OzBargainers, Which Degrees Can You Recommend and Which Can You Advise against for Studying in 2016?

LAFC 23 on 06/10/2015 - 09:42
Last edited 06/10/2015 - 15:24

As the title suggests. What expertise/advice can you share with those looking to commence study.

I already have a path that I am keen on taking. But numerous friends and soon to be school leavers could do with some direction/ general advice - we could have asked for this on other forums, but really value the voice of the OzBargainer.

We've all heard "follow your passion" and "do what makes you happy" before, and while this might be sound advice for some, lets put this aside when considering:

What do you see a future for?

Do you have any experiences with a course that you regret? E.g. Changed courses half way through or required to go back to study after graduating.

And for those with no intention on studying at all, what advice can you give?

Cheers.

Edit: I finished my VCE studies in 2014, and have since spent this year working in a variety of fields. Many people around me jumped straight into a generic uni degree. I know that VTAC preferences are due in soon, hence many people could do with some guidance.

Education & Work

Comments

  • Banana on 06/10/2015 - 10:10
    +27

    Don't study Science, don't study Arts, don't study Arts and Science as a double degree.

    • zealmax on 07/10/2015 - 12:31
      +1

      What about computer science?

      • Banana on 07/10/2015 - 19:22
        +3

        I know a guy who did Computer Science, he couldn't find a job initially. Ended up doing a few random job, landed on a position in a logistics/distributing companies as a warehouse organiser. The last time we spoke, his company is slowly getting him to do some IT stuff.

        Honestly, if you are doing science and your study area is not one of these (chemistry,physics, statistics,geoscience), and you don't have the passion to potentially sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity (research), you have chosen the wrong degree.

        PS, graduating soon please give me a job, I can wash dishes exceptionally well!

        • gimli on 07/10/2015 - 20:56
          +1

          how many dishes in an hour?

        • Banana on 07/10/2015 - 21:42
          +7

          @Gimli:
          Broken or whole?

        • DashAnimal on 08/10/2015 - 08:25
          +11

          Had to log in to reply to this. Computer Science is booming, if you have the passion for it. Two years ago I would never have thought I'd be working for the companies I've worked at… and I haven't even finished my degree yet. There are a lot of opportunities overseas and in Australia, but you definitely need to have some level of drive. If you treat it like a burden that you have to study then you'll probably struggle later in finding jobs. If you have a passion for what you do, and the idea that you can create anything you want with the knowledge you've gained is exciting… then you'll probably have a brighter future than any other career choice atm. Studying CS was the best decision I ever made. Straight up. The best of the sciences.

        • itbargainhunter on 08/10/2015 - 10:05
          +1

          @DashAnimal:

          I wish you well and hope it is really the case in upcoming years.

          In my option, for the last 10-15yrs yrs. CS graduates are not taken seriously in the labour market in Australia.

          When company looks for “hard” IT skills like programmer, database management, coder, software development, they normally opt for graduates with “pure” IT Degrees, Programming even Electrical Engineering.

          When Company looks for “soft” IT skills like Webdesigner, Webmaster, media (video) management, content management, they normally opt for graduate from non-IT background with IT skills, such as Business (Information System), Design, even Marketing.

          All of the people I knew who did CS back then are not working in IT these day.

          Of cause if people are super smart they can get themselves to big guys like Google/IBM/Microsoft basically with any degress. I am just talking about CS in general for the last 10 yrs.

        • zealmax on 08/10/2015 - 11:52
          -2

          @itbargainhunter: All my mates that did CS are driving around in their BMW's, going into the office once a week. You are right though. You have to be pretty smart, but this goes with any industry.

        • kiitos on 08/10/2015 - 22:33

          @itbargainhunter:

          What are those people (who studied CS) doing now?

        • itbargainhunter on 09/10/2015 - 09:53

          @kiitos:

          2 extremes are
          Brand Manager of a Fashion Company,
          Music Teacher

        • pebee47 on 09/10/2015 - 15:37

          small or large ?

