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Has anyone of you realized later that you chose the wrong university education/degree?

I studied for a BSc in Molecular Biology, because my dad and all my teachers said it was the 'next big thing' and that I should do it because I would be good at it. All of which was true, but missed the crucial point that I don't find it particularly inspiring.

So I dropped out of college and got a 'real job' working as a draughtsman/estimator for a commercial glazing subcontractor, which seemed like a good idea until the economy tanked six months later, and my employer (and half the other businesses in my home town) went bust.

I spent about three years in and out of work, doing whatever jobs I could get; I worked in more different industries and semi-skilled jobs than I can even remember, interspersed with long periods on unemployment benefits, and shorter periods on government training schemes teaching me skills for which there was no demand. Highlights include working on a building site laying 11kV cable in muddy trenches in the snow; Working in a tannery, both in the 'wet end' up to my knees in dead animal parts, and the 'dry end' digging solvent sludge out of the flue traps on spray coating machines; Working in the bullion store bulk cash room for a major bank; Any number of warehouse and stores jobs; Cleaning toilets in a shopping mall; And as a security and odd-job man for a manufacturer of ATMs.

Amidst all of this I was also involved in historical re-enactment, and through that hobby I got an apprenticeship with a gunsmith, where I made replica 17th century long arms and pistols, and repaired modern shotguns and the occasional rifle. Also through that hobby, I met an Australian girl, who suggested that I should come to Australia for a working holiday. I worked a few seven day weeks to save up the airfare, then spent nine months in Australia doing a similar run of odd jobs at various places, Then we got married, and we decided to live in England. So we organised her permanent residency visa, moved to England, and lasted about six months before she found out that England has winters, and insisted on us going back to Oz. So I got my visa to come over here, got a job as a warehouseman at a pharmaceutical company, and worked my way up to senior management over the course of thirteen years - during which time I divorced and remarried - then I had a major disagreement with my boss, who was unhappy with my unwillingness to lie to cover his arse, got fired, found a job within a week working for a software company whose products I had been using in my previous role, and who were prepared to pay me a lot more money than I had been earning as a Planning Manager, and to give me a lot of very expensive training for free, due to a massive skills shortage in IT in Sydney at that time.

Then my company was bought by one of the world's largest multinationals, and I now work as a Software Engineer in a company that won't even take on an intern who doesn't have a degree, so everyone I work with assumes that I am similarly qualified, despite my formal qualifications stopping at the GCE 'A' Level, plus a few industry certifications of varying relevance to my current role.

I could have been a researcher in a lab somewhere; or a structural engineer, an archaeologist, a doctor, an historian, an executive, or a lawyer; But I am lazy and easily bored, so instead I went with the flow, had some experiences, had a lot of fun, drank a lot of beer, got married and divorced (twice), and likely earned a lot more money than I could have dreamed of earning as a Molecular Biologist.

All through school I was told how vital it was to get a good result in my next exams; and I believed it. But then I stopped believing it, and while it did lead to some fairly hard times in the short term, it turns out that in the long run, it's a lie; Nobody cares what bits of paper you have - they care about what you can actually do, and have actually done. And looking at the financial status of my peers, it seems that spending a few years unemployed is pretty much the same as doing a PhD, only with less effort, and less respectability. The money is much the same.
 
I got an engineering degree even though I had little interest in engineering and wanted to study physics. A lot of parental pressure (you do want to get a good job, don't you?), a full scholarship to a top engineering school and the desire to not end up thousands of dollars in debt helped make that decision. Then I went to grad school intending to get a degree in quantitative finance, but got distracted by mathematics along the way. One math PhD later, my odd educational path hasn't been too much of a problem - I ended up with a good job anyway, one that suits me much better than an engineering job would.
 
bilby said:
All through school I was told how vital it was to get a good result in my next exams; and I believed it. But then I stopped believing it, and while it did lead to some fairly hard times in the short term, it turns out that in the long run, it's a lie; Nobody cares what bits of paper you have - they care about what you can actually do, and have actually done. And looking at the financial status of my peers, it seems that spending a few years unemployed is pretty much the same as doing a PhD, only with less effort, and less respectability. The money is much the same.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that, all things considered, your career started during a certain era, and now the world seems to be a much different place.

