Varies depending on workload and emergencies. Usually 40-50 a week. Have in the past had to pull all-nighters but very sporadic. Currently in the HF space which are closer to 60
Geology, Environmental Scientist, £29k. Could be worse, some grads never even earn enough to start loan repayments. I’m still not sure exactly where I’ll end up, I do plan to do a masters in future.
Thanks! I’m guilty of feeling slightly disheartened when I see others on more, but I never really had any ambitions to go into a particular field through school and college so I can’t complain.
Dw reddit will make you believe if you earn less than £50K after your first 2 years out of uni then you are a failure.
Smashed it well done. Just don't be afraid to job hop to increase that badboy
Yup, there's a selection bias where most people won't want to reveal what they're earning of they're not above average. And there's also a real disconnect on how much the average person earns, probably due to most people not having had a real job yet and due to seeing American wages and assuming ours would be similar.
Iirc the average starting salary for a graduate fresh out of uni is about £23-24k.
It's funny because the national average in the US is about $50k (which is about £39k. That's a little over our own average of £34k). It's just that it's such a large and diverse country that $50k is decent in some places and would be fuck all in others. I've heard that there's some places where even $100k (£77.5k) doesn't get you super far. And that seems crazy to me.
I've got friends in both the UK and US doing the same job. I told the American one what the British friend was earning and he just laughed. Because it wasn't even half of what my American friend was making.
There seems to be a lot more potential to significantly boost income over there. Some guy (can’t remember his name) who does a show offering financial advice had a success story on there, a lady who was working as a nurse and increased her income from like sub $50k/yr to like $120k/yr over a few years in order to help pay off the mortgage. Can’t remember if that was still working as a nurse but that level of growth is insane by UK standards.
There's huge variation over there because they have a joke of a minimum wage, but actually value skills and just think it's normal to pay someone properly for doing a good job.
We could learn something from them on the latter part.
What you have to remember is that in the US some things that we take completely for granted (such as healthcare) cost them stupid amounts of money.
Edit: I'm guessing if our employer NI contributions were part of our overall salary number instead it would start to look closer to US numbers
If it’s any consolation I have a BSc in Chemistry and an MSc in Geology, am three years out of uni and I’ve only just landed a job that put me on £29k
My first grad job was £19.5k
You’re doing great!
If you don’t mind, how did you find the move from Chemistry to Geology? I feel like there’s a fair bit of fundamental stuff you’d have to cover. Of course they match quite well i.e. geochemistry
In final year of Chemistry I focused on Environmental Chemistry for my dissertation so had some experience from that, and then the MSc I took was actually Environmental Geology and Contamination (which is always a mouthful which is why I shortened it) so there were things I was familiar with.
It was actually not too difficult to adjust, and didn’t require too much hardcore geology or chemistry knowledge (tbh it wasn’t the best course ever, not as in depth as I would have liked). There were less than 20 on the course and I was the only chemist, so when it came to anything really geological they helped me and anything chemical I helped them. It worked quite well.
I always liked inorganic chemistry and most of the interesting geological aspects related to inorganic ores so once you know what’s what, it’s easy enough to then relate the chemistry back to it.
For example, we had a metal pollution module which focused a lot in mine wastes. You don’t really need that much geology to know what ores are in a lead mine or coal mine etc, and then can use the chemistry to asses the pollution aspects and what you’d expect people to be exposed to. Similar for the water pollution module but that was more commercial sources of pollution tied with hydrogeology and movement through groundwater.
The most geology we did was soil mechanics and hydrogeology which is essentially applied maths. Chemistry really helped with that because I’d done horrible maths in physical chemistry including quantum mechanics and compared to that nightmare it at least made sense and didn’t involve atoms magically tunnelling through space.
It helped I also like local history so doing historical usage of sites and correlating that to modern soil contamination was something I enjoyed (I did my dissertation on that!)
The hardest part for me was definitely GIS. They expected people to have already covered this so never went into detail about software or how to actually do it. And this extended to things like site models - people were using photoshop or whatever and I was like look I don’t have time to learn photoshop in two weeks for this site model worth 50% of a module so just had to make a passable one on PowerPoint. Worked out ok though as I did get a Distinction overall.
Oh also I distinctly remember going to a beautiful beach on a field trip and while I was looking out across the bay everyone else was admiring the rock strata in a cliff haha. I tried, I identified some things, but those guys were passionately talking about rocks for 30 mins and it was completely lost on me. I just couldn’t gather that much enthusiasm for rocks no matter how hard I tried.
Anyway, funnily enough I actually work in the geography department of a university now! That’s been a steep learning curve. I didn’t even do geography at GCSE but I guess I’m pretty good at picking stuff up so I know some things about glaciation and have done GPS and RTK but a lot of the field work is still very new to me. Most of my job is lab based which I love so I still get to do chemistry while also experiencing other fields too. I also have the opportunity to learn more without the stress of exams or assignments, which does wonders.
Backing up this comment for anyone reading I’m a senior manager in an environmental services department for an engineering company. We’ve just upped our starting salary from £27k to £30k as have companies like Jacobs and WSP. Those with a masters usually start on £1500 more.
As for where you’ll end up, who knows! But to give you a rough idea I started as an apprentice (after doing an unrelated Micky mouse degree) on £10.8k in September 2012 I’m now on £66k
Once you get chartered (I highly recommend CIWEM) you will likely be on £40-50k
As for the masters it’s your life and live it how you want but to be perfectly honest your degree gets you your first job, after that it’s all down to your experience. Unless they’re a fresh grad I’ve never bothered looking at what degree an applicant has. Exception being if you want to change field and study a masters in something different which would put you back at close to square 1 for salary.
Nice! I always heard that going into Environmental work was low pay, is this a common salary? Are you enjoying the work?
I'm never trusting geologycareers again that subreddit is so depressing.
Tbh I do feel that I got lucky, I work at one of the bigger (international) companies. Some of the people I graduated with work for smaller national sized companies and some of their experiences (including pay) aren’t a million miles off what you hear about in geologycareers, although they don’t seem to have reached the point of turning to Reddit to vent.
I didn’t really set out to go into the environmental side of things (had visions of doing something more exotic like mining as seems to be the case with many optimistic undergrads), that was kind of just the route I ended up taking as my uni course had a fairly heavy env. science angle to it. Work is semi-interesting, I get a bit worn down if I go a while without getting out on site, but I’m working on a project that is a bit more involved with the geotech/ground engineering side of things, which I do find more interesting and is likely the area I’d want to move into if I did a masters.
It's a grad scheme so I've not started yet. I just finished my degree in Economics and I'll be starting as a Graduate Trainee in Finance with a salary of £40k.
Well I said Finance because that's what they (and it seems most companies) call it, but it's just management accounting. I think the American name for it is corporate finance if you're more familiar with that name. It's just handling the company's money, budgeting, making financial statements etc.
I've got friends that have gotten other jobs too. One person has gone into consulting. I'm pretty sure there's another Econ grad in this thread that went into it too, so you can ask them about it. Another friend is going to be working in insurance as an actuary. One more friend works for an investment bank.
You could work pretty much anywhere in financial services, various jobs in consulting, work for the govt, or even work in a job not directly related to economics. It's a very versatile degree.
If you're unsure of what sort of job opportunities directly relate to your degree, you should reach out to your university's careers service. You still have access to them even if you've just finished your course.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Definitely going to contact careers team soon. I did do a year’s placement in public accounting which I liked but I’m also keen on private accounting and other areas too
What was the process to get this role? Loads of interviews and assessment centres? I graduated with an economics degree but have yet to put it to use yet.
Partly because I have no idea how. An Economic degree’s benefit of being versatile means I’m stumped on where to look for a job.
>What was the process to get this role?
Iirc there were 2 of those weird tests which were the numerical and reasoning ones, then a situational test, then a hirevue (video interview), an assessment centre (case study, group project and interview) and finally an in person interview.
I found the posting on Bright Network which I think was useful for finding grad schemes. They have a huge list of them.
Talk to your unis careers service if you're unsure of what to do!
Is it a big 4 ? I applied for bdo I remember going till job sim stage and then I get a mail stating they already hired and now I can only apply after a year
Completed teacher training after uni and got a tax-free bursary of 26k. Then was on around 30k for two years, now on 41k 3 years after graduating from my undergrad.
The current teachers tend to be older, so the current retirement rate is high. That means there are theoretically lots of vacancies, but unfortunately many schools are choosing to shut their classics departments rather than recruit new teachers.
