Students

[BushBlade]

I totally did what you recommend and I wouldn't swap it for the world. My first couple of years employed as a warehouseman and the tv engineer at Rackhams warehouse were some of the happiest days of my life. Mostly old men who worked there and loved listening to their stories ,gave me a great education and then of course all the women at the store gave me another education. Decent money ,self respect ,holidays , money to go out with ,I would recommend that path for anyone. Not many of my schoolmates went to Uni so cant compare ,but I do know a couple of girls who went ,and then became housewives in their mid 20s.
Brilliant post btw FL

It does give you a different view of life, I think. I did builders labourer, brickie, quarryman, salesman, accountancy, owned a shop and did multi-drop deliveries before I went to uni (and during as well).
Of my cousins, only one of three went to uni and she's no more successful than the other two who didn't (and they've all done well).

 

[FlamingLip]

William Hill? Thats where I started.....

no mate, was on the floor below - QJump. selling train tickets/getting ear ache, before 2 for 1 at Matrix

 

[stringjunior]

uni is such a broad institution it's no wonder why you have horror stories, success stories, folk that regret going and those that look back all glazed eyed. given the additional pressures and fear of near life long debt, no wonder mental health is an increased worry. based on my experience, if i had a young'n, i'd tell em this:

if you're not 75% sure what type of job/skill/workplace you'd like to explore at 18, totally fuck off the idea of uni. and forget the word career - get a job, any job, and find a bit of pleasure and self respect in earning and and making work mates. build ya confidence. pay board. maybe save a little and travel, or go on a lads holiday, or buy that double humbucker fat strat and totally unnecessary 40 Watt Fender amp that winks at ya every morning, whatever. do it. continue doing it for however long it takes until you get a warm fuzzy feeling about what you'd like to do next - this may involve a uni course or not. you're far more likely to succeed if it interests you and you're driving the idea yourself, regardless of how it's funded. and again, forget the word career - don't depress yourself with it. enjoy the learning, enjoy the independence and enjoy getting the correct balance.

then buy a gretsch electromatic and even bigger amp for no fucking reason - even if the gf/wife doesnt speak to you for days.

for the record i struggled like a bitch first time round, went too young. my older brother academically 'Brownlee'd' me, saved me from failing. I then went back when i knew what i wanted to do, worked out well and paid off the debt last year - great feeling.

Can't like this enough.

 

[S5Blade]

no mate, was on the floor below - QJump. selling train tickets/getting ear ache, before 2 for 1 at Matrix

We used to skip the matrix and head straight for the cutler (Think it was the cutler) Qjump were always the lazy bastard enemies getting the lifts up 1 floor.....

 

[TJB.]

if you're not 75% sure what type of job/skill/workplace you'd like to explore at 18, totally fuck off the idea of uni. and forget the word career - get a job, any job, and find a bit of pleasure and self respect in earning and and making work mates. build ya confidence. pay board. maybe save a little and travel, or go on a lads holiday, or buy that double humbucker fat strat and totally unnecessary 40 Watt Fender amp that winks at ya every morning, whatever. do it. continue doing it for however long it takes until you get a warm fuzzy feeling about what you'd like to do next - this may involve a uni course or not. you're far more likely to succeed if it interests you and you're driving the idea yourself, regardless of how it's funded. and again, forget the word career - don't depress yourself with it. enjoy the learning, enjoy the independence and enjoy getting the correct balance.

I most certainly wish I'd been told something similar. Two pearls of wisdom from my mother;

- 'You need to go to University and ride out this recession' - worked well that, didn't it?
- 'You need to go to University and make something of your life' - no pressure then.

Me dad didn't put as much pressure on, but with his wife being a course leader at Hallam and him being a lecturer himself, there was always a bit of a leaning and the guidance they provided was always Uni-orientated.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

cheers sitwell

after the car crash first attempt i had close to 2 years in a call centre in milton house and time in a concrete gnome making factory (the latter takes prize place on the CV, always sparks more questions than the Aerodynamics degree). i look back fondly. I was free!

Folk, understandably I guess, look down on call centres et all but the team spirit and social side was spot on. Great times with great people. A one size fits all paint by numbers career path which the late 90s onwards advertised to everyone was, and is, total rubbish.

I started at a call centre at Direct Line sales on 10k in year 2000 and had trebled my wage when I left for my current employer 3 year ago - you'll never hear me moan about work - if I didn't like it I wouldn't do it.

 

[blackydog]

I hated my time as an undergraduate. 3 years i'll never get back.

Hated it maybe, but have you ultimately benefitted from it?

 

[sitwell]

I most certainly wish I'd been told something similar. Two pearls of wisdom from my mother;

- 'You need to go to University and ride out this recession' - worked well that, didn't it?
- 'You need to go to University and make something of your life' - no pressure then.

