23 and no career. No college. Feeling helpless =/

I have a cousin who's more or less in the same boat as you.....except he's raising a family as well and having to manage a really crappy minimum wage job.

It seems like your parents are willing to help you through this as you mention living with your parents still. Don't be too proud to accept their help even if it means living with them for 2 more years. Some people will scoff at you for doing that, some won't, in the long run though, the people who scoff at you probably are feeling insecure for their own crappy shortcomings. There is absolutely nothing wrong with taking help from your folks if you're making strides to do something, and you are.

Go ahead, get your degree, move out, and move on with your life. If there are any other complications, please let me or anyone else on here know. It might not be how you envisioned your life would go right out of high school, but you are still very young. It's best you learn now that you wanted to go to college now than, say, 20 years down the road. Keep your chin up man.

I went to college right after high school but didnt have a plan and have spent 4 years trying to figure out what I am going to do. God finally spoke as to what He wants me to do and I am looking at another 3 years just for my undergrad.

My advise is if you want to do LE just get out and start school. I know people that kept putting it of "till next semester" and years later they still havent started.

Ask God if He wants you to do LE. Ask Him for the means and methods needed, He will provide.

There is no need to let it get you down. We all need to take our own path, yours will not look like mine and mine wont look like the next person.

God bless and good luck!

I went to University but I don't have a job let alone a career. I really need a Masters to do much and that would cost another $40K. Not going to happen. I'm considering some other training but I'm not sure it will do me any good. Now, my situation is different because I'm married and I have a husband but I do know it's a bummer when it seems those your age are really getting somewhere and you are just not in that place.

However, I do not think you are "too old" to go to college. You are 28. I say, go ahead and see if you can get a little bit of help to pay for it. If not, go slowly and work your way through. You don't have a wife and children so now is the time to get it done. Yeah, it's another few years you'll have to wait but so? If you don't go, 10 years from now you could very well be in the same position.

You're not a waste if you have a plan and a direction.

I can sympathize with you. I went to college right away and dropped out after one year. In my case I got tired of living poor. I worked at a gas station and got offered a management position and thought that was the answer. It did, at the time, provide everything I wanted. I ended up working in a food processing plant where I've been now for five years. What really motivated me was moving back to my hometown and seeing everyone else I knew come back and start great careers. I entered the community college here this fall and so far I'm doing well. I can't imagine working any less than full-time. It was just really hard to focus on school when I didn't have enough money coming in to be comfortable. Now even though I am working more I feel like I have less stress and spend more time working on school stuff.

How bad off are you? I'm in a similar sort of situation in many ways. I'm 22, working part time at Walmart, and I have no college education. On one hand, that is depressing. On the other hand, Walmart is a company that I really like, and it offers very appealing advancement opportunities.

At this point I have two options: Either try to go to college, or try to make a career where I am. My current plan is to try to make a career where I am and take up college later if I need to in order to advance to the position which I ultimately want.

I don't need a degree in business administration to run a Walmart store; so my goal is to get to a point where I have a stable career with my company, and then look into enrollment with my career path in mind. If I want to advance up the corporate ladder, at some point I'm going to really need (or at least would strongly benefit from) formal education in the field of business and economics.

Don't fall into the trap of wishing that your life was normal like everyone else. Just focus on the real options that you have and pick the best one. There are college graduates working entry-level and part time positions. College doesn't give you any kind of golden ticket. There are people everywhere who are feeling helpless. You've got to have a passion for what you do, and focus on doing a good job at what you are doing. Lots of potential success has been ruined by folks dwelling on their dreams and forgetting to live. (Harry potter cliche, yeah )

A vast majority of your life quality is defined by the way you choose to see it. Think of the parable of the talents. If you aren't excited about having a little bit of opportunity, you won't ever make anything greater out of it.

Sometimes life seems rough, problematic, unfair. Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. We wish our lives were simple, cut and dried cases; but usually they are heavily leveraged with darkness and light, trial and opportunity, blessings and frustrations. Don't try to hide from the cruel and uncomfortable realities. Face them, accept them; view life as a game, an ongoing challenge. Learn to love the challenge of it, the thrill of the game. Commit to doing your absolute best. Carry on. Stay focused on something powerful, and try to find something that gives you morale and moral ballast. It's your life; your empire; your great struggle.

I think first you really need to sit down and decide what you need to do. I never really didn't have that issue because in a way, I always knew what I wanted to do even though I knew it would also be difficult, so the idea of spending 4 years in university and spending all this money on a general education with no major was completely foreign to me and seemed like such a waste.

Now at your age, you should weigh your options and find something that really strikes you as something you would like to do for a living and then find out what channels you need to go through in order to do it. Is it something that needs a college education/trade school education or not? Is it something that is lucrative enough to make a career out of? Is the job stable in this economy? Once you figure these things out, just go for it. The worst that will happen is that it doesn't work out.

