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Winning at Life - Happy about Things?


CostaJambo

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My 3 kids are all at important stages of their education and try as I might, I am struggling to get through to them how much the hard work they put in now will pay off when it gets to exam time. 

 

I daresay I had exactly the same conversation with my parents back in the day and thought there was plenty of time left and why would they be worrying so early in the school year?

 

So Kickbackers, on a scale of 1 to 10, where did you think you were when you left school and where are you now?

 

I would say I scraped through school at about 6 or 7/10 and could've done better (never made it to uni level and probably never could have), but soon realised I would have to get the finger out to make a decent future and got a bit forward, where do you think you started off when you left school and where are you now?

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Shanks said no

I messed about at school but still studied because I didn't want to fail and didn't with my exams, so school was probably a 7/10

 

Dipped during my apprenticeship when I found partying more interesting than work / study. Culminated in failing a year of my HNC and having to repeat. That and discovering that hard work meant more cash eventually made me realise I needed to screw the head. So 16-19 lucky to scrape 5/10

 

I have done well enough for myself and had a good life, family, house, travel, so probably a 8/10 thereafter. I was too risk averse to go for a 9/10 or 10/10.

 

 

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Worked fairly hard at school. I was in with a good bunch of people who wanted to do well. I ended up with decent exam results and was quite chuffed.

Left school and got a job as an apprentice accountant on the mind boggling salary of £16 a week. It was a good opportunity to study for a further 3 or 4 years to get qualified to earn good money, but I didn’t try nearly hard enough and ended up dropping out of that profession for a job with little prospects but better, but not great, money.

From my experience, it’s more important to realise that the work isn’t done when you leave school, especially if you go into further education. It’s just getting harder to focus with all the distractions that being of age to drink alcohol and party bring.

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When I taught mainstream the hardest thing to teach kids is how important school can be.

 

Here was my spiel to them.....

 

I d say I know that there are lots of success stories of people who said they failed at school or left early or had teachers tell them they'd never succeed and against all the odds they made it......very good yadda yadda yadda.... but for each one of them there might be hundreds or thousands of folk who can't say that. Folk who left it too late, mucked about or just expected everything to just turn out right for them.

 

I tried to get them to think about all the different jobs you can do. So many different jobs. Some you learn, some you need to study for, some you can pick up as you go.

You do well at school then you get to pick which one you do from a really really big list. Maybe you need to study it at Uni but you were smart and stuck in at school and Uni accepts you because you have the grades.

If there are More jobs on that list, then there are more for you to choose, so there is more chance of better pay and maybe more importantly you get to choose a job you want to do and you like.

 

However, 

 

Don't do well at school and that job list is much smaller, and most of these jobs won't pay you as much as the bigger list and if it's a small list then maybe all the jobs on it are ones that you won't like. But you will have to pick one.

 

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I would say I was at the best 5/10, but I was lucky good memory and what I heard stuck. I left at fifteen, got a job in Viewforth Garage at Viewforth Terrace, as a low paid laborer allegedly an apprentice.

 On joining the army, and later in the police I realised I had not hated learning in school, what I despised was being inside all the time. I am sure todays teachers would have identified my problem, and some resource would have been applied to utilise it to the best. One day in Physics Miss Mchardy asked a question, and opened it up to the class to answer, the brains were solicited, and with no response she enquired anybody , I replied with the exact answer, I just realised I knew it, the teacher was stunned, and so were the class, but there was no follow up.

I had passed the qualifying exam very high, I was investigated for cheating, again no check to see how it had happened, who knows where I might have gone if my secret had been Identified. 

I can only stress if your child is not doing well at school please speak to them for a possible reason, sometimes it is not as I was being adjudged as basically stupid, but in fact as was found nearly forty years later that I had a photographic  memory and study was boring, because as I did it was something I already knew. But as all our exams were handwritten not multiple choice the requirement to see the answers was not present.

I eventually graduated college with a Diploma in Business Administration, and ran a Police Department, if I had gone back to Boroughmuir for a reunion there would have been some very surprised people how I ended.

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A Boy Named Crow

It's funny how things work out.  I missed a lot of the last three years of secondary school through illness.  My life choices after that were not as broad as they might have been,  but decades later I'm living in Australia,  with a good job and quite a nice life. 

