OT: In need of advice....

[cat_empire]

Hey guys, I've come here for a bit of off topic advice, seeming that a lot of you here have a number of years, and the experience that comes with those years over me.

So basically, i have a choice. Between full time work for a year, or to go to university. But this is where the problem comes in.

I am really in need of money right now, im trying my hardest to find work, but after 2 months of looking have not found a thing, except for this job, which is a full time job for an insurance company. So this job would offer good money for someone my age, which would help me finish paying off my 30th, and allow me to get an awesome bass rig and perhaps a 2nd stingray.

Before i was given this job offer though i enrolled into university into a communications degree (which is like journalism, PR, film, sound, stuff like that). I did this because you usually need a very high entrance mark to get into this course but for one reason or another, the entrance mark this yr was much lower, thus offering me a chance to get into it, which i did.

So i have a choice, take the job and work for a year, and un-enroll from uni and thus risk the mark rising significantly next yr, resulting in me not being able to do the course i really want to do.

Or i can decline the job offer, thus risking further unemployment and financial difficulty, but also securing my place in this university degree.

I really don't know what do do! My original plan was to find a full time job and to work for a year to save up money and purchase a few musical necessities, but having this highly sought after degree with a potentially one time low entrance mark thrown into the mix i rly dont know what to do.

So some advice from those with the wisdom of years would be good because I'm at a complete loss.

thanks in advance guys!

-steve

 

[Aussie Mark]

If it's one of the "big" global insurance conglomerates and you see further career opportunities that might be a good option right now. I imagine that steady jobs are difficult to come by in Newcastle, and you'd have much higher earning potential in the insurance industry (with a few years behind you) than you would ever have as a journalist. You need to weigh up those 3 years when you'll be a poor student with no income against what you could be earning in the meantime. Will your future income as a trained journalist ever catch up those 3 years of lost income? I doubt it.

 

[EBMM7181]

Sacrifice now, and then live the rest of your life with no financial worries ------ Rather than have a little money now, but no education, and then struggle the rest of your life with financial worries.

 

[sloshep]

How much do you really want to go in this field (degree). Will this degree in that field get you the job and income to survive (eat,housing, and pay for GAS attacks etc.). If this is a field that you really love then you should consider the sacrifice. Windows of opportunity don't always open a second time. If security and paycheck are more important go for the job by all means. As long as the job won't make you crazy in a short time. You are still young and sound like you have some flexibility. As you get older your ability to switch course become much harder. Responsibility i.e. wife , kids, aging parents can keep you from being able to switch careers and start over (bottom of the salary rung). The career I ended up in was just a summer job 20 years ago before I went back to school in the fall. I never returned to school and now years later am unable to due so. The other important thing is do you have the discipline to be a good student. Can you put the bass down long enough to get good grades. I sucked as a student when it came to General Ed outside of my major. So I was better off in the workforce, plus my field of major was so overcrowded back then I probably would have struggled for years getting nowhere.

Just something to ponder. In the end it your life and part of growing up.

 

[Kirby]

I had a choice to make when I graduated high school too. My parents were very opposed to me going to a music school, they said I would starve. So instead I got my medical degree and put music on the back burner for a couple of years. After working a couple years & saving money, I paid my own way to Berklee.

Turns out, I appreciated music school more than I ever would have the first time around because of maturity and the understanding of what I really wanted.

Bottom line, it is OK to sacrifice short term wants for the long haul. Just keep in mind what you have in your heart that you want to do many years down the road. Ask yourself which of these professions you could see yourself working in 10 years down the road or which has more potential for 10 years down the road.

 

[bassgod0dmw]

Get a degree!!! Education is very important. You'll always be able to find work...even though it seems like you can't right now. Having a degree will help that...plus you'll get it in a field that you want to be in. Do you really want to work for a insurance co? I think not...since your going to college for Comm.

Otherwise, you'll always wish that you went to school and never have the time nor the money to send yourself back!!! Trust me on this one. I had a free ride to MIT...a VERY good school...and passed it up becasue I wanted a car. Stupid kid...

 

[AnthonyD]

Education now will go a long way later...

Discuss with your current employer - leave on good terms - you never know...

