[Humour] Why is it so hard to get a job?

[Normski1989]

There’s a contradiction in this post. If no one should be telling you how to make art, then you can’t be wrong and can’t make a mistake.

I didn't say that nobody should be telling you how to make art? But art is subjective. You can be taught skills but most of which can be self taught very quickly without the need for a degree.

 

[El Presidente]

I am 52 this year.

Don't you mean 110100?

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

I didn't say that nobody should be telling you how to make art? But art is subjective. You can be taught skills but most of which can be self taught very quickly without the need for a degree.

You have a point. I was thinking about learning rocket science at uni, think I’ll just pop down the library and get a book and save myself 50k. All the information I need is out there.
[MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] has eloquently worded a reply to this type of argument.

 

[essbee1]

Ok, thanks. Have done some JavaScript before and dabbled in C. Will check out some formal courses and get some accreditation as that seems to be the way forward these days. Is age an issue? I am 52 this year.

I've been to companies where their words (not mine) are "it really does not matter" (and of course it should not). If you're good enough - then you fit.

 

[Normski1989]

You have a point. I was thinking about learning rocket science at uni, think I’ll just pop down the library and get a book and save myself 50k. All the information I need is out there.
[MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] has eloquently worded a reply to this type of argument.

If you actually read my original two posts, you'd understand how idiotic that response was. I agreed that university is ideal for people in certain careers, rocket science would be one of them.

I've read El Presidente's post and understand his views, to which he is well entitled. But from my opinion, I don't personally know anyone from my generation that has benefited in their career from going to university.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

Really? What languages etc? I have 18 years IT experience but none from the last 15 years. What would you advise retraining in?

COBOL programmers are a dying breed. Literally. Many of them are now in their sixties and seventies. In your Northern neck of the woods, all the government core systems (if memory serves, DHSS in Lytham, Inland Revenue in Telford) were written in COBOL. As were all the core major bank systems.They DAREN'T rewrite them from scratch, as they've been patched up for decades. Far too much of a terminal risk to the organisation to rewrite them in the latest fad language. As long as you're prepared to travel to where the core systems are, you should be able within reason to name your own price. Round these parts, I know of a company in Horsham that's tearing it's hair out because their last remaining COBOL programmer is about to retire - aged 70!

 

[Is it PotG?]

I was giving a careers talk last night and advising parents and kids in relation to the merits of university. It's not for everyone, apprenticeships are a viable option where you can get an income and qualifications in something vocational from the age of 18, and there's no graduate tax to pay (which is what uni loans are effectively).

The downside is that if you are uncertain of what you want to do at 18 then an apprenticeship might not be for you. You will still however have the benefit of being able to show a future employer than you have work experience though.

The plus side of university is that even if you are not choosing a vocational degree (architecture, medicine, engineering, dentistry, vet science etc.) you will learn a toolkit of skills that will be beneficial in a variety of workplaces. Don't go to uni for knowledge, all the knowledge you ever require is already there on Google, go there to learn how to use that knowledge, to focus on the causes and consequences of decision making, and to collaborate, disaggregate, problem solve, present and communicate.

I went to uni in Manchester in 1980 to learn economics, instead I learnt how to think. It was the best three years of my life without a doubt, but there are alternatives, so take time making a decision.

Sage advice mate

 

[vegster]

It's a difficult world out there unless you are bright, dedicated or can come up with a brilliant business. Too many jobs are low paid drudgery with little prospect of any sort of improvement. You have to look at the way the World is going and try to get ahead of the curve. However I think its fair to say that some skills and businesses will always exist in a niche market. It's trying to find that niche.

 

[KZNSeagull]

Don't you mean 110100?

Indeed. Or 34.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

If you actually read my original two posts, you'd understand how idiotic that response was. I agreed that university is ideal for people in certain careers, rocket science would be one of them.

I've read El Presidente's post and understand his views, to which he is well entitled. But from my opinion, I don't personally know anyone from my generation that has benefited in their career from going to university.

But pushing your logic to its conclusion my argument holds firm.

Out of interest what generation are you? (Born in 1989?)

 

[Normski1989]

But pushing your logic to its conclusion my argument holds firm.

Out of interest what generation are you? (Born in 1989?)

Pushing it back, it doesn't. Would you waste four years of your life to get a degree in office skills? Or would you simply look to find work in an office. Even voluntary work would leave you £30,000+ better off.