Similarly, I know a guy who left school with nothing,  trained as a chef for a bit, then did a tourism degree...but straight out of uni got a job at an investment bank. For years he insisted it was only temporary and he'd get a real job soon...he's still moving up the ranks in financial services.

 

I think what I'm saying is,  working hard at school and getting the grades there definitely makes things easier,  but there's way more to life and success than how you did at school. 

 

Teach your kids the value of hard work, that'll see them through school and beyond. 

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Governor Tarkin
5 hours ago, A Boy Named Crow said:

Teach your kids the value of hard work, that'll see them through school and beyond. 

 

This is a solid foundation. Everything else comes from here.

 

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11 hours ago, CostaJambo said:

My 3 kids are all at important stages of their education and try as I might, I am struggling to get through to them how much the hard work they put in now will pay off when it gets to exam time. 

 

I daresay I had exactly the same conversation with my parents back in the day and thought there was plenty of time left and why would they be worrying so early in the school year?

 

So Kickbackers, on a scale of 1 to 10, where did you think you were when you left school and where are you now?

 

I would say I scraped through school at about 6 or 7/10 and could've done better (never made it to uni level and probably never could have), but soon realised I would have to get the finger out to make a decent future and got a bit forward, where do you think you started off when you left school and where are you now?

 

Have a good job, very lucky. I had to put a fair bit of work in at school to get the grades to get into uni after underestimating exams one year. 

 

I then enjoyed uni but didn't have the discipline to learn from that first mistake at school and it took more time to realise that/address it. I did a couple of other courses and was more disciplined. I applied what I'd learned into getting them done right. 

 

I might have been better getting an apprenticeship somewhere and working/studying in hindsight. What i learned about exams was that hard work pays off, just doing the minimum then cramming/winging it doesn't work at crucial moments. 

 

Overall though - Probably a 7 out of 10 then and the same now. 

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10 hours ago, Greedy Jambo said:

Too many factors to consider, but sometimes pushing your children to do what you think is best will make them do the complete opposite. 

Agreed 

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Formal education really bored me actually . Yes learning to read and write is important but some of the other stuff was a waste of space really . I did very well at school academically and in exams ( which are basically memory tests ) I much prefer the emphasis today at schools about being “ good citizens “ learning to care about others , think about impacts of poverty , homelessness etc as well as the more formal educational subjects .

 

I would encourage young people to not get too stressed about exams and academic results but to also think of apprenticeships and started at the bottom at a firm and working up the way . If they want to go to further education they should ensure they are studying because they want to and not due to pressure of mum and dad who maybe projecting their own academic failures or hopes on to their children .

 

I left school after 5th year as I had had enough . That’s when the real education began ! Work , sex , parties and rock and roll 🎸 😎😎😎   
 

I did have a feeling inside me that for all my criticism of education I had some what under achieved . So I started to studied in my late 20s and graduated from Edinburgh Uni years later . I enjoyed it as I did it when I wanted to and had no external pressure to succeed 

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I left school being able to read, write and count. I will argue that is more than 50% of the student population nowadays.

 

I am not starving, I have a roof over my head and I don't go cold. I'm 59 next April. I personally think I haven't done to bad.

Three major careers.

Royal Navy 1979-1990.

IBM 1990-2005.

Scotrail 2005-to present day.

I have however worked on cross channel ferries, worked in a bakery, and a tampon factory in my time.

Worked delivering Bon Accord juice to people's doors for three months before joining the Navy.

Edited by John Findlay
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School was a mix bag for me really, I got very good grades up to standard grade level as I could get away with a good memory and found that so long as I understood the theory behind something I could recall how to work out the answer, 5th year i thought I could do the same and found out I couldn't and a bit of hard work wouldn't have gone amiss.

 

Spent my early career doing a variety of crap finance jobs before somehow falling into the world of Procurement, now more than 15 years later I'm in a fairly specialised procurement role, well enough paid in a huge company, i'm trusted to manage my own time and workload with very little outside interference.

 

In my personal life I'm engaged to the woman I've been with for 8 years and we've just bought our second house, moving from a 1 bed starter flat into a 3 bed house where we will hopefully bring up a kid. 