I've been on my own since I was 14, and also have worked full time (or more) since 14... I got a mortage at 19.. was working 80+ houirs a week,married and suprting 4 kids... and didn't have a high school dilpoma
No matter how much I wanted to go to school and get a degree I couldn't find the time to.. you can only do that for so long untill you break down... I did and lost it all
don't be like me. If you have an opertunity by all means TAKE IT.. Life is too short to only dream. seize your dreams and of course take all things in prayer before you do them

Hey, I'm in the same boat, like almost everybody else said. I'm 24, no college. I have a job (not one I really like, but it's a job and it pays, so I can't complain too much) and I live with my mom out in the country. I would move out and into an apartment in town, but my stepdad died about two months ago so I have to stay at home to help support my mom and sister, seeing how they don't have cars (or their licenses, for that matter). I don't complain much, I kinda like living with my mom, no rent, free food and laundry (lol), and she likes me living at home.
I'd love to go back to college, but things get in the way. I know how you feel about that. It sucks when you have a dream, but just can't seem to pursue it. I say, just stick with it. Don't worry too much about what everybody else is doing, with their careers or whatever. They probably have things they don't like about where their life is going either. Don't worry about living with parents either. It's actually becoming more common these days. Just keep God first always, and pray about it.

I moved out on my own when I was 17 and back in with my parents when I was 19 or 20, due to leaving an abusive boyfriend. I just got back out on my own this year and I am 27. I started college late and took longer than other people due to health issues. Just because you'll get a later start than others doesn't mean you are a waste. Also, a college degree doesn't necessarily mean you'll get a good job right now, with the economy the way it is. I have several friends with college degrees that are looking for jobs and have been for a while now. I got a job right out of college, but had to move when I got married, so I am now in the same boat as them. There's a lot of competition out there. I'm not saying don't get a degree, just to be aware that the job hunting may be rough. Also, for the meantime, enjoy being with your family and appreciate that you have a job at all. A lot of people do not have one right now.

DavidMann1987 said:

Hello, there

My name is David (if ya couldn't guess by my name here). I live in California and was home schooled in a Christian school. I graduated in '05. I never really had a "plan" for when I got out of college and now that I am 23 years old - looking back I really wish I could go back in time becasue where I am in life now... I do not like.

I am 23 years old. I am working for a gym making barely more than minimum wage and have no college under my belt. It has always been a life-long dream of mine to become a police officer, so last year I decided to figure out everything that is needed of me to do so. So now I'm looking at colleges (i this economy an education rings a lot of the right bells for L.E.)... but that means 2 more years of a career-less life where I am living with my parents and barely making enough $ to survive. I feel like a complete waste... becasue I didn't start college right out of high school like I should have - I would have been graduated by now!! I really feel depressed sometimes when I think about where I am and how old I am in life.

Anyone else in a similar boat or can offer advice? Please?

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I can relate, unfortunately too well. My problem was a little different in that I was very anti social , shy and very insecure/ doubtful about my abilities. I wish I could go back in time as well , but you can't live in regret. You have to move on. Plus, on the postive side atleast you have a job, so that is going to work to your advantage when you move on compared to someone who is unemployed. I say this only because I was reading an article the other day that a lot of employers aren't even considering unemployed people for jobs, even if it was through no fault of their own. How lame is that.


My main question to you is , why so you feel like a waste? I am few years older than you and I am just starting to get a college degree, eventhough I have taken some courses previously I never was that serious about it. Does that make me a waste?

Is part of the problem is society/media... which says that if you don't have degree by age 19/20 and a high profile/ uber competive career by age 24 , making tons of money than your a failure? I wouldn't completely agree with that.

Philip22 said:

My main question to you is , why so you feel like a waste? I am few years older than you and I am just starting to get a college degree, eventhough I have taken some courses previously I never was that serious about it. Does that make me a waste?

Is part of the problem is society/media... which says that if you don't have degree by age 19/20 and a high profile/ uber competive career by age 24 , making tons of money than your a failure? I wouldn't completely agree with that.

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Amen there, man. It seems like we have this stereotypical 'dream' forced onto us. Hey, I'm all for getting into a career and making money, but if you don't love what you do, if it's not really what you want, you only do it for money or to please others, what's the point? I'd rather do what I love and not make as much money, than do something that's gonna rake in the cash, but I despise it. As long as I have enough to support a family and myself, that's all I really need. And I'm not gonna let something like a forced idea come before God. That's the most important thing to me.

David the military is a really good way of accomplishing your goals. enlist for four years and you can get your collage paid for, you can be a military police person(which will give you experience) and you can do collage at the same time! I highly recommend joining the military. anyway if you want to know more about it just message me or whatever and I will ask my dad to give you more details (hes in the military) Hope it helps ill be praying for you David! =D

1. Find something that you can do well that fills a need in someone else's life.
2. Charge money for it.
3. Congratulations, you have a career.

