Im looking for a way around college is there a business program that doesn't involve college?

Answer 1

Business Program? What's your career goal? If it is just salary potential then "Information Technology" is the way to go. I started my first job in IT making 32k a year that went up to $37k in 3 years. After 3 years I switched jobs to a new position making $47k and in 3 years increased my salary to $57k. I switched jobs to a 3rd position and the raise was only to $61k but with incentives to pass certification exams and become Microsoft Certified I raised my salary 6K to $67,000 in 4 months by reading study guide books (Sybex writes terrific MCSE study guides) and passing 6 exams administered by Prometric. At the same company in 5 years I have raised my salary almost double now to over 6 figures.

I'm not saying that I don't work hard and the money will just come. I am saying that people do what I have done with NO college degree. You have to know a couple important things. 1st, it's not job hopping that increases you salary (you need at least 16 or 18 months as a position to create stability on your resume) and it's carefully selecting the next position as they are selecting you. 2nd, you need a 1, 3 and 5 year plan for your career, looking forward to the next position you want and a loose plan for what you want to be doing in the 5 year future. 3rd, based on those goals you need to develop skills for the next level up job while you are in your CURRENT JOB. Kinda like training for a big race or marathon. You run the miles today for a race in 6 months. Lastly it's being smart about what information you reveal about yourself. You need to get into a job, work hard and be a contributing member, look at the person above you and try and be their go to guy/girl (not a brown noser but be successful in the work you receive) - don't latch onto someone that you work with right away as a best friend (get to know the other employees until you figure out who is an asset to the company and who is possibly a troublemaker).

Most importantly you need to have a distinctive asset to be successful. You can be great customer service, incredibly technical or a teriffic project manager that gets projects complete. The last 2 you can develop but the 1st one (customer service) you can start with now. Don't wait for work to come to you, go ask for work or what someone needs help with. When a co-worker is screwed by a tough problem and has to stay late, stay with them and offer to help or just hang out (go extra yard), talk to the managers and find out the goals and read up on those areas to be ready when they drop.

To get into IT you need some skills and you can go to short training classes at community colleges and training schools to get them (training schools can be expensive). I taught myself. I broke and fixed my home computer, read the books on my own and then did some of the work in my current job. Between customer service and hustle you can overcome basic technical knowledge as you build your skills (grow!!!!). As time goes on you will be both an asset personally and have grown technically to grow your salary. DON'T BE AFRAID TO SWITCH JOBS you get your biggest salary gains between jobs. READ BOOKS ON SALARY NEGOTIATION...

Lastly - become certified. A+ Certification covers computers and basic networking, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer covers their operating systems and all their technology (this is a popular one), or by Cisco (CNA, CCNA etc) which covers network connectivity, security and stuff (like the interconnectivity of how the internet works and security is BIG these days for computers.

If IT isn't your thing then you can also become an INTERN in an area that you are interested. Look for a highly successful business person that you would like to become and be passionate about working for them and getting experience. EXPERIENCE is the key. In any field, if you can show someone that you can benefit their bottom line then a degree isn't the measure, money is. A degree is just proof that you can stick to something and complete it, not productivity. It's good to have but there are many business people that start, run or do business without degrees (Bill Gates, Russell Simmons etc.)

Answer 2

There's the school of hard knocks - you'll learn some very effective lessons, but the tuition cost can be very high.

You can also try to get a job in the field that you want to work in, but understand this going in: you will not get a well-rounded education this way. You'll learn just what you need in order to do this job. If you do it well, you may be promoted or reassigned, and get to learn something else. But you probably won't learn all the things that a college student majoring in business would get - accounting, management, insurance, finance, computers, communications, law, math, history, international relations, and more. You'll also meet people who will go on to positions in companies and will have the power to hire and fire people. These could be useful contacts some day.

Also, someone coming out of school with a business degree will probably have a better shot at the better jobs than you would.

People have made it to the top without a college degree, so I'm not saying that you can't do it. But in this world, more college grads do better than those without a degree.

Answer 3

I think you may need to re-examine the way you define "college". A business program is essentially a college course of study, if it's available to people who have finished high school. If a traditional route of study isn't for you, there are several schools that cater to part-time students, single moms, older students, etc. that might be worth checking in to. These are typically accelerated programs, and can lead to an associate's degree or a certificate in something like business.