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Reply 100
Original post by GrimReaper205
You don't know what I want to be. You certainly wouldn't be my boss.


Its a figure of speech son, as to say that in terms of a general office structure his position would be above yours

Its not literal

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Original post by neverlosehope
Average for grads is 25k. I already had 12 months of experience, at a very well known firm, from my placement year which is why they treated me as one level above graduate for my first ever post-uni role

Average 25k for fresh grad - http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/graduate%20software%20engineer.do

You've also got to remember that your average grad has no god damn clue what they're doing and they have never written real world software. My placement really made me stand out. I'd actually written code that was running in production for a major company. I'd also dealt with requirements gathering testing and stakeholder management skills. What fresh grad has that? Not many... hence the 30k

EDIT: it seems that average jumps to 31.5k in London. Jesus... I was underpaid!!!
http://www.itjobswatch.co.uk/jobs/uk/graduate%20software%20engineer.do

Thanks, I thought I was right haha :P
Because I considered applying for a software engineering job instad of going to uni and with my qualifications (BTEC L3 Extended diploma in IT) the starting rate was 20k as a junior and I saw another job on the site for a software engineer with experience (but still no degree required) for 30k+
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by GrimReaper205
That's not standard for software developers at all.

Yes it is, with a few years experience and 2 years of studying at uni (which isn't actually required) of course you going to be looking at 25-30k or more
Original post by yt7777
Thanks, I thought I was right haha :P
Because I considered applying for a software engineering job instad of going to uni and with my qualifications (BTEC L3 Extended diploma in IT) the starting rate was 20k as a junior and I saw another job on the site for a software engineer with experience (but still no degree required) for 30k+


I also did the BTEC National Diploma.
Original post by neverlosehope
I also did the BTEC National Diploma.

Exactly, in IT right? And i believe its usually what companies put Software Engineering apprentices through
It was partly luck but congrats nevertheless.
Unfortunately not possible to achieve that in my field, medicine.
Also, I think that you shouldn't look down on your course mates now. They will get the experience soon and sith a degree can do far better than you.
Original post by yt7777
I believe that's pretty standard for software engineers with a bit of experience and obviously the OP has the DipHE too


Perhaps so but the job market is still rather tough. It would have been all too easy to end up in low end job (before re-entering education or something) like a lot of people do - dropouts and graduates. Also he didn't have that much commercial experience to his name in reality which impacts upon salary level by a fair whack.

Having said that the IT people I know having been faring marginally better than others.
Original post by Nottie
It was partly luck but congrats nevertheless.
Unfortunately not possible to achieve that in my field, medicine.
Also, I think that you shouldn't look down on your course mates now. They will get the experience soon and sith a degree can do far better than you.


Yeah, totally would not be able to do this in medicine..... But I'm not in medicine so you might as well say I can't do this in space travel...

As far my course mates who will "get the experience soon and with a degree can do far better than you" - That's nonsense, in this field, your degree is needed for your grad role and not much beyond that. By the time most of my course mates have caught up to 77k, I'll be on 100k. After 10 years of experience, nobody is going to care about the Soft Eng degree that you did a decade ago.
Original post by neverlosehope
Yeah, totally would not be able to do this in medicine..... But I'm not in medicine so you might as well say I can't do this in space travel...

As far my course mates who will "get the experience soon and with a degree can do far better than you" - That's nonsense, in this field, your degree is needed for your grad role and not much beyond that. By the time most of my course mates have caught up to 77k, I'll be on 100k. After 10 years of experience, nobody is going to care about the Soft Eng degree that you did a decade ago.

Medicine well that takes forever to get the money. Doctors will be on 40-50k by your age. They will be 23 by the time they get their first role which is 22k+supplements up to 50% then in a couple years time they'll be on about 50k by then.

It takes them about 8 or so years to become a consultant/GP where they'll be on 100k level while you'll probably be on that in <3 years at this rate.
Original post by neverlosehope
Hi All,

This post is going to be part informative, part humble brag, partly me getting something off of my chest that I have NEVER told anyone, but mostly me showing you that there's always hope.

I went to a very mediocre university, I studied computing with business, I passed the first year and got all 50% grades, I passed the second year with grades from 40% to 60%. I failed the final year, I handed in no coursework, I missed all of the exams and I only wrote 320 words of my planned 10,000 word dissertation.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm a manager at a very well known business consultancy firm earning £77,000 per year (excluding bonus which is up to 20%).