I'm the generation before the snowflakes. Most friends finished uni 4-6 years ago.

 

[TheJasperCo]

Ok, thanks. Have done some JavaScript before and dabbled in C. Will check out some formal courses and get some accreditation as that seems to be the way forward these days. Is age an issue? I am 52 this year.

As a starter for ten, try online courses on the app "Udemy". Loads of courses, a great deal of them in computer programming and software languages. I'm getting to grips with R for my data analysis work.

 

[KZNSeagull]

COBOL programmers are a dying breed. Literally. Many of them are now in their sixties and seventies. In your Northern neck of the woods, all the government core systems (if memory serves, DHSS in Lytham, Inland Revenue in Telford) were written in COBOL. As were all the core major bank systems.They DAREN'T rewrite them from scratch, as they've been patched up for decades. Far too much of a terminal risk to the organisation to rewrite them in the latest fad language. As long as you're prepared to travel to where the core systems are, you should be able within reason to name your own price. Round these parts, I know of a company in Horsham that's tearing it's hair out because their last remaining COBOL programmer is about to retire - aged 70!

I have heard this before. I will keep trying, but not having done any work on COBOL for nearly 20 years is the main issue, so I have no experience of stuff like Websphere. I went through the whole recruitment process with IBM last year but they did not take me on in the end as I had never done DB2! Done loads of other databases and a half day course would have sorted that issue out as I know SQL, but that was that. Very frustrating as I had done the hard part in getting through the Assessment Centre, only to be rejected because of something they knew I didn't have as it was not on my CV.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

I have heard this before. I will keep trying, but not having done any work on COBOL for nearly 20 years is the main issue, so I have no experience of stuff like Websphere.

I'd imagine it's easier for companies to train you up in the stuff they wrap around COBOL nowadays than it is to teach somebody COBOL from scratch (despite COBOL being the most straightforward English language-based programming language that ever there was!). I last wrote a COBOL program in the early '80s, but I like to think I could still write one today if I had to.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Pushing it back, it doesn't. Would you waste four years of your life to get a degree in office skills? Or would you simply look to find work in an office. Even voluntary work would leave you £30,000+ better off.

I'm the generation before the snowflakes. Most friends finished uni 4-6 years ago.

You’re moving the goal posts. You said art. Obviously no one would spend 4 years learning how to photocopy and ping elastic bands at colleagues. I can’t be bothered to discuss this any more than to say the wife studied fine art and she’s benefited immensely from it both personally and financially....and she is a walking advert for [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] posts.

 

[Normski1989]

You’re moving the goal posts. You said art. Obviously no one would spend 4 years learning how to photocopy and ping elastic bands at colleagues. I can’t be bothered to discuss this any more than to say the wife studied fine art and she’s benefited immensely from it both personally and financially....and she is a walking advert for [MENTION=31]El Presidente[/MENTION] posts.

But you moved the goal posts by changing art to rocket science? You pushed my argument to the extreme, so I pushed it back to the other extreme.

That's great to hear (genuinely). But like I said, most people my age haven't seen any benefit yet. They might do in the future. But right now, they have fallen behind most of their peers.

 

[El Presidente]

But you moved the goal posts by changing art to rocket science?

Why not choose a middle ground, such as painting rockets?

Regards
EP

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Why not choose a middle ground, such as painting rockets?

Regards
EP

In an office.

 

[Surrey_Albion]

I'm not having any kind of dig but in my own experience I've never found it hard to get a job and longest I was unemployed was about a month, my son dropped out and got a job at Gatwick within a couple of months, good money airside he loads planes

 

[pearl]

Sorry to vent on here, but I've been trying to find temporary work for 4 months.
I managed to get a job at a pub, I won't name them, but they ended up telling me they didn't want me because people with way more experience than me applied for the same job shortly after I started and they allegedly don't have time to train people (Why would you hire me in the first place when I had no experience of pub work? ) .

I have signed up with almost every single agency in Brighton and have got nothing. I have a good amount of Office experience for someone my age. Is it because I'm a uni drop out? even though I'm probably going back in September and I haven't mentioned it anywhere in my CV?

Can anyone suggest things I'm doing wrong? Or other things I should do?

not sure where you are, but when I was your age I always found work at Gatwick, Manor Royal or the Paymasters Office

I have the opposite problem .... dreaming up ways too retire