Coming from a fellow “young guy” in the industry, you are going to be competing with a bunch of late 30s dudes with no other options in life for those head cultivation jobs. They’ll say and do whatever they can to land the job, even if it means camping out at motel 6 in the desert living off gas station hot dogs, sour gummy worms, moldy backdoor packs, and a 70k salary. Not trying to be negative, just speaking from personal and secondhand experience.
Many of the employers as i’m sure you’ve noticed really don’t mind constant employee turnover at the entry level. So you could easily spend the next ten years working these same cultivation positions and see little growth in your salary. you’re literally competing with migrant laborers at this level.
living on farms from 18-24 I had to constantly fight just not to get ripped off. The short time I spent in the recreational market afterwards wasn’t much different. Seemed like the same characters different setting.
What can YOU as a 20 something college graduate bring to the table that a migrant laborer or 40 something storytelling wook can’t is what you really should be asking yourself, and how realistic would it be for an employer recognize and acknowledge that, and assign value to that. Otherwise it’s a fools errand trying to get more than 20 bucks an hour anytime soon.
[quote=“Killa12345, post:9, topic:192993”] I was making enough trapping to pay it outta pocket and not go into debt.
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The first time I went to the bursar’s office with a stack of 20s, I was terrified that someone would ask where that money came from. The student worker clerk sighed out of boredom, put the money in a cash counting machine that I had only seen before in the movie Scarface, and handed me back a worthless little piece of paper. I got lured in with a scholarship that quickly got taken away, but happily I was able to grow out of that problem.
To the OP, maybe keep your job and get an online degree while you work? If it is “just a degree” that is holding you back, then online should suffice.
I worked for one of the top beer brands for sales in the US. It provided regulation gatekeeping experience. This would also apply if you get in with a dispensary and learn a cross-discipline skill like METRC in the industry. Other skills like sales, accounting and and cultivation can be learned elsewhere.
It seems like there is a lot of bias when people answer this. I’m biased too so keep that in mind. There’s 3 groups of people when it comes to advice about education.
People who don’t go and scoff at it.
People that go that scoff at it.
People that go that wonder what all the scoffing is about.
In each group you have winners and losers. You have to weigh someone’s advice against their group and winner status.
Don’t take advice from someone who hasn’t ever figured shit out and is eternally struggling. Take advice from people that figured something out, regardless what group they or you fall into.
I don’t work in the cannabis industry, but at one point, it was definitely an inspiration for me choosing to study plant biology.
I quicky realized what a poor decision that was. It’s a very niche degree that pigeon holes you. I ended up switching to engineering, which has opened more doors for me, while also leaving the door open to work in cannabis if I choose.
There are a few things I think can help regardless of what you study, or what field you end up in:
Get lean six sigma certified
Get exposure to working in logistics
Get exposure to some hard mechanical skills: piping, welding, HVAC, electrical- even if you won’t use them in your future job, having experience working hands on changes your perspective a lot. Engineers in particular could really benefit from this.
Learn about EVMS. So many people in upper management only have a basic understanding of it, and it leads to some really poor decision making.
I’ll be honest, my desire to work in cannabis has dropped off a lot since seeing how a lot of people in this industry conduct themselves. The pay is also much lower than in equivalent positions in other industries.
Learning a trade is good advice, but I wouldn’t discount the value of getting a degree in addition.
Many companies will pay for you to get a degree through apprenticeship programs and whatnot.
I know tons of people without degrees who are more knowledgeable than their engineering counterparts. Some employers are smart enough to realize this, but unfortunately many employers want to see a degree.
I’d look to do a continuing education program rather than a regular undergrad. The classes tend to have mostly older people, and the tone is just more serious in general. Most people in the classes already work full time and the professors are often working in industry as well. The end degree is also equivalent, though you might only be able to go part time depending on the program.
These programs also tend to be cheaper than regular undergraduate day programs. I graduated without debt through a combination of my employer subsidizing classes, and working while going to school part time.
So I was reading what other people were saying and I figured - as a person who started in academia, bounced to big business, came back down to start-ups, and now firmly in the middle of canna - I’d let you know how I was feeling about your thought process.
Consider your timeline. While cannabis is new and risky - people without the experience necessary to run a large operation have an opportunity to “do more with less” experience. That will not always be the case. When I hire someone TO REPLACE ME - I’m looking for someone who has years of experience dealing with investors/banks, years of experience working with vendors, years of experience managing teams of humans, years of experience working with plants, years of experience working in post-harvest activities (doesn’t have to be with canna). How many years, you might be asking - certainly MORE than a couple years, college, and a couple more years. And the position you are talking about working into - is one where I’d be looking to find you to replace me. Indeed I look for these people all the time - there are a lot of candidates that meet my requirements, and you need another 5-8 years of team and managing experience to get onto that list.