        • syousef on 12/10/2015 - 11:00
          +1

          Honestly, if you are doing science and your study area is not one of these (chemistry,physics, statistics,geoscience), and you don't have the passion to potentially sacrifice yourself for the sake of humanity (research), you have chosen the wrong degree.

          That isn't enough anymore. Plenty of brilliant minds are being wasted despite all their sacrifice. I wish it were not so :(

      • Cyb3rGlitch on 07/10/2015 - 21:02
        +1

        Yes, absolutely do it! There are plenty of jobs available if you take it somewhat seriously and know your stuff. Atlassian alone is hiring like crazy. If you're willing to travel, you're almost guaranteed a job in the US.

      • ajdlinux on 07/10/2015 - 21:50
        +4

        Did Arts and Science (in Computer Science - with a strong technical specialisation) as a double degree. Enjoyed it greatly. Now happily working in Big Corporate straight out of uni, in a deeply, deeply technical role which lined up really well with my uni specialisation. Arts degree completely irrelevant to job, but was great fun to do and would recommend - Political Science and International Relations is fascinating.

        BA/BSc(Hons) 10/10 would do again

        When it comes to employment in the IT industry, if you are actually good at the technical skills, and you have adequate generic personal/communication ability, there are plenty of jobs out there. If nothing else, there are certain consulting firms who are absolutely desperate for people from an IT technical background which can help start one's career (though consulting is a terrible long-term career plan for many people).

        • od810 on 07/10/2015 - 23:50
          +1

          Ditto. The IT industry is really on the rise right now. If you are a decent programmer, recruiters will line you up with interviews.

      • pln on 08/10/2015 - 19:04

        All the guys I know who graduated CS but never had a passion for it were so scarred that they did everything they could to avoid programming jobs & ended up in roles requiring only soft IT skills but more people skills, some doing quite well.

        Others I know who did have a passion for it enjoyed doing it & learning, eventually skilled up in specialised areas & enjoyed job satisfaction with decent pay.

    • squishygurl on 08/10/2015 - 21:39

      That is exactly what I did. Now in my final semester. Pharmacology and Political Science majors.

  • RockyRaccoon on 06/10/2015 - 10:14
    +18

    ..which degrees can you reccomend…

    A sppeling degree 😷

    • AFC 23 on 06/10/2015 - 14:58
      +3

      Lol.. Just a typo. As we all do when half asleep.

      • RockyRaccoon on 06/10/2015 - 15:02
        +3

        Of course, thats why the "sppeling" degree. :)

        Although I guess someone didn't think it was funny

        • AFC 23 on 06/10/2015 - 15:03
          +1

          Haha I'm all for it mate, had a chuckle!

      • [Deactivated] on 07/10/2015 - 21:47
        +3

        Agreed.
        I find it irritating when someone writes a long post/comment and people ignore everything else and focus on the human error. Get over it. No one is perfect and everyone makes mistakes.
        It doesn't negate the rest of the comment/post.

        • DeafMutePretender on 08/10/2015 - 02:22

          Looks like you don't even need to make a mistake to get negated.

        • [Deactivated] on 08/10/2015 - 07:28
          +1

          @DeafMutePretender:

          They probably read my comment a few times PRAYING to find something wrong.

        • smpantsonfire on 08/10/2015 - 19:10
          +2

          I agree, if the message can be understood/interpreted reasonably well, then there really is no issue.

    • gimli on 07/10/2015 - 20:55
      -3

      its single p

      • subywagon on 09/10/2015 - 07:56
        +2

        It's not its, it's it's.

  • HmrW on 06/10/2015 - 10:15
    +7

    I guess for IT be careful in the specialization that you opt for since the job market is quite bad at the moment and lots of business seems to have more and more IT/Business role rather than IT/Technical role. So if you going to take IT, do something like Information System. Engineering is also good.

    • algy on 07/10/2015 - 18:47

      I was planning on doing IT next year, now going to do Mech. Engineering. Keen.

