int_josh

do all of you here have college degrees?

I dropped out of college and doing IM full time. I love it. I haven't made that much at all, but I'm working everyday and I WILL make it.

Eventually I plan to re-invest money from my IM pursuits into assets/stocks and maybe eventually open a holdings company, that will buy businesses and oversee them.

College on the other hand is a debt trap for me. Graduate with 50-70k debt and slave away for a man to just make ends meet? No thanks.

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Adsense Loser

Your tenacity is commendable but until you 'make it' how do you intent to pay for living expenses?

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wickedDUDE

i did a college degree and finished about 2 years ago. before going to college .. i was into IM. and now after college i'm still doing IM. this is also what i love to do.. but i think having a college degree is good to fall back on with all the uncertainties of the internet.

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Andrew

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Rob_TID

Go to college to become an educated person. Not to learn to make money.

Deliguy

IMO college is extremely important. You just got to be smart about the debt portion. Before I went in my mom gave me the best advice in the world(she has a phd..oops.. in education and two masters), know the system better than they do. I took it to heart and was a complete con artist the whole time i was in. I had nothing but loans and a tiny bit of financial aid. I got out(4 year degree) with less than 9k in debt with extremely low interest rates and 100% deferments and had it paid off in 15 months thanks to IM and an extremely good credit rating. Meanwhile all my graduating class is still in over 50k debt for the next 30 years. All in all though it was totally worth it. However a lot is to be said about the experience of owning your own business. That in itself has a good fall back value.

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rob

wont get anywhere in life without one.

fenryr

I'll have my Master degree soon... I wanna experience working in some companies before starting my own and my degree will help me with that..

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gdubs12345

college was a waste for me, all i got was a diploma and a drinking problem

Romestar

I'm planning on Naval ROTC so I can become an officer in the Marine Corps. They will pay for my college and pay me a monthly allowance. This is my debt free solution.

andyem

Always go to have. I learned A LOT from college but anyone who has gone can tell you theres nothing like doing (whatever you specialize) in the real world. If IM is what you love to do then take night courses at the college if you need to like unix, php, whatever. Its much cheaper then a piece of paper and you don't have to pay for a ton of extra courses you don't need (like english, electives), and have no benefit to the program your taking. It also really depends on what your taking if it has anything to do with IT then reading online can easily take care of that. If its unrelated college may be beneficial.

The BIGGEST problem in college especially if your taking anything I.T related is in a year or two whatever you learned is outdated and your stuck in this catch up game taking certifications to move up in the company. I was stuck in that rut working for an ISP up here and believe me it fuckin sucks. You spend all day at work and then come home to study. Then you need to get hammered on the weekends because your stress levels are through the roof. My advice get a high paying part time job which you can work 20hrs a week just to cover expenses every month and you have the rest of the week to work on the PC. I did it two years ago and the best part is I go to work not giving a rats ass what happens there as long as they pay me every two weeks. Hope that helps.

lerchmo

Which degree pays 100,000 a month?

int_josh

I'm actually making enough to pay bills, but not enough to really expand.

I've read a few books by millionares (rich dad, poor dad comes to mind), and almost all of them say this: education is important, but not college education.

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int_josh

My point exactly

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rob

keep believing that and ill see you giving me my fries at mcdonalds next year.

int_josh

lol that's funny.

I'm curious what makes you think so?

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andyem

Theres no better education then real world experience, plain and simple, unless its a requirement, like doctors, lawyers etc.

Palmerville

As was mentioned, college is not about graduating and becoming insta-rich because you have a degree. It's about becoming educated. There's very few other places that you can go and surround yourself with intelligent people as easily as you can in college.

Going to college and making 100k a month are not mutually exclusive.

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dicetomato

So you make that much eh?

John

after 2 years of college and 1 year of law school I dropped out and became a fulltime alcoholic

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havokb8

Nice John Ill be a forever 6 year senior, oh too bad i make 40k a month FUCK COLLEGE heres the finger to history and economics 303

John

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lerchmo

I'm glad you can afford a happy meal with your colledge education.

lerchmo

As soon as you get that experience "and realize how much it fucking sucks to work for someone" you will wish you started your own company when you still had a ton of free time. But some people love their jobs and all that so I am just speaking for myself when I say that work SUCKS!!!

heavydisking

A diploma doesn't mean jack shit in terms of financial success. The only value I get out of mine is the satisfaction that I'm that much better than all the whiny slackers out there.