How did I do this? Experience and confidence.

When I was in my third, I took a year out to do a placement. The placement was with a very well known management consultancy. At the time, I was predicted to get a 3rd and they required a predicted 2:1. I got my tutor to write me an awesome letter of recommendation and I was very confident in my interviews plus I had done a significant amount of research and preparation before the 4 round interview process.

I was incredibly excited when I got the placement offer. The experience I gained in that one year set me up for life.

When I failed me degree (saw it coming a long way off), I became depressed, I could no longer take the job offer from the management consultancy as they required a 2:1. Luckily for me, I'd picked up some wicked software development skills over the previous few years, I used my experience at the management consultancy plus my software development skills to get myself a 30k job straight after failing my degree.

During the interview, my failed degree was never talked about even though I had is listed on my CV. It was listed as a Diploma of Higher Education (that's what you get when you only pass two years of your degree).

After being at this job for 2 years. I looked for a higher paying job and got a 46k offer at another software company. Again, they did not questions my education. They only cared about my experience.

Rinse and repeat this process until the current day. I applied for a managers job at a very well known consultancy. They accepted me based on my experience. This was also the first time my education was ever questioned. I explained that I did not complete my degree for various reasons (I did not lie). They mainly cared about my experience and what I could bring to the clients I would be working with.

I'm now a manager earning 77k.

It's funny when I look at other people from my Uni who actually got their degree. Most of them are still far more junior than me and earning a lot less than me.

This is the first time I have ever told anyone about failing my degree. Even my girlfriend (recently broken up) and parents don't know.

This is not supposed to be a 100% brag. It's supposed to be showing you that no matter how ****ed you are right now, you can recover if you are smart about it. Don't seek advice from the average person, that person can only give you average advice.

One more thing, I've been in debt (over 4k) twice and both times managed to pay it off (long before earning a good salary) but that's a story for another day.

I have never lied, I have never cheated, I am a smart guy and I'm actually very good at what I do (which is why I get paid well). My experience speaks for itself and my education has been explained to my employer (and countless recruiters). Experience and ability trump everything (well, most things).

Don't lose hope and.... ask me anything...

(please excuse any typos, I typed this on a tablet).



We must chat some time!
Reply 110
Original post by neverlosehope
Hi All,

This post is going to be part informative, part humble brag, partly me getting something off of my chest that I have NEVER told anyone, but mostly me showing you that there's always hope.

I went to a very mediocre university, I studied computing with business, I passed the first year and got all 50% grades, I passed the second year with grades from 40% to 60%. I failed the final year, I handed in no coursework, I missed all of the exams and I only wrote 320 words of my planned 10,000 word dissertation.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm a manager at a very well known business consultancy firm earning £77,000 per year (excluding bonus which is up to 20%).

How did I do this? Experience and confidence.

When I was in my third, I took a year out to do a placement. The placement was with a very well known management consultancy. At the time, I was predicted to get a 3rd and they required a predicted 2:1. I got my tutor to write me an awesome letter of recommendation and I was very confident in my interviews plus I had done a significant amount of research and preparation before the 4 round interview process.

I was incredibly excited when I got the placement offer. The experience I gained in that one year set me up for life.

When I failed me degree (saw it coming a long way off), I became depressed, I could no longer take the job offer from the management consultancy as they required a 2:1. Luckily for me, I'd picked up some wicked software development skills over the previous few years, I used my experience at the management consultancy plus my software development skills to get myself a 30k job straight after failing my degree.

During the interview, my failed degree was never talked about even though I had is listed on my CV. It was listed as a Diploma of Higher Education (that's what you get when you only pass two years of your degree).

After being at this job for 2 years. I looked for a higher paying job and got a 46k offer at another software company. Again, they did not questions my education. They only cared about my experience.

Rinse and repeat this process until the current day. I applied for a managers job at a very well known consultancy. They accepted me based on my experience. This was also the first time my education was ever questioned. I explained that I did not complete my degree for various reasons (I did not lie). They mainly cared about my experience and what I could bring to the clients I would be working with.

I'm now a manager earning 77k.

It's funny when I look at other people from my Uni who actually got their degree. Most of them are still far more junior than me and earning a lot less than me.

This is the first time I have ever told anyone about failing my degree. Even my girlfriend (recently broken up) and parents don't know.

