.

This.

poopshovel
poopshovel MegaDork
11/19/13 8:08 p.m.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nbGthv-dJp4&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Mitchell
Mitchell SuperDork
11/19/13 8:16 p.m.

Don't forget the first step, which is to get out of Palatka.

mad_machine
mad_machine GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
11/19/13 10:21 p.m.
Spoolpigeon wrote:
Dr. Hess wrote: I think a better plan would be to take your new spare time and find a better job.
This.

+1

yamaha
yamaha PowerDork
11/19/13 10:52 p.m.

So much for having insurance......

Mental
Mental Mod Squad
11/20/13 12:08 a.m.
Derick Freese wrote: ...I'll take this opportunity to take on some money-generating side projects and get into school. Does that sound like the right path to you guys? It sure as hell does to me.

More education is always a good plan, just don't go into debt over it. I would recommend a trade school in a discipline that interests you.

Dr. Hess wrote: I think a better plan would be to take your new spare time and find a better job.

..and this is also always a good plan.

dean1484
dean1484 GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
11/20/13 6:35 a.m.

Getting more schooling is alwas good BUT there is no substitute for experiance. Use this as an opportunity to figuar out what you want to do or what you want to be doing to earn money and start looking for a job in that field. You sound like you are young with out many responcibilitys at the moment. Use that to your advantage. School or taking a job that pays a bit less in a field that will promote you to a position you want or to a job that does pay well. I started in the mail room and eventually made it to VP. Now I am a partner. It takes time and pashence and more importantly knowing where you want to get to.

bastomatic
bastomatic SuperDork
11/20/13 6:38 a.m.
Mental wrote: More education is always a good plan, just don't go into debt over it. I would recommend a trade school in a discipline that interests you.

I am not the anti-school debt advocate some on here seem to be. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the plan of getting an education and going into a moderate amount of debt for it, so long as you have researched it thoroughly before pouring tens of thousands into it.

I went back to school and incurred about $40k in debt after finding myself in a situation where work was dwindling and my prospects of finding a better job were poor.

3 years after graduation I have 3 years of experience, a job that will always provide gainful employment, a job that I love going to work. And no debt.

So go back to school, but choose your major wisely. The only 4 year degrees I know that are sure to have decent prospects and salaries involve engineering and health sciences.

Apexcarver
Apexcarver PowerDork
11/20/13 7:53 a.m.

2nd to what Bastomatic says...

Go in with your head up as to what you are going to do coming out of it.

I know a few people who majored in pointless things that are fighting to keep retail jobs, much less pay off school loans.

Engineering has treated me ok, but its still rough getting started. Pretty much applies to any field.

Hot stuff right now seems to be IT fields. We are still in a tech boom regarding that stuff.

cwh
cwh PowerDork
11/20/13 9:24 a.m.

Probably not at all applicable for you, but the oil biz is really hot now, but a long way from FL. With that huge oil strike in western Australia, wonder how many will make that trip?

Pseudonym
Pseudonym New Reader
11/20/13 9:45 a.m.
cwh wrote: Probably not at all applicable for you, but the oil biz is really hot now, but a long way from FL. With that huge oil strike in western Australia, wonder how many will make that trip?

If I was single, I would be all over that. Or North Dakota for 5 or so years. Really get a jump start on the retirement funds.

novaderrik
novaderrik PowerDork
11/20/13 12:46 p.m.
dean1484 wrote: Getting more schooling is alwas good BUT there is no substitute for experiance. Use this as an opportunity to figuar out what you want to do or what you want to be doing to earn money and start looking for a job in that field. You sound like you are young with out many responcibilitys at the moment. Use that to your advantage. School or taking a job that pays a bit less in a field that will promote you to a position you want or to a job that does pay well. I started in the mail room and eventually made it to VP. Now I am a partner. It takes time and pashence and more importantly knowing where you want to get to.

nothing clever or deep to add, i just found the various spelling errors somewhat humorous given the message of the post- which is a good one..

Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
11/20/13 1:20 p.m.

I currently have nearly free housing. Utilities, insurance, taxes, and the occasional repair are all I have to pay to live here, so that's a +1 for staying in this E36 M3hole.

There are plenty of educational opportunities nearby. This place is a geographical oddity. It's an hour away from everything.

As for a field, I'm looking into electrical engineering. Of course, I'm not 100% sure that's where I'm going to land up, but it's something I've been interested in as a kid. Electronics used to be sort of a black magic for me. I could solder and put together kits, but now I'm putting together my own simple circuits, and it's exciting.

There is no way on earth I want to end up in management. My interests lie in making products, not managing people to make products.

Pseudonym
Pseudonym New Reader
11/20/13 2:47 p.m.
Derick Freese wrote: There are plenty of educational opportunities nearby. This place is a geographical oddity. It's an hour away from everything.

I lol'd

AngryCorvair
AngryCorvair GRM+ Memberand PowerDork
11/21/13 11:07 a.m.
Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
12/5/13 6:32 a.m.

Well, I just got the news that they're doing more layoffs. Chances are I'll be out of work until the middle of next month.

Yay.

Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
12/5/13 6:38 a.m.

To honestly answer the money-no-object question, I'd probably become a career student.

z31maniac
z31maniac UltimaDork
12/5/13 6:41 a.m.
AngryCorvair wrote: what would you do if money were no object?

Race car driver.

How is this not the answer?

Derick Freese
Derick Freese UltraDork
12/5/13 11:52 a.m.

Because I want to be learned everything.

z31maniac
z31maniac UltimaDork
12/5/13 12:18 p.m.
Derick Freese wrote: Because I want to be learned everything.

Read on the plane in between races.

You can even download nearly every course syllabus from MIT.

Wally
Wally GRM+ Memberand MegaDork
12/5/13 3:19 p.m.
z31maniac wrote:
Derick Freese wrote: Because I want to be learned everything.
Read on the plane in between races. You can even download nearly every course syllabus from MIT.

I just started downloading a couple. I'm beginning to remember why I dropped out.

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