30 year old arts graduate struggling to get by

SnuggyBear

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940560#Comment_118940560

So you just want a house so people don't look at you a certain way? Man **** that you are getting to the age where you won't care what people think of you.

airy fairy

An arts degree is only useful if you intend to further your education for at least another 2 years post grad, be it teaching or mastering in one of your modules.

Tbh you come across as fairly entitled. Do you seriously think you can jump into a job at high pay?

It is what it is. Yes, not being able to buy a home is crap, but you've made a path now. An arts degree. You either build on that, or restart. You've turned down a public service job, which might have been hasty imo. Once you've a foot in the door you should be then building on your education and experience. Yes, the pay will be small, but security is key to buying any home.

johnboy92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940783#Comment_118940783

Everyone in Ireland has to get a house, we are a home owners society. Its a right of passage into adulthood that my generation are unable to achieve

johnboy92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940790#Comment_118940790

I was of the idea that you had to buy a home in your 20s because my siblings and parents did. Granted my folks did in the 80s and siblings in the boom. But I expected a salary of 30k to buy a 1 bed apartment in citywest or Newbridge because thats what my sisters did.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940757#Comment_118940757

When you're 16 and see a couple of lads left going out and getting coked up at the weekend it's a bit annoying. When you're 18 starting college and the lads out working start getting their cars on the road. I wouldn't fancy finishing college (likely with debt the way things are going) then committing to 4 years training for yet another thing.

There's definitely money in the trades. Part of that is that we've been discouraged or banned from doing fairly simple manual tasks around the house and the state has tried to make some trades "exclusive", which only helps the people in it take the piss a bit more.

But if someone has the time/money/family/background allowing the freedom to finish school, then college and then start from scratch then more power to them.

SuperBowserWorld

I think this thread is a wind up.

johnboy92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940802#Comment_118940802

How? Its hard to get high paying jobs outside niche areas. Rents are so high Im stuck house sharing (as are everyone I know my age) and Irish society views home ownership as something you have to do

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940772#Comment_118940772

It's good/bad because it's a bit less "regulated" than electricians. Last place I lived in the housemate broke the toilet, got a handyman in to put in a replacement. He was paid fairly well for it, still likely half what a plumber would put through the books. Even a step "down" from that, guy called to my parents' house last year, had just cleared the gutters for a neighbour, asked if they wanted theirs done. Long story short, after less than an hour on the street he drove off €90 up, doubt his expenses (wear and tear on ladder and gloves) were too high. 😅

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940804#Comment_118940804

#onlyfans

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940801#Comment_118940801

I wouldn't fancy finishing college (likely with debt the way things are going) then committing to 4 years training for yet another thing.

Sure you'll be training in whatever role you go into anyway. Whether you are aware of it or not. If you go into something like accountancy, as I mentioned, it will be an explicit training program. So why not a carpenter.

You can go and do your trade at 16. I have friends who did that even though it wasn't that usual when I was that age, and is probably less usual now, but if I was a parent I'd want the child to finish their Leaving. So it is only an extension then to continue that to third level.

Actually, now that I think of it, a fella I know went to third level, studied something related to computing, then went and worked on the building for the mid 2000's until the bust came. He went back doing something in IT. But he made a packet on the building. I'm not sure whether he served his time or not though.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/2058242144/30-year-old-arts-graduate-struggling-to-get-by

I want no hand outs, my political instincts are conservative (hate long term welfare, dislike how having a child is seen as a life choice) I just want a normal standard of living with a basic car, a secure home and enough disposable income to have a pint on a Saturday night. Why does that seem out of my reach?

Because conservatives keep voting for right-wing conservative parties? FFG have been in power for the past 100 years, but in the last 20 have taken a big push to the neo-liberal right. They don't even favour "small" landlords any more, they're literally preventing people from building and buying houses and apartments, so instead they can be bought by REITs and vulture funds. They are essentially giving away public land to developers to build private houses and social housing that they will then lease back to the state. Win-win for developers and vultures...

But conservatives keep voting for them, because... well, who knows?

Canada's a good option.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940772#Comment_118940772

It can also lead to some great opportunities in the world of adult entertainment videos.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940757#Comment_118940757

Absolutely! I'm in a career for the last 23 years and am currently studying at third level, for something different. I just don't believe in putting one above the other.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940560#Comment_118940560

Yeah, no, we don't. That's just you. And maybe your social circle.

You said you were working for facebook? Why do you need to live in Dublin? Work remotely from somewhere far cheaper to rent from.

John Doe1

I am from a working class family in Donegal and did an Arts degree in Trinity as I did not have good career guidance at my DEIS school. I got a first in 2012 but found it hard to get a decent non-call center job. I did an IT postgrad after that and am now in a well paying tech job by comparison.

