jemima (jem)SILVER Member
Pooh-Bah
1,750 posts
Location: london, United Kingdom


Posted:
I was watching a comedy quiz show called QI and I came across the word twixter.

I found out the meaning, and realised that I was one!!!

Its seems to be happening to people in their twenties after leaving college and university, being niether a teenager nor a responsible adult.


https://www.mashada.com/forums/index/show_topic/24/41072/index.php


I'm wondering whether its a good choice to stay in education for years and years after school, as its giving us to much freedom, and its too far from reality (particularly non-vocational courses).

Is there too much of a difference between education and the realities of the working world?

Should we have to get at least a couple of years work experience before even thinking about doing a degree for example?

Is it too easy to become a student these days?

Never assume
Always Acknowledge


Firetrampold hand
898 posts
Location: Binstead, Isle of Wight


Posted:
I studied untill I was 25 and then travelled the world for three years. Although I've lived in one and the same city for three years now and just had a baby, I still see myself as a Twixter.

Ask a question and be a fool for a minute...don't ask and be a fool your whole life.


Sambo_FluxGOLD Member
Introverted
833 posts
Location: Norf London, United Kingdom


Posted:
Good thread! I can totally relate, I did the whole "get GCSE's, get A-levels, go to Uni" thing, popped out at the other side with a qualification that didn't get me anywhere (Audio and Music Tech Bsc (Hons) is apparently no substitute for being a runner on peanuts for a few years). I ended up overqualified for standard jobs, and without enough experience to do what I wanted (sound for media). It seems to be pretty common these days.

I mean, take a magazine like the Audio Tech bible, "Sound on Sound". Every month, it has 6 pages of adverts for media and audio courses, and 1/4 page with job adverts. Which is usually the same advert for sales reps at an audio store in central London working for peanuts.

Quite often I wish I'd been booted into the "real" world earlier and built up some experience.

So, currently I'm working in a crappy office job with no prospects, and studying for an IT qualification in my spare time, which I hope will stand me in better stead. And I'm 27 and live with my parents. Although in my defence I was living with a girlfriend for 4 years after Uni and only just moved back in to save cash for travelling. rolleyes

Yeah, I'm pretty much a Twixter to the letter....

My Mind is a Ship
Emotions become the Waves
Soul is the Ocean

If a quizz is quizzical, what is a test?


faith enfireBRONZE Member
wandering thru the woods of WI
3,556 posts
Location: Wisconsin, USA


Posted:
i don't know if i match completely but definitely roughly fit

Faith
Nay, whatever comes one hour was sunlit and the most high gods may not make boast of any better thing than to have watched that hour as it passed


StoutBRONZE Member
Pooh-Bah
1,872 posts
Location: Canada


Posted:
You know, there's one big advantage to being a twixter....You don't have to deal with mid-life crisis when you hit your forties. It might, however be delayed until your seventies...time will tell.

BirgitBRONZE Member
had her carpal tunnel surgery already thanks v much
4,145 posts
Location: Edinburgh, Scotland (UK)


Posted:
And not only do we have the twixters... we also have the quarter-life crisis!



I think that's a bit more what I feel like, don't think I'm a twixter.

"vices are like genitals - most are ugly to behold, and yet we find that our own are dear to us."
(G.W. Dahlquist)

Owner of Dragosani's left half


-sandy-BRONZE Member
old hand
716 posts
Location: Bristol, United Kingdom


Posted:
Yea id say i was a twixer. Same situation as you sambo, ive got a degree in animation and moving image which over qualifies me for anything where you start at the bottom and work up but with no experience in my field its really hard to get a job that isn't a runner for peanuts (even they are hard to get somewhere decent) so im working in a call centre selling mobiles till i can get something decent.

That article talks about twixers not wanting resposibility or comitment, something i would say is half true for myself but i also think it is becoming incresingly difficult to get these responsibilities. There is no way i could even think about affording a car yet let alone a house.

"Don't do it naked!"


The Tea FairySILVER Member
old hand
853 posts
Location: Behind you...


Posted:
The quarter-life crisis thing is really interesting, I can definitely relate to a lot of it. I am also a Twixter, although I do seem to have got a fairly secure job (but it's not what I had in mind) and have settled down a bit as far as the hardcore partying goes, though I definitely miss being at college/uni!

Sambo, I'm in exactly the same boat. I studied BSc Social Anthropology because when I was 17 I wanted to go and work in developing countries and do something really worthwhile, like being in charge of rebuilding after tsunamis or co-ordinating food aid projects etc. and generally saving the world (I was a little naive in retrospect).

Social Anth was fantastic, really interesting, insightful course that really taught me a lot about myself and the world around me. However, it didn't lead to me being eligible for co-ordinating said projects, as it was not so easy getting into this work in a paid capacity as I thought it would be when I was 17! Also, the anthropology degree really threw this whole line of work and my motivations into question.

Whenever I've gone to job interviews since leaving uni I always get them asking 'Ooh, social anthropology sounds really interesting... what is it?'

I generally feel a bit lost and not going anywhere exciting very fast at the moment. I didn't really want the job I've been in for the last 4 months, but I haven't really got good enough reason to leave as the people/hours are nice and the money is pretty good. But I never really wanted to be an administrator...

Oh, sorry, that was a rant!

Idolized by Aurinoko

Take me disappearing through the smoke rings of my mind....

Bob Dylan


Sambo_FluxGOLD Member
Introverted
833 posts
Location: Norf London, United Kingdom


Posted:
 Written by: The Tea Fairy


But I never really wanted to be an administrator.



ubblol Damn, I hear ya on that one. I've worked in a postroom for the last 3 years. I'm trained in mathmatical signal analysis, digital and analogue electronics and logic, audio mixing and engineering and acoustics, and I open envelopes and work out who they're for for a living. Joke.

But like the Murphy's, I'm not bitter.... I'm happy with myself, I LOVE doing poi and writing music, and if I plug away enough I'll get somewhere sooner or later. Anyway, I want to go travelling soon, so hopefully that will kick my backside out of this rut I'm in! If I ever get round to being able to afford it that is.

My Mind is a Ship
Emotions become the Waves
Soul is the Ocean

If a quizz is quizzical, what is a test?


wonderloeyenthusiast
255 posts
Location: Melbourne - home of pirates


Posted:
I don't think the twixter phenomenon has anything to do with study in particular...

One of my best friends is a prime example of the twixter philosophy, and she dropped out of school at 16. Hell, my aunt finished uni 30 years ago and had a reality check as she realised that what she was qualified in wasn't going to get her work...

Lets face it - the social landscape of our forbears has changed. We've seen that material wealth, although it has its advantages, doesn't necessarily bring happiness. With divorce rates and property prices skyrocketing, why would we want to buy into the rat race?

"You've gone from Loey the Wonder Lesbian to everyone wondering if you are a lesbian." - Shadowman

Yesterday is yesterday. If we try to recapture it, we will only lose tomorrow.


MynciBRONZE Member
Macaque of all trades
8,738 posts
Location: wombling free..., United Kingdom


Posted:
ubblol I finished uni 7-8 years agoand have been working since and I still act like a 12 year old I bought a flat (am now selling it because it's just not me)
I love being a kid I CAN be responsible by hell why should we try and settle down into a routine when the world has opened up before us and there are things and people to see and do that can last a lifetime.

A couple of balls short of a full cascade... or maybe a few cards short of a deck... we'll see how this all fans out.



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