To ask if you have become successful in your career without a degree?

[TravellingSpoon]

inspired by the other thread about degrees and where they have taken people, are there any MNetters who have worked their way up without a degree, or having gone to university ( so apprentiship etc).

Dd hasn’t got a degree but has several agencies type jobs that if you looked at the criteria say they need a degree.

Don’t know about working her way up. She just looks at a job and if she thinks she can do it she puts herself forward for it

One of her jobs is in charge of the graduates who have been to university to get a degree in order to do the job that Dd walked into at 18

No, because it would have been impossible. My job requires (at least) two postgraduate degrees.

Yes I did. Left school at 16 worked my way up but I am a bit of a blagger. Met OH at work, he was same level as me but he had a degree. However, I had bought my first property years before him and paid more into the company pension scheme so bigger pension slightly. I enjoyed being in the adult world at 16, had no whish to go to uni.

I was until some life complications got in the way and i took a different easier role.
I didnt go to university or do an apprentiship but i did study professional qualifications in the evenings after a few years working. I managed a team which included postgrads.

Yes, but it is difficult to transfer to other career paths. I’d have liked a permanent contract with an international organisation but could only get a temporary one, or be taken on in an admin role.

I did prior to leaving to look after my children. What I will say is that I wasn’t as well paid as people coming in a little later as graduates. I think ten years later it had probably evened out a bit, but it took me quite a while to get the salary up. Possibly if I’d have moved companies that would have helped, but I had terrible imposter syndrome and wasn’t confident enough to take the plunge. Whether that was my lack of degree or my personality I don’t know. I’m looking to retrain now, so I’ll see if it eventually makes any difference!

Yep, started on an accountancy apprenticeship post A-levels.

Unfortunately I think a lot of people have twigged that they're a good route to a career without going to uni so I think they're a bit harder to get onto nowadays.

Also have several friends who earn well - in trades. In fact most of them earn more than I do. The flip side is they're often the first ones to struggle in a recession, plus its often not the sort of work you want to be doing at sixty plus.

I do think there are fewer opportunities to 'work your way up' nowadays as many places (unnecessarily in a lot of cases) want a degree.

I’m very interested in this. I had two graduate parents and 3 graduate grandparents (and the 4th went to teacher training college so would now count as having a degree) and was very academically able so going to university was pretty much seen as a given. I don’t remember ever having a “options to have a career other than by going to university” conversation. Just as I didn’t have an “options for living on the moon” conversation.

My job is interesting. Technically you could train for it just with “good” A levels. The profession allows that. But I don’t know anyone who has of my generation. (I’m 40 now.) When I started there were one or two (out of c100 in the company) who were c40 then (so c60 now) who had I think. It would be incredibly hard though as there is a huge number of years of exams that you have to take. Exams are expensive in terms of time required, cost to pay for study materials and cost to enter. And require better than A level maths. So without a company taking you on and paying for it all (and companies only take on graduate trainees) it is very difficult indeed.

I am an actuary. (Hence the use of “c” before every number - it stands for “circa” and means “about”. I wrote it without thinking and only spotted it when reading through.)

Most successful person I know started on the YTS scheme. Now quite high up in his field and is also doing quite high level volunteer work too.

I'm in a half decent job and I know of a few people at my level who haven't got a degree.

Obviously the more specialist you want to go the more likely a relevant qualification is to be required.

A couple of school friends got onto graduate training schemes straight from A levels, but they were very well connected to the companies in question. Both have done very well since.

One started right at the bottom in a data inputting role on minimum wage for a financial services company and thirteen years later has made it up the food chain to a very comfortable job (>100k plus bonuses). He is however exceptionally hard working and roles with a sales element as his became provide good data to support promotion on skill.

Another made enough posting complete rubbish in my view to YouTube to retire in their late 20s.

Doing well without a degree seems very workable looking at the people I went to school with who skipped uni. Like the people who did well with degrees though they were the ones who would seek out and seize opportunities rather than wait for things, and would probably also have done well university or not.

Yes, I’m top of my game without a degree.
I’ve gathered other qualifications on the way pertinent to my job.
I could go higher, I probably would do well & wouldn’t be turned down for interview based on the lack of a degree.

I have to seriously consider my feelings when going for a perfect job in my field, not getting it against someone with one years experience with a degree in comparison to my 25 years experience and a multitude of other training under my belt but no degree.
It can really mess with your head.

I live in an area of very high self employment and lots of people have started businesses by seeing a gap in the market, working incredibly hard and making a real success of it. No degree required, starting at the bottom, doing everything, and ending up as MD with profitable turnover and a lot of staff.

However Covid has had a major impact on these businesses (touristy area) and not all of them will survive.

Yes I did, ended up in charge of Export finance in the UK for a huge international company.

I'm 64 and very few people of my age went to university, in the area I lived in, I would have loved to gone but my parents couldn't afford it, fees didn't apply in those days.

I was in charge of many graduates and my department contributed to our graduate training program.

I had a good work ethic, a good memory and was well organised and didn't fail in anyway during the 12 years in charge.

My DH has. He left school with absolutely no qualifications at 16. He has worked every day of his life since then in various manual jobs. When DS1 was a baby he did on the job training, resulting in a NVQ and most importantly, a HGV licence. He's not earning as much as he could be driving because he doesn't want to do the overnights etc and be away from the DC while they're young. But he is earning significantly more than all of his friends from school who went onto uni etc and have very nice jobs in little offices wearing suits that they like to boast about.

I do think that the problem with the education system in this country (and probably also the economy in general) is everyone is pushed into the same mould, regardless of whether it suits them or not. People should be given the option to choose. Even when I was at school, it was blatantly obvious that there were some children there who were just not suited to being in school, that way of working etc. They probably would have been more useful to society in a factory at age 15 instead of disturbing an entire GCSE science lesson. My mum left school with bugger all academic qualifications although she was from the generation when women weren't really given the opportunity to do things like that. Instead she learned how to type to go onto the typing pool, she learned how to cook (I don't think she paid much attention in those lessons though!) and was taught how to knit, sew and iron. I'd argue that these are things schools should be focusing on for some kids, actual real life skills including managing money etc. By teaching kids these kinds of things, it would probably benefit society a lot more than forcing everyone to go to university.

My DH works in an office for tfl, he does have a degree but for lots of the well paid operational roles...e.g. train driver, station manager you don't, you can work your way up. (need excellent hearing and reflexes to drive a tube though, DH is sad he can't)

My dad works in IT for a council (so medium paid) but he's largely self taught, he did one year of OU as an adult but apart from that taught himself and always says yes to any training course offered.

I don't have a degree.

Left sixth form and got my first job at 18, studied accountancy while I worked then moved from that into risk management.

I'm now a senior manager/head of department level but also have my own part time consultancy business.

Yes, I’m in my mid twenties and am a journalist. I have almost six years experience. I didn’t even do my A Levels, let alone a degree. Last year I was listed as one of the 218 most respected journalists in the U.K.

I don’t a have a degree but have enjoyed a successful career which has paid well enough and more Importantly, I’ve very much enjoyed.

Managed to talk my way into a an IT related job that required a degree in the U.K. (I dropped out of school after GCSEs) and followed a graduate career path from there, but found it impossible after moving to the US, where even job ads for retail assistants would often require a 2 year degree. I gave in and did one via distance learning in the end.