No doubt without any marketable skills you're going to have trouble entering the workforce, but these days, at least in my little bubble, not having a degree or diploma is pretty much a death knell. I think you had the advantage that you're a reasonably smart person regardless, but many people in SWO who lack a degree not only lack the cognitive ability to enter college, but they also don't get the rigorous education that college affords, and so often find basic skills (aka literacy) lacking.

Tack that on to a job market where the people getting middle-class jobs are usually extremely specialized and you're pretty much fucked if you have no education, at least in terms of life-time financial security. That's not to say the path that you took is impossible any more, but most people who don't have some kind of degree don't have the intelligence, energy, or knowledge to make it work.

I'd add, too, that these days even a basic degree with no type of marketable specialization is pretty helpful. When I was only rocking a BSc I couldn't get well paying jobs, but the combination of my ability to write eloquent e-mails and the stamp that told people I've got the ability to reason got my foot in the door to every minimum wage job I applied to.

Go back to the mid-seventies when my parents were entering the work-force and barely any of this is true. My dad drove down the road, shook a few people's hands, and worked for 30 years in a well paying job after which he retired with a cushy pension. At it's core employment prospects are closely related to supply/demand, and these days supply is pretty high, and demand is pretty low, except for the highest skilled jobs.
 
As for me, in Ontario we don't have a similar situation to what you see in the US, the 'elite' college doesn't exist here. Most universities and colleges are pretty comparable, with some being slightly more competitive than others. At the low end of the scale you might get into university with a high-school average hovering around 70-75, at the opposite end of the spectrum for competitive schools in STEM programs you're looking at 85+. I went to one of those schools in a Medical Science program as I was good at science, and people who are good at science want to be doctors.

In any case, point of that little bit of rambling is that schools in Ontario are somewhat arbitrary, the program is much more important. Unfortunately for me I took a program that, while I really enjoyed, was not a good career move. I loved scientific theory, as well as the electives I took in my undergrad (lots of history, geography, philosophy), but in the end I didn't want to enter the health or research fields, and had had enough with science.

Then I made another dumb move and went to teacher's college with the allure of it's high salary and pension in my mind. Turns out I didn't know I was an introvert at the time and that teaching was an awful field for me to go into.

After stumbling through that period of my life I decided to go back to school again, but that time around with a little more self-awareness, for a computer programming diploma. This turned out to be the most enjoyable diploma of the three, and I'm now enjoying the field as well as a steady pay-cheque. It would appear like I've now found my niche, and maybe more importantly am now stacking my resume for when I get sick of IT and want to shift to another field.
 
rousseau said:
bilby said:
All through school I was told how vital it was to get a good result in my next exams; and I believed it. But then I stopped believing it, and while it did lead to some fairly hard times in the short term, it turns out that in the long run, it's a lie; Nobody cares what bits of paper you have - they care about what you can actually do, and have actually done. And looking at the financial status of my peers, it seems that spending a few years unemployed is pretty much the same as doing a PhD, only with less effort, and less respectability. The money is much the same.
Click to expand...

You have to remember that, all things considered, your career started during a certain era, and now the world seems to be a much different place.

No doubt without any marketable skills you're going to have trouble entering the workforce, but these days, at least in my little bubble, not having a degree or diploma is pretty much a death knell. I think you had the advantage that you're a reasonably smart person regardless, but many people in SWO who lack a degree not only lack the cognitive ability to enter college, but they also don't get the rigorous education that college affords, and so often find basic skills (aka literacy) lacking.

Tack that on to a job market where the people getting middle-class jobs are usually extremely specialized and you're pretty much fucked if you have no education, at least in terms of life-time financial security. That's not to say the path that you took is impossible any more, but most people who don't have some kind of degree don't have the intelligence, energy, or knowledge to make it work.
Click to expand...
I think you have that backwards. Most people who lack the intelligence, energy, or knowledge to make it work don't have a degree. The person who has (by some means) obtained a degree without having intelligence, energy, or knowledge is far less desirable as an employee than the person who has the intelligence, energy, and knowledge, but no degree.

