Did anyone make a change of career relatively late on?

[bearman68]

Used to manage a £100m glass melting furnace. Now I'm a mechanic running my own garage. Been doing this for 2 years now, and love every day. Would hate to work for anyone now, love the freedom and autonomy. Love talking to customers, and helping them out. I pay for my own training, as I see fit,and generaly have a lovely time.
I did 25 years making glass, travelled all over the world, and was paid well for it. Being a mechanic is physically hard, stressful and worrying becuase you don't want to make a mistake, but so much better.
I made this change at 44, with 2 kids, a wife and all the other responsibilities that come with advancing age, and I'm so glad I did

[oldbanger]

I changed at 31 from research science/academia (hardly paid at all - picked the wrong field to get into and then wasn't driven enough to get my foot in the door properly) to running a retail business and then changed again at 33 into data analysis. The middle bit was always going to be a "break" but I'd originally intended 5 years. The only thing is that I didn't lose money by changing as I was earning little to begin with.

I love what I do now so am not intending to make a wholesale change again, but as to whether I'll move sideways further down the line I don't know. I'm very interested in the programming side of data science but would probably need to go away and get further education.

[Ray Luxury-Yacht]

vinnie83 said:

Ray Luxury-Yacht said:

Last September then, I started doing an 'Access to Medicine' course at my local 6th form college - it's like A levels for adults. I'm nearly done now, just got exams next month.

Hi Ray, which college did you do the course at?

I start access to medicine at City and Islington in September. How did you find it at this age? Did you have any science knowledge already?

I have no science knowledge since GCSE's and am slightly concerned about the workload whilst running my business alongside.

Congratulations by the way, a brave move and good luck with your studies.

Ooh, bizarre - I replied to your post before I saw this one!

Am doing mine at Peter Symonds 6th form college in Winchester. Despite being 40, and was obviously full of worry about how I would cope with full-time education, I was delighted to find out that I took to it like a duck to water!

I am pretty technically-minded anyway, and I have always had an interest in science and technical stuff - I watch nothing but documentaries on TV really, boh engineering ones and medical ones which I find fascinating...so combined with the general knowledge and I guess 'maturity' of my age (although that could be argued ) meant that I was pleased to discover that I have found the course much easier and more fulfilling than I reckon a good deal of the 20-somethings I share the classes with.

It's been nice that a lot of my classmates see me as some kind of college guru, and call me teacher's pet and I help them with things they struggle with. I think you'll find that if you're switched on (which you must be running your own business) that you age and experience and ability to understand things will be an advantage, as I have.

The college encourage a lot of shared ideas and team work between students, and we have been tasked with quite a few assignments in groups of maybe 3 or 4. This CAN be a pain if people in your group are lazy and thick but fortunately everyone I've worked with so far has been ok. You should find that doing an access course is different from A level students, because everyone on the course has willingly and consciously basically booked themselves onto it, with an attitude of wanting to do well.

Me and another student set up a closed Facebook page early on in the course, and got the college to email and invite everyone onto it. We ended up with about 80 students on the page, and it has been a great resource for sharing ideas, work and useful links. I STRONGLY suggest that you do the same - it really has been a huge help, and the college tutors were delighted to see that resource that we had set up for ourselves. In fact some of the tutors are members of the page, and post and engage with us outside of class.

So I think you'll be fine mate. Yes, I would agree that doing this alongside running a business will be tough - so you will definitely need to be disciplined with scheduling your college work and deadlines. At my place, if you miss a deadline, however good your submitted assignment is, you can then only get a 'pass' grade. So for me, needing distinctions, missing a deadline would basically chuck the whole year down the pan.

Check with your Uni about the entry requirements for access students.

I'm lucky that one of the main reasons for doing the course was unemployment - so apart from my British Red Cross voluntary work (which was also a Uni entry requirement - they all want to see some kind of experience in medicine too) I have had the luxury of no full-time job to worry about, hence I have been mostly studying. But because of all that free-time I have had, I have been able to luxuriously doss as well from time to time. So, it can be done alongside a full-time job, but it won't be a walk in the park.

Finally - obviously you'll be attending Uni open days for dentistry I guess - do go to these, it makes choosing a good Uni so much easier. And find out about the entry contention ratio - for example, I was looking at 4 different local-ish Uni's for my Paramedic course, and each one has around 25 places every year, with around 400 or in some cases 500 applications!

That did scare me at first - but it turns out that Uni's LOVE mature access course students, especially with decent life skills (I too have starting and running a successful small business on my CV) and as long as you give a decent interview, and play the serious 'age and experience card' like I did, then you'll get offers.

I was offered interviews at all 4 of my Uni choices, and after I did the interviews, I got 3 offers in quick succession - one of which was at my first choice Uni - so I just informed the 4th Uni that I had accepted an offer already, and cancelled my application. But I probably would have got an offer there too

So worry not, and go for it - as I said, us mature students actually have a huge advantage over all the kids and the colleges and Uni's love us...

By all means drop me a PM if I can help at all - always nice to chat with a fellow student!

Thanks for your kind words too, and good luck. I have had one of the best years of my life back at college, I have enjoyed it immensely, and I am very much looking forward to my degree in September!

