Only the beard
Usual aul guff, not a problem until she has to actually do it.
The future is in the trades. Bring Mattie and Bucko for a few pints and talk it over. Mattie seeems sound, he’ll know and alert Bucko to the score. If it’s for him then fine and dandy and if not - no harm done.
He could always become an accountant and spend his days riffing away on TFK - plenty lads doing it.
I’d say accounts have about a decade left before they are completely replaced by AI. I mean why pay a human not to audit a company when a robot could not audit it for much cheaper
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And a result in 54 minutes while (insert name) mulls over it for 77 days. Jokers.
Great advice
Good advice
My 2 cent on what the young bick should look at is a technical trade industrial robotics, PLC coding or be a sparkey. Massive demand for these an big money. All good in the long term. If going the college route something he will enjoy firstly, secondly nothing bullshit like arts etc. Software development or any engineering course will be difficult but job prospects are out there. Its difficult to make those decisions at that age but anything like yourself will turn out an alroght sort
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I like my job because they pay me loads of money, I actually hate it
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How could you give career advice to somebody you don’t know from Adam?
I absolutely love my job, I probably would continue to do it if I won the lotto, maybe I’d set up my own business like a running shop and run it at a loss though 
But teaching isn’t for everybody, certainly not in my field,
Genuinely rewarding though and great for family life
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If you like your job, youll never do a days work. Ive been on the doss for years
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This.
I made very sensible decisions in choosing my career (IT). Did the right thing at the right time, (numbers were very low in computers when I went to college). Was able to genuinely “lifestyle choice” instead of emigrate. Will never be out of work - or so people tell me. But if I went back to that age now I would absolutely throw caution to the wind. You only live once.
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If I had my time again I would just piss off once I had my leaving done and work my way around the world for a few years. Come back in time to do something in my twenties with a bit of perspective.
I hated what I studied in college by year three but I was too far in to stop. A waste of time, I’d have been better off picking fruit in Australia or serving beer in a bar in Argentina etc for those years
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I’m probably not a typical case but I’ll also throw in my perspective on things.
I’ve been pretty fortunate to land in a “good IT job” straight out of college.
But in some ways it’s no coincidence that happened. I grew up in a house that always had some kind of computer. And I was naturally curious about how they worked. I knew I wanted to do something computer related in college before I even had the Junior Cert done.
I’m a lot slower to refer to all kids as tech savvy. Yes, they’ve grown up with tech and are far better than their parents but essentially anyone born in the 60s or 70s is almost certainly tech illiterate, which is a very low bar for comparison. The vast majority of kids are good users of tech but would be utterly lost if they worked in the more advanced areas of IT. Eg Software Engineering. (or a Computer Science course in college)
My question would be what is he naturally good at?
I was naturally good at maths/accounting/economics/science. (My father was a maths teacher. It is what it is. I’ve 4 siblings. 2 teachers, 2 accountants 
)
I found maths related subjects to be much less work and more enjoyable than eg languages/history/geography.
If he’s good at maths that opens a lot of doors to a huge number of industries. I’m having similar conversations with my niece. She’s good at maths but she doesn’t have confidence with herself in it and the teacher is trying to push people into pass. It’s only Junior Cert level but if she does pass for JC she does pass for LC and that closes her off to lots of things.
The correct answer is to let him off and see what happens. Give advice certainly, especially around accentuating what he’s good at. But I’m one end of the scale in knowing what I wanted to do from a young age, we all know lads who hadn’t a notion until their mid 20s and found their way. An old friend of mine left school at 16, recently went back to college, flew through it and is working doing 3D models for architects. Never in a million years would I have picked that.
I’d also echo the thing about trades. I see these reports in papers each year ranking schools by what percentage of students go to college as if 100% is the legitimate target. Trades are a little bit forgotten about and a good tradesman is invaluable.
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I did Electronic Engineering in college and work in Automation now. The courses have a high drop out rate alright but there’s plenty jobs out there if you come out of it.
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Great post
Luckily you had a plan
I drifted
Left apprenticeship in fabrication/ welding
Wanted carpentry no joy /Army- deserted/ moved north
Labouring
Handyman
Full time GAA coach
Bouncing etc
Forced into an inner city decorating job government backed scheme
Foreman painter
Open university- management course
Environmental science/ St. John’s
Basically a fuckin disaster for most of my life
Married too young
Too many kids
Worlds biggest drifter
Really only knuckled down responsibility wise since my youngest came into my life
When I mean disaster I mean disaster
Caused both wives major hassle
RUC - army/ Gardai- houses and stop searches throughout 1 long marriage
One short marriage
Various arrests- all political
A shit show of a life until my little man and God came into my lunatic of a life
If I could go again
Id become a chippy
Save while travelling
Never marry
Never drink
Choose friends widely and wiser
Get in it with no political movement
Appreciate what my mam and dad gave us
Be kinder
And never raise my fists boots or teeth to anyone
Id loads of opportunities in life that I didn’t take
Great women I used for pleasure not for life
Too busy working too hard when my Derry kids were young
2 jobs - no quality home time
Fucking around etc
Sorry for meandering but that’s only a snippet of what went on before I copped on
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I would much prefer to have lived that working life than be a ‘successful’ fella who got 480 points went to st pats to do primary school teaching, got a job in the local primary school after two years working in Dublin and is now the principal.
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Not the worst reason. If you think he’s able for it and will like it then great (bearing in mind this is the same fellow who wore only the one pair of underpants when he was away for a week). Same with whatever course he does. He sounds like he’ll be alright as long as he’s doing something he likes.
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After a slight wobble a few years back, he seems to like everything. It’s like having a good humour bulb in the house.
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You have to let young people find their own way, it’s part of life and growing up. Parents should by all means advise and support but there is a very fine line between this and directing. The former will be very much appreciated in time, not so much the latter.
We may not always like the choices, career or otherwise, that our kids make, but it’s their choice. Some choices will turn out well, others not so much so but such is the road that is life.
The first step for any young person in school is career guidance. If not satisfied with this, go private. @flattythehurdler , If you need the names of one or two well regarded experts in this field, PM me and I will give you contact details.
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