Advertisement
If you have a new account but are having problems posting or verifying your account, please email us on hello@boards.ie for help. Thanks :)
Hello all! Please ensure that you are posting a new thread or question in the appropriate forum. The Feedback forum is overwhelmed with questions that are having to be moved elsewhere. If you need help to verify your account contact hello@boards.ie
Hi there,
There is an issue with role permissions that is being worked on at the moment.
If you are having trouble with access or permissions on regional forums please post here to get access: https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058365403/you-do-not-have-permission-for-that#latest

What to do after college?

  • 26-04-2014 11:52pm
    #1
    designbydan
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 181 ✭✭


    Not sure if this is the right place (Mods feel free to move it)

    Hi all, (long post ahead)

    Basically I'm not too sure what role/path I should follow once I finish college in June.

    I'm a mature student (28) studying Creative Digital Media BA(Hon), and it's a fairly well rounded course, so I'd like to think I've a few choices but I'm not sure what ones to take.

    I've been offered roles throughout this year by recruitment agencies for management positions and team lead roles. They're usually great paying jobs 45-60k (yearly) but on contract work 3-6 months (with possible permanent roles after) both in Dublin and in London. they range from basic HTML5 experience, to app development and games design, Ui and UX, team leaders.

    Last September when I wasn't sure about doing my final year or leaving college and taking an ordinary degree I had one agent who spent 40 mins trying to convince me to leave college and take this great job (3 month contract) in the middle of Dublin (right near where I live)
    it was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do saying no, as I've been flat broke for at least four years now and really miss the steady pay from a full time job. I've been unable to find weekend or night work while in college and except for the odd freelance work I/we live off what my girlfriend makes as a barista on the weekend.

    The above roles sound like a dream opportunity for me, but I'm nervous about my experience, I'm well aware of the fact that I'm only leaving college, and although I've managed teams before in a different setting, i'm worried my personal skill set/level will be too low for a lot of the roles being put forward to me, I'm basically worried about going in there, not having a clue, and being fired and never called again by the recruiters.

    My other option is to apply for a junior/grad role in an established company in Dublin, it would be a lot less pay obviously but I could work my way up which seems to be the standard way of doing things, except i'm ironically finding those roles very hard to get, I've applied each summer to work as an intern in many design firms, but have never gotten a reply, not even once.

    I could work freelance web design, which appeals to me greatly, as i've really gotten back into game development and would love to design a game on a professional level, which I could do between web contracts.
    The only thing holding me back from that is how will I live in the meantime? My girlfriend is in the same course, she fortunately has a part time job but is honestly looking to quit once we graduate and take a very much needed break for a month or two before looking for full time design work, (which I completely agree she needs)

    So my options are:
    1. take a great paying job that I'm prob under qualified for and might not last in
    2. try to get a grad/junior role that will at least pay the bills, but is proving very difficult to find
    3. work freelance jobs which I guess do seem to be picking up, but theres never a guarantee of steady money (or being payed at all!)
    4. go work in tesco or somewhere like that because Im bloody broke and anything will do so my gf can finally take a break.


    Thanks for reading this far down :)

    Again I'm sorry if this is the wrong place for this post, I thought better to ask people in the industry rather than in personal issues thread or anything like that.


    Just thought I'd add in, I'm not ungrateful for the great opportunities being sent to me every now and then, I'm just really unsure what to do.


Comments

  • #2
    conorwalsh222
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 5 ✭conorwalsh222


    designbydan wrote: »
    The above roles sound like a dream opportunity for me, but I'm nervous about my experience, I'm well aware of the fact that I'm only leaving college, and although I've managed teams before in a different setting, i'm worried my personal skill set/level will be too low for a lot of the roles being put forward to me, I'm basically worried about going in there, not having a clue, and being fired and never called again by the recruiters.

    To be honest, if they are dream opportunities for you then take them. Don't be nervous about your experience at all, you have to get experience from somewhere right? The worst thing that can happen in this situation is you start a job, realise you are not up for it or they realise you are not up for it and you quit/get fired…very small possibility of this happening if you are actually being offered these jobs, and so be it if this happens, who cares, you just start again. Best thing/most likely thing to happen is you start one of these "dream opportunities", love it and realise you you had nothing to worry about in the first place and move on from there.

    Be confident, you wouldn't be getting these offers if they didn't think you could handle it!


Advertisement