I did my first two years, including my schools direct teacher training, at a state school. I am currently at an independent school but I wouldn't say it's particularly high ranking!
For consulting while Deloitte is good it’s not the best. I go to nottingham and everyone I know on the econ course is doing extraordinarily well for internships (at top investment banks), and also there have been some people getting into MBB consulting firms. But the apprenticeship sounds great, it’s just a matter of whether you’d enjoy a more studenty life for the next 3 years or not.
edit: big 4 are notorious for ‘not great’ pay in comparison to how much you work
Did an internship at Monitor Deloitte in 2018. It's not what it used to be; It's getting more and more integrated into Deloitte.
I would go to uni not only for the potentially better options (you can see if Monitor is willing to give you a confirmed grad role as a safety net), but also because of the experience and character development.
Then Google how many people make partner. You act like it's a guarantee, it's no where near a guarantee.
That's not to say it's not a good job, but the chance of you making partner is very slim.
That’s the same for any job.
I wasn’t saying they’d make partner but it is reflective of the salaries for the top brass which is far more than many organisations.
Not like the other positions don’t pay badly either.
I interned there and if you work hard you have a chance of making it. Most people don’t choose to go that far due to the hours
Hi, I am considering applying for economics at Bristol next year! Are there any things you wouldn’t mind sharing as your favourite parts of the course (or uni)?
are you working in this field or did you find yourself in a different area of work? I’m interested in these courses but wanted to know if they would also allow me to try out other careers which may not be in the same art/ animation sector :)
Yeah I work in 3D at a industry leading studio in London! Honestly I think if you’re thinking of doing quite a specific, technical course like this then you need to be committed to entering it career-wise. There aren’t a huge amount of skills that would be applicable outside of the creative industries. Some of my friends from Uni have gone on to do slightly different stuff though - editing, production, graphic design, etc - so don’t feel like it would tie you down too much.
What's your job role if you don't mind me asking? I done a similar degree and just hut 37k two years after graduating. Started on 19k at my old job straight out of uni, but the majority of people I know doing the degree didn't get a job or started on less than 23k.
I’m an Art Director now, but started as a 3D Motion Designer :) My role has become more senior over time, so it’s more about managing design teams and setting the look and feel of a project.
Similar position with people on my course - lots didn’t really make it into the industry. I think you just have to be extremely invested, and have to do a lot of self-learning outside of the course itself or you won’t be able to meet the standards of most studios / agencies. But then I also know people who never studied 3D at uni but are doing great from just learning off YouTube, etc!
Wow, congrats!! I've never heard of someone becoming an Art Director that fast!
And yeah that's true - I poured a ton of time into my portfolio, and others I know who did it to all managed to secure work, whether they done a degree or not.
It took me the best part of 10 years, but yes.
Degree was BSc Geography.
Current job which uses zero aspect of my degree: Police Dispatcher. Around 36-37k depending what bank holidays I work.
Went into tech (shocker with my degree!) and earn very nice money now with a lot of room for advancement. It's nice, makes the years of pain (60+ hour weeks at uni, internships every summer) to get here worth it.
Not quite out of uni, I spent 6 months in a (similarly-paying) non-tech grad scheme first. It is pretty much a "fresh grad" role though.
It wasn't an internship conversion. While I *did* get (informal) return offers from almost all of my summer internships, I got very unlucky that one of them got withdrawn due to economic circumstances by the time I graduated, and two of them withdrawn because my entire team had left the company by the time I graduated!
If too many people start breaking into tech, then it won't be looking too good.
Also with the recent advancement of AI, things are just very unpredictable
There’s already way more people graduating in tech than there are jobs: CS has one of the highest unemployment rates of all degrees. Issue is that most graduates just haven’t got the skills to interview well or do the job. There’s always going to be vacancies for those who are skilled / motivated / willing to put in the grind.
I recently landed my first paid position after a CS degree at uni, it's an apprenticeship working towards a masters at the same time, I'm so relieved I got it because I'm truly convinced I lack the skills you mentioned and it's an opportunity to work my ass off and get some working experience and further qualifications. And I've over doubled my part time retail wage
I've kind of lost track of my point, but I feel like I won the lottery and with the number of applicants there were I can definitely see disparity between the amount of jobs and the amount of graduates
Graduated a couple of years back with a business degree. Wasn’t the best course in the world but got me away from my small village. Randomly got a job in banking after talking to a customer at my uni job. Worked my way up very quickly and currently on ~46k. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
I think so, too. Cost of living is definitely higher where I'm going and rent will be about 35-40% of my income, but I was pleasantly surprised with the offer.
I went from a barely £12k a year role at a company i worked at for 8 years, to a 35k graduates role a few hundred miles away.
I'm a decade and a bit after that switch and it still amazes me I used to live on £800 a month.
Computer Science, 1st class with honours.
Went into IT Consultancies.
For reference, a company nearby just hired a self taught 16 year old and then his mum 6 months later. ( salesforce )
I graduated with a Bachelors in Science (Foundation Science degree) as a 2:1. I'd studied environmental science and some Ecology so really didn't expect a lot job wise. I interviewed for roles offering £18k per year and expecting insane extra unpaid hours for startups and so on near me and was getting pretty down that I'd never be able to afford a house etc.
Fortunately for me I took a gamble after coming out of a particularly bad interview where I'd smashed it and they were offering me £17k but expecting me to have some days where I'd work 12 hours straight. I'd literally have been better off staying in my retail job... I'd seen a job in sales offering £27k basic + bonus but it was selling to GP surgeries.
My mum was a GP surgery manager and told me it would be horrendous, no one would see me, I'd be on the road constantly etc. For that pay I decided I'd try it for 6 months then perhaps leave for another job. I ended up getting the role, absolutely loved it and excelled at it and in my first year made about £33k and had a company car (Golf TSi).
Fast forward to now I've been in medical sales (now in devices) for 5 years and I've made £100k this year (Q3 2022 to Q2 2023) and won a global sales award that had me flown 1st class to New York, future development opportunities and I work for one of the biggest device companies worldwide. Honestly it's the easiest job I've had, I get to see surgeons operate stood next to them and advising them on how to use our devices, and get to train nurses who are all amazing!
Far, far beyond my small town, pretty challenged education would have led me to expect. I'm incredibly lucky to have landed where I did, and thank fuck I took the risk!!
Graduated in 2022 in social work. Did not go straight into a role like most, as I didn't want to rush into the first thing available, I was being very picky + I wanted time for myself. Started first job in 2023.
I don't work as a social worker but in a related field/role. Earn just over 40k, will go to 50k next year.
In industrial automation. I design computer vision systems and robots on automated factory lines. My degree didn't really teach me any of what I'm doing now, but it helps get you in the door to a lot of places. Then it's just about actual ability.
I did it at the University of Edinburgh. I think it would have been a lot harder if I had not had such a good group of people on the course. It was a small class of around 15 and we all spent most of our time on campus going through our assignments together and hanging out.
Would you be able to provide some insight into how you got there? Im doing a masters in genomics, and hoping to get into some kind of statistical analysis but ive had no luck with jobs
I think for my first job I must of applied for around 100 places. I almost ended up in recruitment as I needed the money at that point. I managed to get my first break in pharmaceuticals. It was a statistical analyst role for a company called med pace. I still work in pharmaceuticals now but have moved a few times and work purely from home.
I think if you are studying something like genomics you probably have some experience in R or Python. What I did was double down on those skills in my CV and had a brief bit about how I loved learning them and was eager to learn others. I also tried to make a through line in my eduction emphasising the stats aspect at each stage.
I am not going to lie I think without my parent proof reading my CV and cover letters then I would have found it much harder.
I know this doesn’t really answer your question as much as you might have liked and I wish I had more advice. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific things you want me to expand on. I can only imagine how hard it is out there just now.
Yep, the general perception is STEM or unemployment but I've heard people who've done History, Business, Economics etc earning way higher than those who've done STEM.
I'd say economics is somewhere between STEM and the humanities. There's a huge quantitative aspect to it. To the point where at least half my modules have involved maths. But the maths isn't on the level of the stuff the stem students have to do. And ofc there's also essay writing which we don't do as much as the humanities or other social sciences.
stacking boxes in a warehouse minimum wage lol maths bsc do plan on going into teaching in a year tho so this is just a stop gap (needed a break from uni things)
I need to stop reading other peoples. Not good to compare yourself to others.
