EAST TEXAS HOG DOGGERS FORUM

They say school is important but i cant stay off here or coondawgs.com i guess i can say im addicated to hunting

Hahaha my ag teacher didn't care if I was in his class at all for the whole day lol especially durin this time of year with all the fair projects goin on hell I bet I did most of the work on half of the projectsstill not sure how I passed precal cause I wasn't ever there!

Haha im in ag right now and we have a sub so we get away with everything

I hate to be "that guy", but school is very important! Do it right the first time, and get out and go to college! If you don't have a degree nowadays you are in for a long trip! Of course there are a few folks that can get by or make a good living without one, so don't get me wrong; but IMO you are a lot better off with a degree! Stay in the books and in the woods and you'll do fine!

Right now there are probably just as many people with degrees that can find a job as those without one...

I know that guys but every lil free te i have is devoted to huntin then im on here lol

yep, and that makes it even more tough for people without degrees to get jobs over the people with em... It will get better if we ca get some change in the big house... Lol! Good luck with ur schooling bud!

A degree has little value... Knowledge is worth getting... At the end of the day it all lands on YOU. You can own the fastest car on the world but if you can't drive it your still going to lose the race.

Let me clear this up, and then I'll shut up... If you have the opportunity to get a degree DO IT! Better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it! They are right to an extent... Hell my God father is a millionaire and he didn’t finish his degree, but good luck having that luck buddy! It’s better to have a backup plan, cause you’re not going to be able to hog dog until you die… and if you’re making good enough money off selling hogs to make a living then all power to you. I’m not saying that you have to have a degree to do goo, cause hell, I only have my associates, but it helps! Trust and believe, coming from someone who is lucky to be alive, stay in and finish everything you can… cause real life will hit hard, fast, and before you know it you will have kids and payments to take care of! Now I’ll get off my soap box, but keep up the schooling!

Lol i dont sell hogs i sell dogs and i know school is very important

Ryan, well worded.   I would sure do things different if I could go back and do them over!   The first thing I would do us make school # 1 priority!   Money cannot buy happiness, but it pays the elect bill, & puts food on the table.

school is a great place to eat your lunch

I hope so... and I don't mean to preach, but I tell it to every young guy I get a chance to. Good job and keep it up man! It won't last forever, and when it's over you'll wish you were back at it!!! ;D


Man I know that's right, and thanks! I would love to finish my college degree, but yet again here comes the money factor. It should've been #1 priorty then entire time I was in it! My problem wasn't the work that they dished out in high school... it was actually being there in the first place. Other kids would get mad at me cause I wouldn't ever be in school except when it was time to take a test. I'd come in, make an A on the test, and then walk right back out. Finally the teachers started getting on to me telling me it wasn't fair. I said what, because they have been here every day and I'm out scoring them on the test? LOL! Honestly, it took me to realize that I could be dead to have the want to finish. When you loose two of your best friends a month apart at age 17 it will open your eyes and let you know that you won't be here for ever and could be gone tomorrow.

ryan you hit it on the head. i opted out cause college wasnt my thing. couldnt land real jobs with no degree. but id be danged if i have a job now that needed a bach degree and i dont have one. fella said i dont need one with the head on my shoulders. rolleyes

Haha unless your lunch is gross

Ever consider the cost of a college education vs the benefit?

4-5 years of books, tuition  + 4-5 years lost "on-the-job" experience   VS. just getting into a trade right out of high school and sticking with it....  Makes one wonder just how valuable a college education really is...

My best friend beat out 6 other candidates for a position with a major industrial gas company, he has a high school diploma and nothing more. The other 6 candidates all had college degrees...

At 20 years old my brother was making 70k a year with no degree, in the IT industry.

