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Son now wants to be a firefighter--what do I do?

BradStevens said:
Freshmen had a career day today. My son went to: business, engineering, paramedic, electrician, and firefighter.

He's all excited about being a firefighter (no, he's not 5). $75K starting salary if you do overtime, and you work one day on (24 hrs), two days off. **** around a lot at the fire station. Can do a second job or run a business on the side (plumber?). Good benefits. Can make about $150K if you stay at it (at 10 or 15 yrs in?).

I started to steer him the other way, and now I'm sitting here thinking damn it, that's a good freakin' deal! Wonder if you could do this while also going to college? Become a philosopher/firefighter? Roadhouse 2 script, anyone???
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I'm a retired fire fighter. Best job ever! You get to be a mans man and guaranteed 24 hrs every 3 days to get away from the noise. My SIL surprised me about 10 months ago that he got on in Bloomington. He was scared because it seemed SO different than anything else that he's ever done. I could only laugh at him. He's now past all of his mandatory initial state certs and can simply be a grouchy ole firefighter.
Now he is questioning why he didn't follow my advice 10 years ago. Again, I could only laugh at him.

The old fire guys would probably teach your son how to build a Gazebo inside the first 3 weeks if he only asked.


*** Have you watched any of the new Frazier series on Paramount + ? If not, You and Frazier MAY have just a WEEEEbit in common.
 
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Joe_Hoopsier said:
I'm a retired fire fighter. Best job ever! You get to be a mans man and guaranteed 24 hrs every 3 days to get away from the noise. My SIL surprised me about 10 months ago that he got on in Bloomington. He was scared because it seemed SO different than anything else that he's ever done. I could only laugh at him. He's now past all of his mandatory initial state certs and can simply be a grouchy ole firefighter.
Now he is questioning why he didn't follow my advice 10 years ago. Again, I could only laugh at him.

The old fire guys would probably teach your son how to build a Gazebo inside the first 3 weeks if he only asked.


*** Have you watched any of the new Frazier series on Paramount + ? If not, You and Frazier MAY have just a WEEEEbit in common.
Click to expand...
@BradStevens unreal. 🐐 endorsement. My god. How can you get better than this. And he’ll get a lifetime invitation to The Annual. @snarlcakes track this.

We’re done here. Mods lock it up. Brad’s boy is gonna being a hockey playing fireman cocksman
 
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mcmurtry66 said:
my cop buddies all regret not being fireman and most of my law school buddies did too! bottom line is that you have to pick the right city/town. city fireman in bad areas here get shot at. but it can be a great gig. we used to watch them bbqing and shit in bloomington and think what a great life. here they work 9 days a month. 24 hour days. hosedraggers. they bbq. play cards against the cops. and collect a pension down the road. in the meantime they run second job small businesses if they want, spend loads of time with their families, stay fit. good way to go.

on a personal note school went well today. she has an 88% avg and the teachers all said no one tries on the map test at this point. they scribble answers. (then why have it). it's not indicative of her progress in the least. only thing she needs to work on is she's too chatty and easily distracted. oh and apparently she was in the group making deez nuts jokes. great.
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HTF do they pull off 9, 24 hr days a month? Sounds worse than the clap. Having the clap I mean.
 
ChicagoFineForNow said:
Firefighter is a good gig. You spend 22 hours of your 24 hour shift sleeping, eating playing cards on the tax payer dime.

1.5 hours en route to calls. 30 minutes on scene. Once every six months you might actually get a fire.

Cush pension, for a job that is essentially hanging with the boys. And public adoration.

We tend to often lump cops and firefighters together. We shouldn’t. Cops have a job that is actually hard and dangerous. Yet firefighters get all the love.
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Simply proves, yet again, that Fire fighters are smarter than cops! duh.
 
Bulk VanderHuge said:
Any spillage for Brad?
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the 40 year old virgin fo sho GIF
 
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larsIU said:
My daughter got a job at Chipotle and earns money.

One hurdle cleared (that she understands working for money).

The rest of the dreams were always mine and not hers. And i have no earthly idea wtf she'll end up doing. She might **** around and get into Northwestern though which is great. Just ****ing great. $67,000/YEAR. Goddammit.
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We're on fall break (I still can't believe that's a thing) so we've been doing the college visit thing.

She's my d's get degrees kid, so we're looking at nothing special. She is really religious though, so she's been scheduling visits to what I'll call, God schools.

St Francis, which is Catholic. Indiana Wesleyan, Christian. Huntington, which is Christian. All 3, nothing exciting in the least, is looking at 35-40K a year, and that's if you don't house there.