 

Yeah, think i'm doing alright tbf

 

 

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I hated school, I wasn't a bad or disruptive but I just had no interest. All my grades were bang average, apart from maths which I failed completely. Left school at 15 to work and only been unemployed 2 days since leaving 14 years ago. I've had poor paying jobs, reasonable pay and very good paying. If I were to do it again Id absolutely try harder in school and hopefully my son listens to me when I tell him to stick in.

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Just remember being bored at school most of the time (except the last 2 years aged 16-18 when teachers treated us as people and not children and I have a lot to thank my teachers of that time for).

Work wise, I never thought I'd end up doing the work I have in the places I've been. Not a lot of it was exotic or "thrills & spills" but now that I'm retired I'm quite chuffed at looking back over my working life. I've travelled all over the UK and quite a few parts of the world I'd never have seen otherwise. 

A solid 8/10, and could have been higher but I was/am quite risk averse at times. 

My only regret is not going to uni - zero chance of any financial help from parents on thats score and I know for sure it cost me a job when I was headhunted by PWC but it all fell down when they asked about my "degree". 

Edited by NANOJAMBO
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At school between the constant bullying and fighting on an almost daily basis and getting the same at that ment I only done 1 full year of high school and was lucky to scrape together a few standard grades, I had no  real plan or any ambition for when I left. So it was a solid 2/10

 

 

My life now is okay apart from the depression. I have a nice house etc usually get to go on holiday a few times a year. The only thing I would change is my Job. Driving a bus is a miserable existence. Its a 7.5/10 if I had a slightly better paid job with more sociable hours it would me a 9.

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2 hours ago, John Findlay said:

I left school being able to read, write and count. I will argue that is more than 50% of the student population nowadays.

 

I am not starving, I have a roof over my head and I don't go cold. I'm 59 next April. I personally think I haven't done to bad.

Three major careers.

Royal Navy 1979-1990.

IBM 1990-2005.

Scotrail 2005-to present day.

I have however worked on cross channel ferries, worked in a bakery, and a tampon factory in my time.

Worked delivering Bon Accord juice to people's doors for three months before joining the Navy.

I left school had a few ideas what I wanted to do and joining the Navy was one of them. I decided against it and never joined any forces. I'm coming up for my 30th and I always think back what could of been and what would of it been like .I will never know now. 

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I left School in 2008 aged 15 doing the odd college course Painting and Decorating looking to go into a trade while still playing football with the mindset I will make it as a footballer if not then have the painting to fall back on. the recession hit and I was out the job the football went out the window also around 16/17. I considered joining the Navy or the RAF meeting them on several occasions just never knew what to do in life. Since then I have had many jobs in retail and customer service , office jobs , driving , banks. no profession. Like I said in a earlier post above I'm going to be 30 in a month or two and looking back at my last 10 years or so and what I have done. 

 

I have a job it doesn't pay the best but not working 100s of hours. I'm working Monday to Friday latest I finish is 5pm. I have my house and my car , I can play golf and watch the Hearts at the weekends and afford to go abroad on holiday. I have a partner and expecting my first child in April . I have looked at new jobs to earn more money but it means working more hours and uncertain times of finishing its just not for me and its not an ideal work life balance with a kid on the way. 

 

If I had the chance and go and change anything ? Probably not. I hated school so I would never wish to turn back the time and go back or any higher education. I just left school at a crap time and things took the turn for the worst. 

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11 minutes ago, Stu_HMFC said:

I left school had a few ideas what I wanted to do and joining the Navy was one of them. I decided against it and never joined any forces. I'm coming up for my 30th and I always think back what could of been and what would of it been like .I will never know now. 

You still can join up, your young enough.

At the time it was the best thing I ever did. To this day is still the best and most enjoyable job I have ever had.

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Haven’t done bad in life so far. Have had a decent career and seen the world and i am comfortable. But in a way it makes me regret not applying myself as good as i could have when it mattered in School. Still at least i am not a Hibee! **** me that would be failure on all counts!

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Like most who mucked about at school due to just likening it, I completely regretted it straight away.

Went back and dine some higher education later on, but that was more for enjoyment of seeing I could do it rather than it get me better employment etc. 

Life is alright but would've had a lot more choices and more money during my twenties which meant missing out on lots of things those who stuck in did.

Missed out on things like going to world cup finals and foreign holidays. 