Consider your PASSION! Work is work. Jobs are just that, jobs. Managing to magically get a job that you enjoy and are passionate about - that’s BLISS. So lean into what fascinates you. What do you love about cannabis (is it just cannabis? all plants? all manufacturing? working on teams? working solo? experience with new technology? mastering specific tasks?) I would encourage you to try a couple of personality, strengths and career aptitude applications.
Be mindful of the future - you mention finishing school (3-5 years?) and then coming back to get more experience and then you are off to the races. At 22 - you’re about 4 years behind “traditional students” which has probably given you more great real world experience. Its possible that the industry will be completely different by the time you finish (its radically different in the 9 years I’ve been doing it professionally…) and if so - is this industry still where you want to be in that future? Consider other things that will happen during that timeframe (family, other jobs, shifts in regulations, strange global happenings…)
Having considered those things - do some deeper digging into what other careers these pathways can take you. When I was in school (not that long ago, I promise…) the ones you have listed were grouped as I have them below. All plant “stuff” was part of the biology schools - with specializations, that really turned out to just be a couple of classes here and there. If you haven’t already talked to a college advisor (or just pulled the coursework requirements) you can go ahead and see just how many of the courses overlap - its possible you could legit major in all of these things, taking just a handful of extra classes to finish.
-Biology
-Plant science
-Plant biology
-Botany
This is where I went. I did not start there. I started in molecular biology and biochemistry… but once I started Organic Chemistry I knew what I loved, it was the only class I actually wanted to wake up for. Haha. So consider that as well. Chemistry has taken me through many industries, petrochemical, drug testing, clinical trials, pharma manufacturing, beverage production, cannabis, chrome tire manufacturing, ammunition production and testing, etc. Lots of random things in there - they all needed a chemist.
-Chemistry
My ex-brother in law has a horticulture degree - he works for the parks service tending national forests. Lots of travel. Lots of nature. Good government job. He absolutely loves it.
When you think about replacing me - and you should, cause dang it, I need to retire in the next 15 years or so, so I can reach my own life goals…
Consider that first I burned some years in the Army. Then I got a 4-year degree (which took me 11 years, since I went part time and worked full-time). I built up a decade of practical experience doing all of that. And until I graduated I never made than $30k a year. After I graduated it doubled, almost overnight (within a few months) - even though I was doing the SAME JOB. So when people say it doesn’t matter - those people might be entrepreneurs or outliers - because on average its means doubling your lifetime earnings in the US.
At this point I’ve got almost 20 years of experience working in GMP and other highly regulated environments, developing products, and building facilities. I’ve just started to be on executive teams - making all the decisions and leading the leaders of the teams doing the work. I’ve had excellent mentors the whole way (such blessings, mentors!) and everyday I still question my path.
So don’t think you have to “get it right” - you can change, you can go back for more knowledge, you can switch careers (in 10 years and again in 20!), and in general you won’t ever be firmly financially secure. Most people never will be, not that it won’t happen to us, but statistically it is very improbable.
So find some classes you enjoy. Look for a mentor who has done the things you want to do before, so you can ask them about all their failures - because honestly, the only reason any of us have any success is because we know how to fail well and get up and do it again.
Good luck - and please let us all know what you decide to do! We love adventures and following along here at Future. Welcome to the Fam!
In engineering specifically, and I’ll concede this doesn’t apply to me in my field, engineers get certified … there’s no being an electrical engineer without the license. And you have to be a student in your last term to even start taking the licensing exam.
you’re not competing for a real engineering job unless you’re an engineer. Good luck half assing your way through a legit engineering program too
Tons of engineers don’t have their FE or PE, it’s certainly not a prerequisite to many engineering jobs.
Where I work there are even some engineers who do not have a degree, but instead have years of experience in the industry. They also are some of the best engineers I know, likely because they’ve earned their position and had to really prove themselves.
An important thing to balance the ‘college doesn’t prepare you for life’ side is perhaps the individuals who went to college and didn’t learn anything didn’t take full advantage while they were there (poor students, undisciplined, adolescent etc.). Not always the case though, universities definitely are flawed: tuition traps, top heavy admin and ‘the grad pipeline’ to name a few.
That’s the best and well tempered advice you’ll get and very well put. If you’re young, you need to figure out what you like, which is not always apparent.
I started in the same place (organic chemistry ftw!) except just went straight to cannabis in a startup lab. For a while I didn’t think my degree did anything for me, but I realized that’s just not the case. Very often I find myself pulling from my knowledge from higher education. It’s probably saved my company from 5-6 operation destroying production issues at this point that would not have solvable to an amateur chemist since I had to crack out one of my chemistry textbooks to fix it.
You don’t get rich working for money… I’ve started and sold a few business, run and own a few now. They make me a decent amount of capital, but nothing pays like appreciating assets.
Indeed I look for these people all the time - there are a lot of candidates that meet my requirements, and you need another 5-8 years of team and managing experience to get onto that list.