I am a 24 years old male living in Los Angeles, CA.I am currently living paycheck to paycheck. I have been thinking about going back to school to pursue further education, in the hopes to live a better life. I am looking for suggestions of good paying jobs. My current annual income is less than $15,000. I would like to make at least $50,000. Thank you for any help you can give.
By jay from Los Angeles, CA
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You might look into nursing. Nurses are always in demand and the baby-boomer generation is aging quickly. In my area, a few nursing homes offer CNA classes free if you work for them for a certain period of time. A lot of health care facilities offer tuition reimbursement or will pay retention bonuses and you can use that to further your education. I work for a suburban nursing home in the midwest and our CNAs start out at $10 per hour and the registered nurses make about twice that. I know that if I had a medical aptitude, I'd become a nurse. Good luck in your search.
Be a Nurse. You can go to school for one year and become a Licenced Practical/Vocational Nurse. You are trained to care for more stable patients such as in a nursing home and the pay is pretty good.
I would suggest that anything in the medical field would allow you to receive a decent paycheck, if not generous. I am a retired nurse but some of my friends still work in that profession making 6 figures a year. X-ray technician, learning to run a cat scan, etc. would also be a good consideration. Even though so many people are losing their jobs you never hear of medical people losing theirs. I wish you well.
I'm going to be a dissenting voice here, in case the medical field isn't to your liking. According to Reader's Digest, International Business and Criminal Justice are also recession-proof careers to consider. Education is also on the list, but I doubt a teacher's income would be generous enough for your liking, unless you plan to teach full-time at a university. Perhaps you could look into Educational Administration and become a Principal, Superintendent, or something along those lines.
The minimum amount you are looking to earn in today's world I think you are dreaming. Take it from an older person like myself who has been working full time since about 20yrs old and presently 60 years old.
Don't choose IT. It's mostly been going "offshore" (India, China, Russia, El Salvador, etc.) or "near-shore" (Mexico, Puerto Rico, etc) due to the fact that salaries are lower there. Just remember that a college or university is selling it's business - that of teaching information - it won't help you find a job even though it says it can "assist" you. Colleges and Universities will also "sell" you the idea that IT is really valuable because it has a huge department in it that must stay in business! (Teaching is still a business.)
To clear up terminology:
*"Outsourcing" means that IT jobs are sent to a recruiting company which may mean it's people are from India, China, etc. - the off-shoring folks, or it may be Americans.
*The "consultants" in IT now are those who have lost their full-time jobs in it due to off-shoring or near-shoring. As a consultant you don't get paid a higher salary so you can have money between contracts (that you have to find yourself). You are hired to do short-term work that the company doesn't have time to do or needs more people to do what its employees don't know how to do.
*The "Offshore" IT people live far away in another country. They are hired because they are paid less than American salaries. The trade-off for companies is that cultural differences can make a difference in how software works.
*Near-shoring" means it sounds less scary to companies because it isn't as far away as China, for example. Cultural and language differences still exist, but the salaries paid are less than in the US so the country can get work.
I get very upset when I see Universities still selling the idea that "IT is in hot demand in the future." Nope. It started going downhill in 1999. The jobs aren't there.
Those experts who predict jobs in the future are still guessing.
* Make sure your speaking is excellent in the way you construct and pronounce words.
* Make sure your writing is flawless (never use texting words or use only lower case letters in an email).
* And make sure your social manners are impeccable - meaning things like when and how to open a door for another, how to shake hands, the art of thank you notes (written), how to leave voice mail and how to write a letter - within an email!
* Table manners count! How to use a napkin, butter your bread (you break it into small pieces first), elbows NOT on the table - no matter how important you are!
* Read up on this stuff if you don't know! And don't go by how your family does things!
Those are the impressions you leave after you've gone and are how you will be remembered! Good luck!
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