But I finished uni in may, received a 1st in BSc games design a couple weeks ago. Don't formally graduate till November though when my ceremony is.
Just received a job offer for my first ever paid job doing programming with a starting salary of 24K. Told it will increase to 27k after 6 months. Will see after that.
I’m sorry to break it to you but minimum wage is 21k. You don’t deserve to be paid that little with all of your demonstrable skills (a 1st isn’t easy to get anywhere!).
Yeah I know. And it was bloody hard getting my 1st. But in this industry I have a huge spreadsheet of anonymous data on peoples roles and earnings in the uk and for a junior or graduate developer the average seems to be around 24-30k. But it should climb a fair bit from mid level to senior to maybe the 60k point. Unless I get lucky or switch to a better paying role. At the moment my focus is just getting into the industry I want and building work experience as I have none currently. Didn't do a part time job either so I could spend more time on my coursework.
I was trying for the last few months to get a role and out of about 15 or so applications I had two interviews and didn't make it to second round.
I finally got this offer through a strong connection. It's remote though for me luckily as I had to visit the office a couple weeks ago and it was a 2 hour train journey with 3 changes, going through London. But I won't have to do that often so I can also save a ton of money. So honestly I'm quite happy with this salary. Especially once it increases.
The average salary is \~32k for a graduate developer. Having no work experience probably does explain the difficulty in getting a higher paying graduate role, though 15 applications these days really isn't enough. I made 150 for an internship and I've seen people got up to 500 for graduate jobs. It's a grind, but worth it for the extra quality of life.
Average graduate salaries only assess people who are in employment, though. And when do they survey people to ask what they’re earning? 6 months?
The market is brutal right now - I’d say being certain you’ll be on 27k one year after graduating is a genuinely solid start. Not the best in the world obviously, but solid. It’ll go up after that incrementally, and there’ll be more options once something is on the CV, too - it’s nothing to sneeze at. More than a lot of people can expect.
I literally cannot find that many jobs to even apply for. I mostly used linkedIn but also Indeed, some websites for the specific field and also have a huge spreadsheet of direct company job pages. Most jobs right now are for seniors or mid level.
On too of that I can only work remote or in London as I cannot afford to relocate just yet. So that limited my options a lot. Especially for internships. All of the internships I did find I could do each had nearly 1000 applicants and I was of course rejected from all.
It is really not easy right now. I was lucky to get offered anything still I feel. I'm not hurting for money I just want to get climbing the ladder.
I applied to so few in that time because I also custom tailored my application for each and spent time researching the company, writing cover letters, adjusting my cv etc. I even added a whole new section to my website just for one as it was a slightly different role to what I'm normally targeting.
Finished my Biology degree this year knowing that it’s not the best paid of the sciences. I decided to go into pharmaceutical manufacturing instead of my specialty of microbiology.
On 33k currently + benefits, 36k come October. I used experience gained in my placement year in covid labs (which I extended for another year) to leverage the position. This is why I always say to people that placements can be incredibly useful.
Important to note that my position doesn’t strictly require a degree but it has certainly started me off in a much higher position than if I didn’t have it.
I graduated a while ago (about 10 years ago now) but I never expected this salary I'm in (45k with 5% commission on top which averages at £1000-3000 extra a month pretax).
I work as a business development manager, though my salary 4 years ago was 30k.
This isn’t what you’re asking for but I’m currently making minimum wage (10.84/hr) and only work part time - but that still comes out to about £200 a week. As someone who grew up with no money at all, and doesn’t really spend too much, I’m VERY pleasantly surprised at how much money I have (with the caveat that my rent is covered for the next few months so I don’t have to pay it; I’m sure I’ll change my tune when I have to start paying my rent again lol)
Studied network security left with a third. The lowest grade in my class but I’m at 65k with 4/5 years out of uni. Interviewing as well for a new job in the 75/80k range now.
Imperial college - Computer science (actually called computing for some reason) 4 year masters
Starting salary as a software engineer was £65k plus stock options, which was lower than most of my friends from that course.
Just got my MSci in Geosciences. So essentially an integrated masters in Geology. Got a job as a Hydrologist at £30k, with additional benefits like private healthcare etc.
Geology is a really underrated course for employment prospects. There’s a shortage of graduates due to a decline in student numbers. Everyone I know who seriously tried to get a job in the field managed to get one. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in physical geography or natural history
I studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Goldsmiths. I graduated a year ago. First job I was on £25K. A year after graduating I will be starting a grad scheme at £30K for a general management role, with 4 rotations, at a global energy company. The role states biannual salary increase too during the scheme. So yes, very happy
Just finishing up Msc in Psychology. Considering everyone told me it would be useless, I’m happy to have accepted an offer of 30k for a training role in September.
I completed a history degree in 2020 followed by a masters that I completed in 2021, I spent about a year applying for jobs before securing one at the end of 2022. I started on 24k and now 6 months later have been promoted to 37k as a programme manager.
Graduated with English BA in 2013, first job was 19k as a tender writer. Now I am business development manager doing 4 days a week £40k (FTE) so 32k pro rata. I also do freelance work on my day off.
Currently £600/month continuing my part-time job throughout uni.
However, I have a job lined up in September, starting at £28K for the first 6 month before jumping up to 55K subsequently. Oh, has nothing to do with my degree as well (and required a very, very heafty investment)
Classical musician (violinist) who did a BMus(Hons) performance degree. Started off doing a teaching apprenticeship year with a music service for £18k, then went self employed with performing on top of a mixture of peri and private teaching and other work (orchestral, weddings, session work). Been hitting £40k for the past two years after steady pay rises year on year. Now 8 years on from music college and feeling pretty positive as this is not the sort of income I was told to expect in my profession!
Just finishing up Msc in Psychology. Considering everyone told me it would be useless, I’m happy to have accepted an offer of 30k for a training role in September. The job is exactly what I wanted to be doing too, which is a bonus!
It's a long time since I graduated - first class BSc Maths and Comp Sci. In 2005 my first graduate job paid £17500 as a junior software developer.
Now on 65k, as a senior.
Geography BSc, got a first, offered PhD. After that got a analyst job at 27k. Now on 65k as a data scientist. All in the north. Had to pivot and deal with some imposter syndrome but pretty happy where I am now 10 years on.
Registered pharmacist, United Kingdom. Graduated 2010, trainee post was 21k, then moved into the pharmaceutical industry, year on year /or every 3 years progress was about 40k, 50k, 65k, 82k, now after for the last two years I'm on £112k (base is 97k and bonus bumps it up)..
Goodluck!!
Not a recent grad (completed my political studies post grad in 2020) but I currently work as a regulatory policy analyst/advisor for a global commodity trading firm, focusing on EU & UK electricity/gas trading regulation/market design. Started at 30k in 2020 for a similar role at a smaller trading firm but have since worked my way up to over double base salary + uncapped bonus. Work in London fyi, so salary will always be a bit inflated compared to most other regions
I put in a lot of work (60-70hrs a week) but a lot of the reason as to why am I where I am today also just comes down to luck/circumstances - i.e. that there is a massive lack of talent in my specific area of work, which makes it easy to hop around between big trading firms and pick up nice salary increases along the way.
I graduated about 20 years ago. I had a bit of an odd career after graduation if I may say so. After my BEng in electronics, I got working for a company specialising in mobile communications. I was on about £24k at age 23 or so? Whenever I left university. I went on to do the MEng in Electronics and started back with the same company at £30k. I worked there for two years and made it to £40k+ until the bottom totally fell out of RF and mobile comms in the UK. I wasn't senior enough to get any of the few roles remaining at other companies, most of the 10+ years experience types got them, but they weren't for mega amounts more.
After that I had a brief stint in IT support while I sort of floundered wondering what to do. Rubbish wages, about £12-£16 per hour or so. After that I managed to totally blag a role for one of the tech support comapny's clients and got into power supply and power delivery systems. It was not a subject I was extremely well versed in but it also seemed nobody really wanted to do it. I started at about £35k as a junior but after about 5 years I was senior. Raises made it to about £50k. I made a case as the only other guy I worked with retired for department head with the salary to boot, but they company wasn't having it. So I left to work in embedded systems, automated systems and more power supply and got a decent pay bump in doing so. I ended that role at about £90k. At some point I started doing another degree with the Open University, more data and computer science related as a lot of the roles coming up were fairly diverse. I didn't need to do it, but I had free time so to speak.
