Considering making a significant change

[thatch]

I just wanted to air an idea I've been having for a while.

I'm currently a student at a university here in Norway. I'm studying product development/design/production management. I'm halfway through my second year of a three year bachelorsdegree, but now I feel I have come to a point where I need to consider making a change. The degree I have started on is alright I guess, but I've not once in almost two years really become interested in what we are learning. I think it's time for me to switch over to something else. Let me just say this. I'm not attending university to get a degree and a fancy job. I can do whatever I set my mind to, I just need to find something that I enjoy doing. That's the only thing I care about.

I thought about what I like to do in my sparetime. Being a member of this forum, I obviously like the outdoors. I grew up with the wild directly outside my house, and I've always loved nature and animals. I'm thinking I might try to somehow get into a profession that let's me combine those two things. At a nearby university, they have a programme that translated into english is called "Forest and wildlife management". This is also a bachelors programme, but with a very much hands on approach with a lot of time spent in the woods instead of in classrooms and such.

This sound absolutely spot on for me, as I have always been more of a practical/hands on person when it comes to learning new things. That's also one of the reasons that I've had a hard time enjoying university so far, because everything is very theoretical, with few oppertunities to see how things actually work in real life.

The reason I'm posting this is to see if there are anybody in this forum that has any experience with either this type of education or this type of work. I would love to hear what kind of experiences people have before I ultimately have to make a decision on what to do.

 

[ged]

My advice is to continue the course and get your degree. It will look bad on your record later if people think you 'dropped out'. What matters now is whether you will dig deep and finish the job or give up. Don't give up.

 

[tobes01]

For what it's worth, I started an Electronic Engineering degree at Sussex University and loathed every minute and every aspect of it. I hated the university, I hated the course, I hated the location, I hated the people (sorry if there's anyone reading this who was there...) It took me two terms to set up a place on another course in London, which seemed like an eternity at the time, but in hindsight it was no time at all. I couldn't risk being out of education (and hence out of work) so I had to hang in there until I had the next course, and its funding set up.

I guess it depends on whether you need the income at the end of it all: if you do, then hang in there, finish the degree, earn a bit of cash and return to the the next degree. If you're financially independent then what the heck!

 

[treelore]

i know how you feel thatch, i was doing a job that i did not enjoy and hated. so one day i thought bugger it and got a place at college studying Arboriculture and have not looked back since. i love may job and working out side and working with trees. if i was in your place i would finish the degree you are on then do something after that you really want to do, as there is always time to do other things. in september i will be going back to college to do a degree in arboriculure and woodland management, so stick with it and you`ll get there in the end mate...

all the best in the future

treelore

 

[Dexter]

My advice is to continue the course and get your degree. It will look bad on your record later if people think you 'dropped out'. What matters now is whether you will dig deep and finish the job or give up. Don't give up.

I agree with this advice. You're too far into this course now for it to look anything other than bad on your CV. I would finish the course and then look into switching fields. It'll be easier to get onto another course with a degree already under your belt because it shows that you have what it takes to finish a course.

 

[Landy_Dom]

How ironic - I did a Forestry degree and ended up working in product design and development!

I would say stick at the degree and finish it at all costs - I was so tempted to drop out but really really glad I stuck it out. Will probably never work in Forestry again but I got my degree and my CV shows that, although my career has meandered a bit, I'm a sticker not a quitter. And that is worth a lot whatever field you work in.

Dom.

 

[R3XXY]

Having been a quitter for most of my life (now reformed) I have first hand experience of the difficulties it can cause, you'd do well to act on the above advice.

 

[Gotte]

I'd like to play Devil's advocate, and say go for it, but I just can't. Much as I believe you should follow your calling and be happy, it seems reckless to get that far into a course, just to chuck it. You might as well tough out the next 6 months, get your qualification, and then go and do the one you want. Put it this way, if you were in teh wild, in a snowstorm, thoroughly miserable and needing shelter, you'd do what you had to to get through the night, not wander off in the hope of coming across a warmer, more comfortable bed. Tough it out. It may not be what you want at the moment, but it's always better to have it in the bag - just like a spare tin opener. Not very exciting, but just might come in handy in the future, and if it doesn;t, it's not too great a load to carry - just six months worth of time, really. how heavy is that?