What career would you recommend?

[Sadusername]

We have discussed medicine and law. For different reasons, there are a lot of cons for both as well as some pros. But I do wonder what sort of courses leading to what sort of careers do people recommend. What would be a good career to be embarking on? What qualifications are in high demand and lead to well paid jobs that are not ridiculously stressful?

It isn't true that all engineering is well paid. DH is senior in his organisation and has all the right academic and professional qualifications yet his pay is extremely average. He finds engineering fascinating but knows how the work conditions, attitudes and pay of many major engineering employers leave a lot to be desired. Margins are generally tight in engineering so high pay is not that common.

Engineering can be well paid but there is no point at all even studying Engineering if you are not interested in it, let alone practicing as an engineer. You have to start the careers question from the aptitude and interests of the person, not the salary. There is a hierarchy of Engineering salaries, some types of engineer earn more than others, this does fluctuate with the fortunes of different industry sectors, the current problems in the oil and gas sector is a perfect example of this. My test of engineering potential is that if someone took their toys apart to see how they worked then they are an engineer at heart. They don't need to have put them back together!

From the point of view of a parent who is watching her DCs friends now progressing, some spectacularly, in the world of work it really is about flexibility, knowing where your skills and talents lie and determination, rather than setting your sights on a lucrative profession that you perceive will be safe but may never find particularly exciting or fulfilling. They have gone into a far more diverse range of careers than my generation of graduates who did tend to plod into a plentiful supply of graduate entry scheme opportunities in Law (now with many more law colleges pouring out fodder offering pretty poor career prospects to all but the best qualified / connected) , Accountancy, Management, Engineering etc. . Even then there were people with enterprise and nerve who followed their interests into emerging work areas and did well, from the new frontiers (as they were then post Big Bang) of banking to cornering the market in meeting the needs of the big stadium playing bands for lighting equipment. And those graduate entry schemes always did have high rates of attrition. Very few of those I knew who signed up were still working in those career paths by their 30s and 40s, especially the engineers whose careers stalled at the middle levels and they sidestepped into other business roles / their own businesses. In fact the big banks, accountancy and law firms have always relied on the majority of it's 20 something worker bees disappearing after working themselves into the ground chasing the limited opportunities for career progression.

Those skills and talents are certainly not just intellectual, as evidenced by academic success, but also personal qualities like resilience, imagination and emotional intelligence and probably above all the maturity to understand your capabilities and motivation. I am actually pleasantly surprised to see that they are approaching their future careers with greater flexibility and imagination and are beginning to find success in career areas that simply did not exist when I started out in areas like the media and all the diverse new areas of marketing activity, online business, the arts etc. as well as in caring careers such as overseas development or health and social care other than medicine.

It is a bit sad and narrow minded when parents try to force their children down the line of what they perceive to be high status professions unless that is really where their skills and talents would best serve them, in terms of both happiness and success. And I have had far too much experience of doctors in particular (Young and old) who certainly were not in the profession their interpersonal skills made them best suited for.

Captain of a Calmac ferry.

Tree surgeon.

Author/scripwriter.

Warden of a National Trust property.

(We have been there with the high stress professional careers....and would not in all honesty want our DC's to follow our routes. However ultimately it is up to them!).

I think that it is not about thinking too far ahead - as this can only be speculative - but seizing opportunities for growth and advancement in an area that fascinates you at that time - which as the old saying goes means that you never have to "work" another day in your life.

It is about making the most of what is directly in-front of you right now - be that A level choices, degree choices, first job choices, developing skills sets, second job choices, changing direction, going self employed etc.

Nearly 30 years after uni I have seen the need for myself and others to adapt regularly at the right time to the economic climate, to specific issues within a large organisation, to changes in technology and regulations, to our changing personal work/life balance needs (single, in a relationship, working parent, working abroad, children leaving home - the prospect of having to work til you are 80!!).

And the capabilities you need for this are not rigid academic qualifications and employers know this - as they need these too for their businesses to survive.

To the PP above who said that her most successful child was the one that was happiest .... absolutely.

I have done the whole dog eat dog, working round the clock on crazy deadlines under enormous pressure (for too long) and although it is seen as some sort of right of passage in the corporate world - it is also on reflection inhumane and has impacted my family and MH at times. Not sure I will be encouraging my children to go this route - I would feel like I was knowingly sending them up a chimney!!

A young person who is starting out as a graduate engineer will be earning at least £25,000 and considerably more in the South East and areas where the industry is bouyant. It is really not possible for a Chartered Engineer to earn an "average" salary. Virtually no Engineer will be earning less than £30,000 (average salary?) after a few years and being Chartered will ensure a higher salary and job progression. £50,000 - £70,000 is realistic for senior engineers in DH's business. Far more for Associates and partners are significantky above this. They are a successful business though.

DS1 is hoping to study Chemical Engineering this September and, having been on a few open days/lectures with him, I would definitely agree that it would be very hard to suddenly think, "I want to be an engineer".

Speaking as a lay non-scientifically minded person, taking the requisite A levels of Maths, Further Maths, Chemistry and Physics is not an easy task! And the majority of degrees are asking for AAA entry grades.

Having said that, he is extremely happy and driven studying these subjects, the high salaries are just a bonus for him!