graduates - much did your frist proper job pay?

hello007007

After university, much did your frist proper, full time job paid? And was the job/pay what you expecting?

I know the life experiences of university are priceless and for many people the best years of their lives.  Putting that aside did the end qualification, salary and expectations come true too?

Or did your non university mate get to were you wanted to be without the degree(s)?

DisablednProud

It depends entirely on the degree. I know a lot of grads who did art, design and fashion subjects, who did unpaid internships for months, trying to get their foot in the door, and got nowhere, and are now, years later, just working retail, secretarial etc. (One of them caught COVID in their Amazon warehouse job last year and their lungs still haven't fully recovered so they are on sick leave.) I know others who studied medicine and are now GPs working from home and getting paid 80K+ a year.

So just choose a course that leads to a high pay job, is my advice, if that is your endgame. Check out the stats for the course you are applying for, the saturation of the market etc.

Sandtree

Depends what you call a "proper job" and you didnt ask about when it was... graduate scheme in my day paid £21k  and now pays £28k - there was a London weighting of £2k but their current site doesnt mention anything about that now. 

For me, the career thing didnt but thats because I started with a vocational degree and changed to maths and then left before my honours year (was in scotland). Salary is probably more than I would have earned with the vocational career that I'd planned.

In my school there were only one or two people that werent planning to go to uni and they werent friends of mine so not sure what happened to them. Of the people I did keep in contact with I guess I am the closest to the non-university person as everyone else graduated with honour degrees or went on to do masters etc. 

Jillanddy

To be honest, it also depends on when you did your degree. Getting into university when I was 17/18 was much, much harder than it is now; and "second class universities" back then are now the ones that many people aspire to. Having a degree meant something because it wasn't something that most, or even the majority had gained. That is not to promote an elitist view of a university education or graduates. But these days every other job applicant has a degree, and degrees from many institutions are, in terms of rigour, on a par with the old GCE's - lots of people have them but they don't say very much about anything. Although, to be fair, given the job applications that I see from graduates, at least the old GCE's meant that people could spell basic words, and use grammar.

Bexm

I think it does depend what you are going into. 

I did a HND in computers and IT stuff with a view to being a Web developer.  After that I went straight into a resonably well paid job but did find in IT that I had learned something on my course but I was by no means a competent developer and learning on the job was more important and I doubled my salary in about 3 years.

I have had uni grads join my companies and they do have a bit more knowledge than I started with but they still start near the bottom as real life experience is the key in my industry. 

florianatwobob

My first job paid £3.75 per hour in 1997. No degree and now I earn a good salary as a project manager. Experience is a valuable as a degree. 

f5morg

For me it was more that if you stuck to something for long enough you would get somewhere with it. Even if it is something you don't like. And by somewhere I mean promotion, more pay, more experience in that field. Even in the arts although it is hard, if you dedicate yourseld to it you can make progress, you just need discipline. If I compare myself to peers, I would say I am far behind. as somone who hasn't settled in a career through trial and error. I would say if you can hold out at something that pays well and do the less profitable thing on the side, at the end of ten years you'll have earning potential in a traditional or vocational field and numerous practice hours in the competitive non traditional thing you like doing. Then at least you could make decisions knowing you have that earning potential you could use later. However that is if you are more concerned with stability. If not, whatever you do, do it 100% and just don't listen to nay sayers, you can build the life you wish

f5morg

f5morg said:

For me it was more that if you stuck to something for long enough you would get somewhere with it. Even if it is something you don't like. And by somewhere I mean promotion, more pay, more experience in that field. Even in the arts although it is hard, if you dedicate yourseld to it you can make progress, you just need discipline. If I compare myself to peers, I would say I am far behind. as somone who hasn't settled in a career through trial and error. I would say if you can hold out at something that pays well and do the less profitable thing on the side, at the end of ten years you'll have earning potential in a traditional or vocational field and numerous practice hours in the competitive non traditional thing you like doing. Then at least you could make decisions knowing you have that earning potential you could use later. However that is if you are more concerned with stability. If not, whatever you do, do it 100% and just don't listen to nay sayers, you can build the life you wish

But to answer the question after my first course, a foundation degree, so equivalent to 2/3 university I earned $1100 p/m in a job related to the course, but room and board were provided, it was international based. After that £300 p/w in a uk job related to the course.
After I did a top up year to a full degree I earned 19,000-20,000 in a job. These were in the arts field. I don't know what I expected, I think I had low expectations and that I would do something else eventually. I don't have any non-uni friends

DontBringBertie

£22k a year in 2011 following a Business Management degree. Worth noting that a colleague who started at the same time in the same department was paid £17.5k as he didn’t have a degree.

Sandtree

DontBringBertie said:

£22k a year in 2011 following a Business Management degree. Worth noting that a colleague who started at the same time in the same department was paid £17.5k as he didn’t have a degree.

But what was the guy who started in 2008 on circa £16.5k without a degree earning when you joined and where are the two of you now?

DontBringBertie

Sandtree said:

DontBringBertie said:

£22k a year in 2011 following a Business Management degree. Worth noting that a colleague who started at the same time in the same department was paid £17.5k as he didn’t have a degree.

But what was the guy who started in 2008 on circa £16.5k without a degree earning when you joined and where are the two of you now?

Not sure what the fictional employee you mention was earning in 2008 or is doing now.

In the example I gave, me and my colleague were only 6 months apart in age. So in 2008, I presume he was earning around £16.5k…