So, after my previous thread on feeling a success, I’ve been looking at things I can do. Job is super easy, so I’ll have the time complete the work etc.

I’ve seen this part time MSc, which really interests me. My politics BA focused on environmental policy and I wanted to go in to that field after uni, but a girl kept me in Canterbury where I ended up teaching.

Anyone in this field or has completed an MSc that is similar?

Not fussed about the costs, as not paid off first loan yet, so I won’t miss money I’ve never had.

Nothing like the same field of study (MEng) but I did a part time masters along side a full time job and a young family. Loved it. Wasn’t horrifically time consuming as long as you were disciplined (little and often) and I’d do it again tomorrow.

I’m coming towards the end of my 2nd MSc, both in  various areas related to sustainable architecture…

if you think you have the time, do it!

im only doing the second one for my own enjoyment really and keeping up to date with current practice. Weirdly I’ll be gutted when I hand in my thesis and it’s all over!

Did you guys fund it through a student loan? Or part paid through work etc?

My MA was part paid with work, unfortunately I don’t think I’ll get the museum to part pay for an MSc that won’t benefit them!

Sustainable architecture, not a million miles away from the one I’ve been looking at. Doing the MSc would be for me aiming for a complete career change.

I did an MSc in environmental sustainability as a “mature” student at 30 (ha!).  Was a personal “passion” but also intended as a career change. With zero experience and at the time of the economic meltdown it didn’t pan out. I did it full time, self funded. Don’t know what you want to know but message me if you like.

I’d prefer an MSc in climate change, sustainability, policy and management with lean methods for continuous improvement of quality. All in 12 months.

In other words it sounds like a bunch of me arse – Soft postgraduate word salad to milk fees out of the government. I think you need to be extremely focussed and clear on the outcomes to take a course like this – if there is a lack of a defined pathway and destination then it’s not something you should seriously consider.

If you’re more about the learning for its own sake, aren’t interested in a vocational outcome (unlikely, given the wretched title), then that’s OK on the face of it. Problem is if those delivering the course are also about the learning and training journey for its own sake then the MSc will be shite.

Cheers Jimmy, may ping over a message at some point to pick your brains.

Part of it is learning, part is to try and find a new career direction. Going to search around for jobs first and email the uni asking about careers advice.

I just completed a vocational MSc – Brewing & Distilling.

So far people have generally wanted me to work for free, and if you can get a paid job you get lumped in with school leavers and are lucky to get £17k.

Careers service at my university were rubbish, could barely help with the field even though they are basically the only uni in the world doing that course and have hundreds of students on that subject every year. It’s a boom industry just now too.

And they totally wash their hands of you the minute you finish.

So think real hard about why you want to do it.

My plan was to open my own place, but figured I’d work for a year or two to get experience. But the options are so dire I am just going to start up now.

Part of it is learning, part is to try and find a new career direction. Going to search around for jobs first and email the uni asking about careers advice.

I’d try and be completely clear and realistic about what opportunities will be available to you. Speak to people now – networking is very important in the industry, which I found very hard to do. Partly because I didn’t know exactly what job I wanted to do so could never articulate where I wanted to be.

Are you likely to pursue careers in that area again Jimmy?

That’ll be the problem I have, knowing the exact job I’d like to do. I’ll need to research more and look at options.

May be a silly question, but how on earth do you go about networking in that area?

I’m recruiting in a similar sector at the moment. Are you sure your Msc would bring you any real advantage over the BA you already have? Its experience employers want, (and the key bit here is communications skills). We’re inundated with candidates with amazing academic qualifications, amazing how many PhDs there are applging.

Just spotted you’ve been teaching. For me that makes you quite highly rated on paper. Fed up interviewing PhDs with all the ideals but no real world experience.

Hmmm, unsure as not really looked for jobs in that sector. My BA is European Politics, MA is in leadership and Education. Only real experience is teaching nearly 10 years, plus 1 year in the heritage charity sector.

I’ve worked in the environmental sector for many years having studied ecology undergrad and a broadly similar postgrad msc. I’ve never worked in the policy side of things though, but you’re not going to be able to post on the stw stealth wealth threads. Have a look at salaries in that sector and there probably aren’t many jobs, though if you have transferable experience from your previous career you will have an advantage over other graduates. If you’re doing it more for interest make sure it’s a well taught course with a good rep at a reputable institution.

Environmental degrees tend not to be valued very highly, unless there’s some other twist to it, like combining it with entrepreneurship/business, or outreach or something. So if your goal is to obtain a new qualification to switch careers, the chances are that you’d be better off just applying for the jobs you want now and save yourself the course fees.

If, on the other hand, it’s something you’re really passionate about and want to thoroughly immerse yourself in an academic environment to suck up as much knowledge as possible, then go for it! Although, as above, choose the right course rather than just the first one you’ve seen. Some are mightily broad in scope and you’re unlikely to be satisfied at the end of it.

FYI, I graduated with a BSc (Hons) in environmental geoscience, worked for a few years, went back to do an MSc in carbon capture and storage, leading on to a PhD in the same subject. After 10 years at uni studying environmental (climate change) issues, I’ve spent the last two years as a forester and am just about to open my own distillery. Read from that what you will… 😉

(OT) @yourguitarhero, I think the careers guy for your course should be Keith Kilgore, who is imo a top boy- have you spoken to him direct? brewing got handed from one department to another so that messed things up a little but you should still be getting good support from them. Generally it’s one of our top progressing courses too since demand’s miles higher than supply though it does get a bit skewed since so many people want to set up themselves and that basically means there’s 2 exit streams, one into big brewing and one into micro industry

(I should say, I’m totally not a PG guy, neither my moneys nor my circus but I’ll be fairly pissed off if the careers guys can’t do better for you)

I’ll give him a shout, cheers!

@yourguitarhero you need to speak with john Fordyce at border distillery in hawick. He’s a switched on guy and has some fantastic ideas. He might be very useful.

Yes

I originally completed a BSc in Zoology then, unsure as to what I wanted to do long-term I ended up working in finance for about 6 years.

Whilst the money would have been significantly better in the finance world, I always knew that I wanted to get back into the environmental sector, particularly focusing on the interaction between new infrastructure projects and the environment, so went down to working a couple of days a week in my finance job and completed a full-time MSc in Sustainability and Environmental Studies at Strathclyde.

This was a broad degree and for the most part, one that I found really interesting. It also introduced me to Environmental Impact Assessment and I decided to pursue this as a career path, first off through focussing on it though dissertation.

Fast forward 5 years and I’m now working in a large engineering consultancy on a broad range of projects from  renewable energy developments, national road schemes and oil and gas projects, as well as project managing frameworks.

I’ll be honest, I’m still not entirely sure what I want to do in the long-term, but there are sufficient options open to me in my company to move about (both in terms of role and global location) that it’s “just” a case of having a look and chatting with the right people.

Regarding networking – have a look at organisations such as IEMA, IES, CIWEM, CIEEM and SocEnv, who may be running events near you.

More than happy to chat if you want to talk about it

With the experience you have I would say that an education officer or similar at almost any charity would a possibility – no need to limit yourself to the heritage sector after 1 year! Might it be possible to find an environmental charity for example? Sustrans also springs to mind.

What is it about climate change, sustainability, policy and management that interests you? What would you like to do with knowledge and qualification in this area? Who is it that employs people with that knowledge and qualifications in that area?

I don’t know much about it, but to my mind there are all sorts of companies, charities and government bodies… and all sorts of possible careers.