What was your degree and is it relevant to your 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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I agree, more people should do vocational degrees in this country.

I find it strange than everyone at the top in this country says vocational education should be boosted and we need to train more vocational students, but we recently had a PM with a Classics degree who failed to understand compounding effect of a virus and struggled with graphs. This could have led to the loss of many lives. He also voted for major cuts in further education (home of a significant amount of vocational education) during the Cameron years.
 
Never got a degree - I got the CSE 1 Mathematics / Computer Studies and then into industry for 2 years, in the upheaval with strikes etc in BSC I left with a package that included 100% salary year 1, 80% years 2, 60% year 3 (or something like that) and did a HNC/HND in Computing at Teesside Polytechnic. Whilst there I was befriended by a guy who was working as a programmer at ICI but in the capacity of contractor rather than permanent worker, who asked me what I wanted to do and I mentioned I had already discovered I liked networking. It was very basic stuff back then, repeaters and hubs, lots of 10BASE5 cable wiring (vampire taps anyone) and not much else, but I'd read about TCP/IP and was intrigued. He said that it might be better to look at training in technology rather than the rather generic university courses, and introduced me to some people at Intel and Banyan as well as some network extension stuff from Cabletron.

Looking back I suppose it was a risk, but I opted to learn and earn earn rather than take the university path, which to be honest served me well. I went from Networking to programming, then systems management, network management and currently (not for too much longer) networking again. Cisco, Juniper, Extreme, HP, and some Virtual networking with VMware means I've seen and worked with some configs of most of them but I think I've resigned myself to being ready to lay down the torch after being a contractor for 75-80% of my working life
 
Norman_Conquest said:
Everyone is involved in computers, what happened to shipbuilders, steel making and other iron fighting trades that the North East was built on? ;)

I left school in the summer of 1978 and started my apprenticeship in the September at Smith's Dock. Although I took my exams at school, I never went back to collect my exam results, I just wasn't interested. We completed four years at Longlands College and I passed all my City and Guilds with credits. I stayed at the Dock until it closed and then travelled with work to all major sites in the UK and a few abroad.

During my contracting days, I missed so much of my eldest son growing up that I decided to take a low paid job at Caterpillar so I could be at home when my youngest was born. During this time I had an accident at work and had to have two operations on my lower spine. I had been off work for two years recuperating and was advised not to return to welding and had to seek employment in another field.

You can imagine this shook me to the bone and I didn't know where to start looking or thinking what I could do. Previously, I had never been out of work longer than a few months when the Dock first closed and was taking badly to not working and being stuck inside all day. Looking back, I would say depression had started to set in.

In the Gazette, I saw an advert for a Youth Work course and went and enrolled in this. It was more to get me out and meet people again. I completed the course and was working a few hours for R & C council and decided I wanted something to back up the Youth Work. Redcar and Cleveland College had just delivered a flyer and was advertising an Introduction to Counselling Course. I again enrolled in this and excelled at it, with the course tutor pushing me to go on and on each year and finally pushing me to go to university where I completed my degree in Counselling.

Whilst at R & C College, I needed 40 hours counselling others to complete my course and volunteered for the Connexions Mentoring Service. I soon gained a good reputation with these and when they started the Kick Start Programme, I was offered a job with them and was still allowed to attend Uni and finally completing my degree in counselling. I progressed through Connexions Service, becoming an advisor working with young offenders and returned back to Uni completing a second degree.

I soon found out I didn't like the counselling side of the work and was more suited to working with young people and their families. I was going into schools in the East Clevland area to support the students I worked with and improved the attendance of the majority of students on my caseload.

It was during this time I was approached by a Head Teacher and asked if I would come in and speak to him about them setting up a Behavioural Unit in the school. One thing led to another and I spent 13 years heading up the unit until I took early retirement.



Edit: I meant to add, that if you told me in 1978 I would work in a school, I would have told you to go and get your bumps felt and I feel most of my teachers would have said the same.
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Fantastic you made a 'what I would say' a meaning full career & after such a set back - it must be great to look back and think of how many young lives you've helped and the difference you've made. You should be proud...I would be.
 
Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
It is relevant to my job and wouldn‘t currently obtain a work permit without it.

Some of the maths we done were insane and I haven’t remotely come close to applying it practically and instantly forgot about it after exams.
 
Business Management, been slightly relevant in terms of the job I have and my responsibilities, but I’d say not by much. I have done a couple of CMI courses in the last few years and for me they seemed far more relevant.
 
Doom_On_Horseback said:
Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
It is relevant to my job and wouldn‘t currently obtain a work permit without it.

Some of the maths we done were insane and I haven’t remotely come close to applying it practically and instantly forgot about it after exams.
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That's interesting that. My degree, and I assumed most others, is utterly irrelevant now to my work. I've not been asked for my level of education for so long. Being middle aged, every employer has asked about my experience not my education.

Then again my job isn't as complex as being an engineer.
 
Business Admin and yes, I use aspects of it. Less than before, if I’m honest.

I haven’t interviewed for a job since 1997, so it doesn‘t come up much, outside my own head…
 
Doom_On_Horseback said:
Degree in Mechanical Engineering.
It is relevant to my job and wouldn‘t currently obtain a work permit without it.

Some of the maths we done were insane and I haven’t remotely come close to applying it practically and instantly forgot about it after exams.
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I've forgotten how many times I've learnt and then totally forgotten how to do calculus 🙂
 
Oh good. A thread to help me appreciate how useless my education and jobs have been.
I'll file it alongside 'How much money I earn'; 'Where I go on holiday'; & 'What I do for charity' as ways to erode my self worth.
I must do better.
 
ONC, HNC then Control and Communication Eng at UMIST in early 90's

Have been a Control systems engineer ever since but probably only used 10% of stuff learnt at uni.
Still think its useful to have on the CV though even with all the experience.
 
Will_Graham said:
Oh good. A thread to help me appreciate how useless my education and jobs have been.
I'll file it alongside 'How much money I earn'; 'Where I go on holiday'; & 'What I do for charity' as ways to erode my self worth.
I must do better.
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I don't think that was the intention to be fair
 
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