I did a combined honours degree in English and American Studies at Birmingham Uni. Hated the English side (dull literature for the most part) but loved American Studies (great literature, fascinating history and culture). I did a one year media studies module and a one year television and film production module. The latter obviously had some bearing on my career and gave me an understanding of the basic grammar of telly.
For most of my working life, writing and photography/visuals have been at the core of what I do. But I can trace that back to my mid- teens when I started learning about photography, and did my CSE Art almost exclusively with a camera and in the dark room. At the same time I blagged a job writing for the Evening Gazette, covering Billingham Synthonia in the winter and Stockton CC in the summer. I also did freelance gig reviews for the music press. So the seeds of what turned out to be my career as a music video director (susrprisingly writing plays a big part) and television producer/director were already sewn before I went to University.
Once I'd learned how to format scripts (in the TV and Film module ... 2nd year of Uni) I managed to get work writing corporate video scripts for a production company in Wolverhampton. I got paid £200 per script, and they maybe took me a day to write. Insane money in 1982.
I blagged my first music video job by buttonholing Robert Lloyd in the corner shop .... "I can make music videos...I've got a camera....need any doing?". Surprisingly, he said "Yeah, but there's no money. I've got these punky schoolgirls called We've Got a Fuzzbox and We're Gonna Use It. We're putting an EP out. You can do something for that". And so it was, with £50 to buy super 8 film stock, that I shot the "Rules and Regulations" video. Warners came up with a grand for me to telecine the footage and edit it. And my career was born.
I've never once had to make reference to my degree as I have been self-employed ever since that moment in 1985.
What has made my career if not a degree? Number 1, chutzpah! Self-belief. Blag .... plenty of people will tell you that you suck. Ignore them. Number 2, the skills and knowledge that I started to build from a very early age. I'm still learning now.
The degree is still partially relevant, but it has only ever played a tiny part in my career.