A engineering pal of mine who is very well connected to the oil exploration/drilling industry told me recently that due to a recent innovation in drilling technologies, giving access to pockets of oil and gas that were previously considered unreachable or uneconomical to exploit, the lifespan of the North Sea oil fields has been extended by an estimated 50 years and that this will pretty imminently signal a second North Sea oil boom. As a result, there are approximately 3,000 vacancies already announced in the Aberdeen area for people with engineering skills and others working in ancillary industries. However, if all the indications are correct, a boom, such as is promised, is never confined one area; indeed in the first boom, a school friend of mine, abandoned school to work in the family engineering business in North London making parts for North Sea oil pumps because their factory went to 24-hour working for about 5 years to meet the demand. As such, those considering 'where next' in engineering terms could therefore be in the right place at the right time. Good luck!
I left the forces in 2011 and have been working in the oil and gas industry ever since. There is a massive lack of qualified and competent personnel to replace the ageing staff. I remember the average age of about 55 being bounced around, and if your overseas getting a work Visa over the age of 60 is an issue.
Every man and his dog that is getting out the armed forces at the moment thinks he is going to work on either the rigs or doing CP work. Bearing in mind that this summer's redundees have started walking out the gates and will continue to do so until the summer, the market for ex-forces employees is currently flooded.
I don't have a degree, left school after A levels and joined up. Would I like a degree, yes unfortunately what I'd like to do isn't available to me from the research I've done so far. i agree with jonny biscuit on this one. I think the value of a degree had been diminished now, wih degrees available in all sorts of bollocks. Kids told that unless they go to uni they're worthless. Well I say that in about 40% of un leavers they're degree is worthless and they've wasted 4 years of their life doing a course in something that will bear no relation to their future employment, if they get any, and racked up a load of debt that'll take years to pay off(if it ever is).
There is a huge difference between education, apprenticeship, learning, and academic study. The fact is that these have all been rather "blended together" in the public eye by successive governments pursuing an agenda of increasing access to education and learning, in the interests of improving the national averages in an increasingly skilled/service economy (as well as helpfully keeping down youth unemployment statistics :wink. As a consequence of the removal of the line between a University (Academic) degree, a Polytechnic (Practical or vocational) degree and a College (practical or in association with apprenticeship) education in the 1990's, there has been a huge increase in the number of people gaining "degrees" and the notion that one is increasingly necessary for every role. They are far from equivalent, and most employers know the differences. Which is why you now have significant selection between courses and "universities" by employers. Academia is the pure study of academic subject matter, to encourage thinking, learning, disciplined study and innovation - which may or may not have any practical application whatsoever. Some does, and advances human understanding (mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, literature, philosophy et al have all led to significant advances for humankind in various ways), but much does not (pure repetitive study, or study which is only an ends in itself). Practical degrees including Medicine, Vetinary Science and Law are not of the same at all, and indeed are often taught at establishments which do not have the finest pure academic departments (some do, some don't), but they require intelligence and an aptitude for learning complex and vast subject matters quickly. Degrees as a whole of the other types, are extremely variable and of extremely variable quality, rigour and merit. People are right to critique the validity of much of this, as compared with a purely practical, vocational or apprenticeship style training. There is no right answer. But a "degree" per se doesn't make anyone worth more money in the strictest sense, but if what they have learned through whichever type of educational path, together with their innate ability to learn and previous and potential experience, makes them more "valuable", then that is different. No one has mentioned MBA's yet, but they are an interesting case study in themselves as to "value"..... The principal purpose of the degree (where obtained from, in what, and at what grade), together with A Levels, is to screen applicants for certain types of vocation where being able to learn quickly, methodically, in a scientific and replicable manner is critical to their success in that role, and where academic performance is actually a very good proxy for their ability to do this. The explosion of "degrees" has just made this more opaque..... Just the same as the dumbing down of A Levels to the point where you need A***** to actually be getting in the top 5% of A Level students sitting the paper - whilst at the same time politicians say there has been no grade inflation..... Bear in mind, that in any population, of any significant size, the overall distribution of any attribute (including academic performance, intelligence or practical performance), will tend to a Bell Curve. So more people learning just increases the amount they have learned, not their academic prowess. It therefore depends whether what they have learned is of any use in what they want to do. And last, but by no means least - is what people want to do. Life is a choice, and not everyone wants to do the same thing, and consequently, will not be as capable at the same task either. Being happy, suited to what you do, and well trained (practically and theoretically) will likely generate the optimal outcome.....
I caught the last of the grants with mine and the beginning of the loans. I left with £7k debt. All paid back now. You will only have shitloads off debt if you don't work as well as study. Ive done all the shit jobs for money for food. If you want something you have to work at it. No degree is worthless as long as you put everything into learning all there is to know about it or if it helps you do what you want. Negativity is pointless, everything has its positives. Self betterment through a degree, whether vocational or not, is always worthwhile. Plus you can source decent grass easily.
I meant it as such that most people are deluded if they think they will be working off shore. The jobs are fewer than the candidates and the competition high. It's just a common fall back career choice that soldiers use as a get out clause when they sign off in the early years for what they will do for a living when they get out.
I totally agree, I've seen many try to get into the industry, but go the wrong way about it and fail. Use the skills you have and add to them, rather than try to reinvent yourself without any credible evidence you can do what you have just done a 'course' in Remember the CTP is just a company employed by the MoD to provide a service. And may not be giving the best advice for the individual, rather to achieve a KPI.. Not that I'm a sceptic ...
I have had the misfortune of working offshore for over 20 yrs and it's fucking shite, I am currently doing agency work.. and these twats treat yer like shit, avoid if possible!
Soldiers are fickle. At the moment it's CP and offshore work, 5 years ago it's was electrician/ plumbers, 10 years ago fibre optics. Many get out for the next 'big thing' only to find out the grass isn't greener and the resettlement courses they've done are worthless.
A lot of guys are out on redundancy,so there is a lot of scope for misrepresenting or mis-selling opportunities by the preferred training course supplier....
Pete1950 is right. Degrees and adult education is about learning to think, learning how to study, listen, concentrate, analysing problems and formulating solutions, writing convincingly, and how to argue. It’s all about discipline. And it doesn’t matter what the subject is. If a potential employer sees that you have those skills then you have a better chance of getting a job. And better still a career you want and will enjoy.
and i refer you to the comments i made earlier….the 'degree candidates' i see on a regular basis more often than not possess non of the above…..
And i would put good money on most of them having degrees like media studies, business studies, surf sciences, golf management etc...
So, basically, all the stuff the being in the armed forces teaches you and that employers are looking for, but without the benefit of any life experience...
Please don't take this the wrong way but my experience of employing ex forces (ranked too), in the past, is that they cannot and do not think for themselves. But give them a task and they will see it through to the bitter end, without question. And that's why I employed them. I do stress that this was in the past (15 years ago) and things may have changed since then.
I always find that anything that requires a certain type of thought process in some specialist civilian posts which include SIS and Police, they always seem to choose ex-armed forces personnel.
