Career options

[Xist]

I researched in-demand careers before leaving Germany and Speech-Language Pathology seemed great, I just did not realize how demanding the program would be, and difficult to get into grad school. I had planned on becoming a Speech-Language Pathology Assistant (SLPA) and taking on-line classes while I study for the GRE until I finish my contract with the National Guard October 20th, 2,016, but with recent complications to my life, I just do not know how realistic that is. I had many people tell me that I set my goals too high and needed to come way down, which I did not appreciate. One keeps asking me about becoming a teacher, but supposedly I can earn as much as an SLPA as I could after yet another two years of college, and all that I need is a hundred hours of training and to pay some fees.

My main concern is that I do not even know where to search for SLPA jobs. Indeed.com, which searches job search sites, showed sixteen results, but only one was real, although: "Starting hourly rate ranges from $16.03 - $18.14." However, they say they require a certificate through a college or university. ASU's program costs five thousand dollars and I am not sure that they would accept me. However, I do not need to go through a school, I just need an SLP to provide one hundred hours of hands-on training.

I just worry about recent complications.

One SLPA opening in the entire Phoenix metropolitan area, but fifteen erroneous or duplicate listings.

My ex-girlfriend is finishing training to become a dental assistant, which may pay as well as an SLPA, but Indeed shows 437 listings for that, although I imagine many are duplicates. One step up from that is dental hygiene, but that is a huge step! I took out a dental hygienist a couple of months ago and it only requires an Associate's, but even with two Bachelor's, and one is somewhat medical, I would still need to take prerequisites for a semester or two before I could start the two-year program! Starting pay is slightly better than speech therapy, though, but they require better grades to stay in than I managed so far.

While I was in school, my cousin told me to go to an HVAC school, and said that as smart as I am, I could do very well. He graduated at the top of his class and even though he is a felon, he got a great job, which he quickly quit.

Gateway Community College in Phoenix has an HVAC program, two years for just under six thousand dollars--one semester of grad school! My ex-girlfriend works full-time and takes night classes. I doubt that any of my classmates worked full-time, but my only employment was the Guard, and I struggled. If I could somehow do school and work, I would rather use student loans and save my GI bill for an MBA or something.

The top two jobs at The 100 Best Jobs | Best Jobs | US News Careers are on computers, but I cannot even keep mine running!

[Daox]

What would you like to do? (disregarding the demand of jobs, pay, etc)

[Cobb]

Thats like putting the car before the horse. My BS is in management, but I have no experience in management, therefore no job in management. I have experience with business, customer service, tech support, sales, computers, banking, money and usually end up in those roles at another place or department after a while.

Do like my friend who was laid off from the bank too a few years ago. Plug the hell out of being a vet, serving the country and your responsibilities in the service. Budget limits, authorizations, people who you commanded or were in charge of, etc. He landed a job in logistics packing trucks on the computer for a shipping company. Not bad for an Army dentist? I just had him erase everything about teeth from his resume.

[ksa8907]

Skilled trades. Heavy machine operator. At the utility where I work you would make $31-34/hour.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Daox

What would you like to do? (disregarding the demand of jobs, pay, etc)

I want to support a family.

Hopefully, my own!

My deployment girlfriend always wanted to be a music teacher. There were many problems with her marriage, but her husband would not allow her to go back to school. She got a divorce, earned her teaching degree, and a year later, found a teaching job in another part of the state. At one point, I talked with a dentist that was deployed with me; I felt that we had similar personalities. When he explained the reasons that he chose dentistry, they made a great deal of sense to me. I mentioned it to the then-unemployed teacher and she asked "What about teaching?!"
"Being a dentist looks really good."
"Okay, fine, dentist or dental assistant."

Where did she get dental assistant?! They have a fraction of the education, a fraction of the skills, and receive a fraction of the pay.

Being a music teacher sounds fun and I would hope the students would enjoy it more than other classes, and behave better. However, it took her a full year to find a job, and she needed to move across the state.

It was frustrating, though. She kept asking me what I wanted to do when I got out of the Army. While I was interested in dentistry and speech therapy, I was most interested in being a husband and a father, so that is what I told her. She wanted to marry me and she had four kids, so you would think that she would appreciate that, but she kept asking the same questions, and it seemed she felt that everything besides teaching was an incorrect answer.

I still want to be an SLP, but after investing two years, I would need to put in five or six more, and between not receiving tuition assistance and the other complications, it just does not seem worth the chance of not getting in. My brother's old SLP was very critical of me "just giving up and throwing away the past two years of [my] life," insisting that, because I am a man in a predominantly female career, and because I am a Veteran, I would have been accepted.

How does that help me stay in, though?

Everybody tells me "Cs earn degrees," and I tell them to do push-ups. Even my friend the professor. I asked him if he earned Cs while earning his doctorate and he wrote "Heh. If you earn Cs in grad school, you are not in grad school anymore."

I do not know how much I would enjoy working in HVAC, but I enjoy fixing things, and while nobody enjoys paying bills, people should appreciate having AC again.

Maybe I could be a mechanic, although I do not seem to be very good at that so far, I definitely have a great deal of room for improvement!

If I knew more about cars, I could help more people!

Dad tried to convince me to move back in with them. He said that he would move his office into the garage so that I could have a bedroom and would talk to people he knew about me learning their trades, but he did not stay around very long.

[Cobb]

Xist, you can play an instrument? BINGO, sell lessons hourly on craigs list.

[dirtydave]

Do a trade or start your own business and work your ass off. Do what you love and do it well whatever it is. I don't think I can go knuckle deep in strangers mouths but not many people can move a piano and drive for 4 days straight. But that's what I'm good at and it's what I do. I bought a van and a trailer and went from that. I will drive for 20 days a month sometimes.

[Xist]

Yeah, I, um, well, do not seem to do anything well.

[gone-ot]

Originally Posted by Xist

Yeah, I, um, well, do not seem to do anything well.

Then...find something you do LESS badly.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Cobb

Thats like putting the car before the horse.

Rear-wheel drive, baby!

Originally Posted by Cobb

Xist, you can play an instrument? BINGO, sell lessons hourly on craigs list.

Sorry, I do not know how to play any instruments... yet!

Originally Posted by Old Tele man

Then...find something you do LESS badly.

Oh boy. It sounds like a temp agency would be a good place to start. I applied at one for summer work when I was a bus driver. They had me take a computer skills test, but instead of asking me to complete a task and seeing if I can the first time, they had a Windows emulator that tested me. It kept telling me to do tasks that had multiple methods, like closing a window, but it only recognized one. The woman saw my test scores, told me they were awesome, and asked what I was doing driving a bus, she could get me ten dollars an hour in an office!

Did she see that I was making over thirteen dollars an hour?

My test scores were not awesome, I only averaged 80%. My test scores were faulty. I do not have any idea what basic computer skill I supposedly missed!

Then they put me in a factory...