      • saddybedangdang on 12/10/2015 - 13:33

        I am currently doing a double degree in Engineering (Mechanical) and Business (economics) at UTS. Mechanical is great fun but if you are up for a bit more challenging stuff, Mechatronic is pretty good. I personally couldn't get my head around electrical component so opted for mechanical. Mechatronic job prospects seem to be better in my opinion.

        • algy on 12/10/2015 - 19:12

          I was actually more interested in Mechatonics than Mechanical, but was told to do Mechanical because it's broader and therefore will have more job prospects. What are your thoughts on that?

        • saddybedangdang on 12/10/2015 - 22:22

          There might be more jobs but they aren't better jobs. I definitely think there is a brighter future for mechatronic students. Thinking of newer technologies like Oculus Rift and robotic surgery. I can imagine it will be a growing field

    • ajdlinux on 07/10/2015 - 21:56
      +3

      If you particularly enjoy programming, algorithms, computer architecture and the like, Information Systems will bore you to death. It's management courses all the way through.

      OTOH, if you consider yourself moderately technical but only an average programmer, and particularly if you've got good interpersonal skills, IS may be a good option - you're still actively engaging with technology, and you can push the more painful parts of the technical work to people like me :P

      I'd really like to see some hard numbers backing up the constant comments I hear about the job situation being terrible for technical people. It doesn't match my personal experience, but my experience doesn't speak for everyone obviously.

      • Jackson on 11/10/2015 - 08:40

        I agree, it's not that bad. The unemployment rate isn't great so generally the job market hadn't been as strong as in the past. Having said that It is booming, but in Th e past too many people were studying it, add to that off shoring in technology support roles and for a while there were too many people for the jobs. Hopefully this has caught up.

        I am surprised that a major point has been missed. If you don't do something you like you will go nuts or at least suck at it for a long time. If you love what you do your chance of success will say rocket. This point seems to be missed and is a defining factor in what anyone should do. You can't just go into a field thinking you'll get paid more or there'll be more jobs, regardless of the degree you do when you get into the workforce you will develop in different ways to others based on your likes dislikes and how long you spend learning and doing tasks, and how easy you find the task. If you were meant to be anything, you will hopefully work it out (or if you are very lucky you will have a decent mentor to help you).

        Edit: ok further down people are starting to get there.

  • Baysew on 06/10/2015 - 10:16
    +64

    28 Degrees.

    • AFC 23 on 06/10/2015 - 15:04

      😂

    • GalaxyNexus on 10/10/2015 - 14:07

      I'm afraid it isn't great for getting cash anymore…

  • cypher67 on 06/10/2015 - 10:26
    +42

    Don't study for the sake of studying. If you don't know by now what kind of work you want to be doing, my recommendation is go out and experience the world, do some job placement and vacation work, find out what floats your boat and if then it requires a degree … Do that one.

    I did an IT degree for no other reasons than I liked computers, was handy with them and pretty much liked playing video games.
    This is not a good enough reason to do an IT degree. I breezed through the degree however it didnt really push me or get me excited about the industry I would eventually be working in. I didn't enjoy web design, databases, programming etc and ultimately at the end I was none the wiser what I wanted to actually do.

    As a result I went back to what I enjoyed working in a computer store building and fixing computers for a few years and my degree was 100% wasted. My degree far exceeded my aspirations of what I wanted to do and achieve with computers. Not to mention crap pay, poor working conditions and no progression available.

    I then decided to leverage an opportunity within a bank which was opened via the degree & haven't looked back.
    I now do Project Management on IT related projects and love it, has an IT feel but I dont actually do any of the actual IT work.
    To be clear, the IT degree got me in the door, but in no way shape or form has that piece of paper helped me do my job.
    There is an array of other degrees which would have equally opened the door and been more helpful. Had Id known I would have liked this type of work, I would have studied those.

    Morale of the story: If you don't know what you want to do, get some work experience in a number of fields, move around and see what you like, then study if needed.

    • mr626 on 06/10/2015 - 12:29
      +2

      Not sure why someone negged you, sounds like reasonable advice to me.