This is not supposed to be a 100% brag. It's supposed to be showing you that no matter how ****ed you are right now, you can recover if you are smart about it. Don't seek advice from the average person, that person can only give you average advice.

One more thing, I've been in debt (over 4k) twice and both times managed to pay it off (long before earning a good salary) but that's a story for another day.

I have never lied, I have never cheated, I am a smart guy and I'm actually very good at what I do (which is why I get paid well). My experience speaks for itself and my education has been explained to my employer (and countless recruiters). Experience and ability trump everything (well, most things).

Don't lose hope and.... ask me anything...

(please excuse any typos, I typed this on a tablet).


Yet here you are on the TSR forum :smile:...Seriously though, I always knew uni was a bunch of.....You know what.
Kudos to the OP for his success.

Its sad to see there are a lot of bitter people on this thread.

What should be admired is OPs determination, persistence, and commitment to improving his situation and developing himself. At no point has he stopped working and challenging himself, even when he has been on good pay. I think many of you are missing this point.

Whether he deserves 77K is neither here nor there. The point being made is to not give up hope and to search for alternative routes to your goals if the first route is blocked (as was his when he failed his degree).

OP, you seem to have worked hard to improve your position and I for one admire how you havent let disappointments or knock-backs deter you.
I'm currently in what would have been my third year. Instead I went out to work, doing nothing special. I now make £40,000 a year at 20 years old, and have been offered a Branch Manager role elsewhere. University is not the be all and end all - it is about the talents of the individual.

(BTW, the university i should have gone to was Oxford)
Well someone's going to win the lottery aren't they.

I wouldn't lose hope but I would only hold onto 1/70000000 of it.
Original post by neverlosehope
Hi All,

This post is going to be part informative, part humble brag, partly me getting something off of my chest that I have NEVER told anyone, but mostly me showing you that there's always hope.

I went to a very mediocre university, I studied computing with business, I passed the first year and got all 50% grades, I passed the second year with grades from 40% to 60%. I failed the final year, I handed in no coursework, I missed all of the exams and I only wrote 320 words of my planned 10,000 word dissertation.

Fast forward 4 years and I'm a manager at a very well known business consultancy firm earning £77,000 per year (excluding bonus which is up to 20%).

How did I do this? Experience and confidence.

When I was in my third, I took a year out to do a placement. The placement was with a very well known management consultancy. At the time, I was predicted to get a 3rd and they required a predicted 2:1. I got my tutor to write me an awesome letter of recommendation and I was very confident in my interviews plus I had done a significant amount of research and preparation before the 4 round interview process.

I was incredibly excited when I got the placement offer. The experience I gained in that one year set me up for life.

When I failed me degree (saw it coming a long way off), I became depressed, I could no longer take the job offer from the management consultancy as they required a 2:1. Luckily for me, I'd picked up some wicked software development skills over the previous few years, I used my experience at the management consultancy plus my software development skills to get myself a 30k job straight after failing my degree.

During the interview, my failed degree was never talked about even though I had is listed on my CV. It was listed as a Diploma of Higher Education (that's what you get when you only pass two years of your degree).

After being at this job for 2 years. I looked for a higher paying job and got a 46k offer at another software company. Again, they did not questions my education. They only cared about my experience.

Rinse and repeat this process until the current day. I applied for a managers job at a very well known consultancy. They accepted me based on my experience. This was also the first time my education was ever questioned. I explained that I did not complete my degree for various reasons (I did not lie). They mainly cared about my experience and what I could bring to the clients I would be working with.

I'm now a manager earning 77k.

It's funny when I look at other people from my Uni who actually got their degree. Most of them are still far more junior than me and earning a lot less than me.

This is the first time I have ever told anyone about failing my degree. Even my girlfriend (recently broken up) and parents don't know.

This is not supposed to be a 100% brag. It's supposed to be showing you that no matter how ****ed you are right now, you can recover if you are smart about it. Don't seek advice from the average person, that person can only give you average advice.

One more thing, I've been in debt (over 4k) twice and both times managed to pay it off (long before earning a good salary) but that's a story for another day.

I have never lied, I have never cheated, I am a smart guy and I'm actually very good at what I do (which is why I get paid well). My experience speaks for itself and my education has been explained to my employer (and countless recruiters). Experience and ability trump everything (well, most things).

Don't lose hope and.... ask me anything...

(please excuse any typos, I typed this on a tablet).