I'd add, too, that these days even a basic degree with no type of marketable specialization is pretty helpful. When I was only rocking a BSc I couldn't get well paying jobs, but the combination of my ability to write eloquent e-mails and the stamp that told people I've got the ability to reason got my foot in the door to every minimum wage job I applied to.

Go back to the mid-seventies when my parents were entering the work-force and barely any of this is true. My dad drove down the road, shook a few people's hands, and worked for 30 years in a well paying job after which he retired with a cushy pension. At it's core employment prospects are closely related to supply/demand, and these days supply is pretty high, and demand is pretty low, except for the highest skilled jobs.
Click to expand...

Sure, most employers say on their recruiting ads that they require a degree; But in my experience, they are prepared to waive that requirement for someone who can demonstrate the ability to do the job. A degree is useful, in that it is a 'get past the first barrier free' pass - but there are plenty of dumb useless people who have a degree or some kind, and there are a fair few smart useful people who do not - and the best employers know that, and are accordingly flexible.
 
bilby said:
rousseau said:
You have to remember that, all things considered, your career started during a certain era, and now the world seems to be a much different place.

No doubt without any marketable skills you're going to have trouble entering the workforce, but these days, at least in my little bubble, not having a degree or diploma is pretty much a death knell. I think you had the advantage that you're a reasonably smart person regardless, but many people in SWO who lack a degree not only lack the cognitive ability to enter college, but they also don't get the rigorous education that college affords, and so often find basic skills (aka literacy) lacking.

Tack that on to a job market where the people getting middle-class jobs are usually extremely specialized and you're pretty much fucked if you have no education, at least in terms of life-time financial security. That's not to say the path that you took is impossible any more, but most people who don't have some kind of degree don't have the intelligence, energy, or knowledge to make it work.
Click to expand...
I think you have that backwards. Most people who lack the intelligence, energy, or knowledge to make it work don't have a degree. The person who has (by some means) obtained a degree without having intelligence, energy, or knowledge is far less desirable as an employee than the person who has the intelligence, energy, and knowledge, but no degree.

I'd add, too, that these days even a basic degree with no type of marketable specialization is pretty helpful. When I was only rocking a BSc I couldn't get well paying jobs, but the combination of my ability to write eloquent e-mails and the stamp that told people I've got the ability to reason got my foot in the door to every minimum wage job I applied to.

Go back to the mid-seventies when my parents were entering the work-force and barely any of this is true. My dad drove down the road, shook a few people's hands, and worked for 30 years in a well paying job after which he retired with a cushy pension. At it's core employment prospects are closely related to supply/demand, and these days supply is pretty high, and demand is pretty low, except for the highest skilled jobs.
Click to expand...

Sure, most employers say on their recruiting ads that they require a degree; But in my experience, they are prepared to waive that requirement for someone who can demonstrate the ability to do the job. A degree is useful, in that it is a 'get past the first barrier free' pass - but there are plenty of dumb useless people who have a degree or some kind, and there are a fair few smart useful people who do not - and the best employers know that, and are accordingly flexible.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt at all that intelligence and ability are number one, but these days a degree isn't just a little bit of paper. Many would say it's the new high-school education, and a little rooting around will tell you that university graduates almost always do better financially long-term than people without one.

Of course, not going to school is an option toward a middle-class or higher lifestyle, but any more it's definitely the exception rather than the rule, unless you're going into a trade.
 
