Education.

[old.SLiC3R]

I presume most of you are fairly intelligent geeks, and forum regulars, so i thought this might be a good place to ask.

What's the best/easiest to get/most chance of getting a high paid job/generally a good degree to have?

I know the field of business studies is fairly easy and can lead to good things. any contributions are welcomed.

cheers,

slice.

 

[Sawtooth]

Not IT...just look around

 

[Wilier]

Im a Mechanical Engineer. It was piss easy. I get paid lots.

 

[Scouse]

I'll second that - IT's fucking shite at the moment - another triumph for the Labour Government - who are DIRECTLY responsible for much of the current malaise in the UK IT industry


Grrrr rant rant rant... etc.

 

[old.Explosive23]

Bah.. what about if you really want to go into IT? Fs :/ .

 

[Embattle]

IT is good but not in this country....America will have something like a 1.2 million shortage of skilled IT people thus they pay more

 

[Munkey-]

slicer. Emp Ham?

 

[old.Jas]

My Grandma has more IT qualification than me (not a joke). Oh - and I have no A-Levels or degree

 

[Disco PhoolCat]

I earn a moderate amount as a freelancer, thanks to mainly experience & contacts not ejumucashun. I did well at maths at school, fuct up bigtime in college with A level maths, maths & comp science. did a C&G in tellies & radios for a year where I worked my bollocks off & got distinctions, then dossed around for twelve years in crappy dead-end Service Eng. type jobs.

Degrees piss me off bigtime, they seem to be all theory & little or no grounding in rl, but everyone rates them higher than the equivelant or higher vocational qualification. Fi at my last full-time job, we had a lass join with a degree in (theatre) lighting, but she was buggerall good out on site, with real kit in real venues. (/edit this had NOTHING to do with her gender WHATSOEVER!)

/rant

Sorry, not a lot of help to you, unless as an example of what NOT to do! Just try & find something that you have at least a chance at enjoying!

 

[Munkey-]

I'm gonna be a journalist once I get out of this hell hole. Probably newspaper or magaziney type. Dont care if pay is crap. its what I'm good at and enjoy doing

 

[raw.]

yeah getting a job in IT isnt easy at the moment, it took me quite a few months after resigning from my previous job to getting the one ive recently started, fortunately it was worth the wait

 

[Sar]

Well I've decided to go back to school full time for 2/3 years.

I've picked the three courses I'm going to be doing, and the times of them mean I'll be more or less busy full time fairly soon (End of Aug onwards):

Re-doing my English GCSE (1 year, Mon 7-9).
Psychology GCSE (1 year, Tues 7-9, followed by a 2 year Psychology A-Level).
Media production and communications - BTEC vocational A-levels, Full time, 2 years.

The first one is just for personal satisfaction, as I have never been happy with the C I got at GCSE in English, knowing I may have squeaked an A if I had done some damn revision at the time!

The Psychology courses are personal interest ones, as it's something I have a bit of an interest in.

The final one, the biggy is the one which I hope to use to progress in as a career.

Course Content
Modules in Print, Sound & Vision such as:

Marketing and the Media
Moving Images
Writing for Film and TV
Media Workshops etc

A total of 6 Compulsory and 6 Optional work-related units. You will use our Media Studio, Editing Suite, Radio Desk and other resources.
The Key Skills of Communication, Number and IT are included.

So that will keep me occupied from the end of August onwards, pretty much full time (9am-9pm Mon & Tues, 9am-6pm Wed-Fri).

I'll have to go out and buy myself a pencil case & ruler now

 

[Testin da Cable]

woo respecta mate
I've been toying with the idea to do the same. Going back to do some technical computing stuff maybe [has to be something like that or the company I work for won't pay for my tuition].
I dropped out of school before degreetime [stupid! guh, kicks self] and it's been chewing at me ever since.
Good luck to you matey!

 

[Disco PhoolCat]

WayHay Sar!!! Welcome to Teh Showbiz!
Techie or Turn, media is great fun with reasonable to mega earning potential so Good Luck & Enjoy, m80!

 

[old.Fweddy]

sounds like a great choice Sar! media's my favourite subject at college

 

[Kempo]

Im off to do maths at st andrews uni after the summer, hopefully that should lead to a fairly well paid job.

 

[old.SLiC3R]

ok cheers all,

I knew that IT was shite due to knowing two people with degrees, and one with a HND not getting a job and graduated like 2 years ago.

