Could use some advice from the wise..

[Eddie Hitler]

After a difficult year suffering various setbacks I'm starting to get my shit sorted. I'm at a crossroads and could use some wisdom from anybody who's had the same scenario.

I'm going to do a tldr version straight off the bat, partly because I'm on my mobile and my coffee is getting cold on my 4 hour journey.

I have an option of taking a "well paid" (by my standards) job in my hometown. I'd start on 25k, with the likelihood of it reaching 45k+ in the next couple of years. With this I can finally buy my house, treat myself more than I ever have been able to, be comfortable. Also in this economy I feel like I'd be mad to pass it up.

On the other hand I'm currently taking an access to university course. I've always been pissed off with myself for not pushing myself with my education, as I know I'm not thick. I'm 27, an old codger by uni standards. I'm in a relationship but not married or with kids. In my mind I'd like to go down the construction route, either management/surveying or even training as an architectural technician. This will consume four years, along with the debt. Plus side is being in a new city, new.people and sights, and broadening my mind.

It's almost a 50/50 decision. Money, security and the availability of going where I'd like during my time off, versus adventure, learning, new people and an ambition fulfilled.

Anyones input would be greatly appreciated
Cheers

[dydey90]

Where is this hometown? In Leeds I could live very comfortably on that money. In fact, not so long ago I was temporarily earning as little as £25k and managed to not only live comfortably, but also managed to add to my savings every month.

How much more would you hypothetically be earning with a degree in your field?
Are you happy living in your home town?
Would your other half be supportive if you decided to student off for years?

How much training is required for architecture? I seem to remember hearing it was up to 7 years.
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[Itchy]

What is the job you're thinking about? If it is a job where once you leave your job is over or is it a job that you likely have to put in extra time (almost certainly unpaid). A thing that killed me in accountancy was I was paid from 9-5 but I found myself taking work home and still doing it at 9pm on a regular basis.

What killed me even more is at 9pm I would start studying for my accountancy exams.

I'd consider a third option. Do both do the day job and do your studies part time.


Or ask about the university time tables. Way way way back my university time table crammed all the lectures onto Monday and Tuesday. I managed to keep a full time job (two jobs) while studying.

Similarly when I did my masters degrees they happily spread it over 18 months and 6pm-9.30pm Monday and Tuesday allowing me to keep a full and part time job on the side too.


Granted doing it part time will quite easily stretch your degree to 6 maybe 7 years but in the end you have the best of both. Working so little to no debt and work experience AND a degree. So you get the best of both worlds. The weakest link in grads today is many don't do sandwich years and get work experience.
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[drzsta]

Were you not the guy that wanted to join the Raf?

[Polarbear]

Job, JOB, JOB

If it was just the 25k I might say not but if you have a good chance of 45k, fucking take it or I'm sorry, you are stupid.

Even if you end up hating it, when you go for other job interviews and you held a 45k job or your a old loser out of uni.

Sorry being blunt, there is absolutely no choice in todays job climate.

From someone who's worked many REAL jobs over 40 years.
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[Rogerborg]

31, saddled with loads of debt, and competing against new grads? No thanks, I'd leave that one to Percy.

Take the job, and immediately start looking for better one. The three big lies: the cheque's in the post, I won't jizz in your mouth, and we have a well defined career path.
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[ScaredyCat]

Take the job. Right now jobs are hard to come by and it'll get worse. Take the job while you can. You can always further your education, but right now you have a job on the table. Grab it.
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[Chinaboy]

I would take the job too, bit of a no brainer.

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

I was a lab technician on a reasonable wage in my home town when I decided I was being leap-frogged by graduates and going nowhere. At 27 I went to university full time to study chemistry. I loved uni and it expanded my horizons massively. However, I graduated into the early '90's recession and didn't get back into lab work until '95, after which I had a succession of temporary lab jobs until 2000 when I joined the staff of GlaxoSmithKline. Post-graduation jobs necessitated moving away from friends and family. I'm still not earning £45k. In hindsight, and in your position, I'd stay local and take the money. In fact I should have become a plumber or car mechanic, a technical trade useful in any locality with the potential to own your own company, but that's by the by. I'd go for the home town job if £45k is realistic.

