Career Advice - Dropping A levels

[[TW]Fox]

I am motivated, just not for A levels.. I want to learn something I actually enjoy doing and im not enjoying them, so arent motivated

You will say to all potential employers:

'If I dont totally love something, I simply cannot be bothered. I do not care about the bigger picture'

They'll be falling over themselves to employ you. Not.

 

[peetee]

do you enjoy traveling?
My brother+sister have had a good travel here and there with the navy, though hes training so hasnt done as much as her since hes not qualified in his trade properly yet to get onto one of the ships on tour.
they both love it, shes on a decent wage and is now living in london, with a gorgeous flat in canary wharf that the MoD pay for, shes on a good wage and extra since its london, aswell as this she has a flat in plymouth where she used to be based and shes raking in a profit from that since shes renting it out. Its paying her mortgage and giving her £100 to play with every month. Shes now debating buying a house with her bf and getting a second mortgage.

Brother be on 40k+ as soon as he leaves due to his trade. Iv seen his bank balance too, its nice. and hes constantly going out, hes been on about 5-6 holidays abroad this year and goes to majority of his footy team's away matches, staying in hotels etc at same time.

Basically its a very attractive live, so attractive that its what im doing as soon as i finish my degree, id be doing it now but the parents are making me finish it since they are paying my way =)

You may aswell try and finish the a-levels, try your best, its nearly over.

Why not see what apprentiships are going locally too?
Iv got a mate on 20k+ (hes 20) whos a joiner at the county council.

 

[Sic]

How does it not look good, are you actually asking that daft a question? I'll let you figure it out...

god, sometimes your posting style makes me actually angry. I hope you're not like this in real life, for your sake.

What I was getting at is you can make it so that it doesn't look anything. Like I said, education isn't the only way and, IME, if you can prove yourself your education won't make a difference and potentially won't even enter into it. You know what I meant, stop being a tard.

It's a pretty consistent and reliable way to open those doors though.

What do you do if you don't mind my asking? (that didn't require any qualifications?!)

I don't deny that! I'm sure it's one of the reasons you see so many utterly incompetent managers - I have a degree, I deserve a job, it doesn't matter if I know sweet FA.

I'm a web developer at the moment. I'd quite like to do a couple of qualifications just to fill some gaps that I'm invariably missing from having taught myself from books, but it hasn't worked against me so far

 

[Coran]

I'd finish the A-levels even if you hate them. Take a part time job whilst you're going to get some cash. When you're done, go and join the Navy or get an apprenticeship as a joiner/plumber/electrician or something.

 

[Lysander]

You will say to all potential employers:

'If I dont totally love something, I simply cannot be bothered. I do not care about the bigger picture'

They'll be falling over themselves to employ you. Not.

In fact I hated A levels so much that I pleaded with my parents to take me out of school. I wanted to be a guitarist and said, "you don't understand, I'll practise all day and be an amazing musician, you'll see!". They told me to shut up and get on with it.

 

[Richdog]

god, sometimes your posting style makes me actually angry. I hope you're not like this in real life, for your sake.

It could be worse, I could be Fox.

What I was getting at is you can make it so that it doesn't look anything. Like I said, education isn't the only way and, IME, if you can prove yourself your education won't make a difference and potentially won't even enter into it. You know what I meant, stop being a tard.

A 'tard' eh? Ouch, you've really er... made your point. And it's a forum, stop getting so worked up.

Eucation may not be the only way (to say otherwise would be silly) but for 99% of people it is the primary way, and the vast, vast employers WILL judge you heavily on it and discriminate against you. After all, why should they emply you when someone else is also willing to work, enthusiastic, and has decent A-levels? You're in danger of misleading the OP into thinking he will do fine without an education because you have managed.

I'm a web developer at the moment. I'd quite like to do a couple of qualifications just to fill some gaps that I'm invariably missing from having taught myself from books, but it hasn't worked against me so far

Hasn't worked against YOU... but it has and will work against heaps and heaps of other people who don't have talent in relatively niche areas, especially like the OP who seems to have no motivation/direction in anything from the sounds of it.

 

[the_worrier]

The Non-Comm Technical trades in the RAF will probably not touch you TBH. They (mostly) require A Levels and a strong personality with a mature & flexible outlook.

Pay starts at about £24K in these trades ATM, but rises quite quickly for the right candidate. Officer-ranks pay considerably more, but are even more competitive/difficult to get. A common mis-conception is that you have to be an Officer to 'Manage people' in the Military. This is simply not so.

Have you considered Non-Tech trades or the Army / Navy?

 

[K.C. Leblanc]

If you really want to start working look for jobs with training in a field where your skills are transferable to different employers. Don't just go for any old job and don't just go for which ever local employer pays it's grunt workers the most.