I ended up with the right degree for me, but in a geographic location which severely limits my ability to use it or to continue in graduate school. Moved here for hubby's work and it's worked out great for him. For me: I have a pretty well paying job in said field that I don't love and a lot of days, don't like much. Nothing wrong with the work, it's just a poor match for me, personally. I realize that I am lucky in the respect that it's a pretty well paying job for a well respected institution and it's better than other jobs I've done. But it is also very regimented which I find boring and leaves me little to no time to pursue things I am really interested in (degree or non-degree related). I'm waiting it out until I retire, which, hopefully will be some years before my full retirement age. For me, that seems to be the best compromise between earning a decent living and doing something I love. I am fortunate that I love doing a lot of things, many of which are not related to my degree. I won't be one of those people who is bored in retirement.
 
I got a Bachelor's Degree in Psychology. When I was finishing it, I remember talking to a friend of mine who was about to graduate with the same and said that I could probably apply my knowledge to use classical conditioning techniques to teach a dog how to fetch a stick, but I wasn't really sure that I could even do that. I then got a job in a warehouse. I went back to school to learn computer programming and got a really good, high paying job.

In retrospect, I think I would have liked to have spent my time in university educating myself in a field which was worth the time and effort I put into it.
 
bilby said:
Sure, most employers say on their recruiting ads that they require a degree;But in my experience, they are prepared to waive that requirement for someone who can demonstrate the ability to do the job.A degree is useful, in that it is a 'get past the first barrier free' pass - but there are plenty of dumb useless people who have a degree or some kind, and there are a fair few smart useful people who do not - and the best employers know that, and are accordingly flexible.
Click to expand...

In my experience this may be the case at first, but when time comes for evals for promotions or layoffs, this comes into play big time. And all it takes to come out is something as innocuous as a department head wanting to 'update their records' or your workplace having "college day".
 
I would like to add that I see a big difference between an education and a job training program. During the course of my undergraduate degree, I took coursework that was unrelated to my degree. Courses that I never expected to use to earn a living. I enjoyed most of those courses as much as any related to my degree. Surprisingly enough some of those courses which I or anyone else--especially my father--DID end up helping me in various jobs I have held. Even if I had never earned a dime from the language or lot classes I took (and surprisingly I actually DID) i really enjoyed them, found them worthwhile and found that they increased my pleasure in and understanding of the world.

So it depends on what you want and expect from your education. I wanted and expected more than job readiness. And I got more.
 
credoconsolans said:
bilby said:
Sure, most employers say on their recruiting ads that they require a degree;But in my experience, they are prepared to waive that requirement for someone who can demonstrate the ability to do the job.A degree is useful, in that it is a 'get past the first barrier free' pass - but there are plenty of dumb useless people who have a degree or some kind, and there are a fair few smart useful people who do not - and the best employers know that, and are accordingly flexible.
Click to expand...

In my experience this may be the case at first, but when time comes for evals for promotions or layoffs, this comes into play big time. And all it takes to come out is something as innocuous as a department head wanting to 'update their records' or your workplace having "college day".
Click to expand...

Yea, it comes down to people making judgement calls between two other people. Given no better information, or all other things being equal, do you choose the guy with a masters or high school diploma. The degree is an intrinsic advantage.
 
Toni said:
I would like to add that I see a big difference between an education and a job training program. During the course of my undergraduate degree, I took coursework that was unrelated to my degree. Courses that I never expected to use to earn a living. I enjoyed most of those courses as much as any related to my degree. Surprisingly enough some of those courses which I or anyone else--especially my father--DID end up helping me in various jobs I have held. Even if I had never earned a dime from the language or lot classes I took (and surprisingly I actually DID) i really enjoyed them, found them worthwhile and found that they increased my pleasure in and understanding of the world.

So it depends on what you want and expect from your education. I wanted and expected more than job readiness. And I got more.
Click to expand...

I got the best of both worlds: a degree that set me down the path to curiosity, and a diploma that gave me in demand skills. As a pure software developer I'm competent, maybe even better than average, but there are plenty of people who are better than me. What almost none of them have, though, is the broad, generalized knowledge of a variety of other fields, or the wherewithal to look in weird places for applicable knowledge. And so the soft skills, and depth of study I bring to my job from my time in my degree is immeasurably helpful. Unfortunately for most, though, the path I got to take is a pretty rare one.
 
