Jasey Tragesser is a 27-year-old college dropout earning $135,000 per year after dropping out of college to create her own path to success. Prior to going to go college, she worked as a waitress in a restaurant earning $500 to $600 a month.
Tragesser says her move upwards the financial ladder comes down to hard work, job switching, alternative education and a bit of luck. Her breakthrough came in 2018 when the president of a small investment firm who saw her potentials offered her an internship job as a marketer.
After a year with the company, Tragesser wanted to do something different as she felt she had gotten all that there was to get out of her role. She applied to multiple firms and attended dozens of interviews.
According to Tragesser, her lack of college degree came up multiple times during her interviews. However, she felt there was a path for her in life without college certificate. She was skilled enough to land a job with a tech startup.
No sooner had she gotten a job than the pandemic struck the global economy and the company had to temporarily freeze the offer. As if that was not enough, she also got laid off from her investment company where she was still working while exploring other opportunities.
After six months of being unemployed, she got a renewed offer from the same tech company with a salary of $80,000. After a year into the job, she was felt she was reaching the “ceiling of opportunity and growth in the role.”
In less than two weeks, she again sent out over 200 applications. Unlike the previous interviews, these ones were quite flexible for her as her lack of college certificate did not take center stage.
Tragesser got three six-figure job offers and after weighing her options, she accepted to work as a marketing manager for a software-as-a-service company for $135,000 a year, according to Business Insider. After several search, Tragesser says she is now in a role she feels challenged.
What is more, she has no college debt or high school debt to settle and mostly importantly, she doesn’t intend to go back to school.
For people who don’t have higher education certificate, Tragesser’s world of advice is to consider professional programs.
Before getting her current job, she was enrolled in Cornell and Yale’s online marketing programs.
“If you can’t afford college or you feel that it’s just not your thing — both of which were my situation — I always tell people, ‘Consider a professional program that directly correlates to what you’re interested in,’” she told Business Insider.
