MrPowers.co.uk

Life after ‘education’

Posted by MrPowers under Personal

For as far back as I can remember I have had many people around me in life telling me how important education is and that pursuing college/university will make a huge difference to your life. Rarely though do people tell you how exactly this will happen or how to go about it!

I did my four years at the University of Abertay Dundee and graduated in 2006 with a Bachelor of Science in Web Design & Development. I feel I learned some things, but I have yet to feel it has made any real difference in my life. Pre-college I could apply for jobs and never get any sort of feedback. This theme is still present to this very day! Needless to say getting a job you have waited so long for takes a lot more than a degree, much more. However that’s the part I am really struggling with. How to make yourself an asset to somebody/a company is so key now. You can have all the qualifications in the world but at the end of the day employers want to know what great and wonderful things you can do for them.

I sometimes feel that as long as you say “I have a degree” they are satisfied with that and move on from it. A degree is almost a formality….now you need to do a lot of hard work to create something of your own BEFORE you can get employed. Interesting… what is this stage of life called? Is there a word for it?!  Probably not but a fact of life many graduates must face nowadays. Just a few hours ago my dad (who lives far away in Oregon) called me and we discussed what I could and should be doing with myself. I never imagined how difficult it was to answer the question “What do you want to do?”. It’s such a simple question in itself but one I found incredibly difficult to come up with any sort of answer for. So for the next week or so (until my dad calls again) I really need to think what to do with myself. Apparently sitting at the computer all day while being unemployed doesn’t count as doing something! (what a crime!!)

So I have my degree and know the general field I want to work in. Time to get off of my rear end and start doing something with my expertise!