Open University

[ZedLeg]

Anyone got a qualification through them?

I’ve decided to make an effort to get into more fulfilling work and I’m looking at a degree course in environmental science. Now that I’m at the point of paying I’m having doubts about the concept

Just curious if anyone had any experience?

[DeskJockey]

Not tried them, but from experience studying while working full-time is hard. Doesn't help with the specific provider, more a general observation.

[ZedLeg]

Yeah, I’ve accepted that. My partner can’t work so losing my salary to go back to school would be too big a hit.

[dinny_g]

Sadly, Environmental Science is a growth industry so a smart choice if you're going to re-train.

Can't offer anything else other than to wish you good luck - I'm sure it won't be easy but it will be worth it in the end.

[Rich B]

Do you know the specific role you want to do?

[duncs500]

Not tried them, but from experience studying while working full-time is hard. Doesn't help with the specific provider, more a general observation.

I dunno, I did a PT masters and I didn't think it was that bad. Different story if you've got kids mind you!

[ZedLeg]

Do you know the specific role you want to do?

No, I'm interested in environmental science and would like to do something more in line with my own views on the environment and sustainability but nothing specific.

[ZedLeg]

Not tried them, but from experience studying while working full-time is hard. Doesn't help with the specific provider, more a general observation.

I dunno, I did a PT masters and I didn't think it was that bad. Different story if you've got kids mind you!

My main concern is my lack of focus tbh, I never did well academically as a kid because I found it all boring. I'm hoping I've learned to be a bit more focussed over the years

[Rich B]

Do you know the specific role you want to do?

No, I'm interested in environmental science and would like to do something more in line with my own views on the environment and sustainability but nothing specific.

If I was in your position, I'd be looking to see what qualifications were actually needed for specific roles - there's so many schemes, certifications, initiatives around these days that might be a faster way in?

It might lead back to the same answer, but it's one hell of a commitment to start a degree with the intention of changing your career path, without knowing if there is a career path from it?

[Carlos]

Have you looked at apprenticeships?

ETA- I asked that for the same reason as Rich. You need an end goal other than just letters after your name.

Everyone I know who has done further education as an adult was doing it for a specific role or promotion.

[Gavster]

I did a part time masters while working part time and it was a really nice balance. Still managed to do other stuff and exercise etc. Full time work and part time masters is a lot but manageable for sure, I think enabling workers to also study at the same time is the reason that part time courses are available.

What I will offer from genuine experience is that sustainability is a very over subscribed and underpaid career path. There are two paths in sustainability, either campaigning and researching what a better future looks like, or making products and services. Lots of people with MScs and PhDs want to campaign to make the world a better place and are all chasing after fairly low to mid level jobs in civil service, NGOs, charities etc. There’s a lot of competition for a handful of jobs.

If you are intrinsically motivated by your own values then that’s fine. Lots of people are very happy with that, or even starting up small local initiatives etc.

On the other hand, if you have aspirations to earn more than 35k a year then definitely consider how your study will get you into industry and creating products and services. E.g. in food the difference would be working for a charity to campaign for sustainability vs trying to get a job at Nestle that works on sustainability. The salaries will be on fundamentally different scales for similar work.

It’s a growing area, but there’s also a LOT of people trying to get into it, while at the same time, consumers do not prioritise sustainability, so there’s relatively little funding floating around.

[Swervin_Mervin]

I'd disagree that you need an end goal, beyond wanting to simply further your education in a particular topic area, although it obviously depends what you want to get out of it. It may well be that doing a degree in the topic furthers your knowledge to enough of an extent that it gives you a better idea of what specific area of interest you may then wish to pursue further either through more education or through employment.

i.e. you may not know what you don't know, or what you want to know.

[ZedLeg]

TL/DR what Swerve said.

I'd definitely be aiming more towards the hypothetical charity than working for Nestle, that would be worse than where I am

Where I'm at is that it feels hypocritical for me to go on about improving our environment while working in an industry that's quite damaging. I used to be able to justify it by saying I need to pay my bills but the reasoning is becoming less convincing. I'm not aiming for a particular job, I just want to open up a new avenue for myself.

[Rich B]

I'm not much of a fan of academia without an idea of the end result (probably because I did my degree straight out of school and didn't really make much use of the specific qualification) especially with the cost of degrees these days. I get that this is my specific hang up though!

[Pete_]

What I will offer from genuine experience is that sustainability is a very over subscribed and underpaid career path. There are two paths in sustainability, either campaigning and researching what a better future looks like, or making products and services. Lots of people with MScs and PhDs want to campaign to make the world a better place and are all chasing after fairly low to mid level jobs in civil service, NGOs, charities etc. There’s a lot of competition for a handful of jobs.

If you are intrinsically motivated by your own values then that’s fine. Lots of people are very happy with that, or even starting up small local initiatives etc.