Heck, I pay the guys that work in my warehouse $19.00 per hour, and I don't care what level of education they have. That's just under 40k a year with no OT... My little sister, with a masters degree works as a teacher and only makes 45k.  Just the cost of her degree, it will take her well over a decade @ 5k per year above my warehouse guy, just to make her degree pay... not to mention the 5-6 years she lost in the workforce... That puts my warehouse guy at over 200k above her in earnings, before she ever deposits her first paycheck.

Now, I am not saying college is a bad thing, and certainly some fields do require a degree. The reality, is that a college education is no more a prerequisite for a good job today than it was 30 years ago.

Even better... good luck to you out there! It's a hard, tough, cold world... but if you know how to grab it by the horns you can make it do what you need it to, and then everything else just falls into place. (Need being the key word in that statement, not want! LOL!)  ;D

you hiring  ;) ;D

I will agree to disagree... The way you word it, yes, you are right. It seems that they benifit much more, but break it down. The teacher gets off all summer, paid, and Christmas/New Years and all other major holidays, paid. 401K, and on top of that she/he probably gets PTO (paid time off). So she/he is working inside, not breaking her body, and teaching others to continue to better our country; because not everyone is going to be able to do manual labor their whole life, or even long enough to put enough money back to retire on. The IT friend of yours, he is lucky, and obviously worked hard enough to know what he knows to get paid so well which in itself is technically schooling in one way or another. Does he have any certs? Cause if he is making that without any certs at all I'd be suprised, and I'd like to figure out where I can get hired on at. LOL! ;D Books can be loaned out from the schools if you can not afford them. Pay for your school by working a part/full time job as I did and then you won't owe any body any money for loans... Then what are you out, time? Well as I stated previously, I worked and went to school at the same time, and was doing IT on the side for some extra money... So you CAN do it all, you just have to learn how to manage your time right. Be smart, and make smart decisions. I'm not saying it is for everyone, but if you have the opportunity to be able to go to college do so at least for long enough to figure out what you really want. What you want now, and what you want 10-20 years from now may differ dramatically from each other. So it's better to be prepaired for the long haul now, than to get somewhere that you are going to be wishing you had. Shoot, get you a job using some natural skills, go to school at the same time, and then you have a degree to fall back on if things don't plan out or you get hurt or anything at all could happen.

Let me ask you this Circle C... Do you provide 401K, Health benifits, PTO? What happens if one of your employees gets hurt on the job? What kind of labor is it? To me, all of this falls into what you want to do for a carrer and for the rest of your working days, if those ever do end and what kind of pain do you want to cause your body. I'm all for manual labor, as I get plenty of it in my off time; but I do want to be able to continue to stay as young as possible when it comes to being able to play with my daughter or her friends and not being old and hurt all the time cause I break my back at work and don't get any time off to be able to spend with my family. There are pros and cons to both sides, but when you break it down, if you have the ability and opportunity to go to school do so and I promise you won't regret it.

I mean no disrepect by my rebuttal, I just firmly believe that good schooling can take you places that absent schooling cannot!  :o

Ryan,

    I offer offer a simple IRA, and I match 3%, two weeks paid vacation, paid sick leave, I pay 100% of healthcare through United Healthcare PPO.  Monday-Friday 8-5, no weekends, no nights, and holidays are paid. Last year I paid almost 10k in bonuses to warehouse employees. 

There are no certificates required, no education required, just a desire to work, show up on time.

I am a small company, and we believe in paying a fair wage, and if we make money, we share the money.

As for physical labor, sure there is some work involved. Occasionally lifting a 70# box to be shipped on UPS, but other than that, most items are a few pounds each. If it's heavy, use the forklift.


The industry that I am in is not much different than the oilfield.  Experience is key.   Like Eric mentioned, you are paid for your knowledge...


Maybe comparing to my sister, and her being a teacher, might have been an unfair comparison... However, as any teacher, and they will tell you they are underpaid.  I can pick any number of jobs that pay less than 50k, and require a BA... Just doesn't make sense to me.