 

 

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Had a s*** time at school but stuck in and went to Edin U.  Spent 5 (ish) years there and have worked ever since doing a job I really don’t like.  It’s relatively well paid and it’s meant I have a nice car and have had good holidays but I’d love to go back 40 years and put something else on that UCCA form.

Going to take early retirement before the end of this year and do something else.

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This has been one of the best threads for a while 👍🏻
 

I was saying to a friend the other day we both worked in the same job about 10 year ago and it was at the time folk started going part time and taking non paid time off to go travelling , away to Australia or doing camp America . I just kept working away hindsight is wonderful looking back 10 years later thinking I wish I went and done something like this myself, But when you were in that position just never done it or thought you could afford it .

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Piss about and have as much fun as possible while you're young.  If you love studying or know what you want to do the  fair enough, but you're only young once and should not waste it studying and worrying.  Getting enough grades to get you into a college/uni course is helpful. 

 

Plenty of time in your twenties to learn the value of hard work and do some nightclasses/part-time studying when you are more mature and rounded as a person.  

 

Different things work for different people. I would advocate life long learning rather than thinking it ends at school/uni.

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Left school with a few O Grades having spent my time at school basically mucking about. 
 

Managed to get a low level office job (Wouldn’t even get an interview nowadays) 

 

Worked my way up through the ranks eventually retiring at 55 as Regional Manager with responsibility for dozens of staff dotted across the country, ALL with more qualifications than I will ever have (some with Masters) I was very lucky that I could progress through learning on the job and gaining experience.

 

I have a very good life 9/10 and in the fortunate position of having a final salary pension index linked for life which allows me to pretty much do anything I want without having to think too much about it. 

Edited by Radio Ga Ga
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1 hour ago, Stu_HMFC said:

This has been one of the best threads for a while 👍🏻
 

I was saying to a friend the other day we both worked in the same job about 10 year ago and it was at the time folk started going part time and taking non paid time off to go travelling , away to Australia or doing camp America . I just kept working away hindsight is wonderful looking back 10 years later thinking I wish I went and done something like this myself, But when you were in that position just never done it or thought you could afford it .

Thanks mate, I appreciate that. Some of the ones I start late at night after a few scoops go down like a lead balloon!! so not having any time for JKB during the day today I was wondering if this would be another stinker!!!

 

Good to see the number of people who knuckled down after not fulfilling their potential at school and seem content with their lot now.

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54 minutes ago, jonesy said:

It's been a steady downhill slope ever since that lassie poked her pinkie up my arse when we were dancing the lateral lambada when I was 19.

 

1D96A3E8-3A81-49B6-86FB-50DCEE355F6B.gif

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16 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Yeah, that was my reaction, too.

It was more the “ pinkie “ part of it . Rather wimpy really 😀😀

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2 hours ago, CostaJambo said:

Thanks mate, I appreciate that. Some of the ones I start late at night after a few scoops go down like a lead balloon!! so not having any time for JKB during the day today I was wondering if this would be another stinker!!!

 

Good to see the number of people who knuckled down after not fulfilling their potential at school and seem content with their lot now.

👍🏼

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34 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Yeah, that was my reaction, too.

You liked it tho and still continue to this day asking girls in nightclubs for brown pinkie 😂😂😂

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4 minutes ago, jonesy said:

Well, yeah.

 

(Disclaimer - last nightclub I was in was about 14 years ago in Central Asia, and may have involved lobbing a birthday cake that caught in some poor Uyghur woman's bouffant hair do while I was having a food fight with a news anchor).

😂

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Dennis Reynolds

I could have done better at high school as I never really applied myself as much as I should have. Was much more interested in chasing girls about and drinking at the weekends. Scraped through my exams and barely got into Uni. First year at Uni, I did really well but it went downhill from there 😂 To be honest, I left with some qualifications but the situation I was in, it was costing me an arm and a leg and the job prospects for my degree were slim to none. My student loan didn't cover my rent and through a mix of being a bit picky and just bad luck, the only job I could get was working weekends as a shop assistant. I was pretty much penniless at one point living off one meal a day. A panini from the local cafe once a month was a treat! Decided to leave with what I had, get my foot in the door whilst finishing my learning with the Open Uni and it was the best decision I made. 

