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ph90702

Going Back to School

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Has anyone gotten a degree in something, gone to work in that field, decided that it wasn't for them, and then decided to go back to school?  If so, can you please share your experience?  I'm thinking about going back to school because I am not loving accounting.

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20 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

Has anyone gotten a degree in something, gone to work in that field, decided that it wasn't for them, and then decided to go back to school?  If so, can you please share your experience?  I'm thinking about going back to school because I am not loving accounting.

My brother was a mechanic and eventually burnt out on it. So he got a degree in Criminal Justice and became a Sheriff's deputy in Riverside County.

Image result for riverside county sheriff's department

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14 minutes ago, crixus said:

My brother was a mechanic and eventually burnt out on it. So he got a degree in Criminal Justice and became a Sheriff's deputy in Riverside County.

Image result for riverside county sheriff's department

Did he work full-time and go to school?

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14 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

Did he work full-time and go to school?

Yes, he worked full-time and took classes at night. But he's glad he did it and is making more money.

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If you have student loan debt, I would suggest getting that paid first.  Second, it would be stupid to begin a second education if financed by debt if you are not darn sure what you want to do.  I would do your due diligence before making changes.  Accounting should provide a decent living until you figure things out.  I have done corporate accounting and finance for over 30 years, I am glad I stuck it out. It has been good, but not sure I can say I "love" it.  I have been rewarded, but there has been considerable sacrifice too.

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3 minutes ago, modestobulldog said:

If you have student loan debt, I would suggest getting that paid first.  Second, it would be stupid to begin a second education if financed by debt if you are not darn sure what you want to do.  I would do your due diligence before making changes.  Accounting should provide a decent living until you figure things out.  I have done corporate accounting and finance for over 30 years, I am glad I stuck it out. It has been good, but not sure I can say I "love" it.  I have been rewarded, but there has been considerable sacrifice too.

I have no debt, and I could go back to school and not incur debt.  I feel that I would get more fulfillment by studying nutrition and making Paleo sauces/condiments.

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15 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

studying nutrition and making Paleo sauces/condiments.

Go for it.

Edit, on second thought, can't you do that without return to school?

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30 minutes ago, ph90702 said:

I have no debt, and I could go back to school and not incur debt.  I feel that I would get more fulfillment by studying nutrition and making Paleo sauces/condiments.

One thing to consider, can you leverage both capabilities.  Consider being a CFO or finance person in a nutrition company.   Or if you start your own company you have a good sense of the books.   Find a great chef and offer to partner with him.  

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IIRC, you recently got your CPA.  My hunch is that a CPA firm needs to sell it's services.  If you are uncomfortable selling accounting services, you will fall flat trying to market sauces and spices.  If you try to produce yourself, very expensive capital outlay and you likely will be buried by regulations.  It would be difficult to market if you are consumed in production.  Most practical would be to contract with someone to produce, package, bar code, label, etc.  However, marketing would be up to you.  Do you know how hard it is to get shelf space at a supermarket?  There is the slight possibility if you get some sales rolling in a venture capital arrangement might present itself; however, their advice might be questionable and designed to get you to fail and they would then own your brand.  I don't know why you need to go to school to sell sauces.

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An accounting degree is a degree you can do anything with.   There is no education that will better prepare you more for a food business or any other kind of business.  You need to get specific experience.   Either start your own business or try to find a job in that industry to get some experience and education.   Either will be better then a further college education at this point.

The college education system really does little more then give you the basic tools.  Professors think they are experts, when in reality they are barely functional retards.  You need to get your own real education specific to the industry you want to start a business in and that won't be provided in a classroom.

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4 hours ago, ph90702 said:

Has anyone gotten a degree in something, gone to work in that field, decided that it wasn't for them, and then decided to go back to school?  If so, can you please share your experience?  I'm thinking about going back to school because I am not loving accounting.

Yes, I did.  And, it was the best thing I ever did.

4 hours ago, ph90702 said:

I have no debt, and I could go back to school and not incur debt.  I feel that I would get more fulfillment by studying nutrition and making Paleo sauces/condiments.

