is it even possible to get a decent job without a degree

[xxlavenderxx]

I'm pretty close to failing my final year of university, and I genuinely have no idea what I'm going to do now. Everyone else on my course has already got offers for jobs and an actual clear direction, and I'm going to be lucky if I can even get a minimum wage job back home (it took 2 years just to get my current part time one). I kinda wish I was failing because I was having fun with friends or something instead but I never even managed to make friends while I was here, I'm just failing bc I'm kind of stupid lol.

I don't even like my course, I have no passion for anything honestly, so I just wanted something that would make me enough money so I wouldn't have to worry and now I don't even think I'll be able to do that. How do normal people get jobs. I might just try applying for things im totally unqualified for and just fake stuff hope they wont actually check maybe. I know people WITH degrees struggling to get work so I genuinely don't know what I'm expected to do.

 

[bankai]

Of course it's possible. Many famous CEOs have done it. However, it's a high IQ endeavor.Bill Gates and quite a few bigwigs didn't even complete their degree.

 

[nobody_oac]

Definitely possible. The job interview is the most difficult part in my opinion. Know a bit about the place you are interviewing for, have a few questions lined up for them, and pay a little attention. I also like to find things to relate with the interviewer. A lot of people like to share some information about their lives and hobbies, or have things around that hint at interests. Find something you both can bond a little over and it goes a long way. It also doesn't hurt to have a way to focus that nervous energy. I keep a worry stone in my pocket for interviews.

 

[Forever Sleep]

I think so but I think it either requires huge amounts of determination and hard work plus talent to learn stuff yourself or, an enormous ego to be able to align yourself with clever people and, bluff your way through.

I actually kind of wish I'd done the apprenticeship route rather than the uni route. In my experience, my uni's weren't at all good at preparing students for the world of work. It felt a bit like jumping into an ice bath going out into the world at the end.

 

[xxlavenderxx]

Definitely possible. The job interview is the most difficult part in my opinion. Know a bit about the place you are interviewing for, have a few questions lined up for them, and pay a little attention. I also like to find things to relate with the interviewer. A lot of people like to share some information about their lives and hobbies, or have things around that hint at interests. Find something you both can bond a little over and it goes a long way. It also doesn't hurt to have a way to focus that nervous energy. I keep a worry stone in my pocket for interviews.

aha yeah i'm about as charismatic as a boiled potatio so interviews are always pretty nerver wracking, but that's pretty good advice, i've always focused on trying to be super professional tbh

 

[calloftheabyss]

As a college dropout making twice as much as most in my graduating high school class, you have so many options it's not even funny. Most college degrees land you starting out at between 30-35k annually in the US (on average, don't bite my head off). Most trade jobs (electrician, plumber, carpenter), start their apprentices off at... drum roll please - 30-35k for no experience if you find the right shops. Maybe you don't wanna be a manly man sparky though? I hear you, that's where Certifications come in. There are so many industries you can get certified in it's not even funny. I went the IT route, and within one year of completing my first cert, I was making 45-50k for my State government. I left there a year ago, and now I'm making 65-70k after bonuses. I'm also criminally underpaid salary wise for the 3 certs I have now (But the month of PTO, amazing healthcare, and them paying for my next certs kinda makes up for it). There are options, you just gotta look.

P.S. Imposter syndrome is very real, but remember, it's not about what you think you can do, it's about what they think you can do. Take IT for example, most people think I'm some kind of caved in tech wizard that mutters enchantments over destroyed keyboards to make a fully functioning computer, but honestly? 80% of my job is walking over to someone's desk, and then restarting their computer. Like, that's it. That's all they want me to do, and they don't even know it.

 

[L9 CHOCOIRL]

I'm pretty close to failing my final year of university, and I genuinely have no idea what I'm going to do now. Everyone else on my course has already got offers for jobs and an actual clear direction, and I'm going to be lucky if I can even get a minimum wage job back home (it took 2 years just to get my current part time one). I kinda wish I was failing because I was having fun with friends or something instead but I never even managed to make friends while I was here, I'm just failing bc I'm kind of stupid lol.

I don't even like my course, I have no passion for anything honestly, so I just wanted something that would make me enough money so I wouldn't have to worry and now I don't even think I'll be able to do that. How do normal people get jobs. I might just try applying for things im totally unqualified for and just fake stuff hope they wont actually check maybe. I know people WITH degrees struggling to get work so I genuinely don't know what I'm expected to do.

It's very doable boss, there are quite a few jobs that will give you a good amount of pocket money, though in this economy I dont think it would be possible to survive on your own

 

[cemeteryismyhome]

aha yeah i'm about as charismatic as a boiled potatio

Most places I've worked have demonstrated a preference for the boiled potato personalities, so that could be in your favor, really.

As a college dropout making twice as much as most in my graduating high school class, you have so many options it's not even funny. Most college degrees land you starting out at between 30-35k annually in the US (on average, don't bite my head off). Most trade jobs (electrician, plumber, carpenter), start their apprentices off at... drum roll please - 30-35k for no experience if you find the right shops. Maybe you don't wanna be a manly man sparky though? I hear you, that's where Certifications come in. There are so many industries you can get certified in it's not even funny. I went the IT route, and within one year of completing my first cert, I was making 45-50k for my State government. I left there a year ago, and now I'm making 65-70k after bonuses. I'm also criminally underpaid salary wise for the 3 certs I have now (But the month of PTO, amazing healthcare, and them paying for my next certs kinda makes up for it). There are options, you just gotta look.

P.S. Imposter syndrome is very real, but remember, it's not about what you think you can do, it's about what they think you can do. Take IT for example, most people think I'm some kind of caved in tech wizard that mutters enchantments over destroyed keyboards to make a fully functioning computer, but honestly? 80% of my job is walking over to someone's desk, and then restarting their computer. Like, that's it. That's all they want me to do, and they don't even know it.

I really agree with this. I got in to IT without a degree (but that was in a different era when dinosaurs roamed the earth), but still today, I usually struggle to explain when someone asks me what I do for work. By far most of it is just "stuff", like, making people clarify what the heck they want me to do. And like you said, rebooting is about all there is to it a lot of the time.

 

[22yearsbroken]

Degrees are over rated .. depwnding on on your field of course...

If you look at some one say a famous chef with a foul mouth from the uk... he started out peeling spuds doing dishes learning a skill or trade feom the ground up ..gives you more pride knowing you ha e put the time and the work and graft in to any proffesion is worth tens times more than i degree...i did my degrees just because i wanted to learn.. but the field i worked in for so many years i started at the bottom and worked my way up..

 

[Dejected 55]

Sure. It isn't easy and sometimes you kind of have to know someone to give you a leg up... but I also knew a woman with a PhD who had taken a few years off to have children and when she tried to come back to the work force she was told her degree wasn't "current" enough... so, apparently degrees have an expiration date or something anyway.

The way society hires and fires people is kind of bullshit, though. Degree or not... it's a lot of whim and luck and accident in play moreso than the degree really.