Now of course she's looking for any and every dime she can get to help pay for it, but man, that's just tough.
 
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Baller23Boogie said:
We're on fall break (I still can't believe that's a thing) so we've been doing the college visit thing.

She's my d's get degrees kid, so we're looking at nothing special. She is really religious though, so she's been scheduling visits to what I'll call, God schools.

St Francis, which is Catholic. Indiana Wesleyan, Christian. Huntington, which is Christian. All 3, nothing exciting in the least, is looking at 35-40K a year, and that's if you don't house there.

Now of course she's looking for any and every dime she can get to help pay for it, but man, that's just tough.
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Send her straight to the convent and be done with it.
 
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Baller23Boogie said:
We're on fall break (I still can't believe that's a thing) so we've been doing the college visit thing.

She's my d's get degrees kid, so we're looking at nothing special. She is really religious though, so she's been scheduling visits to what I'll call, God schools.

St Francis, which is Catholic. Indiana Wesleyan, Christian. Huntington, which is Christian. All 3, nothing exciting in the least, is looking at 35-40K a year, and that's if you don't house there.

Now of course she's looking for any and every dime she can get to help pay for it, but man, that's just tough.
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Harrisonimcs. Vote pub. And appreciate that she’s on the road to salvation. She’ll save you one day too I trust.

Old soul for a daughter. #blessed
 
Baller23Boogie said:
We're on fall break (I still can't believe that's a thing) so we've been doing the college visit thing.

She's my d's get degrees kid, so we're looking at nothing special. She is really religious though, so she's been scheduling visits to what I'll call, God schools.

St Francis, which is Catholic. Indiana Wesleyan, Christian. Huntington, which is Christian. All 3, nothing exciting in the least, is looking at 35-40K a year, and that's if you don't house there.

Now of course she's looking for any and every dime she can get to help pay for it, but man, that's just tough.
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What does she want out of college?
 
mrhighlife said:
It's a noble profession that can pay very well if you move up the ladder. The pension plans are usually pretty good. 20 and done if likes and then he can pursue another profession. Plus chicks love firefighters. He'll be swimming in poon.

Have him do the cadet training. I think kids can start at 15 years old? He will find out quick if he truly likes it or it's just a romantic notion.
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I'll look into that. I think it's just a passing fad, but we'll see.

Maybe @Joe_Hoopsier can tutor him and give him some investment advice:

.
 
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BradStevens said:
Freshmen had a career day today. My son went to: business, engineering, paramedic, electrician, and firefighter.

He's all excited about being a firefighter (no, he's not 5). $75K starting salary if you do overtime, and you work one day on (24 hrs), two days off. **** around a lot at the fire station. Can do a second job or run a business on the side (plumber?). Good benefits. Can make about $150K if you stay at it (at 10 or 15 yrs in?).

I started to steer him the other way, and now I'm sitting here thinking damn it, that's a good freakin' deal! Wonder if you could do this while also going to college? Become a philosopher/firefighter? Roadhouse 2 script, anyone???
Click to expand...
Continue to encourage him to search for what interests him. I suspect that may be 10 or 15 different things between now and when he really needs to start making some decisions, but he's way too young to actually know what he wants for the rest of his life. The idea that kids need to have it all figured out by the time they finish high school is one of the many mistakes society is making with kids. Most people don't even have it all figured out by the time they get to the end of the road, let alone when they're just starting to merge into traffic.
 
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Cortez88 said:
My middle kid visited ND this week. She bought a sweatshirt and I told her she’s not allowed to wear it in the house. She knew I was not kidding.
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My kid's two "highly unlikely but sure go ahead dear" schools are Northwestern and ND.

Honest question - do you think a degree from either is 3-4x better than a degree from IU, Purdue, Cincinnati, Tennessee (all schools she could get in state tuition).

I'm leaning no but I also don't have a degree from Northwestern or ND
 
larsIU said:
My kid's two "highly unlikely but sure go ahead dear" schools are Northwestern and ND.

Honest question - do you think a degree from either is 3-4x better than a degree from IU, Purdue, Cincinnati, Tennessee (all schools she could get in state tuition).

I'm leaning no but I also don't have a degree from Northwestern or ND
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Bitch you’re talking to a guy who snubbed those schools. Ivy Leaguer
 
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larsIU said:
My kid's two "highly unlikely but sure go ahead dear" schools are Northwestern and ND.

Honest question - do you think a degree from either is 3-4x better than a degree from IU, Purdue, Cincinnati, Tennessee (all schools she could get in state tuition).

I'm leaning no but I also don't have a degree from Northwestern or ND
Click to expand...
I personally don’t believe that. The older I get, the more I think it doesn’t matter at all where you went to college. When you throw in the cost, there is no way it is worth it.
 