However, my field of work was not as drastic of a change as you wanting to go back to school and study nutrition.  Before you go back to school, if I may suggest, try taking some free online classes in Food and Nutrition from www.edx.org.  I'm sure there are other free online sites but, I only use edX.  I don't think you want to get a degree in Nutrition do you?  I doubt your Accounting degree and it's prerequisites would be adequate for such an endeavor.  You would more than likely be forced to start by getting into some basic science classes and you would need to ask yourself if you have that aptitude.  Try those free classes and see where it takes you.  edX courses can be challenging so it would be a good start.

As for making food products the local city/county laws will determine how you can start.  Don't think that it will be as easy as kicking your mom out of the kitchen so you can mass produce.  Our local laws are not friendly to home based food processing ventures.  Because of that your startup costs will be high. 

Sactowndog and Modestobulldog brought up some good food for thought as well on starting a business.

 

 

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I'd really caution against making a knee-jerk decision like that. If I'm remembering right, you just passed your CPA and hadn't really found much work in that industry. If you haven't really tried it out, you can't know whether or not you truly like it. My cousin started out as a CPA, then moved to a corporate accounting firm and became an auditor for 14 years, then finally became a VP with a multinational banking group. 

My wife has her degree in Business, spent over a decade in sales, and now works for a health care predictive analytics company and is starting her Masters Program in Health Informatics at Johns Hopkins in a few months. 

As others have said, there's a whole lot that you can do with an accounting degree outside of just being a CPA. Additionally, you can change careers and shift into other arenas without necessarily having a degree in that discipline. I've been in IT for 17 years, and I know people that have degrees in accounting, liberal studies, history, and a whole host of other things. 

@CockyUNLVPoster's suggestion of taking some classes through edX is a really good one. I did a class through them for business analytics and made the decision that's the route I wanted to take, as I was already very interested in predictive modeling, statistics, and algorithms... so I start my Bachelors program in data management/analytics in July --- which will be my first college degree.

You'd really have to have a passion for cooking, and be very good at it in order to make a living in an industry like you're talking about. Then you consider that specializing in a niche market like paleo would make it even that much more difficult. I'm not saying that you shouldn't do it, but just that you should take a long had look at your life, and what you really want to do before trying to make it in that industry. I've started two businesses in far less niche markets, I'm a pretty good marketer, I had capital behind me, and solid business plans. Both of them went under, and I only made a profit on one of them because I "merged" with a similar company in order for them to absorb my clients. 

If what you're suggesting is something that you really want to do, then I'd research what the competition in that industry would be. What types of products you would make, how you would be unique and provide an edge to yourself --- whether it be through better marketing, better products, an innovative product that isn't represented, or underrepresented. Those are all things that you need to consider, along with the amount of time that it would take you to go back to school for a second degree, and then develop your products along the way. 

 

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If you're looking to get paid and go to school, factories get a bad rap, but they will often pay for your school if it involves your current line.

 

If you can get yourself into a position, I've seen factory workers get paid $26+/hr and full benefits as they become union electricians, and never have to leave the county.  I've seen factories pay for accountants, electricians, HR, programming tech (<<<that's a good one), business management, communications, and translators.  I've also seen factories reimburse tuition, and give bonuses for high grades, even if it doesn't directly involve factory work.

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14 hours ago, ph90702 said:

I have no debt, and I could go back to school and not incur debt.  I feel that I would get more fulfillment by studying nutrition and making Paleo sauces/condiments.

You do not need another degree for that.  My uncle does not have a degree.  He started a sandwich and dance restaurant in Northern California and transformed it slowly into a high end Italian place with original recipes his grandmother brought over from Itally.  He now runs his own bloody mary label that sells in most states and in over a dozen countries.

http://cirinosbmm.com/product/cirinos-bloody-mary-mix/

http://cirinosatmainstreet.com/menu/

Your accounting degree will serve you well if your pursue something like that.  My suggestion would be to go out and do something and get real world experience.  Talk to some chef's, hell go be a line cook for a few years part time while using your accounting degree elsewhere to build some wealth.  It would serve you much better than going back to school.  I worked as a cook while going to school, started cooking at age 15.  Picked up dozens of really great sauce recipe's I have tweaked over time.

 

 

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1 hour ago, Joe from WY said:

I don't know what's more pathetic. Ph's threads or the fact that people respond seriously to him. 

Guilty.  Reading PH's threads is like eating really bland, stale oatmeal and every now and then you take a bite just to find a toenail hidden in it.

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