Community college, universities, or specialized schools – what works for you?

You’re ready to take the next step for finding and learning about your medical career; now, what sort of school should you attend? There are several types of post-secondary institutions that offer different types of education. Before you decide on where to go, ask yourself these questions:

• What sort of career are you aiming for? Different careers require different levels of schooling. For example, you can’t become a doctor by attending a community college, but you can become a nursing assistant or acquire skills in the medical field itself. You can also transfer your credits to a university later on down the road and achieve your dream of becoming a doctor.

• What kind of learner are you? How you learn will determine what kind of education you will need. People who do better in an auditory/visual environment might prefer the academic environment of university. People who are more hands-on may do better in a community college or technical school environment.

• What can you afford? Tradition-al universities are often much more expensive than colleges. However, community colleges are often better for preparing for university, and you can transfer credits if the institution is accredited.

Once you’ve asked yourself these questions, you can start to research institutions. They basically fall into three main categories:

• Universities. These schools are traditional colleges, giving out degrees in disciplines such as English, Humanities, Arts and Sciences. They tend to be generalized degrees, incorporating a large spectrum of careers and education. You can take nursing, medicine, physical therapy or chiropractics.

• Community Colleges. These schools tend to be much more technical, teaching their students exactly what they need to know for specific careers. Mechanics, people in the nursing field, and medical assistants would go to a school like this. Specialized education will prepare you for a career by giving you lots of hands-on experience. They also may provide distance education in a variety of disciplines and even special interest classes.

• Technical or trade schools. These schools are extremely specialized – electricians, plumbers, welders, etc. will receive their education at these schools. There, they will learn their trade, make contacts and apprentice to further their careers.

Whatever you choose, make sure to do your research and make sure that your diploma or degree will serve you well in the working world.

This summer’s World Skills Competition in Calgary means that people all over the world are training and otherwise gearing up to compete for gold, silver and bronze.  Canada Skills is holding its national showdown May 20 – 23 in Charlottetown, PEI, approximately 100 days ahead of the ‘Olympics of skilled trades.’ For agenda, logistics and registration information visit the Canadian Skills Competition at www.skills2009.ca.

Meanwhile, in Charleston, West Virginia, they are competing just for the fun of it.  Mike Finlayson is one of a number of apprentices competing in the West Virginia State Pipe Trades annual apprenticeship contest at the Civic Center. Says Finlayson, “I went to Carver Career Center, did well there, got into this and never looked back.”

The competitions allow apprentices and experienced tradesmen to network, learn from each other and about each other. Jim Cartwright, a veteran, says that apprenticeships offer “a great opportunity for young men and women. They go in at fifty percent, thirteen dollars an hour. And, in five years, they double that to twenty six. Great health care and pension. I’ve been doing this for thirty years and I love it.”

Prejudices persist against tech training and trade schools, say critics of some recent moves by Michigan lawmakers. Read more.

A couple recent stories highlight how trade schools offer hope to people, perhaps especially at “times like these.”

The Food Network reality show “The Chef Jeff Project” recently featured former crack dealer Alonzo Adams. Adams won a scholarship to the International Culinary School, after completing the show. Chef Jeff himself did time, ten years for various drug offences. After his feature, Chef Jeff chronicled Henderson’s attempts to go back to East LA and transform the lives of young adults through his newfound Los Angeles-based catering company. The full story is here. Find out more about cooking and culinary schools.

Meanwhile, a Tallahassee Florida program is providing the opportunity for recently laid off workers to return to school for trades training. Read more here.

Tough times call for tough people to make tough decisions – such as taking on a second career. Or maybe pursuing the one you always wanted. So says CNN.

The deadline for applications is December 1st.

Find out more.

Well, we at the trade up have to link when Mike Holmes gives our local trade school /community college a passing grade. Read more.

Here at tradeschoolworld we focus too much on skilled trades to the detriment of the many other trades and trade schools covered on our site. For shame! as Abe Simpson might say.

Seriously, we’re going to try to move away from our focus on traditional trades and give more attention to the many other trades covered on our site such as:

• Creative Arts Trades
• Beauty Trades
• Hospitality and Tourism Trades
• Criminal Justice and Law Trades

With that in mind, let’s talk about something near and dear to our web publishing hearts here at tsw: web design trades.

Web design seemed to be taking a hit a few years back when all you heard about was companies outsourcing to Asia and Europe. However, in the meantime, the pendulum has swung back this way as companies discovered that they were often getting second and third rate work from second, third – and even first – world countries.

Web design is still a very viable career choice, a rewarding career that offers people the ability to be creative and to see their work enjoyed by the public. If you work for (or own) a web publication with proper marketing and promotion you can expect many people to see your web design work. So it better be good. 

There are a wide variety of web design skills that are still requirements including the following:

• Website layout
• Web technical skill such as php or asp and javascript
• Website usability is still a viable field of training (see this link) that incorporates technical pieces like dev skills and design skills. It also allows you to interact with people including clients on one side and usability testing subjects on the other.

Trade school world lists a number of web design schools from across the United States. Hey, by the way, we are looking at a website redesign. Does anybody know a web designer willing to help us out?

The newly launched Careers in Energy Video Contest is devoted to
putting energy workers in a new perspective through talent, creativity
and inspiration.

This event gives SkillsUSA members the opportunity to express
themselves positively — and provide education and support to their
peers — through the development of original and compelling videos
about the jobs at electric, gas, and nuclear energy companies.

Get the whole story

The death toll is at 11  after a gunman went on a shooting spree at a Finnish trade school that teaches industrial cooking to adults.

Yeah, it’s trade school news of a sort but this is really CNN’s thing more than ours.