weapon69

Instead of hijacking Messiah's thread, i thought i'd start my own.

When i ask about jobs that don't require a degree, i don't mean working in a supermarket or window cleaning

Some of my friends have done ok without even going to college-got the right job when they were 16 and got a load of experience. I, however, have not got this experience apart from sh!tty student p/t jobs I also only have A-Levels so when i apply for 'proper' jobs i don't really get much of a look in

So who else has managed to get to a good level in their career without going to college/university? And what job do you do?!

Puff The Magic Wagon!

iTrader: (2)

Courier

Just need a driving licence, some common sense and reliability.

Left school with an A-level (just)

Started in 1986 as a parcel car driver, now Ops Manager for a London courier company earning more than my wife who did all that uni stuff, then a Law degree then articles and is over 10 years qualified as a solicitor

the moose

Some professionals don't earn a lot, some non-professionals do.

But in the main, professionals earn considerably more, and have had an easier time getting there, wouldn't you agree?

angrynorth

I managed to get my job without a degree. The advert required at least a 2:1 degree and 3 years of experience.

I left college after 3 months at 18 after deciding I wanted a car, then gradually trained myself vocationally and at home. I had 3 years full experience (at time of application), I have no paper qualifications other than GCSE, yet I am a lead designer at a national paper.

So, even if they say they need the qualifications, if you can prove yourself then you can still get the job.

I would choose a field, research it and start picking away at it, 9/10 you will beat the degree route in terms of time <-> position, as these days many employers are looking for ability, not professed ability.

Old_Fart

What do you like doing? Dealing with people? With ideas? Numbers? Fabrication/production? It's really hard to earn a decent crust these days...to have an edge you have to have a real interest in what you are doing. If you love the work you'll be good at it. I was a terrible security guard, but make a suprisingly good wBanker, especially considering I thought I wanted to grow up wearing a lab coat when I was at school, and hated maths.
Cman

Old_Fart

Oh, I am the only guy in the room without a degree, but my boss likes me to downplay that one for moral..so everyone assumes Oxbridge LOL
C

messiah

You don't need a degree to do the architectural stuff - ands probably one of the worst paid professional careers out there. around £28-30k after 7 years at uni doing 2 degrees?

You're having a laugh!

Rob Walker

Left school at 16 with one o'level in geography..
Spent one year doing a yts..
Spent the next 4 years doing crap jobs in factories..
Taught myself programming in my spare time.
Made the big move from Scotland down to Yorkshire when I was 21 after getting a pretty poorly paid job writing computer games..
Been doing it ever since.

:eek:

Left school with an O level in English Language, spent first 8 years of my life going from 'joe job' to 'joe job', eventually 'lied' my way into a desktop support role.......5 years later I am senior field engineer for a data solutions company doing 'very nicely thank you' ..... been hard work, but never been afraid of that.
BTW pre-req for this position was 5 years IBM Mainframe experience and a degree.........

InvisibleMan

you terrorising the country folk in Wooburn green now?

Mitchy260

I would say your best bet is to join the armed forces/fire brigade or police.

Pension system is excellent, money is good, and the variety of jobs are good.

ie Army/Navy/RAF......You can do any job you can think of.

weapon69

@ eek.

One of the HND courses i was looking at doing a couple of years ago was Event Management-i wouldn't mind doing that.

One thing i can't do is 9-5 in an office i'd get bored and depressed very quickly with that. So something quite active is what i should do, but.......god knows what!

I know i can't have everything i want but to have a job i really enjoy would make all the difference in the World to me!

weapon69

Mitchy260-i thought about the Police quite seriously as my Mum was in the Metropolitan Police but can't really see that happening now as i'm having a baby in 2 weeks !

Mitchy260

If you were to join the forces, you'd get a cheap house just outside your base where your wife and kids could move into aswell. Its certainly the best move i made mate and definitely a career worth thinking about. My pals back home are still living with parents earning 10-11k a year packing boxes in a supermarket, if i hadn't have moved i probably would of been doing the same.

weapon69

I am 'the wife'. Well i'm not, but my point is that i'm female

milo

**** star and/or professional athlete.

weapon69

Danny B

You can do practically any job without having a degree, all the degree does is get you to the interview.

You can't seriously tell me that a degree in Art is going to benefit a trainee copper on the graduate recruitment scheme.

Simon C

I went to uni but found working for the SU too good so failed. In the 5 years since I left have had 2 what I call reasonably paid jobs, both of which I got made redundant from. I temp'ed in between them. Ok I was a lazy s**t in my early working days, but now in my late 20's am turning things round. Ok I'm earing crap money at the moment, but whilst I get experiance (been in it for 10 months) in this industry (ATM's) I will put up with it. Then in the new year things should start looking up greatly.

Suresh

Until 4 years ago, I had one A level to my name, but was earning a six figure salary as a financial controller at one of Europe's biggest investment banks . I quit to go and do an MBA and now earn a bit less, but work a lot less too
Luvly jubly.

Suresh

ProperCharlie

I'm looking to change careers - I'm after something that involves flexible hours, surfing the 'net most of the day (SN and a bit of light p*rn), ocassional travel to exotic locations, and the ability to do what I want, when I want (even if that means doing nothing).

