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I'm 17 and Hate my Apprenticeship.

I am 17 and dropped out of sixth form because I hated that too. I am now 2 month into a Business Administration apprenticeship and I am hating this too. I feel useless and everyone is at least 10 years older than me. All my friends seem to love what they are doing and have loads of free time to go out and socialize. Yet I feel like I am wasting all my day at work in which I am hating. This is putting quite down and depressed. Does anyone have any advice on what to do.

Thanks!

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Reply 1
Work is crap. Such is life. That's why they have to give you money to do it.

What you need is to find ways to enjoy what there is to do. One way is to take an interest and try to find ways to do the job better. That results in positive praise, which makes you feel better about yourself and the job.
Reply 2
Original post by Simes
Work is crap. Such is life. That's why they have to give you money to do it.

What you need is to find ways to enjoy what there is to do. One way is to take an interest and try to find ways to do the job better. That results in positive praise, which makes you feel better about yourself and the job.


I have tried that already even though I'm two months in I am now bored of doing everything in more exciting way
Original post by JackSkiggs
I am 17 and dropped out of sixth form because I hated that too. I am now 2 month into a Business Administration apprenticeship and I am hating this too. I feel useless and everyone is at least 10 years older than me. All my friends seem to love what they are doing and have loads of free time to go out and socialize. Yet I feel like I am wasting all my day at work in which I am hating. This is putting quite down and depressed. Does anyone have any advice on what to do.

Thanks!


Did you drop out because of A Levels, what about trying a BTEC?
Reply 4
Original post by lizmoo0721
Did you drop out because of A Levels, what about trying a BTEC?


I done BTEC and 2 A-Levels. I just struggled with the balance of studying and completing work for my 2 A-Levels as well as keeping up to date with coursework in the BTEC.
Reply 5
Original post by JackSkiggs
I am 17 and dropped out of sixth form because I hated that too. I am now 2 month into a Business Administration apprenticeship and I am hating this too. I feel useless and everyone is at least 10 years older than me. All my friends seem to love what they are doing and have loads of free time to go out and socialize. Yet I feel like I am wasting all my day at work in which I am hating. This is putting quite down and depressed. Does anyone have any advice on what to do.

Thanks!


Don't stay there just because you feel you have to. I left an apprenticeship in software engineering that promised training, a good job afterwards, etc. I've gone on to study a degree, whereas the people who stayed have ended up without the promised qualifications, no real prospect of a job without having to also part-time study a computer science degree, and with only apprenticeship wages even though they should have been on full wages by now.

A lot of 'modern apprenticeships' are just a con to get people to do the menial labour like data entry, report writing, organising documents, etc. without giving them any useful experience in the field. If you don't like what you're doing and you're not financially reliant on it, then I'd recommend looking into your alternatives. Some colleges will accept people without many qualifications, The Open University has no entry requirements, and you can study things like BTECs to make up for a lack of high school qualifications if you need to.

If you do leave and still want work, then you could work part time (or full time, if you have the time) while also studying. This will give you a wage to live off of but also give you real qualifications. It's a much better option as far as I'm concerned.

Edit: Worth adding that a lot of people do drop out on apprenticeships. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/jobs/8305821/Apprentice-drop-out-rate-running-above-25pc.html
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 6
Original post by Urist
Don't stay there just because you feel you have to. I left an apprenticeship in software engineering that promised training, a good job afterwards, etc. and the people who stayed have ended up without the promised qualifications, no real prospect of a job without having to also part-time study a computer science degree, and with only apprenticeship wages even though they should have been on full wages by now.

A lot of 'modern apprenticeships' are just a con to get people to do the menial labour like data entry, report writing, organising documents, etc. without giving them any useful experience in the field. If you don't like what you're doing and you're not financially reliant on it, then I'd recommend looking into your alternatives. Some colleges will accept people without many qualifications, The Open University has no entry requirements, and you can study things like BTECs to make up for a lack of high school qualifications if you need to.

If you do leave and still want work, then you could work part time (or full time, if you have the time) while also studying. This will give you a wage to live off of but also give you real qualifications. It's a much better option as far as I'm concerned.


If I quit my apprenticeship then I don't really want to put it on my cv as it may look as if I'm a quitter and will be a bad reference. This making it harder to get part time jobs as they demand experience.

Also it is very hard to tell both family and your boss that you want to leave your apprenticeship as my family are the main reason I am doing this apprenticeship, just so I don't let them down as they have done so much to me.
Reply 7
Original post by JackSkiggs
If I quit my apprenticeship then I don't really want to put it on my cv as it may look as if I'm a quitter and will be a bad reference. This making it harder to get part time jobs as they demand experience.

Also it is very hard to tell both family and your boss that you want to leave your apprenticeship as my family are the main reason I am doing this apprenticeship, just so I don't let them down as they have done so much to me.


I felt the same way. It's very difficult to actually admit you want to quit, but there's no point in just driving yourself to misery by staying. It's terrifying to tell your boss that you're quitting, but that fear will disappear once you've done it. Depression will only get worse the longer you keep doing something you hate.

I can't comment on your parents because I don't know them, but my mother accepted why I left. Most of my family have since regarded it as a good decision, especially given what happened to the other apprentices. The important thing is that you go on and start doing something else once you leave, whether it's studying or work.

You don't have to put the apprenticeship on your CV if you don't want to. Don't give your boss as a reference and don't mention it. So long as you have other things on that CV then you can still find other work. If you part amiably enough with the place, then there's nothing wrong with leaving either, provided it's to follow a better opportunity. People leave jobs all the time to work somewhere else or do something else. The problem would be if you left and then had a huge (i.e 1 year+) gap on your CV because of not going on to do something else. That would come across more like just giving up, whereas going to an opportunity you'd enjoy more is just a perfectly reasonable cost-benefit decision. That's my opinion anyway.

Good luck.
(edited 9 years ago)
Reply 8
Original post by Urist
I felt the same way. It's very difficult to actually admit you want to quit, but there's no point in just driving yourself to misery by staying. It's terrifying to tell your boss that you're quitting, but that fear will disappear once you've done it. Depression will only get worse the longer you keep doing something you hate.

I can't comment on your parents because I don't know them, but my mother accepted why I left. Most of my family have since regarded it as a good decision, especially given what happened to the other apprentices. The important thing is that you go on and start doing something else once you leave, whether it's studying or work.

You don't have to put the apprenticeship on your CV if you don't want to. Don't give your boss as a reference and don't mention it. So long as you have other things on that CV then you can still find other work. If you part amiably enough with the place, then there's nothing wrong with leaving either, provided it's to follow a better opportunity. People leave jobs all the time to work somewhere else or do something else. The problem would be if you left and then had a huge (i.e 1 year+) gap on your CV because of not going on to do something else. That would come across more like just giving up, whereas going to an opportunity you'd enjoy more is just a perfectly reasonable cost-benefit decision. That's my opinion anyway.

Good luck.


In my opinion. Quitting something you hate to try and pursue a career in something you like should not come across as a negative point.

I think I am going to give it a few weeks and see if it gets any better. If I still despise it I am going to have to stand up and do what is right.

Thanks a lot for your help
Reply 9
Original post by JackSkiggs
In my opinion. Quitting something you hate to try and pursue a career in something you like should not come across as a negative point.

I think I am going to give it a few weeks and see if it gets any better. If I still despise it I am going to have to stand up and do what is right.

Thanks a lot for your help


No problem. If you haven't been there long then I agree you should give it a chance, because these things can seem a lot worse than they are at first. I'd been at my apprenticeship about 4 months before I decided to leave, although you don't necessarily have to wait as long as that.

The very beginning is always going to be a bit dull once the excitement of getting in in the first place goes away, because it's going to be very basic introductory stuff. Being dull isn't really a problem for a job, but it's very possible for a job to be outright mentally damaging if they make unreasonable demands of you, randomly vary your responsibilities between nonexistent and overwhelming, act verbally abusive to you, or otherwise make working there really unpleasant.

Regardless of the source of your hatred for the apprenticeship though, if you give it a chance and still find you'd rather be doing something else, then I'd recommend doing that something else. 17 is too young to start wasting your life away doing something you hate. Ideally, you won't ever have to, but it can happen to you when you're older because of family, debt, etc. Don't start doing that any sooner than you have to, and try to never end up in that predicament.

Good luck.
(edited 9 years ago)
Original post by JackSkiggs
I done BTEC and 2 A-Levels. I just struggled with the balance of studying and completing work for my 2 A-Levels as well as keeping up to date with coursework in the BTEC.


What about just doing straight BTEC?
Reply 11
Original post by lizmoo0721
What about just doing straight BTEC?


Nah i'm not gay
Original post by JackSkiggs
Nah i'm not gay


Er excuse me that is not the way to speak about people doing BTEC.
What has gayness got to do with BTEC?

You disgusted immature boy.

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(edited 9 years ago)
its your first job, doesn't matter, think about what do you like doing?
Reply 15
Hahahaha here man I'm having yous on. Ive got a class life :smile:
Original post by JackSkiggs
Hahahaha here man I'm having yous on. Ive got a class life :smile:


sik bantz m8

want to go off for a cheeky nandos?
I was in same boat , all my mates went to collage and had a better social life. All got better when I turned 18 tho, plus you will likely have more money than them all


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Reply 18
Original post by BigRembrandt123
I was in same boat , all my mates went to collage and had a better social life. All got better when I turned 18 tho, plus you will likely have more money than them all


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Nope They get paid more than me for doing less haha
Original post by JackSkiggs
Nah i'm not gay


Do you think you're funny. Gay isn't even offensive.
My sister did a BTEC and got offers from all the top universities e.g. Bath for Sport Science which is top.

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