The Value an Education Can Have on Future Career Goals

The Value an Education Can Have on Future Career Goals

By: Joseph Hensley

The Future is something that a lot of people give little thought to. What makes this habit a shame is the fact that the future is where we are headed. We don't get into a car and start driving with no clear thought or reason as to where we are headed. To do so would lead to many unforeseen events such as not arriving to our desired destination, getting lost, or worse. I personally believe that everyone should put as much thought into where they want to and how they plan to get there. Doing this is a lot like planning a road trip, you figure out where you're going, how you're going to get there, how much of your resources it will take, what road blocks you may come across, and what you are going to do when you get there. The end to my road lies at my arrival in a successful career in Information Technologies.

Since I know where I want to go, the next logical step is to figure out how I plan to get there. The biggest thing that will benefit an individual when applying for a job, or seeking entry into a career field of their choice, is a good education. Today's employer seeks to find the best trained individuals, not only with work experience, but an education as well. Anyone can say they know how to do something that they may have picked up through some kind of job experience, but those that can show a diploma or degree from an educational institution have the ammo to say they really learned the trade. In my current job at Echostar Communications, anytime a job posting for an internal position opens up one of the pre-requisites that always appears is that it is preferred the applicant has a Bachelors Degree or equivalent. Is a higher degree the key to higher pay? According to salary.com, in 2003 an applicant that possessed a bachelors degree could expect to earn ten thousand dollars more per year on average than an applicant possessing an Associated Degree. (http://www.salary.com, 2003) With this information, it can be concluded that by attaining a higher degree of education gains and applicant access to not only more career opportunities, but also a higher pay grade. This data is a leading cause of working adults in today's society to return to school to obtain degrees for today's competitive job market. When I decided that I would return to school, my main focus was to learn a new trade that would help me to bring more money to my household. As I progressed through various degree courses, however, I noticed that obtaining just a standard associates degree was not enough of a credential to gain entry into my field of choice. Upon realizing this information I decided that it would not only be crucial to obtain a higher degree, but it would augment me with more applicable skills. By re-enrolling into college education courses I have set in motion my route of how to get to my goal of entering the Information Technologies field.

So far we've discussed where we want to go and how we plan to get there. The next step in our progression is to find out what kind of resources will be needed to go on this trip. Since resources usually have a cost, such as time, energy and money; it's best to find out how we can get the maximum results for an economical price. Returning to school can be a very daunting experience for anyone. The biggest resource drained will be mental preparedness, as there is no doubt that the returning student will experience a fair amount of stress from worry. After not being in school for an extended length of time it will take a while to become accustomed to the environment and be relaxed with said environment. Another resource that can be considerably drained would be money. From day to day, most Americans worry about where their finances are going and where they should be going. Entering into an educational institute is a fairly large expense for the average Americans pocketbook. Luckily there are federal grants and student loans available, and though repayment can be stressful within itself, this type of financing will alleviate the returning students worries about where they will get the money from. The final, and probably most important, resource that could be though of is time. Most of our lives are pretty hectic to say the least, between work and home. Adding another time requirement to already full day's winds up being the determining factor in whether an individual will return to an education or not.

When overcoming these factors and starting out on your educational journey there is one thing that should be kept in mind, you've taken the first step to your success. The education you will receive will be an immeasurable value upon your future career goals. You will learn essential trade skills as well as real life skills that will help you