I've seen a few of you guys say how worried you are about your results today. Just a quick word to say that no matter what happens, it's not the end of the world, and you've always got options. It's now four years since I was where you are. After being told by my art tutor that I was on for an A, I was dropped to a B because the national average was too high. Then I got an 'n' in Computing. I didn't even know they gave grades that low until I got one! Well now, four years later, I just graduated from uni. Even then, I had to resit a year of that. It's never as bad as it seems. If you appear to have done badly, seek advice. Remember, you probably haven't yet officially left college/6th form, so the advisors there will still be available to you.
Ditto to what Brad said. I cocked up my A-Levels, but managed to get on a HND (with a one year of resits and a Viva (A ******* oral exam from hell!)), and from there skipped on to the 2nd year of a Degree (of which I almost balls'ed up due to crap Buisness Studies results) So however bad you think it is, there are ways and means to get through it. Fingers crossed though!
Yup, I got 6 C GCSES, 1 A level (at D) .. never went to Uni.. now I'm an IT manager. It's never as bad as you think.. having a little common sense goes a long way to starting you on your career.
Mind you on the flip side of the coin if you wish to work in the IT field it might be important for you to look at the job specifications on some of the dedicated websites... Even for graduate 18K a year jobs they are mentioning 2.1 minimum degree (preferably 1st) with excellent A-Level grades and at least 6months-1year experience in the field, they also ask for in depth knowledge of SQL, C/C++, UNIX, ORACLE, VB, JAVA, etc... Considering I just finished my second year of uni and scraped through with 35%, having very little job experience and no experience working in the IT field, not to mention BCD A-LEVEL grades I'm more than a little concerned,
The IT industry is a big area though.. and situations 'requiring' a grad, or indepth programming skills are completely detached from those needing say NT or Networking skills. I personally (as an employer) hold absolutely no weight to university qualifications if they're presented to me as a reason to employ someone. I'll sit someone down, look at their CV (and computing experience, both in and out of work) and then pose them a series of questions. If they can convice me they can do the job, that'll do. If someone can strip a Compaq server, rebuild it and get it up and running as a fully working DC, with DHCP, WINS, DNS and DFS then they'll get the job over a grad who can't.
While I cannot speak for the UK, I understand the US job market fairly well and will offer these comments: Skills with experience are more important than education. period. Saying that, the degree(s) will get you to the top of the stack of resumes, over here it's not unusual for the HR department to simply sort the resumes into a stack of "have degree" and "have not" then simply discard those without university degrees. The age old adage 'it's not what you know, it's who you know' still absolutely rings true. Networking (building a network of friends, rather than interconnected computers) is absolutely necessary currently. That's how I got this job, and how I'll probably get another. If there is any way for you to meet other IT professionals, jump at the chance. Of course, majoring in an IT related field isn't real smart (at least over here) because the market is pretty much saturated. I'd recommend ANYTHING in the medical industry. Pharmacists make good money, and there is a massive short-fall in the numbers of nurses and medical assistants. And those with actual skills get a nice signing bonus (I remember looking at the list on the wall at the hospital I was working at, some of those jobs were paying 10,000 - 40,000 signing bonus' !) I actually have my GCSE certificate somewhere around here, my 4As 5Bs and a C aren't great, but what does it matter, most people get lost after GC... wha?
But only if they can do it blindfold in under 60 seconds.... Serioulsy though, what KNA says is true. When I was a grad looking for a job, the same things where being asked for back then. It's pretty ludicrous - I mean, how many 1:1 graduates do you know with 1 yrs industry experience? Not many, I'll guess. My first job asked for all sorts of skills in areas I hadn't any experience in. I managed to get an interview, and got over to the guys there that, yes I was a grad, yes I was keen, yes I knew what I was talking about, but no I hadn't got the experience or knowledge in several of the areas they where after but I would be willing to train and take a lesser salary. I got the job. A qualification is only a foot in the door. After a year or so of work, no one wants to know what degree you've got. It's experience all the way.
Ok...I know our university system and all is a lot different over here, but I want to second what KNA said about the common sense. I graduated with a degree in Philosophy. Can a degree get any more useless?? Anyway, now I'm one of the Software Development Team Leads for my group. In college, I actually failed the only programming course I took. Now I write code everyday.
Hey, i'm doing a BA(hons) in Philosophy! And i'd like to second the notion of working in a medical area, i'm working in a hospital in Birmingham (UK) over the uni hols, and it's much better than any summer job i've had before. The pay is good, the work isn't too demanding (hence me typing here), and most high-ups aren't very computer literate, so you can amaze them with Excel spreadsheets and colourful graphs How'd i get the job? err, my mum's the deputy manager of my dept... <cough> nepotism <cough> anyway, beats my old job (salesperson/dogsbody in Dixons)! Silence
And ppl like that are top notch had a temp job as tech support for a month when i was 15. had nothing on qualifications side to show em. they asked me some questions, gace me some borked pcs, i fixed em and got the job. but tried to go back to the same place again for this summer not as a temp, and they say i need a ba in summat relevent and a years experience.
Well personally i'm hoping to have a cambridge degree in compsci (possibly a doctorate but that's waaayyy in the future), and to be good practically at things. Because i recognise that whilst a degree is an advantage at times and may prove some ability, it isn't going to be experience. Hopefully i can pick some more of that up as i go along besides i can't resist the idea of me being Alaric Nightingale BSc (cantab) and ill be able to specialise in security bleeding w00t Alaric.
I'd get a bandage on that if I where you. E-Uck, can't stand the site of blood.... Well done though, from one BSc'er to a prospective BSc'er!
Ah well, you'll get over it.... Just be glad you're not a BEd! (Joking, only Joking all you BEd's out there....)
im currently considering applying for an it job @ kircwood hospice so i am just going to take my lappie in to show what i have managed to do, got it runign again after a head crash, its a p166 but it runs as quick as a p200 without overclcoking & i will take my network car din to show that i am skilled in networking by rigging my lappie up to there network & virus-scanning there entire system, it got me a job before, if that dont work go to my fallback plan for money, buy a pc from the fre ads, re-format, re install, quick spray job on the case & add £200 to the price i payed, you would be surprised ho woften that works
