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Originally Posted by Unregistered

The sad fact in life is that if your background is not rich.. most likely you'll have to suffer alot by working and studying part-time until you get your degree.. Nobody can help you except yourself... If you fear hardship, then you will forever remain just a diploma holder drawing the shitty 1.7k.. Increment probably less than $100 a year.. Can never beat inflation... You'll die poor...

My situation was similar to yours... my family couldn't pay for my tertiary education... I was stuck working in a 3 shift rotation job because i just had a diploma but also wanted to earn more from the allowances... My starting salary was also 1.7k like yours (excluding shift allowances).. For your info, that was like 10 years ago.. funny but it seems like the starting salary for diploma holders hasn't improved much these 10 years... ha, ha.. Anyway, i wanted so much to also have the chance to be come a graduate... Also thought of pursuing a degree while working.. but i knew that i would surely miss most of my lessons due to my erratic work schedule... Even if i could attend lessons, i would likely be dead tired because the off days would be my sleeping day after a night shift or i would have to leave lessons early to go night shift again.. i would probably fail the course under these circumstances... The only way out is to switch to a normal 8-5 job... But it was so hard because diploma working experience is not very marketable frankly.. Everytime you try and job hop, HR is always trying to reset your salary stating that your experience is not "professional" experience.... If you're lucky, they will just match your last drawn.. Dun even dream of getting any decent salary jump... Well, i got lucky and found a office hour job.. The only catch was that i had to take a 30% pay cut which i did.. My friends and family though i was crazy... But i had to block out all these negative voices and focused on what i wanted to achieve... My savings from my 7 years working in the shift job allowed me to pay for my degree education without much problem.. though i earned peanuts during that few years, i enjoyed regular hours and that help me to do quite well in my studies.. I managed to graduate with honors and got a new job and am now drawing about 60k annually.. It's not much for a start, but an least from this point onwards with a degree, things should get better... Hope my sharing can also motivate you to persevere and look for the right opportunity... to create the perfect circumstances for you to achieve your goal.. There will be times when you feel like giving up during your pursuit.... You might also meet some people who wants to see you give up for fear that you will succeed and surpass them.. Well, you should always try your very best to disappoint these people.. I wish you the very best and hope that you find a way.. Just remember if you don't take the first step, things will never change for the better.. Complaining about why life is not fair will not improve anything.. might even lead to depression which is even more counter-productive.. Just remember after you have started, there is no turning back until you have reach the finishing line... Good luck.. Hope you make it...

Hi,

Sorry for the late reply.

Right now i am trying to get office hour job so that i can take up studies. I think I will be in the same situation as you....