How did you get software skills? Like where did you go to pick up these skills? Or did you pick these up while you were at uni?
I think it's important to take stories like this with a pinch of salt. People hear about famous people who drop out of University and get mega-rich from it, or even a very good wage like the OP. But it builds people's hopes up to unrealistic levels and they think that opportunities will just fall at their feet.

Stories like this happen in exceptionally rare cases. And even where they do, the person who achieves it will have had to work their arse off to achieve it. I do agree that experience counts far more than education, but you can't achieve anything or get to the top without hard work. I mean, putting in a half arsed effort into a degree, missing exams and writing 320 our of 10,000 words on a dissertation will rarely get you anywhere. If you're going to do that, then 95% of the time, you might as well not bother going to University, get a job at least three years earlier and start building your experience from there.

Congratulations to the OP for his success, but this story is a one-off, and is not how the world works.
Props to you, dude. Congratulations.:smile:
Original post by Chris22
I think it's important to take stories like this with a pinch of salt. People hear about famous people who drop out of University and get mega-rich from it, or even a very good wage like the OP. But it builds people's hopes up to unrealistic levels and they think that opportunities will just fall at their feet.

Stories like this happen in exceptionally rare cases. And even where they do, the person who achieves it will have had to work their arse off to achieve it. I do agree that experience counts far more than education, but you can't achieve anything or get to the top without hard work. I mean, putting in a half arsed effort into a degree, missing exams and writing 320 our of 10,000 words on a dissertation will rarely get you anywhere. If you're going to do that, then 95% of the time, you might as well not bother going to University, get a job at least three years earlier and start building your experience from there.

Congratulations to the OP for his success, but this story is a one-off, and is not how the world works.


He didn't say he didn't work hard..


And actually I getwhere you're coming from but seriously these stories are more common than you think it's just you only hear a minority of famous people/people with these stories you don't hera the rest


My uncle came from a really poor background, so poor you wouldn't believe, passed his o-levels ( gcses) but always had an interest in computers and worked and worked and worked on them never went sixth-form/college or uni, he eventually got a mangers job and owned a quite abit of land.

Same with my mum's friend, did night courses,then a HND, then uni now head of a computer suite

My aunty failed olevel maths,applied for a psychology job somewhere, they said they are going to pick her and not the rest with degrees because they just have theory she had something else but it would be illegal to take her on with no Degree so she did Psychology via OU.

It really isn't everything and these stories are more common than you think.

I'm not saying exams aren't important they are...but if you fail them that doesn't mean your life is over and you can turn it around :smile: This is what OP is trying to say :smile:
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by elmosandy
He didn't say he didn't work hard..


And actually I getwhere you're coming from but seriously these stories are more common than you think it's just you only hear a minority of famous people/people with these stories you don't hera the rest


My uncle came from a really poor background,so poor you wouldn't believe, passed his o-levels ( gcses) but always had an interest in computers and worked and worked and worked on them never went sixth-form or uni, he eventually got a mangers job and owned a pot of land

Same with my mum's friend, did night courses,then a HND, then uni now head of a computer suite


It really isn't everything and these stories are more common than you think.

I'm not saying exams aren't important they are...but if you fail them that doesn't mean your life is over and you can turn it around :smile: This is what OP is trying to say :smile:


I think your missing the point. In order to establish a correlation you need a large sample size.

Government statistics have shown that in the LARGE majority of cases, an university education has acted as a gateway out of poverty, more pivotal in its role than any other factor.

A few anecdotal cases are really not a large sample.

If this weren't the case, government would not encourage secondary school students to pursue A Levels.

There are plenty of people WHO work hard, most of them do not succeed.

So yes, the OP, has essentially, won a lottery.

Good for him/her.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by Xin Xang
I think your missing the point. In order to establish a correlation you need a large sample size.

Government statistics have shown that in the LARGE majority of cases, an university education has acted as a gateway out of poverty, more pivotal in its role than any other factor.

A few anecdotal cases are really not a large sample.

If this weren't the case, government would not encourage secondary school students to pursue A Levels.

There are plenty of people WHO work hard, most of them do not succeed.

So yes, the OP, has essentially, won a lottery.

Good for him/her.


I genuinely think it is you who is missing the point here...

No one is saying the OP's model is the one to follow; even the OP does not say that.

The point to take away from what he wrote is that if things do not go to plan, do not give up. You can still find a path to where you want to go. You can still be successful - but you need to strive for it and work for it.

And that point is absolutely right.

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