Better yet, find many such things and do them all for money.

You don't have to go to college. You don't have to learn to lick the boots of the next person up the corporate ladder. All you have to do is learn to sell what you, as a person, have to offer. If you aren't a naturally-talented salesperson, then it will help you to get some experience in sales. Retail sucks, and working for other people in retail is even worse, but as long as you're shuffling around on someone else's floor for a paycheck, it might as well be a sales floor, where you will learn something that is useful to you.

Learn to sell yourself, make yourself useful to other people, and you will make money. And the only "boss" you'll have will be your customers.

Also might I add that a degree is no guarntee of job security or making lots of money( Yes your chances for a good job are better.) Not anymore ... companies are simply not loyal to hard working employees anymore and I am not sure if they ever where? But gone is the day when you could get a degree and have a job for pretty much most of your live if not until you retire.

I think part of the problem is that these greedy companies are shipping jobs of hard working americans ... many of who sweated and sacrificed so that the company could be successful... overseas. these greedy Companies expect their employees to be loyal but themselves are not loyal to the employees or their own country. They simply do not care.., just about their bottom line.

In fact by 2015 U.S. companies will outsource at least 3.3 million jobs to India , China, Pakistan, Vietnam Russia and Europe.

Philip22 said:

I think part of the problem is that these greedy companies are shipping jobs of hard working americans ... many of who sweated and sacrificed so that the company could be successful... overseas. these greedy Companies expect their employees to be loyal but themselves are not loyal to the employees or their own country. They simply do not care.., just about their bottom line.

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Of course they only care about their bottom line. People go into business to make money. A business that does things that waste money - such as paying people more than their marginal productivity, which means the company's prices will be higher than their competitors - will go out of business. And public stock companies have a contractual obligation to their shareholders to make a good-faith effort to keep the value of their stocks up.

If you want to end outsourcing, you should advocate removing the wage and price controls and restrictive laws in this country that make it unprofitable to run a business here. Don't blame businesses for responding in the only smart way to the current unfavorable environment that the government has created domestically. Also, learn some economics.

MacFall said:

Of course they only care about their bottom line. People go into business to make money. A business that does things that waste money - such as paying people more than their marginal productivity, which means the company's prices will be higher than their competitors - will go out of business. And public stock companies have a contractual obligation to their shareholders to make a good-faith effort to keep the value of their stocks up.

If you want to end outsourcing, you should advocate removing the wage and price controls and restrictive laws in this country that make it unprofitable to run a business here. Don't blame businesses for responding in the only smart way to the current unfavorable environment that the government has created domestically. Also, learn some economics.

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What will ensue is a race to the bottom. We've already seen manufacturing go from Indonesia to India to China in a race for the cheapest possible labor. Nobody here is willing to reduce the standard of living for the majority of Americans to that of a developing nation unless they are well above the working class themselves. The middle class in this country was built on things like collective bargaining and a progressive tax structure. If you want to attack the middle class and tell them they're living too high for pheasants, be my guest. What we can do is enact trade policies that benefit the United States. The average person in China makes about $2,500 a year. How many American-made goods do you think they're buying? The Chamber and the rest of the big business lobby was never interested in selling their goods in China, only making them in China. We can keep trade open, but only if fair wages, a reasonable work day, environmental protections, etc. are certain and we simultaneously invest more in education so we can have the modern, productive workforce we need.

WiredSpirit said:

What will ensue is a race to the bottom. We've already seen manufacturing go from Indonesia to India to China in a race for the cheapest possible labor.

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If wages fall, prices will follow if they are allowed to do so. One reason why prices are so high in the first place is because of the wage floor that has been imposed on business by the state. The other is monetary inflation. A third is a lack of competition among producers. All three of those things are caused by the government violently interfering with people's peaceful, voluntary exchange - setting wages higher than people are willing or able to pay, forcing down the interest rate and directly counterfeiting money, and imposing restrictions on business which big corporations can handle, but small businesses can't.

The middle class in this country was built on things like collective bargaining and a progressive tax structure.

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Absolute crap. Collective bargaining raised prices, drove out small businesses, and ended competition for labor. And there is no such thing as a "progressive tax structure". All taxes, no matter how constituted or who enforces them, benefit the rich, and only the rich - because it is the rich who end up controlling the political apparatus every time.

What we can do is enact trade policies that benefit the United States.

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No thanks. I don't care about nation-states; only individuals. And I'd rather see an individual in China making a little bit of money by trading with the US than see the US corporately benefit from a restrictive trade policy. Not that it would, of course, as restrictive trade only increases domestic prices. Though it would also increase smuggling, and I'm all for countereconomic entrepreneurship, so at least there would be a silver lining.

The average person in China makes about $2,500 a year. How many American-made goods do you think they're buying?

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Practically none, since the only export of America these days is Federal Reserve Notes. Which, again, is the fault of the government because they won't stop printing the stuff.