Firstly (from the title) it makes no difference if your male / female in the industry, you're clearly passionate and that's all that matters! If anyone suggests otherwise, they're honestly not worth your expertise.
Congratulations on your degree too by the way! That's an incredible achievement and you should be proud regardless of your future career choices, don't regret it. I've also considered starting a degree but I'm not sure it's worth the money? Or which degree is best to take? Or if I'll actually learn anything worthwhile? You'd be the best to answer those questions, I'd appreciate your help.
As previous comments suggested, it would seem a waste to become an average-electrician considering your qualifications; however, I truly believe you should chase your dreams and find a career that you're happy in, regardless of what that is.
With that said, if you're certain that you want to work as an average-electrician, I would suggest you look at the commercial / industrial sectors. It's common for projects in these sectors to use a different electrical contractor employed to inspect & test the work, ensuring that everything is done properly and conforms to regulations.
Conversely, the domestic sector is full of unqualified & generally naive individuals, who often create more problems than they solve. Having said that, there's also a small-number of fantastic domestic-electricians who are very knowledgeable and do great work, but these people are usually frustrated by the incompetency of others in the trade.
It depends what you go to uni for, what uni you go to and what you are hoping to achieve from it. The highest ranked unis are not always the best. Look at what the uni can offer you and what connections they have, not just the degree itself. E.g. to work in fashion I did't really have to go to uni as there are other quicker and cheaper ways of getting there e.g. a course at the Fashion Retail Academy or going to the Conde Nast College.
Well I would say do a degree if you need to or want to or have the luxury of wanting to learn something new. I can't say I'm not you. I have met plenty of people without degrees who are brand managers or have gotten onto the fashion career ladder without a degree, just internships or those school leavers who just do apprenticeships. My friend who is older, her partner is the Director of Foxtons and he doesn't have a degree just a BTech. I went to her house in Essex it was worth 2 mill and her neighbours where doctors and footballers.
I don't know sometimes I wish I hadn't gone but I don't regret it, glad I got it in the end. The degree can open other doors in the future. However, a degree doesn't equal success! My dad didn't have the opportunity to go to school but has done well for himself but has always pushed me to become 'educated'. The other day I was speaking to him and I asked him why he didn't push me to learn a trade? My dad left school with a City and Guilds and even if I do become 'educated' with some higher postgraduate degree, I will never make as much money as he did. My dad always told me people in other academic professions looked down at him e.g. his accountant or didn't think he have the amount of money he had because he wasn't educated. As a result, he always wanted us to be educated.
Well if you are an electrician and you are making good money, or you have the expertise to start up your own company I would try to do just that. Personally, I don't want to sit in an office for the next x years on some stupid database I don't care about, next to a boss breathing down my neck, if I had a skill and can sucessfully sell it. I had an electrician come into the house to fix the boiler. He did a 20 min job and charged ÂŁ200. If I had that skill, why wouldn't I want to do that? Well maybe the job isn't steady who knows? Because I certainly don't. Also growing up my dads friends were builders and electricians and they were well off. The electrician and builder had their own companies and the electrican has recently gifted his son 250k towards his first home.
Plus I've had friends who completed law school who are just working 'normal jobs' because they don't want to achieve the higher legal qualification so e.g. admin assistants although some of them are training to become lawyers. But even here people also struggle with finding placements. Even then, I don't know how great their salary will actually be because now so many people want to become lawyers and some unis let you get in with ---- grades. I have actually looked at grad school but if I go now I am just rushing into things for the sake of it which I'm not doing. My dad thinks I'm going off to grad school but I'm not going anymore. I told him I was going to do the conversion in Psychology [9k]. Even after that I have to spend more money doing another masters in the particular area of psychology I want to go into, another 9k+. [Oh yea and don't forget the Phd lol] --> wasn't going to do this.
Plus everyone will be shocked to hear that I'll be attending to learn a trade soon. Mum was okay with this when I mentioned it to her. Friends and uni tutors will be shocked and think I'm an idiot. Similar to what others here have told me here: if you are an electrician and want to become and engineer ask your company or ask a company for some exp first. It may be that an office environment doesn't suit you and your more hands on. My dad always said if he had an education he would be an engineer but later admitted he wasn't made for the office life. My parents thought it was somewhat amazing to go sit in some ---- office because they had never achieved it. Half of the people there don't even know what they are doing with themselves. I have temped at WHSmiths head office as an Merchandising Admin Assistant for a few weeks temp work, worked at M&S Head Office for a few weeks temp doing data entry. During the summer they asked me if I wanted to work in their children's clothing team which I was like hell no to. Just people dress up a suit and tie/formal clothes doesn't mean they are better than people who have learnt a trade or are making better money than you. [Also quit a unpaid wholesale internship in 3 days due to various reasons].
It annoys me how some people here think I'm stupid or somewhat silly for wanting to learn a trade. But I have time with my life and can afford to do it as I know I don't want to get married or have kids, so I am going to make as many mistakes as I possibly can. Plus life's all about learning new skills and doing new things.
Do you want to hear a real story and I am not making this up. When I was interning at this luxury PR agency in Central London, It was based near Oxford Circus, situated near that street with designer shops e.g. Burberry and Ralph Lauren. Can't remember what the street is called but it is famous. I had to go to Hemel Hempstead to deliver these bags of luxury clothes worth thousands of pounds to a house where a photoshoot was taking place on the tube. Plus when you intern in fashion you are the office bitch and do all the shitty work no on else wants to do without any pay for months and still aren't offered a job. Fashion internships are run of free labour of rich kids. My arms where aching but I managed to find the house to deliver the clothes to. Once I got there I had to wait for the stylist to arrive to make sure he had himself actually physically received the clothes. Oh yea I also realised that the photoshoot that was taking place was for Vogue which was kinda cool. As I sat there I heard the many people working to make this glamorous shoot happen all discuss how they wished they had never become what they were today e.g. fashion photographers and instead went to learn a trade in construction. Back then I never understood it but I do know now.
Anyway whats the worst that can happen if I do these City and Guilds courses? It's cheaper in relation to grad school. I get to learn a hands on skill and who knows maybe I will go back to grad school to learn MA Spatial Design in the future. The MA want people who have gone out and worked anyway. It sure does look interesting. Out of all the unis I went to I'm glad I went to UAL, taught me to think and see things differently in creative ways and how to start up my own business e.g. learnt marketing, branding, design etc. and how to do it successfully. Just because you are an electrician doesn't mean you are some idiot doing a 'normal' job. If this idiot has the potential to start their own business selling their skills and has the potential to be their own boss, I'll be that idiot. Why can't the electrician with years of experience go to uni. You guys can actually use your skills in creative ways and create something innovative.
This all happened because I was pushing my brother into becoming a plumber since he didn't to go to university. Then I thought why the hell am I pushing my brother who won't listen into this when I can do this myself? I never in a million years imagined I would go to learn a trade.
Btw I don't know you or have your life, so I can't tell you if you should go to uni or not but why not give it a shot? Whats the worst that can happen, you decide its not for you? At least you gave it a shot.
or maybe I am just way too optimistic. If so, let me be.
