I’ll be happy to keep talking (and hard to keep quiet). Apologies for the delay. I was thinking about a suitable answer, which is long, but not intended to be exhaustive.

From the comments you post and questions you ask, I have no doubt that you will be able to achieve whatever you set out to achieve. It sounds like a stressful time for you, and there will be a lot of pressure to get everything right – but there is no right. There are expectations and beliefs about what the ‘right’ path is, but the world is changing so quickly. Most of the adults around you will just be guessing!

There’s no rush. Well, there might be – you might want /need to live on your own, for example. But there’s no real rush to get all the ‘right’ qualifications now. Take your time. Do something, and get good at it. Then do something else if you get bored or can afford it. This idea that people leave school, go to university, get the job they studied for, and buy a house is just a dream. Try not to let other people with this image put pressure on you.

Music producing and sound engineering! Nice. My friend studied sound engineering and now works in a TV studio. I’m unsure of the full range of career opportunities, and I’m unsure if a degree is needed. But…

Higher Education (HE)

There is a way of speaking about HE that sees some courses as related to a particular job (e.g. law) and others as ‘just’ degrees (e.g. history – sorry, historians) that teach transferable (but important) skills and knowledge.

This is an unhelpful distinction. Law is an undergraduate subject where I am, and the stats show that most people who study law will not get a law-related job. If they do, it is unlikely to be one of the prestigious standing-up-in-court roles.

Still, discussions about the issue usually fall back on the assumption that law students will go on to practice law. The same is likely true (I’m less familiar with the statistics) for other ‘practical’ courses, such as some of the more specific sciences. Even a PhD graduate in say, organic chemistry, is not guaranteed a job in organic chemistry. At every level, there are more graduates than jobs.

It is not necessarily a problem that graduates do not find a related job. Promising students that this will happen is a problem, though. In a better society, it would happen. In the current system, we should be more honest. So it can be helpful to see all degrees (and education) as useful for teaching transferable skills and knowledge.

What subject?

Lord Sumption (a British Law Lord) once suggested that budding lawyers study any subject except law. His point was that law is quite easy to get your head around, the technical bits are taught on required post-grad courses, and the important skills needed to practice law are transferable and can be acquired by studying something like history or literature. I do not agree with Lord Sumption about much, but he is onto something.

There are two ways to go from here:

• Pick a subject that you enjoy and do not worry too much about what job it will lead to; or
• Pick a subject that is directly relevant to the job you want, ignore the naysayers, and do not stop until you get what you want.

In a sense, your choice will likely be the same whichever option you choose. The important thing will be to realise that you may end up in a different field / job (because you change your mind or because you are forced to).

As such, if you pursue a degree, recognise that part of the end result will be an improved ability to think critically, analyse, synthesise, find, and retrieve information, and you will improve your ‘soft skills’, like understanding the conventions of a field, talking to people, dressing in the expected way, turning up on time, etc.

What institution?

If you do study in HE, you will hear lots about the institution and league tables. The world is unfortunately snobby, and people will judge you for the institution you study at. This somewhat depends on the field. Some are more elitist than others. So if, say, 70% of lawyers studied at Yale and Harvard (a made-up statistic!), then lawyers should study at Yale or Harvard. But correlation does not equal causation. Those who get into Yale or Harvard may also get their job because their family studied there and are in the same field. So going to Yale or Harvard may not be the reason they succeed.

In this respect, I would say do not be too concerned with the location. Better to choose somewhere affordable, where you enjoy the city / town, teachers, course, etc. But wherever you choose, study and get involved in the community if possible.

The above was all very HE-focussed, and so may not be relevant to you. But I hope it is of some use.

Music and Sound

It may be helpful to look for sound engineering and music producing jobs. I imagine there is a jobs website for such things? Otherwise, you could look at the websites of film and music studios.

See what positions are offered on their careers pages and then search for that position in Google, etc. You are looking for the ‘job requirements’ and ‘person specification’. You may find that a variety of similar jobs all ask for the same kind of degree or qualification. If you do, then, this is a potential course to study (it may not be in HE, as it could be a professional qualification, such as Cisco, mentioned by @Bobbycostner).

You can also look for jobs that will pay for that qualification as a starting point and try your luck.

If this is the field you want to end up in, work out what the studios want from employees and slowly build those skills and that knowledge into your CV. Even if you do not go down the ‘mainstream’ route, if you can show the employer that you meet all their requirements, they will not care that you do not have e.g. the formal qualification.

I imagine that sound engineering relies on electronics and some coding. If this is the case, you could look for a relevant trade. If you enjoy the trade and it works out, great. If not, you gained some financial independence and added some relevant skills that will help you get onto a relevant course and / or apply for a job, say, a studio.

Paying for it

Education is expensive, especially in the US. If you are interested in travelling abroad, there are some European universities that charge no fees. You just need to pay your bills, for which there may be grants / loans. Universities also have hardship funds to help those in financial difficulty. The provision may not be the same everywhere.

If you do study for a degree / diploma / etc, apply for scholarships. You can search on academic jobs and university / college websites for scholarships in different fields. Do this even if you can afford the fees, etc (i.e. with a loan), as scholarships look impressive on your CV.

There are not many, but there will be some employers who will pay for your training. (It’s scary, but you will have more options if you consider moving across the country or even to another country. Don’t rule it out if you can help it!) So when you’re looking at available positions, have a look for ‘entry-level’ positions and see if there is any on-the-job training. You could also email the contact in the advert and ask if there is any provision for contributing to e.g. degree costs. It’s rare, but it happens. It’s more likely to happen if you ask.

Read and Practice

Whatever you do, read and if you enjoy or need a practical skill to produce music or engineer sounds, practice. Maybe read about music and read musicians’ / producers’ biographies. You will get a greater sense of the field and will be able to have a more impressive conversation with potential employers and peers.

As for trades…

The housing crisis ruined lots of tradesperson’s livelihoods. There’s not much to be done if customers / governments simply stop paying for certain works. Customers stop paying if they lose their own jobs, etc, and governments stop paying when they implement austerity.

Most of my friends and family were / are in trades. People who had always worked or had their own (established) small businesses either lost their jobs or had their wages slashed by a third or more – if a tradesperson is made redundant, they may ‘always have work’ (I agree with the overall sentiment), but there is no guarantee that the next employer will pay the same or even pay an ‘industry standard’. I know fully qualified tradespersons who shifted careers because they could not live on what companies started paying. Some people managed, but work slowed right down.

This coming / ongoing crisis will have a similar effect. As the price of fuel, food, energy, and borrowing goes up, people will be unable to afford to pay for ‘extras’, even if they are ‘essential’, such as replacing faulty roofs, boilers, windows, tires, engines, etc. People will just make do with what they have, because they need to eat, and there’s only so much they can borrow / pay back.

IME being called in to work at awkward times happens in every kind of job. Tradespersons tend to be better at fighting this kind of thing, though, partly due to some unstated rules and a general ‘nah mate, I’m the skilled one, here’ attitude. It really depends on the industry, though, and whether it is domestic, commercial, or industrial work.

I don’t want to say exactly where I’m from, I’m afraid. It’s not the US, but it is in the imperial core.