Should I go to uni?

[Booth11]

1 point to make, and this is a point which stoped me going into anything car related when i was leaving school.

for me, cars are a hobby, you mix hobbies and work and somepeople loose a passion for their hobby. i didnt want this to happen so didnt go into anything car related.

This is a really good point.  If you do it as a day job, it may quickly lose its appeal as a hobby, maybe not but worth thinking about.  I've seen this happen to a few friends.

Aside from the obvious interest in cars, is there anything else that really comes to mind?  Apart from accounting, what else are you good at?  You're wise to give time to really think it through as it will be much harder to change direction a second time if you choose another wrong path.  Good luck 

[Sam]

I have tonnes of mates who have an automotive engineering degrees, all of whom (apart from one hyper-intelligent lad with Motorsport running through his veins) are having to switch to mech eng, elec eng etc. in order to get grad jobs with people such as Rolls Royce (not cars). I have another mate, who is a little older, who is performance analyst with one of the world super-bike teams and every time I see him when he isn't travelling the world all he can talk about is looking for a way out and using his limited free time to learn skills in alternative disciplines. The Grass isn't always greener.

BUT doing something you hate for a living isn't worth any amount of money imo. Whenever I'm doubting where I'm heading or weather I'm doing it right I always remember a quote from Mickey Smith, a surf photographer and film maker, "“If I can only scrape a living, at least it will be a living worth scraping". Do something you love. Forget about the money (to a point, obv you gotta live).

So - the question is how do you make your own skill set, something that comes naturally to you, give you pleasure in life? Start thinking outside the box, you are right in thinking uni/carrying on down the same path aren't really the right options, that's why you are asking. How about transferring into commercial analysis or something similar, procurement work for companies such as jaguar landrover are always flying about - it's a start? I know I haven't really told you any specifics, but deep down you need to do what is right for you. 

[jv]

I come back to read this every now and then:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7417359.stm

[Waspy]

Thanks for the reply Sam! I think it's my lack of direction that is ultimately causing me problems. I'm the kind of person that if I get my teeth into something I with work and work and work until I have achieved my goal, just right now I have nothing to aim at (or certainly nothing I want to aim at). I am way to (perhaps irrationally) scared of making the wrong choice. But last time I said "Screw it, I have to do something" I ended up here. So yeah, just need time to sort my head a bit, which is something this job gives me very little.

Nice article JV. I found myself disagreeing with a few of the writers points, but equally they made some interesting ones. I ended up not being sure what to take from it haha other than this line:

"One way to bring meaning to your work is to do less of it". That paragraph rang pretty true. While I have never worked part time, during my holidays I am often forced (I'm not tied up or anything, but you know what I mean) to work, so it ends up feeling similar to part time. And knowing that tomorrow isn't going to be exactly the same as today, makes today a little more manageable.

[xxChrisxx]

I can sympathise with your frustration at being locked into a training programme that is not exactly floating your boat, but agree with what's been said already.  Better to stick with it, complete your training, then reevaluate your options towards the end of the term.  If nothing else, it will show prospective employers or colleges that you can commit and apply yourself to something and see it through and recognise it's value in the longer term, as opposed to just flitting about when the going gets tough.  That counts for quite a lot and all the while you are gaining valuable work experience which will be transferable in other ways.  You are very young so you have time on your side. 

That is f**king terrible advice. 

Sticking at something you hate and know you aren't going to use does not show commitment and application. It shows you lack the ambition and spine to take control of your life.

This not a 6 week summer job, it's a commitment to about 10% of his working life. That just happens to have a nice neat breaking point coming up.

Lets say he finishes after 5 years. Does he then waste half a decade and start again. No, he gets a job. Then he has a house, a wife and a baby. So he cant very well start again, so he'd better go for that promotion. 40 years later he realises he hates his job, has always hated his job and although he's been well compensated for his time he's been unhappy and his life has been a grind.

Just go back and read the original post. OP has already made his mind up and is looking for validation.


OP decide what you want to do, then go and do it. I had the same thing after my first year of university. I am a person who has always taken the safe option as I am apprehensive of change. But taking the step to change to engineering was the best decision I ever made.

Life is far too short to be doing a job you don't like. It consumes most of your waking hours.

