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  • A degree won't get you a job. However, it may give you something to talk about in an interview. You'll get you the job. and yes, you'll probably have to start on the lowest rung.

    My degree was in International Politics and Intelligence Studies. I did it because it was really interesting. It was a fantastic start for my imagined career in the diplomatic service, followed by a life as a dashing secret agent. Oh well, my then undiagnosed dyspraxia put paid to that as I sat the fast stream entrance exam and after a while realised I was about to get the lowest mark in the history of the world, walked out and went to the pub. Best decision I ever made.

    I then entered the field of computers, relying on a BTEC done years before and a certain amount of bare faced lies to blag my way into a nightmarish and really poorly paid job as a phone support monkey. while I was there I did the company's website, and in my spare time a few others, and then got a job paying lots more as a programmer. I spent that time becoming the best front-end web developer I could be, and seven years down the line and going nowhere fast in that job I got my current one, which I absolutely love and get nicely remunerated for.

    The thing is, it was my politics degree which got me from a starting point of nowhere to doing what I love for a great employer, and that's because it is essentially a degree in arguing. If you can argue well, even if your position is complete bullshit, you'll get a good politics degree, and more than that, you'll get the job you want too. A non vocational degree is a good thing - it makes you a much more rounded candidate than, say a computer science graduate trying to get a programmer's job. It gives you another way of thinking, of looking at a problem, of interacting with people, that the vocational one may not.

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