    • smalltime0 on 07/10/2015 - 07:52
      +5

      I would add, that if you don't know what to do… Just enrol in a course for which you qualify and then defer your enrolment for a year.
      Work and save as much as you can for most of the year, then go travel/pursue a hobby etc.
      Hopefully your firends in that time will tell you about what degrees are good/interesting to them, and you can spend the year mulling it over.

      Some universities even allow you to keep deferring for multiple years.

    • liuzhen on 07/10/2015 - 14:17
      +1

      Sounds similar to me.
      Did IT because I had no idea what else to do.
      Didn't enjoy databases or Software engineering, web design or programming.

      First couple of jobs out of Uni have been as a technician. Use 0 of the stuff I learnt at Uni and have had to learn everything on the job but without the paper I dont think I would have landed where I am.

      In hindsight I would have gone to Tafe to get more technical skills.

  • Unorthodox on 06/10/2015 - 12:30
    +4

    IT
    Science or Engineering especially with the influx of STEM programs and incentives provided by big firms and even government.

  • altomic on 06/10/2015 - 14:45
    +7

    Cartography

    • madseason on 07/10/2015 - 14:15

      Why cartography exactly? An interesting choice.

    • aliocroc on 14/10/2015 - 19:51

      Agreed, Cartography, GIS, Remote Sensing, Archeo-geophysics. Minimal jobs, minimal money, huge competition from Indian and US counterparts. Too small an industry with a colossally slow rate of progression…unless you get well versed in python and the like and begin developing applications and database programming in web services.

  • BringAPlate on 06/10/2015 - 15:06
    +1

    In all seriousness, don't do something for the hell of it.
    If you're heart isn't in it then it's not something that you'll want to end up doing for the rest of your life. If you have your mind made up, who cares what anyone else says. If you have a passion for it, that trumps someone who just did it for thrills at the end of the day.

  • inherentchoice on 06/10/2015 - 15:43

    I suggest trying some of those free Udemy courses to experience learning about some different subjects. Being self-taught might be the way of the future anyway. Being self-taught is also the way progress was made in the past, since all the technology and knowledge we have today was first created or discovered by someone who had to 'self-teach' themselves. They say that university facilitates learning so I don't see why a Udemy course would be so different.

    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/deals/udemy.com

  • [Deactivated] on 06/10/2015 - 15:51
    +6

    As a school leaver in 1999 I had no idea what I wanted to do. I chose a nursing degree as it gave me options to work in different fields, job stability, ability to move etc. there have been moments I gave regretted it, but overall I have never been out of work, have travelled and met sound amazing people (staff and patients). I've also seen other nurses move in to different fields (ie teaching), and it has been a smooth transition just because of the grounding you get

  • John on 06/10/2015 - 15:56
    +4

    I reckon anything that can get you in the internet market (html, software, coding, website, design etc). Personally, I see the biggest market now and in the future will all be in the virtual internet. Imagine the amount of clients and prospects you can get from there, working from anywhere physically. ie. you don't have to be in the USA to be working in the USA… stuff like that.

    That's what I would do if I could rebuild my career path :P

  • Gershom on 07/10/2015 - 08:17

    The best thing you can possibly do for your financial future is a Bachelor of Business Administration, followed by an MBA. At the same time, you should make sure that your written, verbal, and presentation skills are excellent. Do these things and you will be able to get a good high paying job in any industry. Think big, don't tie yourself to a speciality like IT or accounting.

    I quit work a couple of years ago because I had made enough money to last me the rest of my life. Before I quit I had 150 people working under me, and I guess I must have interviewed hundreds or thousands of job applicants over the years. Anyone with an arts degree is immediately dismissed, because doing arts to enter into business shows extremely poor judgement. If I had no BBA/MBA applicant I would then always look for a "hard" degree - law, maths, physics, etc. Overlaid on top of all of this I would make sure an applicant was articulate and had properly excellent communications skills. And I do mean properly excellent, not some bullshit recommendation written by a previous teacher. Teachers usually have appalling communications skills, and can't competently judge others' skills.