 

I've worked my way up from a six month seasonal position to being where I am now. Was made redundant from that but managed to get a job offer the week after at a place that really kick-started my whole working career. Sheer hard work and just putting the hours in. Doing absolutely every wee course available to me and picking up as many extra skills as I could.

 

Now married, have my own place and whilst I still make the odd stupid decision (credit cards) I'm in a very privileged position. Job prospects look great and again, just applying myself and taking on as much extra curricular courses I can. As someone else says, hard work is where it's at. If you want something you need to work for it. Self entitlement triggers me so much.

 

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I lost interest at school at about 15 and was a lazy wee sod. Left before I was 16.

Managed to work for pretty much all my life (Building sites, RAF, Post Office and current job for 20 years)

Im happier now than I think I’ve ever been 

 

My only child is 30 and still going to University (Also working) She’s academically very bright but a lot more stressed and worried than I ever was

Im not stupid and have learned a lot about things that interest me since I left school but think I’m happier as a drop out than I would have been if I could have been arsed at school

(Course I would never tell the Bairn that)

There wasn’t really a presumption that you’d go to Uni when I was a Bairn.

Everyone seems to go now 

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18 hours ago, John Findlay said:

I left school being able to read, write and count. I will argue that is more than 50% of the student population nowadays.

 

I am not starving, I have a roof over my head and I don't go cold. I'm 59 next April. I personally think I haven't done to bad.

Three major careers.

Royal Navy 1979-1990.

IBM 1990-2005.

Scotrail 2005-to present day.

I have however worked on cross channel ferries, worked in a bakery, and a tampon factory in my time.

Worked delivering Bon Accord juice to people's doors for three months before joining the Navy.

Hi John 

As someone looking to escape office life, working in the rail industry is something I have often given thought to. Any suggested routes or pathways I should consider. Would appreciate your thoughts and views. 

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14 minutes ago, daveyhmfc said:

Hi John 

As someone looking to escape office life, working in the rail industry is something I have often given thought to. Any suggested routes or pathways I should consider. Would appreciate your thoughts and views. 

From what I can gather you have to apply online(with Scotrail at least) but also checkout, LNER, Avanti Westcoast, Cross-country, and First transpenine express, as all work out from Edinburgh Waverley. I would check each companies own websites as they do advertise positions there. What I would say is you may not get what you consider to be your ideal job in the rail industry right away, but persevere as after 6 months you can apply for other jobs in the company you are with and other train companies.

The benefits are good. Sick pay, holiday pay, decent pension scheme, if you go from one train company to another your pension goes with you. It doesn't go with you if you decide to leave the rail industry. After six months you will get free rail travel for you and your partner and any children on all the rail franchises your company run. On other rail franchises it will be a 75% discount anywhere in the UK, and any children can travel anywhere in the UK upto the age of 16 for £2 return.

My saying is its hard to get into the rail industry, but even harder to get out.

Edited by John Findlay
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The_razors_edge

This is going to sound like a proper sob story but it’s really not meant to…keep yer violins in their cases 😂

 

I didn’t do well at school. I was sent to school at 4 1/2 and dragged round 4 different primary schools by the time I was in primary 4 (each time as a direct result of either moving house or parents splitting up). Then at the age of 12 I was dragged down to the south of England to live for a year and a half because of my mum’s partners job. Came back up not long before my 14th birthday. Went into high school half way through 3rd year and had to basically pick my subjects on the spot on my first day - without any parental input. Left school at 16 with 3 highers. 
 

As I’ve got older and reflected on my school days it’s clear to me I was too immature to sit exams when I did. In a lot of cases I was sitting the same exams as kids who were a year older than me. This has influenced my approach to my own kids education. My son is a January birthday and should have gone to school at 4 1/2 but my wife and I chose to keep him back and send him at 5 1/2. It’s the best decision we could have made for him. He’s flying at school and when it comes to sitting exams he will hopefully be more mature and ready than I ever was. Anyone debating about keeping your kid back at nursery and sending them to school at 5 1/2, absolutely do it. We have no regrets whatsoever.
 

After leaving school I worked for Scoteq and RBS for 5 years. Decided that wasn’t for me and left to back to further/higher education. Completed a HND then did a Honours Degree. Unfortunately, I haven’t managed to get a FT job in my chosen field but I have managed to work my way up with my current employer. So I have a reasonably well paid and secure job, a fantastic wife, 3 great kids, my own house, 2 cars and a wee bit money saved away for a rainy day.

