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Backup Career/College Major (Not about law. Srsly.)

post #1 of 43
7/24/09 at 10:50pm
Thread Starter 
Any ideas for something that I could learn alongside film, just in case my film career doesn't work out? (Highly unlikely, obviously.) $200,000 minimum, of course.
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post #2 of 43
7/24/09 at 10:54pm
200k is high. 150k is more reasonable.
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post #3 of 43
7/24/09 at 11:01pm
Thread Starter 
Not serious about the $200,000 thing actually...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Manton View Post
On Style Forum, fallback jobs start at $250,000.
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post #4 of 43
7/24/09 at 11:03pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jekyll View Post
Not serious about the $200,000 thing actually...

I know.
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post #5 of 43
7/24/09 at 11:04pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek View Post
I know.
So suggest something, dammit!
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post #6 of 43
7/24/09 at 11:28pm
200k?

drug dealer
drug mule
something with drugs
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post #7 of 43
7/25/09 at 2:00am
Take some calc courses and become a day trader.
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post #8 of 43
7/25/09 at 2:12am
Quote:
Originally Posted by mmhollis View Post
Take some coke and become a day trader.

FTFY
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post #9 of 43
7/25/09 at 4:24pm
Engineers make 60-90K out of college.
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post #10 of 43
7/25/09 at 4:55pm
Some IT jobs pay 60-90K with not IT degree. Plan on getting a few vendor certifications if you are going to be taken seriously.
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post #11 of 43
7/25/09 at 6:30pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Shoe City Thinker View Post
Lots of IT jobs pay 60-90K with not IT degree. Plan on getting a few vendor certifications if you are going to be taken seriously.

ftfy

70k is quite easily attainable if you are smart. I know lots of guys that got an MSCE and a CCNA and are making 70-80k, and neither are that hard to get imo. High-end IT can pay well over 100k/yr if you are flexible. The most important trait after to intelligence and the ability to think clearly under pressure is the willingness to put in a lot of study time outside of work. I'm basically always in learning mode and I know a lot of people get tired of that.
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post #12 of 43
7/25/09 at 6:39pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by GQgeek View Post
ftfy 70k is quite easily attainable if you are smart. I know lots of guys that got an MSCE and a CCNA and are making 70-80k, and neither are that hard to get imo. High-end IT can pay well over 100k/yr if you are flexible. The most important trait after to intelligence and the ability to think clearly under pressure is the willingness to put in a lot of study time outside of work. I'm basically always in learning mode and I know a lot of people get tired of that.
Any resources you can recommend for learning about/studying for MSCE and CCNA? I wonder if it's worth spending some time on even if I am not specifically trying to get in to IT.
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post #13 of 43
7/25/09 at 6:59pm
For exam prep resources and other info: http://www.techexams.net/forums/ The CCNA is either one combined exam or 2 separate exams. It's the entry-level cisco certification. CCNA-level jobs can get you around 40-50k. http://www.cisco.com/web/learning/le...aths_home.html The Microsoft MCSE 2003 is obtained after a series of 7 exams. You can then take an extra couple of exams to upgrade to server 2008. I'm moving away from MS so I'm not up to date on requirements for the newest certs. Most people today still want 2003, because that's what most companies are still running on. This will change with the release of windows 7. A lot of companies will begin migrating. http://www.microsoft.com/learning/en...view.aspx#tab4 If you study to learn and not to pass, and are reasonably intelligent, I don't think either of these certifications are beyond reach. The MS path just requires time imo. If you have other questions, don't hesitate to ask. Oh and I will say one more thing. Certs do not stand on their own. There was a time when just having your MCSE would get you a good salary, but now you need experience to get those 80k/yr jobs. You will have to tough it out on a lower salary for a while, but doing the certs will improve your performance on the job and make it relatively easy to get a good job after a couple years, depending on what kind of experience you accumulate.
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post #14 of 43
7/25/09 at 7:02pm
What's the approximate cost of these exams?
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post #15 of 43
7/25/09 at 7:11pm
cisco exams vary by level. CCNA are 125/ea. CCNP are 150. The MS ones I believe are around $125/ea. You'll also need study materials. The CCNA exam cert library will cost you 100 bucks and be adequate. The MS stuff will require ~$400 in books (one for each exam). You might also want to buy some networking equipment for the cisco stuff. A couple cheap routers and switches is adequate for the CCNA. If you think you can wrap your head around linux, you can use dynamips to emulate routers, but it doesn't emulate switches, so you will still need some of those. The forums have equipment recs. If you buy the equipment, you're looking at a ~300 hundred bucks. MS is easier if you have a modern computer. You can run windows server 2003 inside of virtual machines, so there's no additional equipment cost. You can run several VMs simultaneously on a modern computer if you have enough ram. The ROI is high. Just some more general advice... You might just do an MCP to start on the MS side, which is 3 exams instead of 7 (iirc). This will give you a taste for it before committing to buying books for whole MCSE program. Then, do the CCNA. The type of work that a cisco guy does is very different from the MS stuff. After doing the entry-level certs on both paths, you might decide you want to focus on one instead of the other.
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