Customer Reviews

300 Best Jobs Without a Four-Year Degree

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There are several discrepancies in this book, starting with the title. The top job is an air traffic controller, making approx. $120K a year. Here's the problem: To become an air traffic controller, a person must enroll in an FAA-approved education program and pass a pre-employment test that measures his or her ability to learn the controller's duties. Exceptions are air traffic controllers with prior experience and military veterans. The pre-employment test is currently offered only to students in the FAA Air Traffic Collegiate Training Initiative Program or the Minneapolis Community & Technical College, Air Traffic Control Training Program. The test is administered by computer and takes about 8 hours to complete. To take the test, an applicant must apply under an open advertisement for air traffic control positions and be chosen to take the examination. When there are many more applicants than available positions, applicants are selected to take the test through random selection. In addition to the pre-employment test, applicants must have 3 years of full-time work experience, have completed a full 4 years of college, or a combination of both. In combining education and experience, 1 year of undergraduate study--30 semester or 45 quarter hours--is equivalent to 9 months of work experience. Certain kinds of aviation experience also may be substituted for these requirements.
That to me says I need a degree! Several other jobs listed in the book are also "mis-informing".

For those who aren't ready to tackle four years of college, there are still some good jobs out there. In 496 pages, this gives the details on the top 300 jobs that don't require that degree. The top paying one is air traffic controller which pays on the average $102,030 a year.
This is a good resource for anyone trying to decide on a career. Another resource is the Occupational Outlook Handbook, which is available in the reference section of most public libraries.

Collaboratively written by Michael Farr and LaVerne L. Ludden, with additional assistance by Laurence Shatkin, 300 Best Jobs Without A Four-Year Degree is an impressive and thoroughly "user friendly" 449-page compendium of useful lists, statistics, and thorough descriptions of exciting and satisfying jobs, none of which require a college degree. The basics of the trade for everything from advertising sale agents to welding machine operators are presented in a completely reader-friendly format, along with data drawn from government information about the overall makeup of the people who are drawn to each career path. 300 Best Jobs Without A Four-Year Degree is highly recommended as a superb guide for non-college degree job-seekers and otherwise cash-poor students.

I received the book just as told, new, on time and got a very reasonable price. I am very satisfied.