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Joe_Hoopsier said:
*** Have you watched any of the new Frazier series on Paramount + ? If not, You and Frazier MAY have just a WEEEEbit in common.
Click to expand...

I didn't see your comment when I made mine, he is describing the new Frazier perfectly.

The series is ok, not as good as the OG.
 
Cortez88 said:
I personally don’t believe that. The older I get, the more I think it doesn’t matter at all where you went to college. When you throw in the cost, there is no way it is worth it.
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It's where I'm at. I was a shitty student. Hell i was a shitty worker for years. Last 20 years or so though, when i started caring, it's only about results. Nobody gives a shit where you came from.

And if the company you're working for doesn't promote based on merit and results. Leave.
 
larsIU said:
She's interested in photography. Goddammit.

I can see some squirrely shit happening....."hi dad, it's _______ . So, um that finance degree thingy, I'm just not feeling it. Yeah I know I'm a junior but I wanna be an artist"
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Sometimes they know best. My oldest wanted to be a veterinarian ever since she was a toddler. She watched all of those Animal Planet operation shows. Yuck. Her summer camps were at zoos. She went to college and was pre-vet for 3 years. She then learned that vet school is as expensive as med school and no easier to get into, and the pay at the end isn't great.

She announced that, in her senior year, she wanted to change her major to video game design and be on a 5-year plan, which turned out to be 5.5 years in the end.

I'm like "you want to take classes in making and playing video games? What sort of a career is that?"

Well, she learned coding, virtual reality, 3D simulation, and got a great job for a company that does 3D renderings. They have military contracts and even do contract work for architectural firms, who have her create virtual reality tours of their proposed buildings, which is a huge help in getting contracts.

She's be deep in debt if she had picked the vet route. The skills she got in "making video games" were transferable and I didn't see it.
 
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larsIU said:
My kid's two "highly unlikely but sure go ahead dear" schools are Northwestern and ND.

Honest question - do you think a degree from either is 3-4x better than a degree from IU, Purdue, Cincinnati, Tennessee (all schools she could get in state tuition).

I'm leaning no but I also don't have a degree from Northwestern or ND
Click to expand...
Depends on the subject and what she wants to do.

Higher likelihood of pulling a rich husband . . .
 
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Cortez88 said:
I personally don’t believe that. The older I get, the more I think it doesn’t matter at all where you went to college. When you throw in the cost, there is no way it is worth it.
Click to expand...
I disagree and think the stats back me up. A top tier school opens doors you don't get elsewhere. Is the education better? No, although you have a higher peer group to sit in class with and "compete" against, if that's your thing. But the connections and prestige of the degree are worth it according to economists who study these things.

Again, though, it would depend on the subject and her career path. For photography, she'd probably be better off at an art school.

Top 50 Best Value Colleges (Private Schools) | The Princeton Review

Find the right college for you. Search colleges by cost, size, location, and more to find your best fit.
www.princetonreview.com www.princetonreview.com

 
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BradStevens said:
I disagree and think the stats back me up. A top tier school opens doors you don't get elsewhere. Is the education better? No, although you have a higher peer group to sit in class with and "compete" against, if that's your thing. But the connections and prestige of the degree are worth it according to economists who study these things.

Again, though, it would depend on the subject and her career path.

Top 50 Best Value Colleges (Private Schools) | The Princeton Review

Find the right college for you. Search colleges by cost, size, location, and more to find your best fit.
www.princetonreview.com www.princetonreview.com

Click to expand...
I do believe connections are a big deal if you’re the personality type to make friends etc
 
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Interesting that the top 3 value schools in Indiana are Notre Dame, Wabash College, and Rose Hulman
 
BradStevens said:
Freshmen had a career day today. My son went to: business, engineering, paramedic, electrician, and firefighter.

He's all excited about being a firefighter (no, he's not 5). $75K starting salary if you do overtime, and you work one day on (24 hrs), two days off. **** around a lot at the fire station. Can do a second job or run a business on the side (plumber?). Good benefits. Can make about $150K if you stay at it (at 10 or 15 yrs in?).

I started to steer him the other way, and now I'm sitting here thinking damn it, that's a good freakin' deal! Wonder if you could do this while also going to college? Become a philosopher/firefighter? Roadhouse 2 script, anyone???
Click to expand...
Oh my god. No bullshit. I’m standing in line at a deli in the city right now and a hook and ladder with all the lights on and shit just pulled up. I thought wtf is the place on fire. They all just got in line. Half dozen of em 🤣🤣
 
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