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

Well as an eye surgeon I just hope that people don't find out that my degree is actually in Art History.
To quote Animal House "Pre-med pre-law, what's the difference?"

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

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 )

Well due to an explosion of polytech, I mean, new universities handing degrees out like confetti, having a degree doesn't really mean much anymore.

The result is that you really need a degree now, not because it gives you a particularly high level of education, but because employers will ask why you don't have one when every other man and his dog does.

[Spanner Man]

Morning all.

Degrees seem mainly used a an indication of attainment, & that's it! My brother has two of them, & has never used either, as he's worked in IT since 1984.
I also find it unacceptable that around 50% of degree courses are dropped out of before completion, which is a shocking waste of taxpayers money. hence I agree with student loans.

As said, these days degrees seem to be given out like confetti, which will render them less & less an indication of an individuals ability to study as time progresses.....Degree, please take one!

It hacks me off that so much importance is placed on useless paper qualifications. Furthermore, as this country has got rid of it's manufacturing base (thanks Maggie) there are fewer & fewer skilled manual careers to be had.
There are not enough 'white collar' jobs for everyone, & not everyone could work at a desk, but there are few opportunities where people of the 'blue collar' type can work, attain skills, & hopefully achieve a reasonable income. & yet everyone from the Government down wonders why a proportion of the 'youth of today' act the way they do.
Well if the prospect of a 'career' saying, 'would you like fries with your cows lip burger' is all you have to look foreward to, wouldn't you be pi55ed off?

Cheers.

Originally Posted by Ed

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...

Yeah grads so expect too much. As in my other post I think Uni should be after a few years working so you have something to relate it too, a reason to want to pursue your knowledge. Going straight from school to uni benefits no one.

The 28K i mentioned was a 30 year old guy, Chartered Engineer, Masters in Mech Eng from Bristol, Manager of a site shipping £3-5million of products a week. Whilst I agree grads do think somehow they can jump in to management straight away my argument was that advancement for engineers isn't quick at all. Becoming a chartered engineer is a seriously hard qualification to reach, and outside the UK rewarded as such. As much as the government bang on about the demand for engineers the intake of my company was 100 last year, and there were 13 000 applications! The guys in finance seem to walk away with the biggest salaries, funny that.

Originally Posted by gettin2dizzy

I think Uni should come a few years after work when you have the thirst for knowledge and the drive to want to change your working life.

I've actually put this into practice in a sense ...

I was studying HND Computer Studies at Liverpool Poly (back in '87 - '8. I just really couldn't be bothered with it though ... got through the first year without buying a single text book but then "got found out" midway through second (final) year and got kicked off my course!

I thought "sod this" and went full-time at the pub I had been working at. Spent 4 years working my way up to "relief manager", did a few and eventually decided that it wasn't for me ... I loved computers too much.

Went and got a job working for a large retailer (in their transport dept) with the plan to move into IT at the first opportunity. After working in IT for about 8 years I decided that if I was going to progress my career further, I should really go and get a degree ... an opportunity arose to go and do a MSc in Computer Studies which I did "part time" ... taking almost 6 years in the process (and failing to finish due to personal circumstances, an ar$ey professor/tutor, and the company sponsoring me making me redundant - which meant I no longer had access to the data I needed to complete my dissertation) ... ended up with a Post-Grad Diploma.

I do actually use some of the stuff (Databases in particular) in my current "technical" job role as a Business Intelligence Consultant.

But I understand perfectly what G2D is saying ... I never had a "thirst" for my HND studies ... whereas doing my masters, I thrived on working full-time during the day and then thought nothing of spending 20+ hours a week on top of that studying! I loved it! Although in the end (due to a change of jobs) I ended up doing my studies simply to prove to myself that I could study at that level and do well (I was averaging an A grade in my modules). I don't NEED a degree for my job because experience is much more in demand for what I do and I now have 4 years experience in BI and about 14 years experience in IT.

Originally Posted by Spanner Man

Morning all.

Degrees seem mainly used a an indication of attainment, & that's it! My brother has two of them, & has never used either, as he's worked in IT since 1984.
I also find it unacceptable that around 50% of degree courses are dropped out of before completion, which is a shocking waste of taxpayers money. hence I agree with student loans.

As said, these days degrees seem to be given out like confetti, which will render them less & less an indication of an individuals ability to study as time progresses.....Degree, please take one!

It hacks me off that so much importance is placed on useless paper qualifications. Furthermore, as this country has got rid of it's manufacturing base (thanks Maggie) there are fewer & fewer skilled manual careers to be had.
There are not enough 'white collar' jobs for everyone, & not everyone could work at a desk, but there are few opportunities where people of the 'blue collar' type can work, attain skills, & hopefully achieve a reasonable income. & yet everyone from the Government down wonders why a proportion of the 'youth of today' act the way they do.
Well if the prospect of a 'career' saying, 'would you like fries with your cows lip burger' is all you have to look foreward to, wouldn't you be pi55ed off?

Cheers.

I think there's too much emphasis too. Looking back I wouldn't have bothered it's 20K of debt; i'd rather have started my own business with that! Degrees maybe handed out everywhere but employers are fully aware that they're worthless, get a mickey mouse degree or go to a terrible uni and you may aswell have saved the money.

Originally Posted by Flamin_Squirrel

Well due to an explosion of polytech, I mean, new universities handing degrees out like confetti, having a degree doesn't really mean much anymore.

The result is that you really need a degree now, not because it gives you a particularly high level of education, but because employers will ask why you don't have one when every other man and his dog does.

I don't have one.

But I value practical experience & skills over whatever is taught in a classroom/lecture theatre. No matter what the course, its no match for real practical application of the theory.

Sure, you can name 7 layers of the OSI model, and have membership to the BCS. Now can you wire a plug, check routing tables, or debug a memory leak?

Having employed a few people over the past year I can't say in my company at least (a Japanese based multinational) that we look for degrees in any useful way.

In fact they may have a less than positive bearing, i.e. an interview question of "You took a comp.sci degree at a good university, why did you get a 2:2?"

Dan

I have a degree in Maths & Computing and it's definitely been worthwhile for me. The main reason being that the good jobs require a degree for you to even be considered, even if you could have done an equally good (or better) job without one. I don't know if spending 3 years working & learning would have made me better at what I do, but I do know I wouldn't have this job without it (or a job like this).

[Luckypants]

Originally Posted by missyorkie_chris

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 )

I found that a degree was useful to get into the technical side of computing and it helped land me my next two jobs after that. But after 7-8 years it is much more about what you have ahieved in the workplace, hopefully based on merit.

I have several very capable friends who came into computing by another route and did not have degrees. They hit a glass ceiling and found it hard to go further up the management ladder without a degree. One guy I know had 10 years in the Navy as an engineer, 10 years in networking at a high standard but could not get into 2nd line management. He did an MBA part time and is now IT director for a Blue Chip company. Go figure, did his MBA suddenly make him more intelligent or was it just the right tick in the box for a management job?


PS My daughter is at the same Uni as you I believe.

I have a job in IT (don't most of us?!?!) and don't have a degree. Instead i went down the route of IT professional qualifications such as MCSE's, CCNA etc. I wanted to work for a large university and they had requirements such as Degree's etc. I applied anyway and got the job.

People shouldn't be put off applying for jobs where degree's seem mandatory. Good employers look through your CV of experience and find out about the real you. Also, practical tests where possible are useful albeit nerve wracking! They sort the talkers from the doers

My best interview technique is being plain honest. I haven't got every job i applied for, but have got most. Experience is the key. Every other person applying for my job had a degree of some sort.