A-Levels and Degrees

[DaGaffer]

I'm doing real estate in Thailand ...

3 - 4 years ago I was doing Network Engineering, 2 1/2 - 3 years ago I was doing Nutrition ... things change, one day you might see the light or probably not as most people are born followers not leaders.

I'd say Job is pretty spot on. A degree will get you there, but when you're 40 and lifes already over, you don't need a degree to make money.

LOL, life's already over. Thanks for that. NB. I backpacked around the world for the first time at 41, emigrated (for the second time) at 43 and had my first child at 45. So I'll beg to differ if you don't mind.

 

[Zenith.UK]

LOL, life's already over. Thanks for that. NB. I backpacked around the world for the first time at 41, emigrated (for the second time) at 43 and had my first child at 45. So I'll beg to differ if you don't mind.

You sound like you turned your mid-life crisis to an advantage.

 

[Billargh]

IMO hopefully you never will know. some of the most interesting people I've ever met have no idea what they want to be when they grow up. On of them is 63

HOWEVER, there is a difference between that and having a skill or knowledge set you can fall back on when times are hard. My dad always told me (back in the day) that if I didn't know what to do, I was to learn a trade ( because if I had that there would always be something I could fall back on).

After a rather patchy school career, I've finally pulled my finger out and am gunning for a bachelor in IT (and maybe the masters after that if I cba). I'm 36. Why IT? Because of two reasons: I already have work experience there, and I decided that getting the degree asap in a field I was already familiar with was worth more to me than learning something new. (ulterior motive: IT is a wide field and isn't going away any time soon; getting a degree will decouple me from the company I work for).

This is probably the most comforting post I've read on these forums, so cheers for that (DaGaffers get a few points for that also)! That's pretty much the route I feel I'm going to end up going down, learning a trade skill, plastering or some such, at least I'll I can figure out some kind of 'life plan'. I'm also quite tempted to learn a new language, just so I'm doing something productive with my time.

And on a side note, you're 36?!/!?/1

 

[TdC]

yes, 36. surprised? shocked?


tbh the to-do thing is a bit lame when written, you should experience it imo but here goes: do something that puts bread in your mouth (and hopefully gives you some form of enjoyment/emotional reward). Because you've thus taken care of your worries, this will FREE YOU UP to do what you really want, like learn that language, go to sweet gigs, have a holiday now and then, etc.

bleh, that reads lame, but it's true. I know it works, because I did it just so

 

[throdgrain]

I shot a round of skeet the other day with a bloke aged 79! I beat him by 1 ...


I hope I'm still shooting at that age, good on him

 

[old.user4556]

Just wanted to throw this out there, but I know people who have degrees and have gone on to do pretty much fuck-all. I know people that don't have degrees and have gone on to be very successful.

*shrug* - a lot of life is just plain luck, but luck is where preperation meets opportunity, so maximising your preparation by bagging a good degree in a good non pie in the sky subject is no bad thing.

 

[eksdee]

Seeing a degree as only something that should lead you in one exact path is ridiculous. I have a degree in Illustration, I wrote my dissertation on the development of album artwork and whether or not it could be considered as 'art'. I now do a job with a split role - graphic design and proof-reading. They took me on not because I had the right training for the job (I don't), but because I had shown through my education (I got a 1st overall and a 1st for my dissertation) that I could apply myself to that TYPE of work - use of English in my dissertation, use of similar working practices and knowledge of the software used in illustration - and that I am a good learner.

Most employers, and especially when you're talking about positions that require a university education, don't simply want people trained to do a job. They want people they can mould and who will grow in the position. Going through education is a way for people to develop these skills. Broadly speaking, at GCSE level to absorb and apply information, at A-level to analyse and consider information then apply it and then at degree level to think objectively about information, to apply it from a variety of sources and to be able to reason and question on many different levels.

Education is about development and not simply 'training' for a job. It is also not for everyone and I, like others in this thread, know many people who have fantastic jobs that never even thought about going to university.

I started a degree course straight after I finished sixth form at my school. I quit after 2 months as I hated the course and worked 60 hours a week in a cinema for a year. When I went back to uni the next academic year, my views on education had completely changed and those three years helped to develop and change me irrevocably for the better. But that's just me. Everyone is different.

 

[Chilly]

just another datapoint: I did a degree in comp sci, I'm now doing advanced distributed systems programming and its paying a fortune (adjusted for age and so on). I'm where I am via luck, mostly, if I'm honest. I was round Lecter's house in Oxford with deebs and pils and zarjazz having a few beers talking shit and the subject of "student chilly" getting a job came up. someone suggested where I work now and the rest is history. Without that chance beer, I'd be doing something entirely different, I'm sure.

I also know a vet who has been planning to be a vet since she was about 10. She stuck to her guns, did the work and got the bits of paper. She hates it