Thinking about a major change in direction.

[Sam]

depends on the company you work for.
My company it wouldn't matter what qualifications you got. If your good on the tools your move up.
If you want to be a manager then do some sort of management course at uni and go straight into it. Otherwise it could take a very long time

I dont want to be manager and sat in an office, I want to be on the job. Just wondering about advancing to say foreman or gangleader?

[richard s]

YOU i have a degree in product desing dont you know
BOSS shut the f##k up and go and weld that pipe
the course sound like it has nothing to do with welding and fab but the design drawing and cad parts sound like they could be quite usefull but if you dont intend in getting into the design side of things and just want to make and weld things then the design and cad parts are not much use to you as you wont use them.
worst case you could go back to uni and study something else if you lose interest in the welding

[lemski]

do what makes u happy sam 

[Steve_PD]

I dont want to be manager and sat in an office, I want to be on the job. Just wondering about advancing to say foreman or gangleader?

am a chargehand/gangleader on bigger jobs/shutdowns/when the foremans off and Ive been out my time for 20 months.
Problem Ive got is my company are site maintenance contractors at a large factory but we've only got 10 mechanical guys and 1 foreman so until he leaves nobody has a chance of moving up.

YOU i have a degree in product desing dont you know
BOSS shut the f##k up and go and weld that pipe

This is so true. 
I hate it when a uni grad is working with the drawing office on a project and he is telling me how to do my job even though he's never picked up a spanner in his life.
They only tell me once though

[emery1990]

I'd say being a foreman as such would have more to how much respect you have and how well you know the job, can handle pressure etc, can keep the job going etc. I'm basically a foreman running 3 sites atm.

 You'd just say to your employer yer I done 2 years of cad at uni so I know what I'm doing, having a degree doesn't mean you can do what the degree says you can do, looking at half my mates I think do you actually know anything about what your doing, yet they will pass.

Steve pd, they seem like good wages! I work for my dad and didnt get that lol, well in 4 th year of plumbing atm, just bout to finish my apprenticeship. But was getting at because his boss knows he can do it, that he might start him off at a better wage.

[Steve_PD]

I'd say being a foreman as such would have more to how much respect you have and how well you know the job, can handle pressure etc, can keep the job going etc. I'm basically a foreman running 3 sites atm.

And thats how you move up quick.

Steve pd, they seem like good wages! I work for my dad and didnt get that lol, well in 4 th year of plumbing atm, just bout to finish my apprenticeship. But was getting at because his boss knows he can do it, that he might start him off at a better wage.

My company pay a good wage, welders can earn upto a £1 more an hour depending on what coding they got.

A pipefitter I went college with has been on £7.50 an hour with no overtime rates since he finished his apprenticeship 3 years ago and his boss wont pay him more.
But then some other fitters I went college with are earning 60k a year and was earning 40k as a apprentice. but they work 12 hours shifts 28 days on 2 days off

[mcgee9t2]

you say your woried about being on a 16 year olds wage, when i started my aprenticship a lad who i was with was on 20 odd k a year in his first year.

it all depends what companie your with, equally i know people who are in the same stage of there aprenticship as me who are 2 or 3 years older than me who are on a grand or 2 less than me.  age means nothing in aprenticships i also know someone whos on £100 (just over minimum wage for aprentice) and hes older than me.



personally ide stick out the degree. yeah saying you want to be a rigger or a welder or a mechy is all good, but when you come to 50 odd and you have no degree ect what you gonna do? or if you (god forbid) have a accident and can no longer do that and can only do work stuck behind a desk what you gonna do?

23 is not a old age to start an aprenticship i work with someone who started his aprenticship at 25.  i also know someone whos 30 and is just starting aprenticships. chances are cause your older you wownt be on 16 year old wages, i know both of them are on pretty decent wages, the one whos 25 has just bought a house and a brand new car so cant be on a bad wage.


personally ide stick out the degree just so you have it, after all its something to put on your cv and it can be a back up. someone with a degree that is loosely tied to the subject is more appealing than someone with nothing.

[raferackstraw]

fcuk the degree, in these days they are two a penny, if you love your work you'll find going to work is a joy not a burden and you will find you will  enjoy learning, and hence by the time you are late 20s will be an expert and have more opportunities and probably earn more than a graduate. 

[rob.043]

If you pack in the degree, leave it at the end of an academic year and you could always go back to finish it couldnt you?

Do you have an idea of how you see your working carreer through life? i.e. do you want to get into a single trade/profession (or company) you can stick with and progress through, where a degree may be more useful, or be a bit more nomadic and varied where demonstrating experience with a degree of blagging ability can get you into good positions.

Experience in a role is always better than a qualification, but you may need to rely on the degree early on in a career prior to having much experience. After that initial stage the qualifications will generally pale into insignificance (unless you need it for levels of membership to a professinal institution, im thinking engineering here).

Another consideration before leaving higher education, how easy would it be to return to it? What support do you have now (parents/accomodation/finance) that you may struggle with in returning to a course in later years.

Good luck whatever you do!

[The Mighty Elvi]

Both degree and trade will individually stand you in good stead.

But having them both will make you much better.

Stay the course and keep fabricating in the holidays.  You're 21 FFS!

Put yourself in the postion of a HR manager.  All those shiny degress but no work experience/practical knowledge.

Then your CV comes in.  Whoa, shiny degree and three years welding/fabricating/general iron mongery skilz' much WIN.

It would even give you a fanststic grounding should you start your own business.

Its all about adding value to your CV.  You'd be shoe in for small metal working design & fabrication business.

Jonathan.