How far did you go with your studies and are you satisfied with it?

I got bachelors of science in biology. Couldn't find a job because, unlike what my parents told me, a degree doesn't guarantee you a job. I ended up going back to college to get a professional degree. I didnt like the profession after a few years so I quit. Now I work at a factory where a high school education is considered an asset. Some of my coworkers are high school drop outs. It is the easiest job I've worked and the most money I've ever made in my life thanks to the union.

While my education didn't really help me get a job, it does allow me to think critically about the news which seems to be the biggest benefit.

I initially dropped out of college because I wasn’t ready for it, twice. Went right into the workforce and felt a lot of struggle for many years and learned a lot about people, power, and the value of knowing how to open doors.

Later, in my late 30’s with an established professional career I went back to college at nights to work towards a bachelor’s degree for a field I already worked in. I found the education much more valuable this time around, and frankly, I was making better decisions at that point. I got a lot out of it, even with a great deal of the material being familiar, and even wish I had selected a major I didn’t have experience in so that I might have learned even more.

I’ll note that going back to school didn’t make economic sense for me since I had already established a career, I wanted to prove to myself I could and set a better example for my daughter. I probably wouldn’t have gone back if UoPeople hadn’t been so dirt cheap and flexible, big shout out to them for being so awesome and accessible. I spent way more failing twice than succeeding once :).

While I didn’t need the degree to get where I have gotten, I recognize that it may have gotten me some steps faster and certainly helps me not get prefiltered out by HR software for desirable roles I am well qualified for. I also recognize that I learned some really valuable things from being in the workforce first, that probably positively impacted my drive, social skills, and ultimately my earning ceiling.

I’m happy with my journey through education, I learned a lot both times around and eventually got a degree I didn’t need.

BS. But I've found that a person's educational level doesn't always translate into competency depending on the job. If I could do it all over again I would have gone to school to become an electrian.

I stopped at getting an associate's degree. I'm happy with my career and I really don't want to go through any more schooling so I'm sticking with it.

Hischool dropout. I later took a year of electronics with the intention of studying avionics, but it was put in hold due to mandatory military service in 2005. Then it was further put on hold because of a job offer that was tempting. And then further put on hold due to starting a nice career in 2008. I'm now 41, and I've long since concluded that I will never go back to studying. If I were to graduate with a masters in avionics or similar, I would earn maybe a 3rd of what I do now, plus my current job and career is pretty nice and cushy.

As for happy, yeah, I think so. I'm sure if I had any completed education, it would've probably been a lot easier the times I was between jobs. But at the same time, I suspect that if I had gone the traditional IT route I would've ended up in a more traditional IT job with all the nastiness that comes along with it; support tickets, fixed work hours, active directory, fixing printers, and worst of all: users.

I tried having a "normal" job, but I fled after a few years, concluding that normal jobs are for normal people. I hate having a fixed or semi-fixed work schedule. I absolutely detest timesheets. And having to show up somewhere specific in the morning is simply something for which I was not built.

So yeah, it was a long and hard journey to get where I am, but I'm satisfied with where I ended up. And I did so purely based on merit (and some luck).

1st time I went to college (2013) I studied for electrical and computer engineering, but had to drop out due to worsening depression and undiagnosed ADD.

Floated around in food service for a bit before working at a last mile delivery warehouse at Amazon. I hated amazon so much i enrolled in a different school and got my associates in IT support. The associates helped me get a job in eLMS support, which I love doing, but it always bothered me I never finished my bachelors so I went back to school a 3rd time for computer science. Made it a year in before I dropped out again because it felt like I was just being scammed despite the school being accredited and legit.

There were a lot of issues, but the major one was that all of the programmimg courses were "taught" entirely within pearson's system. My professor wasnt teaching or grading anything, it was all done through pearson created lesson videos and person's test/homework system. On top of the standard course fees and virtual system fee (covers upkeep of the school's LMS), I was expected to pay an additional fee to pearson to access the entire course material. The school expected me to pay them to outsource my education to pearson and to pay the fees involved in said outsourcing.

Yeah, no, fuck that. After sending a lengthy email to my counselor and deparment, I dropped out and started teaching myself with material freely available online.

I have no regrets. Fuck pearson.

I got the bachelor's, and got a job that was totally unrelated.

That job paid for my masters.

I am now in a different job that has nothing to do with either of my degrees and I think I'd be happy here until retirement.

