What do i do now? (university failure)

firthy15

firthy15

firthy15

Associate
Joined
22 Dec 2004
Posts
1,194
Location
Paderborn DE / TeessideUK
Well ive pretty much buggered up Uni so need to think what the hell to do with myself.

I live at home with my parents who would support me through anything. I have a okayish part time job at coral doing around £400 a month.

I love computers and computer games therefore i was thinking of learning some programming languages, i have the basic knowledge of C++ / PHP which i could expand on then hopefully find a job?

What are my chances of success learning it myself then trying to find a job?

I do have a few old friends from old websites, contacts i will say, that are in need of things like php coders etc for general day to day usage of their now successful websites. So that's always another hope.

Any general advice would do really of what to do with myself.

Firthy
 
Always college or pollys you know. just because you dont get into UNI doesnt mean your life has ended.

See what is out there, get to a college, ask around, im sure they can get you a programming course sorted out. Careers advice use to be good, back in the day lol, no idea what they like now.

Chin up, not the end of the world, some of us are doing well without uni degrees you know :)

But in the end, its upto you, you want to do it, get out there and do it. Good luck :)

<ColiN>
 
firthy15 said:
Well ive pretty much buggered up Uni so need to think what the hell to do with myself.

I live at home with my parents who would support me through anything. I have a okayish part time job at coral doing around £400 a month.

I love computers and computer games therefore i was thinking of learning some programming languages, i have the basic knowledge of C++ / PHP which i could expand on then hopefully find a job?

What are my chances of success learning it myself then trying to find a job?

I do have a few old friends from old websites, contacts i will say, that are in need of things like php coders etc for general day to day usage of their now successful websites. So that's always another hope.

Any general advice would do really of what to do with myself.

Firthy
Click to expand...


Get a proper full time job. NOW. Don't expect your parents to support you - pay your way. In any future interview let them know all about it - shows great moral fibre and immediately sets you apart from many people who might be competing with you for the job. If you continue to live at home life will be much more comfortable for you, and you will have emotional support. Getting any kind of full time proper job now is important because many people do courses and tinker at home to acquire expertise but the thing that will actually get you a job in your chosen field at the end of the day is your personal qualities and your attitude to work. Employers will want to employ a "grafter" , they will not be impressed by a "sponger". Your main problem in IT is the old "You can't get a job without experience and you can't get experience without a job".

When you have a proper job and a potential steady but boring possible future, then start to think about the more exciting "Plan B".

You will probably have about 30 hours spare per week to put into PLAN B. Treat it like a project. Read some self help and imrovement manuals. Work out where there is a REAL possibility to make a good career for yourself. Then work at studying, qualifications or whatever.

Don't make the mistake of thinking some kind of career in IT is automatically the answer. The days when careers officers could mindlessly dump all their problem cases and low achievers into IT are long since over.

Overall be realistic! Research and only pursue a course of action when you KNOW it is a good course of action. Don't just go on vague feelings or third hand reports about good careers in something their auntie's dog once heard of :)

A person's work life is a funny thing. It rarely seems to go according to plan. I think it was John Lennon (?) who said "Life is what hapens to you while you are making your plan". Or something similar.

It is important to enjoy what you do, and get fulfilment from it, even if it doesn't pay very much. Money really isn't the be all and end all. People on high salaries just tend to spend more and have bigger financial problems.
 
Last edited:
EffBee said:
Get a proper full time job. Don't expect your parents to support you - pay your way. If you continue to live at home life will be much more comfortable for you, and you will have emotional support.

When you have a proper job and a potential steady but boring possible future start to think about the more exciting "Plan B".

You will probably have about 30 hours spare per week to put into PLAN B. Treat it like a project. Read some self help and imrovement manuals. Work out where there is a REAL possibility to make a good career for yourself. Then work at studying, qualifications or whatever.

Don't mistake the mistake of thinking some kind of career in IT is automatically the answer. The days when careers officers could midlessly dump all their problem cases and low achievers into IT are long since over.

Overall be realistic! Research and only pursue a course of action when you KNOW it is a good course of action. Don't just go on vague feelings or third hand reports about good careers in something your Auntie's dog once heard of :)
Click to expand...

That was very helpful, i've always been dreading the prospect of full time work, seems to eat up so many hours but i guess its time to grow up.

I will start to nose around for jobs will looking up things like you said, potential advances in the future.

Without university i just feel like i've lost a whole load of purpose. It's just me in the wide world with no clear direction of what to do next bar survive.
 
There are plenty of foundation courses that Uni/College etc do that will get you intoa subject that you are interested in and maybe want to persue as a career path. (Computers/Programing/I.T for example).

We all love games but unless you are pr0 skillz in programing then I wouldn't bother. Most of those jobs are found and acquired through nepitism (from what I have heard). However, developers are in fairly large demand so if its something that interests you then go for it! And good luck!
 
firthy15 said:
I think i made a clear implication of which side of the moan / plea for advice line i am on.
Click to expand...

Try all your contacts, will an HND in computing help, trouble with this is that you will probably need a part time job until next year and that may be too late.
 
Go to work. I work in IT and though I could have gone to Uni I decided to take a gap year and earn some money, and then dropped the uni idea completely as all my mates that went have now graduated and Me and another mate that did the same are both earning more than them :) and have 3 years industry experience and professional qualifications under our belts too.

Personally I wouldn't go into programming right now as not only will you be competing with computer science graduates that can't get a better job quite a lot of programmers are being laid off at the mo. Maintenance is the safer sector at the mo.
 