    During my career I travelled all over the world on business, and was posted to the USA for 6 years, all expenses paid. I thoroughly enjoyed my career and I made a lot of money at it. I've found that most people just think too small, and fail to understand the fundamental importance of good comms skills.

    • RockyRaccoon on 07/10/2015 - 10:29
      +1

      Anyone with an arts degree is immediately dismissed

      So much for "poor judgement". Some uni's only issued Arts degrees like Macquarie when it first started, so in those cases you needed to look at the subjects taken. Having an Arts degree and rising to Senior management in Australia and also the US, I was glad my employers looked at the Majors rather than the Degree.

      While I agree that majority of Arts degree subjects are not relevant to business, culling purely on a superficial look doesn't always work, in employee selection or any other business decision.

      As for your other criteria for selection, I can't fault any of that. Especially the teacher recommendations, for exactly the same reasons you stated. Although if the applicant was at least of MBA standard a Teacher recommendation (vs Lecturer etc) would be rather old.

    • antzz on 07/10/2015 - 16:50
      +2

      You do realize lots of important people graduated with Bachelor of Art degree. I am pretty sure your money will not be bigger than theirs. So much for a good judgement if you immediately dismissed anyone with art degree

      • iridiumstem on 07/10/2015 - 18:42
        +3

        Lots of important people are also from an era where there were less graduates and undergraduates to begin with, where a having a degree alone was a distinguishable feature.

    • [Deactivated] on 07/10/2015 - 21:37
      +4

      Pardon?
      Arts includes History, Government, Languages, Philosophy, even Political Economy sometimes… Business Administration is literally 0.5% difficulty in comparison with many of those subjects.

      I did Arts subjects and when I told people I studied Arts they immediately laughed or rolled their eyes or whatever but if I said 'I study insert language' they thought I was really smart. The last one laughing was me because their ignorance of what a BA included showed who was more intelligent anyway.

      As for MBA's… I considered that and asked the UTS MBA speaker on the information day what ATAR they would place the degree at and he said 70. So, yes, a BA is actually harder to get into.

      In the US MBA's sound all special. It's not like that here. Our undergraduate degrees are 2-3 years on average. In the US many undergraduate degrees are 6 years.

    • ajdlinux on 07/10/2015 - 22:20
      +1

      Anyone with an arts degree is immediately dismissed, because doing arts to enter into business shows extremely poor judgement.

      As someone who did both a hard technical degree and an arts degree (and now works in a hard technical role) - it's easy to pass arts courses, but it can be amazingly hard to truly master them - at least as hard as my technical courses. It's true that there is a big problem with people who just chose arts because it's the easiest degree to get into, which is very unfortunate, but there are plenty of arts students and graduates who are highly intelligent and passionate, and can easily prove their worth to a business.

      Now, commerce or business students, on the other hand… ;)

      I do have to agree about communications skills - a lot of uni students lack basic communication and organisational ability. In my time as a student I found it amazing how difficult it was for some students, even some who performed reasonably well academically, to even write a moderately comprehensible email, let alone turn up to meetings on time and apply basic common sense to life situations. They tend to get a bit of a shock when they finally get into industry and discover that it's quite normal to have to process 50 emails a day, write memos with varying degrees of formality, and so on…

      • [Deactivated] on 07/10/2015 - 22:42
        +1

        I agree it is easy to PASS Arts but it is extraordinarily difficult to do VERY VERY well (or poorly for that matter).

        As for poor communication skills, I study Maths and am really bad at Maths but do well because I write very well. It may seem weird but marks are so distorted (like with everything in life it is very hard to test knowledge). I earn lots of marks from essays and writing and very few from the maths itself. I even beat my friends who understand the maths because my writing is so good and subjects always have essay/long answer options so I choose them and ignore the equations.

