two choices really.... may extend the distance :(

[Sharon Q]

right now I'm in Job Corps. I'll be taking Culinary ( 9 month program) Here in Cincinnati 300+ miles from my boyfriend.

Today we looked at other careers to give us more ideas I still wish to take Culinary here if I can. However looking at things long term, for my own interest I'm wanting to take Auto Michanic ( 1 year program. )

- This way I can save myself/SO/Friends money when it comes to mild car trouble.
- I also think I need this because I know NOTHING about cars and I will be getting a car before I end the distance.

The bright side:
I found another Job corps Center that I can transfer to after taking culinary that teaches Auto Michanics which is in PA and would Shave an hour off of travel time meaning possible WEEKEND visits The down side :

It would postpone us ending the distance for a year making our distance last for almost two years :'(

But if I took this course it could save us thousands each year.

My other option is just to stick with Culinary ONLY and then end the distance after nine months.

I have yet to talk to Robert about all this I'll call him tonight, and discuss it then I just wanted some opinions.

NOTE: Culinary will be my career path
Auto Michanic would be taken as a skill course to save money but seeing as it is offered here as a career trade it will still be one year like most trades here

This is the only time I will be able to take auto michanic free of no cost to me. After I leave job corps I'm basically on my own as far as further education goes.

If I confused anyone just to clairify I would be taking both Culinary ( At my current center ) And Auto Michanics ( at the center in PA and 4hrs away from Robert )

Sorry so long but thanks for the advice all opinions are welcome.

[MadMolly]

Personally I would go for the longer option - having both those skills will help you in life SO much. I wouldn't sacrifice your education for a couple years less long distance - you CAN make it work! It'll be worth it! Especially if weekend visits are a possibility!

[Dziubka]

I don't think it's necessary take take a one year course on how to repair cars, just because you're going to have one. If you're not looking into it as a possible career path, then I don't understand why you're considering that at all. Car mechanics probably aren't widely regarded as a necessary qualification for people working in the culinary field.

It's no doubt a handy skill, but there's a million skills that could come in handy during life. Repairing computers, toilets, heatings, knowing how to fly a plane, being able to run 5km in 10mins, speaking Chinese just to name a few of them, but generally even though it would be useful to be able to do all of this, I wouldn't go on a year long course to learn any of that.

I'd rather try to get my real career started as soon as possible, than putting it off for a year to learn something that's not even essential for my career field.

Sure cars do break down and need to be fixed once in a while, but (for me anyway) that's not a valid reason to spend a year on learning how to fix them. I don't know what kind of course that is, but you'd probably still have to have bigger things fixed in a garage, at least for equipment reasons. So consider carefully how much this can realistically save you. I'd say that the work experience you might gain in your field during that year, might pay off more financially.

But that's just my opinion and I readily admit that I don't know the first thing about computers, even though I use one everyday. When mine stopped working last year, I called someone to fix it. There's no way I'd spend a year learning something that was totally unrelated to my career.

[LilyChiba]

I myself, being almost at the 2 year mark anyway, would do both if its something that I wanted and didn't cost anything. Unfortunately here in Australia, that's just not the case and anything I would want to do wouldn't be recognised there. I want to do my computer side and auto mechanics. That would take 8+ years to do both for me. So I have no choice but to wait until I get there. Plus it would run me into debt pretty hardcore. So if its free, I'd say go for it. But unless you are going to use it for a job, don't. I love working with both and could happily do cars or computers for a living, or even open a bakery for cakes and such. Those things make me happy. And all three of them come in handy outside of work parameters, so its a plus. You really just got to weigh what's more importnat. Being there sooner and maybe saving up for the auto mechanic stuff whilst you're doing culinary stuff, or saving the money and waiting a little longer?

Also, it doesn't take a year to learn how to fix a computer :P It's a lot more simpler than learning about auto mechanics. Only so many things can be wrong with a computer and it's separated into categories. Software/OS and Hardware. Hardware is eaaaasy. Haha. I did it in class for 2 years and I still knew more before I even went in there.