All Forum Posts by: Travis Tindell

Joel Owens How would you recommend making that much per year? I would assume being a very successful business owner is the only way.

Originally posted by @Joe Villeneuve:

Originally posted by @Joe Villeneuve:

90% of education comes after you are finished with school.  The most important thing you learn with the 10% from school is how to learn.

 Let me rephrase this, for all those who think that your profession is what dictates how much you learn after graduation, and would argue that you don't learn more after graduation than during, I say get off your high horse.

If you think that, you are doing yourself a disservice, and you'll never know why.  How can you...you stopped learning?

I love Robert K's book titled, "Why 'A' students work for 'C' students, and why 'B' students work for the government".

 I would say there is a big difference between not learning at all after college, and learning 90% of what you need to know after college. If you mean learning in general then I would agree, but I don't think that applies much to specific careers. If you mean learning for your specific career I would disagree. 

Originally posted by @Sam McPeek:

@Travis Tindell What if you could work for an engineering company @ $30K per year for 4 years instead of paying for school? You finish your 4 year apprenticship, take the Engineer in Training exam, and then claim your raise to $80-100K. You then work another 4 years to be eligible to sit for your Professional Engineering exam. In the state of Washington, you can do it...you just have to find someone willing to take you on as an apprentice of sorts. Also, I should say that we don't have starting out of college salaries at $80-100K for engineers...not even in the government. Unless it's Chemical Engineering...

I'm only directing this at you because you were the last one to post about engineering degrees being worth the price of student loans. I tend to agree that the technical degree fields are worth the price of tuition more so than others, but there are ways to avoid the loans. It's easy to justify the loan debt right up until you get laid off for the first time...and then it will be a hard road. In O&G and in my field of Civil, its not a question of if but of when you will be laid off. The fields are just too cyclical.

That's awesome that you are starting at a CC, huge savings there. If I was you, I would avoid taking debt on your degree if at all possible. Good luck to you!

Check out petroleum engineering pay and you'll see that's a fairly safe number range, even for low GPA students (which I am not). I absolutely agree the field is cyclical, so I've diversified my risk. Instead of a petroleum engineering degree, I am pursuing a Mechanical Engineering degree (to give basically infinite possible fields to pursue if I had to). Additionally, I am getting (hopefully) an internship every summer leading up to graduation (already have a probable one for this summer). Finally, I think that a degree itself alleviates some risk. Who would a company cut first, a worker with a degree or without? 

As for an internship as you described, I haven't heard of them. I can't think of an incentive for a company to teach you thermodynamics, physics, or even math for that matter. 

I agree that the schooling system is inefficient, but disregarding it entirely only works for a few and I feel that having a useful degree with provide (some) security. 

Originally posted by @Joe Villeneuve:

90% of education comes after you are finished with school.  The most important thing you learn with the 10% from school is how to learn.

I would argue that it depends on your profession. Think doctor, engineer, lawyer, accountant, etc. They learn tons after graduation, but they need the vast foundation of knowledge they get in school to build upon in their work life. I wouldn't want to be treated by the 'street' doctor who learns on the fly, or have my future depend on a lawyer who doesn't know the law.

I think that if you have a plan on using your college education to receive proportionately larger income, you have good debt in terms of student loans. I am currently going to school for engineering and plan to work in the oil&gas industry. My starting salary will be around 80-100k (with a bachelors) in geographic areas with an average income of probably less than 40k. I'm planning on living below my means, and investing in real estate quickly to get the ball rolling for compounding returns. If I do it right, I'm thinking I can be financially independent rather quickly. However, I'm not depending on it as I enjoy my field of study.

I'm at a community college, one year from transferring, and approximately 3 years from finishing my degree. I have 3k in debt. Even if I rack up 50k in the last 3 years (which I won't) I would consider it money well spent. 

The real issue is if you have a plan (and a backup plan). Most of my peers are clueless, and haven't even considered much of their future. They think about pay sometimes, but demand for that career? Long term growth? Quality of life? Hours you will need to work? I've asked others these questions about their future careers, and MOST have no idea and think it will work itself out. 

That's the problem in my opinion, but its nothing new. Most of the population doesn't think too far in the future with any kind of detail, so I don't see why we expect college students (freshly into the real world) to do anything different.

Do you think it would be a viable job for a year or would it take to long to get going?

I'm going to school for mechanical engineering (I plan on working in the oil and gas industry). I'm at a community college and due to the heavy amount of math required to transfer I need to spend another full year here and only need to take 2 classes in that time. I can do random engineering classes, but they may not even transfer. What do you guys think about getting my real estate license and making a bit of money and get some experience for my eventual real estate investments. I'm in Southern California

Just a random thing I thought I'd throw out the the Biggerpockets community: if you have access to Netflix check out a show called "Holmes Inspection Collection" I recently discovered it and I was struck by the amount of information I obtained in such an entertaining show. Some serious tips when it comes to inspecting a home and a few cool details for renovations. Check it out!

1) Hold out for 30 more days, and take the cat to an animal shelter. 2) Bargain with scammer to sign off on the trash in exchange for the cat. 3) Transfer trash to some other storage area, and take the cat to an animal shelter. I'm sure you weren't serious about that threat, but if you are it would be something you would regret. Think of how long that cat had to deal with crazy before you ever did. Get some perspective on the situation, and when your anger subsides the answers to your questions will be obvious. Sorry you had to deal with **** like this.

Phone writing errors, but I hope you get the ideas. If not, I can clarify anything.