Occaisonally I still go down to my old alma mater, the college I got my Bachelor's degree from. The other day I was walking around campus, looking up old professors and employees I'd known, when I overheard a conversation between some college students and a professor.
Basically that convo made fun of the blue-collar construction trades. It seems the professor's brother was an electrical contractor, and even though he had taken some business courses, he'd never gotten a degree and apparently did not care to get one.
The professor and the students were all having a collective laugh about that, bringing out all the stereotypes of the hard-drinking, loud-mouthed, ignorant blue-collar worker. This annoyed the hell out of me, and I felt like launching into a tirade about just how little good my degree had done me. But I held my peace because I figured they'd just call me the loser because I'd gotten a degree in a field that went south just as I graduated. Must be my fault, right?
Has any of you ever experienced any kind of stigma from friends, relatives, acquaintances or even customers about your career choice? Any of them look down their nose at you as being too "dumb" to get a degree of anything like that?
Personally, the more I look at the skilled trades career path, the more I wish I'd never bothered getting a degree. If I'd gotten into an electrical apprenticeship program 10 or so years ago instead of starting to go to college part-time, I'd most likely be SO much further ahead financially than I am now, it almost hurts to think about it.
MacWire