Going through highschool in the early 80's, I was told by my teachers that I shouldn't continue with schooling, as I wasn't smart enough, and until I left school to get married and reproduce, I should undertake officer work courses such as typing and simple bookkeeping so that I could work in an office.

I eventually dropped out of high school half way through year 11 (second last year of high school) and took a job working in a supermarket. I then got a job as a receptionist in a real estate, until the traineeship ran out, got a similar job in another one, under similar circumstances, for another few months. This continued in several roles until at 20 years of age, I got a job at the local city council doing word processing. I developed a quick reference guide for the word processing program we were using, and showed newcomers how to use it. Unfortunately, funding for the project we were doing ran out, so I decided to go to uni. To do what - I wasn't sure yet.

So I returned to high school at 22 years of age. During this time I realised that I wasn't smart enough for computer programming, but I was good at helping others with some things - so I decided to try teaching at uni - and the rest, as they say, is history.
 
Hell yeah. I have did a complete medical lab tech education: hematological, clinical chemistry, immunology. The last phase before my diploma was an 6 month internship at a university hospital during which I witnessed the introduction of modern automated analysers...yay \0/

I never worked there :mad:
 
Elementary edjumucation (now retired.) The first half of my career ('til '92) was free of the encroachment of the Reform Movement. Then came the Assessment Technocrats. Sweeeeet Jesus. I'm glad to be out of it, and even more glad that when I was a youngster and subject to the latest thinking in education (mainly that meant New Math) that this No Child Left Untested mindset hadn't yet descended. Test 'em! Test 'em! Retest 'em!!!! You don't read books or "selections" anymore, you read "texts", and you respond to "texts". And if you get it into your head that "texts" are fun and you might want to read more of them in your free time and even visit a used "text" store and buy some to put on your textshelves at home...well, you're an oddball.
 
credoconsolans said:
bilby said:
Sure, most employers say on their recruiting ads that they require a degree;But in my experience, they are prepared to waive that requirement for someone who can demonstrate the ability to do the job.A degree is useful, in that it is a 'get past the first barrier free' pass - but there are plenty of dumb useless people who have a degree or some kind, and there are a fair few smart useful people who do not - and the best employers know that, and are accordingly flexible.
Click to expand...

In my experience this may be the case at first, but when time comes for evals for promotions or layoffs, this comes into play big time. And all it takes to come out is something as innocuous as a department head wanting to 'update their records' or your workplace having "college day".
Click to expand...

I have never heard of a 'college day' before this moment. I presume it is one of those things Americans do, as part of their bizarre culture in which work is allowed to entwine and merge with your private life.

I'm a very compartmentalised person; I don't want to socialise with the people I work with, and, fortunately, I don't have any pressure on me to do so.

The workplace is for work. If I want to socialise or have fun, I will do so with people of my choosing - and they definitely won't include my bosses or my subordinates; and probably won't include anyone with whom I work.

Work is 38 hours a week, plus reasonable and optional overtime. The rest of the time is mine; my employer has no right to even consider imposing upon it. And work is for working; not for 'socialising'. Ugh.
 
ideologyhunter said:
Elementary edjumucation (now retired.) The first half of my career ('til '92) was free of the encroachment of the Reform Movement. Then came the Assessment Technocrats. Sweeeeet Jesus. I'm glad to be out of it, and even more glad that when I was a youngster and subject to the latest thinking in education (mainly that meant New Math) that this No Child Left Untested mindset hadn't yet descended. Test 'em! Test 'em! Retest 'em!!!! You don't read books or "selections" anymore, you read "texts", and you respond to "texts". And if you get it into your head that "texts" are fun and you might want to read more of them in your free time and even visit a used "text" store and buy some to put on your textshelves at home...well, you're an oddball.
Click to expand...

Yes. Even though this response has nothing to do with the thread, what the fuck is up with books turning into "texts"?

"Read your text."

No, fuck you, I'm just gonna read the book I bought for the class instead.
 
Mechanical Engineer. Should have done farming. I still enjoy my job, but I was meant to breed, care for, and process animals.
 
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