Now first of all, youtube and websites and stuff are always a gamble. You either go all or nothing, and if you're lucky it can become your career.
Anyways, the reason I'm wondering this is because as a 15 year old who "should" be looking into colleges, I'm looking into the internet more than anything. I'm seeing tons and tons of things that could be potential careers that don't require a college degree. And I bring this topic up because I saw which has some pretty solid points in it.
First of all, if I could put more time into youtube and make quality videos and get a good subscriber base, it could very well become a career for me. One of the comments on that video was this:
"College degree = piece of paper not job guarantees. Even if you get a job in 90% of situations you still have to work your way up the ladder. With a business, engineering, or film degree you'd be lucky to make $40,000 your first year out of College.
Most YouTubers who manage their channels well, can make that much with around 100k subscribers."
Which, I don't know if that's entirely true or not, but it seems reasonable. The reason I say this is because I watch DSPGaming, and he has about 100k subscribers. This is now his FULL TIME job. He's not just playing games and uploading to make some extra cash. He's using all of the money from youtube to pay for car bills, house bills (or apartment rent) and all that.. SOLELY off of youtube and playing video games, SOLELY off of something that requires NO college education. And think about how many people there actually are with over 100k subscribers... there's quite a hefty amount, it's not like it's that rare. Sure you could say there's only... 100,000 people with more than 100k out of 5,000,000 or something... but I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that about 70% of users don't even legitimately post videos. So making a living off of playing and commentating video games (or making youtube videos for that matter) is NOT that unlikely. (That is as long as you can manage your channel well and grow to 100k at a fast enough rate to have tons of active subs.)
Youtube is the main thing I'm thinking about, but there's a lot of other possibilities. You can go online and learn just about anything. Think about this: Notch is a MILLIONAIRE right now, all because he knew some java and coded minecraft. Sure you can go to college and learn java and all that, but really, you can learn as much java as you need to make something right from the internet. ****, I learned how to do some basic modding (i.e., making a block, crafting/furnace recipes, making a toolset, making a new ore, making a block generate) in less than a week, all from online tutorials.
Now I'm sure there's more things like running a website, selling merch, and all that stuff that can make you the cash you need to survive, but that stuff doesn't concern me as much and I'd just be pulling things out of my ass if I were to talk about them.
You guys get the point, I believe that it is FULLY possible to make decent cash without college, as there's so many new opportunities on the internet. If I were to have a gradual increase of subs until the time I move out (as long as I stay dedicated), let's say I'd move out when I turn, 20.. that's 4 years down the road, I could be over 100,000 subs by then. There are some people who have been on youtube for about a year and have over 20,000, it seems completely possible to be making 40k per year in 4 years.
Please tell me what you think. Do you think it's highly unlikely to make a living off of youtube? Is it way too hard to get to that point? Is youtube gonna be gone in a few years (I think it will still be around for many years, but I can't say for sure because the internet is a *relatively* new thing, and nobody really knows how a media hosting site like youtube will last, considering youtube is the first major one of it's kind.)
I'm great at graphics, but that doesnt mean I dont need further education..
Collage isnt necessary for a career, but it helps a lot to get a better career..
imagine if you were giving 2 people jobs, and 6 people would apply for the job
4 people went to collage and 2 people didnt, who are you more likely to choose?
But, for example, with something like youtube or running a website or coding a video game, you don't need to be interviewed, you can just do it on your own.
Either way, that is the WORST way to hire an employee in my own personal opinion. If someone who didn't go to college showed you a demo reel of his animation or whatever that is better than the person's who went to college, why take the college graduate over the talent?
One piece of advise, don't go into youtube with the aim to make money / a career out of it, that is not the correct mind set. But you should always have a backup plan incase your youtube plans do not work out.
Believe me, I never did and never will come to youtube with that mindset, if I did, I'd be making money on my videos right now (monetization can be done before you become a partner) but I haven't done it yet. I just came to the realization that it's actually possible to do.
Not likely, id rather finish colledge and ensure at least some career than risk.
