Life's so random

[Bill Wright]

I suppose that a few years after they retire many people look back and wonder 'what could have been?' You start to wonder if you could have made a better fist of your life. In particular, I find myself musing about my employment.

If I hadn't been so scared of the headmaster I would have moved to a tech and then I'd have been a TV repairman for ever. If I hadn't been excluded from A Level Physics because the maths teacher at the previous school hadn't looked at the O Level syllabus I probably would have ended up in broadcast, or cable TV, or something. Or more likely I would have failed Physics and ended up as a barman. If I'd taught at a better school after my teacher training I would probably have been a teacher all my life. There were circumstances in my life that could easily have led me to become a joiner, a plumber, a cook, or a site electrician. I almost bought a chip shop, once. I would have loved to work in the printing industry, or been involved with typography. It was only very late in life that I discovered that I could have been a conscientious and happy nurse.

Life is is just a series of junctions, and which way you go seems to be pretty random.

Bill

[harry]

My father only had one job and two employers in his entire working life. Only lived in two houses post marriage. Though moved again after retirement.

I have only ever been employed by the government. Only in S Wales and Yorkshire. (Moved around very little.)

Only ever owned four houses including the present one.

Looking back, I could have made a lot more money out of property but I was too timid in my schemes.

Hindsight is a jolly good thing!

[Brian Gaff]

Yes but as one cannot go back. as they say, the past is unalterable and the future unknown, so embrace the glorious present, and live. Brian

[John Rumm]

Can be - you just make the best decision you can at the time with what you know...

Having said that, now and them meet someone who genuinely "has a plan". They know from early on what they want to do or what they want to achieve, and set about doing now what makes that possible in the future. Each decision focussed on what gets them closer to the goal. In many cases its a path to great success and fulfilment, and in others perhaps disillusionment if having finally climbed the ladder of success they realise it was leaning against the wrong wall.

[Tufnell Park]

I must have been the opposite by that standard Bill. Having obtained 5 GCE 'O' levels including Maths, English and Physics. I knew i wanted an electrical apprenticeship. I applied to 6 organisations got 5 job offers and chose to work for my first preference.

I worked for the same organisation, progressing through the ranks into management, until i retired. I loved every minute of it and in retrospect i would do exactly the same again if it were available.

I guess i was fortunate!

[Broadback]

+1 I left school and joined the RAF as a radio apprentice, I served my 12 years then joined what became ICL as a computer engineer. I stayed there until I took early retirement. I enjoyed my life and would do exactly the same again, given the chance, which of course I will not be!

[tabbypurr]

and often the ladder breaks.

[newshound]

Chris Hadfield is a good example of success. I can recommend his book.

[Tim Watts]

There's not much career wise I would have done different, except not work for tiny companies who stressed the shit out of me.

What I would have done different is CompSci at uni or Electronic Engineering, not Physics.

That was partly our school: I wanted to do a Computer <whatever> O Level, but our school was old fashioned and said "We don't do that and won't help". And "Dennis", the Physics teacher I had for A-Level was a complete legend and I loved Physics then...

So what I should have done is:

1) Got off my arse and found out how to sit an O Level outside school; 2) Researched other options better rather than going with the flow.

If I'd lived now rather than then, I might, as the Internet makes such discussions much easier to hold - and Youtube videos means being able to sample uni lectures at your leisure from a wide variety of subjects and institutions.

Back then, it was go sit in Sutton Library and skim prospectuses and visit universities.

On the plus side, I can use all this with my kids. I've already had the lad spreadsheeting university costs vs travelling from ours if he goes to London - and I'll be taking them to open days ahead of time focussed on areas they might have interest in and/or good employability. No need to wait until you are doing A Levels to visit, some uni's encourage younger ones to go and see stuff, sometimes taken around by a student informally on mini tours.

[Bob Eager]

Pro tip: Students nearly always do better if they live away from home, near the campus.

[Tim Watts]

It's probably not now...

Yes - partly to have worked in a time when you had big companies that tended to do most of their trade in house, from development to deployment to repairs and operations.

Look at the CEGB - big research site.

BR - very self sufficient from the track to the operations.

GPO (Phones) ditto.

Then you had the likes of GEC.

