Who has a degree and doesn't use for their job?

I really don't mean this unkindly. But, as an employer - aw peeps, get real.

Someone mentioned £28K... How long do you think it takes me to earn £28K in fees? There's a tendency to think 'I'm a graduate, the world owes me a living'... well truth is, it's damn cold outside What are you really worth? Does the job need a graduate with little if any experience, as opposed to someone who's worked their ass off for 3 years in a workplace? I get lots of letters from people looking for training contracts, or first jobs after qualifying (3 years degree, one year postgrad, 2 years training contract) and they are looking for that sort of money... er, sorry, this is Shropshire, not London or New York...

Originally Posted by Ed

Someone mentioned £28K... How long do you think it takes me to earn £28K in fees? There's a tendency to think 'I'm a graduate, the world owes me a living'... well truth is, it's damn cold outside

Fair point in general Ed, but when you say 'How long do you thing it takes me to earn £28k in fees?', is the rhetorical question implying that it takes you, an established professional, a long time and therefore what hope would a new graduate have? Or that it's dead easy for you and it'd only be a matter of a few weeks?

Incidentally though, Accenture, if you happened to want to work for that sort of company (and got in of course) is £28.5k starting salary for a graduate, with a £10k lump sum after a certain period...6 months or so I believe. Depends what floats your boat I suppose.

Originally Posted by MeridiaNx

Fair point in general Ed, but when you say 'How long do you thing it takes me to earn £28k in fees?', is the rhetorical question implying that it takes you, an established professional, a long time and therefore what hope would a new graduate have? Or that it's dead easy for you and it'd only be a matter of a few weeks?

Answer is - a long time. There's a lot of competition around here so I can't charge what I think is the true time cost. I can't afford to pay £28K - plus the NI (about £3,000) the practising certificate (£1,300), the additional professional indemnity insurance (anything up to £2,000), 16 hours of courses (£350 for 6 hours usually, plus travelling cost) and the bonus expectations. Consider - the average conveyancing job I do is about £400 + VAT. I'm not complaining - it's simply reality. Instead I have a trainee legal exec, she's worked her way up, can work unsupervised, and does a terrific job, for way less And she's hot hot hot!!!

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by ooger

I have a BSc in Computer Science and I'm a software developer.

I'm such a let down to this thread.

Coat please.

+1 Got my BSc in Computer Science in '84 and went straight into Systems Programming, been doing that **** in one form or another for past 23 years..... Even used to refer to my college notes in first five years.

My daughter is doing an undergrad MSc in Software Engineering and has decided she has no wish to work in software, so won't use her degree (technically)

My lad decided it wasn't worth the debt, given his salary expectation in future with the degree he fancied, so never took his place at uni.

Guess it's different now.

Originally Posted by Luckypants

My lad decided it wasn't worth the debt, given his salary expectation in future with the degree he fancied, so never took his place at uni.

Guess it's different now.

Mike - he's very sensible. I hope that Sophie won't want to go to uni either, not because I don't want to pay, but because I think the spend would be far better invested in buying her a business or setting her up in a new one once she has enough experience to manage it.

[tigersaw]

I did a tech Dip in airospace studies and an HND with electronic engineering. Dont know what that translates to in modern day university speak.

[timwilky]

My employers shut down their UK engineering capability to centralise it in France and Switzerland. We were the last organisation doing turnkey power plant in the UK and had experteese in coal, combine cycle, hydro and nuclear plants.

Suddenly we win a couple of contract for new UK plants and have to import the engineers because we haven't got any experieinced power plant engineers in the UK. I wonder why.

As for salaries. I am 47 yrs old and been working since I started my apprenticeship age 16. I was once technically at the height of my profession, Alas I have not been able to keep my technical skills upto date. However, I have a good income etc. Somewhat annoying to think my daughter should exceed my salary within 2-3 years simply because she chose the bar over engineering, IT, accountancy etc.

My twin bro has always been critical of taking time out to learn instead of on the job. his view is you clock up a load of debt instead of earning and at the end of it you starting salary will be lower than someone with 3 years plus on the job knowledge etc. He cannot see the longer picture and potential for career progression. but in that short term, taking time out to do a degree is not necessarily a wise move

Originally Posted by timwilky

I am 47 yrs old and been working since I started my apprenticeship age 16. I was once technically at the height of my profession, Alas I have not been able to keep my technical skills upto date. However, I have a good income etc. Somewhat annoying to think my daughter should exceed my salary within 2-3 years simply because she chose the bar over engineering, IT, accountancy etc.

Same age as me then

As for your daughter - I bet you she won't.

Nowhere close to a degree.. but I got 12 A*-Bs at GCSE, did the first year of 6form and absolutely hated it. In fact, hate isn't strong enough a word. I quit it because there's no point doing something that makes me miserable, and now earn a decent wage lugging boxes and furniture around.. I'm a removal man with brains and 100 quid a day, but I'm not going to spend my life doing this. There's more going on inside than that But, my point is, just because some of us don't complete 6form, or Uni, doesn't mean we can't cut the mustard

Its hard to know what to do. I know so many people hating 6form and Uni but moaning right through til the end. Most I know have then gone on to do something completely unrelated to the last 3 years of their life. I can see that having a degree ticks boxes, but form a personal perspective, it doesn't tick my boxes right now so it ain't gonna happen

So for those of you with degrees do you find you get treated any differently from others without one in the workplace?
I know of people who seem to think if just because you have a degree, you automatically think you're ''better'' than those without (whatever that is supposed to mean ). Obviously in the majority of cases this is far from the truth, but some individuals do seem to have strange views on such things.

Do people regret having spent a chunk of their life studying for a degree? Or would you say it has definitely changed the way people respect/think of you?

(am studying for one myself, just curious )