Dead end job: Need advice on how to go back to school

[Kalmado]

I'm 33, married, and work as an insurance agent. I make around $38k/yr and I absolutely hate my job. My employer isn't bad, and most everything is typical of a work environment of minimally educated people working in an industry everyone hates, but I basically do legalized extortion for a paycheck and I'm tired of it.

I originally went to Baker College (Michigan) for computer programming. The associates program is 68 credit hours (classes or either 2 or 4) and I'm sitting at 18 currently. So I have roughly 13 classes to go.

I'd like to quit my job and go full time, but my wife's income wouldn't be much to support us and she goes to school as well. We also have grown accustomed to a way of life and to break that seems very difficult at this point.

I understand people work jobs they hate every day while going on with life. It seems this may be what I need to do while returning to finish my education. If you have been in this position, what has helped you get through each day?

I was also wondering if there is a job I could apply for in the programming realm that does not require a degree? Or, is there a certificate program or trade school I should look into instead of returning to college for the associates?

Thank you in advance for any advice, tips, and suggestions!

[Mina]

You clearly spelled advice properly in the last sentence but the thread title....

[Kalmado]

You clearly spelled advice properly in the last sentence but the thread title....

Damnit! Chalk it up to another frustrating day at the office!!!! (that made me smile at least)

[Syntex]

Well what is your combined net income for the both of you?

[Kalmado]

Around $60k/yr gross. Net is hard. The issue with my wife's job is hourly and her hours can go in a blink of an eye. Like right now, she found out they have temporarily cut out all overtime. When she was hired in, they told her she could borderline work as many hours as she would like. Also, when she starts school back up she can work max 72 hours every two weeks or she will burn herself out.

[Mina]

It made a lot of people smile I kinda laughed cause of the topic at hand.

I wish you the best of luck, I keep telling myself I need to go back to school but I have a job that I'm pretty comfortable at.

[Zetanio]

I'm 33, married, and work as an insurance agent. I make around $38k/yr and I absolutely hate my job. My employer isn't bad, and most everything is typical of a work environment of minimally educated people working in an industry everyone hates, but I basically do legalized extortion for a paycheck and I'm tired of it.

I originally went to Baker College (Michigan) for computer programming. The associates program is 68 credit hours (classes or either 2 or 4) and I'm sitting at 18 currently. So I have roughly 13 classes to go.

I'd like to quit my job and go full time, but my wife's income wouldn't be much to support us and she goes to school as well. We also have grown accustomed to a way of life and to break that seems very difficult at this point.

I understand people work jobs they hate every day while going on with life. It seems this may be what I need to do while returning to finish my education. If you have been in this position, what has helped you get through each day?

I was also wondering if there is a job I could apply for in the programming realm that does not require a degree? Or, is there a certificate program or trade school I should look into instead of returning to college for the associates?

Thank you in advance for any advice, tips, and suggestions!

I worked full time while getting a degree, it REALLY sucked but it was worth the payoff for me. Caveats were: I was single and had an employer that was pretty helpful schedule-wise. I was in night school but classes started at 5:45 sometimes which was a real pain for meetings.

I want to tell you just to say "Fuck it" and quit but that's a very scary and risky thing to do. Sorry if I'm not much help.

[Syntex]

Around $60k/yr gross. Net is hard. The issue with my wife's job is hourly and her hours can go in a blink of an eye. Like right now, she found out they have temporarily cut out all overtime. When she was hired in, they told her she could borderline work as many hours as she would like. Also, when she starts school back up she can work max 72 hours every two weeks or she will burn herself out.

Well assume the worst here. No overtime and 36 hours a week year round.

Would the 22k for her be about right with above conditions? I don't know what she makes an hour so its hard to tell.

Also what are your current expenses? What are some upcoming expenses?

[Ksandra]

where do you live?

