Career training 2.0

[WZ7U]

OK fellas, its that time in my life to seriously consider some major career deviation. For several reasons I am interested in pursuing an employment situation that requires going back to school, specifically for computer aided drafting\design. I have the choices of going for a certificate or going for the AAS. The degree makes sense to me, however, an acquaintance suggests pursuing the certificate. This friend was in the business recently but given my luck, I need all the luck I can get if ya know what I mean.
Our hobby in general and this forum in particular attract some pretty fart smellers (this station excluded) that I figure might just have relevant input on the subject, hence this topic. As usual I'm behind schedule getting my FAFSA in due to indecision over the specific institution of higher learning I'm considering tormenting.
So what nuggets of wisdom are to be found on the beach today?

So far I'm thinking that Minnesota State Colleges' online offering through their Southeast Technical program will accommodate my needs for distance learning. I can't find anything in state here that is completely online, which is a prerequisite for my current situation.

Thanks ahead of time for your indulgence.

[WØTKX]

Certs work well, especially if you have work experience in a field that uses CAD.
Get a gig in CAD (consider CAM too) that relates to your previous experience.

I have an ancient EET from Anoka, but ended up doing a lot of CAD/CAM, for many years.
Used to be cert'd in AutoCAD, CADKey, and others. Many with a trainer cert as well.

AutoCAD uses a lot of third party add-on$ to cover various disciplines. Cert in those too.

[XE1/N5AL]

If the Cert will quickly land you a job at a company offering to pay its employee's college tuition, you could earn the AAS (on their dime) while working. Since a college degree will often result in higher pay, it is a worthwhile goal.

[KG4NEL]

At 28, having just paid off my first BS, I realized I couldn't stand what I was doing and was looking at another $50-60K to get where I wanted to be.

I'm 4 semesters into prereqs at a community college, I should have done this the first time. I'll be through my next degree with maybe $10K in debt. Grad school will suck, but a good chunk will be federally subsidized/forgiven depending on my employer when I get out.

I know nothing about CAD, but if you're not happy where you are...just do it. Debt is cheap compared to the longing of wanting to learn something else.

[n6hcm]

do the FAFSA now. you can send it to institutions once you decide.

[n6hcm]

investigate the actual certificates you are considering pursuing. the thing about certificates is that there's no level playing field. a certificate in BLAH from local tech u and a certificate in BLAH from another tech u aren't even remotely equivalent.

if the certificate is offered by a *vendor* (like Cisco) then it's worth more since these are well-understood.

[WZ7U]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas! The FAFSA went in this morning over the interwebs. Now just waiting on the system to catch up.

Pretty sure I'm going for the AA with this one so I have it in the bag. I'm nervous about the debt this will incur.... never cared for debt while unemployed.

[X-Rated]

Employers aren't the brightest. Always keep that in mind. They are always looking for ways to save money and not cost their investors so much money. In the third quarter last fiscal year at AVX, they decided to save my salary of somewhat short of $100k a year. That cost them somewhat. Their third quarter this fiscal year was short $13M in only one quarter and several of the guys I had worked with and supported have been moved elsewhere or have been forced to resign because of poor performance. I can't really claim all of that loss as my not being there, but I know that they screwed up a lot of business because I was not there. I could show $6-10M a quarter in sales and I don't think they replaced me. I reported to them the millions per quarter I was enabling through sales but they thought it was all too easy. As if 3-4 hours of sleep a night is easy. So I can't stress enough that you really need to assure that you show to them that you are valuable to them and that you are the reason that they are doing as well as they are because in part of your extra effort.

[KG4NEL]

Thanks for the encouragement fellas! The FAFSA went in this morning over the interwebs. Now just waiting on the system to catch up.

Pretty sure I'm going for the AA with this one so I have it in the bag. I'm nervous about the debt this will incur.... never cared for debt while unemployed.

If it works like how it did when I was in undergrad, they do give you a little grace period (I want to say six months) before it starts being due.

[KG4NEL]

Employers aren't the brightest. Always keep that in mind. They are always looking for ways to save money and not cost their investors so much money. In the third quarter last fiscal year at AVX, they decided to save my salary of somewhat short of $100k a year. That cost them somewhat. Their third quarter this fiscal year was short $13M in only one quarter and several of the guys I had worked with and supported have been moved elsewhere or have been forced to resign because of poor performance. I can't really claim all of that loss as my not being there, but I know that they screwed up a lot of business because I was not there. I could show $6-10M a quarter in sales and I don't think they replaced me. I reported to them the millions per quarter I was enabling through sales but they thought it was all too easy. As if 3-4 hours of sleep a night is easy. So I can't stress enough that you really need to assure that you show to them that you are valuable to them and that you are the reason that they are doing as well as they are because in part of your extra effort.

I have absolutely no loyalty to anyone...