        • ajdlinux on 07/10/2015 - 23:09
          +1

          Many of my Ds and HDs in Arts courses came about more because I know how to write in proper academic style than because I understood the content…

        • [Deactivated] on 07/10/2015 - 23:19

          @ajdlinux:

          Precisely.

        • ajdlinux on 07/10/2015 - 23:27
          +1

          @Beethoven: The people I knew in Arts who really handled the content were brilliant.

        • [Deactivated] on 07/10/2015 - 23:31
          +1

          @ajdlinux:

          I study Maths now and did Arts.
          All of a sudden I am magically more intelligent now than I was when I studied Arts. Absurd.

          Doing something WELL is far more impressive than barely passing something else.

    • sparkles on 08/10/2015 - 02:39
      +4

      JK Rowling has an Arts degree and I'm pretty sure she's more wealthly than the lot of us combined. Dismissing literally everyone with an Arts degree you could overlook the most amazing person/employee.

      • mightyfes on 08/10/2015 - 20:20

        JK Rowling was collecting welfare payments until her book (which is amazing) got picked up. I'm guessing she didn't have jobs lined up with her degree.

        • marka on 09/10/2015 - 17:15

          The book was also turned down by several publishers

    • swilso on 08/10/2015 - 12:56
      +3

      As a primary school teacher I can say from experience that you sir need to work on your grammar and punctuation. Your writing is far from 'properly excellent'.

    • Gershom on 09/10/2015 - 13:22

      Boy, I seem to have hit a nerve. I'm just conveying my standard operating procedure that was shared by others at my level, I wasn't judging anyone. I would like to suggest that we put this behind us and that the arts grads now go back to making the coffee or dishing out the "fries with that", while the primary teachers resume their childminding duties. ;-)

      • pebee47 on 09/10/2015 - 15:58
        -1

        Hey Gershom, I'd like to support your comment. As an employer, when you've got 40+ people looking for the one job, you have to have some sort of culling method. Yes, you will miss out on the occasional bright light, but you sure wade through a lot of applications from people with less than "highly desirable" attributes.
        I have found that those that can look at the big picture whilst efficiently taking care of the mundane requirements of the job are the best for my organisation. A lot of those with "softer" degrees tend to dream to much about "life, the universe, and everything" to the extent it adversely affects the outcomes expected from their paid position.

      • redraoh on 09/10/2015 - 18:23
        -1

        You were judging them. You said Arts grads have poor judgement. The irony is you have shown your poor judgement. Philosophy is an Arts major, and that attracts some of the brightest minds.

  • iridiumstem on 07/10/2015 - 08:23
    +2

    There is one thing that you should remember, those degrees that are being raved usually are being raved because of the current demand (meaning that after you graduate, there is a chance that it might not be the big thing that it used to be, by the time you graduate and build your experience in that field).

  • lenlynn on 07/10/2015 - 11:13
    +6

    Healthcare. Safe enough as a career in Australia, UK and Asia.

    • AFC 23 on 07/10/2015 - 12:05
      +1

      I agree - and it's generally not a direction reccomended by users of OzBargain, I think it is extremely underrated on this forum.

      • gimli on 07/10/2015 - 18:36
        +1

        its hard work…

        • zeomega on 08/10/2015 - 11:37
          +2

          People underestimate how much studying and work it takes to make it as a doctor. Oh and all the sucking up you have to do to get into the department that you want.

        • lenlynn on 08/10/2015 - 19:23

          Not as easy as some other courses but not that tough. Hours can be flexible and that is really good especially if you want to spend more time with your family later on in life.

        • lenlynn on 08/10/2015 - 19:30
          +1

          @zeomega: Haha depends on what the department you wanna get in is? Can't imagine you would need to do any sucking for GP.

          My family and I are mainly in healthcare (not all doctors) and the hard work is worth it though, especially if you enjoy it. Study and work hard for what, 17 years and then it's done forever, no worries about job security and money after specialisation.

