Do you work in an industry you studied for in high school or college?

[Doc in AZ]

i was one of the nerds that started college classes my freshman year of high school. i could have graduated high school in the 11th grade. by the time i was 17 i was close to a degree specializing in international business and marketing and already had 7 semesters of japanese language and cultural training. but as most child prodigy types i was bored to tears with school because it was all easy, repetitive and i was not being challenged. so i dropped out.

i had been working at the refinery my dad operated for a few years with the maintenance guys and realized that the problem solving and design was more my calling than a suit and tie. to the benefit of this thread, it was in '87 that my auto shop teacher taught us to weld. i talked my dad into buying me a little buzz box and started building bicycles and stuff and coming up with crazy ideas... never thought it would be a way to make a living back then.

but it has proven to be a worthy skill set & coupled with engineering it can be very lucrative.

[The_War_Wagon]

Hi Skrool - not at all. College - somewhat... Graduate school - absolutely. Working on my Ph.D. for "career transition" in about another decade or so.

[Adondo]

I bailed out of skool after the 8th grade. (Speaking of misspellings, did you see that MSNBC news article on the NYC "shcool X-ing" road markings?)

I did my entire high school via a correspondence course (American Schools) while framing houses. At around 17, I went to work for an electrical contractor, and was wiring houses solo after six months or so, then got into commercial electrical.

By 19, I was working at the same company I'm still with now, building cop cars. I was doing tower work in my 20's and early 30's. That has progressed into maintaining radio systems and taking care of dispatch centers these days.

I have taken a few college trade courses, such as refrigeration, locksmithing, etc.

[peteyturbo]

I went to school for electronics engineering, and never got a job related to the industry lol....I am currently a test technology engineer, and I do dyno testing (engine and chassis) for outside customers, as well as internal r&d for our own emissions reduction systemns in a lab that is epa certified. Sometimes I also do calibration work for engines that do not pass epa standards for the usa. I have also built a few test cells here. Other then that I do performance dyno tuning as a second job which keeps me pretty busy..