I'm looking for a salary ITRO £80k.

Any suggestions?

(I've got a degree, BTW )

03-CTR

from my experience cad technicians/jockeys/engineers etc. get paid reasonably well for what they do (although that depends on what you deem to be reasonable). although reasonably technical my first cad job paid £17k a year and all i had was a btec onc and an ability to run a cad package.

soz to go off topic but i read through a previous thread about your work/childcare predicament. have to say i really feel for you as it's not easy. not sure what your exact circumstances are (is your partner a policeman working shifts or something ??) but have you considered working part-time in the evenings or something ?? when the wife and i had our first i was earning about £16k a year as was the wife. although she wanted to stay at home we worked out that practically all her wages would go on childcare anyways so it was a no brainer. what she did do though was to go to work in the evenings part-time. it is more difficult for her but in many ways we're better off for it as her money is not taxed (she earns her tax allowance - about £4k). she therefore takes home more money than she would have if she had gone to work and paid for childcare. i also get to spend more time with the kids and take a more pro-active role so our relationship is better for it. i think at the time we had an £80k mortgage, a car and the usual overheads associated with life/kids and were doing ok (just!!) on £20k a year.

just a thought

De Warrenne

Plumbers earn a fortune (60k +) apparently - no degree necessary, but a 1 year college course IIRC? Own van, own boss, sounds perfect.

Henrik

iTrader: (5)

Weapon69:

I don't have a degree, and the problem I always, always, face is getting to the damned interview stage. After that, it's usually alright.

I work in a field where most people assume that you need a uni degree to be any good (except for those who know what they're talking about), so consequently I don't get that many interviews, because job agents etc filter out us 'losers'.

The truth about my job is that a uni degree means diddly squat. It's IMO 95% experience based, and also if you are clever and take time to understand what you are doing, you will be good at what you do.

Do I wish I had a degree? Of course, it would make it a lot easier to find a new job, if I wanted to. I'm doing an Open Uni degree at the moment (got my diploma this year, assuming I passed this years courses), but I find it so boring... I once started a degree when I was 18, but I dropped out as it wasn't what I wanted to do, and I got a job for some company as a trainee.

Now, I do however think that my field of work is different. I started doing what I do now as a hobby when I was 12, so maybe I'm not the average joe, but I always found it funny that out of the *really* good people I have worked with, only two or three have had degrees, where as many of the people who have had degrees where total **** who didn't know anything


So, in conclusion, a degree means diddly squat, most of the time - but try telling that to a recruitment agent or a HR director.


The above probably sounds really big headed, but somehow, so far the observations have been quite accurate.

Butkus

Wow, this is a difficult subject to answer. Obviously you're going to come across those who have a degree and say that it's vital, those that don't have a degree and have still done well, and those that wish they had one.

In my opinion, they're all right, because what you make of things is entirely down to you. If you have the desire to make it, you'll find a way. You're going to get all sorts of advice, but you really have to make your own decisions and figure your own way through it all. A degree might help, or it might not. You have to figure out exactly what you want to do and then follow it with a determination strong enough to ensure you succeed.

I work on my own, and I don't have a degree, but the journey has sometimes been total $hit.

Good luck figuring it all out :-)

Markus

Ah, the old degree thing.

I don't have a degree, the highest qualification I have is a BTEC in Computer Studies. OK, I'm not mover and shaker, but I am tech manager for a software development company. Not a major player or anything, but it's a good job, pays well, and I like it.

When we interview, we tend not to look at degree's, simply because we want, nay, need someone with real world experience, some chappy who has degrees, even in computer programming, isn't always going to have the real world experience. We've interviewed a few people who have not had a real job, only part time things, and they seem to think the waving of a degree with somehow fool us into thinking they can do the job, ok, some of them can.

As the old fart said, it does depend on what you want to do and if you enjoy doing that. I enjoy my job, that's why I've been here for 10 years, wouldn't be here if I did not like it. Find something you like, be passionate about it and show the would be employer this passion and they might take you on.

lightning101

Just buy a degree online for something you are quite good at, one of my employees has one it looks the business.

Chip

Youve been reading too many newspapers lately have you.

Chip.

Clett

I've a first class honours degree, and a PhD, took me a long time and a lot of work to get here and I now bring in hundreds of thousands of pounds to the university in research funding. I employ some staff, one of which is a research nurse (£28k per year).

My salary?

£20,311!

No, not kidding - the nurse for my project earns eight grand more than me - and I'm her boss!

On the other hand, my brother just retrained as a plasterer. Took him a week (did a residential course), then a couple rooms for friends for free to practice, and now he can't keep people away at £300 a day (works out about £50k/year for him)! So who's the bright one then?

weapon69

Thats the same problem i encountered when going for a job at a bank. They said college leavers and graduates but when i asked why i was turned down they said all other candidates had a degree-yeah a degree in film studies and a levels in art and ceramics probably When i've got A Levels in Business subjects (i say that because my mate got a job at Natwest with a degree in Photography It could be that i'm **** in interviews lol but i don't think i'm that bad!

I've posted up threads before about HNC/D's and i really think i will have to do one of these by evening class as i really seem to hit a brick wall when applying for remotely interesting jobs/something i could progress in.