Currently researching my PhD. Satisfied with what I have done thus far and very happy where my focus landed.

For formal education, I did all the coursework for a BA but couldn't pay the last year worth of tuition, so I never got a degree.

Informal education is ongoing. I've improved my Spanish significantly and continued to study both information science and philosophy. I'd like to go back and get a teaching certificate, but it's not urgent.

Dropped out of college because I hated it. About to retire from a ~35 year career working for 2 well known companies as a senior software engineer. Very satisfied how things turned out.

I've got an undergraduate masters (graduated over a decade ago), I don't think I'd have got much other than stress and more debt if I went for a PhD and have enjoyed my jobs generally following university.

I'd say I'm pretty happy with how things have gone. Though if I had the option (somehow without much financial and time impact) I'd probably take random masters courses every few years because I just enjoy learning.

About the same age as you OP. Halfway to a bachelor now after working all my twenties trying to figure out what to do in life.
Realized my education level wouldn't allow me to achieve the goals I wanted so I threw myself at the University.

I spent eight years as an undergrad in the 90s taking courses in everything, because I was addicted to interdisciplinary learning independent of any career goal. Then the dot-com boom convinced me that online learning could replace universities, so I picked a major that would benefit from having access to a university library (History), got a baccalaureate, and ended my formal education there.

It took a decade or so before the online availability of open-access papers caught up with my expectations, and I realize in retrospect that I underrated the value of postgraduate study—but given the expense and the necessity of specializing it would have entailed, I don’t regret not pursuing higher degrees.

Got my bachelor's, mostly on scholarship and about a quarter covered by loans. Now I'm working for a company that paid for a master's degree. I might do an MBA, but no rush. I would feel very differently about it if I had to pay tuition myself.

I'm satisfied with my career trajectory. I'd be just fine without ever going for an MBA. I enjoy graduate-level studies and the people it puts me in contact with though; it can be a lot easier than undergrad.

Recently finished a BS in Physics because I enjoy learning about math with funny letters. Have had trouble finding work due to social anxiety (can't pull 40+ hour work weeks without WFH) and not wanting to work for the military industrial complex.

Found an easy job that I hated (just turning a small cog for a big corporation), but got laid off a couple months ago. I've kinda given up on everything at this point :(

I really want to work somewhere like a library or a zoo, but none of those ever seem to be hiring.

High school.

Tried college. 3 times. Failed 3 times didn’t try a 4th.

Not satisfied with where I’m at. At my age I’m screwed. Trying to understand investing hopefully make a little money before I have to stop working.

Also got lucky and bought a house so I can rent it out. (It’s either that or the American people can give me money for social welfare so I’m not homeless after I quit working)

Student loans are cancer

4-year degree. Learned all but nothing that I couldn't have learned on my own time alone. Scraped thru by cramming for a couple of weeks before the exams. As a result I don't respect the piece of paper one bit, but I suppose it did subsequently help to open a door or two.

Got a bachelor's degree, graduated in 2008.
Pretty satisfied right now. Worried that AI is gonna take my job (regardless of if it can do a good job at it, I don't think bosses really care)

I've got a Master's degree in my field and I'm putting it to use. Pay in my field has been improving as staffing shortages are pushing up wages, but I wish I could take a break from it for now.

I quit my PhD program in Physics because the misery wasn't going to be worth the eventual paycheck, especially because I refused to work for contractors in the military-industrial complex. I ended up working for a while and got an MS in Applied Statistics, which is meh. Physics actually interested me. Statistics bored the shit out of me but it was useful for the field I ended up in. But now I'm retired, which is pretty satisfying!

I went slowly through college after having kids, then got a "real job", tried to go to get a Masters and decided there was no amount of future income that was gonna be worth working, parenting, and schooling all at once, it was absolutely wrecking my life.

So sort of, I guess? I am in the field I studied for, and financially the degree paid off, and also our K-12 schooling when I went was abysmal, in college I learned some of what should have been covered in the earlier years. So glad for that as well.

I’m satisfied and proud of myself (sounds ego-ish but hear me out). When I was a kid, I was in a school for children that could (or would) not learn. All you learnt was basics of life and at 18 you just work without a degree.

I worked my way up in education from lower education to now having a bachelor degree in Finance (the exact degree everyone told me, I would never be able to get).

