Dilemna

[omgffswtf]

Well, I'm working back at the joinery again for summer. The business is doing well, with a turnover of over £1m/year, and my brother and the other guy who own it want me to do CAD work for them. I'm confident this is something I could do and would be good at, and I would probably also enjoy it. My brother would teach me how to do it, and apparently

Comments

[infinitecomplex]

Stick with the course. Having got this far with it, it would be a real shame to quit - and the skills and knowledge you're acquiring on the course will open up so many more options for you in the future. A degree can open a lot of doors for you, and not just on the job front - I know you've talked in the past about leaving the UK, and that would be much harder without a university-level qualification.

I know the money would make it really tempting - being a broke student sucks - but you've already invested two years in the course, and it would be a real shame to lose that. (I'm also surprised you'd earn that little as a games programmer in the UK - wages for programming here are higher than that, probably because the skills are in short supply, and they rise fast.)

Also, as you note, as a luxury item conservatories are definitely a risky product in a recession. It would really suck to give up the course and the time you've invested in it, and then find that you got laid off or the business had to be scaled back. If you do decide to go in this direction, it might be better to wait until the economy is on a better footing.

I would definitely recommend trying the CAD this summer, but with a view to going back to Uni and finishing your course. If you find the CAD really grabs you, you might decide to go with it - but I'd definitely be absolutely certain it's the right thing to do in the long-term as well as the near future.

[omgffswtf]

I agree that it'd be a shame to quit, but this CAD stuff would also be a career path. There would be lots of other opportunities for a CAD designer if the business went belly up. After having spoken to Luke and Mark again today they've made it more clear what they're offering. It sounds like there's a lot of potential, with helping to manage the business currently, and other side projects they're looking to start.

I'm also thinking of looking at part time uni courses and the OU etc, since they've said if I wanted 1 day a week to still pursue an education, I could do it. There's also the fact I could go back to uni after a year off and should be able to pick up where I left off.