The risks and rewards of leaving work to return to study

After a long and relatively productive (?) summer we return once again to embark on the second year of the IMFSE course. In this brief calm before the impending storm, fully charged with lectures and study sessions galore, I’m left wondering what others might find interesting for me to write about.  Incidentally, for those of you not familiar with northern Europe, this figurative study storm is just in time to compliment the literal storm of rain that sweeps over by October which should be done sometime between January (see Italy) or June (see England).

There will be lots of people deliberating on whether or not to apply for the course. Some of you may well be in the same position I was. Internally debating, after several year working in the industry, whether or not to return to study. As you deliberate this it is easy to find just as many risks as there are rewards. I think it is only right then that I give you my take on the challenges, the considerations, the nuanced change of perspective, and of course, the aforementioned rewards.

But first, some brief context on my background. After finishing my undergraduate degree in fire safety in 2015 I moved to London where I worked as a fire engineering consultant for three years in a multi-disciplinary engineering firm. Fire engineering consultancy is a really fast paced and challenging field in my opinion but rife with opportunity to excel and progress if you choose to work hard and learn fast.

Why go back at all? A calculated risk!

It is so easy to get comfortable in a working environment. After that initial butterfly-in-stomach inducing period of first starting up in the working world it quickly makes way for a calmer, more satisfying, somewhat more self-assured journey. From feeling like you’ll be fired any day not to feeling like part of the furniture. So why then leave? Potentially chartership is your goal? Or maybe you have a sneaking suspicion that you don’t know it all? It can be hard to make that conscious decision to enter back into rockier waters although some, I’m sure, don’t mind mixing things up once in awhile!

The immediate academic challenges

Learning is a skill and a multi-faceted one at that. There is something truly exhausting about having your mind boggled by new information every day that most working environments just don’t prepare you for. I found that to be one of the immediate challenges, just knowing what to write down and what not to. When there is so much to know it can be hard sometimes to know exactly what to write down and what to leave for your subconscious to digest later. Never be afraid to ask, try to find the time to read back on notes a week or so after the dust has settled, don’t forget to take a break when you’re finding it hard to focus. Clichés I know! But tried and tested ones. 

Lifestyle, discipline and the insidious nature of study guilt

When you’ve got a 9 to 5 job one of the benefits is being able to settle into a familiar pattern that suits you. It becomes much easier to feel accomplished when you have allocated hours so that you can say, can play drums on a Tuesday and go to the gym on a Thursday (maybe you’ll actually even go this time!). There’s some security in that, and some sense of fulfilment from having everything planned out ahead of time. As you can imagine, where you move to a new country every few months that’s a more testing ask! Not only that but university life often doesn’t lend itself to routine too well. New deadlines, new lectures in new buildings, some weeks are more hectic than others. All these things will disrupt things.

As well as all of this there’s the different mindset to contend with. Often in your work life it’s important to be able to switch off when you get home and I found myself actively trying to discourage any fire engineering-based thoughts once I closed my front door. Whilst downtime is obviously still important it becomes more fluid. There is no office anymore and whilst you’ll often have more time for deadlines then those in the strict working environment there will always be a creeping sense that you could and should have done more. Don’t panic and remember that it’s a normal reaction to wider opportunities.

Don’t forget to take a break from study (even if it’s just biking between lectures!)  

A quest for knowledge shaping a critical mind

Whilst there are ups and downs I personally think the ups have it resoundingly. You’ll meet people from places you’ve never been before, in settings I for one certainly didn’t have the imaginative capacity to predict, and you will have the privilege to seek out knowledge for a purpose beyond yourself, but rather, and ultimately, to help and improve the world around you. Melodramatic? Perhaps, but worth remembering in a world that does not afford that opportunity to everyone.

Cue the cinematic backdrop before the final paragraph!

I returned to work over the last summer. I think it is a testament to the course on how it did feel more aware of my role and confident in my capacity to fulfil it.  So if, like me, you’ve had a few years out from study and stuck between staying where you are or taking up a new challenge know that the road is long but it is its length that makes it worth taking!

OFR Visit

I guess many students during their studies already start thinking about their future career opportunities. It is clear, that the working environment may differ from what you get used to at university or your expectations about future job and responsibilities may not match the reality. Therefore, one of the ways to get prepared is to attend career events and visit company offices to get an idea of what company does and how your future job will look like.

During the first semester in Edinburgh, we have visited one of the IMFSE sponsor company – OFR Consultants. Some of us traveled to their office in Manchester, while others visited Edinburgh branch.

During the visit to OFR Edinburgh office, both sides first of all introduced each other. The company presented what they do, while we presented IMFSE and what makes us special. I really enjoyed that both presentations were in a form of two-way conversation, where both sides asked questions, that led to small discussions. In the second part OFR fire consultants presented their current projects. This was very helpful, because we got an idea how our future job may look like and on what variety of projects fire engineers can work on. What I found interesting, is that projects were presented in an interactive manner, where after presenting the case we were asked for our ideas and possible solutions. At this point I realised how much we have learned during couple of months in Edinburgh, and how theory and practice match each other. At the end we had a pizza together and were able to talk in an informal environment.

Another group of people have visited OFR office in Manchester, and Antonela and Cathleen kindly agreed to share their experience:

“Since the OFR office in Manchester is larger than the Edinburgh office and is the base of their research department, we decided it would be beneficial to us to visit the Manchester office as well as the Edinburgh office. Manchester is a short¸ 3 hour train ride from Edinburgh making the adventure include sight-seeing as well as the visit! Michael Spearpoint, the research leader, took great care of us while we were there and planned an entire day of presentations and activities surrounding work at the office. We discussed masters and PhD topics and what to be aware of when choosing one. He discussed some topics we were interested in such as high rise buildings, timber construction, and the implementation of codes. His insight into both the fire safety industry and leading research led to a variety of in-depth conversations. During discussions about case studies, we were asked our opinions and proposals of solutions to various problems. This interactive approach made us feel included and gave us an idea of what it could be like to work in a company such as this”.

To sum up, through this experience we not only learned about OFR Consultants, but also got an idea of future job perspectives and developed our network. Looking forward to having other company visits in the next semesters:)

P.S. I would like to thank Laura for her initiative and organisation of these visits!