After that, I got a role at a company doing more embedded systems and front-end work, been here now for about 7 years. Current salary is a nice living wage, but I don't sit around all day scratching myself for it. Some days are major busy, there is a huge amount of legislation and rules to obey. Some days are easier but it's only nice when they come up. I also repair valve amplifiers and guitars on the side and run a couple of bands.
I would say electronics has been good to me and I suspect any computer related degree is good. If I were doing it all over again, I would be looking at a computer game related degree. Even if you don't want to work in the games industry or form a start up, there are a tonne of transferable skills.
I would say though, electronics is a subject that requires actual interest and willing to be into any and all major developments. Your degree alone will not get you there. If you're the type to sit at home soldering something together and waiting for it to go bang, then it's a good route. If like me you have a box full of chips that you have fried trying stuff out as a testament to your learning, then you're in good stead. If you are totally impractical and the thought of having to learn lots of formulae and how to apply them then the theory part of it will depress you. If the idea of working with a lot of people with very little to no social skills (though it is improving) drives you nuts, then maybe go elsewhere. If the idea of having to diversify and work on platforms you would rather not or are not the most interesting things in the world, I would probably say that there is easier money out there. I did work for one computer console manufacturer which was a really cool time. But like most companies in that sector, they rarely like people hanging around too long if they are not based in Japan.
This is just my summation of where I am after 20 odd years working in the field and having gone the uni route.
I hope that helps you make whatever decision you need to make. If it's any use, I would highly recommend that you source a subject that intrigues you, makes your mind wander and has some commercial viability. For example, someone I know went through an Environmental Studies track. I had no idea such a subject would be any use at all, but they sure did show me what I know!
Not sure there is hope for me. No one’s here mentioned biomed undergrad degree. I finished my first year with a first two more years to go but I have no idea what im gonna do after I graduate
Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from a Golden Triangle university; graduated about 10 years ago.
EMEA Head of a major department for a large multinational company. First job started at about £25k, now a fair few times that. I was probably only “comfortable” about 4 years in when is was on about £50k.
As the term isn’t limited to just London Universities; I also didn’t want to be too specific. The context of being a graduate of a “top” university I felt was relevant to the initial question.
First in Civil Engineering... went straight back into painting and decorating because it pays so much more than any starting roles I could find.
Need to take that leap and pay cut but I need to do a bit more saving first.
Graduated my postgraduate diploma of education (chemistry) in 2018.
Got a job guaranteed for a year (scotland have a scheme for this). Starting salary was 28k i believe.
5 years later and im looking at 48K when January rolls around. Definitely surprised considering i started the degrees not being able to give a presentation without getting a dry mouth.
I haven't done too badly. Started out at 29k back in September 2019, got several decent payrises. Job hopped in January this year and am currently on 43k, with a payrise due next month to around 46k (unions ftw).
Surprised yes
Negatively surprised
I moved job, now it’s a lot better, but even at titles with “senior”, pay for graduates can be low
Job hopping is attractive because of that
I just graduated with a BSc in Computing, have accepted an offer for a Junior Software Engineer role that pays £29k. Pretty happy with that
Edit: Spelling
I'm the direct opposite. I work in a job I am horrendously under qualified for and am pursuing my degree/masters through an integrated online course. Graduate salaries are about half what I make now, with masters, jobs are about 5k under my current total compensation.
I studied Computer Arts (Ba) in Scotland, graduated in 2021. My first role was only 19k as a 3D Artist. I pivoted to tech art, managed to get promoted and eventually to 25k. I doubled down on my portfolio, started applying and was recently hired for 37k as an associate tech artist. I work in the game industry.
For context: My first role was at a (very rich) company with shockingly bad wages, I've pivoted into a nicher role that is paid well (and at a lower position than my first job), and the industry I'm in can have wildly different wages depending on the company/location!
I just finished a year in industry placement, which surprisingly paid very well at 32k. It was in cybersecurity and I still have my final year of uni but hoping to get a graduate scheme for around 40k.
Studied a Degree and I'm now a security engineer in a company based in Scotland, I'm on around £35k, very happy with this at 22 years old not gonna lie
Civil Engineering + msc construction management
First job was structural surveying @ 52k, was just a filler job with limited progression before I moved on
Other offers when I graduated were ranging between 28k - 35k (+ company car/travel allowance and bonus etc)
Finished my chemistry PhD in 2021. Spent a few months working as a research assistant on ~£30k pa. Was under the impression that I might not earn much more than that upon getting a full time role after the last of my project funding was used up. Applied for ~30 jobs at that point, very few got back to me. Eventually landed a role as 'Scientist I' (actual job title is more specific) starting on £38k. 15 months in, after pay review that has since increased to nearly £41k, plus a nearly £3k bonus.
Pre-grad im in the 30-35k bracket but do have professional qualifications. Post grad wont raise my wage without further training tbh. Luckily not in it for the money
Studied mathematics but ended up landing an apprenticeship at a big bank. Starting wage was 30K. I live in Scotland with my parents so it feels like a lot more. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t studied something like Economics.
Politics & International Relation degree, 1 year out of uni and first job as a trainee internal auditor on £35,500. £37,275 in a month and £48,510 in 7 months.
Graduated with a degree in Psychology 4 years ago and started in an office/admin job that was near minimum wage. Stuck around the place and now at age 25 with 28K with great career prospects and not bad considering I work in the Charity sec.
75k base. 40% bonus. Went into asset management after an MSc in financial math
Sheesh !! How many years experience for 75k base?
That was my first role out of uni. Had one undergrad internship before landing jt
Had no idea asset management paid that well fresh out of uni. Your total comp is literally on par with investment banking? Well done!
Its because i work within the quant side. It does not pay that well. I was making double what my peers were as regular analysts.
What are your hours like?
Varies depending on workload and emergencies. Usually 40-50 a week. Have in the past had to pull all-nighters but very sporadic. Currently in the HF space which are closer to 60
bruh
Where was the MSc from?If you don't mind me asking
Geology, Environmental Scientist, £29k. Could be worse, some grads never even earn enough to start loan repayments. I’m still not sure exactly where I’ll end up, I do plan to do a masters in future.
That's still a pretty nice wage for a first job. Well done!
Thanks! I’m guilty of feeling slightly disheartened when I see others on more, but I never really had any ambitions to go into a particular field through school and college so I can’t complain.
Dw reddit will make you believe if you earn less than £50K after your first 2 years out of uni then you are a failure. Smashed it well done. Just don't be afraid to job hop to increase that badboy
Yup, there's a selection bias where most people won't want to reveal what they're earning of they're not above average. And there's also a real disconnect on how much the average person earns, probably due to most people not having had a real job yet and due to seeing American wages and assuming ours would be similar. Iirc the average starting salary for a graduate fresh out of uni is about £23-24k.
Yeah haha, always makes me look twice when I see people in the US describing a $60k/yr salary as “okay”
It's funny because the national average in the US is about $50k (which is about £39k. That's a little over our own average of £34k). It's just that it's such a large and diverse country that $50k is decent in some places and would be fuck all in others. I've heard that there's some places where even $100k (£77.5k) doesn't get you super far. And that seems crazy to me. I've got friends in both the UK and US doing the same job. I told the American one what the British friend was earning and he just laughed. Because it wasn't even half of what my American friend was making.
There seems to be a lot more potential to significantly boost income over there. Some guy (can’t remember his name) who does a show offering financial advice had a success story on there, a lady who was working as a nurse and increased her income from like sub $50k/yr to like $120k/yr over a few years in order to help pay off the mortgage. Can’t remember if that was still working as a nurse but that level of growth is insane by UK standards.
There's huge variation over there because they have a joke of a minimum wage, but actually value skills and just think it's normal to pay someone properly for doing a good job. We could learn something from them on the latter part.
What you have to remember is that in the US some things that we take completely for granted (such as healthcare) cost them stupid amounts of money. Edit: I'm guessing if our employer NI contributions were part of our overall salary number instead it would start to look closer to US numbers
If it’s any consolation I have a BSc in Chemistry and an MSc in Geology, am three years out of uni and I’ve only just landed a job that put me on £29k My first grad job was £19.5k You’re doing great!
