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Supported, WNYC

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Studios. Brian

0:38

Lehrer on WNYC and we

0:40

will end with a call

0:42

in for people whose college

0:44

degrees served you early in

0:46

your working life, but then

0:48

not after a certain point.

0:50

What did you do then

0:52

other than go to grad

0:54

school? 212 -433 WNYC, 212 -433 9692.

0:58

This is part of our series

1:00

on being upwardly mobile without a college

1:02

degree. In this case, it's a

1:04

call in for people whose college degrees

1:06

did serve you early in your working

1:09

life, who did get a college

1:11

degree, but then it didn't serve you

1:13

after a certain point, economically speaking.

1:15

What did you do then other than

1:17

more college, other than go to

1:19

grad school? How did you get skilled

1:22

through alternative routes? 212 -433. WNYC,

1:25

212 -433 -9692. Let's get

1:27

some stories on the table

1:29

as part of this

1:31

series. This time it's staying

1:33

upwardly mobile when your

1:35

college degrees stopped helping you.

1:37

Maybe you were in a job

1:39

you had outgrown or trying to break

1:41

into a new field that had

1:43

suddenly changed its expectations. Maybe the industries

1:45

you were in started asking for

1:47

new credentials, new digital skills,

1:50

or higher degrees just to keep doing

1:52

what you're already good at. or

1:54

maybe you've never had a college degree

1:56

and that's made moving up more

1:58

complicated even though you have the experience.

2:00

So in this case we want to

2:02

emphasize people whose college degrees did

2:04

serve you early in your working life

2:06

but then not after a certain

2:09

point. The whole point of this series

2:11

is to help other people who

2:13

may be facing things like

2:15

the scenarios we've been discussing in

2:17

various segments in the series. And

2:20

you can help other listeners

2:22

right now by talking about what

2:24

you did if you had a

2:26

college degree, but then it

2:28

stopped serving you in a career

2:30

sense after a certain point.

2:32

Who has a story like that?

2:34

212 -433. WNYC

2:37

212 -433 -9692. Did you

2:39

go for another type of

2:41

training? Did you get

2:43

a certificate or maybe take

2:45

a boot camp? There

2:47

are so many people who have gone

2:50

through various kinds of boot camps in recent

2:52

years. You can call about that. Did

2:54

you join a union training program or find

2:56

an apprenticeship even when you were

2:58

in your 30s, even when you

3:00

were in your 40s, or maybe

3:02

you used online courses? employer

3:05

training at the workplace you were

3:07

already at or just pure hustle

3:09

to shift into a new role.

3:11

Tell us a story of what

3:13

you did with a college degree

3:15

that stopped serving you after a

3:17

certain point in your working life.

3:20

This will help others who are

3:22

listening right now who are probably

3:24

facing this situation and some who

3:26

will. 212. 433

3:29

-WNMRC -212 -433 -9692.

3:32

A few more

3:34

examples. Maybe you're

3:36

working in hospitality or food service and

3:38

you transitioned into IT support

3:40

after working toward a kind

3:42

of certification. Maybe you

3:45

had a college degree but found that

3:47

wasn't opening doors anymore so you

3:49

trained to become a surgical technologist or

3:51

an HVAC specialist. Things we've

3:53

mentioned on the show in this series

3:55

previously. Maybe you were stuck in an

3:57

entry level office job with a college

3:59

degree and found a short

4:01

affordable digital marketing course or

4:03

something like that that gave

4:05

you the skills to move into

4:08

a new team at work.

4:10

Call and tell us your stories

4:12

so that they help others.

4:14

212 -433 -WNYC and we'll take your

4:16

calls right after this. Brian

4:28

Lehrer on WNYC. Now to your

4:30

calls. If you had a college

4:32

degree that stopped serving you after

4:35

a certain point in your working

4:37

life, what did you do then

4:39

other than go to grad school?

4:41

Monique in Queens, you're on WNYC.

4:43

Hi Monique. Hey Brian,

4:45

nice to be here. Glad

4:47

you're here. Tell us your story. I'm

4:50

from, yep. So I got

4:52

my marketing degree back in the

4:54

late 90s. and worked in

4:56

corporate and affiliate marketing, doing like

4:58

sponsorships and big events and

5:01

things. And then, you

5:03

know, came the rise of social

5:05

media and I realized I was

5:07

gonna age out in my 30s

5:09

because I just didn't wanna manage

5:11

somebody's Twitter or Pinterest page. So

5:13

I did the old

5:15

fashioned thing and went to

5:17

the Society for Human

5:19

Resources and, you know, founded an industry

5:21

organization of where I wanted to go. did

5:24

their certificate programs, also

5:26

did a small certificate through

5:28

Cornell. And now I

5:30

lead an HR group in New York

5:32

for a company. So

5:34

besides your particular stories, it

5:36

sounds like the moral there

5:38

is there are industry groups

5:40

that have certificate training programs. Absolutely,

5:44

and you can get the

5:46

information, stay affiliated with them,

5:48

stay abreast of what's happening in the industry,

5:50

and you don't necessarily have to go for

5:52

that graduate degree, because after a while, you

5:55

know, people like me, now I

5:57

hire people, we stop looking at

5:59

your, what your degree's in,

6:01

or what your graduate degree's in, and

6:03

just see if you're qualified for

6:05

the role. skills. Yep, Maneeth, thank you

6:07

so much. Perfect example, Dominique in

6:10

the Bronx. You're on WNYC. Hi, Dominique.