Me dad didn't put as much pressure on, but with his wife being a course leader at Hallam and him being a lecturer himself, there was always a bit of a leaning and the guidance they provided was always Uni-orientated.

Similar , stay on at school and go to Uni ,then join the police force ,then get a job in a bank.I might have done any of those if she hadn't banged on about it. I think she still views me as a failure because I didn't follow the career path she wanted.
Big lesson ,let your kids find their own way ,only advise if asked.

 

[sitwell]

I didn't do Uni but did 3 years at Butlins and got all the beer and sex required.

I now comfortably earn more than most of my school friends who chose to go to Uni, also 3 of my colleagues are paying off student loans.

Butlins? now theres an education
Redcoat ?

 

[BushBlade]

Similar , stay on at school and go to Uni ,then join the police force ,then get a job in a bank.I might have done any of those if she hadn't banged on about it. I think she still views me as a failure because I didn't follow the career path she wanted.
Big lesson ,let your kids find their own way ,only advise if asked.

I'd give that two likes if I could.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

Butlins? now theres an education
Redcoat ?

Residential catering - waiter - doubled my 127 a week wage with tips

 

[Revolution]

It's all horses for courses.

I knew what I wanted to do for a living. I needed a degree to do it. I got the degree, and then went and did the job. I still do that job, at a more senior level. I couldn't have got where I am without University.

One thing I did not realise, I will concede, is that there is no rush. There were a couple of points where I could have done something else for a year, but I chose not to. Had I had my time again, I might have taken that extra year. But no longer.

If you do know what you want to do at University, get on with it is my advice. Why? Because it isn't going to get any cheaper to do it, that's for sure.

 

[FlamingLip]

I most certainly wish I'd been told something similar. Two pearls of wisdom from my mother;

- 'You need to go to University and ride out this recession' - worked well that, didn't it?
- 'You need to go to University and make something of your life' - no pressure then.

Me dad didn't put as much pressure on, but with his wife being a course leader at Hallam and him being a lecturer himself, there was always a bit of a leaning and the guidance they provided was always Uni-orientated.

Me dad was a teacher and had similar 'advice'. I'd barely scraped 3 A levels and was lucky to have been kindly let on to the uni course due to GCSEs being decent. it was obvious i was sick of classrooms and my folks should have just said, take a breather son. do it if and when you fall back in like with the subject. that said, im sure they'd say parenting me was hardly as easy as A B piss-pot C.

 

[Deleted member 875]

I started at a call centre at Direct Line sales on 10k in year 2000 and had trebled my wage when I left for my current employer 3 year ago - you'll never hear me moan about work - if I didn't like it I wouldn't do it.

And when I applied for a job working with you at Direct Line they knocked me back.

Between the ages of 17-25 i must have had about 25 different jobs. I worked as a waiter, kitchen porter, chef, warehouseman at Asda, food packing at Fletchers, hod carrier, I did all the agency work, and even spent 3 or 4 years working all over the country on the holiday camps and in hotel as a waiter and as long as I had some money for a few beers then I was happy.

With the company I work for I started off refreshments from a trolley, and nearly 14 years through hard work, making sacrifices and taking my career seriously I've ended up with a great career working as a train driver on a great salary, and a great standard of living. It's not been easy, but 14 years ago I got one crack at a career in the rail industry and I grabbed it with both hands.

I don't think university is the be all and the end all of everything. When I was 17, I packed in college after a year of doing A-levels in Physics, Chemistry and Pure and applied Mathematics. It was amazing that I had even manage to get good enough GCSE grades to get in to college as I got expelled from school 3 months before I was due to sit my GCSEs, and at the time it was a huge disappointment to my family that I didn't go on to university, but what I've found is that if you work hard, are willing to learn and develop within the work place, and push yourself outside of your comfort zone by applying for new opportunities when they arise and learning from the odd knock back, then I'm the long run you can make your career whatever you want it to be.

 

[blackydog]

I hated school and left (1978) without ANY qualifications. I was quite intelligent though and I got jobs based on entry exams, for which qualifications were not a requirement.
Did an apprenticeship (4 years+ 4 years craftsman) as an auto electrician and then joined a telecoms company and worked my way up the ladder gaining external qualifications.
I have done very well out of it, being in my current job over 28 years.
BUT i wish i had done the exams at school and gone to university and got a degree, not doing that still makes me feel a bit of a failure.

 

[Deleted member 875]

Similar , stay on at school and go to Uni ,then join the police force ,then get a job in a bank.I might have done any of those if she hadn't banged on about it. I think she still views me as a failure because I didn't follow the career path she wanted.
Big lesson ,let your kids find their own way ,only advise if asked.