Voodooman

Diploma may not mean a difference in terms of financial success. But it does open alot more doors than not having one. Trust me, I use to think the same way. I've been an entrepreneur all my life. But as soon as I got my diploma it changed my life. Seriously. Before I had small businesses. I tried to get loans with business plans and all. Not a single fucking penny.

It's not about credit because my credit is good. I get a diploma. Create a business plan mentioning me a president with my college degree. I got backing.

Sold my company. Spent all the money (you only live once). Got bored tried to go back to work.

At the interview, I saw this dude I use to go to high school with applying for the same possition. He was really smart dude. He had lots of experience in the field but no diploma. I had shit for experience in the field but a diploma. Guess who got the job. I did. They didn't even call him back for a second interview. I hate working for others so after 2 months I quit.

Now working on my own. Dude, get that fucking diploma if it's the last thing you do. Alot of people will tell you that you don't need that shit. And that's it's a waste of time and money. And that you're making money now. You could lose everything, like I have a couple of times. But guess what, I still have my diploma. And if you and I go to do anything (get a job, go for a business loan with VC's, etc). Guess who, has more options an a better chance. Yeah, it's not fair. But life isn't fair either. It's a dog - eat - dog world. And any advantage you have use it.

Get the fucking diploma. That's my 2 cents.

John

He's right. If I wasn't working for myself I wouldn't be able to get a decent paying job, I know, I've tried.

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katoved

Trust me, dont DO IT. Im me if you want to talk about it. Chubbymoola - AIM. I highly reccomend you dont pursue a career in the military.

katoved

A college education isn't what it used to be. Luckily, my college taught me more than basic education. I learned discipline, honesty, value of friendship, and much more. American universities are a good way to help facilitate you into "normal" society. However, look at the worlds richest men, they always did it THEIR WAY. If you really want to make a decision, go to CollegeHumor.com, college seems like a fun place to me.

John

That is the main benefit of going to college, it is different from high school because it teaches you to learn on your own, to think, and how to interact with people in the real world. The majority of people aren't smart enough to figure that stuff out on their own.

They are generally the exception to the rule, if you look at all wealthy people and not just the upper percentile, most of them have some sort of post secondary education.

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Mike

Speaking of college, one of the most basic things you learn is the difference between php and a PhD. I can't believe nobody else caught that!

I kid, because I care.

I've been out of school for almost 15 years, and just last year decided to go back to college. Why? Namely because it bothers me that I don't have a degree in anything. I've got a lot of credits, but nothing to show for it.

Something I learned quick, it's a lot more motivating to get good grades when you're the one that has to pay for it. In high school my GPA was in the low 1.x's. Then in my first foray into college, it was a little better 2.x's. This time, I'm actually using the brain in my skull and am pulling off a straight 4.0 easy. I say easy because I never bothered to study or do homework when I was younger. Just by keeping up with the required reading, activities and scripts things are just sailing along. I should have my BS in Computer Science in about a year. Then I plan on getting my MIS. Why? Just to have it, as I plan to be self employed long before that.

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ImagesAndWords

Masters in Computer Science here... I'm glad I did it, but could do without the student loan debt. Oh well

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EFUT EFUTURE

You go to college to fuck off. Duh

$5 Submissions

I have a graduate degree. Personally, I think one can't have enough education. Life is an endless educational process. Of course, an "education" doesn't necessarily mean a degree.

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chrislingle

so, the thing about school is you learn how to think. Not just think but if you actually give a damn about your grades you learn to think for yourself. You learn how to solve problems, does not matter really what you study in school and what you do after school it is about the process of learning that makes a degree important.
Success is about a process, take this business for example. I could give out my best paying Arbitrage page, my best paying affiliate marketing campaign(s) with all keywords everything and all I would do is ruin that one page or campaign. The number of people that would learn the process I used to create the 2 would be few and far between.
SEO-Mike gets it but he is the exception to the rule.
Learning how to create and see the process is what school is all about!

int_josh

I agree

But I see lots of people with degrees who are broke.

In the end, degree or no degree, it comes down to how much you want something and what you're willing to do to get it.

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Voodooman

Holy shit, Mike. You should play the lottery for the new year. I've been on this forum for a while (even longer before signing up), and this is the first time I've seen Chrislingle give a complement.

Or Chrislingle, is this part of your new year's resolution.

DavidR

This tends to be different with software developers. I never learned how to solve problems when I was taking computer science in college. I learned how to do everything on my own. I would skip my classes to write software because I learned much faster and much better that way. This is what generally separates the people who are there for a piece of paper and those who actually enjoy what they do.

