tin-men

Farewell Manchester

As those of you who are following me on twitter know, in a few short weeks, I shall be departing the rainy city and abandoning the lifestyle of a layabout student and moving to London to start work for a small company called RMStudio.

This rather large turning point has made me start to reflect on the four years I spent here and also to think about the future.

The main thing I’ve been thinking about was “did I waste my time doing a degree?”. On the face of it, the answer would be “yes”. I learnt virtually nothing useful on my course (we didn’t even touch any networking hardware until 3rd year – and the degree title was Computer and Networking Technology!), being taught circa 1999 HTML (font tags anyone? I actually got marked down for using CSS in one assignment), how to make basic games in C++ and how ancient processors such as the 8088 worked. Yes, I’m sure some of this is useful to some people, but not to me.

So, what did I find useful? There were several group assignments with me invariably running around people getting them to do work, and of course it teaches you not to leave things to the last minute after you get sick of being up at 5am trying to get that assignment done for tomorrow that you have had lying around for three months. Oh, there’s also the fact that I met some of the best people on this earth up here (leaving those people behind was one of the hardest decisions I ever had to make) and will leave with some very fond memories (and some very fond “I think I remember what happened last night, but I’m not too sure” nights too!).

And of course there’s the extra pay at the end of it. Even in my starting role, I’ll be on several grand a year more than I would be if I’d not been to university. That should go some way to help pay off the debts I racked up when I was testing the beer to make sure it was safe for everyone else (what a public servant I am!).

So, what does the future hold for me then? As I said at the top, I’ll be moving down to London in a few weeks to start what should be my dream job – I’ll be making websites and doing other mac related geekery. Yep, basically what I do now, but I get paid for all of it (not just the web bit like I do now). Hai five!

Sure, I could have got more money selling my soul and joining an IT department at a large company or whatever, but I couldn’t face dreading work every morning (and wearing a suit! Yegads! Although I do look pretty good in a suit… ).

So there you go. University was probably worth it since I had lots of fun, met great people and didn’t do a great deal of work for most of it whilst managing to get enough credits to make my way through. Now it’s time for the real fun to start!

Very interesting post Graham. I worked for a small software house on my gap year, on a fantastic salary. I was offered a different position in the company at the end of that year as an alternative to going to uni – they would have sent me on various training courses to get qualifications as well. It was one of the hardest decisions I ever made, and I’m now reaching the end of my first year Internet Computing BSc degree at Manchester University.

Your experience of university seems to be exactly the same as mine. The work isn’t up to much, but the people I’ve met and the experiences far outweigh that. I may even be in the same position as you in a couple of years!

Congratulations on your new job though, I wish you the best of luck… Bye from Manchester!

uni can feel like a big waste of time when you look back… i know, 6 years+, but in the end you’ll look at those years fondly, and sigh, “remember when all i had to do was worry about was that wikkid friday morning hangover”.

plus, a uni degree makes you more posh and gives you something to frame on your wall that your parents will approve of.

well-done and congrats. good luck on the move! meet you at the LDN Apple Store!

i bet you look wikkid hawt in a suit.

Thanks guys. And yes Lisa, I do. Check the photos of me on farcebook. Hot even if I do say so myself. *ahem*

I’m currently in my first year of uni and I’m having similar feelings. But, I’m gonna stick it out.

Best of luck in your new job!

Andrew.

Good luck in your new job and new life in Laaaandhan.

And yeah, you do look pretty good in a suit

Good luck in the new job and on your move to the big smoke