[Melena]

Personally, I'd pull as many classes as you can while maintaining some semblance of work. With her hours being up in the air, the last thing you want to do is wind up in a position where you are debating which essential such as food, gas, etc gets cut to keep a roof over your head. Sorry I can't really offer much more than that. When I went back to school, I was single and living with my grandmother so I only had to worry about insurance, gas, and smokes.

[Kalmado]

Jackson, Michigan. Just bought a house. PITI payment is $475/month. The rest of the bills (excluding gas/food) is around $900 making monthly bills around $1375. As stated in the OP, it's more about the lifestyle we've grown accustomed to. It's hard to break away from it to get school done asap.

If I could even get an entry level job in something pc related while going to school I'd jump on it. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but going to work every day feels like I'm pulling into a concentration camp. I enjoy the money, but I feel so empty and frustrated every day. I suppose this is probably at any sales job, but what I do is never enough. We have three months to go in the year for our yearly goal, and my first year at this agency and I'm the first one at 100%, but I get hassled about my numbers not being good enough. It's just frustrating!

[Arvin]

If you were alone/not a homeowner, I would have some good advice.. but it sounds like you're pretty stationed in Jackson. Going back into school shouldn't be too bad, seeing how there are a few close options. Spring Arbor, Jackson CC, etc. I would say try to do night classes, it might suck in the long run but will be well worth it.

[Syntex]

Jackson, Michigan. Just bought a house. PITI payment is $475/month. The rest of the bills (excluding gas/food) is around $900 making monthly bills around $1375. As stated in the OP, it's more about the lifestyle we've grown accustomed to. It's hard to break away from it to get school done asap.

If I could even get an entry level job in something pc related while going to school I'd jump on it. I know I'm preaching to the choir here, but going to work every day feels like I'm pulling into a concentration camp. I enjoy the money, but I feel so empty and frustrated every day. I suppose this is probably at any sales job, but what I do is never enough. We have three months to go in the year for our yearly goal, and my first year at this agency and I'm the first one at 100%, but I get hassled about my numbers not being good enough. It's just frustrating!

I would obviously keep your current job as long as you can until you either find that elusive pc related job paying a decent amount or if your wife finds a better job that can work with her school schedule. You could also find a decent job that isn't a pc related one, just keep looking and don't quit til you got the job somewhere else which goes without saying.

The problem I see here is you don't want to make sacrifices to go to school full time but in the end that's about the only thing you can do. I mean how much time do you think you will have working full time with 2 classes part time at night? Thing is with monthly bills being about 1400 and assuming food/gas for the month is another 600 you guys can get by with 30k/year easy and that's with another $6,000 for extra things like movies and going out.

What are you doing that you're spending over $500 a month to do? You could quit right now and work at McDonalds and still live decently but I doubt you want to go from one hell to another.

I guess my point is if youre busy working either there or somewhere else do you really have time to be doing so many other things and why can't you cut those costs down?

Now if you can get a better job you love making the same or more then that's awesome, go for it. However given your current situation I would consider going down to part time(if they allow it) at your current job. If that isn't an option you could go get a job at Costco or Hobby Lobby getting $13+ an hour but you would need to be more frugal than you are now. It is totally doable and with less time you should be saving money because you will be doing homework throughout the week and not going out.

[Kalmado]

If you were alone/not a homeowner, I would have some good advice.. but it sounds like you're pretty stationed in Jackson. Going back into school shouldn't be too bad, seeing how there are a few close options. Spring Arbor, Jackson CC, etc. I would say try to do night classes, it might suck in the long run but will be well worth it.

Baker's night options were ok. 6-9:45 and most would let you go around 9:30 or earlier. I do realize in the long run it's more than likely worth my while to continue working my current job. I guess I'm being optimistic there is something else I could do while attending classes...

[AidenCarby]

If you were alone/not a homeowner, I would have some good advice.. but it sounds like you're pretty stationed in Jackson. Going back into school shouldn't be too bad, seeing how there are a few close options. Spring Arbor, Jackson CC, etc. I would say try to do night classes, it might suck in the long run but will be well worth it.