Taking the initiative to do something on your own rather than just following along and getting the grades makes the difference in just getting a degree or getting an education. And I think this is true for just about any field of study, not just computer science.

I didn't get what I needed out of college, so I dropped out. I would like to eventually go back to school, but it would be nice if I could skip all the Bachelor's Degree stuff and get right into a Master's or PhD program.

Mike

LOL!! Don't worry, I'm sure I'll fuck something up and he'll be down my throat faster than a fly to shit!

Besides, why would you need the lottery when you've got WickedFire? You can make more money over your lifetime by applying what is taught here. Pay particular attention to our friend Chrislingle. He gives out a lot of great nuggets of info, but I think most people have a tendency to miss the good stuff and just focus on his rants. While Chris' rants are classic (one of my personal favorite things about WF), his knowledge and willingness to share is what truly sets him apart. Just need to read between the rants.

Thanks for the compliment Chris, I appreciate that.

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cdc

Someone smarter than me (I forget who) said, "Formal education will make you a living. Self-education makes you a fortune."

I truly believe that, but I also don't think I would have had the balls to quit my job and do this full-time without having my CS Master's Degree to fall back on.

Atomm

Look, everything you learn on this site is great, but it does not guarantee you will be financially independent for the rest of your life. Even if you are making big bucks this year, things could change next year. Where will you be then?

A college degree does one thing, it opens doors. I know it did for me. I was working for an ISP that sold all their customers to Earthlink and shut the doors. Because I had a degree, I was able to bounce back and continue moving up the corporate ladder. Of all the guys I worked with, only my boss was able to recover like I did. Guess what, he has a degree, the rest do not.

My degree is Management Information Systems. I have a basic Cisco Certification and I do network design for a living. I just updated my resume with a 6 figure salary on Monster and guess what? I'm getting responses from it. Sure, I have the experience now, but that college degree opened the door when I thought I was sunk and I believe it still is opening doors.

Now that I'm making a "living", I want to get to the point where I am working for myself. I've considered going back to school, but this time I would go for an MBA or a Masters in Marketing.

However, I know I can always fall back on that degree....

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Atomm
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emp

A degree of any type is not just the degree in that chosen field.

It will open doors, because it says two things about you:

1. Not too dumb
2. Finishes big projects (several years)

I studied psychology at a University, but have I ever worked in psychology? hell, no!

People have hired me for knowledge of statistics, programming knowledge and good looks, BUT the degree got me a foot in the door more times than I'd like to admit.

::emp::

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lerchmo

Whats all this "fallback" bullshit? When you do this shit you just gotta plan on adapting to changes and finding new ways to make a buck.
If you quit your job to work for yourself.. get to the point where you dont have to think about falling back on a job and get there FAST!!!

cdc

I'm pretty close to being there. I just left my job a few months ago.

Don't get me wrong, I hope I never have to use my degree (to get a job) again. But right now it helps me sleep at night knowing that if I ever do need to get a job I can throw together a packed resume.

I just hope I never have to!

Saadh

fuck yeahhhh

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Ted

I share a job with a person with a law degree. we do exactly the same work except her reports are 5 times thicker than mine because of her "legal background". I've never had a report knocked back for lack of information. Therefore i get through more work. We are paid exactly the same but she is servicing 30k debt for her degree.

Degrees are good for some things (dont try and be a doctor without one) but for a lot of the jobs around a little bit of street smart and some hard work will get you as far as you want to go without a heap of debt.

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Atomm

Spoken like a man who wasn't chewed up and spit out during the last .com bust.

In my very last class of college on the very last day of school we gave presentations on where we were going from there. One of the presenters had a quote that I live by now.

Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.

Like Lerch, you can hope for the best, but like the rest of us, you better make sure you are prepared to deal with the worst of the worst should it ever happen.

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Atomm
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lerchmo

Well, I think as long as you work really hard and diversify, don't overspend and such you wont have to worry.

Albert

College gives you opportunities to enter a high paying job where some pinhead can't just pull the plug on your income as what happens al ot on the internet. CPA, adsense, ect disable accounts. Google drops your site. You go out of biz. NO one gives a shit and there is no gov. compensation nor legal rights. Atleast in the workforce your get more options. You can't get fired and lose months of pay over 'invalid hours' or get terminated so easily.

lerchmo

if you go to college for 9 or 10 years you can make 150k a year if you are a great student and all that.. do aff marketing for 9-10 years and I am sure you can beat that by a large margin.