AIBU to think you can't have a good career without a degree?

[Sunflowers095]

I moved to the UK alone when I was 18 and didn't have any financial support so studying was never an option.

Then I worked my way up slowly while paying for professional qualifications to get ahead and currently I earn an ok salary and I'm past the entry level/graduate level job stage.

AIBU to think not having a degree might stop me at having a good career at some point? I work in marketing if that makes a difference.

If you don't have a degree have you ever felt like it might stop you/encountered any issues with getting promoted etc?

In marketing it is worth getting the CIM diploma, I have a degree but did the qualification while I was working which is equivalent to a degree. There is also a post graduate diploma which I would probably have done if I'd carried on working in marketing.
My old boss didn't go to uni but had done the CIM courses and she was very good at her job, definitely not held back by not going to uni.

It depends entirely on your field of work. In mine, a doctorate is a requirement, for instance.

The job I have states “Must have a degree”

I don't, but have a HND which I started when I was 53.

I got the job and was chosen over 6 other candidates with a degree

Why? I had experience in the required field

I don’t have a degree, but I do have post-grad quals. My career’s taken a bit of a nosedive of late.

I think that's utter bollocks

I'm in a senior role, next step up will have me at director level in a global company. I don't have a degree and started as a telemarketer in a call centre, just made small regular steps up the ladder.

It depends on the industry, but generally, once you pick up professional qualifications, it stops mattering what you did (or didn't) do at school/uni.

E.g. you're a chartered marketer, no one is going to care you don't have a degree.

I don't have a degree and have a fairly successful career.

I'm senior management at the moment but have held director positions and do consultancy work freelance on the side.

I've been a higher rate taxpayer since I was around 23, which was 17 years ago so at the time higher rate tax payers were considered high earners (at least up north where I live they were).

I outurn all but one of my friends but she's a medical consultant

@katienana

In marketing it is worth getting the CIM diploma, I have a degree but did the qualification while I was working which is equivalent to a degree. There is also a post graduate diploma which I would probably have done if I'd carried on working in marketing. My old boss didn't go to uni but had done the CIM courses and she was very good at her job, definitely not held back by not going to uni.

I have the CIM but certificate, not diploma. Getting the diploma will cost around 2k (no employer or other funding) via distance learning.

My biggest issue with CIM is they provide no feedback. If you pass or fail you get no scoring/feedback/nothing. Considering how expensive it is I'm quite meh about paying so much, potentially failing a module and then dealing with not even knowing where I went wrong :(

I would say if you are an ethnic minority in the UK then generally yes you need a good vocational type degree/professional qualifications to be successful. Hence why black African and Asian parents tend to value education very highly evidenced by the recent race report. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be financially successful and many struggle to find work post-degree.

@Forwhatitsworth101

I would say if you are an ethnic minority in the UK then generally yes you need a good vocational type degree/professional qualifications to be successful. Hence why black African and Asian parents tend to value education very highly evidenced by the recent race report. That doesn’t necessarily mean that you will be financially successful and many struggle to find work post-degree.

Thank you! I'm white and don't have a strong foreign accent as I grew up speaking english and have been living in the UK a while now. I also have a british name/surname. In my home country where I grew up education is valued and you can't get anywhere without it, but that's probably because it's completely free.

My ex husband has got to director level and doesn’t even have GCSEs let alone a degree. He has excellent knowledge of his sphere and a lot of experience, he made himself indispensable to the business early on and is now reaping the rewards. It can be done

I'm 46, I'm the only person in my peer group who doesn't have a degree, everyone went to university when I was 18, and I've had a great career in media. In fact but having a degree helped in my opinion because I started on my first newspaper aged 19, and so always had more experience than others my age.

It depends I think. From what I’ve seen it used to be easier to “work your way up”, my DH is 64 and left school at 16 with no qualifications. He eventually got to exec level (one level below director in his industry) and earned £70k +. Friends of my parents started as clerks in a bank, became managers and regional managers eventually (in their late ‘60s/‘70s now).

