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Masters or travel?

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  • 02-07-2010 8:06pm
    #1
    fire_man
    Registered Users Posts: 992 ✭✭✭


    Hi,
    I am currently out of work,i finished up a few months back,im getting very bored now and even lazy and i was never lazy,i cant make my mind up what to do next,Itgs either masters or go travelling for a yr.advice would be appreciated.thanks


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    #2
    tenchi-fan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭tenchi-fan


    ??

    You want everyone to say travel, don't you?

    You don't say what college education you have, what masters you are considering doing, what work experience you have, what age you are, where you wish to travel, etc..

    So no one can give you any advice.


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    #3
    fire_man
    Registered Users Posts: 992 ✭✭✭fire_man


    Im in mid 20's,Have qualifications in IT and Finance,I have experience mainly in Finance.I was going to do a master in Finance maybe or a related area,I was thinking maybe canada or australia.Is a master worth it or would travelling benifet me more?


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    #4
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    I'd skip the masters, go traveling.

    I've similar qualifications to you though I'll never ever work in IT!
    If you want to work in finance you can still do qualifications as self study. CAIA, FRM or CFA

    You can work and study at the same time, they're very affordable but much work required.

    Now get travelling and have a ball!


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    #5
    tenchi-fan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭tenchi-fan


    fire_man wrote: »
    Im in mid 20's,Have qualifications in IT and Finance,I have experience mainly in Finance.I was going to do a master in Finance maybe or a related area,I was thinking maybe canada or australia.Is a master worth it or would travelling benifet me more?

    Personally.. if I could do it again I'd travel first. I didn't gain much from doing a masters - mainly because I did it straight after my degree and it was just more of the same.

    If you are travelling, make sure you have a good plan. You can get working holiday visas for australia, canada and new zealand. IT and finance are both good careers so you shouldn't be short of work.

    I'd lean towards travelling but I'm biased.


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    #6
    Eve_Dublin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,884 ✭✭✭Eve_Dublin


    Was in the very same predicament you were in OP a few years ago. Was accepted to a Masters in UCD, had money saved and decided to go travelling instead. NOOOOOOO regrets. Without sounding like an idiot...travelling can give you the ultimate "Masters"....a "Masters in Life"....man :D

    I hate studying and I´m not a natural student so my decision suited me personally. What is your heart saying?


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    #7
    fire_man
    Registered Users Posts: 992 ✭✭✭fire_man


    Ya i would love to go travelling allrite,I have money saved,where did you go travelling ?had u much saved before u went?I dont know have i enough saved yet.


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    #8
    tenchi-fan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭tenchi-fan


    fire_man wrote: »
    Ya i would love to go travelling allrite,I have money saved,where did you go travelling ?had u much saved before u went?I dont know have i enough saved yet.

    I went to australia.. saved about €5k, drank for 3 months- it was fun and I thought I really changed somehow- then headed home penniless only to get back into a rut, which was made worse thanks to some sh*tty behaviour by family members.. and I wish I didn't come home so early. What a wasted opportunity.My sis went for 5 weeks with a better plan and saw way more than I did. Besides, people are generally boring. Especially the aussies.. and german tourists. most "backpackers" in fact!

    Heading off to Canada next to make a better go of travelling. My 1 year "U35 visa" is being processed and I'll be packing in my job of 3 years. Just qualified as an accountant so hoping to find a job over there.. "live" there for a while, then hopefully holiday a bit.


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    #9
    Angus Og
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭Angus Og


    Do your Masters. Forget about travel. Seriously, you'll need the Masters, telling your future boss you spent a year backpacking just isn't going to be much use.


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    #10
    messymess
    Registered Users Posts: 359 ✭✭messymess


    Travel. You could be dead or bed bound next year, what good is your masters then.

    Masters or not, it's largely irrelevant in the current climate. You can do it at any point in your life. Live a little and enjoy yourself.

    I interview people when required and I couldn't care less if a candidate spent time doing a masters, phd or not ... what I care about is their experience.


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    #11
    Angus Og
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭Angus Og


    Yeah, well masters will help you get a job. Backpacking won't. As the above poster points out, it's down to what the interviewer is looking for in a job, but not all interviewers are that way. It also depends on the masters.

    The experience of doing a masters may also involve travel, travelling won't involve the experience of a masters.


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    #12
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Masters won't realy help you that much in getting a job, it realy won't.
    And if it does, most companies don't pay an employee with a masters anymore then someone with a degree.
    Unless it's teaching or research or something academic.

