I brought a house 7 years a go, not a problem as I wanted to get on the market
I married my wife 3 years ago, not a problem as I want to settle down and after 10 years it seemed right
We had our first child 3 months ago, not a problem as I want to start a family.


But. . . . I signed up to do a Beng (Hons) in Engineering Design with OU yesterday. Work are paying for it all as long as I stay 2 years longer then the completion quit date.

The course is 6 years with between 8 and 16 hours a week work. That means I will have 8 years at my company before I complete and can leave with out having to pay it back. A minimum of 2 to get away with out paying to leave my company.

I currently love my job and the company, I have been there for 6 years. Its just the whole cant leave even if I want to and dedicating soo much personal time to something. It wont even gaurentee me a pay rise. I am doing it as I have always wanted to learn more about engineering and want to have more choice if I want to leave. Long term is to be chartered which I should be by the time I finish.

Ultimatly if I stay with this company it wont effect my potential to progress, I am pretty much 1 down from the directors and know that if I do well I will get to the top.

I know I am lucky to have a job that I enjoy and an employer that I like that pays £25K+ for a degree but am I mad?

Suck it up, do the work, and know that the future is not set in stone. It may pay off very well down the road. And don't read the papers or you will always think the world is going to end by 5 pm.

I thought I was being brave signing up for share options that committed me to three years at the same company... March 2014 will be my ten year anniversary...

I've just had a look, the cost of that course is 15k, not 25k? And it can be paid back over time. Is it really worth getting tied into a company when doing it yourself is 'reasonably' within range?

I'm tied into my employer for around 5 years as they are paying for me to do a Masters degree. Not quite as expensive but the same rules apply. Maybe check you don't have to pay back in the case of redundancy? I know I don't on my contract but would be pretty hacked off if I lost my job and had to spend some of the redundancy money on paying that back.

Edited to add that I only have 6 GCSE's (and not great ones at that), no A-Levels and no degree so having a Masters would make a big difference to me in terms of my qualifications

[Edited on 12/9/13 by eznfrank]

If you wanted to move jobs you would negotiate the degree costs in the new package as it stands you are more secure in your current job than most.
Look at it is mutual respect, they think your worth the financial risk and have said that your safe for 8 years

Do you knowanyone who regrets getting more education? I've never met anybody who does. I did an Msc part time whilst working so it is possible.

You will have to be disciplined with your time though. You may as well sell the Striker as you'll never get to drive it [joking].

Stu

Can you not get chartered without going to University as an Engineer? I know as a Building Surveyor you can get Chartership without going to university in something like 5 years with relevant previous experience and it takes two years when a accredited degree has been obtained.

You also say the hours you will commit to the university degree as 8 to 16 hours a week. I know for a fact that it will be more than this with the amount of meetings that will take place in your "group projects" and the additional work that will have to be carried out at home for the assignments and such. So like Whitestu said you will have to be disciplined with your time. You also mentioned having a child which I'm sure will take up a lot more of your time.

Don't know if I'm being helpful there or just pessimistic but my friend has just finished his degree in mechanical engineering and I was living with him for 2 years and he put a lot of time and effort into his degree. Probably more that I put into my Building Surveying degree and we came out with the same results.

Matt

i did six years with the OU and being at an employer where you are comfortable and they are supportive is very useful.

starting a new job with all the uncertainties that brings is not condusive to studying.

Think of 3 -5 hrs of study for every hr of lecture not including any labs. Do it. Gifts like this do not come along every day. You are lucky even tho you have worked very hard to get this far.

Have fun!

I did an OU degree and finished 2010 it was (almost) the best/most fun thing I ever did.

You have to enjoy what you are doing, and the OU require higher exam marks than other universities but the teaching material is superb and easily offsets this.

You will not get chartered status with a BSc you will need an approved masters for that but the OU degree is held is high esteem by other universities.

I was accepted for a PhD in Physics even though I had an OU 1st in Mech Eng and Design and I found that in some areas I was well ahead of chaps with a Masters.

It was hard work but it was so interesting that it easily supplanted other interests. I studied 2 hours before going to work and 2 hours afterwards with the occasional Sunday when an assignment was due.

The only thing is you must stay ahead, if you get behind it is ten times as hard to catch up. If I was going on holiday I completed my work in advance - a bit like going to the gym you have to do the hard work first before you see any benefits.

Cheers!

PS I had to pay for mine - lucky chap!

[Edited on 12-9-13 by v8kid]

Go for it

I studied with the OU paid for by work for 4 years. Worked for me worked for them. I got qualifications, they got better resources.

IMHO its better than going to uni straight from school.

I am 4 years into doing the B65 Beng, with one year left. Its been great, but all I would say is chose your first course carefully. T173 is a good start, dont do t191 first itll put you off.

I'm a little jealous. I have wanted to sign up to do an OU engineering degree for years. Lack of time is my worry. I have two children, and 5 & 6yrs and they take a lot of my time. I work full time as an engineer surveyor, and and also try and help my wife run her business when she is busy.

I've not crossed it off my list yet, maybe one day! Good luck!

Must be something in the air - I've just started a BSc Honours degree in Health and Environmental Safety - night classes at Hull University.

Going to be a bit of a challenge with a very busy day job and young family - but there is method in my madness.

I got my BSc from the OU nearly 20 years ago...very hard work, but very worthwhile...opened a lot of doors for me.
I took me about 10 years to complete, but I have no regrets in doing it.

Alan

As said, assuming there some sort of provision in the case of forced redundancy and or the company going bust, the way of looking at it is that while the commitments gone up, so has the job security. I dont know how old you are, but with a house/wife/child I guess that counts for a lot as well.

Im 26, three years into my first job, having graduated from a Mechanical Engineering course in 2010 and rejoining the company I did a sandwich year with as part of the course.

Different route the same end, but I love it. Who knows what the future hold, and just like you commitment/ties scare the pants of me more than most things, but at the same time there is always a way out if it goes really badly, and normally it goes better than expected, which is to day, dam well.

Have fun!


Daniel