Job/Career advice

[jamesterror]

Originally Posted by Bluethunder

Not for everyone, some people do far better out of education, some people learn better on the job we are learn differntly. My mom doesn't have a degree but did good and is well paid. The key is finding is what is right for you and also what kind of life do you want lead?

Yeh indeed I agree with you, education isn't for everybody and a lot of people are successful without the qualifications. I think what you said about a practical career for Jamie sounds more suiting too tbh.

First, a little background to me:

I was at school & was the kid that everyone predicted would get A* across all subjects. I personally feel that if those predictions hadn't been made, I'd of tried harder. As a result, I came out with an average of C's at GCSE level. It was at this point I started working in IT, as I was a pretty geeky kid (I still am really).

In college, I bunked off quite a lot if I'm honest. I was studying A-Levels in Computing, Maths (with Mechanics), Physics and Psychology. I came out with D's across the board.

At university, I stayed for 4 months & left.

So by some in this thread, I'm a good for nothing layabout, probably scrounging on the dole. Right?

The strange thing is, I've worked behind bars, I've been a restaurant manager (if you think you can do that job & be lazy you're having a laugh! 100hrs/week+ wasn't unusual). I've scrubbed public toilets, and worked as a binman. I've worked at various positions within the IT sector, including running my own consultancy business. That business enabled me, at the age of 24 in the middle of the housing boom, to buy a 3bedroom semi-detached house, so it was far from a money pit.

Recently, I've been giving it some serious consideration to emigrate to Australia, where I'm more than confident there's jobs I could walk into almost immediately.

The point, is as others have said, people learn & progress differently. My problem is that if I'm surrounded by people that tell me how well I'm doing, I don't progress. It has to be a challenge, otherwise I'm simply not interested (back at college chasing tail was more interesting than college work... ). I'm certainly not afraid of the graft if I see it as a challenge.

Jamie, what I would advise you do, is decide on where you want to end up in say, 15 years time. Not necessarily what job you want to have, but what kind of work you'd like to be involved with.

Once you have that sorted, you can start thinking about how to achieve it. If college is the means to an end, then try it. If you "drop out" who cares so long as you keep trying to get to the destination you picked?

I remember a job a long time ago, where I stated that I planned to go off to uni etc. At the time, I was working with people that were earning 6-7figure salaries a year, and I was on 5 figures. They all laughed at me & said they'd never bothered, or that they'd dropped out early on.

Granted it doesn't always work out the way it has for me, or the people I just said about, but sometimes, with perseverance, it does.

Well thanks for the last few responses, especially so to Baph. It's sort of clicked something.. I guess?

It at the very least reassured me that college isn't the way forward _for me_.

I've also narrowed down my career choices. (sort of) :

Motorcycle salesperson/mechanic sort of thing.

I was given an apprenticeship but having had no real mechanical experiences before, being thrown in and told to strip and rebuild an engine sort of swamped me.

I feel I could be a good salesperson obviously having gone through the process of buying several bikes, I know what people hate (being harassed and spoken to only as a potential customer) and what people like (friendly banter, friendly and "nothing is too much trouble" genuine salesman etc). But my age and having no experience would make this hard to realise.

Something in the IT industry. I can build computers from component parts all day and set them up without much of a problem. I can troubleshoot and fix most viruses, spyware and other problems without much issue (common sense really) and I can diagnose some basic hardware errors (thankfully I haven't had too many so not much experience)

Customer Service. Ok so I used to work in a supermarket, and being stuck behind a till was depressing. But there was something about making a customer smile and feel that they got a good service gave me a warm fuzzy glow... till some b*astard ask me to pack his bags. I believe that (to their face at least) I can be nice to a customer and get them sorted as I know myself what I'd want in the same situation.

Anyway Idk. *hides under a pillow*

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

I was given an apprenticeship but having had no real mechanical experiences before, being thrown in and told to strip and rebuild an engine sort of swamped me.

A lot of friends I went to school with went to do apprenticeships in various things at college, from building/joinery to mechanics etc. Not all courses throw you in at the deep end & expect you to swim. So there may still be something worth exploring for you there.