I did get offered a HND to then lead onto another degree but i need to find out (tommorrow / wed) if my loan people will support me or not.

Also i find programming challenging but when i am doing it and get into it i do like it a lot.
 
have you actually definitely failed? you may be able to turn the credits into something, either part qualification for an HND or something like that, best talk to the uni and get some advice. you can also repeat the year, it may cost you unless you can plead extenuating cirumstances but it's worth a try.
 
Skidilliplop said:
Go to work. I work in IT and though I could have gone to Uni I decided to take a gap year and earn some money, and then dropped the uni idea completely as all my mates that went have now graduated and Me and another mate that did the same are both earning more than them :) and have 3 years industry experience and professional qualifications under our belts too.

Personally I wouldn't go into programming right now as not only will you be competing with computer science graduates that can't get a better job quite a lot of programmers are being laid off at the mo. Maintenance is the safer sector at the mo.
Click to expand...

What is in demand then?

My original degree was computing and networks which i chose originally over things like programming basically because networks was the only part of computing i hadnt dabbled in and i like the hardware side.
 
nin9abadga said:
have you actually definitely failed? you may be able to turn the credits into something, either part qualification for an HND or something like that, best talk to the uni and get some advice. you can also repeat the year, it may cost you unless you can plead extenuating cirumstances but it's worth a try.
Click to expand...

That's my point they wont let me retry the year. My only option with them is a HND but i have to check my loan company first to see if they will support me.
 
firthy15 said:
That was very helpful, i've always been dreading the prospect of full time work, seems to eat up so many hours but i guess its time to grow up.

I will start to nose around for jobs will looking up things like you said, potential advances in the future.

Without university i just feel like i've lost a whole load of purpose. It's just me in the wide world with no clear direction of what to do next bar survive.
Click to expand...

I edited my original post a bit - you may want to re-read it.

I'm not totally convinced University is the way to go for most people these days. When I went 30 years ago there were no tuition fees and I got a full grant (due to parents low income) of about £1000 per year - which was quite fair money for a 20 year old then. Topping it up by working during the hols meant no real financial problems.

These days the decision to go to University (please don't degrade it by calling it "Uni" ) is a business decision. Will the huge debt you rack up be worth it financially over your working life. Yes - if you are going to be a doctor or lawyer. No if you study something with little career benefit solely to stay in education and keep off the streets for three years, then end up doing something you could have done without the degree course. There is a big grey maybe area in the middle.
 
Well to the guy who said developers are not needed and being laid off - true to a degree because if a company doesn't need any new software/etc then sure and the way things are going at the moment , people wont want new things if they can't afford it or out of their price range.

However, I recently moved job in the "I.T Industry" and almost daily get spammed by people looking for DEV.

The best thing about development is contract work too, go in, design a system/write code, get paid and then bugger off.

I think its really challenging but rewarding work (if you can do it, unlike me :P).

Maintenance/System Admin is a safer bet as people will always need someone to look after their I.T/Systems etc. This is what I'm doing now and the job is extremely diverse. You get newbie stuff and you get more interesting stuff to deal with.

You don't NEED a degree to get anywhere specifically, I could be here where I am now without a degree but maybe a few more years experience in the sector.

If you want to do programing , probably best to get a qualification or at least teach yourself the main languages out there so you know your stuff.

Most DEV interviews will contain questions and content designed to test you and see if you know what you're doing :)
 
EffBee said:
I edited my original post a bit - you may want to re-read it.

I'm not totally convinced University is the way to go for most people these days. When I went 30 years ago there were no tuition fees and I got a full grant (due to parents low income) of about £1000 per year - which was quite fair money for a 20 year old then. Topping it up by working during the hols meant no real financial problems.

These days the decision to go to University (please don't degrade it by calling it "Uni" ) is a business decision. Will the huge debt you rack up be worth it financially over your working life. Yes - if you are going to be a doctor or lawyer. No if you study something with little career benefit solely to stay in education and keep off the streets for three years, then end up doing something you could have done without the degree course. There is a big grey maybe area in the middle.
Click to expand...

Again lots of help there Effbee. Guess ill start looking for a job. Your points on me just living my life really and its something to look forward to has eased my mind slightly.

I have defiantly learned from my mistakes over the last 2 years and believe me i made lots.
 
Knubje said:
Well to the guy who said developers are not needed and being laid off - true to a degree because if a company doesn't need any new software/etc then sure and the way things are going at the moment , people wont want new things if they can't afford it or out of their price range.

However, I recently moved job in the "I.T Industry" and almost daily get spammed by people looking for DEV.

The best thing about development is contract work too, go in, design a system/write code, get paid and then bugger off.

I think its really challenging but rewarding work (if you can do it, unlike me :P).

Maintenance/System Admin is a safer bet as people will always need someone to look after their I.T/Systems etc. This is what I'm doing now and the job is extremely diverse. You get newbie stuff and you get more interesting stuff to deal with.

You don't NEED a degree to get anywhere specifically, I could be here where I am now without a degree but maybe a few more years experience in the sector.

If you want to do programing , probably best to get a qualification or at least teach yourself the main languages out there so you know your stuff.

Most DEV interviews will contain questions and content designed to test you and see if you know what you're doing :)
Click to expand...

Any ideas one how you work upto your level Knubje ? Pointers on where to start / what to learn? How to go about it?

systems admins / maintenance was what i was originally interested in years ago.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom