I'm a 2:2 graduate I can't even get minimum wage jobs

You know that the ratio of living costs to salary is often worse in London than in other UK cities (correct if wrong!). Knowing this, do you still it is a good idea to start your career in London or would it be okay to start in any other reasonably big city (say Manchester, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Bristol, etc)? I am talking about software development, btw.

I wouldn't really care too much about CoL at the start of my career, there's always scope to 'upgrade downards' and move to a lower CoL city with a pay cut. London has the benefit of an immense tech community, a huge array of startups, tonnes of large tech cos with offices there and generally more opportunities to capitalise on. These benefits, at least for me, outweigh the difference in CoL as you can exploit this strong network in order to source capital for your own startup, gain some high quality/name brand experience on your CV and skyrocket through the ranks (something that isn't as common in companies outside of the City).

Really it all boils down to opportunities. There are far more potential ones in London than there are in the more regional cities and more opportunities leads on to greater career development.

With all that's said and done, there are obvious benefits to starting out in say a Bristol or an Edinburgh, sure. There are some burgeonening tech communities in those areas with a few opportunities for career growth - but you just won't get the same scale and magnitude that is available in London.

I wouldn't really care too much about CoL at the start of my career, there's always scope to 'upgrade downards' and move to a lower CoL city with a pay cut. London has the benefit of an immense tech community, a huge array of startups, tonnes of large tech cos with offices there and generally more opportunities to capitalise on. These benefits, at least for me, outweigh the difference in CoL as you can exploit this strong network in order to source capital for your own startup, gain some high quality/name brand experience on your CV and skyrocket through the ranks (something that isn't as common in companies outside of the City).

Really it all boils down to opportunities. There are far more potential ones in London than there are in the more regional cities and more opportunities leads on to greater career development.

With all that's said and done, there are obvious benefits to starting out in say a Bristol or an Edinburgh, sure. There are some burgeonening tech communities in those areas with a few opportunities for career growth - but you just won't get the same scale and magnitude that is available in London.

Degree doesn't equal a well paid job, just how life is now, it did but it doesn't now, you have to be aspirational and strong willed, something the OP lacked and hence why he's now in a checkout

This thread makes me sad.

Just highlighting the realities of looking for a job after you've graduated.

Nothing new that I didn't know already.

It just makes me sad thinking about it.

I'm afraid this will be the future.

Well. I am determined to make sure this won't be me.

Yeah, apply BEFORE you graduate and also try to get an internship in your penultimate year.

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My circumstances are slightly different.

How is it different?

Well I am a final year music student at a very prestigious place and I am predicted a first.

I do have an internship sorted for next summer and after I am doing an Msc CS (Conversion)
Meantime I've become fairly competent in C, C++,C#, Java and MySQL. I plan on learning web languages afterwards. I am trying to find open source projects to contribute online, but untill I reach that standard I am just practising my algorithm/problem-solving skills on Hackerrank.

You're on the right path! Nice to see a CS convert.

Definitely contribute to OpenSource projects, get a GitHub account too.

Posted from TSR Mobile

You're on the right path! Nice to see a CS convert.

Definitely contribute to OpenSource projects, get a GitHub account too.

Posted from TSR Mobile

What did you convert from?

Which Msc did you do?

I didn't convert, I'm going to be studying it next year haha I'm just appreciating the fact that you've been lured into the CS field.

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I graduated last month with a 2:2 in Computer science and since then I have been applying for graduate jobs non-stop with a lot of rejections. I then had to sign on JSA, now the Job center are advising me to work for free for 2 weeks in a call center to get "experience" which I've refused because I dislike to be exploited by the company and work for free in a field that does not interest me.

I explained to the Job centers that I'm interested in IT jobs to which they replied that they would not be paying me benefits so that I could sit and wait for a very specific job. And after applying to loads of minimum wage jobs and getting loads of rejections they want me to work for free in some crappy job to get experience.

The other day they sent me to a compulsory course which explained about how to use the internet to apply for jobs I thought it was laughable they must be stuck in the 90's. They have no clue on how to deal with graduates