Is it okay to graduate without an honour?

Definitely not worthless..

I graduated without honours from NTU in 2010. Started off with about $3100, now getting about $4800 gross salary. It's not high salary for sure, but it's okay for me.

Some government agencies will still take you in. Otherwise, you can try gain some relevant experience first.

Grad with 2nd lower NTU with NS in 2007, in Local GLC.
2007 Start – 3000
2015 Now – 4100 only (with 1 promotion)

it seem that civil service or stat board is better

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Definitely not worthless..

I graduated without honours from NTU in 2010. Started off with about $3100, now getting about $4800 gross salary. It's not high salary for sure, but it's okay for me.

Some government agencies will still take you in. Otherwise, you can try gain some relevant experience first.

Graduated from NTU in 2009 without honours. Private sector engineering.

Join the workforce in Dec 2009 with $2,350 gross salary (annual around $32,000/yr)
Currently with $5,400 gross salary (annual around $95,000/yr)

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Graduated from NTU in 2009 without honours. Private sector engineering.

Join the workforce in Dec 2009 with $2,350 gross salary (annual around $32,000/yr)
Currently with $5,400 gross salary (annual around $95,000/yr)

Wow your increment and bonus is high

[zero_88]

Originally Posted by Unregistered

If you're looking for a job in the public sector then its not fine. Else, it will be ok. I assume you're those bordering on 2nd lower and 3rd should you decide to pursue honours? If that is the case, and you want to work in private, then there's no need to go for honours. Better to graduate w/o honours with a "better" degree than to graduate with a low honours.

Having said that, should your major be specialized like Sciences, it will still be important to have honours if you intend to work in related fields, even in private. The competition is stiff out there.

I major in Computer Science

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Wow your increment and bonus is high

Yah. Was lucky in 2 job change with significant pay increment.
But it will be very tough for me to get into public sector.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Yah. Was lucky in 2 job change with significant pay increment.
But it will be very tough for me to get into public sector.

still possible with your years of experience. but would have to take a pay cut for sure.

Originally Posted by Unregistered

still possible with your years of experience. but would have to take a pay cut for sure.

Will I be penalised for no honours?

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Will I be penalised for no honours?

bear in mind that its all about meritocracy. i wouldnt say penalise but gotta be realistic in your expectations. if you did read enough, some people on this forum stated they had to take a 1K pay cut when they switched from pte to public.

but i suggest you think carefully abt joining public sector as the skills arent that transferrable to pte sector if you ever decide to leave public for the pte sector in future.

[Joshua]

Hi there,

To be honest honours or not, it does not matter to me. Although yes, results defines your attitude towards work but it does not evaluate your character and work experience.

What you have to do to market yourself valuable is to have the experience in what employers are looking for. Like for example, specializing in something and be damn good at it. You can do it as a professional freelancer on sites like odesk or butlerfactory.com.

For me, I became a freelancer because I didnt know what to do. So i tried out other platforms. Only thing I dont like is that they start charging the freelancers, so I decided to move to butlerfactory.com where it is free for use for all freelancers.


I am not sure if freelancing will be able to help you increase your marketability but it worked for me.

Cheers