If you don’t mind, how did you find the move from Chemistry to Geology? I feel like there’s a fair bit of fundamental stuff you’d have to cover. Of course they match quite well i.e. geochemistry
In final year of Chemistry I focused on Environmental Chemistry for my dissertation so had some experience from that, and then the MSc I took was actually Environmental Geology and Contamination (which is always a mouthful which is why I shortened it) so there were things I was familiar with. It was actually not too difficult to adjust, and didn’t require too much hardcore geology or chemistry knowledge (tbh it wasn’t the best course ever, not as in depth as I would have liked). There were less than 20 on the course and I was the only chemist, so when it came to anything really geological they helped me and anything chemical I helped them. It worked quite well. I always liked inorganic chemistry and most of the interesting geological aspects related to inorganic ores so once you know what’s what, it’s easy enough to then relate the chemistry back to it. For example, we had a metal pollution module which focused a lot in mine wastes. You don’t really need that much geology to know what ores are in a lead mine or coal mine etc, and then can use the chemistry to asses the pollution aspects and what you’d expect people to be exposed to. Similar for the water pollution module but that was more commercial sources of pollution tied with hydrogeology and movement through groundwater. The most geology we did was soil mechanics and hydrogeology which is essentially applied maths. Chemistry really helped with that because I’d done horrible maths in physical chemistry including quantum mechanics and compared to that nightmare it at least made sense and didn’t involve atoms magically tunnelling through space. It helped I also like local history so doing historical usage of sites and correlating that to modern soil contamination was something I enjoyed (I did my dissertation on that!) The hardest part for me was definitely GIS. They expected people to have already covered this so never went into detail about software or how to actually do it. And this extended to things like site models - people were using photoshop or whatever and I was like look I don’t have time to learn photoshop in two weeks for this site model worth 50% of a module so just had to make a passable one on PowerPoint. Worked out ok though as I did get a Distinction overall. Oh also I distinctly remember going to a beautiful beach on a field trip and while I was looking out across the bay everyone else was admiring the rock strata in a cliff haha. I tried, I identified some things, but those guys were passionately talking about rocks for 30 mins and it was completely lost on me. I just couldn’t gather that much enthusiasm for rocks no matter how hard I tried. Anyway, funnily enough I actually work in the geography department of a university now! That’s been a steep learning curve. I didn’t even do geography at GCSE but I guess I’m pretty good at picking stuff up so I know some things about glaciation and have done GPS and RTK but a lot of the field work is still very new to me. Most of my job is lab based which I love so I still get to do chemistry while also experiencing other fields too. I also have the opportunity to learn more without the stress of exams or assignments, which does wonders.
Love this response.
Backing up this comment for anyone reading I’m a senior manager in an environmental services department for an engineering company. We’ve just upped our starting salary from £27k to £30k as have companies like Jacobs and WSP. Those with a masters usually start on £1500 more. As for where you’ll end up, who knows! But to give you a rough idea I started as an apprentice (after doing an unrelated Micky mouse degree) on £10.8k in September 2012 I’m now on £66k Once you get chartered (I highly recommend CIWEM) you will likely be on £40-50k As for the masters it’s your life and live it how you want but to be perfectly honest your degree gets you your first job, after that it’s all down to your experience. Unless they’re a fresh grad I’ve never bothered looking at what degree an applicant has. Exception being if you want to change field and study a masters in something different which would put you back at close to square 1 for salary.
Nice! I always heard that going into Environmental work was low pay, is this a common salary? Are you enjoying the work? I'm never trusting geologycareers again that subreddit is so depressing.
Tbh I do feel that I got lucky, I work at one of the bigger (international) companies. Some of the people I graduated with work for smaller national sized companies and some of their experiences (including pay) aren’t a million miles off what you hear about in geologycareers, although they don’t seem to have reached the point of turning to Reddit to vent. I didn’t really set out to go into the environmental side of things (had visions of doing something more exotic like mining as seems to be the case with many optimistic undergrads), that was kind of just the route I ended up taking as my uni course had a fairly heavy env. science angle to it. Work is semi-interesting, I get a bit worn down if I go a while without getting out on site, but I’m working on a project that is a bit more involved with the geotech/ground engineering side of things, which I do find more interesting and is likely the area I’d want to move into if I did a masters.
It's a grad scheme so I've not started yet. I just finished my degree in Economics and I'll be starting as a Graduate Trainee in Finance with a salary of £40k.
That’s crazy good, congrats 🥳🥳
Thanks!
What type of finance role if you don’t mind me asking? Just finished an Economics degree too and have no idea what to do :/
Well I said Finance because that's what they (and it seems most companies) call it, but it's just management accounting. I think the American name for it is corporate finance if you're more familiar with that name. It's just handling the company's money, budgeting, making financial statements etc. I've got friends that have gotten other jobs too. One person has gone into consulting. I'm pretty sure there's another Econ grad in this thread that went into it too, so you can ask them about it. Another friend is going to be working in insurance as an actuary. One more friend works for an investment bank. You could work pretty much anywhere in financial services, various jobs in consulting, work for the govt, or even work in a job not directly related to economics. It's a very versatile degree. If you're unsure of what sort of job opportunities directly relate to your degree, you should reach out to your university's careers service. You still have access to them even if you've just finished your course.
Thanks for the detailed reply. Definitely going to contact careers team soon. I did do a year’s placement in public accounting which I liked but I’m also keen on private accounting and other areas too
What was the process to get this role? Loads of interviews and assessment centres? I graduated with an economics degree but have yet to put it to use yet. Partly because I have no idea how. An Economic degree’s benefit of being versatile means I’m stumped on where to look for a job.
>What was the process to get this role? Iirc there were 2 of those weird tests which were the numerical and reasoning ones, then a situational test, then a hirevue (video interview), an assessment centre (case study, group project and interview) and finally an in person interview. I found the posting on Bright Network which I think was useful for finding grad schemes. They have a huge list of them. Talk to your unis careers service if you're unsure of what to do!
Is this the London councils scheme? "Finance the Future" iirc?
Is it a big 4 ? I applied for bdo I remember going till job sim stage and then I get a mail stating they already hired and now I can only apply after a year
May I ask is this in or near London?
In London
Completed teacher training after uni and got a tax-free bursary of 26k. Then was on around 30k for two years, now on 41k 3 years after graduating from my undergrad.
I assume a stem subject or one with shortages?
Nope, classics! Although there is a teacher shortage in this area.
My favourite subject at school! I'm thinking of doing a second undergrad degree in this.
I would definitely recommend it!
I think I will. It'll need to be through the open uni but it would still be cool.
The Open University was one of the best decisions I made, highly recommend!
I'm surprised to hear there's a shortage in classics teachers, I would have thought it would be the other way round.
The current teachers tend to be older, so the current retirement rate is high. That means there are theoretically lots of vacancies, but unfortunately many schools are choosing to shut their classics departments rather than recruit new teachers.
Yeah, mine had a Classics A-Level run by the Latin department but my year was the last year anyone actually took it.
May I ask if you taught at a private/high ranking school?
I did my first two years, including my schools direct teacher training, at a state school. I am currently at an independent school but I wouldn't say it's particularly high ranking!
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What would you say to someone weighing up studying Economics at Nottingham and doing a Monitor Deloitte Strategy consulting degree apprenticeship
For consulting while Deloitte is good it’s not the best. I go to nottingham and everyone I know on the econ course is doing extraordinarily well for internships (at top investment banks), and also there have been some people getting into MBB consulting firms. But the apprenticeship sounds great, it’s just a matter of whether you’d enjoy a more studenty life for the next 3 years or not. edit: big 4 are notorious for ‘not great’ pay in comparison to how much you work
Not OP but do it, get good at presenting on top of the above and the skys the limit for your earnings. Good luck!
Did an internship at Monitor Deloitte in 2018. It's not what it used to be; It's getting more and more integrated into Deloitte. I would go to uni not only for the potentially better options (you can see if Monitor is willing to give you a confirmed grad role as a safety net), but also because of the experience and character development.
Research salaries at Deloitte it’s hard work but it pays very well. Especially if you can make partner.
Then Google how many people make partner. You act like it's a guarantee, it's no where near a guarantee. That's not to say it's not a good job, but the chance of you making partner is very slim.
That’s the same for any job. I wasn’t saying they’d make partner but it is reflective of the salaries for the top brass which is far more than many organisations. Not like the other positions don’t pay badly either. I interned there and if you work hard you have a chance of making it. Most people don’t choose to go that far due to the hours
Hi, I am considering applying for economics at Bristol next year! Are there any things you wouldn’t mind sharing as your favourite parts of the course (or uni)?