6:14

Hi Tell us your

6:17

story So I

6:19

just had the experience of

6:21

So the degree that I

6:23

graduated with a public administration

6:25

And I ended up working for

6:27

the university that I got the

6:29

degree from and most of the

6:31

skills that I needed to figure

6:33

out were like event planning and Luckily

6:37

at the time What I

6:39

found out before I

6:41

actually started to go into

6:43

the resources that the

6:46

university provided, YouTube was my

6:48

saving grace. All the

6:50

things that I needed to figure out, I

6:52

got essentially either

6:54

fully versed in

6:57

learning or like a good

6:59

introduction to where everything that I needed

7:01

to learn that I did not

7:03

know I was able to accomplish and

7:05

it just seemed like because I was

7:07

everything that was thrown at me

7:09

I was able to accomplish more and

7:11

more was thrown at me and

7:13

so then I ended up starting

7:16

to take advantage of opportunities offered

7:18

by the university for these specific

7:20

skills but it's definitely it wasn't what I

7:22

what i what i want to go

7:24

for what i know that's such a great

7:26

story and yet people use youtube in

7:28

a certain way it can be you tube

7:30

university right a hundred

7:32

percent it works for me

7:34

thank you thank you very much

7:36

vlad in freehold you're on

7:39

wnyc have a lot hi

7:41

my name's actually bob um... so

7:44

sorry somebody got that wrong

7:46

no problem no problem uh... yes so i

7:48

i used to work for the railroad

7:50

uh... I decided it

7:52

wasn't the best idea for me. I

7:54

got a degree in financial economics. And

7:56

then I started working in

7:58

that position. But then I

8:01

figured out a way to

8:03

do a lot of good and meaningful things. So

8:06

the point I'm trying to make

8:08

is that AI exists. You can use

8:10

AI. You can ask it questions. It

8:13

will search the internet. It will

8:15

give you answers. And a

8:17

lot of jobs that don't

8:20

have meaning or about go away. so

8:22

need to find a way to be

8:24

meaningful to society. Vlad, thank

8:26

you very much. We've got YouTube

8:28

University on the table and AI University

8:30

on the table. DIY

8:32

AI. Chris in

8:34

point lookout. You're on WNYC.

8:37

Hi, Chris. All

8:39

right, how you doing? Good, tell us your

8:41

story. no

8:49

jobs to be had. It

8:51

was 1989 and spent two years looking for

8:53

a job and that was in economics

8:55

years. I was looking for banking. And

8:58

so instead of going to school, I

9:00

signed an opportunity to get trained by

9:03

a company, you know, a

9:05

mortgage broker, small company, and

9:07

learned to completely, I

9:09

never wanted to sell anything, but I

9:11

learned a completely different, you know, way of

9:13

doing, of having a career where

9:15

basically you're not You're not worried about

9:17

anybody ever having fire in you

9:20

or anything like that because you create

9:22

your book of business from referrals

9:24

and just from learning and doing whatever

9:26

you got to do to be

9:28

the best you can be. How

9:30

did you get the initial training

9:32

in that field? That's

9:36

a rarity, but I got

9:38

lucky. I found somebody who

9:40

actually was willing to do that and ended

9:42

up to train. I ended up working

9:44

with them as a process at a very

9:46

low level. kind of a job, but

9:48

I saw the potential and saw

9:50

the potential for being completely

9:52

on my own in terms of,

9:55

again, my income is totally dependent

9:57

on me, which is, for some

9:59

people, pretty scary. But,

10:01

you know, instead of going

10:04

back to school and, you know,

10:06

getting into that world where I

10:08

felt like, you know, I

10:10

would be locked into whatever income stream

10:12

might be, I was able to create

10:14

my own world. Thank you very much,

10:16

Chris. Thanks for your story. We'll end

10:18

with a few coming in in text

10:21

messages. Listener writes, I had

10:23

a bachelor's in anthropology, worked in

10:25

the nonprofit world for a few

10:27

years, then went back to a

10:29

community college for an associate's degree

10:31

to become a paramedic. Another one,

10:33

I have two sons. One went

10:35

to Binghamton School of Management, worked

10:38

in several low -level management positions,

10:40

hated them all, now a metronorth

10:42

conductor and is very happy. And

10:44

another one, I went to film

10:46

school and ended up joining

10:48

the union as a lighting technician

10:50

here in New York City.

10:52

The thing is, my job now

10:54

requires more electrical knowledge, and

10:57

I am grateful for my union's

10:59

continuing ed programs for turning

11:01

me into a more qualified electrician.

11:03

So thanks. Callers and textures

11:05

for those stories of after college

11:07

degrees stopped serving you at

11:09

some point in your working life

11:11

What did you do next? We

11:14

got some good stories on the

11:16

table that hopefully will help other

11:18

people as part of our series

11:20

on being upwardly mobile without a

11:22

college degree in this case after

11:24

a college degree stopped serving you

11:26

We've got a few more in

11:28

this series coming next week. Thanks

11:30

for your great calls and texts

11:32

That's the Brian Larry Show for

11:34

today. Produced by Mary

11:36

Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Serna, Carl

11:38

Boisvand, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Megan Ryan

11:40

is the head of Live Radio,

11:42

Juliana Fonda, and Shayna Sengstock

11:44

at the Audio Controls. Have

11:46

a great weekend. Stay tuned for

11:49

all of it.