What was your degree and is it relevant to your job?

Glover_elbow said:
Pascal was great. c++ and a **** lecturer killed my hopes over ever suceddeding in programming.
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Pascal was used in early comp science degrees because it is strongly typed and stops you making dumb errors. C++ is barely typed at all and much more difficult to learn. Pointers to functions and data sets, what!!!!
 
Graphic Design & Illustration BA (Hons)
Worked as a designer/photographer since 2004. Found out today I'm losing my job in March, but not really fussed - company is crashin' and burnin' and I'm glad to be getting a payout.
 
My higher education qualifications were all relevant to my second career and some to my first career.

I can't understand studying for three years for a degree at say 18, with no relevance to a career. To me its something that is not quite right in this country. Now students pay a graduate tax I guess they pay some of the cost of the degree themselves its less of an issue.
 
Laughing said:
Pascal was used in early comp science degrees because it is strongly typed and stops you making dumb errors. C++ is barely typed at all and much more difficult to learn. Pointers to functions and data sets, what!!!!
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I worked for an IT consultancy/software house for my first 7 working years. I avoided having to learn C++ by going into team leading and project/programme management roles.

The most fun I had was writing some assembly language code to handle interrupts on a towed array sonar simulator system. A long, long time ago.
 
Laughing said:
Pascal was used in early comp science degrees because it is strongly typed and stops you making dumb errors. C++ is barely typed at all and much more difficult to learn. Pointers to functions and data sets, what!!!!
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dunno C++ was pretty easy after using C and once you got your head around all the Object Oriented b***ks
 
International Business with French, including a work placement year in Paris.

I have had a 30 year career within international businesses and have used my French quite a lot (especially in early roles), but I can't think of much that I studied which has been of use on a regular basis. My work placement was the most important thing - I worked for a logistics company and after I graduated I joined DHL on a grad scheme, which I doubt I would have got if it hadn't have been for my relevant work experience. I now work for a database software company and owing to the size of it, it is somewhere that I have learned more than at any point in my career.
 
Law(actually a conversion course for what it's worth), qualified as a barrister and practiced in crime for 10 years, did a few cases at Teesside Crown but mostly Bradford and Leeds. A few footy cases in there for good measure. Now I have two jobs - I work in a bank with the role 'legal' in the title but not actually necessary to have a law degree, or indeed a degree at all.

Then I have a side business as a travel agent (hence the username) where clearly you don't need a law degree but knowing the law does come in handy when something goes wrong and you need to sort it out!
 
GingerTravel said:
Law(actually a conversion course for what it's worth), qualified as a barrister and practiced in crime for 10 years, did a few cases at Teesside Crown but mostly Bradford and Leeds. A few footy cases in there for good measure. Now I have two jobs - I work in a bank with the role 'legal' in the title but not actually necessary to have a law degree, or indeed a degree at all.

Then I have a side business as a travel agent (hence the username) where clearly you don't need a law degree but knowing the law does come in handy when something goes wrong and you need to sort it out!
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What made you leave the Barrister role,if you don't mind me asking?
 
Redwurzel said:
My higher education qualifications were all relevant to my second career and some to my first career.

I can't understand studying for three years for a degree at say 18, with no relevance to a career. To me its something that is not quite right in this country. Now students pay a graduate tax I guess they pay some of the cost of the degree themselves its less of an issue.
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I guess people change their minds and realise some choices are not necessarily for life
 
Redwurzel said:
My higher education qualifications were all relevant to my second career and some to my first career.

I can't understand studying for three years for a degree at say 18, with no relevance to a career. To me its something that is not quite right in this country. Now students pay a graduate tax I guess they pay some of the cost of the degree themselves its less of an issue.
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There is a huge problem now in that there are far more graduates than true graduate roles. Many are picking up huge debts without the income return.
Ironically back in the day when degrees were pretty much free for the ordinary young chap like me, there was every chance of landing a well paid graduate role.
If you're going to do a degree try to pick something vocational would be my advice now.
 
Glover_elbow said:
Pascal was great. c++ and a **** lecturer killed my hopes over ever suceddeding in programming.
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I completed my 3rd year pascal project after 2 months. I spent the rest of the school year helping others. Then it all went down hill. 1st year at longlands was ida?? Jesus I hated that time, here I am 26 years with the same company and never once have had a CV.....
 
NorthumberlandBoro said:
What made you leave the Barrister role,if you don't mind me asking?
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Don't mind at all. It was a combination of things, mainly having a young family who I regularly had to leave to travel across the country for a case, plus when I left (2014) the Government had just put in place the latest in a series of cuts, leading to the first ever strike by barristers, where they had planned to cut the pay by 1/3 (imagine trying that with teachers or doctors, other professions who equally don't get the pay they deserve, certainly at the bottom end).

I was working longer and longer hours for the same money, but the cases were getting difficult and more unpleasant - swapping (for example) 2am fights in the town centre for rapes and murders. Contrary to popular belief, unlike many lawyers criminal barristers are not particularly well paid (and generally self employed so the money was also irregular), so the cut was the final straw. Still miss it every day though, it was a brilliant job.
 
NorthumberlandBoro said:
There is a huge problem now in that there are far more graduates than true graduate roles. Many are picking up huge debts without the income return.
Ironically back in the day when degrees were pretty much free for the ordinary young chap like me, there was every chance of landing a well paid graduate role.
If you're going to do a degree try to pick something vocational would be my advice now.
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My daughter is in fact having to make that exact choice now. We've told her that if she goes to uni, she needs to see it as an investment in herself, that may or may not pay off.
 
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