College help? Computer Engineering.?

[Flasimbufasa]

Hello, everyone.
My name is Sam. I am a freshman in college, and I am-- let us just say-- very worried about how in the world I could ever get a job in the field I want.

I have grown up in Louisiana, Shreveport. My entire life I've been prepped to the belief that you go to college and then you get a job in the field and area that you want and live happily ever after.

What I've been slowly realizing is the fact that no matter what I can think of, I come short of having a job at a computer hardware development center. For anyone, really... But I would much rather desktop motherboard engineering over anything else.
Anyways.. For years of my life, 4 in a row now- working on 5- I have KNOWN I wanted to develop and design computer hardware. I currently work at a computer repair shop in town that is the last resort. As in- Best Buy, Or whoever it is in town people take computers to, if they can't fix it, the person is usually referred to us in some way or another. By working here, I have realized that, even more so now than before- I am fascinated with the inner workings of a computer component.

Point being.. I am very well driven towards what I want to do.. But NO ONE in town is able to give me any information on how to get there... I've talked to many people, and no one gives me a straight answer. The so called "couselors" are more like sales represenatives than anything else. I can't make sense of what to do. I am getting worried and lost now.

Does anyone have any advice for me? If it requires that I go to out of state college and come out owing 30,000 or more in debts... I won't do it.. Just.. no.. There are way too many people I know in real life and online that have gotten a degree, but never could get any jobs with it..

 

[Flasimbufasa]

Anyone have any advice on how to go about getting to be where I can develop computer hardware?

Selfless bump?

 

[chroot]

Study computer engineering in college. Move to a city where there are jobs you're interested in (probably not in Shreveport). Apply for the jobs until you get one...

- Warren

 

[Flasimbufasa]

Any start BESIDES the college? I know 4 people personally who are 20~50K in debt due to college and not having any jobs after they got out... My brother also went to college. He blamed luck that he was able to find a job with his degree.

Everyone I encounter at work [just about] Blatantly says that there is no garentee for a job after college anyways and I need to get my head out of the clouds.

I do not come from a wealthy family. We are still paying off my brother's college from 10 years ago. He was only in college for 5 years. I have no savings to my name, and no contacts out of state to help me get started... I don't know what to do, but I do know I really would like to avoid being in debt from college just so I *might* get a job offer once I am done.

 

[TMFKAN64]

Let's be clear on what you want.

Right now, it sounds like you know enough that you could buy motherboards, enclosures, disk drives, etc. and assemble them into PCs. At this point it is doubtful whether doing this is really competitive with the Dells and Acers of the world, but I can imagine that a niche business could be built up with the knowledge that you already have.

If you want to actually design the boards and chips though... you need college, period. I've known computer *programmers* with limited collegiate experience, but every *hardware* designer I've ever met had at least a BS, and most had MS degrees.

You are right... nothing is guaranteed. Welcome to life.