Life Since Your Degree?

kr15snw

I graduated 6 months ago from a FDA in Graphic Design. I feel my degree gave me the skills I needed to learn for this industry but I have quickly realised that no one cares that I got a 1st. They just want to know how long Ive been working in the industry.

Luckily I have managed to get a job in the industry but within the company I was working part time at. Its only 12k a year and Its not wholey design work, BUT its a start and after a few years my portfolio will be looking healthier and I can look to move on.

On a brighter note though I no longer live with parents and am buying my first house this year

kr15snw

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think you aren't comparing like for like. Without a degree, it can be impossible to EVER earn £20k/year. Ever.

Not true.

I have a degree and lots of GCSE's and a BTEC etc etc. I earn 12k a year currently.

My boyfriend has one or two GCSE's and thats it. Hes on about 28k a year at the mo.

WillowCat

redmel1621 wrote: »

My husband has also left a relatively good wage (IT Consultant) to follow his heart and pursue a Physics degree. I believe it is more important to be happy in a job you love than earn a bit of extra cash doing a job you will come to resent 30yrs down the line.

And that, is what doing a degree means!!!!!

Mel x

I'm in the same position - about to leave a very well paid IT job to do a chemistry degree. I'm both following my heart, and being realistic enough to know that I can't get any other job outside my very narrow area of expertise without one.

I'll be ecstatic if on graduation I get a job paying 25% of my current salary.

Oldernotwiser

LittleMissAspie wrote: »

It used to be, but now people leave owing thousands of pounds. No point borrowing 10 grand for a low paid job.

If the job is low paid then you'll pay nothing back anyway, so does it really matter?

Kavanne

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think you aren't comparing like for like. Without a degree, it can be impossible to EVER earn £20k/year. Ever.

Roughly speaking, the salary that a lot of graduates start on (once using their degree) is what somebody without a degree will EVER achieve.

I have over 20 years' IT industry experience, 30 years' work experience, including office management, training etc. I have a bunch of good qualifications under my belt and £20k is most often unachievable because jobs at/above that seem to want a degree (even when it's not needed).

In 10 years' time you'll probably be on the equivalent of £35k, yet I'll still be on under £20k.

You have to look at lifetime earnings and potential, not just the first 3-4 years.

Ask yourself, why in that 20 yrs have you never moved into management? Onwards and upwards...?

If you feel a degree IS required in your industry, why haven't you embarked on a part time degree? Even with the OU, for example.

I think you need to reassess your career path, you need to seek out jobs that you are qualified for. Or perhaps although a description says you need a degree, your 20+ years experience could replace that? Have you ever phoned any employers and asked?

TDQO

I'm currently working in Australia... I chose to do a mining engineering degree because there I enjoy engineering type work but despise desk jobs... my degree is intensive on the maths and physics front but has a large proportion of practical modules. I didn't learn anything which wasn't directly applicable to working as a mining engineer and now I'm in Oz I've had 3 job offers since September!

Salaries start at 22k in the UK and $90k AUD in australia (plus house + car etc)!! There is a world wide shortage and I have the option of working in almost any country on the planet in a massive variety of situations.

The biggest factor for me though is that I honestly really enjoy the job. I love being underground and utilising machinery weighing in at thousands of tons, worth millions. Then there's the satisfaction of designing a blast pattern and seeing thousands of tons of rock disintegrate perfectly in front of you because of it.

You really don't need a degree to be happy though, my sis didn't even get A levels but now she's an area manager for a retail chain and runs 15 stores and earns 40k with a car etc and she loves her job.

Oldernotwiser

Kavanne wrote: »

Ask yourself, why in that 20 yrs have you never moved into management? Onwards and upwards...?

That's a very patronising thing to post!

Pssst

PasturesNew wrote: »

I think you aren't comparing like for like. Without a degree, it can be impossible to EVER earn £20k/year. Ever.

Roughly speaking, the salary that a lot of graduates start on (once using their degree) is what somebody without a degree will EVER achieve.

I have over 20 years' IT industry experience, 30 years' work experience, including office management, training etc. I have a bunch of good qualifications under my belt and £20k is most often unachievable because jobs at/above that seem to want a degree (even when it's not needed).

In 10 years' time you'll probably be on the equivalent of £35k, yet I'll still be on under £20k.

You have to look at lifetime earnings and potential, not just the first 3-4 years.

I would beg to differ. I dont have a degree but earn closer to £40k pa.

The only degrees are useful degrees.
Having a degree does not give you divine right to a high salary career.

Pssst

Kavanne wrote: »

Ask yourself, why in that 20 yrs have you never moved into management? Onwards and upwards...?

If you feel a degree IS required in your industry, why haven't you embarked on a part time degree? Even with the OU, for example.

I think you need to reassess your career path, you need to seek out jobs that you are qualified for. Or perhaps although a description says you need a degree, your 20+ years experience could replace that? Have you ever phoned any employers and asked?

Being a manager is not always an upward progression.

In tough times,the knife is usually taken to layers of management.
additionally, in some jobs,management sometimes get paid less than their underlings!

squirrelchops

Hello all,

I'm currently in the position that I am a mature student, having left work where in my last year I earnt £31k (I look at my P60 for motivation to keep going) to undertake the social work degree.

I had become stuck in a position whereby without the degree I wouldn't be able to progress but nowadays you have to have the degree, if you are newly qualified to become a registered social worker....no other way round it. Therefore I bit the bullet and decided to go for it. I graudate in 2010 and given my previous experience I hope to start on at least £20-£25k per year so won't be too long to earn more than I have done historically (I hope).

Mind you it isn't the sort of job one does for the ££££ and often the more 'on the ground' jobs pay less unfortunately. Social workers are often quoted as saying the pay is rubbish and all that but I look at jobs on Reed and agency staff earn at least £17 per hour, many in the £20+ per hour range, Not too shabby if you ask me.

Oh yes and as regards qualifications my OH didn't sit one GCSE but he earns at least £42k per year which he has doen through sheer determination and at times working away to better himself.

I think if you are prepared to put in the effort then you will be rewarded for it. That has been my experience so far.