Graduating from high school is a big deal, and you might be feeling pressure from friends and family members to take the next step and go to college. While enrolling in an undergraduate program and pursuing higher education is absolutely worth your time and energy, at the same time, you may be concerned about taking on student debt. That’s understandable, seeing as the student debt total in the United States is steadily rising. Even so, it’s sometimes still important to attend some form of schooling or education after you graduate from high school if you’re interested in making a good living. This is where trade schools come in.
Attending a trade school is actually a great way to build hands-on skills in a specific career field. Especially when it comes to trade programs that offer apprenticeships or internships, it’s possible to get certified in a specific field and even offered a job at the company you’re apprenticing or interning at. This can be a major benefit for someone who knows they’re interested in a specific career path that doesn’t need an undergraduate degree. Once you’ve built up substantial savings, if you decide you’re interested in getting your bachelor’s degree, that’s always an option, too. This way you won’t have any guilt or concern about student loan debt. Keep reading for a brief overview of three different trades worth pursuing after high school graduation.
1. Go through a diesel technology program if you’re interested in working on cars and diesel engines.
One career field that can be quite rewarding is being an automotive technician or diesel mechanic. Diesel mechanics work on more than just cars, helping to diagnose and fix problems in a wide range of other industrial technologies that utilize diesel engines. Learning about diesel technology and other electrical systems in an Automotive and Diesel Technology program will help set you up with the technical skills necessary to be a diesel technician and work on automotive technology.
You’ll build your competency in a wide range of technical skills when you enroll in a program focused on automotive and diesel technology, from learning how a car’s electronic system works to building up the skills necessary to provide automotive service excellence. Learning from others with years of experience in your automotive technology program will also help you to better understand the fundamentals and technical skills necessary to pursue a full-time career as a technician. These sorts of hands-on skills don’t need to be learned in a traditional educational institution with a diploma and pricy tuition; instead, you can learn about how to work on a car’s brakes and transmission in an automotive technology program.
2. Set yourself up for a successful career in cosmetology with the right esthetician program.
Cosmetology is another great career path to pursue if you’re interested in job opportunities or even want to start your own business someday. From learning the latest skincare techniques to helping clients find the best way to integrate skincare into their own lives, the right Esthetics Program can give you all the skills necessary to become a skincare specialist. Especially as more and more people focus on their skin routines due to social media usage, more and more consumers will be interested in learning about facial treatments, waxing, and the art of skincare.
By enrolling in an esthetics technology program, you’ll gain valuable connections to working professionals and be able to take the first step in building new skills and practical experience to use at a skincare salon. Similar to enrolling in an automotive program, many of the skills you need to put into practice in skincare salons involve hands-on tasks like skin analysis, hair removal, cosmetics, and other treatments. Building these skills practically gives you an edge and allows you to get after your career goals much sooner.
3. Use a certificate program to get a certification as a network engineer.
Another career field that’s starting to boom is that of network engineering. Network engineers are becoming more and more in demand, thanks, in part, to the COVID-19 pandemic making remote work more common. This means that business virtualization, rewriting the company privacy statement, establishing and maintaining computer networks, and configuring the VPN to keep data safe are all tasks that are more important now than ever. If you’re already interested in joining the information technology (IT) field, pursuing an affordable educational program in cybersecurity and getting your network engineer certification could be a major power play.
There are plenty of employment opportunities for those looking into a network engineering career. Learning about certain protocols, technological advances, and other specializations when it comes to working with routers, LAN, and data centers will all help you kickstart your career. You can even continue to increase your earning potential over time by getting advanced certifications, too.
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