Not that this matters too much, but I was blessed with a fully funded college education by my grandfather when I was born.  Even with free college, I didn't want to waste the time it took to get a degree. Instead I finished high school a year early, started a business and I was dealing with payroll and cash flow, while my friends were thinking about what to wear to prom ;D   

One thing I will admit about a college degree, and this is probably the most important aspect I can think of relating to it...  It shows that you finish what you start, and that is worth something.  I'm just not sure it always makes up for 4-5 years of lost wages or time.

you may be right but i would love the opportunity to find out.  :-[

Where did you find those aliens from outer space!!!??? ;D

there are quite a few famous business folks out there that didn't do good in school and flunked out...and some that were considered to be geniuses as well, and in most cases became famous years later after there passing...

I believe that the average masses can not comprehend or even tolerate these folks that march to a different beat...

I didn't graduate from high school for several reasons but I worked hard and did get my GED as soon as I left school at 16 and at 18 I went to work for one of the biggest companies in the world...back then a high school education or GED was all that was needed...

The working folks that hired in after 1990 all had to have a 2 year degree or a 4 year degree even though it didn't matter what you majored in...Almost all the folks I supervised (9) on shift had 2 and 4 year degrees...I didn't see anything special about them...they were ordinary folks but they all met the standard...

 I used to watch the contractors before the higher education requirement and when I saw one I liked as far as can do attitude with leadership and people skills I asked them to go apply and use me as a reference...and after the higher education requirement quite a few of these guys I thought were top of the line would not qualify to apply...

but like CircleC says...at least it shows you can stick with and finish something...

7M Go get you a college education. I have 3 daughters and they will all have a college education. I never want any of my daughters to get trapped with a man because of money. Their are alot of people that get degrees that sound good but dont make  like communications major, buisiness, political science. I hated school myself but wish I would have went to college. I do make more money than most of my friends that went to college, but it took many years of hard work to get to where I am at....

Marry for the money and learn to love later lol naw just kidding yeah i want to go to college but i can barley pass high school much less college but im going to give a shot at it when i graduate

Circle C, you hiring? Lol!

If you think a good education isn't worth anything go back through this post and check the grammar.  :P

JRyanS,

   Here's one for you... All through school i was in Enriched, GT, Pre-AP, then AP. Graduated with honors.The only college credit i earned was during high school... And I still don't have a grasp of proper grammar. Seems it was more important to read Homer, than it was to learn proper grammar.  That said, even if I dont come across as a highly educated individual, I am still able to sell pipe valves and fittings. And meet and deal with interesting people almost daily. Just last week i sold almost 200k of American flanges to the Chinese, for a 1, 000 acre luxury resort in the Bahamas.  The place is called Baha Mar.  Probably not as exciting as many jobs out there, but it fits me.

Grittydog, As a father of two girls. I understand exactly what you are talking about. If my girls want ti go to college, I won't stop them, but if they dont want to go i wont force them. They can work for me and learn the business.Either way, I want them to be independent and know that they can support themselves if needed

My mom told me that if I knew how to cook, clean and iron my clothes, handle money and hold down a job, then she had done her job as a parent. I feel the same way....

I wasn't taking a shot at you Circle C, it was more of me complementing you on taking care of your employees.

I didnt feel like you were taking a shot at me, sorry if it came across that way.

But what i said is true, in the most advanced curriculum offered at my school, Deer Park ISD...Grammar was not high on the list of priorities.... sad but true.

Something that's only fair to address in this thread, is that a college degree is a good safety net of sorts. Apples to apples, i would hire a college grad over a high school grad, if all else was equal

Safety net is how I see the college degree as well. Entrepreneurs are the ones who get rich but if u go out on a limb and fail you need something to fall back on to feed yourself. Even with an education you need to have drive and work ethic to be successful, but that little piece of paper will open doors. I commend you for taking care of your employees circle c I believe that shows good business sense. I don't use my degree in my current field and make more than my wife who does but it's there if I need it.

