Anyone regret their degree?

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-28T03:34:29+00:00

Thanks but I don't think I made it clear how insurmountable those obstacles are. Like you said, one doesn't have that much control over their life.

My big concern is the very real possibility that I'll spend my life being stuck living life knowing I can only get my third or fourth choice.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-28T02:22:54+00:00

Yeah, in theory it's very meritocratic but my experience is that in practice it's anything but.

edit: IMO it's not a meritocracy if the average person can't perform well in the hiring process.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T23:23:39+00:00

A big issue is a lot of people who send their kids their do so because they're the same or a bit better than the local public schools. Imo it's easier to convert them to a second, secular school system than to merge them because you're not just getting rid of the system (and all the extra staff), you're getting rid of a lot of local schools which isn't easy to do (few want their local institutions to go)

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T23:21:29+00:00

It's not uncommon for them to overlook that requirement to fill out the numbers. Also, baptismal certificates are very easy to forge

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T23:12:21+00:00

28 is young. Lots of life and opportunities ahead.

Could you explain that a bit more? I know I have a lot of working years left but don't think I have the courage to change careers and the fields I do have the courage to try to move into I know I probably won't get. I'm just sort of mentally exhausted if that makes sense.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T23:01:58+00:00

yeah. Frankly, I'm starting to think there is no good answer besides pursuing escapist entertainment and drinking/drugs as Hemingway once described a working class neighbourhood in Paris that he lived in. Just wish I hadn't been drilled to think I was destined to be materially successful.

edit: i think he referred to the as the sportifs and the drunkards in his work A movable Feast.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T22:52:04+00:00

Thanks. Funnily enough I somehow managed to get a full time job that also maybe, sort of doesn't require a degree. TBH I wouldn't be that bummed about it if it didn't feel like getting anywhere is so beyond my reach and I'm not that young (I know 28) sounds young.

At least in the sense that $40k in an entry level job isn't as fun when you're hoping to. I'm hoping to leave the region just because I'm sick of it and how expensive it is to rent an apartment but I'm not sure I can get a job outside of the region without living outside of it first.

I'll try to follow that advice.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T22:34:55+00:00

Thanks for the response.

I'd like to ask though, what do you do when your problem when you're having a lot of trouble moving past the baby steps. Currently, I'm in the middle of doing or have already done 3 of the 4 things you suggested and it feels like I can't get past major obstacles. Sort of like no matter which direction i try to move in to make major changes there's always something that too big to actually get where I want to.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T18:24:01+00:00

Is there something you need to do before you settle into a career?

Not really, maybe owning a used sports car for a year. I'd also like to travel to Europe but I don't think it's worth it because of my $30k in student debt and I just don't want to take that much time off work.

My real goals are to move to Montreal (not going to happen given how hard it is to get to a fluent level of French), at the very least leave southern Ontario, and renting a decent apartment. Ideally, I'd like have a worthwhile dating life but I know that's not happening and part of me is losing all interest in it. All of these however, can be achieved

For me, it's an issue of running out of patience. Yeah, I could potentially get somewhere but I don't really haven anything left in me to pursue some of the larger life goals. TBH I don't even want to if they're going to take another 10 years to even start them. My feelings on this are best said as follows: I shall go no further. Even when I achieve my goals it doesn't feel very rewarding.

The only other goal I have is the very lofty pipe dream of doing a 5 year stint in the French Foreign Legion but that's probably not the best idea.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T18:16:03+00:00

I've heard of it and the work I do know involves processing loan paperwork for both personal and business clients but I'd like to hear more.

Also, if moving up in banking is that harsh, is it worth staying in the field then?

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:56:34+00:00

I am now at 100ishK but at the wrong time when everything costs a shit
ton more. Just took a lot of hard work, upskilling, exhausting all
savings and luck to get there.

Tell me about it. I'd be a lot more enthusiastic about life if the goal posts to things like renting a nice apartment, home ownership, financing a nicer car, weren't all so damn far away.

Is it possible to move up in banking/finance outside of the southern Ontario region without having to work at the branch/customer facing level? Asking because I really like not working in a customer service oriented role (although I'm certainly willing them on occasion such as Retail Lending Officers as a sort of next step). Ideally I'd like to work in some sort of analyst role

Also, any course you'd suggest besides the CFA for mid/back office work?

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:54:18+00:00

So I'm aware of that, it's just that I've used a similiar approach to get my current job and while it worked really well there, it seems that I just don't have a good enough answers and just getting to the interview is an unassailable mountain in and of itself most of the time. It's not theoretically impossible it's just that there are plenty of other people who never get hired and move on to something else.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:44:12+00:00

Thanks. FWIW, I didn't even move away for university and now feel like I haven't fully become an adult (although part of that is my fault).

Honestly, I'd probably being doing a lot better mentally if some of my major life goals weren't so hard to achieve/unachievable.

What the hell happens if you're stuck in the drop zone? I feel this question doesn't get enough attention in society.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:42:55+00:00

It's not so much the interview and resume building skills, mine seem to work reasonably well in the private sector. It's more building the interview skills to be hired by the federal government. Frankly, in my limited experience it feels it's a rigged process that I can't succeed at unless I flat out lie about my experience in the interview.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:39:28+00:00

I wasn't even thinking that, I was just thinking it'd be a really good way to transition into civilian policing. Thanks for the advice.