[c_dug]

Definitely job at those wages

I'm pretty much the same age as you and never did a degree, in fact I dropped out of two consecutive colleges with nothing worth showing.

I considered a mature student degree too, but in hindsight I'm glad I didn't. I currently work along side several graduates and I'd consider myself much much better off, for a start I'm the only home owner, and to top it off I'm not saddled with thousands in debt.

As somebody who does a fair amount of recruitment, the market is literally flooded with graduates who don't know their arse from their elbow. I'd take a "non educated" person with a proven ability to work every single time (and do).

The only positive I'd say for the degree is it'll genuinely open doors, my other half also doesn't have a degree. She is more than capable of many many jobs that she simply won't make interview stage for due to no degree.
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[Diggs]

Take the job and study in your own time if you want a change. Architectural Technicians can earn a decent whack if self-employed with an established client-base plus a network of other specialists on hand. Work for somebody else and you'll never see 45k doing that...

Land surveyors seem to be ten-a-penny at the moment round our way (West Yorkshire). The price of a typical 'topo' is around £200, which isn't good money when you consider that it takes two people, expensive kit, annual software upgrades and transport to do.

If you are keen on the surveying route I'd suggest Building Surveying as a better option - you need less kit and can charge more for your time.

Like all professions, it isn't just about passing a course at College - experience and contacts are essential so you may find that you have to work for somebody else for a few years before you begin to earn a decent wage...
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[owl10]

Difficult one, but an alternative view from me.


I left school at 16 more or less - dossed around for best part of a decade on low pay (stuck temporary cats eyes on the road in one less than glamourous role, for min wage).

I did a 1 year access course at 24/25 followed by a business studies sandwich type degree which I finished may 2011.

Left uni with a first and won a place on a competitive to get onto grad scheme (being a mature student helps) with a global aerospace company. Start salary was around 27.

Since then I've had the pleasure of working on 3 different continents, flying long haul businesses class, and (although now working somewhere else) doubled my salary from that grad role.

Currently mid 30s, still progressing. I'll stay another year in this role to see where it goes (current manager is close to retirement, I'm next most senior person) then decide whether to jump again.

For me it was a fantastic opportunity which has opened so many doors, leading to life I could only have dreamed of.

If you go this route you need to be 100% committed - you won't be at uni simply for a piss up. But it can be worth it. And if you can get a 25k job Now, nothing will stop you going for / getting something similar in a few years if it doesn't work out.



Tuppence worth

Edit to add in the interest of fairness: my student debt still stands at circa 20K.
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[stevo as b4]

Take the Job if it's something you feel interested and motivated enough to stick with for a few years. If you can have a nice comfortable life and social life for 25k, and anything extra save.

That way in say 5years if it gets unbearable or depressingly monotonous, you could walk away with a spare pot of cash to use to live on while you re-train or study for a degree full time which will get you your graduate qualification quicker too.

What does your other half think of your situation though, and will she support you either way in your decision, as if your planning on relocation or starting a family etc it affects you both massively.

If give the job ago and you can always leave if it goes south
The studies and training you want to do could still be started in 1 or 5years, but hopefully you'll be in a better financial position to pursue them then.

[M.C]

Don't waste your time on an access course. If you really want to go to uni apply directly to an under-subscribed course close to the start date. However I'd be taking the job.

[Lord Percy]

If the job genuinely has the chance of progressing to 45k, I'd go for it. Seems like a potentially tall promise though. Before I started the uni thing I'd have even taken a job at 25k if it seemed like it had potential and was genuinely appealing to me. I took the uni option because it seemed more fruitful long term and partly because I deep down knew I was capable of learning and understanding the world of complex tech/sciencey things (rather than the customer service dogsbody shit I was used to) so I wanted a stab at it. Still in the 'gambling' stage right now as I haven't graduated but I have a feeling it'll pay off - even if earnings aren't higher, I'll be able to go for jobs that are much more appealing to me, hence better life.