I wanna do something in the law enforcement area because my aunt was a NCIS agent them she passed away my 6th grade year a few years after her retirement we have mentors at school and i had law enforcement last year and this year i chose vet and 8 years isnt for me

I think that % wise those with a useful college degree make more money than those without a college degree or at least the opportunity is there.
There are always examples of those who dont have a degree but are doing great financially. Many have a great idea and get lucky, others work really hard and get noticed but most have the financial support of their family. They have some one to give/lend them money to get started. However, most people do not fall under those categories and end up at a dead end job or have to work crazy hours or schedule in order to make money.

My younger brother has no degree but makes way more money than I do about $1,000 per day! (welder)
But to do this he has to travel to places far from his family and live out of a travel trailer or crappy hotel room.
Work crazy hours and have an unstable work place

I went to college, got an engineering degree, met my wife in college and now combined our salaries are about $200K. We each have 401K, IRA, insurance and hardly work 40 hours a week. We are home every evening and get to see hour kids grow up. I have the oppourtunity to work anywhere in the world and make way more money but I do not because I am happy where I am. The degree just gives me the opportunity to do so if I ever choose to.

All my friends that started working after high school make about the same as I do but they have to bust their but and work weekends and nights to make up for their lack of education. They have a wealth of experience in their one field but they are stuck doing that one job for ever. Putting in those long hard hours might not be difficult now at age 30  but their pay has topped out and the days are only going to get tougher as they get older.

The majority of time, college is the way to go.

and yes I have horrible grammar and spelling

I have half a degree (even worse than having no degree IMO because it makes it seem like you don't stick with what you start). But I'm doing very well at 21 I'll make over 60K this year and have a 401K, insurance, unit shares, vacation , sick time...everything any regular jobs gonna give you.  I have a job in the field I was going to school for whereas many of the guys I was going to school with are still doing whatever job they had before (I was going at night). Point being hard work will put you to work.

One thing I've noticed though is females have a WAY harder  time without a degree because they can't/won't do the type of work males can.

If I went back to school it'd DEFINITELY be for engineering I can't imagine a better degree...I also can't use those damn graphing calculators which ended my math career lol

The biggest problem with education is people trying to play the odds and not having a plan. They come out with a degree, debt, and no plan.

Im ok with a person saying that I want to be a DPS officer. That requires an Associates, ect. So I will get this degree to meet these requirements and accomplish my goal. Or I want to be a CPA and you have to have this, this, and this so that is what Ill do.

This idea that I don't know what I want to do so I will get a degree in XYZ because a large percent of these people earn over this amount is completly wrong.

Im sorry but grammar and degrees are not a measure of income or net worth. Too many people think if I can just get this degree I will be set. :D Good luck with that.

stay in school get your education, but if your a redneck with a southern draw your employment options r limited, rednecks will never broadcast news, "guess what happened today" or be surgeons , uhhh hand me that pig sticker over yonder is not what you wanna hear on the operating table, get your education atleast so you always got something to fall back on then use it toward the driving force in ur life just like hog hunting hard work pays off or youll just end up like me and have a yard full of dogs smarter than you are

well said Sabino...

Day in and day out a degree will create opportunities and open doors for you but then it is up to you to keep the job and get the promotions...quite a few times the lack of that paper won't even get you past the application process...

I commend you on your success! You are one of very few employers that does treat their employees well. I'm sorry to say though that it is not the norm, and for the majority of people looking and getting jobs they will not have the same luck as you, or for that matter your workers. I also agree that teachers are very underpaid. I wish that I could say that I've had your success, but I haven't. I am happy though, but wish I could get more money for sure. For what I know and do I should be getting paid 50-65 a year, I'm not anywhere close! I guess that is just how the cookie crumbles. There are jobs that I have qualified for recently except that a BA was required, and I don't have that because as you said before school is exspinsive. I ran out of money, and ran out of time to be able to finish it before starting a serious career. One good thing about the new job market is that experience is almost as good as knowledge. On a lot of recs for jobs it says BA or some odd years experience, so either way you have to know your chit.

