want to upgrade career but dont know how to start?
 

I am currently in a struggle of wanting to upgrade my education since i have no career job right now and im almost 30. My family is well off so i have been given the luxury of a paid 2 bedroom condo although the monthly expenses and property tax are mine to pay off. Ive been wanting to go back to school to upgrade my education but i am having difficulty on how i should approach this. I want to go full-time in order to get the full concentration but i cannot do that because i need to work or the bills around the house will not get paid. I can do part-time work and part-time school but that wouldnt be enough earnings for me to keep up with the bills and misc. expenses and it will only drag my school longer than if i did full-time. What would u guys do in my situation? I need help here.

I may have the luxury of a home that most ppl would probaby dream of but it doesnt amount to the satisfaction of having a career.

*lets keep the comments and replies to a mature level please. Mods, if possible, help me keep this thread clean. Thank you*

Since your family is well off, don't they have any connections that can help you?

1) suck it up & ask your parents for financial help
2) take equity out of your house

get student loans and go to school full time

1)Do you mind letting us know what your current job is?
2)What do you see yourself doing as a career?
3)Do you have a family?

Based on your situation and what you have given us, I suggest you that you go talk to some advisers from various schools that offers the program you're interested in. Regardless, it's never too late to learn because learning is a process that will never end. I suggest taking out a student loan to help out with the expenses and do school full-time initially and later try doing some part-time job on the side.

if you dont have a family of your own why not either rent out your 2nd bedroom or ask your parents to move back in with them and rent out the condo while doing full time schooling.

thanks for the replies.

just to answer some questions you guys have:

1. I dont have my parents/family here. I am the only one here in Canada.

2. I dont really want to ask my dad to finance my expenses. He's already bought me a home. i think thats more than enough.

3. The career I want to go into is Graphic Designer in Marketing.

4. My current job is a fleet inspector that pays around $18 per hour.

5. I tried to apply for loans but got denied because i had previous bad credit when i was young. I tried to apply for home equity line of credit but even that i got denied. This is why i am asking for help because i am running low on options.

1) rent a tiny basement suite near the school of choice, and then rent out your condo.
2) Sell your car (you dont need one anymore since you now live close to the school)
3) Sell furniture / clothes on CL
4) work super hard from now to when school starts - save every penny
5) dont ever step foot in restaurants - make your own breakfast / lunch / dinner

Bottom line - do what you gotta do

well u should ask ur parents for some advice. perhaps they wouldnt mind helping u out some more since ur mature enough to advance ur career paths.

:thumbsup:

I'd start by scoping out some school that offers the Graphics Design in Marketing.

Then I'd inquire about financial aid from the said school.

Then I'd come to revscene for help!

It dosn't matter if u have 30k lined up @ 3.25 % , if u have no idea what school your going to.

Since you are Chinese and your family isn't around, I guess you were from China, Taiwan or Hong Kong?

Anyway, have you thought about moving back to where your family is and start fresh? Being 30 isn't that old at all for a guy and I have a buddy who started a real career at 40. It's never too late.

I am sure your family, namely your dad, cares about you; otherwise, he wouldn't buy you a place for you to settle in Canada. Does he run his own business over there? If so, why don't you go and work for him? Instead of thinking of it as "depending on my family for financial support", think of it as "helping out my family so my dad can retire and enjoy life sooner or later." Not to mention, it's a superb learning opportunity.

It's time to think about the bigger picture.

take out a student loan. or even a student/education line of credit (both will give roughly the same interest rate, which i believe is around prime + 2%)

that should cover some if not most of ur living expenses.


is the condo under your name or your parents? this will go against you when you apply for the studen loan.

Whats wrong with the work you are doing now? Even if you went back to school and did a degree there are no promises you'll land a high paying job and plus you'll be stacked with a student loan plus by then you'll be at least 33/34 and starting out at junior positions which will offer you around the same wage you are receiving now. Unless you already have a bachelors and want to go into grad school for medicine or to become a lawyer which from your post doesn't sound like the case.

