what the fuck to do with my life plz

[einride]

facts:

* i've been working here for 3 years or so, my job sucks and i want a new one which pays better and is not deathly boring

* although i am a clever fellow and good at a lot of shit, i don't have any particularly weighty education or experience to prove it

* i am dead tired of being broke all the time, for which reason i am not that into the idea of going back to college and getting a proper education which will get me a proper job. that's three more years of having no money and i'm fucking 26 already. also it means i will go into years and years of debt (i am currently 100% debt free) by taking out a loan to fund my studies.

* i'm moving in with my girlfriend shortly and i have a car and various other things that bind me to having to be semi-responsible and bring in some sort of steady income. i can't fuck around with going into debt for any kind of education which does not lead to a job

* i wanna rock


the options:

* i could keep working this job until i can't take it anymore, take another bad-to-ok dead end job somewhere, keep doing this until i die. i will make bad money and be semi-unhappy for the rest of my life.

* i could go back to college and get serious, get a marketable education (probably comp sci,) get a job which pays well, keep doing this until i die. i will make good money and be semi-unhappy for the rest of my life.

* i could try doing some freelance work with the skills i already have, i.e. any combination of programming, graphic design, photography, audio engineering etc. the market for shit like this is heavily saturated already and i am absolute garbage at "marketing" myself and i have no self-discipline so however much i would love to do this in theory, i know that it will not work

* total death und coldvoid über alles


but seriously bros. it feels like i'm already pretty locked into my situation, like at 26 i've already sealed my fate essentially. i wish someone would have told me around high school that what you're doing now actually has serious repercussions on the future, because it sure didn't feel like it at the time.

also i wish someone would have told me that all the chains you agree to let yourself be bound by are actually pretty hard to break loose from. i'm not the kind of guy who would sell all his shit and say "fuck it, moving to costa rica" although like everyone else, sometimes i wish i was. i guess. not costa rica though.

also i don't want this to be interpreted as a huge emo "boo hoo my life sucks" thread because that's not what it is, it doesn't suck, it's just a bit confusing. give me pro tips.


tl;dr: what to do plz: waste 3 more years of my life + go into debt by getting a real education

OR

hope for the best and scrape by with what little education/skills/experience i have so far, with my best "this will all work out for the best, i'm a SMART GUY" attitude

 

[Thanatopsis123]

I thought college was free in Sweden. I suppose though that I'd vote for that second option.

 

[lurch70]

welcome to adulthood and your mid 20's ... can't speak for anyone else but I had very similar dilemmas around that time. (not that I solved any )

i wish someone would have told me around high school that what you're doing now actually has serious repercussions on the future, because it sure didn't feel like it at the time.

what were you doing then?

 

[dorian gray]

welcome to adulthood and your mid 20's ... can't speak for anyone else but I had very similar dilemmas around that time. (not that I solved any )

this ... and this.

 

[dorian gray]

oh yeah, and the part about high school...same experience right here. Went from third in my class of 350 to total irrelevance by not doing jack shit my junior year. Not one single guidance counselor noticed or bothered to call me into their office. After graduation, my former nerd compatriots at the top went on to great colleges and I barely bothered to go to the local community college. The rest you know already.

Uhhh...sorry...this is supposed to be about Erik. Uhm...Erik, I would highly recommend going into debt to get a degree in something that is a combination of a field in which you can actually obtain employment AND something you enjoy. Sounds like a degree in computer engineering/science/programming/whatever would be right up your alley.

Goddam I wish I were 26 again

 

[einride]

I thought college was free in Sweden. I suppose though that I'd vote for that second option.

college is free but you only get about $400 from the state a month to pay for all your shit, which is not workable, so most commonly, folks take out a loan (a student loan, also from the state, under some special conditions) to pay for the rest of their expenses. or you could take a part-time job, i guess.

what were you doing then?

i was real tired of school and got some bad grades in courses that, in retrospect, i should have gotten good grades in. if i did it would have been easier to do what i want, college-wise. then i fucked around with going to audio engineering college and dropping out during my darkest, most depressed years. wasted a ton of saved-up/inherited money. that sure didn't go anywhere.