I agree 100% that you need to have a plan set if not already underway when starting college. You are right that a lot of kids go get a degree thinking it will just be laid out for them afterwards, not the case.

I'm not trying to be gramatically correct right now either. I like being able to just type freely and not have to worry about it.  ;D I didn't realize that we were being graded
Ryan... LOL!  :o Just messing...  ;D

Me too, I didn't me to or know it was going to upset people as much as it did. I was just joking.

no harm no foul... im just messing with ya. LOL!  ;)

All those people making all these big bucks is fine and dandy but I'd rather make less and do what I love to do. That's why I went to school to pursue my dream job. It's not the highest paying but it's my red rubber ball. For those who don't believe in college or degrees I recommend you read Kevin Carroll Katalyst " Rules of the Red Rubber Ball." I turned down a very high paying job to go to college, and I don't regret it at all. So what I'm trying to say school is cool! That's my 2 cents

DONT DO IT!!! I love what i do but looking back i should have stayed in college and finished my law degree.  If you wanna know some horror stories, how you can barely pay the bills or the divorce rate, PM me. 

Every one is talking about what you have to do to get a job working for some one else. Own your job and you don't have to worry about the requirements.

When is the last time a plumber showed up at your house and you asked if the owner has a degree? When you walk in to a store do you ask if the owner has a degree? When is the last time you checked to see if the owner of the mechanic shop you use has a degree?

I've talked many times about different service oriented contractors raking it in. Making 100-200-300K a year because they are honest and fair. No one askes those people if they have a degree. They are most likely referred and have a reputation for doing good work.

Again, not saying that college is not a good thing, but its not the only route. My brother and I are complete opposites. He wanted the degrees and to work for these large firms. I am more entrepreneurial and could care less about sitting in a classroom. Every one has to choose their own route that works for them. You will be the most successful doing what you like to do.... not what others want you to do.

No doubt about it im going to finish high school id rather be a texas ranger or something like that something in special forces

I kinda had the same feeling as you back when I was in HS, but I hadn't really planned on college. I was just gonna keep riding running horses and shoeing. I was offered a scholarship to rodeo out in Big Spring, so I loaded up and went. Made 1 semester out there, and came back to SETX, hated school. I went straight to work in the plants as a wrench turner. Hated it worse! Got another scholarship to rodeo for a school over her in LA, and never looked back. I let it pay for my school. Finally graduated, and now I have a BS in Wildlife. Went to work in that field and love it. Like the guys said before, lay out a plan and try and follow it. There are jobs out there you will soon hate, but make alot of money, and there are jobs out there you will love, and make decent money. Been at the same job going on 15 years, and have grown to make the most out of the money.

After my second year of college I tried to quit and come home to work the ranch. My father told me that if I wanted to quit, he would have nothing to do with me.   He was a cattle and chicken farmer.  We didn't have much but I think he knew if I came home the chances of me having to work hard everyday of my life would be unavoidable. That would have been the worst mistake of my life.
I went to college to play baseball.  I broke my back on the field my senior year.  If that would have happened and I didn't have a college education i would have been screwed.  I knew the only way I was going to be successful was to work hard.  Early in life I thought that meant work hard phyically.  Now if I work hard physically more than one day in a row I can't move the next day.  Due to my degree I am now able to work the ranch on weekends, race chuckwagons, hog hunt and virtually anything else I want to and return to the office to make real money on monday.
The degree provided more options. I am especially thankful because hardwork took a toll on my body at a young age.  You never know what is going to happen down the road.  Life is not short and you may just need that education someday.  If nothing else, I made some memories in college I will soon not forget.
I would encourage the youth to put the work in early and try to get a scholarship whether it be academic or athletic.