If I were you I would go and talk to the careers adviser at your uni. Even once you finish your course you usually allowed access to one for 3 years. They may or may not be any use but they'll have information such as where people who done your course ended up. I'm not an IT professional, I completed a degree in Chemistry and got a 2:2. I'm not the most academic person in the world either and struggled through as well. Having a degree of any kind opens up so many doors to things you may not have considered. Sure it's hard to find work, but look at all the transferable skills you have as a graduate. Your probably good at maths, literate. You probably have good problem solving skills. You've came this far so your capable and committed. When I was doing my final year at this stage I fluffed two exams. I passed them but got low grades and was staring a 3rd in the face. I struggled through and got on with it. That was 6 years ago. I spent 5 or so years as an analytical chemist. Now I'm changing career and have moved into teaching. Put the work in, get through, you only have till May then it's over. 6 months. No time at all. At least you can say you tried. good luck
Im not slanting having work experience, because work experience is a fantastic asset, and most of the really good people only get there because they have been doing it as long as they have, degree or not. As far as im concerned, getting a degree opens up the pathway to the lower rung of the ladder, because you are coming in with ideas devised at the very top of the academic ladder. You are being taught by people who teach in departments that live on the frontiers of academia, and there's no better place to learn than from these people. The big problem I see with web design in particular, is that if you learn it off the web you are potentially learning from idiots, who tell you that fluffing HTML so the web standards index checks out is OK. Just because you can trick the validator into accepting your XHTML as valid doesn't mean it is- and firms do pick up on this (this was given to me as a very specific example from someone who recruits in the field... who also doesn't have a degree and now feels locked into his job because he doesn't have the (edit: formal) qualifications of most other people, but that's another story ). But yeah, I have nothing against not having a degree- if you can get the experience you will likely go far. Realise though that they can pay you less for not having a honours degree, and that you might not have the motivation to go back should you need to. Also FYI - my lecturers told us that if we wanted to do Physics in labs when we graduate, its best to go for the masters because you learn in a year what you would in 5 in a job. Different for web design, but something to think about Also sorry if im coming on a bit strong- uni isn't for everybody and I know this, im just trying to emphasise what might happen if you quit now
Thank you for being understanding I was just getting a bit overwhelmed about how pro-Uni everyone is, was feeling a little bullied/pressured. I am REALLY not happy with Uni, and cannot do these written assignments. I end up just getting deeply depressed and not even manage 50 words in the whole day. I really believe, heck I think I know for sure, that I'm just not cut out for these intense reports. I missed half my education in High School (Schools fault - had no teachers, ended up closing down) and College was all Technical, so I have so little experience with writing stuff. I'm not looking to become rich (or famous), I am happy as long as a I have a decent job with a reasonable pay. If I can afford a nice little house with my girlfriend (she's doing an Art degree) and afford my hobbies I'm good. Oh and regarding support, it's pretty much futile as they don't help much. I've tried to tell my Project supervisor how much I struggle with the 12k words for it, but he has nothing to say but I'm way behind, its 10x harder than the previous year, and if I don't quickly do 5-8k words I'm gonna fail. Nice support there, just depresses me more. Other kind of support includes google search skills, report structure help, library searching, etc. None of it helps the fact that when I come to writing the crap down on paper I just cant do it, I cant explain it to you nor anyone, its strange, but I just cant do this Higher Degree writing. I have always hated education and never found it for me, I only went to Uni because I thought back then as many of you do now - that I would never get anywhere in IT without a Degree (though I do have my Foundation, for what its worth...). BTW, if anyone is unsure what a Foundation Degree is, as they seem to be unfamiliar to most people, read the brief Wikipedia article here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation_degree Thanks
OK I know the square root of f*** all about the IT industry, but if its anything like any other industry, you may be in for a bit of a surprise. I'm like you, I struggle with reports and stuff. I was crap at english at school, I always got rubbish marks for reports at uni and my reports at work used to get ripped to pieces. I'm an engineer in the chemical industry. I design the requirements for pumps, valves, vessels, pipes etc for chemical plants. I started working about a year ago and I primarily do calculations BUT I have to report on these calculations and any design decisions I make. This means making a lot of reports. Like I said I know nothing about the IT industry but I imagine those in the IT industry have to do a similar thing. Report on progress of projects, explain why certain decisions were made in a line of code etc. Like I said just guessing but I think that makes sense. This is what uni really teaches you, its not about the technical aspects, its about communicating those technical aspects to your peers and others who have no clue about the technical side. In my industry you have designers and engineers. Designers are very competent at what they do, they have went to college or did an apprenticeship and they know the technical side of what they do. Engineers have went to uni and have a better technical understanding than designers, understand the technical side of other disciplines (eg a mechanical engineer can understand things a chemical engineer or an instrument engineer talks about) and can communicate to both peers and management. Designers have a low ceiling of opportunity and generally they do the same work day in day out for their whole lives. Most regret not going to university and becoming an engineer to be able to rise up in promotions and open opportunities in other fields. In fact some that I know are studying part time at uni to become an engineer, one is 52 years old. Like I said I know nothing about IT but if the IT industry is anything like mine, you might just want to consider what I've said before you leave uni.