Uhhh...sorry...this is supposed to be about Erik. Uhm...Erik, I would highly recommend going into debt to get a degree in something that is a combination of a field in which you can actually obtain employment AND something you enjoy. Sounds like a degree in computer engineering/science/programming/whatever would be right up your alley.

probably man. programming i'm definitely ok with, i want to say even in the long run but i'm not sure. probably.

 

[einride]

and can i just say that at least our society, via various political measures, is making it so that you have to be even MORE sure of what you want to do the REST OF YOUR LIFE when you're 15-18 years old, and it is FUUUUUUUUUUCKED UP. they are working their god damned hardest to make sure that once you apply for a high school education as, say, mechanic, you're gonna be a mechanic the rest of your godforsaken little life. NO ONE knows what they truly want-to-be-when-they-grow-up when they are 15. it's a mindblowing amount of bullshit

sweden is so bad now. it used to be good and they are systematically destroying everything that was cool about this country for i don't even know what reason. but i digress

 

[dorian gray]

Here in the States, people change careers several times in their lifetime. I read that somewhere. I've never known anyone who actually did that.

 

[einride]

yeah that is one of those theoretical possibilities

i mean it sounds perfectly reasonable on paper but try doing that in a reality with 5 stinking little children running around demanding more spaghetti-o:s to stuff their rancid little throats with and a billion dollar mortgage on the plywood coffin you call home

 

[dorian gray]

I am doing that except I don't have five kids and my mortgage is only $1400

 

[lurch70]

i want to do something cool like move to Bangalore India and sell Porsches at their new dealership.

gotta milk this "white" thing.

 

[dorian gray]

India has got to be the worst place on Earth

 

[einride]

India has got to be the worst place on Earth

^^^

there is, i think, one country in the world which might be worse and it is the democratic republic of the congo

otherwise: fuck india, fuck everything about india

you could not pay me enough to visit that dump

 

[dorian gray]

hahahaha DRC how could I forget about that place?

 

[KILL TULLY]

Work as an ITT contractor overseas in dangerous places for 130,000+ USD a year.

 

[Furious B]

tl;dr: what to do plz: waste 3 more years of my life + go into debt by getting a real education

i completely understand and i am in a similar boat at one year older.

i don't know what the educational system is like in sverige, but in the US you can go to community colleges or trade schools for MUCH cheaper than university. a lot of those schools offer the same education and because they are smaller, you get more attention in those classes from the instructors. the most important part to those schools is they cost about a 100x less than the major universities. i did this before going to a major university and i swear to you there really isn't a difference in the quality of education if you go to the right one.

also, in the US we have grants and financial aid. i used that and went to a major university and got a BS degree and have no debt at all from the whole thing.

 

[Ellestin]

my two cents: I'm having similar "life ok but going nowhere atm" issues and am six years older. You have way more time than I have to get a grip. Do it.

 

[Reign in Acai]

my two cents: I'm having similar "life ok but going nowhere atm" issues and am six years older. You have way more time than I have to get a grip. Do it.

Same here, 4 yrs older than Grahn, and sadly I've begun to be completely resigned to my fate. Erik, any possibility you can hold down your job and go to school at the same time? Might seem like an ass load, but it would be your best bet if viable.

 

[lurch70]

i think going to college/university/higher studies straight out of high school is for the birds.

maybe 10% of people that do (or are forced by society to do) know what they really want to be. and certainly college won't "teach" you how that potential dream career will pan out.

said this in the past and will bore you with it again ... higher studies are for careers that you can't have without them ... doctor, lawyer, engineer, accountant, etc.

if you want to be a programmer or computer genius ... I don't think it's necessary. go work for any company at an entry level tech job and you will reach further in 4 years than with school (not to mention you are getting paid as well instead of you doing the paying)

if you want to be a sound engineer go out with a band on the road ... take the money you were to spend for a semester in schol learning it and put it towards living on the road for 3 months and working. you will LEARN MORE and make crazy connections.

otherwise: fuck india, fuck everything about india

you could not pay me enough to visit that dump

and get rid of this general mentality first

 

[dorian gray]

Isn't your wife in school right now?