There just doesn’t seem to be the same way to progress now. Perhaps it’s just the industries I have experience of, either personally or through friends/relatives. As an example, a friend who I used to work with (who has a degree) became a team manager after about 5 years in the same role. No other opportunities before that for promotion.

I don’t think it’s true, I am classed as a high earner. 13 years in field and progressed from bottom.

Not true at all, just to reassure you. I don’t have a degree and after a series of left turns in different roles, ended up on the web team at a charity. Eventually progressed to a web manager at a global corporate, who paid for me to do the CIM digital marketing diploma. I hadn’t done any marketing before but my role was getting more and more digital marketing-esque. This was back in 2012.

I’m now Head of Digital at a tech company, higher rate earner and just turned down a role that I was head hunted for that paid a lot more, but I’m happy at my tech company and don’t want to join somewhere new remotely.

I didn’t even remotely start in marketing. I just kind of morphed into digital and morphed again into digital marketing. But I have a ton of experience and an aptitude for digital strategies. Somehow. Not sure how, but there you go

So to reassure you, it is completely possible.

My eldest DD doesn’t have a degree, has worked hard and took professional qualifications along the way and is earning £40k+ ,at 27, I think that pretty good.

@GorgeousLadyofWrestling

Not true at all, just to reassure you. I don’t have a degree and after a series of left turns in different roles, ended up on the web team at a charity. Eventually progressed to a web manager at a global corporate, who paid for me to do the CIM digital marketing diploma. I hadn’t done any marketing before but my role was getting more and more digital marketing-esque. This was back in 2012.

I’m now Head of Digital at a tech company, higher rate earner and just turned down a role that I was head hunted for that paid a lot more, but I’m happy at my tech company and don’t want to join somewhere new remotely.

I didn’t even remotely start in marketing. I just kind of morphed into digital and morphed again into digital marketing. But I have a ton of experience and an aptitude for digital strategies. Somehow. Not sure how, but there you go

So to reassure you, it is completely possible.

Thank you so much, that's really helpful! Maybe I should do the diploma instead of just sticking with the CIM certificate..

I somewhat agree but those I know that have degrees have far more options available to them.

My partner earns nearly 6 figures in middle management in a large financial firm without a degree. He has progressed faster than peers his own age who joined on the graduate programme.

Military experience is also appealing to employers it seems to get him in the door. Then he has a strong work ethic and is easy to get along with and great people management skills, that no one has so much as looked at his qualifications during the multiple promotions he’s had since.

I have no degree and no professional qualifications. I just started a £50k job in MarTech where the first thing in the person spec was "must have a degree". I was recommended for the role by someone I worked with in my previous role.

It depends on the job/industry of course, but it's building up skills and experience that's got me to where I am today. I started out doing telesales at 16.

Unless it’s a job which is impossible to do without a degree such as law architecture or Medicine etc the degree is just to get you through the door. Once you have the work experience the degree is irrelevant. I do have a degree but unlike most people on MN I have never given it another thought from the moment I left university. I put no relevance on it other than it probably played a tiny part In my first job. I am a senior manager, I have no idea if any of my team have a degree or not and I couldn’t give a stuff, I don’t look. I only care that they have the right work experience to do the job

My partner doesn’t have a degree. I don’t think he passed his a levels. He’s a senior director.

I do think age & career plays an important part in this. I work in tech and without question, all the people in management (me included) have at least a degree in addition to multiple other qualifications. Whereas within the direct reports, it's more varied. But I do think that if you've got enough experience, professional qualifications are equivalent to a degree.

I rarely see people my age (late 20s) in mgmt without degrees, while it's more likely for older people.

Another one with no degree and a well-paid business development role. I dropped out of two Russell Group unis (one Oxbridge) - wasn't for me. I have no formal marketing qualifications, but over a decade of experience.

I worked my way up in a big 4 firm and am now at a city law firm.

I think it depends on the type of job. My ex husband earns more than £50k driving trains, he barely has GCSEs let alone a degree.