College Loan Slavery: Student Debt Is Getting Way Out of Hand

When I studied I had to take out 8000USD equiv in loans. I had secured sponsorship at a defence firm.

The firm relieved 80% of its workforce while I was studying. Of the 13 people it sponsored, I and 2 others received work. The others were auctioned off at a 'recruitment fair' the company ran for local employers.

At the time negative equity was high, people were losing their homes and jobs and a deep recession ensued.

I cleared the debt, which had risen to 14000USD equiv thanks to the need for a car.

I had the debt to clear, was not able to live at home so was paying rent on a low starting wage. I was seeing people getting fired and wondering if I was next. Its all given me a healthy respect for money, charity too.

The reason I survived it was because I kept a very keen eye on the job market, and noted that software was the way to go. The harder the concepts to grasp, the steeper the learning curve, which future proofed my investment in learning it and keeping abreast. I got out of Defence as it showed no signs of recovering. Its stood me in good stead, knowing what technologies and job markets to avoid and which to spend time learning. Its not hard to keep one step ahead. There have been at least 3 occasions where a wrong choice of job could have ruined my career. I've navigated through it all less painfully.

15 years later, I'm due to receive a tax rebate on the 50,000USD equiv I have invested in charities, from house hold names to people personally supporting an initiative, in the last 5 years. More than my car cost by a factor of 50%. Its still not a bad car either. Giving this much away adds to my quality of life in ways that are hard to explain.

I think if people can keep a keen eye on a few things they can survive better...
Asking key questions.

Is the job market an emerging one ?

Is there high saturation ?
are there low numbers of jobs available month to month ?

Is the field contracting or expanding ?
You need to be brutally honest and take your desires to one side.

Is taking a low salary a good move for the future ?
I did this on one occasion as the technology was new and would guarantee a higher future wage.

Can I somehow do part time work and trade additional free time to my chosen profession for experience ?

There is no silver bullet for today's woes I admit, but for some, parts of the above may make navigating this mess a little bit easier.

[ZingPao]

Never take a low salary.