To ask what your degree was and what you do now?

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And how much you earn?

One thing that I have learned on MN is that hard work isn't enough and that you need to work smart too. This is something I am really trying to instil in my dc; they are coming up to uni age and I don't think the school are giving them great advice. There is a massive assumption that everyone will go to university, but no.push toward degrees that have better earning potential or are in demand. Our family circumstances have meant that I am a carer for disabled ds, and therefore I can't help the dc much financially in life. I really, really want them to have the best chance at succeeding in life rather than going to uni for 'the experience' and I'm nosy so like to hear what everyone does too.

Sorry, should have added the starting salary was around 50k, if that helps!

Law and I’m a lawyer.

I dropped out of uni and earn 6 figures - first in my field, and now as a business in that field.

Experience and effort are far FAR more valuable for your career than a degree. Most degrees are useless (this is excluding those which are essential to the career - eg. Medicine, Law etc)

My advice would be unless they know exactly what profession they want to be in - and the degree is essential to that profession - to not go to University at all and get real employment experience, either by going straight into the workforce or via an apprenticeship.

I employ people for a living, and barely glance at their degrees (if they have them) which considering how much time and money would have been spent on obtaining them, is a real waste.

Degrees are rarely worth the paper they are printed on.

Applied Molecular Biology
I have had 3 jobs in this field, with bioinformatics becoming increasingly important (it wasn't a thing when I did my degree!).

I am now an editor for a scientific journal but working with the findings/genomic data rather than the words.

£47K

I dropped out of uni and earn 6 figures - first in my field, and now as a business in that field.

That was badly worded - sorry. I meant that I earned 6 figures in my job, and then went on to earn more by running a business in the same industry.

Maybe if I'd have pursued my degree my communication would be better but it wouldn't be

Business and Finance. Worked for the NHS, did a masters in health economics, have worked a health economist for 8 years, paid £50k

Bachelor of Music, Post grad diploma in hospitality management. Worked for 20 years in hotels - operations, accounts, internal audit. Now a Management Accountant for a construction firm. Pay is decent - satisfied as I don't have one of the widely recognised accounting qualifications (which has hampered previous job searches).

Law. Im a writer

Mod Langs -> translator (also got an MA along the way). I am self-employed and work about 20 hrs a week on average and earn low 30s.

I would advise your children to ignore school career advisers when they say that having a degree, any degree, is great because it shows potential employers that you have academic rigour etc. It's simply not true these days, if it ever was. The milk round is simply not interested in a 2:2 in Recycling with Dance. There's no harm in taking a few years to clarify what they really want to do, or what degree they need to do to get into their target job.

Psychology with criminology - work in HR and OD public sector

Read Englush Literature at university. A few years after that I did a PGCE and became a secondary English teacher. I'm a Head of Department now, and earn £63k.

I studied English at undergrad and have a masters in business. Work in digital department of a large organisation for $83k a year.

History
Retired City Lawyer

Psychology, philosophy and the study of religions. I used to joke I had the world's most useless degree until I ended up teaching maths (I did stats heavy psychology) in an area with a large immigrant population where my fluency with different religions, especially Islam and Hinduism, helped immensely.

I then did a MSC in computing. I now work in a university managing online learning, a job which didn't exist when I started university all those years ago and is now, while not attracting major salaries of other IT jobs, in high demand at the moment.

There are so many jobs now that simply didn't exist when I was an undergraduate. There is no defined path into the job I do now. We tend to be either ex teachers, ex IT trainers or people who have come up through jobs in IT. I see every bit of education I have had as giving me some kind of transferable skills.

I always encourage students to see a degree as a starting point rather than a means to an end.

Sociology followed by a professional post graduate qualification in career guidance. I worked in the profession for a few years before becoming a university academic running the professional qualification I did years ago.

Career success is a combination of planning, hard work, resilience and luck!

OP I know you've said your children don't seem to have access to good advice but they should have access to an impartial, independent careers adviser and i would recommend they seek that out. If they school isn't providing this then feel free to PM and I can point you in the right direction.

I have a joint honours maths and arts degree. Initially went into financial services then changed tack completely and joined the police where my degree is completely irrelevant really.

If I had my time again I might do law or PPE, but that said I don't regret the maths at all. I think that if you don't know what you want to do (which I didn't) you might as well try something "lucrative" - that way even if you hate it you'll be earning (and hopefully saving!).

My cousin is a nanny and earns £50-60k so vocational training is great too. Just make sure you go to the best place - she went to one of the elite nanny colleges, if she’d gone to the local college she would probably be a nursery nurse earning under £20k.

I was a Nanny earning £120k with no degree - experience and smaller qualifications are far more useful.
Norland Nanny training (& Chiltern) is obscenely expensive, and most HNW families avoid Norland Nannies as they are very inflexible.

I know dozens of Nannies who "just went to the local college" who earn £50k + and didn't spend £15k a year plus £1k uniform cost to train

History of Art and Archaeology - first career in an auction house, second, much longer and ongoing as an archaeologist and architectural historian. Don’t let anyone tell you that arts or humanities degrees aren’t vocational and don’t lead to related careers.

Social work degree, now a social worker. 45k ish

History. I work for a heritage organisation on around £27K.

I did a law degree, ended up in a specialist financial services role earning c £50k.

Now going back and doing another degree in something I love, hoping to get a related job.

I did law because that is what the most intelligent people at school were pushed towards. Then shuffled into a related field as the earning potential was v attractive.

Now in mid 40s I’ve had some amazing travel experiences, mortgage nearly paid off (couple of years to go) but I hate my job, my vocational type degree seems to lead down v narrow career paths.

I would suggest doing a non-vocational degree, doing something your child loves, something that is a passion and something that gives flexibility throughout their life with great transferable skills. Most jobs just specify a 2:1 (most employers will look at the uni they got this from -although most won’t advertise this).

Attitude is the most important thing to succeed in a career, a deep desire to succeed, to make sacrifices to reach a goal, a synergy with a persons values and natural attributes.

Jobs and careers are generally no longer for life, always try and give maximum flexibility.

Can I ask why a family would employ a nanny at £120K - is that a live in salary?- when they could outsource it for much, much cheaper?

Read English, now (typically) I’m a teacher. Used to love it but now absolutely hate it. Desperate to get out but commitments mean it’s not so easy. I really regret it as a career choice.

Did not go to Uni per se, did HND in Business & Finance then a postgraduate Management degree whilst working full time - now an FD WFH with EMEA travel - £110k + benefits and bonus

Studied classical music and media at uni.

Went on to work in marketing for a global newspaper for 12 years for a crap wage (press is notorious for that

TV marketing for a year at £40k

Redundancy and 3 kids later, have qualified as a women's health coach and just starting out at £40/hr