Any of those, you could go in at the bottom (and in some, like BR it was mandatory much of the time, eg be a train driver? You'll have to clean the bogs at this station, then we might let you be a guard, then a secondman. If you're still here, then you get to drive a wide array of traction on a massive selection of routes.

Which was good in a way as the driver understood everyone else's job (apart from signalling - for some reason I don't think they saw fit to run them through a stint in a box).

I found, coming to the party later:

1) I worked my way up which was useful as I have a wide variety of relevant skills now;

2) But everyone I worked for tended to have some "reorg BS" go down so the longest I've worked for anyone is about 7 years as I just hop it when some daft stuff like that comes up and that's usually the only time I make a career progression.

3) I have no aspirations for "management". I hate politics and I hate people-managing. So I'm capped out doing roughly as much as is typical in Britain as we traditionally don't have an ethos of highly graded purely technical positions.

[Tufnell Park]

Maybe, but i am nearer Bill's age than perhaps you are and i was contrasting my experience of education and work with his.

The world changes as time moves on and it will be different for succesive generations. You have to deal with it as it is at the time.

[Tim Watts]

The lad worked this out for himself. He was looking at Imperial off his own bat (though I have already taken him there a long time ago) and realised one of the Halls was close to campus and had loads of facilities whereas travelling from home would cost a lot of time and socialising opportunities.

On the minus side, it was bloody expensive!

I've actually told them to give strong consideration to good universities not in London on that basis alone. Unless the place and the course is nationally shit-hot (eg CompSci at Imperial), then the premium cost becomes debatable. York did used to do a perfectly good Elec Eng degree that was in the top 5 in my time - so if that were still true, would you go for somewhere crouwded and expensive to live like London or Southampton or take a very slight reputational hit and benefit from more space and less money?

These are all factors that we didn't have to worry so much about with it was all free.

I would even hold the option open of deferring while they try some real work - there is nothing lost and arguably some gain in personal maturity by putting it off for a couple of years.

[John Rumm]

Yup, oddly I was thinking about him as I wrote the above... especially where he describes how at a young age he decided he was going to be an astronaut, but was aware of the problem that Canada did not actually have a space program! However he did not let that stop him, and worked out what career path would put him in the right place at the right time should they ever start a program.

[dennis]

I worked on the principle that if you didn't enjoy the job don't do it!

Money isn't everything, you just need a bit more than you spend.

[spuorgelgoog]

And of course there is the Open University.

£17,568 for an honours degree.

Owain

[Tim+]

Both my daughter and my niece were desperate to be vets. My daughter just missed getting the requisite grades whilst my niece succeeded.

Five years post grad, my daughter is now very happy in a civil service job working on marine plastic pollution, my niece has got fed up with being a vet and is retraining.

Tim

[Tim Watts]

You buggers were lucky :)

Defined benefits pensions, one company for life, free education.

I rode in the wake of the wave so I had some of that for some of my life so I can see what I'm missing. I missed the "big company, one job" as they were all being smashed apart in the 90s.

My pension stopped being defined benefits in 2016 so I am now for the first time taking an interest in SIPPs and freezing the DB part and starting a new one.

Perhaps the current generation will just think this is all just normal?

Certainly, it is focussing their minds now uni costs - and they are rightfully both choosy and perhaps take more care to work hard(???)

[Tim Watts]

Good point... Feasible too if you jump in while you have no family commitments.

Is that for a science/eng degree or not as I assume the former cost more due to summer lab time?

[spuorgelgoog]

BSc (Hons) Natural Sciences (Chemistry) Q64 has *optional* residential schools.

Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) Q65

(This thorough general engineering qualification meets the educational requirements to register as an Incorporated Engineer)

"This qualification includes two compulsory modules that each includes a compulsory residential school. For each residential school you must pay an additional charge of £285 (2018/19) to cover the cost of accommodation and meals. You?ll pay this charge when you book the residential school, after you?ve enrolled on the module. You?ll also have to pay for your own travel to and from the venues."

So yes, there can be extra costs.

On the other hand, conventional unis have lectures during the day which means the only work students can do easily is evening/weekend, which tends to be retail and bar work and not well-paid.

OU students have much more opportunity to do a full-time day job above minimum wage.

Owain