 

[boristhespider7]

Short term v. long term is what this comes down to. Go for the long term and get the degree. You'll eventually hit a ceiling at the current job and it's always harder to go back to school the older you get. Plus, chicks dig educated bass players, not ones who could have been BUT passed it up for the short term goal of buying a better bass rig and a (second!) Stingray (is this a "need" or a "want"? - a "want," of course). This is really an easy decision. Get educated! Five years from now, you'll look back and be glad you did. Plus, the more education, generally the more money, and the greater capability to buy sweet bass equipment in the future. I'd rather be educated with rock'n'roll gigs after work or on the weekends than a slacker with an extra bass who "coulda" done something for his future but passed it up for the shortsighted goal of earning a little extra cash at what will turnout to be a dead-end unfulfilling job over the long-term. By the way, universities are filled with musicians and gig opportunities, so you get the best of all worlds if you're not a slacker!

 

[DKWilkins]

"...So i have a choice, take the job and work for a year, and un-enroll from uni and thus risk the mark rising significantly next yr, resulting in me not being able to do the course i really want to do...."


Seems like you answered your own question

 

[roballanson]

As a trained journalist and editor - the preference in the UK for hiring is to take English lit and lang grads (or similar) and people who have take the time to do work experience and built up a portfolio before looking at people who have taken media courses.
This said, if you are serious about journalism, do the course for sure, and put yourself out there, build up your cuttings and get a good feel for the many and varied jobs you might end up doing. I dont want to be a wet blanket just I have seen the prejudice at work here.
My advice would be to get on a post grad professional course recognised by the industry after it as well - ie in the UK its the Nation Council for the training of Journalists. This can often be done on the job and is useful for earning more money. The NCTJ certificate is a very important piece of paper.
Also learn shorthand - invaluable in court!!
Unfair I know but thats how it goes. It depends what you want to do mind you. The PR and marketing industry may have a different view.
Schooling should help in the long run, and do you really want to sell insurance?
Its a hard call, dont rush your decision or listen to anything I have said - I am after all just a hack.
At the end of the day if you want any advice about the trade just pm me I will try to help....

 

[boristhespider7]

I don't know why everyone is assuming you want to be a journalist. There's a lot that can be done under the communication programs at most universities and your preferences and career ambitions may evolve as you go through the program. In the end, it doesn't really matter. Even if you were getting a degree in literature or some other "unmarketable" degree, I'd still tell you to get an education rather than take a lame job for a few bucks and musical "wants" (not "necessities" as you described them). Think about the long term! Keep the music in perspective. You can still continue to rock out with your band or whoever as long as you have the discipline to balance that with getting good grades (or whatever they call them over there). Save a few bucks here and there and eventually you'll have your bass rig AND an education and you'll have set yourself up for a more comfortable and less stressful future. Plus, there's nothing more attractive to the female species than an educated bass player!

 

[roballanson]

Hang on I am not saying a communications degree is lame or unmarketable - darn it I have a Phd in Medieval Scottish Literature (go figure).

And I am assuming he wants to be a journalist - because as a trained journalist it is second nature to put words in peoples' mouths..... (seriously only joking....sorry to assume thats cardinal rule no.1 of the job broken )

My preference is always for education - it is the key after all.

The music will always be there. Boris' advice is pretty spot on.

 

[AnthonyD]

Agreed - education, in and of itself - is valuable and will assist you in the future.

As an over 40 guy who just recently completed an A.A.S. degree (2-year college), the one thing I would change is completing some level of college much earlier in life.

 

[strummer]

I'd go with school. That's it.

I had a choice once, and I choose not to go to school. That was a bad decision for me at least.

 

[phatduckk]

i 100% say go to school.

i was broke as hell in college. i remember my bank card getting rejected for a $3 pack of smokes. So, ya... i was broke as hell and at the time it sucked. but now, i honestly look back on those days and think they were rad.

At that time i had a few friends that didnt go to college and started working right after highschool. They made a decent amount of money and i was totally jealous cuz they could easily maintain a more comfortable standard of living than i could.

i had a rough couple years but soon therafter i got my degree and my first post-degree-getting job which right off the bat paid me way more than what my friends that skipped college got paid... even with their 4 year head start.

so now they're pretty much in the same financial situation they were in 4 years ago and, well, im not and can pretty much buy a new MM whenever i want.

This is what happened for me and my friends and our specific situations. everyone is differnt (on both sides of the fence) and everyone gets a chance at different opportunities... so im not in any way trying to say you "have to" do anything or guranteeing an outcome or trying to say one path is better than the other... but this is how my and my friends' experiences/choices went (turned out) and im glad i made the decisions i made no matter how hard a few of those years were. Good luck.