I think you shoud atleast finish your A/Ss, you've already spend 5 months working on them, you don't want to throw that away.

You can allways start applying for promising looking jobs and having interviews and then give up college if you get a good offer. You don't have to give up what you're doing to start looking for somthing else.

 

[itsallaboutyou]

A-levels should be for everyone... not getting them really doesn't look good on your record for the sake of a couple of measly years doing them while you're still very young. You should have chosen ones suited to you instead of picking three random "hard" ones that you don't see any use for.

I suppose Police/Armed Forces/Apprenticeships are mostly all that's available to you if you don't want to follow through with your education, but don't expect to rise far very quickly as you will always be seen as an underachiever, and I imagine education still counts even in police/army career paths if you want to get to officer levels soon.

I'm not sure that is quite true - not everybody has to do A-Levels, or in fact go further and go to University. Many of todays most iconic people werent educated beyond the 5th Form!

You talk about underachieving - which is harsh in this case. Yes the OP is maybe a little bit naive in relation to the working world - but you can earn some good money, albeit after a period of time(which you mentioned, so please dont flame me!) without formal qualifications in the broader sense.

For example, I (and this is not a blow your own trumpet post) completed my A-Levels and decided not to go to University, I was lucky enough to gain a Trainee Civil Engineering Technician's post with my Local Authority where I completed a HNC in Civil Engineering in 1 Year. I've just completed my B.Eng in Civil and Environmental Engineering on a part time basis, whilst working 4 days a week (obtained a first) and am currently studying part time for a masters degree.

If the OP is interested in doing something other than the military a career in engineering can be very rewarding. Just come back from 2 months in Dubai - which was nice! Check out www.bconstructive.org or www.ice.org.uk

I believe that far too many people being pressured into completing A-Levels in non vocational subjects and then, as they have no clear career guidance (connexions are an absolute joke) are being pressured again to read at Degree Level, when it doesn't suit them.

Now before I get jumped on, I'm not saying that A-Levels are bad, in fact quite the opposite - I'm glad I took mine - I'm simply saying that its not for everyone!

In the OP's circumstances, I would at least complete my AS-Levels - see what happens. If he decides to take up a traineeship of some type - there may be transferable credits etc etc.. and depending upon his results should reassess his position - it may be worth hanging on and applying himself for that extra year.

As my father, a school teacher of almost 40 years has said time and time again - probably more eloquently than this - you simply trade in your current qualification for a new one, ie GCSEs to AS-Levels and so on but there's no qualification for experience....

Now my post may be completely incoherent and for that I apologise! But after 5 hours of structural analysis my brain is fried...

Anyway, my threepenny bit (sp!?)

Tom*

 

[Born_2_Kill_83]

I only went as far as A-levels in school, and I'm in a good job with a very high wage.
Only a handful of us decided to leave our studies after A-Levels the rest went to Uni. I'm confordant that us early school leavers are on more pay at this point than them that went to Uni.

If you enjoy what you do, you will excel further whether its studies or in employment. There’s life after Uni, there’s life before Uni. Not every-one has to run the rat race.

 

[itsallaboutyou]

Not every-one has to run the rat race.

I like that!

Tom*

 

[Nymins]

I don't understand why everyone is saying that you need A-Levels. You really don't. Some well paid jobs don't require them. A pilot for instance doesn't require you to have A-Levels unless your going for a sponsorship with an Airline. Sure it would probably look better than you have some form of A level, but its definitely not a requirement.

Im currently doing Media in tech and it really sucks. Ill still try and get at least a Pass, but i don't plan to go to Uni afterwards or plan to get a job in the Media industry.

 

[Stringy]

A pilot for instance doesn't require you to have A-Levels unless your going for a sponsorship with an Airline.

But you'd have to pay for all your own training which isn't cheap, and thus would need a job to pay for

 

[Nymins]

But you'd have to pay for all your own training which isn't cheap, and thus would need a job to pay for

Technically it is the same, cause take easyJet for example. They offer a sponsorship that requires a £60k "security bond" and requires you to go to New Zealand for 9 months. The training itself costs an average of £60k (very average figure) and that can be had by yourself through a loan at a bank that recognises pilot training.

At easyJet once your training is done, you pay back the £60k that they gave you for the training by taking small chucks out of your salary over a few years.

Getting a loan and getting a sponsorship are basically the same, but a sponsorship is just a bit easier and probably slightly cheaper to do.

 

[Kol]

Yep, go for the Armed Forces. I wouldn't suggest the Police Force at such a young age. You need some life experience before doing that, IME.

 

[Sic]

It could be worse, I could be Fox.

fair point!

A 'tard' eh? Ouch, you've really er... made your point. And it's a forum, stop getting so worked up.

