How did college/vocational school prepare you for your career?

You grow up. You take on responsibilities that are more challenging than you ever had. You learn how to answer questions as an adult and no longer a child. You learn to balance your academic career with your social career along with your work career. In primary and high school your goals are set for you for the most part. In college you set them and its up to you to achieve them. Life is about learning all the way through. It's all a prep class for your career and life.

I dropped out of college early on. To me, college is a buffer zone between being supported by parents under their roof, and the harsh realities of living on your own. You might learn something about a career field, or you might want to go on to graduate school, or a licensed field like teaching or nursing. A vocational school is much different, designed to get you career skills in the shortest amount of time and for the lowest cost.
There's no really good solid way to prepare for life on your own. Two realities that hit you are 1) the costs and 2) you aren't really 'free' just because you are an adult.

All of what Oliver shared, plus my work required that I have a degree and certification before I could be employed. It also provides some professional clout in my private practice.

Where else can you get a better preparation for the LIFE ahead of you? Not just training, and education, but learning what it takes to survive in this life and having actual experience to find a PATH to your goals.

It came down to learning HOW to work, and fend for yourself, and build a life for yourself, and actually having options and opportunities and gaining experience to apply what you have learned. You can lose houses, careers, and mates, life is just like that, but knowledge is a never ending journey, and no one can take it away. It can never be lost.

How did it help my careers? You have to have a solid foundation to build on to have a chance at LIFE! Being willing to keep LEARNING is as solid a foundation as it gets. There is always new things to learn on whatever career path you are on, it never stops, so try to keep up.

Having a piece of paper saying you know something, gives others the confidence to pay you to do something for them.

How did college/vocational school prepare you for your career?

This question can be answered two ways. My way is, and this differs from country to country, but college is theory and vocational school is hands on which is a quicker more efficient way to learn say, the IT field. This is the way it is in Canada.

I did university, but what I am about to say is true of all post secondary education. This is the stuff you WANT to do, not what you should do. The required school is just that required. It is meant to prepare you to be a functional, member of society who has a basic knowledge of the world around them. Sciences, math, history, religion, English, and the arts.

Post secondary is where you go to train for the job/career you want. But more then that it is an opportunity to learn life balance and how to function as a person in the world. Balance money, school, social life, and everything. More importantly you get to learn that you actually want to learn and do what you actually want to do. You shouldn't enter into this with a specific career in mind, but rather a goal of what you want to know and how you can apply it. The connect is strong with the trades and gets more fuzzy as you get to the sciences, and fine arts.

To answer your question, it gave me tools to learn what I needed to do the job that I do. I didn't learn programming langauages, but I learned high level algorithms and how to apply them. I learned how to learn a language so I can pick up anything and be useful quickly. Good luck!

University prepares you to be an adult, to mature and learn better ways of thinking. It does not normally prepare you for the actual work, of a career, But it is required for many jobs. Theory of management for example, is great, but actually doing employee schedules, dealing with people calling in sick, is not studies.

I learned a lot of theory on counseling, on conflict management, on anger, and those areas, But it does not really prepare you for actual working with people.

But then it depends, I will assume some areas of study may include more practical.

If I hadn't attended a university, I wouldn't be employed as a teacher. I spent a long time pondering a major and became a teacher after not feeling fulfilled. So, another degree was earned plus state certification. Long story short... 10 years of education plus continuing education. I love what I do now, so it was all worth it.

College gave me a base to build on. I have enjoyed at least three careers plus earned a master's degree along the way.