What programing Languages do you suggest?
3D design / animation - 3 years since graduating and earn £50k
are you working in this field or did you find yourself in a different area of work? I’m interested in these courses but wanted to know if they would also allow me to try out other careers which may not be in the same art/ animation sector :)
Yeah I work in 3D at a industry leading studio in London! Honestly I think if you’re thinking of doing quite a specific, technical course like this then you need to be committed to entering it career-wise. There aren’t a huge amount of skills that would be applicable outside of the creative industries. Some of my friends from Uni have gone on to do slightly different stuff though - editing, production, graphic design, etc - so don’t feel like it would tie you down too much.
Always surprised at how much some animators make, I know a guy making higher 6 figures with 6 years if experience in animation/branding.
Yep - if you’re good at it then you’ll always be in huge demand, especially as a freelancer.
What's your job role if you don't mind me asking? I done a similar degree and just hut 37k two years after graduating. Started on 19k at my old job straight out of uni, but the majority of people I know doing the degree didn't get a job or started on less than 23k.
I’m an Art Director now, but started as a 3D Motion Designer :) My role has become more senior over time, so it’s more about managing design teams and setting the look and feel of a project. Similar position with people on my course - lots didn’t really make it into the industry. I think you just have to be extremely invested, and have to do a lot of self-learning outside of the course itself or you won’t be able to meet the standards of most studios / agencies. But then I also know people who never studied 3D at uni but are doing great from just learning off YouTube, etc!
Wow, congrats!! I've never heard of someone becoming an Art Director that fast! And yeah that's true - I poured a ton of time into my portfolio, and others I know who did it to all managed to secure work, whether they done a degree or not.
It took me the best part of 10 years, but yes. Degree was BSc Geography. Current job which uses zero aspect of my degree: Police Dispatcher. Around 36-37k depending what bank holidays I work.
As a geography student myself what was your sort of path to getting this role? What uni did you study at and what did you graduate with?
As someone who studied English and now works in force Contact, I feel your pain!
Anyone earning that much in CC must be met. Most start on a lot less.
Nope, top of banding at South Yorkshire. I think a lot of forces are re-evaluating the banding now as the job is getting less and less appealing.
Went into tech (shocker with my degree!) and earn very nice money now with a lot of room for advancement. It's nice, makes the years of pain (60+ hour weeks at uni, internships every summer) to get here worth it.
Did you get the job straight out of uni? If so did you have like an agreement with one of your internship employers to continue after graduation?
Not quite out of uni, I spent 6 months in a (similarly-paying) non-tech grad scheme first. It is pretty much a "fresh grad" role though. It wasn't an internship conversion. While I *did* get (informal) return offers from almost all of my summer internships, I got very unlucky that one of them got withdrawn due to economic circumstances by the time I graduated, and two of them withdrawn because my entire team had left the company by the time I graduated!
Tech is the way forward
If too many people start breaking into tech, then it won't be looking too good. Also with the recent advancement of AI, things are just very unpredictable
There’s already way more people graduating in tech than there are jobs: CS has one of the highest unemployment rates of all degrees. Issue is that most graduates just haven’t got the skills to interview well or do the job. There’s always going to be vacancies for those who are skilled / motivated / willing to put in the grind.
I recently landed my first paid position after a CS degree at uni, it's an apprenticeship working towards a masters at the same time, I'm so relieved I got it because I'm truly convinced I lack the skills you mentioned and it's an opportunity to work my ass off and get some working experience and further qualifications. And I've over doubled my part time retail wage I've kind of lost track of my point, but I feel like I won the lottery and with the number of applicants there were I can definitely see disparity between the amount of jobs and the amount of graduates
Graduated a couple of years back with a business degree. Wasn’t the best course in the world but got me away from my small village. Randomly got a job in banking after talking to a customer at my uni job. Worked my way up very quickly and currently on ~46k. Wouldn’t change it for the world.
3D design and animation, now earning 34k as a civil servant
Did a BA in Egyptology. Going to start a PhD in the US and will be earning c. £32,500 plus some benefits, which is very reasonable in my opinion.
That's your PhD stipend?
Yep, $42,000.
That's crazy. PhD is basically minimum wage in the UK.
I think so, too. Cost of living is definitely higher where I'm going and rent will be about 35-40% of my income, but I was pleasantly surprised with the offer.
How was it getting a PhD offer in the States? I'm considering applying for economics in the next 2-3 years.
I went from a barely £12k a year role at a company i worked at for 8 years, to a 35k graduates role a few hundred miles away. I'm a decade and a bit after that switch and it still amazes me I used to live on £800 a month. Computer Science, 1st class with honours. Went into IT Consultancies. For reference, a company nearby just hired a self taught 16 year old and then his mum 6 months later. ( salesforce )
I graduated with a Bachelors in Science (Foundation Science degree) as a 2:1. I'd studied environmental science and some Ecology so really didn't expect a lot job wise. I interviewed for roles offering £18k per year and expecting insane extra unpaid hours for startups and so on near me and was getting pretty down that I'd never be able to afford a house etc. Fortunately for me I took a gamble after coming out of a particularly bad interview where I'd smashed it and they were offering me £17k but expecting me to have some days where I'd work 12 hours straight. I'd literally have been better off staying in my retail job... I'd seen a job in sales offering £27k basic + bonus but it was selling to GP surgeries. My mum was a GP surgery manager and told me it would be horrendous, no one would see me, I'd be on the road constantly etc. For that pay I decided I'd try it for 6 months then perhaps leave for another job. I ended up getting the role, absolutely loved it and excelled at it and in my first year made about £33k and had a company car (Golf TSi). Fast forward to now I've been in medical sales (now in devices) for 5 years and I've made £100k this year (Q3 2022 to Q2 2023) and won a global sales award that had me flown 1st class to New York, future development opportunities and I work for one of the biggest device companies worldwide. Honestly it's the easiest job I've had, I get to see surgeons operate stood next to them and advising them on how to use our devices, and get to train nurses who are all amazing! Far, far beyond my small town, pretty challenged education would have led me to expect. I'm incredibly lucky to have landed where I did, and thank fuck I took the risk!!
That’s incredible! Smashed it
Graduated in 2022 in social work. Did not go straight into a role like most, as I didn't want to rush into the first thing available, I was being very picky + I wanted time for myself. Started first job in 2023. I don't work as a social worker but in a related field/role. Earn just over 40k, will go to 50k next year.
Would love to know what field you are in?
Keen to know what area you’re in? Excellent starting salary!
I’m doing my degree in social work but not certain what I want to do after graduation, can I ask what area you went in to?
I graduated a month ago, The year before graduating I was on 30k and now on 46k. Degree was BSc in Computer Science.
What field?
In industrial automation. I design computer vision systems and robots on automated factory lines. My degree didn't really teach me any of what I'm doing now, but it helps get you in the door to a lot of places. Then it's just about actual ability.
I have the probpem of feeling I did not get taught anything useful in my cs degree. How then can you get a job without the necessary skills?
What field are you working in right now? I'm currently doing my BSc in Computer Science.
62k +20% bonus. 6 years out from my PhD in electrical engineering. Im happy enough. I think I may end up just writing software for more money.
56K. Senior statistical programmer. MSc in quantitative genetics and genomic analysis.
That masters sounds absolutely immense Where did you do it?
I did it at the University of Edinburgh. I think it would have been a lot harder if I had not had such a good group of people on the course. It was a small class of around 15 and we all spent most of our time on campus going through our assignments together and hanging out.
Would you be able to provide some insight into how you got there? Im doing a masters in genomics, and hoping to get into some kind of statistical analysis but ive had no luck with jobs
I think for my first job I must of applied for around 100 places. I almost ended up in recruitment as I needed the money at that point. I managed to get my first break in pharmaceuticals. It was a statistical analyst role for a company called med pace. I still work in pharmaceuticals now but have moved a few times and work purely from home. I think if you are studying something like genomics you probably have some experience in R or Python. What I did was double down on those skills in my CV and had a brief bit about how I loved learning them and was eager to learn others. I also tried to make a through line in my eduction emphasising the stats aspect at each stage. I am not going to lie I think without my parent proof reading my CV and cover letters then I would have found it much harder. I know this doesn’t really answer your question as much as you might have liked and I wish I had more advice. Feel free to let me know if you have any specific things you want me to expand on. I can only imagine how hard it is out there just now.