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

I feel I could be a good salesperson obviously having gone through the process of buying several bikes, I know what people hate (being harassed and spoken to only as a potential customer) and what people like (friendly banter, friendly and "nothing is too much trouble" genuine salesman etc). But my age and having no experience would make this hard to realise.

Getting into Sales isn't a big issue. But you have to be the right kind of person to do well within Sales. Everything is dictated by sales targets, and the wages can be pretty crappy if you aren't prepared to frankly, shaft some people along the way. I found Sales to be very back stabbing too (from fellow employees trying to meet targets), so I got out quickly.

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

Something in the IT industry. I can build computers from component parts all day and set them up without much of a problem. I can troubleshoot and fix most viruses, spyware and other problems without much issue (common sense really) and I can diagnose some basic hardware errors (thankfully I haven't had too many so not much experience)

This would lead me to point you towards some sort of support work. Either user support or desktop support (slight differences, but basically generic Operating System tasks - desktop support being more hardware oriented). From there, it's pretty easy to jump around a little, particular to go from desktop support, through application support & on to development.

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

Customer Service. ... there was something about making a customer smile and feel that they got a good service gave me a warm fuzzy glow... till some b*astard ask me to pack his bags. I believe that (to their face at least) I can be nice to a customer and get them sorted as I know myself what I'd want in the same situation.

Give it time, and the warm fuzzy feeling dies. Or at least it did for me. Customer Service is far far easier when you're not stood face to face with them. That way, they get irate for any reason, and you can hang up the phone instead of getting a slap around the chops.

Earlier, you said that your mum wants you to go to college. Speaking as a parent, I want my kids to too. But that's simply because I want the best for them, and you experience different things by going to college before jumping into work.

If you were to do your research properly into what you want to do, even with/without a basic "roadmap" of how it's going to get you to that destination I put about before, and then sat down with your parents & explained it; I'm sure they'd be more than happy for you. I know I would be for my kids, regardless of the direction they choose.

Just don't rule anything out completely until you're sure.

For me its about what kind of life you want to lead and what you want out of it, thats should be whats important.

I left the film industry casue I got fed up of the constant job search, yes I did some amazing well paid jobs but the 6 weeks doing a really c*** job is it worth it?

To be good at sales is hard, its a very unforgiving job some of my family and best friends are involved in sales, yes they make more than me but there is a different type of grief attached to those jobs. Taking clients out on thegets weary after awhile.

You wanna work with the public? You need good interpersonel skills. e.g how would you deal with someone who has been robbed and doesn't speak english?


You need experince, so go do different things, go travel, expand your mind a bit and think out of the box.

Changing jobs changed my life, I'm not in a creative field but I can put those skill to good use.

Originally Posted by Jamiebridges123

I've also narrowed down my career choices. (sort of) :

Motorcycle salesperson/mechanic sort of thing.

I was given an apprenticeship but having had no real mechanical experiences before, being thrown in and told to strip and rebuild an engine sort of swamped me.

You should see it as a challange i would, and if you get stuck, ask some one, employees like to see that sort of thing rather than you going in and doing it yourself, i had a mock interview the other day at college for a job and the interviwer said that was one of my good points that i said i wouldnt ask if stuck instead of going at it not knowing what im doing, im caught up between whether to be a bike mechanic or car mechanic and i really dont know at the moment

Originally Posted by Holdup

You should see it as a challange i would, and if you get stuck, ask some one, employees like to see that sort of thing rather than you going in and doing it yourself, i had a mock interview the other day at college for a job and the interviwer said that was one of my good points that i said i wouldnt ask if stuck instead of going at it not knowing what im doing, im caught up between whether to be a bike mechanic or car mechanic and i really dont know at the moment

So how is it going? Have you be able to figure anything out?

Nope just applying on car manufacture sites at suzuki and going to apply at honda, missed out at my work place kept forgetting to ask then they took an apprentice on, lesson learnt never leave things to last minute