I found that my mother banging on about me going to university, and following whatever career path she had in mind for me eventually didn't have a good effect on me, and she still was disappointed that I had never been to university even though I have been relatively successful in my career.

My sister wasn't as educationally gifted as I was, but she had a lot more common sense. She wanted to be a dental nurse, so in pursuit of her dreams she was brave enough to leave Sheffield at 18 to join the Royal Navy and become a dental nurse in the Navy, and nearly 20 years on, she served her country for 10 years and got exactly the career she wanted when we was 15.

Butlins? now theres an education
Redcoat ?

Both Waiters, I met LS26 on the first day I arrived there, and we have been pretty much best friends ever since

 

[Northyorksblade]

uni is such a broad institution it's no wonder why you have horror stories, success stories, folk that regret going and those that look back all glazed eyed. given the additional pressures and fear of near life long debt, no wonder mental health is an increased worry. based on my experience, if i had a young'n, i'd tell em this:

if you're not 75% sure what type of job/skill/workplace you'd like to explore at 18, totally fuck off the idea of uni. and forget the word career - get a job, any job, and find a bit of pleasure and self respect in earning and and making work mates. build ya confidence. pay board. maybe save a little and travel, or go on a lads holiday, or buy that double humbucker fat strat and totally unnecessary 40 Watt Fender amp that winks at ya every morning, whatever. do it. continue doing it for however long it takes until you get a warm fuzzy feeling about what you'd like to do next - this may involve a uni course or not. you're far more likely to succeed if it interests you and you're driving the idea yourself, regardless of how it's funded. and again, forget the word career - don't depress yourself with it. enjoy the learning, enjoy the independence and enjoy getting the correct balance.

then buy a gretsch electromatic and even bigger amp for no fucking reason - even if the gf/wife doesnt speak to you for days.

for the record i struggled like a bitch first time round, went too young. my older brother academically 'Brownlee'd' me, saved me from failing. I then went back when i knew what i wanted to do, worked out well and paid off the debt last year - great feeling.

What a brilliant piece of advice! I hated school and after O levels my parents wanted me to do A levels and then go to university, but my sensible father said, if you get a decent job before A levels start, then you can leave school. I got a job at Barclays chief foreign branch in the city, which was considered good enough (just number crunching) and I have worked with numbers all my working life. Never regretted leaving full time education. We are not all academics and no matter what the government say, we never will be. The one thing I would say is, if you don't like what you do, leave and find something you do like. You spend more time at work than anything else and if it makes you miserable, life is too short. I have never been in a job I didn't enjoy, makes for a much happier life.
Btw, love the very modern expression 'Brownlee'd me'

 

[raul]

Residential catering - waiter - doubled my 127 a week wage with tips

And spent it all on Hot Dogs.

 

[Pollingtonblade]

I found that my mother banging on about me going to university, and following whatever career path she had in mind for me eventually didn't have a good effect on me, and she still was disappointed that I had never been to university even though I have been relatively successful in my career.

My sister wasn't as educationally gifted as I was, but she had a lot more common sense. She wanted to be a dental nurse, so in pursuit of her dreams she was brave enough to leave Sheffield at 18 to join the Royal Navy and become a dental nurse in the Navy, and nearly 20 years on, she served her country for 10 years and got exactly the career she wanted when we was 15.




Both Waiters, I met LS26 on the first day I arrived there, and we have been pretty much best friends ever since

When you turned up :-/

 

[Deleted member 875]

And spent it all on Hot Dogs.

From my recollections, the Hot Dogs to be free, and also hand delivered.......

 

[Deleted member 875]

When you turned up :-/

Starting at 7 in the morning used to difficult when you had been on the piss all night. I think I once got sacked and reinstated 5 times in 5 days......

 

[super_pig]

i originally went straight from school to Nottingham basically cos they had Rock city
then played in bands and dossed around for my entire 20's until my amp packed up and i saw an ad in the star.. come and do computing marths at SHU .. bursaries given.. heh.. new amp i'll pack it in in 3 months
by which time they'd canned the course you could do computing or maths
the birds seemed more impressed with maths (computers were a no no then) and i knew more than the computing lecturers so i went with that
i never really learned much tbh.. i could have done the degree finals and my current job with what i taught myself at 15 tbh but you need that bit of paper for the HR monkeys

 

[FlamingLip]

man handled hot

i originally went straight from school to Nottingham basically cos they had Rock city
then played in bands and dossed around for my entire 20's until my amp packed up and i saw an ad in the star.. come and do computing marths at SHU .. bursaries given.. heh.. new amp i'll pack it in in 3 months
by which time they'd canned the course you could do computing or maths
the birds seemed more impressed with maths (computers were a no no then) and i knew more than the computing lecturers so i went with that
i never really learned much tbh.. i could have done the degree finals and my current job with what i taught myself at 15 tbh but you need that bit of paper for the HR monkeys

amp packed in? you bought a fender too then ... !

