University Education

[Parklife]

23 minutes ago, Cove_Sheep said:

Good point.

I certainly don't think I've got anything out of going for four years. I've certainly never been in a job where a degree would actually be required to be in it either.

Definitely again hitting the stage where I need a change (either of role or direction), but things are absolutely brutal right now. I was finding it difficult enough before the shit hit the fan.

What did you study and what do you do? If you don't mind me asking... 

[Cove_Sheep]

4 minutes ago, Parklife said:

What did you study and what do you do? If you don't mind me asking... 

I did an Accountancy degree.

Pretty much been stuck at the bottom end of that kind of jobs, hence no need for actually having said degree.

[Parklife]

26 minutes ago, Cove_Sheep said:

I did an Accountancy degree.

Pretty much been stuck at the bottom end of that kind of jobs, hence no need for actually having said degree.

Have you thought about getting chartered or any further qualifications? 

In my line of work there seems to be an abundance of good jobs at present. 

[sbcmfc]

1 hour ago, Cove_Sheep said:

From my own experience, I'm not sure as many folk need to be in Higher Education as there are just now.

 

I kind of agree with that, and probably more of an issue with people from decent areas going to uni because that's what you do after school...

Took me a few years of doing pretty rubbish jobs before I really "used" my degree, and even then, it was only really to open a door.

Now my degree is probably only slightly more relevant than my cycling proficiency certificate....

[Cove_Sheep]

12 minutes ago, Parklife said:

Have you thought about getting chartered or any further qualifications? 

In my line of work there seems to be an abundance of good jobs at present. 

Been making slow progress through the ACCA qualification.

Biggest issue is the lack of practical experience for the jobs above the level I'm at. Pretty much nowhere seems keen on taking on someone who won't hit the ground running from day 1.

And of course, my previous employer, appeared to have a policy of never filling roles internally either hence I ended up making a move which hasn't really worked out...

[Parklife]

31 minutes ago, sbcmfc said:

I kind of agree with that, and probably more of an issue with people from decent areas going to uni because that's what you do after school...

Took me a few years of doing pretty rubbish jobs before I really "used" my degree, and even then, it was only really to open a door.

Now my degree is probably only slightly more relevant than my cycling proficiency certificate....

What did you study? 

[sbcmfc]

1 hour ago, Parklife said:

What did you study? 

Electrical and electronic engineering.

[Grantyboy1983]

I'm sure I have read that non-graduate average earnings are only very slightly lower than university graduate average earnings. My cousin has got a law degree and can't get near a career in that profession and his dad is a retired partner in a law firm with contacts. There seems to be an abundance of people out there in a role that there degrees are not relevant, surely this kind of thing must mean a lot of school kids will not even consider university as it could be deemed a waste of time (obviously it is required in a lot of professions).

[Kirk]

15 hours ago, Mee said:

When I left high school in inner city Glasgow 3 folk including myself went to university. 

I would say the reason that less got the required grades were low expectations at home and their parents not encouraging/forcing people to study and making it clear how important it was.

There is also the issue that if the only university educated folk you meet in your life are teachers then you are not shown what benefits there would be in sticking in and doing all the boring school work when you could be out with your mates.

It's a hard cycle to break

I get what you are saying but people also have to want to go to uni/college you cant just make someone study and go to uni because you think its the right thing. (Not saying thats what you think) 

I have various friends who went to uni and got degrees etc and are now in jobs thst have nothing to do with them. They went because yhey didnt know what else to do. To me that is a waste of time.

 

I had no interest in uni, still dont. Got a few highers and worked for a few years then had a couple of yesrs in canada. Im now on a low income but i wouldnt change what ive done. Im 27 and still have no idea whst i want to do,bar moving back to Canada, which if I was single I would have. 

Ive had good jobs and bad jobs but ive always made ends meet. 

 

[MacWalka]

I'm another from a shitty ML area that went to uni. I think I was lucky in that I had a good group of about 6 friends in later years of high school that all went to uni. My folks always drove it home that I should stick in school and go to uni if I could. It mainly came from my dad who went to night school and got a degree in later years so knew what it was like to struggle after school so he didn't want me to go through that.

 

Thankfully 8 years after uni, I'm still in a job that uses my degree and get paid relatively well for it so in that respect I'm lucky that I chose the right subject.

[Parklife]

7 minutes ago, MacWalka said:

Thankfully 8 years after uni, I'm still in a job that uses my degree and get paid relatively well for it so in that respect I'm lucky that I chose the right subject.

Yeah, i guess i'm in the same boat. Don't get me wrong, i get up some days and struggle to motivate myself for another day doing the same thing as yesterday but i'm pretty lucky compared to a lot of other graduates. 

[Cove_Sheep]

17 hours ago, Cove_Sheep said:

Been making slow progress through the ACCA qualification.

Biggest issue is the lack of practical experience for the jobs above the level I'm at. Pretty much nowhere seems keen on taking on someone who won't hit the ground running from day 1.

And of course, my previous employer, appeared to have a policy of never filling roles internally either hence I ended up making a move which hasn't really worked out...

Been self-funding too, which has slowed things down considerably as it's not cheap at all, so I can't afford to sit more than one paper at once. And I've been stuck on one of them for a wee bit, failed it by under 3% on 3 occasions now...

Pretty much all of the (very few) jobs that appear these days require folk to have experience of working in practice (rules me out) or to be qualified (again rules me out).

Definitely don't see things getting any easier, so I'd certainly be someone who would tell those considering applying to do a degree to think very carefully about it.