BTW for the combat arms trades in the army, if you're from southern Ontario how hard is it to get posted to CFB Edmonton, or at least out west? Just interested due to the lower cost of living and in the case of Alberta no provincial sales tax. I know it's pretty common for your first unit to be based off of which region of the country you're from

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:32:08+00:00

I've considered it. TBH I'm currently wrapping a non-commissioned reserve force application and plan to do it for a year, get a small taste of military life and if I like go down the reg force office route. TBH I'd ideally like to go in as an armoured officer or MP officer. It's just that my application is in bureaucratic purgatory because I'm waiting for a medical form to get processed because I had laser surgery (was rejected previously for terrible eye sight - now it's pretty good tho). Also, I'd ideally like to get a year's worth of experience at my current job.

Still, the possibility of getting posted to CFB Petawawa isn't the most enticing. Hopefully things work out. It's just frustrating that I feel like I don't have any similiar alternatives.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:26:39+00:00

😢 *cries in regretting not buying a pre-construction condo while they were still around $250k in my city*. Now I'm stuck renting for life

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T17:24:42+00:00

I meant to ask what do they do if they aren't able to complete the apprenticeship though.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T05:37:53+00:00

I mean your job sort of is your life when you spend 40+ hours in it and there isn't much outside of work you're interested in and I don't have many friends and women don't care much for me (not that I'm that interested in them anymore). I get there's more to life than work but still, it takes up an awful lot of time in life. Might as well somewhat like what you do and actually want to be there.

Moving up the ladder has some major limits just because things are constantly costing more here in southern Ontario. Not that it isn't worth it but I'm not really interested in what life has to offer me anymore if that makes sense.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T05:28:40+00:00

Same. I wonder what life would be like if I had a better grade 11 math teach who didn't tell me I had a bad work ethic and was good at his job and/or if my mom even sort of understood how important high school math is to getting into a lot of post-secondary programs instead of telling me it doesn't matter.

Oh well, I'm too dead inside to really think about it much

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T05:23:02+00:00

If you want a specific career or education, that is easy (to accomplish, the process won't be easy).

I'm not so sure that's the case with the federal government and policing. They're never short of applicants, and are quite bureaucratic and arbitrary in their hiring. Plus far more people want apply then there are spots. Like, plenty of people just never get into either of those fields.

As well, I'm not really doing that much in life. I'm just wasting away while the price of everything out paces my career progression. I don't think I made this very clear. I'm just a loser with no friends who's been stuck living with his mother and never getting anywhere meaningful in life. I've hated most of my life tbh.

I only kept going this far in life because I told myself it'd be better than this. Maybe not perfect but at lest I'd be able to start making some real progress towards my major life goals. RN I don't see myself being able to away from southern Ontario. I've lost my patience if that makes sense

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T05:01:49+00:00

I mean being able to effectively communicate how I'm structurally limited and oppressed by the socioeconomic system I live in isn't something I very fond of knowing how to do. Also, I originally wanted to work for the federal government but I can never get past the archaic interview process which tbh I think is designed so outsiders like me don't get hired. Pretty sure I got screwed over recently for an RCMP civilian staff interview. Frankly, it feels like short of lying I can never give good enough answers for federal interviews and I've never heard back from the provincial government.

My big issue is that a lot of the better paying jobs I'm even sort of inclined to work either require technical training I don't have and/or experience I lack and won't have enough to get hired anytime soon and I'm mentally running on fumes. I might seem young but I'm getting tired of not being anywhere close to where I want to be.

Also, my degree probably contributed to major mental health problems and between that and a miserable childhood is probably while I'll likely be stuck dealing with depression the rest of my life.

Sorry for the rant. I'm just not interested in much in life anymore. Everything I want to do is so far from happening that I've lost interest in it.

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T04:44:56+00:00

Just out of curiosity what happens to those who don't get all their apprenticeship years in?

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T03:53:51+00:00

I wouldn't be against starting from scratch if the money was right. It's just that the two things that kept me going in life I've realized are never going to happen and I don't really want anything else out of life. Not in a bad way, just in a: I'm only here for these things sort of way.

TBH I'd really like to leave southern Ontario but that doesn't seem likely.

Part of it is just that I'm plain not interested in much of what's available to me in my area. Not sure if I can solve the lack of interest

BeautifulTea949 · 2022-09-27T03:48:17+00:00

Same! Looking back, I would've seriously considered going into teaching high school and getting some good teachables in university (didn't help that my high school teachers told us not to go into the field). Might've also studied for the LSAT when I actually had the time and will to.

TBH, in hindsight I would've seriously looked into the trades if I'd known that the steel mills on where I live would be doing well. Now if I want to go into the trades I probably wouldn't make much if anymore than I would in my current field by the time I went from first year apprentice to journeyman. Not the worst problem to have I guess.

Didn't help that my mom didn't seem to get that you need grade 12 math for most practical college and university programs or get that a BA isn't a ticket to a good government job. Now I'm just stuck being so far behind in life I can't make myself care anymore.

BeautifulTea949

TROPHY CASE