Can't help it! I'm easy to wind up

Eucation may not be the only way (to say otherwise would be silly) but for 99% of people it is the primary way, and the vast, vast employers WILL judge you heavily on it and discriminate against you. After all, why should they emply you when someone else is also willing to work, enthusiastic, and has decent A-levels? You're in danger of misleading the OP into thinking he will do fine without an education because you have managed.

There's nothing different about my situation - I was exactly the same as the OP. EXACTLY the same. I have 2 A-Levels and 1 AS - Spanish, Media Studies and Music. Getting towards the end of the second year I had no interest whatsoever in finishing. I didn't know what I wanted to do, but I knew that it wasn't A Levels! The only reason I do what I do now is because it was a hobby that I really enjoyed and luckily got good enough to get a job doing it! What I ended up doing was finishing my A Levels (might as well if you've started, they're not that hard if you apply yourself a little), got a crappy job to bide my time until I decided what I wanted to do, then just went for it.

Apprenticeships aren't a bad way to go, either. A friend of mine did an apprenticeship as an electrician after his GCSEs - he loves the job and gets paid a shed-load.

Unfortunately, as with most things that you'll do for a large portion of your life, these decisions are pretty damn big and can take a time to reach.

Hasn't worked against YOU... but it has and will work against heaps and heaps of other people who don't have talent in relatively niche areas, especially like the OP who seems to have no motivation/direction in anything from the sounds of it.

as I said, I was just like that - one day the OP will grow up and realise that some of life will take at least a bit of effort. I can't be the only one this has worked for, so my advice isn't as irrelevant as you seem to think it is. Just for the record, I definitely don't think the OP should drop out of his studies, but I do think a lot can be said for not going to uni if you're in the same situation as the him - if you're not motivated now, university (from what I've seen of my friends) is not an environment that's conducive to motivation, especially when you lack any!

 

[ChrisJSY]

I don't know how I managed to get the job i'm in, they probably interviewed about 10 or so people (not me) and chose someone, said person backed out and instead of picking the second best, they interveiwed me and almost two years later im still there.

I don't have A-Levels and I did pretty badly in school, but I guess I make up for it when people let me show it.

 

[inferno]

Technically it is the same, cause take easyJet for example. They offer a sponsorship that requires a £60k "security bond" and requires you to go to New Zealand for 9 months. The training itself costs an average of £60k (very average figure) and that can be had by yourself through a loan at a bank that recognises pilot training.

At easyJet once your training is done, you pay back the £60k that they gave you for the training by taking small chucks out of your salary over a few years.

Getting a loan and getting a sponsorship are basically the same, but a sponsorship is just a bit easier and probably slightly cheaper to do.

That is true, but I am sure you chances of getting onto a course are enhanced by you having a degree or A-Levels. Also if you get an injury you need a backup. After a visit to OAT I was told that netjets find people with degrees more desirable. Then there are the specialised pilots within the airlines, I would think most of them have A-levels and degrees.

 

[OzZie]

salami1212 mate, i was exactly like you for the past two years.

I hated the way you were taught. I hated the limited amount of subjects offered to you at the start and i hated the fact that they were overhyped prior to you leaving school.

Here's the thread i created way back in early '06 saying how much i was finding them difficult, only in the second term. http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17544992

After the first year i got 4 D's which was expected by both me and teachers and this was my first mistake not doing anything about it. Stayed on for a second year and things just went worse. Work became harder, lessons more tedious and the whole thing made me quite depressed. Did the final exams and managed to get E,D,C overall. Wasn't expecting the E at all, but i could'nt give a **** at the time and still don't now. In my time there, i only managed to get two pieces of work graded to a B.

Now i am doing a Nat Diploma in Music tech that is a year and a half, and is similar to A-Levels in terms of what you get at the end (UCAS points). Since starting i have got straight A's and absolutlely love learning about the area i want to be in. The difference is staggering and my family have all admitted this was what i should have done at 16. Still we all live and learn, and the fact that i have my A-Levels behind me still means that i have a lot of knowledge about the areas i studied. Business studies has helped me a lot in a couple of areas that i have had to report on.

My advice, if you really don't like them, leave because you won't do yourself any good by staying on. It isn't important that you get A-Levels unless you are looking at University straight away at 18. Now i am on my course i am very interested in carrying on in further education and going to university doing something i really enjoy and am good at. If like me and you had no idea what you want to do, stay on for the time being and try and figure out what you want to do with your life, even if it means another 6 months of 6th form.

 

[Nymins]

That is true, but I am sure you chances of getting onto a course are enhanced by you having a degree or A-Levels. Also if you get an injury you need a backup. After a visit to OAT I was told that netjets find people with degrees more desirable. Then there are the specialised pilots within the airlines, I would think most of them have A-levels and degrees.

Yea im sure A-Levels are an advantage for pilots as they are for most jobs. Its just that they are not required, but yea they are recommended