College by no means ensures a career. That's the mindset of just about every kid I know. "Derp I'm going to college and I'm gonna be a director" or something.. like sure you'll go to college but you can't guarantee yourself the director part. I mean, you either risk thousands of dollars by going to college and potentially not being able to find a job, or you risk it with youtube. Sure it's more of a risk when you're older and making youtube videos, but if you can get a good start while still in highschool, maybe by the time you *would* go to college, you realize, you're already working full time.
Well, he's right you know. Going to college doesn't ensure you a job, especially if you go to college assuming going there will automatically make you job-worthy. Why do you think so many people have money ranging up into the thousands on college fees they have to pay off, and even when they do it can take 10 years and maybe even more. It's because the job they ended up getting wasn't nearly as good as the job they trained for. EG. I spent 300,000 for college to become an oil tycoon but I ended up only owning one drilling facility that makes 20,000 a year. (that's an unrealistic situation, but it was for example purposes)
Usually people who make money by Youtube didn't even had that in their mind. If you want to make money from videos, you have to have a gimmick that will make young kids want to watch it. Also, if your channel fails, what would happen?
well, what if 2 people have a similar talent?
life doesnt always turn out like you want it to, and what will happen if you wont make any money of those things you plan on? you would need another job to take care of yourself, and your family if you plan on having one..
I'm 15 too, I've chosen a college even though I thought just like you a month ago, then I realised I had to be realistic and being to plan my future..
my dad didnt go to college, he went to work right away.. today he's a bus driver,
do you think he likes that job? no. do you think he planned on it? no!
my family has a lot of money issues just because my dad cant a good job in this economy without a collage degree..
Heh, I've been thinking about this for a while and flip flopping between college and this, but really all of the "college things" I'm interested in are apparently very bad industries. I'm kind of a "creative" person. I'd like to make video games, do 3D animation, stuff like that, but from what I've heard is that animation and games industries suck as of now. Also, it's not unrealistic. People are too narrow-minded to realize that this is a completely legitimate possibility. Everyone just thinks "My parents say college is necessary, so it must be!" Sure if you don't make good videos or can't post very often or something then maybe youtube seems unrealistic. But have you ever thought of having a job, let's say at McDonalds, and also doing youtube, for half and half? Considering having youtube as a job is very loose scheduled, you can very easily do one job, come home, and do some youtube videos.
I would just like to point out at how many times the word "college" has been misspelled. I find that rather ironic.
As for school, it really all depends on what you want to do with your life. The internet fame game isn't 100% reliable. Sure, you could strike lucky and end up a millionaire. But if you compare the number of people that try and the number of people that succeed, it makes for a very slim chance.
I myself only have my high school diploma and managed to land myself a very good career as a lead graphic design artist and print room manager. I self taught all the computer mumbo-jumbo and then had the talent to back me up. You can't learn talent. You either have it, or you don't.
My husband went to University and got himself his bachelors of science, majoring in statistics and mathematics. He graduated the top of his class. But when he got out into the real world, he couldn't get a job doing anything more than selling add space in a magazine. He took a more specialized course from a local community college for insurance and risk management and now makes six figures.
So really, going to school is a gamble too. You really have to research your options very thoroughly.
Usually people who make money by Youtube didn't even had that in their mind. If you want to make money from videos, you have to have a gimmick that will make young kids want to watch it. Also, if your channel fails, what would happen?
I'm still in school. If by the time I'm done with school, nothing's happening with youtube, then college will be what I will do. Sure, as someone who is 18-25ish, skipping out on college to do youtube would be a HUGE decision, but like I said earlier, if you get an early start you can see where the channel is headed and decide for yourself if you want to follow that path or not.
I would just like to point out at how many times the word "college" has been misspelled. I find that rather ironic.
As for school, it really all depends on what you want to do with your life. The internet fame game isn't 100% reliable. Sure, you could strike lucky and end up a millionaire. But if you compare the number of people that try and the number of people that succeed, it makes for a very slim chance.
I myself only have my high school diploma and managed to land myself a very good career as a lead graphic design artist and print room manager. I self taught all the computer mumbo-jumbo and then had the talent to back me up. You can't learn talent. You either have it, or you don't.
My husband went to University and got himself his bachelors of science, majoring in statistics and mathematics. He graduated the top of his class. But when he got out into the real world, he couldn't get a job doing anything more than selling add space in a magazine. He took a more specialized course from a local community college for insurance and risk management and now makes six figures.
So really, going to school is a gamble too. You really have to research your options very thoroughly.
First of all, I have firefox spellcheck automatically check all of my words, nothing was spelled wrong. Now I'll read the rest of that in a few seconds.
EDIT: Yes, I know both are a gamble, but being as I don't have to go to college yet, I have time to decide which path is more worth taking, and then I can decide which route I want to take. Sure people who are older have a bit of a tougher situation, but this is still a possibility for me.
I would just like to point out at how many times the word "college" has been misspelled. I find that rather ironic
I was typing while playing a game :3 Anyways it is true that you can get a lot of money with or without a college but with it at least you have a bare minimum, you cant really be a cleaner if you have college diploma. (Unless you have really bad luck and end up not finding a job)
You can start online money making, but its really all about an idea, and that it works, otherwise you are trying for nothing, you cant really think that you are gonna get like a million subscibers and earn a lot of money (even with a million subscribers you wouldnt get a lot of money).
"College degree = piece of paper not job guarantees. Even if you get a job in 90% of situations you still have to work your way up the ladder. With a business, engineering, or film degree you'd be lucky to make $40,000 your first year out of College.
Most YouTubers who manage their channels well, can make that much with around 100k subscribers.
Degrees are a lot more than a piece of paper. They're a qualification. You need some sort of qualification to get any kind of worthy job these days.
$40,000 straight out of college is great, considering you'd be a recent graduate with no experience.
Youtube is a pretty big risk. Think about the tens of thousands of people that are trying to make a career out of it, compared to the people who actually make money off it. Even then, the Youtube life won't last forever.
All that said, it depends on what you want to do. It sounds like you don't want to go to college. If you don't want to go, you shouldn't go. If you want to try and make it on Youtube, go ahead.
Remember that you can always apply for university and higher education as a mature aged student. I didn't decide to go to university until I was 26. By then, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
Just because a few people can live off of exploiting a gap in the market doesn't mean everybody can, the majority of useful jobs still require some kind of education at a basic level, and many of the most important jobs in society require a high level of education.
I don't want an important job in society. I want one that can make me money that I enjoy doing, as cheesy as that sounds. If youtube can make me 40k per year, I'd be happy with that. I know 40k isn't a ton but if you don't have a family to support, it's plenty.
It's not about guarantees. Statistically speaking, a college degree will increase your earning potential. Can you end up finding lucrative work without a college degree? Yes. Could you end up in crappy low-paying jobs for a long time even with a degree? Sure, it's possible.
It's not just about the degree either, it's about furthering your education. I would not have the career I do now without my college education. Maybe I would have had a better one, or maybe I'd be worse off. There's no way to know for sure in any specfic case.
To decide to skip college and take a risk on something as tenuous as a career as a youtuber or such is a big gamble, with the quality of the rest of your life hanging in the balance. That's not something on which I'd wager the long odds.
You can go to college and have a youtube channel. I started my professional career while I was a sophomore in college myself. There's no rule that says you can't work on both things. Always have a reliable backup plan, especially for something as important as your financial future.
Imo, sometimes it comes down to whether or not you are a person who is content with making enough to get by, or somebody who strives to make more and become wealthier.
College isn't needed per se, but for any normal person, it definitely is.
When people find a career without any sort of knowledge besides high school or less, and they make very good money from it, then it's extremely rare.
While sure, the Internet gives you possibilities that you may not have had years ago; a lot of it doesn't necessarily give decent jobs, it just gives popularity and viral status, which isn't exactly sufficient in a healthy lifestyle.
It's not about guarantees. Statistically speaking, a college degree will increase your earning potential. Can you end up finding lucrative work without a college degree? Yes. Could you end up in crappy low-paying jobs for a long time even with a degree? Sure, it's possible.
It's not just about the degree either, it's about furthering your education. I would not have the career I do now without my college education. Maybe I would have had a better one, or maybe I'd be worse off. There's no way to know for sure in any specfic case.
To decide to skip college and take a risk on something as tenuous as a career as a youtuber or such is a big gamble, with the quality of the rest of your life hanging in the balance. That's not something on which I'd wager the long odds.
You can go to college and have a youtube channel. I started my professional career while I was a sophomore in college myself. There's no rule that says you can't work on both things. Always have a reliable backup plan, especially for something as important as your financial future.
While that's completely true, IF, by the time I was in college, I was able to make good cash from youtube, what would be my motive to waste that money to further my education? Like I've already said, yes, as someone is 18-25, it would be a huge gamble, but being as I have really 3 or 4 years until I go off to college, I have time to figure out how youtube will go. If it bombs, I'll go to college. If I'm making 40k a year, I'm gonna say buh-bye to college. I'm not talking about this in a sense where "everyone could take this opportunity" I'm saying it in a sense that, YES, this is completely possible and not entirely overly-ambitious. Yes 40k per year off of youtube seems a bit far out, but if I could make even HALF that from youtube and have a "regular job" like McDonald's or something at the same time, it could very well work.
Imo, sometimes it comes down to whether or not you are a person who is content with making enough to get by, or somebody who strives to make more and become wealthier.
Well I'd probably live on my own in an apartment or condo. I can't really say I need too much cash to support myself.
College isn't needed per se, but for any normal person, it definitely is.
When people find a career without any sort of knowledge besides high school or less, and they make very good money from it, then it's extremely rare.
While sure, the Internet gives you possibilities that you may not have had years ago; a lot of it doesn't necessarily give decent jobs, it just gives popularity and viral status, which isn't exactly sufficient in a healthy lifestyle.
Very good money? What about just good money? What if I was making 10-20k per year from youtube? I think if I was living on my own in an apartment, that'd be enough to get by on. (I think. Of course I don't actually know, haha.) But doing youtube with another job is completely an option as well.
Very good money? What about just good money? What if I was making 10-20k per year from youtube? I think if I was living on my own in an apartment, that'd be enough to get by on. (I think. Of course I don't actually know, haha.) But doing youtube with another job is completely an option as well.
You wouldn't be earning enough to live by yourself.
Anyways, the reason I'm wondering this is because as a 15 year old who "should" be looking into colleges, I'm looking into the internet more than anything. I'm seeing tons and tons of things that could be potential careers that don't require a college degree. And I bring this topic up because I saw which has some pretty solid points in it.
First of all, if I could put more time into youtube and make quality videos and get a good subscriber base, it could very well become a career for me. One of the comments on that video was this:
"College degree = piece of paper not job guarantees. Even if you get a job in 90% of situations you still have to work your way up the ladder. With a business, engineering, or film degree you'd be lucky to make $40,000 your first year out of College.
Most YouTubers who manage their channels well, can make that much with around 100k subscribers."
Which, I don't know if that's entirely true or not, but it seems reasonable. The reason I say this is because I watch DSPGaming, and he has about 100k subscribers. This is now his FULL TIME job. He's not just playing games and uploading to make some extra cash. He's using all of the money from youtube to pay for car bills, house bills (or apartment rent) and all that.. SOLELY off of youtube and playing video games, SOLELY off of something that requires NO college education. And think about how many people there actually are with over 100k subscribers... there's quite a hefty amount, it's not like it's that rare. Sure you could say there's only... 100,000 people with more than 100k out of 5,000,000 or something... but I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that about 70% of users don't even legitimately post videos. So making a living off of playing and commentating video games (or making youtube videos for that matter) is NOT that unlikely. (That is as long as you can manage your channel well and grow to 100k at a fast enough rate to have tons of active subs.)
