[Closed] cycling officers, why do you need a degree.

Come to France and try to start a MTB business...................

Cos everyone who's not properly thick has a degree these days. 😛

It's an easy, if lazy, way of restricting the applicants for a job.
Any decent employer would say, formal qualification and/or relevant experience.
And tbf riding a bike a lot, does not necessarily qualify you to be a cycling officer.

I'd imagine that if you are designing traffic systems some kind of qualification would be required

It's the way of the world, experience counts for bugger all, box ticking qualis are where it's at! 😯

Imagine Sean Kelly trying to do the job; it's about more than riding a bike....

You dont need a degree to design roads or traffic light controled junctions,just a sheet of paper, the ability to never have to drive or ride on what you design,the ability to draw lots of lines, be colour blind, so you paint random green, or red bits, or in london town blue bits,

Then you know when youve done a good job,when all the papers slag your work off, and people avoid your junction, thus ensuring less cars use it,thus making it look like youve improved it.

Award yourself another coloured pen or a pay rise.

If its a public sector job i'm surprised they can eliminate experience in favour of degree - may be worth querying as it effectively discriminates against anyone who went to work before the explosion in degree courses.

Other way around asking for experience can be classed as discrimination, asking for a set qualification isn't.

Because nearly 50% of kids go to university these days - yet only about 51% of kids get passes in 5 GCSEs including English & Maths. So having a degree has become an entry level qualification.

Hmm pretty sure that all the traffic systems in these parts were designed by monkeys orbiting the earth in a space station.

That's Hemel Hempstead 😀

Brilliant system if you know about it. One out of town driver who doesn't and it's chaos.

That's Hemel Hempstead

See that's why you don't deserve the job.

Anyroadup who's gonna stop me buying my own green paint?

You'll get sectioned you know, if you carry on like that. You can't just go out and paint bits of road green.

Okay then Blue.

😆

I love you... 😳

If they ask for a degree...give them a degree. A 2:1 from Bradford in Textile Technology if they want specifics.

Bugger all knowledge of transport systems but what's to know. They're all just big hard things that cars go up and down, what else is there.

Please tell me that was your answer to one of the question on the application form.

If it's for the local authority then the job description is usually changed to suit someone who already works for them. Outsiders often get interviews but the job is already earmarked for someone internally but they have to go through the motions - wrong but it definitely goes on.

Weed out the riff-raff ?

Grum - I think you will find that a lot of people who are proper thick have degrees these days.

Got to agree with will1 one there, the job has been created for someone i reckon, point is you cannot beat experience oldgit 😉

Good education challenges you and changes the way you think. It's about more than just the knowledge you pick up on the course.

It also provides a handy way of proving that someone can deal with large amounts of complex information in a short period of time, which is handy when you're wading through rules and regs.

Who says you need a degree, I thought I new one without a degree...

tron - Member

Good education challenges you and changes the way you think. It's about more than just the knowledge you pick up on the course.

It also provides a handy way of proving that someone can deal with large amounts of complex information in a short period of time, which is handy when you're wading through rules and regs.

I found working life much more complicated than my degree course. While I do believe in the need for some higher education, I think the current expansion of further education has been about moving the burden of training from companies to the tax payer and massaging unemployment figures.
My degree in computer science provided me with little useful knowledge, and now 20 years later anything I did learn has been obsolete for over half my working life. I just wish that there were decent education options that allowed me to add to my skills as an adult.
Try finding a local college that runs a project management course of any description, then see how all of them run courses in flower arranging and hair dressing.

I think in these economic times it's far more likely that the post is advertised because it can't be filled internally. All our jobs are advertised as internal only in the first instance, they're only advertised externally if they can't be filled.

tron - Member

Good education challenges you and changes the way you think. It's about more than just the knowledge you pick up on the course.

It also provides a handy way of proving that someone can deal with large amounts of complex information in a short period of time, which is handy when you're wading through rules and regs.

LOL - not necessarily...

Funnily enough though this is a debate I've had a couple of times when hiring people for my department. I (Masters Degree) always say that a degree is desirable but not essential while the other guys in my dept (no degrees) say that a degree is essential...

My degree has next to no relevance to my job. All it shows was that I did it. Frankly, anyone of reasonable intelligence can get a half decent degree with a moderate amount of work. It proves next to nothing when considering how good someone will be at a real world job. In fact, I often think that if I'd not gone to uni, while I'd have missed out on some brilliant times, I'd have done at least as well, if not better career-wise.

Note that I said "good education". 😀

Which council is hiring a cycle officer? All the ones I deal with have just been given the axe! Councils see cycling as an easy budget cut I think.

Which council is hiring a cycle officer? All the ones I deal with have just been given the axe! Councils see cycling as an easy budget cut I think.

Devil's advocate: Why does a council need a cycling officer?

t what's to know. They're all just big hard things that cars go up and down

Serious? 😯

tron - Member
Note that I said "good education".

That's the thing though - if you saw my cv, that's exactly what you'd say...

I blame president blairs

apply anyway; explain in your covering letter about lack of degree

Bugger all knowledge of transport systems but what's to know. They're all just big hard things that cars go up and down, what else is there.

I strongly recommend rewording this!! 😆

Experience will count for a lot, possibly more than a degree. Saying a degree is desirable/required is so that you get a reasonably educated person who can carry out tasks like writing reports, work to deadlines etc applying.

I used to be an LA (local authority, not Los Angeles...that would've been awesome) Cycling Officer and really enjoyed it, wish I was still doing it rather than 'general' highways design I do now.

If you want the job, don't be a pessimist and apply for it and see what happens, you'll almost definately get an interview at the very least IMHO. 🙂