Dropping out of college plan, good or bad idea, terrified to tell family?

LegacyUser

I know this is long, but bear with me on this....

Thing is I am doing a course at college atm that was grand enough at the start but now I don't see myself surving it for the next couple of years. I thought because I like the subjects rather than choose a course for career aspects only, it would be something I can enjoy but it is actually turning out to be so stressful with workload and money issues and it is only 1st semester.
I really don't think I can bring myself to even just scrape through them for 2nd semester.

So the plan I thought up of is that I could drop out once the 1st semester and the exams officially end, and I was looking around and saw a part time introductory IT course that is going on once a week from Feb to May. I am doing a bit of IT on my course with HTML and I actually like it once I get the hang of it and also from what I heard there are a lot of IT job vacancies. I checked their requirements and they say there is no really specific requirements, but computing experiance is necessary.

I mean to me this just sounds like something I can get through. I can drop out this Christmas rather than keep going until 2nd and 3rd year and chuck it in then, which would be way worse and a complete waste of money, do a introductory course if I can get on the course and maybe get a student job or do volunteering work in my spare time, and once that is done, use it to either just go straight into a job if I can, or use it to go onto either a computing FETAC course or just straight into a computing course in a institute of technology. Also the course is based in Dublin which is way closer to my home that where I am now so travelling will cost less. Only downside is that I cant get my fees back at all for this year so it is a waste of money, but at least after experiancing a few months of it I can officially make my decision, not like in October where I had the options then but was too scared to drop out or transfer because of disappointing people and regretting it...and this is where being scared to tell the family comes in.

With my family, I really dont know what they want from me, tbh. I dont think a lot of people expected me to get to college to begin with since I always came across as stupid growing up (which is not true at all, I just have always trouble paying attention or focusing on work sometimes, but I know I am smart, I just tend to be a bit lazy sometimes) so when I did get into this course they were delighted. But then when
the thoughts of maybe transfering to an IT course within the college came up in October, I told my mother about it and even mentioning it to her, I can see that she got annoyed straight away, which really p*ssed me off because her and my sister, who works in IT, were trying to convince me not to do it because of the whole "no jobs in media, loads of jobs in IT" speech, and then when I actually brought up the idea of transfering to an IT course, they still were not happy, because they said that "you should stay on a course you are happy with" and they thought that if I transferred, I might not like IT and drop out! I mean they still are not happy either way >:(

I just hate it because I have no job here, no friends, course is not what I expected, and people have always gone by this term that it should be the course you should be concentrating on, not the friends or jobs, but it will be pretty miserable being lonely and broke for the next three years and it could end up being all for nothing by the end of it all when it comes to trying to find a job somewhere, even if I do well.

So can someone help me out with this? Sorry for the HUGE essay, but this is something that can change my life for the better or the worse, so I need to get everything out there now.

Piriz

Hi there,

Two things are very important when considering a career

1. Happiness
2. Opportunity

From reading your post you are not happy with what you are doing and there is a lack of opportunities in this area.
Furthermore there is a financial strain and not only are you not happy your stressed.

Your plan to leave sounds good and I think you're aware that this is the right move, you're just working up the courage to follow through with it i think (understandable).

You don't need the approval of your family. It is a shame that they are not supportive but maybe you need to explain your situation clearly to them.

If you're going to invest your time and money make it something that adds value to your passion and happiness.

Finally, the ability to see when something is not working for you and make changes necessary is a great attribute (remember this)!

good luck!

LegacyUser

Piriz wrote: »

Hi there,

Two things are very important when considering a career

1. Happiness
2. Opportunity

From reading your post you are not happy with what you are doing and there is a lack of opportunities in this area.
Furthermore there is a financial strain and not only are you not happy your stressed.

Your plan to leave sounds good and I think you're aware that this is the right move, you're just working up the courage to follow through with it i think (understandable).

You don't need the approval of your family. It is a shame that they are not supportive but maybe you need to explain your situation clearly to them.

If you're going to invest your time and money make it something that adds value to your passion and happiness.

Finally, the ability to see when something is not working for you and make changes necessary is a great attribute (remember this)!

good luck!

With the family, I kinda do, even though I am an adult. Even though the fees came out of my college savings and also if I do decide to do the course, I will be paying for it too, it was my parents who had to pay out of their own pocket for rent and allowance for me, since I cannot find a part-time job anywhere. So in a sense all that money would be a waste on her, so I have a feeling she will be annoyed over that. Also money might be tight soon, since they are both retiring next year, which is why I thought this might be a better option, if I just left now, rather then end up just giving up next year and waste even more money.

Piriz

You need to speak to them and spell out how your doing, how you feel about it and what you want to do. Attempting something is not a waste of money.

Zen 2nd

If you are considering a career in IT be sure to do plenty of research.

The most difficult part of the IT market is getting your first job. A lot of businesses will be looking for a number of years of experience and you'll be up against graduates who have done 4 years of Computer Programming / Computer Science.

You mention you have an interest in HTML. Be sure to check out JavaScript, CSS, PHP for starters. Google them and you'll find lots of resources for them. With these in mind you'd be going for a more Web Developer focused career. I've heard the odd story of how intense those jobs can be so see if you can contact someone who does web development as a living and see what their opinion is.

If I was changing course myself I'd want to be dead sure that what I am changing to I am happy with. So to that end I would tell you to check out tutorials you can do online and see if you like the gist of it.

You have to remember that your family will be less inclined to let you change out of IT if you don't like it, as you already changed out of one course.

ShowMeTheCash

Hey OP:

So there is a lot here and I guess there are no right or wrong answers...
No one has a crystal ball, no one can tell you what is a good decision or a bad one...

Do not worry about "Job prospects" just yet, you have not even finished the first semester of your first year... So no need to get twisted out of shape about career prospects just yet!

If you really do not like the course, I mean you really do not want to do it then focus on that and that only, is there another course you can jump to?

Uni life can be great regardless of the course and you should think of uni life as an experience...

I done my Degree in Computer Science but I work with a range of people, Math Degree's, Finance Degree's even degrees in Geology, Psychology which really have little to do with what we do here...

Having a degree in your back pocket will never go against you!

By the sounds of it you have not yet found your grove at uni and you just do not want to go back....

Lifes long... The idea that you cannot change your mind or make mistakes is a misconception...

Also be you own man or woman!
"Hey mam and dad, I dropped out of uni and am going to party it up in Thailand for 6 months... I'll send you a postcard"

End of the day its your life... Do what you want to do!