This rings true for me, but from the opposite perspective. I sat on the education conveyor belt and left university with the expected degree and respectable qualifications, but now that I’m at the end of a dead-end career and would like something to fall back on, my degree isn’t worth the paper it’s written on. At the end of the day you only have your skills, experience, and will to carry on.

Higher education taught me very little of use – my skills are almost entirely self-taught, and most of that was by the time I’d done my GCSEs. It may be cliched, but you only get one life and you have to live it how you want, not how society expects. It’s a shame that by the time most of us realise that, it’s too late to do anything about it.