Would you be ashamed to tell people you have a degree if you are 45 or older and have an ordinary job?

[user1471554720]

I know that lots of people do further study and it is good for your mind etc. They don't specifically get a degree just to get a good job but some of them may hope it would improve employment prospects.

However if you are mid forties or older and have an ordinary factory or office job, would you keep quiet about your degree? I know that people who don't have a degree are often proud of the fact that they don't have a degree and are working alongside people who do have a degree. Some of them have the attitude that a degree is no advantage if a person with a degree is in an ordinary job, earning the same as someone without a degree.

I have a degree, got made redundant from my job. I then had to take a general office job as jobs were scarce. I would put the degree on my application for promotions but I would not broadcast the fact I had a degree to colleagues. I mentioned it to one and she said 'what are you doing here?" . I was embarrassed to say that jibs were scarce in my locality and I couldn't stay without a job while I waited for a special job.

I have a degree that I have never used, I am certainly not ashamed of it sometimes it comes up in conversation but more in terms of where I did it as it was a really nice city to live in.

I have a degree and I also have a very ordinary office job. My degree is nothing whatsoever to do with the industry I work in.
I don't broadcast my degree to my colleagues as the subject and location I studied at reek of privilege! But I'm still pleased I did it (and probably secretly quite proud).

I went to a very academic private school and have a degree but mostly worked in customer facing or customer centred roles for a long time afterwards. When I had to serve my old deputy head, she was shocked and I felt that I had to explain I was the manager but I was on the desk at that moment. It always irked me that I felt I had to justify my role when customer service is a perfectly valid job (and often requires a degree in the type of places I worked).

Yes, I'm in my 50s and tuition fees were paid by the state. You could still get a partial grant in those days, but I didn't qualify as my dad's income was too high (didn't earn a fortune, but over the threshold). My dad gave me £3000 a year which covered my accommodation and living costs in those days, not much over for luxuries but I'd been brought up by frugal parents and absorbed their 'that's a waste of money' mindset about practically everything not essential to life, so I never felt short. I did some temping in the summer for extra money.

An absolute breeze compared to the financial impact of being a student today.

This is interesting to me. I have a degree (in a normal subject) and a masters in a related field. In my 40s. Did a relevant job for years but had to stop due to ill health. Now I work part time in a job I could have gotten with no qualifications. It made me sad and embarrassed at the beginning but now I just say it works for me. No stress, no sleepless nights. It is what it is. Don’t be ashamed of the path life takes.

I pack fish in a factory and have a BA (Hons) in English literature and education studies. I switched to that from teacher training.
No idea what I could have done with that degree, I got a factory job when I graduated and am still in factory work. I like the hours, they fitted round dd when she was little and I just never left.
Occasionally the subject comes up in conversation at work, I'm not the only one at my factory with a degree either.

I don’t have a degree (and I’m not stupid), I work alongside many doing the same job as me with one or even two.
Doesn’t really come up other than when new people start and in conversation when asking about prior work it gets mentioned. I’m usually fascinated at the array of subjects studied to degree level for them to end up working where they do! Some are clear that it’s a job that’s well paid and works well for them at the moment, others say they chose their degree because their parents wanted them to do xyz but it never panned out, one of them chose her degree because it meant a long placement in Costa Rica - interesting backstories!
But I don’t think it’s embarrassing to have committed to long term studying even if that isn’t relevant to the role you’re currently in.

I’m 49 and I have an English Literature degree from an old high ranking university. Never really done anything with it. But I’m not ashamed of it and nor should I be. I’m proud of it and it was a blast. Loads of admin office workers like me have degrees.

I’m one of those people in a niche field and so everyone I work with, apart from some office staff and admin or other support staff, we all have postgrad levels of education. In fact most of us have the same degree and did our post grad degree at the same university. I said it was niche. Even if I gave up my job tomorrow I’m proud of my degrees ans proud of what I’ve achieved.

I'm in my 50s. I did tell colleagues on Friday, because one of them was talking about degrees from former polytechnics and I said one of my degrees is from a former polytechnic. Most of my colleagues don't have a degree, and if any of them question it, they'll probably start me off on a tirade about barriers to women in tech.

Although what actually happened was we had to explain what a poly was to one of the young ones, and that did make me sad...