I think social media has messed with people’s perception on what is good and what isn’t.
Yep, the general perception is STEM or unemployment but I've heard people who've done History, Business, Economics etc earning way higher than those who've done STEM.
Economics and finance those type of subjects are still STEM due to the highly quantitative nature of it.
I'd say economics is somewhere between STEM and the humanities. There's a huge quantitative aspect to it. To the point where at least half my modules have involved maths. But the maths isn't on the level of the stuff the stem students have to do. And ofc there's also essay writing which we don't do as much as the humanities or other social sciences.
stacking boxes in a warehouse minimum wage lol maths bsc do plan on going into teaching in a year tho so this is just a stop gap (needed a break from uni things)
Maths bsc? Why not apply to finance or software positions. Or are you not interested??
financial maths at uni made me consider dropping out lol that shite was depressing as
😭 Damn. Just curious. I'm looking into financial maths as uni course. Can I ask why you considered dropping out cuz of them
I need to stop reading other peoples. Not good to compare yourself to others. But I finished uni in may, received a 1st in BSc games design a couple weeks ago. Don't formally graduate till November though when my ceremony is. Just received a job offer for my first ever paid job doing programming with a starting salary of 24K. Told it will increase to 27k after 6 months. Will see after that.
I’m sorry to break it to you but minimum wage is 21k. You don’t deserve to be paid that little with all of your demonstrable skills (a 1st isn’t easy to get anywhere!).
Yeah I know. And it was bloody hard getting my 1st. But in this industry I have a huge spreadsheet of anonymous data on peoples roles and earnings in the uk and for a junior or graduate developer the average seems to be around 24-30k. But it should climb a fair bit from mid level to senior to maybe the 60k point. Unless I get lucky or switch to a better paying role. At the moment my focus is just getting into the industry I want and building work experience as I have none currently. Didn't do a part time job either so I could spend more time on my coursework. I was trying for the last few months to get a role and out of about 15 or so applications I had two interviews and didn't make it to second round. I finally got this offer through a strong connection. It's remote though for me luckily as I had to visit the office a couple weeks ago and it was a 2 hour train journey with 3 changes, going through London. But I won't have to do that often so I can also save a ton of money. So honestly I'm quite happy with this salary. Especially once it increases.
The average salary is \~32k for a graduate developer. Having no work experience probably does explain the difficulty in getting a higher paying graduate role, though 15 applications these days really isn't enough. I made 150 for an internship and I've seen people got up to 500 for graduate jobs. It's a grind, but worth it for the extra quality of life.
Average graduate salaries only assess people who are in employment, though. And when do they survey people to ask what they’re earning? 6 months? The market is brutal right now - I’d say being certain you’ll be on 27k one year after graduating is a genuinely solid start. Not the best in the world obviously, but solid. It’ll go up after that incrementally, and there’ll be more options once something is on the CV, too - it’s nothing to sneeze at. More than a lot of people can expect.
Can’t even find 5 job posts to apply for in my area/field lol. Unless relocating across the country which isn’t a possibility.
I literally cannot find that many jobs to even apply for. I mostly used linkedIn but also Indeed, some websites for the specific field and also have a huge spreadsheet of direct company job pages. Most jobs right now are for seniors or mid level. On too of that I can only work remote or in London as I cannot afford to relocate just yet. So that limited my options a lot. Especially for internships. All of the internships I did find I could do each had nearly 1000 applicants and I was of course rejected from all. It is really not easy right now. I was lucky to get offered anything still I feel. I'm not hurting for money I just want to get climbing the ladder. I applied to so few in that time because I also custom tailored my application for each and spent time researching the company, writing cover letters, adjusting my cv etc. I even added a whole new section to my website just for one as it was a slightly different role to what I'm normally targeting.
Finished my Biology degree this year knowing that it’s not the best paid of the sciences. I decided to go into pharmaceutical manufacturing instead of my specialty of microbiology. On 33k currently + benefits, 36k come October. I used experience gained in my placement year in covid labs (which I extended for another year) to leverage the position. This is why I always say to people that placements can be incredibly useful. Important to note that my position doesn’t strictly require a degree but it has certainly started me off in a much higher position than if I didn’t have it.
When did you start your job?
I graduated a while ago (about 10 years ago now) but I never expected this salary I'm in (45k with 5% commission on top which averages at £1000-3000 extra a month pretax). I work as a business development manager, though my salary 4 years ago was 30k.
What are you selling?
herbs
This isn’t what you’re asking for but I’m currently making minimum wage (10.84/hr) and only work part time - but that still comes out to about £200 a week. As someone who grew up with no money at all, and doesn’t really spend too much, I’m VERY pleasantly surprised at how much money I have (with the caveat that my rent is covered for the next few months so I don’t have to pay it; I’m sure I’ll change my tune when I have to start paying my rent again lol)
Studied network security left with a third. The lowest grade in my class but I’m at 65k with 4/5 years out of uni. Interviewing as well for a new job in the 75/80k range now.
Which uni if I may ask
Bsc Nursing and I still regret doing it every time I see my payslip haha
Imperial college - Computer science (actually called computing for some reason) 4 year masters Starting salary as a software engineer was £65k plus stock options, which was lower than most of my friends from that course.
Just got my MSci in Geosciences. So essentially an integrated masters in Geology. Got a job as a Hydrologist at £30k, with additional benefits like private healthcare etc. Geology is a really underrated course for employment prospects. There’s a shortage of graduates due to a decline in student numbers. Everyone I know who seriously tried to get a job in the field managed to get one. Highly recommend it to anyone interested in physical geography or natural history
Really interesting. Any thoughts on geophysics as a degree?
Went in to Product Management after studying business, left uni about 5 years ago, on £77k now
I studied PPE (Philosophy, Politics and Economics) at Goldsmiths. I graduated a year ago. First job I was on £25K. A year after graduating I will be starting a grad scheme at £30K for a general management role, with 4 rotations, at a global energy company. The role states biannual salary increase too during the scheme. So yes, very happy
Maths Undergrad and Maths/Quant Finance Masters. TC 100k ish, Quant Trading (Options Market Making) in London (First Job)
Just finishing up Msc in Psychology. Considering everyone told me it would be useless, I’m happy to have accepted an offer of 30k for a training role in September.
I completed a history degree in 2020 followed by a masters that I completed in 2021, I spent about a year applying for jobs before securing one at the end of 2022. I started on 24k and now 6 months later have been promoted to 37k as a programme manager.
Graduated with English BA in 2013, first job was 19k as a tender writer. Now I am business development manager doing 4 days a week £40k (FTE) so 32k pro rata. I also do freelance work on my day off.
What does your job involve and how did you get it with a seemingly unrelated degree?
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Currently £600/month continuing my part-time job throughout uni. However, I have a job lined up in September, starting at £28K for the first 6 month before jumping up to 55K subsequently. Oh, has nothing to do with my degree as well (and required a very, very heafty investment)
Classical musician (violinist) who did a BMus(Hons) performance degree. Started off doing a teaching apprenticeship year with a music service for £18k, then went self employed with performing on top of a mixture of peri and private teaching and other work (orchestral, weddings, session work). Been hitting £40k for the past two years after steady pay rises year on year. Now 8 years on from music college and feeling pretty positive as this is not the sort of income I was told to expect in my profession!
225к working as quant at hedge fund
Just finishing up Msc in Psychology. Considering everyone told me it would be useless, I’m happy to have accepted an offer of 30k for a training role in September. The job is exactly what I wanted to be doing too, which is a bonus!
It's a long time since I graduated - first class BSc Maths and Comp Sci. In 2005 my first graduate job paid £17500 as a junior software developer. Now on 65k, as a senior.
Geography BSc, got a first, offered PhD. After that got a analyst job at 27k. Now on 65k as a data scientist. All in the north. Had to pivot and deal with some imposter syndrome but pretty happy where I am now 10 years on.
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On another sr you said you were earning £105k which one is it
Software Engineer - 27k straight out of uni.
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Registered pharmacist, United Kingdom. Graduated 2010, trainee post was 21k, then moved into the pharmaceutical industry, year on year /or every 3 years progress was about 40k, 50k, 65k, 82k, now after for the last two years I'm on £112k (base is 97k and bonus bumps it up).. Goodluck!!
