The dilemma
On the subject of jobs again...
I know anyone who has read this blog recently will be tempted to say: "stop f**king talking about it, just go and f**king do it", but I have actually started looking, putting my "plan" into action - The job search, I mean. This has been prompted by high levels of boredom in my life and the fact that I am now paying rent for living with my parents.
I'm not sure what to do. Most people would say "Use your degree and get a starting salary in the region of £20K. Do it, you idiot!" (simplistically speaking). However, at the moment money is not of primary importance to me - I would be happy with enough to get by, to pay rent in Glasgow, and afford to go out on the town one or two nights a week.
What is more important to me is social life; meeting people, having a good time whenever possible. My worry is that if I (assuming I could) get a degree-related job, then I'll be spending a hell of a lot of time alone in front of a computer screen - I did plenty of that at uni!! The nature of my degree (technology-based) meant that it was extremely male-dominated and there was a general feeling of introversion among most of the other students. The reason I went to uni was primarily to live the typical "student lifestyle", meet girls and party a lot. Perhaps it was a lot to do with my negative attitude, but this didn't really happen - probably made worse by my living at home for the first 2 years then moving up to Glasgow just when we had to do all the hard work! All in all I was a bit disappointed but I suppose it was all down to choices which I made.
Anyway, I suppose my idea is to work in some low-stress, low-responsibility job for the next year or so, ideally in a place where there are actually members of the opposite sex to meet! I'd like to go out a lot, in a way to compensate for the lack of enjoyment I had at uni. At the moment I'm considering hotel or bar work, temp work, or perhaps one or two part time jobs, for some variety.
So my dilemma is this: sit in front of a screen and earn a small fortune, or work in a more sociable environment and earn peanuts. Hmmm....
P.s. apologies to anyone who has actually read all of the above moanings. If you find it pathetic, well, you did choose to read it!
2 Comments:
Hi Duncan,
I'm gonna be one of those people who say "use your degree". As probably others who are now employed, such as Craig, will tell you, when you actually get to work you don't spend all your time in front of a PC (unless you really want to). It's just at uni this is the case, where there is so much to do. But when you get into work you really only spend Mon-Fri 9-5 in front of a computer. The rest of the time is yours and you can do what ever you like. You will also meet loads of people.
You can work in a pretty mundane job, like McDonalds, work terrible shifts for just enough money to get by, or you could put the last four years of hard work to good use and get a degree related job that you will probably enjoy thoroughly and earn plenty money (Even if you decide to go to Denmark and pay 40% taxes!).
Sorry if this is a bit of a rant, but I thought I would give you some career advice from someone who is actually working in a job using their degree. If you decide to take a year or two and not get a CS job when you do decide to get one it will be much harder to motivate yourself to do so and probably to get one.
/rant
You're right. I know it. Thanks for the wise advice. I'm guessing that if I started doing something mundane and low-paid, I would soon realise the value of the degree and the advantages it brings. My problem is that I've never had to work a day in my life (aside from paper rounds and placement), and therefore I've so little experience as far as jobs are concerned.
Born with a silver spoon and having it slowly removed!
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