    Go traveling.
    If you want to work in finance they are any number of courses you can do self study for, the CFA being the most well known.
    If you want to do IT, I don't know much about it but I'm sure you can do night courses or qualifications in your own time. Hell, your employer will probably pay for the course!

    Your future boss want's experience, at mid twenties you have some. Either way, go travel and don't look back


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    #13
    Angus Og
    Closed Accounts Posts: 401 ✭✭Angus Og


    Employers want experience. You mean the experience of meeting deadlines, and working hard?

    Or smoking pot in Thailand? ****ing hippy wasters.


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    #14
    mikemac
    Closed Accounts Posts: 19,986 ✭✭✭✭mikemac


    Why drag drugs into this, where they come from? :confused:
    Bit of an insult to the OP

    And if the OP picks a self study course they can even study while they travel, now that's multi-tasking and showing initiative.


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    #15
    tenchi-fan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭tenchi-fan


    feelingstressed wrote: »
    Why drag drugs into this, where they come from? :confused:
    Bit of an insult to the OP

    And if the OP picks a self study course they can even study while they travel, now that's multi-tasking and showing initiative.

    Or even better.. working abroad. "Going travelling" is such a vague term. It doesn't mean anything. Most people use it to cover up a gap in their cv anyway.


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    #16
    tenchi-fan
    Closed Accounts Posts: 3,339 ✭✭✭tenchi-fan


    feelingstressed wrote: »
    Most people?
    As it happens I left my full time job to go traveling, 5 continents in 11 months.
    Filling a gap in a CV? I left my job voluntarily.

    I phrased that wrong. Most people who want to fill a gap in their cv use the excuse "I went travelling"


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    #17
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    Do your masters abroad.


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    #18
    Eve_Dublin
    Closed Accounts Posts: 8,884 ✭✭✭Eve_Dublin


    Angus Og wrote: »
    Do your Masters. Forget about travel. Seriously, you'll need the Masters, telling your future boss you spent a year backpacking just isn't going to be much use.

    So you think life is about working hard and you think travelling is just smoking "pot" with "hippy wasters"?.

    You need to get out more Angus, I´m serious. It´s people with your kind of attitude that would benefit the most by seeing some of this lovely planet we live on and opening your mind a little more instead of judging people that choose to travel as "wasters".

    There could be an argument for you staying at home to do your Masters but this kind of judgemental, conservative attitude is NOT it. Pay no heed.


    OP as I said, I applied to do a masters to become (wait for it)....a qualified librarian. It was during the boom but something in my gut told me it would be a waste of time...so I went to South America for 11 months and 3 months of that were spent volunteering. It was the best year of my life and I´ve no regrets. Turns out if I did do my masters in Library and Information Studies I wouldn´t have been able to get a job anyway because of the freeze on all hiring of staff in the public sector. If you do a TEFL before you go, you could get a job teaching English in the larger cities. You wouldn´t earn much but you´d see the country from a different perspective.

    I came home last year and moved to Spain last September and I´m teaching English right now with the plans to do a Masters through Spanish in about a year or so. I´m 30 and I really want to think hard about what it is I want to do.

    Your mid twenties is the time you should be having fun, not spending it all in a library studying if you´re not particularly into that. Your Masters can wait.


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    #19
    LegacyUser
    Registered Users Posts: 166,026 ✭✭✭✭LegacyUser


    Angus Og wrote: »
    Employers want experience. You mean the experience of meeting deadlines, and working hard?

    Or smoking pot in Thailand? ****ing hippy wasters.

    Ridiculous comment from a person who has obviously never lived!

    Go for the Travel Op, you can always come back and do it at a later time, go out there and have some fun. You have one chance to live your life, the way you want it, go out and live it
    !!


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    #20
    IzzyWizzy
    Registered Users Posts: 6,645 ✭✭✭IzzyWizzy


    I'd say go travelling but I think some people are deluding themselves with the 'employers want experience' lark. Travelling isn't worthwhile work experience. It just isn't. You might feel it makes you into a better person but employers really don't care about that, especially if you're literally travelling and not working abroad for a year. A Masters will never look bad to employers, there's a good chance it will help job prospects, and it does look good in terms of being able to meet deadlines, work hard etc. Masters degrees are tough. Sure, go travelling now, if you have the option, but don't think employers are going to prefer that to a Masters. It is basically time out.


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