Whilst superior tertiary qualifications may well be somewhat incidental to the ability to do many jobs, and for many run-of-the-mill ones they are a positive hindrance ( "you are over qualified" ), they make an absolutely _huge_ difference to your chances of being able to open the door to the interview room, and thence to an interesting and well paid job in a professional situation.
I have a friend who was in a similar situation to yourself some 20 or so years ago. He flunked stage one, had a series of very boring jobs alternating with periods of recuperation while on the dole. He then realized the value of a degree, returned to 'Varsity and worked extremely hard and achieved an A and a couple of B+ results. After working for some years here in NZ, he took himself off to the real world and is now contract programming in London and earning approximately 150,000 pounds Sterling a year as a data warehouse designer in the underwriting industry. Just in case you think he's sold his soul, he tells me the work is both worthwhile and interesting. So if you possibly can, it really is worth getting professionally qualified. All that said, do leave yourself enough time and energy to do fun things too. -- Sincerely etc. Christopher Sawtell
