Which career path do I take?

[Raislin]

Hello again.

My wife and I currently gross about 64k (32k each) working as management in fast food. In the time since I discovered this blog, we finally reached a position to send us both to school part time.

My wife isn't particularly interested in anything. She's 20 years old with no previous college. We've talked a lot and tossed around ideas, and she's probably going to pursue some level of nursing.

Then there's me. I have roughly two years of completed general education under my belt, plus some math through differential. I'm also not particularly interested in anything. More accurately, everything interests me, but I'd rather keep my working career as short as possible. I have always excelled well beyond my peers in every science and math related subject I've been a part of, so there are a lot of viable options for me.

Should I pursue an engineering (most likely electrical, as I've already done some class and lab work for it) or take a quicker part like the nursing degree she's considering? The program at our community college includes a two year nursing program with weekend attendance. I could do it while working full time. On the other hand, I can't fit in more than one (two if I'm lucky) engineering classes around my work schedule, so I'm still looking at several years to finish. Summer and winter class opportunities are extremely limited.

I'm mostly looking for objective opinions. If we leave school out and continue with our current careers, we could save enough for a modest retirement and so still very early. We can get our yearly expenses down to about 15k while renting an apartment.

[soccerluvof4]

There both good professions but your probably not getting many responses because only you know whats going to make you happy. Sounds like your wife is happy doing what shes doing so maybe its more about you. Again that is from way outside looking in. The biggest thing is to be happy what your doing and saving. Can you see yourself doing what your doing till you retire? then if not make the change sooner than later but also if it makes sense.

[curlyfry]

Engineering better hours, less injuries?

[lovesasa]

Should I pursue an engineering (most likely electrical, as I've already done some class and lab work for it) or take a quicker part like the nursing degree she's considering? The program at our community college includes a two year nursing program with weekend attendance. I could do it while working full time. On the other hand, I can't fit in more than one (two if I'm lucky) engineering classes around my work schedule, so I'm still looking at several years to finish. Summer and winter class opportunities are extremely limited.

I'm mostly looking for objective opinions. If we leave school out and continue with our current careers, we could save enough for a modest retirement and so still very early. We can get our yearly expenses down to about 15k while renting an apartment.

If your annual expenses are 15k and your wife isn't particularly excited about any career prospects yet, is there any reason she couldn't continue to work earning 32k while you go to school for electrical engineering? It sounds like something you have more interest in than nursing, and I would expect pays fairly well. You could finish out the last year or two (? it sounds like ?) of your degree and step into a lucrative career much more quickly. Then she would have had some time to figure out what she really wants to do and you would be earning a higher salary, which would give you both more flexibility to support her choices.

[seattlecyclone]

Have you tried writing code? Maybe software engineering would be a good option for you. It tends to attract a lot of the same type of people who have interests in electrical engineering, but I think the job market is quite a bit more favorable these days.

[Raislin]

I think I would be happy with anything. Even what I do now is satisfying. It just doesn't pay as much as I'd like.

I may try going full time to finish my own degree in about a year from now if things don't feel any better than now. However, this next year is going to be dedicated to paying off my current student loans and her car so as to make such a choice more comfortable. We just celebrated our first year anniversary on Tuesday and our goal is to be debt free by our next one.

I guess the main question boils down to... Less schooling and less cost for nursing, or more schooling and more cost for a potentially higher salary?

Edit: Yes, I've considered coding. I have some experience through classes and personal studies with C++ and that is also a career path that interests me greatly.

[JLee]

I think I would be happy with anything. Even what I do now is satisfying. It just doesn't pay as much as I'd like.

I may try going full time to finish my own degree in about a year from now if things don't feel any better than now. However, this next year is going to be dedicated to paying off my current student loans and her car so as to make such a choice more comfortable. We just celebrated our first year anniversary on Tuesday and our goal is to be debt free by our next one.

I guess the main question boils down to... Less schooling and less cost for nursing, or more schooling and more cost for a potentially higher salary?

Edit: Yes, I've considered coding. I have some experience through classes and personal studies with C++ and that is also a career path that interests me greatly.

How important are "normal" or consistent schedules to you? Nursing may result in overnights, weekends, etc.

[The_Crustache]

Perhaps you should take a BROAD look at different fields, and move in from there.
Get on linkedin and connect with people in these fields, and just fire questions at them. Look at people who do what you'd like to do, or things you've considered. Ask people who you know in real life. Get a feel for where these industries are now, in terms of job stability, employment rate, satisfaction, and PAY; but also where they might be in the future.
Don't just follow what sounds "interesting" but think about the values and cultures of those jobs (investment banking makes money but do you want to wear a suit and work 80 hour weeks?) and also what kind of skills you can do.

I wish you the best.

[mozar]

From what I've heard you can just start taking a few computer science classes and there is enough demand that you could find a IT job with only that. Depends where you live though. When I went to grad school for accounting in my first semester before I had even learned anything I got a part time job doing accounting, just because I said I was in school for it.

Stay away from for-profit schools. You can take your core classes at a community college which tend have have flexible hours then transfer to a fulltime bachelor's degree while your wife keeps working. Once you graduate you can make at least the same amount as what you both make now. I think it's better not to do nursing if you are only vaguely interested in it. It is an extremely tough job.