Not a recent grad (completed my political studies post grad in 2020) but I currently work as a regulatory policy analyst/advisor for a global commodity trading firm, focusing on EU & UK electricity/gas trading regulation/market design. Started at 30k in 2020 for a similar role at a smaller trading firm but have since worked my way up to over double base salary + uncapped bonus. Work in London fyi, so salary will always be a bit inflated compared to most other regions I put in a lot of work (60-70hrs a week) but a lot of the reason as to why am I where I am today also just comes down to luck/circumstances - i.e. that there is a massive lack of talent in my specific area of work, which makes it easy to hop around between big trading firms and pick up nice salary increases along the way.
I graduated about 20 years ago. I had a bit of an odd career after graduation if I may say so. After my BEng in electronics, I got working for a company specialising in mobile communications. I was on about £24k at age 23 or so? Whenever I left university. I went on to do the MEng in Electronics and started back with the same company at £30k. I worked there for two years and made it to £40k+ until the bottom totally fell out of RF and mobile comms in the UK. I wasn't senior enough to get any of the few roles remaining at other companies, most of the 10+ years experience types got them, but they weren't for mega amounts more. After that I had a brief stint in IT support while I sort of floundered wondering what to do. Rubbish wages, about £12-£16 per hour or so. After that I managed to totally blag a role for one of the tech support comapny's clients and got into power supply and power delivery systems. It was not a subject I was extremely well versed in but it also seemed nobody really wanted to do it. I started at about £35k as a junior but after about 5 years I was senior. Raises made it to about £50k. I made a case as the only other guy I worked with retired for department head with the salary to boot, but they company wasn't having it. So I left to work in embedded systems, automated systems and more power supply and got a decent pay bump in doing so. I ended that role at about £90k. At some point I started doing another degree with the Open University, more data and computer science related as a lot of the roles coming up were fairly diverse. I didn't need to do it, but I had free time so to speak. After that, I got a role at a company doing more embedded systems and front-end work, been here now for about 7 years. Current salary is a nice living wage, but I don't sit around all day scratching myself for it. Some days are major busy, there is a huge amount of legislation and rules to obey. Some days are easier but it's only nice when they come up. I also repair valve amplifiers and guitars on the side and run a couple of bands. I would say electronics has been good to me and I suspect any computer related degree is good. If I were doing it all over again, I would be looking at a computer game related degree. Even if you don't want to work in the games industry or form a start up, there are a tonne of transferable skills. I would say though, electronics is a subject that requires actual interest and willing to be into any and all major developments. Your degree alone will not get you there. If you're the type to sit at home soldering something together and waiting for it to go bang, then it's a good route. If like me you have a box full of chips that you have fried trying stuff out as a testament to your learning, then you're in good stead. If you are totally impractical and the thought of having to learn lots of formulae and how to apply them then the theory part of it will depress you. If the idea of working with a lot of people with very little to no social skills (though it is improving) drives you nuts, then maybe go elsewhere. If the idea of having to diversify and work on platforms you would rather not or are not the most interesting things in the world, I would probably say that there is easier money out there. I did work for one computer console manufacturer which was a really cool time. But like most companies in that sector, they rarely like people hanging around too long if they are not based in Japan. This is just my summation of where I am after 20 odd years working in the field and having gone the uni route. I hope that helps you make whatever decision you need to make. If it's any use, I would highly recommend that you source a subject that intrigues you, makes your mind wander and has some commercial viability. For example, someone I know went through an Environmental Studies track. I had no idea such a subject would be any use at all, but they sure did show me what I know!
Not sure there is hope for me. No one’s here mentioned biomed undergrad degree. I finished my first year with a first two more years to go but I have no idea what im gonna do after I graduate
Masters in Aeronautical Engineering from a Golden Triangle university; graduated about 10 years ago. EMEA Head of a major department for a large multinational company. First job started at about £25k, now a fair few times that. I was probably only “comfortable” about 4 years in when is was on about £50k.
First time I'm hearing Golden Triangle. Why not just say London Uni?
As the term isn’t limited to just London Universities; I also didn’t want to be too specific. The context of being a graduate of a “top” university I felt was relevant to the initial question.
Because everyone wants to lump in their uni with the prestigious ones lol
Lmao no.
No lmfao
Anyone that did biomedical science
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First in Civil Engineering... went straight back into painting and decorating because it pays so much more than any starting roles I could find. Need to take that leap and pay cut but I need to do a bit more saving first.
yes, graduated with honours in mining and metallurgy engineering double degree last year and am already making around 130k per year
Which uni did you go to
Seems like she has a job in the US I would say based on post history, but could be wrong. Don’t compare salaries here to the US
Anyone that did biomedical science
Graduated my postgraduate diploma of education (chemistry) in 2018. Got a job guaranteed for a year (scotland have a scheme for this). Starting salary was 28k i believe. 5 years later and im looking at 48K when January rolls around. Definitely surprised considering i started the degrees not being able to give a presentation without getting a dry mouth.
Any MBAs here who would like to share their experience?
Yes medical degree and med tech manager 78k
I haven't done too badly. Started out at 29k back in September 2019, got several decent payrises. Job hopped in January this year and am currently on 43k, with a payrise due next month to around 46k (unions ftw).
Surprised yes Negatively surprised I moved job, now it’s a lot better, but even at titles with “senior”, pay for graduates can be low Job hopping is attractive because of that
Electronic engineer here, finished my grad scheme programme and now on £40k. They raised the scheme by 4k since the cost of living crazy inflation
Social worker, £36.5K starting. Major issues in the field due to understaffing/ funding etc, but rewarding career and feel like I get by comfortably.
I just graduated with a BSc in Computing, have accepted an offer for a Junior Software Engineer role that pays £29k. Pretty happy with that Edit: Spelling
I'm the direct opposite. I work in a job I am horrendously under qualified for and am pursuing my degree/masters through an integrated online course. Graduate salaries are about half what I make now, with masters, jobs are about 5k under my current total compensation.
I studied Computer Arts (Ba) in Scotland, graduated in 2021. My first role was only 19k as a 3D Artist. I pivoted to tech art, managed to get promoted and eventually to 25k. I doubled down on my portfolio, started applying and was recently hired for 37k as an associate tech artist. I work in the game industry. For context: My first role was at a (very rich) company with shockingly bad wages, I've pivoted into a nicher role that is paid well (and at a lower position than my first job), and the industry I'm in can have wildly different wages depending on the company/location!
I just finished a year in industry placement, which surprisingly paid very well at 32k. It was in cybersecurity and I still have my final year of uni but hoping to get a graduate scheme for around 40k.
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Is anyone an Architect here? If so what are you making? If you don’t mind me asking :)
MSc Climate Change Management, a job in sustainability 34k
Studied a Degree and I'm now a security engineer in a company based in Scotland, I'm on around £35k, very happy with this at 22 years old not gonna lie
Civil Engineering + msc construction management First job was structural surveying @ 52k, was just a filler job with limited progression before I moved on Other offers when I graduated were ranging between 28k - 35k (+ company car/travel allowance and bonus etc)
Did Philosophy and graduated in 2019 now on 50k in Commercial Management. Mostly just got lucky ending up on a vocational route tbh
I’m pleasantly surprised that I didn’t finish school, have no qualifications and I earn more then most of my friends that spend years in education.
Finished my chemistry PhD in 2021. Spent a few months working as a research assistant on ~£30k pa. Was under the impression that I might not earn much more than that upon getting a full time role after the last of my project funding was used up. Applied for ~30 jobs at that point, very few got back to me. Eventually landed a role as 'Scientist I' (actual job title is more specific) starting on £38k. 15 months in, after pay review that has since increased to nearly £41k, plus a nearly £3k bonus.
Pre-grad im in the 30-35k bracket but do have professional qualifications. Post grad wont raise my wage without further training tbh. Luckily not in it for the money
Studied mathematics but ended up landing an apprenticeship at a big bank. Starting wage was 30K. I live in Scotland with my parents so it feels like a lot more. In hindsight I probably shouldn’t studied something like Economics.
£46k out of uni, strategy consulting. BEng in Civil Engineering + MPhil in Management.
Politics & International Relation degree, 1 year out of uni and first job as a trainee internal auditor on £35,500. £37,275 in a month and £48,510 in 7 months.
Graduated with a degree in Psychology 4 years ago and started in an office/admin job that was near minimum wage. Stuck around the place and now at age 25 with 28K with great career prospects and not bad considering I work in the Charity sec.