 

To answer the OP’s question probably a 4/10 for my school days (some of it mitigated by other factors) 

 

Where I am now - probably a solid 8/10. I would prefer to work in my chosen field but I don’t have too many complaints.

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highlandjambo3

Mixed bag for me.

 

School in the 70’s (Gracemount) but, I didn’t feel to confident, not much family support as there were 5 of us being brought up with just mum.  I quickly became very defensive about my abilities (or lack of them) and ducked out of anything to difficult to achieve, could not wait to leave at 16, didn’t sit any exams, no qualifications.

 

In 1980 At the age of 16 I Joined the Army, everyone thought I’d be back in a couple of weeks but, 25 years later reaching the rank of Warrant Officer class 2 I left with my pension, I could have stayed another 5 years (they offered me a short extension) but decided it was time to go.  About 5 years before I left the forces I decided to embark on a couple of distance learning courses (open university) so I had some form of qualifications to back me up when I left.  I was always aware that I was the family thicko, as was mentioned to me (in good humour) by family members and, I’d be in for a real shock when I left the forces.  The same month I left the forces, I started a 3 year business management degree at the university of the Highlands and Islands.  
 

So, after collecting together all my qualifications: business management degree, NVQ 4 in management, diploma in administrative management, intermediate English & Maths (SAQ), ECDL, managing safely (IOSH), NVQ assessor (A1), management modern apprenticeship (none of these were gained before I was 37), I am now more qualified than all my family members combined but you know what, I’ve been self employed since leaving the forces so I’ve never had to submit a CV with a list of my successes, who knows what sort of job I’d have been scoped for.  Point I’m making is qualifications aren’t a substitute for hard graft but, I do agree they do help.

 

Now, I own my own fairly big house and I’m still self employed with a forces pension, I bring in a fairly big wedge every month.

 

Im happy:

 

School days:  4/10 not sure where I was going or what I wanted.

Early forces:  6/10 began to see I could have a decent career.

Late forces : 9/10 great career, flew up the promotion ladder, well paid and loved the job.

Post forces:  9/10. took my self esteem, stuck it in my back pocket and hit civvy street running……haven’t stopped.

 

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I ****ed up royally at school and had to go to College first to make up qualifications, and in doing so realised how far off I was for the qualifications I needed to get into my line of work.

 

Ended up with an Honours degree but that is now meaningless due to work experience and time since I sat it.

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2 hours ago, highlandjambo3 said:

Mixed bag for me.

 

School in the 70’s (Gracemount) but, I didn’t feel to confident, not much family support as there were 5 of us being brought up with just mum.  I quickly became very defensive about my abilities (or lack of them) and ducked out of anything to difficult to achieve, could not wait to leave at 16, didn’t sit any exams, no qualifications.

 

In 1980 At the age of 16 I Joined the Army, everyone thought I’d be back in a couple of weeks but, 25 years later reaching the rank of Warrant Officer class 2 I left with my pension, I could have stayed another 5 years (they offered me a short extension) but decided it was time to go.  About 5 years before I left the forces I decided to embark on a couple of distance learning courses (open university) so I had some form of qualifications to back me up when I left.  I was always aware that I was the family thicko, as was mentioned to me (in good humour) by family members and, I’d be in for a real shock when I left the forces.  The same month I left the forces, I started a 3 year business management degree at the university of the Highlands and Islands.  
 

So, after collecting together all my qualifications: business management degree, NVQ 4 in management, diploma in administrative management, intermediate English & Maths (SAQ), ECDL, managing safely (IOSH), NVQ assessor (A1), management modern apprenticeship (none of these were gained before I was 37), I am now more qualified than all my family members combined but you know what, I’ve been self employed since leaving the forces so I’ve never had to submit a CV with a list of my successes, who knows what sort of job I’d have been scoped for.  Point I’m making is qualifications aren’t a substitute for hard graft but, I do agree they do help.

 

Now, I own my own fairly big house and I’m still self employed with a forces pension, I bring in a fairly big wedge every month.

 

Im happy:

 

School days:  4/10 not sure where I was going or what I wanted.