        • zeomega on 08/10/2015 - 21:41

          @lenlynn:

          Can be flexible, but life as a houseman. shudders

        • bs0 on 09/10/2015 - 08:29
          +1

          Going through med school right now - slaving through heaps of hours these last two months, whilst my friends are mostly taking it easy. Depends on what you take from it really, and how much you put it. But would emphasise someone elses comment higher up, pick it (or any degree for that matter) if you enjoy it.

        • SupeNintendoChalmers on 09/10/2015 - 16:54
          +1

          @zeomega: all the sucking

          Literally

        • lenlynn on 09/10/2015 - 20:26

          @zeomega: I find it interesting you use the term 'houseman' instead of 'intern' as that is used more in Asia! Did you train there?

        • lenlynn on 09/10/2015 - 20:29

          @bs0: Nah definitely worth putting in the hard work in med school so you will be ahead of the game once you start work as an intern and impress the hell out of everyone. Helps when you are putting in applications later on hey

        • bs0 on 09/10/2015 - 21:43
          +1

          @lenlynn:
          I know, but I hope that spending late nights like tonight at the lab is worth it.

  • boccos on 07/10/2015 - 11:41

    Doing Accountancy is tough and the pay is lousy until you get some experience. There is no Award to cover the industry and employers treat newbees woefully when it comes to wages. Pharmacy is good with great pay straight out of Uni and firm job prospects.

    • AFC 23 on 07/10/2015 - 12:03
      +1

      Agreed, have also heard that accounting will become automated in the not so distance future (obviously to an extent). Cheers

      • matthewdev on 07/10/2015 - 17:10
        +1

        Parts of accounting definitely will/are becoming more automated. However the industry isn't going to disappear any time soon. You still need people who know how the systems work. For the most part my experience is that as the core accounting mechanisms become more automated the role of the accountant becomes broader. A bigger threat in accounting and other professional industries is actually in outsourcing.

    • plasmapuff on 07/10/2015 - 17:30
      +12

      Don't know where you've been living but pharmacy has been horrible for the past 5+ years.

      No jobs and pay is terrible. FT barely pays more than coles retail. Work is terrible too. Glorified sales assistant especially with the discount chains.

      Source: Ex-pharmacist

      • Sweetnsour on 07/10/2015 - 20:53

        I know a lot of metro pharma grads with 2 part time jobs and they have odd hours that the main pharmacist dont want to do. Eg weeknights or sundays.

        Though when coles/woolies open pharmacies then more jobs will be available with competition.

        • plasmapuff on 07/10/2015 - 21:09
          +1

          Yup it's pretty bad.

          I can only see deregulation driving wages down though. We're already seeing it with the likes of large discount chains (Chemist Warehouse) and I can't imagine with Coles/Woolies it's going to get any better. They're going to treat it like any other department (meat, produce, deli) where performance is judged by sales and efficiency (ie how many scripts/generics can you pump through with the fewest supporting staff possible).

          And you need to do a 4 year degree + 1 year internship (on even crappier wages than retail) to do this…?

          Yes there's hospital, but jobs are even more scarce, 6-12 month contract renewals, I could go on…

          TLDR: Don't choose pharmacy unless you're parents already own a pharmacy next to bulk billing GPs and you have an inheritance plan. Even then the job sucks and you have to sell your soul multiple times.

        • Sweetnsour on 07/10/2015 - 21:57

          @plasmapuff:
          Just the opposite. Old school pharmacists might think it drives down wages. But with coles and woolies needing 500+ extra pharmacists, how can they drive down wages? If anything they need to pay pharmas higher to attract grads and experienced staff. Use economics and not emotion. Pharma industry is scaring the community but deregulation will mean the industry is work efficiently rather than be restricting competition.

          Also supermarkets open 7am-12am, thats twice as long as a regular pharmacy. So they need even more pharmas.

        • plasmapuff on 07/10/2015 - 22:36
          +1

          @Skimpywallet:
          500+? I doubt they'll employ more than 1-2/store (1 at a time) and only in their big stores. Also doubt they'll keep the pharmacy open the hours of the store. It's like optometrists in Big W, they finish at 5pm even though the store opens till 9pm. Discount pharmacy chains already open 7am-11pm, again nothing new.