I'm doing shitty vocational a level shits in business studies (2 a levels, supposidly), and then i'm off to portsmouth university to do human resource management. (i think)

Well, it seems like a pretty fucking easy time to get qualified in, not like degree in maths or anything... and the pussy usually tastes sweeter.

Har b dar, gentlemen.

 

[Wilier]

Originally posted by Disco PhoolCat


Degrees piss me off bigtime, they seem to be all theory & little or no grounding in rl, but everyone rates them higher than the equivelant or higher vocational qualification. Fi at my last full-time job, we had a lass join with a degree in (theatre) lighting, but she was buggerall good out on site, with real kit in real venues. (/edit this had NOTHING to do with her gender WHATSOEVER!)

I got a degree with a difference. I did it at the same time as my mechanical apprenticeship, the did 4 years afterwards as a mechanical technician on this 'ere refinery. When a Mech Eng job came up, I stepped in, but it was arse. So Im back on shifts as a Maint Leader. (now thats a plum job)

 

[throdgrain]

I always found selling was the best way to earn money. Ive earned far more doing that than anything else.
And ,no, it dont matter what you sell, or if you know anything about it, or if you have any qualifications.
Im lucky these days I sell something i like and am interested in, but in addition to motorbikes Ive also sold Sky TV , photocopiers, all sorts of stuff. And the moneys there if you want it bad enoguh

 

[Embattle]

True...a friends mate is an estate agent...he made £7000 one month

 

[Scouse]

Im off to do maths at st andrews uni after the summer, hopefully that should lead to a fairly well paid job

Why??? What job does a degree in Maths directly relate to?

Hate to be nasty - but it's as good as doing English for a degree... if you can speak the language and read and write fair enough - but how does knowing Shakespear help you get a job?

 

[Hashmonster]

Originally posted by Scouse


but it's as good as doing English for a degree...

surely it's for heading towards jobs in journalism? and things in that direction...?

 

[throdgrain]

Originally posted by Embattle
True...a friends mate is an estate agent...he made £7000 one month

A collegue of mine once made £8000 gross profit from a photcopier that sold for a retail price of £2150. We used to get 30% commission, so he earned £2400 from that one deal !
And that was in 1990

 

[Testin da Cable]

bah you guys! and I was just starting to like the IT biz too

 

[Kempo]

scouse

http://www.maths.unsw.edu.au/Degrees/info/where.html

But i also think that the fact I enjoy maths lots is a valid reason why I would want to study it further, dont you?

And maths is alot more useful than english imo.

 

[Mellow-]

Salary - Beer Money - Women - House = debt

 

[Stazbumpa]

Well, I did crap NVQ's in IT (Not Very Qualified) and had a stab at a GNVQ (Generally, Not Very Qualified or in our case Getting Nowhere Very Quickly) and because of my quite phenomenal computer skills and the training and opportunity that the establishment has provided me, I am know working as a postie with one or two DJ gigs a week on the side.

/sarcasm

 

[Daffeh]

my comp sci degree is beginning to piss me off

like was said before its too theoretical, and probably wasnt the best choice for me as i just want to program , and not do all this theoretical shite

and with the current IT sector its gonna be tough getting a job with it

oh yeah the extra 3-4 years of exams arent good :/
stupid exam period atm.

 

[xane]

I've been working in IT for nearly 20 years, and I didn't even take "A" levels let alone go to university, by the time the geeks had entered the job market I had nearly six years experience, which helps somewhat

Nine years ago I joined the Finance industry in IT, and I've never looked back, even as a permanent employee I get paid more as a programmer than a department manager would get anywhere else. If you can get into the Finance industry then you are laughing, but its very incestuous, the contract oppotunities are severely well paid (six figures for a start).

I'm no high-flyer in IT but I get paid a decent wage and have a nice house and family (car needs attention but then I don't get an erection from seeing poncy jap cars, so no problem).

I'm not saying skipping higher qualifications is the way to go, just that there are other things that matter more; luck, personality, ability and desire for example.

Re: America, this is a dodgy area as in IT most foreigners are actually contractors, there is a rule that says you can't do a (permanent) job if there is an American that can do it, so unless you are fairly specialised then regular employment is difficult, and America is very strict with contractors.

 

[old.SLiC3R]

Is there anyone out there studying, or knows of anyone with, or currently studying, a business studies degree of somesort?

I'd like the backing of some people who've maybe gone into this sector.. and just back up my theory that i ain't wasting 4 years + getting into debt just for the sake of it.