 

[BushBlade]

i originally went straight from school to Nottingham basically cos they had Rock city
then played in bands and dossed around for my entire 20's until my amp packed up and i saw an ad in the star.. come and do computing marths at SHU .. bursaries given.. heh.. new amp i'll pack it in in 3 months
by which time they'd canned the course you could do computing or maths
the birds seemed more impressed with maths (computers were a no no then) and i knew more than the computing lecturers so i went with that
i never really learned much tbh.. i could have done the degree finals and my current job with what i taught myself at 15 tbh but you need that bit of paper for the HR monkeys

A mate of mine did a year or so at South Bank in the eighties on some kind of IT course. He packed it in and after a couple of shit jobs decided to apply for a job in IT and lied that he'd got his degree. They never checked and he got the job. He's not at the same company know but is in an extremely high paid IT role.

 

[JohnDenver]

A mate of mine did a year or so at South Bank in the eighties on some kind of IT course. He packed it in and after a couple of shit jobs decided to apply for a job in IT and lied that he'd got his degree. They never checked and he got the job. He's not at the same company know but is in an extremely high paid IT role.

If you're in IT and know fuck all about it then you'll inevitably become management.

 

[LenTednTony]

I've already started to encourage my kids to choose Sheffield as a university location in the future. It would give me a reason to travel over more regularly and also provide me with somewhere to stay. My kids are 8, 6 and 14 months.

Hmmmm, left it a bit late, methinks!

 

[sitwell]

It's all horses for courses.

I knew what I wanted to do for a living. I needed a degree to do it. I got the degree, and then went and did the job. I still do that job, at a more senior level. I couldn't have got where I am without University.

One thing I did not realise, I will concede, is that there is no rush. There were a couple of points where I could have done something else for a year, but I chose not to. Had I had my time again, I might have taken that extra year. But no longer.

If you do know what you want to do at University, get on with it is my advice. Why? Because it isn't going to get any cheaper to do it, that's for sure.

What age did you decide you knew what you wanted to do ? I never knew ,the one job I did want (apart from footballer ) I couldnt have so I just went through life until something jumped out at me ,you must be very single minded and lucky.
Some great advice on here for kids including yours and NTB ,make sure you are happy as you spend most of your time there ,better than any careers officer on here.

Im going through it again now ,my eldest is thinking of coming out of the forces but doesn't know what to do as yet. Hes got time to think anyway ,hes just been posted to Nigeria until Xmas.

 

[Snowman]

uni is such a broad institution it's no wonder why you have horror stories, success stories, folk that regret going and those that look back all glazed eyed. given the additional pressures and fear of near life long debt, no wonder mental health is an increased worry. based on my experience, if i had a young'n, i'd tell em this:

if you're not 75% sure what type of job/skill/workplace you'd like to explore at 18, totally fuck off the idea of uni. and forget the word career - get a job, any job, and find a bit of pleasure and self respect in earning and and making work mates. build ya confidence. pay board. maybe save a little and travel, or go on a lads holiday, or buy that double humbucker fat strat and totally unnecessary 40 Watt Fender amp that winks at ya every morning, whatever. do it. continue doing it for however long it takes until you get a warm fuzzy feeling about what you'd like to do next - this may involve a uni course or not. you're far more likely to succeed if it interests you and you're driving the idea yourself, regardless of how it's funded. and again, forget the word career - don't depress yourself with it. enjoy the learning, enjoy the independence and enjoy getting the correct balance.

then buy a gretsch electromatic and even bigger amp for no fucking reason - even if the gf/wife doesnt speak to you for days.

for the record i struggled like a bitch first time round, went too young. my older brother academically 'Brownlee'd' me, saved me from failing. I then went back when i knew what i wanted to do, worked out well and paid off the debt last year - great feeling.

I have a great respect for your views in this post save for your choice of guitars and amps. Otherwise, yes buy a big amp and good speakers and learn that the volume knob on the guitar should not move from 10. If you want to play softer get an acoustic. That is a good life lesson.

 

[BushBlade]

I have a great respect for your views in this post save for your choice of guitars and amps. Otherwise, yes buy a big amp and good speakers and learn that the volume knob on the guitar should not move from 10. If you want to play softer get an acoustic. That is a good life lesson.

Mine goes to eleven.

 

[Snowman]

Mine goes to eleven.

Nah! That's a roman numeral II. Yours is an old guitar.