what career choice?
 

my son is about to leave school.if you could do it again what career would you choose.what would be a good choice in 5years time.i hear dentists are in demand but he dosent fancy it.

gyno :D

If I could do it again then I wouldn't bunk off the 4th year, and would go to Uni and then join the RAF as a Pilot.

Architecture. ;)


-Schuey

I'd avoid IT like the plague, unless he wants to be poor.

I'd go into the Electrician route if I was leaving now, especially now that Bliar has made it illegal for people to do their own work on household electrics. If I was a sparky I'd be rubbing my hands with glee now...

Architecture is not what it was as an awful lot of designs are "off the shelf" and the demand for bespoke architecture is in the decline sadly.

.............. and they're all fcukin thick aswell. The money has gone in this industry, i wouldn't advocate Architecture as being a good option.

If Construction type stuff is his thing then i would suggest Facilities and Maintenance Management. These are the guy's that say, work for Woolworths, M&S etc and they organise works carried out either at one building or a collection of buildings. Such things as store extensions, fit outs and re-vamps.

The job is very varied and he will get first hand knowledge of ALL building angles from site works to cost reconcilliation.

Once experienced he could potentially move into any aspect of construction and be suitably recompensed for his knowledge

Anyway, thats what i would have done..................... but then to like construction, you have to be a particular type of person ;)

and you are lol :freak3: :)

I study Architecture, so that makes me thick? :rolleyes:

-Schuey

Thankyou Amy ;)

Schuey, as in all walks of life there are good and bad in everything but i've been in construction all my working life (approx 20 years). It seems to me that since Architects "lost the purse strings" on projects (handed to Q.S's) they have declined in stature.

The whole "Architect is God" attitude has gone and they are treated with contempt by most of the construction industry (sweeping generalisation here) as they dont know how to build things but they know how to draw pretty pictures. As a consequence of not being up to speed with the "how to" scenario they are heavily influenced by manufacturers who peddle their sh1te to good effect.

Way too much money is wasted through under or over specification but once an Archtitect gets it in his head that he's right, you cant shift it, this results in over expenditure and loss of margins to the contractors and specialist subbies. I speak regularly with Archs and get on with all of them................ hell i have about 4 or 5 mates who are Archs and even they say that the industry isnt anything like it was 10 years ago and they also agree that they are just glorified designers.

I'm in no way having a go at any individual and as i said it was a sweeping generalisation.

I would welcome you into my office for a few weeks to see some of the utter tripe i have to cost out and the level of very poor information i have to work with and people wonder why projects spiral out of control come the end of the project.

Genuinely, please PM me if you would like a "placement" at our place for a few weeks :)

Pete

Subevo,

Did you also know dentistry has one of the highest suicide rates of any professional group.

Plumber or Electrician ? Can never find any!!

Not true, you can do the work yourself still, just need to get it inspected by the local council works inspector. Minor works such as internal spur's etc can still be done yourself without inspection.

Also, dentistry has the highest grades asked for at Uni, for acceptance, even higher than doctor!

ANY trade, these days, electrician, welder, plumber, plasterer, bricky etc.

Be careful of courses that require him to be employed after the first two years in order to continue! There are so few plumbers out there, for instance, that employment is hard or even impossible to find, so the course is wasted:(

Look for something with a bursary attached, or employment based learning. My eldest has had both, now does the second, as a welder, and prefers it. Less bs than when in college all the time, (he goes one day a week, but will get the same qualification).

Alcazar

All IMHO:
It would all depend if he is "theory" or "practice" person, a big generalisation but I find most peeps fit one of these.

"Theory" people are more the type to be office based or spend a lot of their time having to do paperwork. The type that reads every last word of the instruction book before attempting to assemble that Ikea shelving unit.

"Practice" people are more hands on, they would rather be doing something usefull rather than writing about it first. These guys throw the instructions in the bin and get on with building then f*#%ing shelves!

The "expert practice" peeps have the shelving built and are having a pint down the pub by the time the theory guys have only just finished reading the instructions!

I'm more a practice person so would normally say go with a trade of Plumber, Electrician or Plaster as they are the 3 trades I find can earn the most money - more so if self employed.
I believe there is a shortage of plasterers, sorry I mean, there is a shortage of "very good platerers". Rocking horse sh!t is easier to find these days!

All IMO

Bob

if i was leaving school i'd train as a plumber.

The most important thing is that although you should advise him if he asks, he should be allowed to make his own choice.

It is important that he tries to get a job which really interests him because that is far more important then doing some boring job just for the money.

I was never dissuaded by my parents from going in for the job I did, even though it was regarded as being pretty dangerous at the time.

I loved doing it and would never change if I had the opportunity to do so. Job satiafaction is paramount in my view.

Les

If I did it all again, I'd take a GAP year and then go to Uni. After that I'd probably have joined the Marines and seen the world for free.

It took 6 years of office jobs to see that I'm not cut out for it and feel more at home in the outdoors.

Money could be a motivation. It's not for me, but when you like travelling it's difficult to do it all cheaply.

Stefan

plumber, never met a poor one and its a lot easier to keep on top of than other technical jobs IMHO.

I have a few "mechanical engineer's" that made more than 50k last year :eek:

Still nothing near ......................... ;)

110% agree with this.

Re working with his hands, outdoors, people, office etc: just paid about £140 for my son to take the Morrisby profile test - see http://www.isco.org.uk/ . Very interesting results (if bloody pricey).

Other thing I found out too late in life was that I went to university and THEN tried to become an officer in the forces. If I'd applied when 18 rather than 21, they would have given me a hefty grant while at uni, which my mate got!

Went to Uni and am now an Automotive design Engineer. Got in before Labour starting charging for it but I have still come out with over 12k worth of debt (4 year course) which I am still paying back 4 years down and still another year or so to go of dept repayments.

If I was to do it all again I wouldn't bother with the University route unless you can afford to send your son yourself. My little sister is going through now and the debt she is going to have when she finishes is an absolute joke!

Learning on the job is the way forward in whatever field that takes his fancy.

Even after graduating you start at the bottom and have to work your way up (Wages for graduates don't really justify going to Uni IMHO), 3 or 4 years learning on the job whilst getting paid is my recommendation.

Hope all turns out OK.

Fluffer

LOL