 

[they've_been_suckered]

Uni- It's a difficult one. 

You could get a trade and be in high demand, although you're probably not going to have the cushty hours of an office job. 

I went to uni, got a good degree but didn't use it directly you could argue. It opened a door initially though and I had fun along the way. Ended up making a sideways step into procurement (from engineering) and kept plugging away.

A lot of my mates are quite academic and did the uni route, they've all had varying degrees of success in the real world. Might just be down to the individual but I'm a big believer in getting the rewards from hard work and things happening for a reason. 

I'd say overall I've not filled my potential but I'm more or less stress free and happy. 

My missus was not near me academically, but she's done extremely well. I put that down to her personality and attitude. 

[ParisInAKilt]

Chances of getting a decent paid job without going to uni these days can't be too high 

[Mindimoo]

1 hour ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Chances of getting a decent paid job without going to uni these days can't be too high 

I'm in a well paid job and didn't go to Uni. However, I've had to work my way up over the years.  If they replaced me now the person would have to have a relevant degree and 5 years experience.  Uni just wasn't for me.  Ironically I work in a Uni in an advisory role!

[biffer]

Got a degree in astronomy and physics, that got me a job in IT (numerate / analytical) which I did for a dozen years before going back for a year and getting a master's in ecological economics, which got me a job in renewable energy research, which led to academia / industry interaction stuff and now to a role working in astronomy and space developing new projects. I needed both the tech knowledge and the personal skills developed during both times at uni. My current job wouldn't have happened without both my degrees, and by that i mean the academic and the experiential aspects of both.

Edited March 24, 2016 by biffer

[they've_been_suckered]

2 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Chances of getting a decent paid job without going to uni these days can't be too high 

You haven't needed a plumber lately have you?

[ParisInAKilt]

Thankfully not. My post wasn't really aimed at those lucky enough to get a good paying trade. 

[they've_been_suckered]

3 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Thankfully not. My post wasn't really aimed at those lucky enough to get a good paying trade. 

Everyone starts somewhere I suppose. There's plenty folk I know who've made it by simply working hard with one company. 

[scoobydoo]

On 21/03/2016 at 4:32 AM, RenfrewBlue said:

Utter shite. I came from an area with a very poor "postcode"  yet managed to get a degree at Strathclyde Uni and have forged a reasonable career.

That was down to hard work and innate intelligence. Feck all to do with my background or postcode 

That's just an excuse for lazy bastards.

I left school with 2 O grades and was unemployed and completely aimless for 6 years.  I then had a job in a pub ( which I only got because I had a black eye) for 2 years then went to college to do an access course then took on 4 years of Student Loans at Strathclyde University to do an honours in Electrical Engineering. Graduated 20 years ago. Didn't really enjoy it, found the course near impossible to understand and was only really doing it to prove someone wrong who said I was too thick to do it. I had help from guys who drank in the pub including Math Professors and Engineers. 

Safe to say though I wouldn't be anywhere near where I am now if I hadn't done it and would probably be back in the Raploch, unemployable, a labourer or dead.

 

It can be done, doesn't matter what the background of the person is.

[Orraloon]

6 hours ago, ParisInAKilt said:

Chances of getting a decent paid job without going to uni these days can't be too high 

Some of the wealthiest folk I know, are in the building trade and the motor trade. They started out with less than two 'O' Grades to rub together.

IMO folk should only go to University if they are eager to learn new stuff. If they are doing it purely as a career move to earn more money, then there are probably better ways to go about it.

 

[Jersey Jim]

On ‎24‎/‎03‎/‎2016 at 5:11 PM, ParisInAKilt said:

Chances of getting a decent paid job without going to uni these days can't be too high 

Not sure that's the case here in Jersey [depends on your interpretation of decent pay I suppose}.

I work for Jersey ATC, we have 27 controllers in the department, done a quick poll since reading this thread and less than a dozen went to Uni, all are on at least £80k a year, same with the finance Industry here, I know several folk on 6 figure salaries who never went into further education.

[they've_been_suckered]

12 hours ago, Jersey Jim said:

Not sure that's the case here in Jersey [depends on your interpretation of decent pay I suppose}.

I work for Jersey ATC, we have 27 controllers in the department, done a quick poll since reading this thread and less than a dozen went to Uni, all are on at least £80k a year, same with the finance Industry here, I know several folk on 6 figure salaries who never went into further education.

There's always that one guy who thinks talking about salaries isn't a massive faux pas.

[Jersey Jim]

6 hours ago, they've_been_suckered said:

There's always that one guy who thinks talking about salaries isn't a massive faux pas.

Fair comment I suppose as I shouldn't have mentioned figures.

For the record I work for ATC but not as a controller, the figures I mentioned they earn are readily available to view on local States of Jersey website as are all local government positions. So wasn't giving out Info you can't look up.

 Apologies if I came across as bit of a kn0b.

[ParisInAKilt]

On 26 March 2016 at 1:23 AM, Jersey Jim said:

Not sure that's the case here in Jersey [depends on your interpretation of decent pay I suppose}.

I work for Jersey ATC, we have 27 controllers in the department, done a quick poll since reading this thread and less than a dozen went to Uni, all are on at least £80k a year, same with the finance Industry here, I know several folk on 6 figure salaries who never went into further education.

How many left school within the last couple of years? 

I don't doubt plenty of folk will end up in good paying jobs without going to uni but I'd guess the vast majority won't.