Youtube is the main thing I'm thinking about, but there's a lot of other possibilities. You can go online and learn just about anything. Think about this: Notch is a MILLIONAIRE right now, all because he knew some java and coded minecraft. Sure you can go to college and learn java and all that, but really, you can learn as much java as you need to make something right from the internet. ****, I learned how to do some basic modding (i.e., making a block, crafting/furnace recipes, making a toolset, making a new ore, making a block generate) in less than a week, all from online tutorials.
Now I'm sure there's more things like running a website, selling merch, and all that stuff that can make you the cash you need to survive, but that stuff doesn't concern me as much and I'd just be pulling things out of my ass if I were to talk about them.
You guys get the point, I believe that it is FULLY possible to make decent cash without college, as there's so many new opportunities on the internet. If I were to have a gradual increase of subs until the time I move out (as long as I stay dedicated), let's say I'd move out when I turn, 20.. that's 4 years down the road, I could be over 100,000 subs by then. There are some people who have been on youtube for about a year and have over 20,000, it seems completely possible to be making 40k per year in 4 years.
Please tell me what you think. Do you think it's highly unlikely to make a living off of youtube? Is it way too hard to get to that point? Is youtube gonna be gone in a few years (I think it will still be around for many years, but I can't say for sure because the internet is a *relatively* new thing, and nobody really knows how a media hosting site like youtube will last, considering youtube is the first major one of it's kind.)
But, for example, with something like youtube or running a website or coding a video game, you don't need to be interviewed, you can just do it on your own.
Either way, that is the WORST way to hire an employee in my own personal opinion. If someone who didn't go to college showed you a demo reel of his animation or whatever that is better than the person's who went to college, why take the college graduate over the talent?
Believe me, I never did and never will come to youtube with that mindset, if I did, I'd be making money on my videos right now (monetization can be done before you become a partner) but I haven't done it yet. I just came to the realization that it's actually possible to do.
Err it's in my sig.. but I'm not really here to advertise my channel :tongue.gif:
College by no means ensures a career. That's the mindset of just about every kid I know. "Derp I'm going to college and I'm gonna be a director" or something.. like sure you'll go to college but you can't guarantee yourself the director part. I mean, you either risk thousands of dollars by going to college and potentially not being able to find a job, or you risk it with youtube. Sure it's more of a risk when you're older and making youtube videos, but if you can get a good start while still in highschool, maybe by the time you *would* go to college, you realize, you're already working full time.
Exacly, you can just say: im gonna be 1 in a million like notch..
Heh, I've been thinking about this for a while and flip flopping between college and this, but really all of the "college things" I'm interested in are apparently very bad industries. I'm kind of a "creative" person. I'd like to make video games, do 3D animation, stuff like that, but from what I've heard is that animation and games industries suck as of now. Also, it's not unrealistic. People are too narrow-minded to realize that this is a completely legitimate possibility. Everyone just thinks "My parents say college is necessary, so it must be!" Sure if you don't make good videos or can't post very often or something then maybe youtube seems unrealistic. But have you ever thought of having a job, let's say at McDonalds, and also doing youtube, for half and half? Considering having youtube as a job is very loose scheduled, you can very easily do one job, come home, and do some youtube videos.
I didn't say I would be, but things like that are possible.
As for school, it really all depends on what you want to do with your life. The internet fame game isn't 100% reliable. Sure, you could strike lucky and end up a millionaire. But if you compare the number of people that try and the number of people that succeed, it makes for a very slim chance.
I myself only have my high school diploma and managed to land myself a very good career as a lead graphic design artist and print room manager. I self taught all the computer mumbo-jumbo and then had the talent to back me up. You can't learn talent. You either have it, or you don't.
My husband went to University and got himself his bachelors of science, majoring in statistics and mathematics. He graduated the top of his class. But when he got out into the real world, he couldn't get a job doing anything more than selling add space in a magazine. He took a more specialized course from a local community college for insurance and risk management and now makes six figures.
So really, going to school is a gamble too. You really have to research your options very thoroughly.
