Get a good job without uni?

By and large the same jobs as are available if you do go to university, aside from direct entry graduate schemes and related posts. My general view now is that unless you want to get into a specific profession like that (say financial services) then going to uni certainly isn't a must, getting on the employment ladder early can be even more beneficial.

A friend of mine in the same profession as me earns nearly double what I do, is 3 years younger and she doesn't have A-levels, never mind a degree.
 
My friends who have spent 3 or 4 years getting jobs will probably be earning the same if not a bit more than my graduate job. Its all kind of balanced out really.

On the one hand it has been easier for them to start at the bottom and work up than it has for me to find a decent graduate job.

On the other hand I've had more fun!
 
Unless the job demands a degree as in doctor, lawyer etc. you can easily achieve the same position/job as a graduate. Uni offers other benefits tho. Socialising, knowledge etc but in a purely job orientated perpective a degree isnt really an advantage
 
HangTime said:
By and large the same jobs as are available if you do go to university, aside from direct entry graduate schemes and related posts. My general view now is that unless you want to get into a specific profession like that (say financial services) then going to uni certainly isn't a must, getting on the employment ladder early can be even more beneficial.

A friend of mine in the same profession as me earns nearly double what I do, is 3 years younger and she doesn't have A-levels, never mind a degree.
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may I ask what profession you are in and what did you start out doing?
 
i think i read recently that having a degree will earn someone around £150k more over the term of working life than someone who started working in the same role instead of going to uni.

£150k over a working life isnt really that much when you are talking about jobs that aren't low level service industry
 
be better than the rest
or
ask for a lot less money than the rest

if you cant meet 1 of those then you will struggle to get a job :p
 
I'm a glazing manager for a fairly large glass company, been with them for 4 years now. I get paid £39K approx + Bonus.

23years old
No GCSE's

Didn't like school that much, i was already working when i was ment to be exam's.
I don't know that much about uni but i dont think you need to have it in order to have a well paid job.

I see an advert from camden council paying £23.50 p/h for a night shift roadsweeper!
 
salami1212 said:
may I ask what profession you are in and what did you start out doing?
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I work in Quality Assurance and have a degree in Economics & Maths. From what I can tell my degree has never been a deciding (or even significantly influencing) factor in me getting a job - although that's not to say that it isn't for others.

I guess for non-graduates there is probably a ceiling in some professions in terms of not being able to land a senior management role easily but it will usually be at a reasonably high level anyway (certainly well over £50k/pa at least). Up until that point experience, networking and charisma can drive them forwards.
 
i dont degrees are worth much to be honest, they arent impressive or make you massively stand out like they used to.

i have guys starting with me who are graduates and i earn a lot more than them as i have a worlds of expeirence doing lots of jobs

perfect example is sales, you can either do it or you cant, uni doesnt help that much, i was earning 70k a year selling phones before i decided my happiness was more important than money, i now earn half of that and im much happier.

So yes its nice to earn big money but dont go for a job just for the money or go to uni just for the money as you will be spending a lot of time there doing something your not happy with.

Go to uni if it will let you have a job you really want, not just on the hope it will bump your pay grade a little above others
 
Just remember, if you do get a degree, there is a massive difference between a science/maths/engineering based degree from a top 10 university and an arts based degree from a mid to low table university.
Like people have said, for certain jobs a degree is needed.

In my opinion, if you do a good degree from a good Uni then it's almost like your path is set out for you.

i.e. Go to uni => Get 2.1 or above => apply for graduate job in field you want => Get one of the jobs you applied for etc
Whereas if you don't go to uni then your career can be a lot less planned.
 
Malc said:
Just remember, if you do get a degree, there is a massive difference between a science/maths/engineering based degree from a top 10 university and an arts based degree from a mid to low table university.
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Agreed. If you're really interested in an arts subject then uni may be worthwhile just for the knowledge experience aspect but not really much help job wise. Some degrees really are more 'useful' than others
 
^^Maybe true but I think there is a clear deficiency in the way this is put forward to prospective students, or at least there used to be. My school was very much pushing people down the uni path, but not really focussing on the overall goal in terms of using it as a platform to get on a graduate scheme. Obviously individuals need to take a certain amount of responsibility, but I think sometimes people are channeled towards a degree when they have no long term plan and in some cases may be better suited to going into employment (or perhaps vocational training like accountancy) at 18.

When I went to uni it was very much a case of taking the easy option, I didn't really know what I wanted to do career wise but was very strong academically so it was just a case of choosing the subjects I thought I was good at, go to a decent uni and get a good degree, then hopefully I'll have it figured out and land a decent job. Back then I didn't have the internet so the scope for research into different options was much more limited than it is today sadly.
 
I know someone that went to uni to get a degree in architecture. He spent six years at uni. Came out with £30,000+ in debt and is now a policeman.

Degrees and results don't mean much, some people work their way up. They can be just as someone that went to uni. The only difference is the letter next to maths.
 
more down to self motivation and luck if you are outside of "degree essential" careers, my pay isnt great but i have some fantastic opportunities to obtain professional certifactions for various software packages, recently obtained my VCP, and as such move my career on from there, or hell go in a completely different direction, im with a young but rapidly growing company so i have a lot of open doors
 
I'm sure he wont mind me saying, but my friend on the same college course as me got a job at the college after finishing his BTEC two years ago, he's now quite high up in the server management part and he's on £28k a year. He's only 19 :)
 
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