If you don’t get a bachelor’s degree, are you doomed to flip burgers for the rest of your life?
Not necessarily. A little education can go a long way in terms of pay, as long as you focus on industries of need.
Some graduates of GTCC start out making well over $10 an hour, with workers in demanding technical fields such as aviation starting at more than $20 an hour, school officials say.
Here are a few industries and jobs they encourage job seekers to consider.
Machining
Graduates of the machining technology program, for example, may start out making $14 to $16 an hour, and often earn a lot more in overtime, according to Shanna Moore, division chair for industrial, construction and engineering technologies (ICET).
“We seem to have very, very good luck placing students, especially at the associate degree level,” she says.
Some of the best-paying jobs for graduates of her division have studied computer numerical control, or CNC, which basically is the study of using computer technology to cut metal parts.
“We do have some conventional hand machining, and those students do well, too,” Moore says. “But at the higher levels of that program, when they can actually program and write codes for the computer to cut the parts, those students seem to do very well.”
Hourly wages starting in the teens generally await students who study industrial maintenance and telecommunications and network engineering, Moore says.
Accounting
Students with a two-year associate degree in accounting start out earning hourly wages in the teens, too, according to Ken Rowe, chairman of GTCC’s business technologies division.
“We’re not talking about CPAs here,” who must go through rigorous additional training to become certified, “we’re talking about people who work in more bookkeeping kinds of roles,” he says.
In addition to accounting, other programs leading to good starting salaries for business technologies graduates include global logistics technology and two high-tech security areas: information systems security and cyber crime technology.
But half the people in the United States work for small businesses, and many of those businesses need people to do accounting work, Rowe says.
“Nationally, 50 percent of the non-farm payroll works for small businesses, so it’s a significant area,” he says.
One graduate of the accounting program found more rewarding work as a result of going back to school.
Kevin Lloyd of Jamestown decided to attend GTCC after he found out he was getting laid off in 2006 from Konica Minolta, where he worked as a line operator.
“I just saw it as a good opportunity to go ahead and change careers,” says Lloyd, 36.
He quickly found favor with his instructors, which helped him land a job in GTCC’s own accounts payable department in 2008, a year after he started classes at the school.
“I got lucky,” Lloyd says. “My professors liked me and recommended me for a job here at the school.”
Aviation mechanics
While Lloyd found it rewarding to transition from industrial work to a white-collar job, other GTCC graduates elevate their income when they get their hands dirty. Some of the school’s best-paid graduates study air frame and power plant mechanics and get jobs servicing planes at Piedmont Triad International Airport.
But the associate degree doesn’t come easy.
“It’s the longest program in the community college system,” says Ed Frye, chairman of GTCC’s Transportation division. “The program is two years, but five hours a day, five days a week.”
Other transportation programs that lead to good salaries include automotive technology and aviation electronics technology (avionics), he says.
Where most community college programs are limited to 72 to 78 hours, students in air frame and power plant mechanics earn 96 hours of credit, 50 percent of it hands-on work with airplanes. The FAA dictates the schedule and much of the curriculum, Frye says.
“They learn about all of the systems on just about any kind of aircraft you can imagine,” he says. “Everything from fabric-covered recreational planes to a composite-covered transport jet. They learn about all kinds of engines, dating back to World War II radial engines up to modern turbo fans.”
While some graduates of the program may start at jobs paying no more than $13.50 an hour, the best-paid grads start at $25 an hour or more, he says.
“We have graduates who have worked on everything from the Goodyear blimp to the space shuttle,” Frye says.
Contact Eddie Huffman at 373-7335 or eddie.huffman@news-record.com.