I’m currently taking a bit off, trying to find work and might go for master degree or something else in my country that’s equivalent to the CPA of US.

I often silently say Fuck You to the family members who always told me “you can’t do it”, “just give up” and that shit.

I went to a state university and had to withdrawl because I was depressed af and took like an entire bottle of antidepressants in order to try to feel better (its not my first time abusing medications).

Not satisfied at all.

Quit college after 3 years. Kids, marriage, and random jobs. Had an injury and found a healthcare interest during treatment and hydrocodone (made me extra chatty and i asked everyone there about their jobs and education). Associates degree in that and am on my 17th year. Fun, but I'm tired of the bureaucracy and looking forward to retiring in 5 years, if my knee holds up and they don't piss me off too much before then.

I could never afford to finish my bachelor's degree, and honestly never really cared to, until companies started using software for hiring that filters out applications that don't have degrees, regardless of experience. (Software industry) So, I did a degree that basically allowed me to do a minimal amount of studying and take the final exams without having to sit through months of lectures and graded homework that wouldn't be useful because I already knew the material for the most part from over a decade of experience. Took me about 18 months, working a more than full time job and no breaks, with a few general education credits being transferred from the short time I did attend school originally. Helped me get a job pretty much right away since my applications were finally reaching managers.

I barely finished the equivalent for you Americans of middle school. Even if my family could afford it I'm too socially inept for other studies plus I knew I couldn't make it anywhere anyways..

It's been almost 20 years since I've seen in a school. Life's is a mess and I have almost no money and live with my family. Have a temporary job on warehouse

I got my bachelor’s and worked in the industry with that degree for about a decade. Now I’m not in any related field and doing some professional certification courses. Part of me feels like I should’ve done a totally different major, part of me feels like I should go get an associate’s or master’s, but I probably wouldn’t have wound up in this field without going through my original career so at least a different bachelor’s degree probably wouldn’t have gotten me where I am now.

I went 5 years to college to pick up a BS with two majors and then did one year in a PhD and left the program. After a few years in teh field I changed careers. Unsatisfied. Had to doover would have grabbed associates and then finished off a token degree with not to heavy a load in like cs and started making decent money like 5 years sooner.

Completed an AS after nearly flunking out pursuing the wrong major for 3 years.

Didn’t find a job right away but eventually made it.

I’m about 5 years behind where I should be.

My biggest regrets are not figuring out what my interests were and not going to a college that focused on socializing.

I blame a lot of people and institutions for this, and guide younger people away from the academic traps I fell for.

Masters in Nursing. I had a bachelor's in something else so it was really for the nursing degree. Cannot be a nurse without a degree. Turned out great for me. California pays RNs very well.

However, I dont always believe higher education is the answer for everyone. Everyone is different.

What school really does IMO at the very least is train people for some basics:

• Follow directions (prompts/assignments)
• Meet deadlines
• Communicate (Essays, presentations, etc.)
• Basic Office skills
• Capacity to read, process, and learn new information
• Retain new info (tests)
• Collaboration (group projects)

So if someone does well in school, I hope they can do the above well.

Did 2 years of a 4 year degree before dropping out for a myriad of reasons.

I did well enough through high school that I never learned how to put in the effort to really study, and between that and the bad pay and working conditions I saw in the industry I was heading into, I said, "Fuck this, I'd rather go back to selling fish. I'll make just as much for half the effort anyway." I hated retail, but the work was pretty easy and I liked the people I worked with, so I stuck around for 10 years before I had enough and left to focus on another job and trying to start my own business.

Definitely not happy with where I am, but that has less to do with school and more to do with life circumstances like getting hit with a medical condition that knocked me out of the job force for the first 4 years of my 30s and right as I was trying to get my business working for myself off the ground. So now I find myself trying to re-enter work in a new field in an area where tourism is the economy, meaning there's few other industries in the area apart from retail.

I will say, though, that I feel like I learned more after leaving school than I ever did in school, and that education almost killed my love for learning.

I got my bachelors, and I'm not satisfied. Turns out it's completely useless to my career (Enterprise IT).

If I had spent my tuition getting certifications, I'd be making mid 6 figures.

I might get my MBA to go into management, but I don't really want to go back to school.

Dropped out of college and taught myself through hours of late-night computing. Got a job with peers who had CS degrees. Feel that I earned it even more than they did after overcoming my imposter syndrome.