• Question: what qualifications did you need for your job and whats the best part of it?

    Asked by anon-204423 to Sally, Lucy, Louise, James, David, Dan on 2 Mar 2019.
    • Photo: Sally Tilt

      Sally Tilt answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      A Forensic Psychologist needs a BA or BSc in Psychology, and then an MSc (or a higher level qualification). They also need to work alongside a registered psychologist who will support them while they are learning for at least 2 years.

      The best part of my job is when I hear from people that I worked with, who spent many years in prison, and who at points probably thought that they would never leave, who are now living ‘normal’ lives, with a job and friends supporting them, outside prison.

    • Photo: Dan Taylor

      Dan Taylor answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      For a research position I first needed to get my BSc (undergraduate degree) in psychology, I did my undergraduate degree at the University of sunderland. Having the degree accredited by the British Psychological Society is really important. From there I went on to do a masters degree – I stayed at Sunderland for this. As I wanted a career in research I made sure my masters was research methods based (looking at things like stats and interviewing techniques). Finally, getting a PhD is key to working in a research. I’m in the first year of my PhD so hopefully at the end I can begin a formal research career.
      I should note that if you want to do something like clinical or forensic, there is a slightly different pathway, but for most jobs in psychology you need an accredited undergraduate degree.

    • Photo: Lucy Maddox

      Lucy Maddox answered on 2 Mar 2019:

      To be a clinical psychologist you need to do a doctorate in clinical psychology (a D Clin Psy). Before this you also need to have done an undergraduate degree, and often people do a Masters degree in between. It’s also good to have some experience of working either in research or in mental health settings.

      It means a lot of studying, but the D Clin Psy is quite practical too – you work in six different placements while you do it so you get to try out lots of different workplaces and work out what you like.

      The best part for me is the variety – I can do a lot of different things as part of it.

    • Photo: David Chadwick

      David Chadwick answered on 4 Mar 2019:

      When I got my first job (back in 1978), there were very few people who had computer science qualifications, so most programmers were either physicists, chemists or mathematicians. I was a chemist.

      Now of course it is a bit different, as there are lots of computer science graduates. Although there is still a great shortage of good computer scientists, and I do not see this shortage ending any time soon, as the number of computer programs that need to be written is continually growing and outstripping the supply of programmers. I still have great difficultly employing computer science researchers to come and work with me, as do all of my colleagues. Most of the researchers I employ come from overseas (China, India, Vietnam, Syria, Iran etc.). So if you are looking for an excellent career, then I cannot recommend computing too highly.

      What’s the best part of my job? Solving complex problems. If you like solving problems then I am sure will enjoy computing for a career.

    • Photo: James Munro

      James Munro answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      The best part of the psychology technician job is the variety. I’m never bored.

      The qualifications to get in aren’t that high, actually. To be a technician you need a decent undergraduate in psychology – but It also helped a lot that I was very computery as a person.

      That said, my career has moved between research and teaching posts that required a PhD in psychology or something similar. I wouldn’t be allowed to supervise students if I wasn’t more highly educated than required for the job.

      Most psychology undergraduate degrees require decent grades in English and sometimes biology. Computing and maths will help, trust me!

    • Photo: Louise Rodgers

      Louise Rodgers answered on 10 Mar 2019:

      This is such a good resource to find out all about educational psychology https://careers.bps.org.uk/area/educational/how-do-i-become-one

      and the different psychology areas you can work in in the UK
      https://careers.bps.org.uk/yourstatus

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