I'm still in school. If by the time I'm done with school, nothing's happening with youtube, then college will be what I will do. Sure, as someone who is 18-25ish, skipping out on college to do youtube would be a HUGE decision, but like I said earlier, if you get an early start you can see where the channel is headed and decide for yourself if you want to follow that path or not.
First of all, I have firefox spellcheck automatically check all of my words, nothing was spelled wrong. Now I'll read the rest of that in a few seconds.
EDIT: Yes, I know both are a gamble, but being as I don't have to go to college yet, I have time to decide which path is more worth taking, and then I can decide which route I want to take. Sure people who are older have a bit of a tougher situation, but this is still a possibility for me.
I've always wanted a "collage" degree.
I was typing while playing a game :3 Anyways it is true that you can get a lot of money with or without a college but with it at least you have a bare minimum, you cant really be a cleaner if you have college diploma. (Unless you have really bad luck and end up not finding a job)
You can start online money making, but its really all about an idea, and that it works, otherwise you are trying for nothing, you cant really think that you are gonna get like a million subscibers and earn a lot of money (even with a million subscribers you wouldnt get a lot of money).
So, yeah, get realistic.
Degrees are a lot more than a piece of paper. They're a qualification. You need some sort of qualification to get any kind of worthy job these days.
$40,000 straight out of college is great, considering you'd be a recent graduate with no experience.
Youtube is a pretty big risk. Think about the tens of thousands of people that are trying to make a career out of it, compared to the people who actually make money off it. Even then, the Youtube life won't last forever.
All that said, it depends on what you want to do. It sounds like you don't want to go to college. If you don't want to go, you shouldn't go. If you want to try and make it on Youtube, go ahead.
Remember that you can always apply for university and higher education as a mature aged student. I didn't decide to go to university until I was 26. By then, I knew exactly what I wanted to do.
I don't want an important job in society. I want one that can make me money that I enjoy doing, as cheesy as that sounds. If youtube can make me 40k per year, I'd be happy with that. I know 40k isn't a ton but if you don't have a family to support, it's plenty.
It's not just about the degree either, it's about furthering your education. I would not have the career I do now without my college education. Maybe I would have had a better one, or maybe I'd be worse off. There's no way to know for sure in any specfic case.
To decide to skip college and take a risk on something as tenuous as a career as a youtuber or such is a big gamble, with the quality of the rest of your life hanging in the balance. That's not something on which I'd wager the long odds.
You can go to college and have a youtube channel. I started my professional career while I was a sophomore in college myself. There's no rule that says you can't work on both things. Always have a reliable backup plan, especially for something as important as your financial future.
When people find a career without any sort of knowledge besides high school or less, and they make very good money from it, then it's extremely rare.
While sure, the Internet gives you possibilities that you may not have had years ago; a lot of it doesn't necessarily give decent jobs, it just gives popularity and viral status, which isn't exactly sufficient in a healthy lifestyle.
stolen from Tirin<3
While that's completely true, IF, by the time I was in college, I was able to make good cash from youtube, what would be my motive to waste that money to further my education? Like I've already said, yes, as someone is 18-25, it would be a huge gamble, but being as I have really 3 or 4 years until I go off to college, I have time to figure out how youtube will go. If it bombs, I'll go to college. If I'm making 40k a year, I'm gonna say buh-bye to college. I'm not talking about this in a sense where "everyone could take this opportunity" I'm saying it in a sense that, YES, this is completely possible and not entirely overly-ambitious. Yes 40k per year off of youtube seems a bit far out, but if I could make even HALF that from youtube and have a "regular job" like McDonald's or something at the same time, it could very well work.
Well I'd probably live on my own in an apartment or condo. I can't really say I need too much cash to support myself.
Very good money? What about just good money? What if I was making 10-20k per year from youtube? I think if I was living on my own in an apartment, that'd be enough to get by on. (I think. Of course I don't actually know, haha.) But doing youtube with another job is completely an option as well.
You wouldn't be earning enough to live by yourself.