Early forces:  6/10 began to see I could have a decent career.

Late forces : 9/10 great career, flew up the promotion ladder, well paid and loved the job.

Post forces:  9/10. took my self esteem, stuck it in my back pocket and hit civvy street running……haven’t stopped.

 

👍👍

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Could have done better at school (5 O levels) but wanted to earn money and buy stuff. Parents were a bit disappointed I think. Originally wanted to be a  lawyer but that meant sticking in at school and I couldn't be arsed. Left at 16 and did 6 years as a postie meant I had plenty cash for things. Packed it in and worked in a bar in Cyprus before getting thrown off the island! 1 year at Sky TV which was truly awful. 5 years at Seagate Electronics  before being made redundant. 2 years as a prison officer and now 21 in the Polis. 2 kids,who have me and my wife's work ethic, both working. House almost paid off and just got a very decent pay rise which means we can stay longer here and save a lot more than we thought. Overall, 8/10 happy with my lot. Polis has been very good to me in the things I've done and landing a dream job in the Cayman Islands has been the cream of it. Been to places in the Caribbean I would never have went, met some incredibly interesting people, embraced the diversity of the islands and am now advanced diver. I''ve still got plenty time to resume education and fancy teaching adult education when I leave the job. And it's currently 90F outside!

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highlandjambo3
7 minutes ago, EH11_2NL said:

Could have done better at school (5 O levels) but wanted to earn money and buy stuff. Parents were a bit disappointed I think. Originally wanted to be a  lawyer but that meant sticking in at school and I couldn't be arsed. Left at 16 and did 6 years as a postie meant I had plenty cash for things. Packed it in and worked in a bar in Cyprus before getting thrown off the island! 1 year at Sky TV which was truly awful. 5 years at Seagate Electronics  before being made redundant. 2 years as a prison officer and now 21 in the Polis. 2 kids,who have me and my wife's work ethic, both working. House almost paid off and just got a very decent pay rise which means we can stay longer here and save a lot more than we thought. Overall, 8/10 happy with my lot. Polis has been very good to me in the things I've done and landing a dream job in the Cayman Islands has been the cream of it. Been to places in the Caribbean I would never have went, met some incredibly interesting people, embraced the diversity of the islands and am now advanced diver. I''ve still got plenty time to resume education and fancy teaching adult education when I leave the job. And it's currently 90F outside!

Know any hits first team players ?😂😂 Well done you…….I managed to spend a year in Central America with the Army……used to love visiting off the beaten places in the Caribbean 

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This is a great thread.  Makes you really think about your life - all the ups and downs, and how you survived them.

 

For me, I had a really difficult time at school up to age 12.   Not so much the  academic side, but the bullying could be horrendous.  I remember being physically sick some mornings before leaving the house, just worrying what might happen in the playground.  Probably 3 or 4 violent thugs with several hangers-on.   

 

Strangely, it often didn't turn out as bad as I had feared ..... so that was the first life lesson - "keep a sense of perspective & reality on things".   Some of the teachers really inspired me and I left with good quals.   

 

School - 8 out of 10

 

Went to Uni to study the subject I felt was my best one - really enjoyed how it made you grow up and overcome your social worries about fitting in.  I had hopes of becoming a teacher, but couldn't reach the grades for it.

 

Uni - 6 out of 10 

 

In the world of work, I've only worked for 3 employers  - but can honestly say I've taken inspiration and "life knowledge" from them all.       Actually, that has mostly come from some inspiring managers & colleagues.   The first 2 were quite short ( 2 years each).  The 3rd lasted for 30+ years in the IT section of a big multi-national company in Edinburgh (now sadly employing only  a small  handful of Scottish-based employees).     Turns out that the world of IT systems was what captured my imagination and gave me real job satisfaction, especially helping users to do their jobs more efficiently and solving their problems.   Periods of work overload were a real challenge though - have to admit to being very stressed now and again.  I've quite lucky that it paid well and provided a good pension scheme.

 

Work - 8 out of 10

 

Overall though, the biggest life lesson I have is a rather precarious one - "life's ups and downs sometimes hinge  on unexpected strokes of good luck or bad luck.... but equally likely hinge on  your own good and bad decisions.   You need to admit these to yourself and try to learn from the bad ones".

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