Catch 22 – no experience, no job. No job, no experience.

If you don’t know why you are going to school or what you are going to do with your degree, then I don’t either. And neither will anyone else for that matter.

And they listened. The best way to approach this is sit them down and let them know how you feel. You are your own person with your own dreams. Too often I see parents pushing higher education on their children, and many of those kids don’t want to do what their parents want them to do. Tell them that success is not defined by a piece of paper. To prove that point, rip up your father’s PhD. (You don’t really have to, that’s big move lol) It’s a piece of paper. It does not define him, and if it does, then I’m sorry to say he has lost himself. You define your own success. If working the job you love so dearly is your idea of success, then go for it. Who is to tell you otherwise? Your family? No. They don’t get a say in the choices you make for yourself. If the family reputation is more important than their own child, then consider where your parents’ priorities really are. I can’t say this discussion will end well. I don’t know your parents and from your description it seems they will be less understanding than my parents were in my situation, but that’s a risk you have to take. If you can get by on what you do now, and you enjoy it as much as you say you do, then talk to them. If they want you to finish college, then maybe finish with a Bachelor’s, stick with your current job and call it a day. Sure, you’ll have a degree that you probably won’t use, but that’s your parents’ problem now. And if they get upset saying “We spent all this money to get you into college”, just say “Remember that talk we had where I said I didn’t want to continue college anymore? You implored me to finish, and I did. But that doesn’t mean I’m going to change my mind about what i want to do.”