Pretty much this:

Sometimes you have to grab your balls and do both. Though if you haven't been in school in a while, I'd recommend starting with one, maybe two class tops just to avoid being overwhelmed.

[Anoat]

The only advice I can give you about going back to school is this: absolutely, positively STAY AWAY from for profit schools like Keiser, University of Arizona, etc. They will charge you a shit ton of money and give you an almost worthless certificate when you are finished. If financial aid is available, look to an instate college, university, or trade school or vo tech depending on what you want to go for.

[Kalmado]

Baker College in Michigan is ok. It's more about convenience. It's geared towards working adults. The tuition is much more than Jackson College (used to be Jackson Community College), but still less than Spring Arbor University(christian). My first semester back I plan to only take two classes to get adjusted. After that 3-4 depending how I feel.

About work, I'm very emotional and I do not shy away from it. It definitely has it's downside, but I am the way I am because I care. A great example is today, I gave a quote for home, auto, and a rental property. This woman is having brain surgery in two weeks and wants to get her insurance matters behind her. I am able to save this woman $1600, and she started crying on the phone because of how happy she was. Great feeling right! I had to talk to my boss about something else, and I tell her about the lady, and she gives me this look like I'm the dumbest person on the planet and says, "yeah...?". Put me in a foul mood for the remainder of the day. I know I should only worry about my sales and my check, but damn it why does it have to be that way?

That is why if I could work a job in the pc related field (not geek squad!) while going to school I would jump on it. It seems everything in my area requires an associates or better.

[Meresgi]

http://www.wgu.edu/

You can look on there if any degree programs seem fitting. So far I have 0 complaints about the school. They require you to take cert exams to pass classes so it's not bullshit "just skim by and move on" like most online colleges. (You also only get 4 tries and if you fail 4 times you are removed from the program entirely and would have to reapply (3rd and 4th attempt are also out of your own pocket.) In terms of computer science, why do you feel you need a degree? Are you looking to be a programmer? What languages do you know? Do you have a github? Have you participated in any community or open-source projects?

Is it more of a "I like computers and want to get into that field" type thing or are you hard set on programming?

[Fievel]

I work full time and go to school full time(fourth year pre-med, 18 credits a semester) and have a kid/house/run my own business! suck it up!

But really, work + school sucks, especially if you hate your job, but my best advice is to just bite the bullet and enroll in classes right away. The sooner you start the easier it will be for you to finish and move on to what you really want to be doing, you can always look for a job while working and doing school too. It's a lot, and it can be extremely exhausting, but in the end it's worth it. In two years would you rather have your degree, or be sitting around regretting never starting? It's easy to say "next semester, works crazy right now!" or "I'll start after I do this!" but then you never start, just go!

[Astylla]

It's ironic..I am kind of in a similar position. I enjoy my job and it's a wonderful company but career wise..I can't do much. I'm in a glorified call center environment.
Currently i'm on workmans comp still but I turned 36 this year with no formal education and my husband has an awesome job , I feel like I need to do more.
I'm realizing that if we can live on what I get now on Temp. Disability , sucking it up for school might be worth it. I'm not willing to go tens of thousands in debt , but to start it appears I can get my AA for a reasonable amount and go from there. I'm definitely in a research phase still and not committing until this issue is resolved/I'm back to work but trying to formulate a plan of action if we can figure it out feasibly.

The big thing is that you don't have to sacrifice your way of life forever , just making small changes can add up and the long run hopefully will pay off.

I think it comes down to knowing the market where you live but also knowing that can change at the blink of an eye. I also made the mistake when I was about 22 going to one of those for profit schools , so I highly advise staying away from that if at all possible. I know so many that went that or Univerisy of Phoenix then wanted to go for their bachelors and nothing transferred costing them far more in several ways. I'm trying to look at the big picture for myself and that's my best advice. If this is what you want , do it , have a plan , have a backup plan and know that some days will suck but the payoff will (hopefully) be worth it.

I wish you luck.