Anyone here work for MDC/USACE?

[rps]

What a  wealth of advice. Good advice, too.

Instead, I want to suggest a perspective change.

If you start now, at 27, you can do what you need to be trained and still be only 30 or 31. That means you have 35 to 40 years to work and enjoy. Now the first few years may be ugly, but later you can make that change.

It also means you have quite a while to amortize the cost of that training.

My cousin Steve went to school at Conway and tried for nearly a year to get on with AGFC. When they finally did, they sent him to Searcy, where he worked 35 years as a game warden. He hunted all over the world, built a house, and receives an Arkansas retirement check and social security every month. True, he was never rich, but he is not poor.

You may need to move, but you do not need to worry about being out of time.

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 hour ago, rps said:

What a  wealth of advice. Good advice, too.

Instead, I want to suggest a perspective change.

If you start now, at 27, you can do what you need to be trained and still be only 30 or 31. That means you have 35 to 40 years to work and enjoy. Now the first few years may be ugly, but later you can make that change.

It also means you have quite a while to amortize the cost of that training.

My cousin Steve went to school at Conway and tried for nearly a year to get on with AGFC. When they finally did, they sent him to Searcy, where he worked 35 years as a game warden. He hunted all over the world, built a house, and receives an Arkansas retirement check and social security every month. True, he was never rich, but he is not poor.

You may need to move, but you do not need to worry about being out of time.

I went to school while I worked nights at GM. Finished my BS when I was 39.  Got me off the assembly line and into my current career.  There were 10 miserable years mixed in there though.  Builds character and gives you an appreciation you can’t get anywhere else.   I left GM in 2000.  

[Johnsfolly]

56 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Finished my BS when I was 39.

Not sure that you have ever finished your BS buddy🤣

[Terrierman]

8 minutes ago, Johnsfolly said:

Not sure that you have ever finished your BS buddy🤣

He's still working on it, searching for perfection.

[Mitch f]

47 minutes ago, Terrierman said:

He's still working on it, searching for perfection.

MIT….that’s close to perfection! Pete was their valedictorian!!!!! 

[snagged in outlet 3]

5 minutes ago, Mitch f said:

MIT….that’s close to perfection! Pete was their valedictorian!!!!! 

Graduated summa cum laude 😁

[Mitch f]

By the way MIT =Missouri Institute at Taneycomo

[MrGiggles]

I do some side work already, usually getting $25-50 an hour. The boss doesn't care as long as his stuff gets priority.

Up until recently my plan was to continue ratholing money away, buy a piece of property, and build a shop to get my own practice going. But with property and building costs skyrocketing like they are, who knows. The 120 acre farm next to me sold for just under 1 million, decent lots are bringing 10-30k.

Not to continue the "woe is me" stuff, but I got dumped last week. That's what started this whole spiral of introspection, mostly as a distraction from the heartbreak, but the fact that my career needs work remains. It may end being the best thing that's ever happened to me, who knows how long I would've stuck around here.

SBU has a program in wildlife conservation that I may look into. They're right down the road. Still don't know how serious I am because of the crappy pay and competition. Looking through the program, I already have at least half of the credits needed, really just need a couple chemistry classes and all of the bio stuff.

 

[nomolites]

8 hours ago, MrGiggles said:

I do some side work already, usually getting $25-50 an hour. The boss doesn't care as long as his stuff gets priority.

Up until recently my plan was to continue ratholing money away, buy a piece of property, and build a shop to get my own practice going. But with property and building costs skyrocketing like they are, who knows. The 120 acre farm next to me sold for just under 1 million, decent lots are bringing 10-30k.

Not to continue the "woe is me" stuff, but I got dumped last week. That's what started this whole spiral of introspection, mostly as a distraction from the heartbreak, but the fact that my career needs work remains. It may end being the best thing that's ever happened to me, who knows how long I would've stuck around here.

SBU has a program in wildlife conservation that I may look into. They're right down the road. Still don't know how serious I am because of the crappy pay and competition. Looking through the program, I already have at least half of the credits needed, really just need a couple chemistry classes and all of the bio stuff.

 

I have a friend that’s a biologist for MDC(for the last 10 years or so)and he’s bailing due to low earnings potential and looking to get into the trades.  If money is a driver for you, I would have to add another recommendation for engineering - especially given your mechanical aptitude.

 Mike

[snagged in outlet 3]

43 minutes ago, nomolites said:

9 hours ago, MrGiggles said:

I do some side work already, usually getting $25-50 an hour. The boss doesn't care as long as his stuff gets priority.

Up until recently my plan was to continue ratholing money away, buy a piece of property, and build a shop to get my own practice going. But with property and building costs skyrocketing like they are, who knows. The 120 acre farm next to me sold for just under 1 million, decent lots are bringing 10-30k.

Not to continue the "woe is me" stuff, but I got dumped last week. That's what started this whole spiral of introspection, mostly as a distraction from the heartbreak, but the fact that my career needs work remains. It may end being the best thing that's ever happened to me, who knows how long I would've stuck around here.

SBU has a program in wildlife conservation that I may look into. They're right down the road. Still don't know how serious I am because of the crappy pay and competition. Looking through the program, I already have at least half of the credits needed, really just need a couple chemistry classes and all of the bio stuff.

 

I have a friend that’s a biologist for MDC(for the last 10 years or so)and he’s bailing due to low earnings potential and looking to get into the trades.  If money is a driver for you, I would have to add another recommendation for engineering - especially given your mechanical aptitude.

 Mike

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