My thoughts would be continue with your current job if the prospects are good while going for night school or part time to upgrade your "skillsets" instead of just blindly looking for a degree which will offer you no experience. With your newly acquired skillsets, try to climb your way up the ladder and maybe into management. if the prospects at your current company is not looking so good, then try applying for larger companies which might offer you better compensation and/or job prospects.

But ya good luck, we're all going to need it at these hard times.

the answer you want all comes down to what you are willing to give up?
luxuary?
accomidation?
convience?
pride?

figure out what you are willing to let go, and you will find the right path for you.

do some career assessments?

u have to find what you like doing first, otherwise you'll be working another job, or a dead end career, or you'll hate your life, one of those.

Well, i cant give you any financial advice but i can give you some general info on the Design industry.

1. Yeah make sure you want to do this is what you want to do because. If you can't handle compromising artistic integrity this is not the career for you. Every single client will have their own idea of what looks good no matter what your opinion is. Sooner or later you will have to pump out a design that you are completely dis-satisfied with.

2. Links back to reason one make sure you want to do this because yea most Design programs are expensive as hell. So really don't waste your time if you're not sure.

3. Its not so much the school as your portfolio and site thats important when you're looking for a job, at a firm or freelance jobs. So I'd say the institution where you get educated isn't TOO important (name wise). You can choose either the fastest path to a diploma or the most cost efficient one.

4. Yeah actually thats about it lol, don't jump into it, spend time on your portfolio first not sure if marketing design needs one but most graphic design programs do have a port requirement.

a single person goes thru at least 7 different jobs and careers in their lifetime.

out of hs, i was set on engineering / drafting, and eventually architecture.

i switched majors after the first year, went into comp sci,

another year goes by and i switch yet again to business finance...

after pursuing that for a while, working at jobs in and around the field, ive decided to yet do another career change and go back into automotive, something i like doing. need to work from the bottom again, but hopefully i can get into something that can combine what i studied with what i love.

so yeah, im hoping around as well.

To the OP...

Are you fairly artistic? The reason I ask because the field is extremely competitive and I've worked with some really pro graphic designers. I never really knew how much thought went into something I thought was quite simple, and after seeing how they do what they do, I have a totally different perspective on media design.

Not to burst your bubble or anything, but I hope that you're artistic or at least have an interest in art itself if you're going to get into design.

Good luck!

exactly

graphic design is extremely competitive, i suggest not doing that

rent the cheapest crappiest basement u can find in town, lease your condo, save as much as you can, keep saving, start own business, go back to China, retire and live the good life

thanks for the advices.

shit this is heavy... after all thats been said here, im getting turned off with graphic design. Is the industry really that bad? i mean every career mentioned here in RS seems to be in the negative whether its IT, marketing, graphic design, etc. It seems trades is what everyone is pushing for and although i understand why, it is not something i dont want to do long term. I prefer office settings rather than dirty work environments. Although i have to admit i am better with hands-on work but regardless i still see myself in a corporate level career instead of trades career.

Since were in the topic of various careers, what would you ppl suggest be a good career? im interested to know what ppl's outlook on todays careers are.

Graphic design is hard to get into, especially since anybody who's spent a good time in front of a computer can do it. There are lot of people with very impressive portfolios as well.

Trades are always in demand, so there's money there for sure. And if you're good at sales, you're going to be making a lot doing that.

Ultimately you need to find out what you want to do. If you want us to choose a career for you then you will probably be stuck with this dilemma again down the road.

Ever considered what I said?

Do you know what school u want to go to? Do they have advisors? Ask them questions over email, or better yet, go talk to them and ask them your questions about how to afford it and how to find out if it's right for you.

You can take courses part time to feel it out, for example. Ask them which ones are good, etc.. Then you can see how good you are at it and whether you want to put the effort into becoming good.

Everything has something bad about it. It's called work, not a vacation. And there's always ppl who are better than you. If you avoid something cuz there's some negative, you'll end up with nothing. Weigh the good and bad and then decide if you wanna jump in.

This is Canada. There are tons of good careers that spit you out into the middle class. Look at the different programs @ BCIT or University or whatever. Which ones do you like the most? Which can you be good at? Which has a decent industry here?

The default answer is to go into business LOL.