I am 32 and likely will be able to afford to buy a house in Dublin in the next few years but not sure I see my long term future here as

Basically, get an IT qualification and think about moving outside Dublin, plenty of cheap houses outside the Pale

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940840#Comment_118940840

Training yeah but in Dublin in IT after a year or 18 months 50k is very doable and you're on the way. I'm sure it's not as bad as it was but an awful lot of people were left hanging in the crash because of being let go and a lot left with years remaining. It's not like a college course where you sign up and the course is laid out, lots can and from what I've seen does go wrong. Maybe the people I know didn't have a common experience but once work dried up the government was cutting the training courses as well so even for people who had family for getting the hours it took well over 5 years to get the papers sorted.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940792#Comment_118940792

Not at all. It's an attitude certain people have. Unfortunately for you OP, you seem to buy into it. Other people just do what they want.

TaurenDruid

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940573#Comment_118940573

If you have management experience, you can get into the civil service or local authorities at Assistant Principal/Senior Executive Officer level. Starting pay €70k. Have a look at the threads on here, plenty of people getting appointed with similar levels of experience to you. Even less experience needed for HEO roles, and they start at €50k. Won't get you a house straight away. Will get you a decent place to rent while you save a deposit.

Dav010

Op has two threads going at the same time doing the same whinging, this is a wind up.

...Ghost...

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940792#Comment_118940792

I am your generation, only a few years your senior. Sure, things are hard now, but they were also VERY hard in 2007 when myself and my Wife bought our home in Dublin. It was done out of necessity; our circumstances required it and pouring cash into renting somewhere for around the same cost of servicing a mortgage was something we couldn't stomach.

To make it work, I had to change jobs and I worked my a55 off to bring my earnings up to what was needed on the payslip. Sometimes we need to light a fire under ourselves to do what we need to get what we want. I honestly couldn't have afforded to let an excuse like "unable to achieve" enter my mind. I reached the goal in less than a year.

You'd be amazed at what you can achieve if you lose the defeatist attitude. Focus on what you can change, because the cr@p you can't change is what keeps you down.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940573#Comment_118940573

Tbh, most salaries won't buy houses in Dublin unless you have a partner or have done some great saving. And I'm saying this as somebody in software, I moved to another county and was able to do so. I could have bought something pretty bad in Dublin at best.

The huge problem with your posts are you seem to denigrate other professions because you always looked down on them since you were younger. Most professions with higher pay do require specialised skills. This includes the likes of manual labour. (Welding just comes to mind as an example)

For the record, being paid a decent amount is great but you're gonna discover parts of life simply aren't easier as you grow older or won't work out as expected. In this case, it's entirely within your control to change things up if you're willing to put in the graft.

johnboy92

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940971#Comment_118940971

When I earn 28,500 and mortgage lending rules are 3.5 times earnings, and I pay 700 to rent a room, then I cannot achieve a home

bertiebomber

I know a plumber he has 3 houses now never went to college his brother is an electrician and has a commercial property and two houses all did apprentices no college. Unless you have a definate path college is just a few years extra on the piss and living off parents.

Donald Trump

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940879#Comment_118940879

That's not really an option though for the OP to be fair.

They went to UCD.

NSAman

I’m not of your generation, but you certainly sound like “I did “x” and expect to get “y” “,, life doesn’t work like that. I did an arts degree, post grad, a second degree, masters at night, all the time working full time. I didn’t buy my first house till I was in my thirties.

lost money , long story, worked hard, worked abroad many times, trained in jobs, did night classes. Second house was bought in my 40s. Moved abroad again. Working all the time and learning all the time.

met someone again and settled down again.

life is never handed to anyone simply because you got a degree. You have to use that degree as a stepping stone.

now I am comfortable, but not because of a degree, simply because experience that I got along the way has paid dividends, lots of hard work, luck and quite a bit of taking chances.

retalivity

Why is this in current affairs, Is self entitled whinging news now?

mrslancaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940603#Comment_118940603

Lots of people dont like IT so theres no point in retraining in something you have no interest in.

if you have an interest in politics, did you ever consider a job with a lobby organisation? Lobbyists seem to earn good salaries and need qualifications similar to yours but you might also need to have a bit of knowledge or a particular interest in, eg a topic close to your heart or your own situation that your peers are also affected by.

For instance, you are upset that you cant buy a home on your single salary. Maybe some group should be lobbying the government to change the rules about building smaller sized apartments so that single people can afford to buy rather than the current rules which puts them out of reach for so many.

Maybe theres a lobby group for something you are passionate about that would pay well.

https://www.payscale.com

https://www.lobbying.ie

Honestly, I've lost any sympathy for you now OP. You sound very entitled.

if your entire life is based around buying a house, probably in South county Dublin near your parents, then off you go and spend your life doing that.

Other people have an actual life, maybe look into that....

AndrewJRenko

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/118940551#Comment_118940551

A friend started in one of those roles about 6-7 years ago. They are now head of comms for a substantial, high profile public body, one that is in the news pretty much every week. They are at AP level, €65k-€90k.

What about academia? You mentioned earlier about enjoying books/reading. If I’m honest you need to work on your attitude a tad OP. Your posts come across a little negative, and employers will spot that a mile away.