          As per wages, I guess it could hardly get worse than what's happening with all the discount chains. A good idea would be to ask optometrists who work at Big W about their wage vs. a normal store for some sort of idea.

          You could almost say the industry has been deregulated by stealth via the discount pharmacy chains.

        • Sweetnsour on 09/10/2015 - 17:45

          @plasmapuff:
          Coles has 760 stores and Woolworths 850 stores. Even if only 33% of stores have pharmacists. Thats 500 across australia.

          Chemistwarehouse have 260 stores with 4% marketshare.

          Medicines is a much bigger industry than optical. Everyone needs meds especially the elderly. Look at PBS subsidy blowing up into $10 billion annually. Compared to tiny optical of 1.5 billion.

          The numbers dont add up to keep it regulated except to keep chemist "owners" wealthy and hard working employees pharmas poor

    • Kevan2 on 07/10/2015 - 21:24

      Agree with Accountancy but better do homework on Pharmacy - big chains …. fill in the rest.

      If accountancy is preferred then go into a Bank or similar, study part time/ full time and have the employer meet some of the costs.

      But do not forget to jump ship at end of study as you may be considered 'home grown' and a graduate entry employee may be placed in fast track and not you.

      • boccos on 09/10/2015 - 08:06
        +1

        Plenty of jobs in the Country areas for Pharmacists, but no one seems to like moving out of the city so you will need to compete strongly for the available positions and this also enables Employers to push the Salaries down.

        • Kevan2 on 09/10/2015 - 09:03

          Bocco good call but what is considered Country. Often that is seen as the "BUSH" and then there is the remote area allowance as set out by the smart people in the high rises of government - https://www.ato.gov.au/General/Fringe-benefits-tax-(FBT)/In-detail/Exemptions-and-concessions/FBT—-remote-areas/. There is a lot of links to towns and benefits and some WTF's

          A town like Clifton, has been suggested,by word of mouth (sorry couldn't spell the A word), suffers from 'the Bush' syndrome for many professions even some Doctors. http://www.southernqueenslandcountry.com.au/destinations/cli…

  • ilikeradiohead on 07/10/2015 - 12:30
    +3

    I started doing engineering, dropped out and did Finance/Economics. Now I'm a public servant. The degree itself was pretty interesting, and definitely 'got my foot in the door' for where I work, but I did the degree mostly because I thought it would be interesting. It's hard to pick though. I plumped for engineering because the TEE units I was doing in high school were all prerequisites for engineering, so I thought I would be suited for it.

  • zealmax on 07/10/2015 - 12:32
    +6

    Data Science, is the big thing in IT now. Studies show that there is and will be huge demand for it.

    • iridiumstem on 07/10/2015 - 18:38
      +3

      The problem with Data Science is, I get the feeling that it will be replaced by sophisticated programs in reasonably foreseeable future.
      There are bits and pieces that might not be suitable for programs to do, that said, the field has people in it already.
      What's the chance of a person who've just finished degree have against people who've already been in field for few years already?

      • zealmax on 07/10/2015 - 19:46
        -1

        Yes you are right. Should just give up and join Centrelink queue.

        • iridiumstem on 07/10/2015 - 20:44
          +1

          I was pointing out that large amount of field is likely to be replaced with computer (which is happening with a lot of fields of study as we speak right now). If you are amazing in the field, you'd likely survive, that said, being amazing in the field in general usually means that you'd earn enough money at the very least.

          A problem with prediction is it's based on current demand and current technology. Computers are improving at a rather faster rate (both hardware and software). That said, there will always be areas where computers will not be able to replace humans (for a while at least). You could combine the knowledge and use the data science to broader field (which I think many people are choosing to do in other fields to differentiate themselves from others).

          The point I was trying to make is, if it feels like it can be replaced with computers, don't expect an easy path. To be honest, I don't think there will be any place left for average people with 1 speciality in future, though I tend to see the world in rather grim fashion.

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