The real smart one

I love telling this story.

Back in high school, I was in my senior year and had no idea what to do with myself. I knew I should have been applying to college but I did none of that until my last semester. Reluctantly, I put out one application to My State University. I didn't even know if I would get accepted or not until I got my letter a few weeks after graduation. I got accepted and started on a 4 year degree for a BBA in Accounting.

After completing the degree, I was 22 and had to start looking for work. After weeks of job searching, I couldn't find any work as an accountant because the job listings just weren't there. I wasn't able to find any work in general because I had no experience. I began starting to apply for jobs at Kroger and Subway just to get any sort of income. Luckily, through a connection with my dad, I got started working as an analyst making less than $30,000 per year.

My first job lasted 15 months and I was unemployed again. I went though two and a half months of job searching and got a 7 month contract earning $17 per hour. After 7 months I was unemployed again.

After 7 months of being unemployed and 16 job interviews, I finally got a job as an accountant. I started out making less than $40,000 per year. After 5 years working as a staff accountant, I am still working towards making $50,000 per year.

Back in 2008, one of my best friends was still at the high school I went to. He was two years under me so he was in his senior year in 2008. He was in his senior year and then he did something that shocked us all. He dropped out of high school in his last semester.

We had no idea why he did this. We were also slightly concerned about him. What would his future look like?

For about 4 or 5 years, he worked as a pizza delivery guy making anywhere from $8 to $10 per hour. After he got sick of doing that, he decided to work for an automotive dealership and I think he started out making about $40,000 a year.

After 2 to 4 years working at the dealership, he developed his skills as a mechanic and now he makes around $60,000 per year.

I love telling this story because I get a chance to brag about one of my best friends. Dude dropped out of high school and is making over $60,000 per year while completely bypassing the 4 years of college.

He has told me that if he could have done things over again, he would have dropped out of high school sooner and started working towards being a mechanic as soon as possible. That's what I should have done.