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.

Economics & Spanish.
Work for an investment bank - 70k

History

Now a detective sergeant in the police.

I’m not sure I like the “don’t bother with university (unless it’s a vocational degree)”. Yes it’s not right for plenty of people but I’m there at the moment and I am getting so much out of it, I just really enjoy learning. I know I am unlikely to earn a lot of money when I finish (I know what career path I want to go down) but frankly I didn’t expect to and I don’t really care. I’m the first person in my family to go to university, so it’s not like I am just doing what’s expected.

I work in an Engineering role, but my degree is at the opposite pole, not related. My education provided me with a good all round education.

Some of my team members have Engineering degrees, some do not. Some have been in the armed forces.

We earn above the national average wage

The soft skills are just as important as the basic qualifications such as; good communication verbal & written, prioritization, team player, time keeping, shift working

I have a qualification in Latin which has not been relevant to any job that I've done so far !

Law and language and work as a lawyer.

Thinking about some of my friends, one did English and German and lives in Germany teaching English and German.

Another did business administration and works as a financial controller.

One did a biology degree and works in some sort of biomedical field, although I think it's more of a business role than a scientific role.

My cousin did Maths and is an actuary.

A couple of other friends who coincidentally also did law (ie I didn't meet them through law) did not become lawyers and have been SAHMs since they had their first babies.

Degree in law, now a teacher, earn £35k

English degree, now a copywriter for a marketing agency.

Education. Teacher earn 50k

I did a business degree, achieved a 1:1 and I now work in the creative industry. I earn £26k age 27.

I don’t mind what I do, but I’d like to earn more. I’ve never applied myself properly since leaving uni and lost a lot of confidence, so I’ve never gone for more senior roles/promotions etc. It’s something that I really want to change in the future.

What does it mean to "work smart" ?
Probably not what I did since I earn a lot less than most PP.

I have two degrees. Initially I studied history at university. Afterwards I worked in research and marketing for a while. Then I decided to back to university and studying education. I've not been a teacher for ten years. I earn less than I did before but I enjoy teaching more.

I have a journalism degree but I realised as I was finishing my degree I didn't want to be a journalist. I now work in an office based finance job. It's an investigative role and I enjoy it. I only make about 22k a year though.

Not as successful as most on here.

Degree in genetics, worked for 10+years as a pharmaceutical chemist, big SAHM gap, now a P/T science technician on minimum wage.

DM pushed a lot for me to do a STEM degree, I stuck with it but wish i'd had good advice and chosen something else or taken a year out to really decide.

I did physics, to PhD level. I'm effectively an engineer and I'm on about £50k. I did something else in between though, so I'm a bit behind pay-wise than some contemporaries.
In my experience, targeting your degree is important. It doesn't have to be STEM only or a vocational one but as PP have said, a 2:2 in Light Entertainment is not going to get you past the first round of selection. There's always the exception of course, these people who haven't even got a GCSE and earn £100k or more, but they are the exception! It's a very competitive job market and I can imagine some recruiters see identikit CVs with 2:1s in English or History and nothing stands out. Of my friends from university, every single one who did an English/Philosophy etc degree has retrained...

Degree was in IT and I’m an unemployable SAHM

Pre DC I had a career in marketing but I’m now deemed too old (mid 30s) as lots of fresh thinking graduates are trying to fall back onto marketing / digital marketing (just like I did!)

I’d love a career in Cyber Crime but jobs where I live in this field (and most other techie jobs) are extremely rare - unless you want to be a C# developer, Agile consultant or web designer.

Am going to try and take a teaching route so wish me luck

Heritage management and countryside tourism for one degree and maths for another.
Cleaner £24kpa

I have a degree in Politics. Over the past 20 years I've worked in education, education welfare and the Civil Service. For the past 2 years I've been a SAHP.

Didn't finish my degree (Sociology) and feel I'm only just starting to settle on a direction, in my 30s. (Car seats - randomly - looking for jobs at the moment in baby goods type stores).

This is a very interesting site for anyone just starting out (or wanting to retrain)

80000hours.org/

Nursing > Staff nurse

Niche degree but basically business management
I work as an aftersales advisor for a luxury car brand

One thing I do really regret though is never having gone to uni age 18/19 and having the proper experience! So I wouldn't necessarily steer them away from that. It's a huge thing for a lot of young people, and it's not all partying and drunkenness these days.

Study a subject they're curious and interested about and it is likely to serve them well later even if it's not an obvious kind of path.

English Literature and I'm now senior level manager in communications. On about 40k but that's because of my sector, other sectors pay more but mine is more family friendly. I like my job and find it interesting.

I went to a very selective uni full of posh people. One thing I noticed was that they didn't choose subjects based on that subjects job prospects, just what they liked and were good at - so english, economics, biology - whatever. This is not because they didn't have to work. Its because they knew that all the good graduate work programs (at banks, corporate accountancy, law, PR, etc etc) didn't care what subject you actually did, just that you got a first from an Oxbridge/red brick uni.

In my opinion its better to do a subject you enjoy and the best possible uni you can get into. Not some weird career focused degree from a no name uni.

French-work in financial services - earn 6 figures

Maths degree. Now work in the music and events industry. Completely unrelated.

I have an undergraduate degree in sociology (but also a master's and PhD too). I am, in fact, a sociologist. So my uni degree was very relevant. I have a job that I very much enjoy (academic and clinical researcher) and I think is well-paid (45K), though maybe not relative to how much time I spent in education. I have bit more potential for promotion and salary increases though as I'm still quite junior.

That said, dh has a degree in business (undergrad only) but is self-employed in a creative field where he wouldn't have needed a degree at all. He makes over 100K a year. He's simply had a bit of luck, is very good at running a successful business, but is also very skilled in the creative work he does and it's very niche. I think the degree was very important though because there are lots of people who start out trying to make a living doing what he does (because it's a 'hobby' of sorts), but fall flat on their faces because they have no entrepreneurial skills, no marketing experience, can't keep their accounts straight, etc.