In short:
Pros:
- opens up more opportunities
- if learning is your thing, then learning you shall do - "broadening the mind"
Cons:
- no guarantee of better life
- going into it at quite a late age (I'm 28 now, have one or two more years left but desperately want to start adulting again)


On the very much pro-university choice, I'll give you my dad's anecdote:

Worked his way up in the world of accounting and finance for a textile business, early 80s sort of time where he just did his job and was good at it. The sort of stuff all the naysayers talk about now - "You don't need education, just be good at your job!" - so that's what my dad did, and quite well. I think at best he was earning just short of 40k in the mid-90s, where at the time he was aged mid to late 30s. Then around 2001 his employer went bust and he was booted out. His lack of qualification meant he couldn't get back into a job and it was all the new students, accounting/finance grads etc who were beating him to most positions. I was early-mid teens at the time and saw our family go from middle class to living without heating for two or three winters, having to sell the house, downsize and rent a place instead, all money eaten up, desperate times until my gran died and the sale of her house paid for my parents to get themselves one again. My dad only just found stable secure work again in the last couple of years. Before that he was desperately on whatever he could find, doing odd consultant stuff here and there, even lowered his expectations considerably and was going for shop worker positions and stuff not at all related to his profession, which he was always rejected for because they knew full well that he would take flight if something more suited to him came along.

If only he'd got himself the bits of paper to prove he could do what he did!

I suppose this isn't as such a thing about university specifically, but more about getting qualified. Experience counts, but not always, and my dad learned that the hard way.


So I'd say the weigh up is between two things: The amount you truly think you can securely get out of this job long term, and the amount of broadening/foundations you could gain from the university route.

[Alpineandy]

Here's my 'pennys worth'.
Take the job.
Both the UK and the world is a tough place at the moment, and IMO the UK will get worse for the foreseeable future.

By all means try evening/part-time study as well, but getting qualifications doesn't mean you'll get work.

My brother became a mature student for 4 years (no wife and kids) and 5 years after finishing he's still only using his qualifications in a part-time job (whilst doing another part-time to make ends meet and pay off debts).

If they've offered you the firm job then maybe you could twist their arm for a slightly bigger salary to start with.
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The above comment isn't necessarily the truth and anyone that says it is, is only correct if it's the truth or they're bigger than me.

[Itchy]

[Monkeypony]

Take the job and do the degree through the O.U

27 is too old to be a full time student. The children will point and stare and this will make you sad.
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[owl10]

[UncleFester]

Take the job.

45k = £2800 a month vs just about getting a job at 20k a year with a shit degree and no experience? As above, if you can get a job that pays well now that you don't hate and won't mind later you'd be a tit not to take it.

The grass is always greener on the other side of the hedge until you realise that it's just another field.
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[waffles]

Uni debt is getting harder and harder to pay off now. I borrowed the bare minimum back in 2001 and it still took me 9 years to pay it back and that was with paying back a large sum each month whilst saving up extra to pay off the last few years earlier. Some of my friends are still paying theirs off.

What are your job (and pay) prospects after Uni? Do they compare to the job that you could take now? Personally I would go with the job and if you want some fun and adventure you would finiancially be in a better position to do stuff like travelling or adventure sports stuff.
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[stinkwheel]

16 years after graduating from a 5-year vocational degree course, I'm not making anywhere near £45k.
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[Mawsley]

[Itchy]

[Eddie Hitler]

Big thanks everyone for your responses.

I didn't make it clear that the main concern on taking the job would be the feeling of being stuck in my birthtown. I always thought I'd move on, but the bias leans towards taking it rather than university I do agree with in alot of ways.

Has anyone gotten over the feeling of stuckness? I don't want it to become a bigger issue down the line, but if I have a healthy bank balance it would equal out I presume.

My post really has the whiff of immaturity, but I'm not done living and "adventuring" before settling down. The notion of studying whilst working gives the best if both worlds, something I'll look into.

I know the answer already. Helps writing my feelings and sharing though. 😱