It's an interesting and well written article. Some of the points made are reasons why my son doesn't want to go to university. His strategy is to start out with a technician level engineering job after A Levels to find out how well he fares in the work environment and whether an engineering career really is for him or not. If he finds that he needs a degree to progress then he can study for one at a later date.
The world is changing and employers rate qualifications less than they used to. I have used the
IET discussion forum for the past year or so to find out advice. The number of people who have come forward to help is only around 6 or 7 and most recommend a degree. This doesn't tally with information obtained from discussing the issue with people from industry and universities who have neatly explained the pros and cons of doing a degree. They also reckon the people on the IET discussion forum could be biased because the IET is very pro degree and wants to stop certain people such as repairmen without an engineering degree from calling themselves engineers. A university lecturer stated that the hard academic gradgrind of an engineering degree probably won't do my son any justice, and neither will it prepare him well for the job market.
AS adds a new dimension to it all. I have a feeling that many employers expect business skills and social standards to increase in line with the level of qualification. In other words, they may accept somebody for a technician level job that doesn't require a degree, but reject them for a higher level job that requires a degree, because they are weak at the business skills and come across as a bit eccentric at the interview. Getting a foot in the door at a lower level and building up the right sort of work experience could end up being more successful than trying to use qualifications to parachute in to a higher level career.
Posted: Tue Jul 15, 2008 11:07 pm 
