Degree ? Waste Of Time

[white-anglo-reactionary]

That old chestnut

A guy I know, council estate born and bred, left school at 16, became an apprentice, set up on his own ten years later, and now employs 60 people, lives in a two million quid house, drives a Range Rover and has three kids at public school.

We've all heard the anecdotes about the man with no education who makes it big. They are a bit like the stories of the old fellah who smoked eighty fags a day and lived to be ninety. For each of these old blokes, there's another smoker who dies in his forties leaving young children.

We all like these stories. They are quite comforting. But for each of the working class boys made good, there are another hundred working class boys made bad, and another thousand posh blokes with an even bigger house and and an even more expensive car. Nurture will nearly always win out over nature.

[IT contract agent]

When my son is older I will be steering him towards useful trade skills that can be scaled into a business. Thousands signed up for IT courses on the back of a supposed boom during the late 90's and are now scratching around looking for dog basic IT work on helpdesks etc. No wonder the @rse dropped out of the job market. Thank god I have jumped on the Service Delivery escalator.

Send him to Uni - It may not mean much but he will have three of the best years of his life!!!!!

Re IT guys looking for work - me thinks there are other factors to consider here rather then simply the number of people taking IT degrees in the 90's....there are still plenty people being given HSMPs and finding jobs here

[threaded]

We've all heard the anecdotes about the man with no education who makes it big. They are a bit like the stories of the old fellah who smoked eighty fags a day and lived to be ninety. For each of these old blokes, there's another smoker who dies in his forties leaving young children.

We all like these stories. They are quite comforting. But for each of the working class boys made good, there are another hundred working class boys made bad, and another thousand posh blokes with an even bigger house and and an even more expensive car. Nurture will nearly always win out over nature.

There was that millionaire hod carrier from Sheffield.

[threaded]

Eh! I've been here in Germany for coming up 18 years now which I presume is pretty long term and I have never had to show anything to register as self-employed. Bottom talk

So you work illegally in Germany? I have a relative who's a professional diver (black water that kind of stuff) and to set up they went along with all their diving certs, but the civil savants were only interested in his degree in Fine Art from Central St. Martins ...

[VectraMan]

A guy I know, council estate born and bred, left school at 16, became an apprentice, set up on his own ten years later, and now employs 60 people, lives in a two million quid house, drives a Range Rover and has three kids at public school.

That's all very well, but 99% of people don't start up their own businesses but rely on being employed by others (and contractors fall into that category too essentially). For the 1% to succeed they need to have the drive and the guts to do it, not a piece of paper, but for the 99% to succeed that piece of paper can help quite a lot.

[milanbenes]

threaded,

I wouldn't bother replying

let them do it their way

Milan.

[lukemg]

Some valid points I agree with, a degree can help as you move to more senior roles and going off to uni certainly changed me completely for the better in terms of self reliance and confidence, not to mention being remembered as a great time of my life (we sent postcards home once because we were having such a good time). But these days I still feel that people are being sold a pup thinking they are doing the right thing by heading into debt at some college and hearing about grads getting paid 25k and with a welcome payment to clear debts. 3 years later they are in limbo, feel too qualified to do basic work and reality kicks in. Yes the good ones will eventually catch up and prosper but they would do so anyway.
Ideally you should work for a few years as mentioned and then go (you are likely to have a better idea what you want to do etc), but unless you are pushed into it by say redundancy it is hard to sack work off at this stage when you are used to cash, cars etc.
I think you should take a few chances when you are younger and always be looking for a Plan B, sometimes this can emerge from the area you are working in. It is easy to think that contracting is your plan B but as discussed, it should be able to generate revenue without you being there for it to qualify.

[Francko]

We've all heard the anecdotes about the man with no education who makes it big. They are a bit like the stories of the old fellah who smoked eighty fags a day and lived to be ninety. For each of these old blokes, there's another smoker who dies in his forties leaving young children.

We all like these stories. They are quite comforting. But for each of the working class boys made good, there are another hundred working class boys made bad, and another thousand posh blokes with an even bigger house and and an even more expensive car. Nurture will nearly always win out over nature.

What an insane comparison! Smoking is proved to damage the health. Not having a degree is not proved to make you less successful, at any job or any career (of course, apart from the ones reserved to a few casts). For each graduate with a good job there is another one with an admin job who struggles to pay the rent for his shared room.

Regarding legal requirements, Threaded/Milan, yes, they might be on paper. But how many people comply 100% with them? What if you don't? Do they have the right to throw you out? Just to give you an example, estearn europeans in England have to comply with the registration scheme for 12 months. Many don't do that! What do you think it happens? Do they get thrown away? No, they just keep their job and keep working like the ones who strictly adhere the rules until after a certain number of years you automatically acquire all the same privileges.

[threaded]

Yes, in Denmark they will turn up late in the evening, tell you to pack a suitcase, and escort you to the border with Germany.

[Francko]

Yes, in Denmark they will turn up late in the evening, tell you to pack a suitcase, and escort you to the border with Germany.

So it's only in England that you are entitled for Non Compliance benefits? :-)