Author Topic: AS Levels owned me (Read 15854 times)

tommyfobia · « **Reply #45 on:** August 24, 2006, 12:15:11 AM »

Quote from: CaffeineJunkie

the hell i'm going to uni

i'm not paying £14 000 so that somebody can tell me something i already know

not happenin

I used to have the same mentality. Thats why I have spent the last 3 years working in shitety low paid warehouse jobs. The funny thing is the managers where I work don't get paid that much either and they have 15 years of 'experience' there. A co-worker had just left the job after completing his degree and securing a job in his field. His starting wage is three times what the general manager at my work earns, and this guy is only 22.

The idea isn't to 'tell you something that you already know'. The idea is to jump through hoops for 3 years and get a piece of paper that allows you to do the fun jobs that you actully WANT to do, and get paid a shed-load to do them.

After waking up on a freezing winters morning at 4.30am to do hard physical work in dangerous conditions and then getting soaked through by torrential rain at 5.30am on boxing day, when by all rights I should have been in bed with a stinkin' hangover and a beautiful woman, and then having to work in an industrial freezer at -22 degrees celcius, I know what I choose.

That why I start my degree course in three weeks.

Sorry for the overly-dramatic post, but thats how it is if you want to take my job while I go to university... :)

CaffeineJunkie · « **Reply #46 on:** August 24, 2006, 02:21:43 AM »

^ except that i'm already a programmer, and just because i'm not going to uni doesn't mean i'm not getting qualifications, i'm just not getting a degree, i'll get a cisco networking qualification and a bunch of programming quals, which hold more weight in my line of work than a degree, and they are a hell of a lot cheaper ... plus i don't have to waste my next 4 years in uni

b0ng0 · « **Reply #47 on:** August 24, 2006, 08:52:45 AM »

I wouldn't say you 'waste' 4 years at uni. It's more than just the studying, it's the whole student culture and the experience you gain from it. You learn lots of valuable skills apart from the stuff you are taught like how to give proper talks and write proper reports, etc.

Also, uni's tend to attract vast quantities of fine female specimens :twisted: - all in one place. What more could you ask for?

tommyfobia · « **Reply #48 on:** August 24, 2006, 02:46:06 PM »

Quote from: CaffeineJunkie

^ except that i'm already a programmer, and just because i'm not going to uni doesn't mean i'm not getting qualifications, i'm just not getting a degree, i'll get a cisco networking qualification and a bunch of programming quals, which hold more weight in my line of work than a degree, and they are a hell of a lot cheaper ... plus i don't have to waste my next 4 years in uni

Cool! I'm glad you're still getting qualified! I respect that a lot. So you're working as you're getting qualified?

Kilby · « **Reply #49 on:** August 24, 2006, 03:00:26 PM »

[quote="CaffeineJunkie] i'll get a cisco networking qualification and a bunch of programming quals, which hold more weight in my line of work than a degree, and they are a hell of a lot cheaper ... plus i don't have to waste my next 4 years in uni[/quote]

The Cisco qualifications on their own don't help much, for any worthwhile job it's experiance as well as the qualifications. A lot of cisco have simply went through the 'brain dump' process using examination notes and knowledgeable employers have caught onto this.

You will see a lot of jobs asking for cisco qualifications, along with mcse, web development, scripting and database knowledge. Those are usually digital sweatshop jobs where the salary is cr@p and you are expected to do everything.

I'm in the opposite position I have done the courses and have the experiance but no bits of paper. I'm paid well but it's hard to change employers (geographical reasons) and to get an initial interview because they don't see the pieces of paper on the qualifications section.

Rob...

LuckyJim · « **Reply #50 on:** August 24, 2006, 03:56:22 PM »

CaffineJunkie .... I would really look around before letting yourself believe that your self study cisco & programming courses 'hold more weight' in the field of computing. Nine times out of ten a degree will be essential! A lot of employers will skim your CV, note that you don't have a degree, and simply chuck your application away. I know I wouldn't work to work for an employer with that attitude, but I'm afraid thats the harsh reality of the job market these days. In saying that, I wish you the best of luck because I was in the same situation a few years ago!

Edit: Also read Kilby's post above... good points made

CaffeineJunkie · « **Reply #51 on:** August 24, 2006, 06:13:36 PM »

yeah i know

...

i'm confident

...

well...

...

i think arrogant would be closer...

Petre · « **Reply #52 on:** August 25, 2006, 11:09:55 AM »

Quote from: Dakine

However, my wisdom would be to get a TRADE (if ya can). They are dying out worldwide (as everyone wanted to get into IT,medical and law etc.) and people ALWAYS will need builders,plumbers and electricians etc.

Actually a trade is the last thing you would want these days i reckon. Im currently in 6th form and EVERYBODY is going down the trade route. Its gonna completely tip the balance and before you know it theres gonna be a lot of competition. About a 3rd of my high school form wanted to be mechanics and about 1/4 of my year went on to do some building apprenticeships. looking around my school it is the lawyers and ICT numbers that are now falling. I was actually told in my form that ICT at uni's is falling gradually.

Remember, ICT is always growing.. its taking over the world by storm and there will always be a need for people to look after them and operate them :P

Petre

b0ng0 · « **Reply #53 on:** August 25, 2006, 11:42:56 AM »

Law is completely over-subscribed at the moment. Same with medicine. I know some guys who have gotten straight A's, done loads of work experience, etc. yet still don't get into these courses.

Go into geophysics, there's no competition in the job market, they're throwing away jobs at the moment 8)

dave_mc · « **Reply #54 on:** August 25, 2006, 01:27:48 PM »

^ i think i heard that to get in to medicine at queen's (belfast) you need 6 a*'s at gcse, in addition to straight a's at a-level...

but yeah, some jobs just plain are oversubscribed. like forensic science.

(a) there are about 3 jobs in the whole of the UK for it.

(b) you can get into it with a chemistry degree, as far as I know, which'll leave you with lots more options for jobs.

hmmm, it's mostly tv programs that oversubscribe these jobs... too many people watching ally mcbeal, ER and CSI, methinks...

I'm just waiting for a degree course to be announced for "survival on a desert island if your plane crashes on it..."

;)

EDIT: i also agree with petre- don't necessarily go for the jobs that are totally undersubscribed, since they'll be the oversubscribed jobs of 10 years' time, since the pay will rise so much that everyone will want to do it.