I posted this the other day on a similar thread- I do live at home though and the local uni has the courses.... at 24 you're classed as mature but you need to be 25 to be classed as independant to not be means tested for grants...

Anyway....

I have tried to getting into Quantity surveying/Project management for years.

Quite happy to start at the bottom and re train totally... but NO ONE even gave me the time of day.. last May for example (when most companies recruit trainees) I sent off 17 cv/covering letters and emailed a further 14 companies.

Result- NO INTERVIEWS and very few replies.

12mths on- I quit my job in August and enrolled at uni in Birmingham doing Construction Quantity Surveying (BSc HONs and RICS/CIOB accredited degree course). As a mature student (I was 25) I needed no qualifications and was not means tested for grants/loans, as I live with my parents it made things easier.

I have worked my ass off all year and I am pretty certain to finish with above 60% across the board on all 10 modules... its not been easy as I have NO construction experience and I have done no education since I was 17........ I also have had to fit in my old job part time as I was kept on.

Other than being enrolled on a degree course nothing has changed- oh I also sold my cossie....

RESULT- I have sent 1 CV/Covering letter off- I had an interview last week and was told on Monday I have got the job.. I start work as a trainee QS on a £350m contract in 4 weeks, the company have offered an excellent package and are paying for my continued studies and day release.


My point is that if you can work a way to do it... go back to uni or do some other sort of training- as Neil said- re train as a plumber, sparky or a chippy-...... the wage will be SHIT for a few years or if you go to UNI could be nothing... but the end result will be a future.. which is what I have.

The most I could have earned before was about £20k plus the odd fiddle... now..... an average newly qualified QS earns £25k.. and the sky is the limit as you get older/experienced.


Most comical thing is that the guy I was interviewed by did my degree and was taught by the same teachers and said nothing I will learn on my degree will have any relevance to the work I will be doing..

All the first year of my degree did was open the door to an interview!

Hope this helps.

Jake