Getting a job without going to UNI?

Andr3w

Andr3w

Andr3w

Soldato
Joined
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England
Hey as some of you may know im applying for the royal air force and have my aptitude exam on tuesday :)

Anyway i have been looking at the bigger picture and thinking "what if i dont get in" etc, and decided if i dont get in, once i have finished my BTEC in software development at college i would like to go straight into a job.

Would this be a good or bad idea? There is not a specific thing i would like to go into, i would proberly go to a job centre and see what types of careers are avaliable and what i would like to do so i dont need to go into ICT.

There are reason i dont want to go to UNI but i really really dont want to go :( , personal reasons please dont ask.

What are my chance's in life of succeeding if i dont go to UNI? Multiple people have told me i will end up in dead in jobs with no money and no life if i dont get qualifications :S, is this true?
 
I'm currently working as a Technical Team Manager for the 3rd (maybe even 2nd now) largest IT company in the world supporting all manner of systems.

I didn't go to Uni :)

Of course, it depends what area of business you want to go into. IT doesn't need degrees.
 
A degree doesn't guarantee you a job as lots of my mates would tell you. Certainly does you no harm, I wouldn't have got my job without my degree. Horses for courses, my girlfriend has a good oppurtunity but she has to work her way up from the bottom and she didn't have a degree only A levels.
 
The way I see it (as a first year student) is that Uni is only a booster. It doesnt necessarily guarantee you a job.
You've still gotta have all the other skills required.

Starting from just a college course, you might start lower on the ladder, but if your good at the job you can work your way up it. Remember you'll have a 3/4 year headstart on all the students your age.

I can recall from work experience (networking company) that they couldn't care less about a degree, its experience that counts.

Uni is a great experience, but ever from my brief tie here I can see its not for everyone
 
Gilly said:
I'm currently working as a Technical Team Manager for the 3rd (maybe even 2nd now) largest IT company in the world supporting all manner of systems.

I didn't go to Uni :)

Of course, it depends what area of business you want to go into. IT doesn't need degrees.
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Well done on that my fellow yorkshireman!

What company is it if you dont mind me asking?


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Also probs are that 90% of jobs want experiance which you can get in your sandwhich year at uni, i would have no qualifications but working at a garden centre on weekends :o
 
Its sad that uni has become downgraded for all but the very high achievers, Blairs ' i want everyone to go to uni ' just devalues it even more,
having a degree along with the other 50 people applying for a job means that the employer will seek out other qualities before selecting the right applicant.
 
Depends what sort of jobs you wish to do. Some require degree's, some don't. It's not true that you will end up in a dead end job without going to uni (look at plumbers for instance). There will always be a need for skilled labour.
 
Don't fall into the trap of believing you need a degree to get anywhere career wise. It does of course depends on what you want to do. Should you want to do medicine or law, a degree is necessary. You do say that you want a career in ICT. Whilst a degree isn't necessary in this market, it's so saturated with applicants that most people without degrees get their CV's chucked in the bin, unless of course they have other more practical qualifications or suitable experience.

From my experience in working in IT, experience comes above everything. Don't expect to walk into a high paying job with no experience or no degree. You'll need one or the other to get your foot in the door to a decent position, otherwise you'll have to work your way up.
 
Sexyarse has done well for himself ;) I have a degree but had to get the experience too..

Degrees these days don't really mean a thing... except maybe big debt..of course in some professions its a must have, I am glad I did my degree though as I probably wouldn't have learnt half of the packages I use now on my own.

Sometimes I think they ask for 'Graduate calibre' so that they know the applicant is disciplined..but with the amount of coursework you can get off the net nowadays that doesn't mean anything anymore either.

BB x
 
I have been looking around on some job sites such as http://www.jobsearch.co.uk/

and there are jobs for trainee's to start on say as low as 13-15k a year to be trained up to do sales/marketing/consultent etc which will gain experiance for me if i did this.

And thats only looking at ICT, i havent looked at other careers yet.
 
BrightonBelle said:
Sexyarse has done well for himself ;) I have a degree but had to get the experience too..

Degrees these days don't really mean a thing... except maybe big debt..of course in some professions its a must have, I am glad I did my degree though as I probably wouldn't have learnt half of the packages I use now on my own.

Sometimes I think they ask for 'Graduate calibre' so that they know the applicant is disciplined..but with the amount of coursework you can get off the net nowadays that doesn't mean anything anymore either.

BB x
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Depends on the degree you do. Very difficult to do a scientific/mathmatical degree with just copying stuff, not to mention you will fail the exams which are the majority of the mark. Its not about teaching you how to use "packages", this is already assumed. A vocational course is for doing that, or practical experience.
 
Una said:
Depends on the degree you do. Very difficult to do a scientific/mathmatical degree with just copying stuff, not to mention you will fail the exams which are the majority of the mark. Its not about teaching you how to use "packages", this is already assumed. A vocational course is for doing that, or practical experience.
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Also some departments have some seriously powerful plagiarism detecting software. The CS department at Bristol do checks against everyone's coursework that has been submitted, including previous years, and searches the net for similar code. You have to be very careful you don't plagiarise without even meaning to.
 
Yeah ours do as well, getting sick of the plagerism lectures to be honest. Had one in first year induction week, then a second in 2nd year first week :p

I wonder how much google code search will effect plagerism now :p
 
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I have a handful of friends who haven't gone to Uni but went straight into IT jobs. Other mates on the other hand, have gone to university and done civil engineering and are now earning in excess of the 40% tax bracket by multiples of 2/3+, but then so are plenty of people in IT (without degrees).

It depends entirely on your chosen career path. Mine requires a degree, but not all do. Many of the executives at my previous company had worked their way up.
 
Gilly said:
IT support is part of IT.
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So you are saying that a Computer Science or a Software Engineering degree is unless, baring in mind you won't be going into I.T. Support?

The term I.T. is very broad and people like to think of it as support.
 
triggerthat said:
So you are saying that a Computer Science or a Software Engineering degree is unless, baring in mind you won't be going into I.T. Support?

The term I.T. is very broad and people like to think of it as support.
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Unless what?

I used the word need for a reason.
 
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