I don't have a degree, been working since I was 19 in a specific field and got promoted numerous times, always considered a top performer and well compensated.
Having a degree in my line of work is pretty irrelevant. Being smart, a logical thinker, and showing initiative and working hard is what counts.
Am currently working for a small company with limited resources and not much room for growth.
There is a young girl at my office who I am informally mentoring, as she has all of the above traits and I'd love for her to be succesfull. She's working FT and getting a degree in an unrelated technical field at the same time.

I do hope she manages to find a job in her field where she can put her hard won degree to good use and make it the foundation of a good careeer.

But if she does not, she'll still be one of our best performers and I would not think any less of her.

No. In my experience people who have a degree in a low paying job can’t wait to tell others that this is a stop gap, a desperate measure and they wouldn’t usually be seen doing a low paying job.

Nobody really cares anyway. Hopefully something better comes along, but you’re not a unique case.

The end of polytechnics is a crying shame.

OP, a degree is something to be proud of. I wasn’t able to go to university when I left school and I was so, so desperate about that for many years. Family did not permit it.
A degree ideally should be about education not about putting you through the sausage machine in order to get employment. It widened your horizons and gave you so much more than job specific knowledge. That’s what I wish for everybody who would like it.

I’m 57 with a degree in politics from a poly. I am a support worker. Have never used my degree tbh although it has helped me get jobs I think.

I never saw it as a means to a high flying job. I saw it as 3 years of having a fantastic time before the days of student loans and tuition fees. I always look back on those days very fondly.

I work as a receptionist in a medical centre but I am a teacher. I stopped teaching during Covid to take care of a relative and never went back. My colleagues know but it makes no difference. Why should it?

I have a degree and 2 masters. I was a teacher for a considerable period of time and then for various reasons I had to leave the profession during Covid. I’m now a cleaner. Funnily enough one of my cleaning colleagues is also an ex teacher. People I clean for and my colleagues know my background. I’m not embarrassed and I adore cleaning. It’s a world away from teaching. Life throws you curve balls and you deal with them the best you can.

I have a degree and, after being made redundant from a job that I thought would take me through to retirement, now work in a supermarket.

Where loads of my colleagues also have degrees!

Most people I know have a degree - nhs band 5 and above generally requires one (not always) and we’re encouraged to do further qualifications so when I got distinction in a post grad diploma I was proud of myself and shouted from the rooftops - celebrated rather than bragged.

No-a lot of over 45s (the last ones to get it free, and a grant perhaps?) have a degree, and arguably degrees were more respected then (because fewer people went to uni, especially people from poorer backgrounds).
What we should be ashamed of is the fact we more or less force all kids to uni these days, there are few jobs when they graduate, and companies insist on degrees when they really aren't needed.

The job market is rubbish.

It took me 10 months to get a job but had to wait another 11 weeks from accepting job offer to starting job due to the dozens of checks the civil service do when they get new recruits.

Plus companies that use AI to sift out candidates - AI doesn't understand transferrable skills. If CVs were scanned by human eye, I would have got a job much quicker.

The student loans and fees started 1999. I went to uni in 2000.

I wouldn't be embarrassed but nor would I bring it up. I would reply if directly asked of course.

I work in a NE office of the civil service. Most of my team have degrees - I think it's only the two (now 20 and 25) who joined when they finished school who don't (and possibly the woman my age who moved teams a few months ago).

We're on what is now effectively the lowest grade since everything went digital and they got rid of all the paper-pushers (not denigrating, I spent 16 months being a paper-pusher because they'd promoted them all prematurely).

Quite a few of us are neurodivergent in one way or another. Nobody thinks it odd if you can't get a normal job 😂

(although the HEO did say "you're wasted in this job merry" - I think I'd come up with some obscure fact or explained the difference between two similar words)

I'm in the civil service, I got my degree 30 years ago. Most of my current colleagues are all much younger and have degrees.

There's a lot more agency staff who are university educated and are marking time while trying to get a foot in the door or a better job elsewhere.

Have mentioned going to uni with the colleagues with academy. May have brought it up with my team - I am the only one in my academy cohort in my team. TL knows about it.

Some colleagues get swapped every 9 months to another team that do another admin work.