[Booth11]

^^

I was partly referring to it maybe being worthwhile for the OP to carry on and complete the training programme to gain some transferable skills and get an accounting qualification that he could make use of whilst deciding what path to take next.  Fair enough, I didn't realise the OP would actually be a qualified accountant by the end of year 2 till he later clarified this, which does suggest that, if the remaining years won't add any real value to what he'll have by end year 2 and he hates it THAT much, it makes sense to make the break at that point, but important to find some direction moving forward.

Commitment shouldn't be underestimated though, it's important, perhaps even more so if you want to ultimately run your own business.  Even in a job you love and want to do, there will be tough periods where it's tempting to walk away, but you have to get through them and you only do that by being committed and applying yourself.

I sincerely hope the OP does find something he enjoys, that leads to a fulfilling career.

[Waspy]

Lets say he finishes after 5 years. Does he then waste half a decade and start again. No, he gets a job. Then he has a house, a wife and a baby. So he cant very well start again, so he'd better go for that promotion. 40 years later he realises he hates his job, has always hated his job and although he's been well compensated for his time he's been unhappy and his life has been a grind.

This has pretty much been my thinking/concern from the start. I'm already concerned that I will get drawn in by the huge raise they will give/offer me this September, and then where does it stop? Five years? Ten?  I also agree with the majority of the rest of your post. Most of my thoughts put down in a single post.

Still, I appreciate all the time you guys are taking to give such thoughtful responses. It really is helping me to make my mind up.

EDIT: @booth, the extra 3 years are pretty much vital if you want a career in finance, but ultimately is just a peice of paper. All the real skills are learned in the first 2 years. With the 2 year qualification I will have access to plenty of jobs to keep me going. And I do see the point about commitment, but equally when do you stop the commitment? Like Chris said, after 50 years do you look back feeling proud to have committed to something you hated? Lots of people commit to things blindly for the sake of commitment (broken marriages?).

[clipperjay]

LOL you are so caught up worrying about the future?
FK that my kids are young reality I will pay for there degrees can they afford it NO, can they afford a mortgage NO?
Do I still think education is a good thing yes!
 

My father sat me down at 10 years of age his words are you are in a foreign country where its more likely you will not be picked for employment in a sea of applicants.
What seperates you from them?
Education is what makes you unique!

I've said to other people in your situation that

I don't care if you get a second class or third class degree, the difference is that you have gained IQ points over three years of education over someone who has hardly any thats the difference of someone leaving uni with only 25% or 50% knowledge with them.

Education is previlage these days and not a right things have moved on and if you can place a price on education i.e debt you have lost the battle already!

I'm sick of hearing I only do this for money, wage packet & bills!

The way I see it, you have more options than most, rather than two singlar problems of "I hate my job" "I don't want to be in debt"   

Sound harsh? Tough titty life is tough!

[Waspy]

I don't think I ever said I don't want to be in debt. It is an advantage, but certainly not a deciding factor. I didn't want to go to uni because I felt it was a waste of TIME, not money. Time is far more valuable in my opinion. One can measure how much money they have left. Very few people can measure how much time they have left.

I also disagree with you on the degree point. Degrees have become MASSIVLY devalued, ever since labour said 50% of people should have one. Education makes nobody unique. The tables have turned since you were 10. Now experience is what gets you noticed. Still, that wouldn't put me off a degree. Not knowing what degree to do would/did put me off a degree. Blindly going and getting  degree is madness if its in a subject which is of no interest to you.

Speaking to the decision makers at my firm, they have said they hugely prefer school leavers (those without degrees) to graduates, because they can be trained exactly how they want, are typically more driven (in their experience), and the degree adds no value to the roll. And that's coming from one of the top accounting firms globally.

[clipperjay]

They would say that so they don't have to pay you what you are worth! Accounting firms (bean counters)

So sea of people looking for jobs so compertion is a mass and uniqueness will determine the selection right?
10 people five have degrees 3 have relevant degrees I'm looking at either 3 to 4 candidates 4th being the long shot who is actually fallen through the net and is super intellegent because he didnt have an formal education he is unique!
Waste of time or money its the same thing.
 
The degree you go into is YOUR choice whether it interests YOU is irelavant to me.
 Problems? I see more options for you, macronise the decision process DECIDE what you want to learn and it will fit into place!
I'm not being condesending here, but hey I'm proud by just you considering an education against the mass of a people who think a degree means jack sh!t.
Don't take my blunt posting as a negative as all I have done is show you a different way of thinking?