On the other hand, if you have aspirations to earn more than 35k a year then definitely consider how your study will get you into industry and creating products and services. E.g. in food the difference would be working for a charity to campaign for sustainability vs trying to get a job at Nestle that works on sustainability. The salaries will be on fundamentally different scales for similar work.

It’s a growing area, but there’s also a LOT of people trying to get into it, while at the same time, consumers do not prioritise sustainability, so there’s relatively little funding floating around.

I think the other thing is corporate sustainability - businesses have huge amounts of sustainability reporting to do for investors, mainly on carbon accounting but increasingly on nature impact also. I think nature impact is a big growth area (look up the TNFD disclosures) and I'm seeing a lot of jobs being advertised at investors and big businesses paying £80k+ for nature impact people.

I think Rich and others who said think about what job you want to do and what's needed for that are right. Environmental Science can be such a vague course covering a huge amount of different things - the 'environment' is literally the whole of the natural and man-made world! I studied Environmental Management at undergrad and it gave me a sense of the type of work I want to do but not the skills I needed to actually do a technical job. I'm one of the poorly paid 'campaigner' types that Gav mentioned, albeit in a business focused NGO. And there are a lot of people getting into the industry, we advertised an entry level role paid £22k a couple of days ago and have already had about 15 applicants. Tbf a lot of my former colleagues with the same sort of background and circa 10 years experience in the NGO world have gone into more technical consultancy or businessey in-house roles and are making £60k+. I think I'd have a huge amount of imposture syndrome making that sort of move but I'm doing a few short courses and more technical reading to build up my confidence.

The other thing I'd ask is what your current role / skillset is and if there's a way to put a sustainability lens on that so that you keep the value of the skills you already have.

Edit: just seen your recent reply that you don't want to work for Nestle so maybe the corporate jobs aren't for you at all! Which is very fair!

[ZedLeg]

I'm currently a shipping manager for an ecomm company. I try and push sustainability as much as possible but ultimately I'm responsible for shipping out 1000s of parcels a week all over the world.

Part of what's given me the push is seeing how lightweight a lot of what companies push as sustainability initiatives are.

[Jobbo]

My stepfather started a directory of distance learning back in the 1980s (before the internet) and it was only as he was kept busy updating it that I realised the Open University isn't the only way to get a degree remotely. So do check out alternatives; his directory probably hasn't been updated for the best part of 25 years but there's bound to be some useful info online.

Regarding sustainability, I sit on the the local area board of Stafford Chamber of Commerce and there is a lovely lady who runs her own business doing this. There have been quite a few people involved or specialising in it who I've met (briefly in most cases) over the last 3-4 years. I don't know the figures behind this lady's business but I think she does it because she believes in it rather than because it makes any money. My feeling is that it could be a noble cause but it probably won't buy you a house. And it's not as if it's an unsubscribed area based on the number of people I've met involved in it. I wouldn't say that's necessarily a reason to avoid it, but if you're going to load yourself up with studying while working, I'd have thought the goal should be to make yourself more financially valuable as well.

ETA: just read your last post above - I think companies are paying lip service to it because it's expensive to do right. Which means there's less money to pay the advisors.

[Pete_]

I'm currently a shipping manager for an ecomm company. I try and push sustainability as much as possible but ultimately I'm responsible for shipping out 1000s of parcels a week all over the world.

Part of what's given me the push is seeing how lightweight a lot of what companies push as sustainability initiatives are.

Sounds like that would lend well to something on sustainable supply chains if that was a direction you were interested in going into.

[ZedLeg]

I have been looking at more sustainable companies within my industry. There's a lot of interesting work happening in Spain and Portugal around sustainable garment manufacture but they're all small (most ecomm companies are much smaller than you expect) so there's not a lot of opportunity to get in.

[duncs500]

Not tried them, but from experience studying while working full-time is hard. Doesn't help with the specific provider, more a general observation.

I dunno, I did a PT masters and I didn't think it was that bad. Different story if you've got kids mind you!

My main concern is my lack of focus tbh, I never did well academically as a kid because I found it all boring. I'm hoping I've learned to be a bit more focussed over the years

TBF I did do a masters in my field, so I did find it all fairly straightforward. I did find it much easier to study as an adult too though, there's far less distractions! If you're interested in the subject that will definitely help with focus and motivation too.

As for work, I used to be very focused on earning potential, but sometimes I wonder if you're passionate and motivated, I'd say anything is possible. Lots of things you can start up in your spare time and then commit to when the opportunity arises.

Conversely surely if you work and have experience in an industry that's poor on sustainability, staying in it in some capacity is your best chance to make a big difference?

FWIW I've got a friend who is some sort of sustainability manager (I dunno her job title) for a big development company and I think she does pretty well out of it (she has been doing it for a quite a while now admittedly).