 

[Lazybite]

I didn't go to uni when I was young and if I had of I might not of made the right choice, and now that I am fast approaching 30 (28 next week) I finally think I know what I want to do education wise and it wasn't what I wanted to do when I was 18/19. The downside is I have developed a good career in an industry that bores me a little (IT)...

I guess it depends on you personally, is communications definately what you want to do? Your not just lining yourself up because the entry is lower? Once you enter the world of full time work it is hard to turn back and get an education later.

Another option is start the full time job, perhaps strive to move sideways to something comms related within the business or look elsewhere (easy to get a job when you already have one).. this way you get a head start on people going to uni.... real world experience can be far more valuable than bookworld experience... Once you have established yourself in the job, go uni part-time... its a hard slog, but you will be better for it.

In the end it is up to what you want to do...

 

[Colin]

Steve

What exactly do you want to do? What is your goal? Work that out so you have something to work towards. Have you thought about supporting your self playing in a band? I played professionally for years without having a day job. I now work in the media and really enjoy it.

 

[cat_empire]

Hey guys

sorry its taken me a little while to reply to your posts, ive been at band practice pretty much constantly for th past few days (30th sounds like a dream, but i chipped it damn it!! )

i really appreciate all the great advice given, its really been very helpful

Well a lot of you have been referring to journalism, and i like the idea of that, but what i would really like to get into is P.R. My dream would be to someday be a P.R rep for a guitar manufacturer or a music label or a publishing house or something

I'm thinking at this stage though, that although a job would be great for a year, and it would fulfill a few 'wants' ( ) it would be smarter to think in the long term. So at this stage im going to take the degree over the job. I'm not hugely interested in insurance.... in fact i couldn't rly think of anything more boring for myself (no offense intended to those working in insurance of course )

again thank you so much for all the advice, it really does help having people from a range of backgrounds giving me their own insights.

 

[Colin]

I receive hundreds of media releases each week, and if I can give you one piece of advice it would be this. When sending a media release make sure you include your mobile phone number and have it turned on. It amazes me the amount of times a PR company sends me info to get their client exposure and we can't contact them outside business hours. In radio, Breakfast radio has the most amount of listeners and we sometimes can't contact anyone.

 

[Joe Nerve]

wow. sounds like you're in a rough spot, but it seems you've made your decision. i'm going to babble anyhow since i can't sleep - gigs on the weekend , up till 6am, and then having to wake up at 6am during the week reaks havoc on my sleep schedule... anyhoo...

i fer one don't give education the big plus everyone else here does. i have a couple of degrees and after i got them realized the only thing i REALLY want to do is play bass. while I don't feel my time at college was wasted (i had craploads of fun), i can't say it helped me all that much. it gave me the ability to substitute teach which gives me the ability to now persue what I probably would have been better off persuing from the getgo. i guess according to what I just wrote, if you're absolutely certain that PR is what you want to do, then maybe it is a good idea. if you're on the fence, then I think making money is a better idea. here's why...

when people are struggling financially there's a good chance for the ol desperation to kick in, and i think people in that frame of mind push opportunity away. we all see it all the time, the guy who REALLY wants the job or gig doesn't get it, the people who don't care one way or the other get it. the guy who really wants a girl doesn't get one, till he does finally get one, and doesn't want one anymore - then he can get lots o girls. that kind of thing. i think having a nice wad of money in the bank gives one the confindence to stick their neck out a little more, put on a different attitude about life in general, and attract more success. reading wayne dyer has the same effect.

i've also seen people climb to the top of their dream latters while other were studying for years, only to find they could have invested all the time they spent studying for something, working their way up the same latter. even if by starting in the mailroom of the company you want to work for. i think a person doing an internship at a record company has a lot more chance of moving up in that company in 4 years than a guy who spent that 4 years in a college and then goes knocking on their door. education is NOT everything. it helps, but learning to work and deal with people and become a decent likable person who's good at networking can go a lot further. my opinion of course.

ahhh, what else... if ya take the job, ya won't have to deal with student loan payments that will take half your starting salary for years anyhow. you can always decide to go to college later. the stuff about them lowering and then maybe raising the standards again holds no weight with me. if you really want to get in, you will, you can study on your own to make the requirements. if you can't make the requirements then that might actually be saying something about how you'll perform there. finally, if you're not entirely sure - you gamble wasting a whole lot of money and time. a few years doing something someone doesn't like can be great motivation for college, and my guess is your grades will be better if you're more solid in the commitment. I blabbed enough. good luck with whatever you ultimately choose.

gonna play my bongo and try to go back to sleep.