[rog007]

vinnie83 said:

I start college in 4 months to do an access to medicine course for a year, so I can go to uni to study dentistry.

I am absolutely fed up of the financial industry - the tighter regulations being applied in response to big banks ripping people off that they will chose to ignore, whilst making our lives more difficult - the dishonest people who work in finance, the type of people who would sell their own mothers for a commission - the uncertainty of the industry going forward.

In short, I hated having to rely on such a largely unprofessional industry for my living.
DO IT!

Have you looked closely in to the dental world yet?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163295/De...

http://www.adam-aspire.co.uk/news-and-events/34-ne...

http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/concerns-voiced-ov...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_profession_has_the...

http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/aug/19/politi...

et al

Of course it's not all bad, but there are issues in the profession just like anywhere else.

Good luck!

[louiebaby]

I changed from Pharmacy to Finance at 27.

I'm about to change from Finance to the Power Industry, and will be 33 when I do.

In my opinion, work isn't the most important part of your life, but you spend a significant portion of your life doing it, so you might as well enjoy it.

You're not "late on" at all, it's just an early mid-life crisis.

[vinnie83]

rog007 said:

Have you looked closely in to the dental world yet?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2163295/De...

http://www.adam-aspire.co.uk/news-and-events/34-ne...

http://www.dentistry.co.uk/news/concerns-voiced-ov...

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Which_profession_has_the...

http://m.guardian.co.uk/society/2004/aug/19/politi...

et al

Of course it's not all bad, but there are issues in the profession just like anywhere else.

Good luck!

My company specialises in financial advice to medics and dentists, and my girlfriend is a dentist, as well as a number of friends. So I am in a fortunate position compared to most considering the career in that I know exactly what it entails, the types of people, and also a lot about the financial side of it that dentists themselves often don't know!

I know there's some dishonest people in dentistry - there's going to be in any profession - but believe me you wouldn't have to search for as long to find ten times the number of horror stories about finance as you did above. Finance seems to thrive on dishonesty and lacks ethics - which I am fed up of, since I like to think of myself as an honest and ethical person!

Medicine and Dentistry have (IMO) significantly less problems with ethics and honesty than the finance industry, being front line healthcare and peoples lives/health at risk seems to mean that the people seem of a more honest and upstanding caliber.

I may be wrong - if I am, at least I will have a well paid job with significantly better hours and stability than finance, and still have the finance company!

[MC Bodge]

^^^^^Despite the potentially high income, I, personally, couldn't imagine spending years looking into people's mouths and sometimes filling in a few holes. You can't even converse with the patients for most of the appointment!

Hmmm, for me, taking time out to re-train (not in dentistry) and the taking a very big pay cut (even from a fairly mid-level-position/income like mine) to start again from the bottom of a new career would be a big commitment.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 17th May 16:59

[vinnie83]

MC Bodge said:

^^^^^Despite the potentially high income, I, personally, couldn't imagine spending years looking into people's mouths and sometimes filling in a few holes. You can't even converse with the patients for most of the appointment!

Hmmm, for me, taking time out to re-train (not in dentistry) and the taking a very big pay cut (even from a fairly mid-level-position/income like mine) to start again from the bottom of a new career would be a big commitment.

Edited by MC Bodge on Friday 17th May 16:59

If I had a choice, and was younger, it would have been medicine with a view of becoming a surgeon.

However, dentistry has the advantage of allowing the businessman in me to excel when I do eventually buy a practice. I do not plan to work in general practice as an associate for long.

I am also considering doing medicine after dentistry to become a maxfax surgeon, but that would add another 4 years and it really depends on how my financial and family situation is as to whether it's possible.... not to mention that another 4 years in education may seem like hell after the 6 I will have already done!

I also intend to run and expand my finance company throughout my studies and after I have qualified so hopefully my working life will not be limited to staring into people's mouths

[dasherdiablo1]

I've changed careers every 3or 4 years, I've always taken the experience from one thing and applied it to something completely different. It has always kept me happy and I've earnt reasonable money out of it.

As others have said you will only regret it if you don't do it. If it doesn't work out you can always go back to what you know.

Go for it an enjoy the opportunity. Good luck squire!

[wibbly]

Finally gave up sales & sales management roles just over 2 years ago at 46 having had one job too many. Now I work as a freelance digital marketing consultant offering seo services, copywriting, a bit of Wordpress installation for people who want something nice and simple and social media.

The money's as good as I want it to be but I dictate what I do and when I do it! I get to spend loads of time with my young daughter growing up, and I really enjoy doing what I do. Everyday is a learning day, and I meet some genuinely nice folk

[mu0n]

Some really good posts on here and good luck to those who are under-going training.

I’m doing sales at the moment and have done for the best part of my working career. I just dislike the fact that your knowledge is based on products you sell and even then a lot of it is BS to make out you have the better product than everyone else (when it’s all very similar – although I am fortunate that we do have a decent brand). I work in food import and sell to the likes of manufacturers, wholesalers, food service. It’s more of a trading role than sales I guess? I will do back 2 back sales and the like.

Aside from the not learning anything side of things (which is my biggest gripe), I don’t like the fact that you are only as good as your last sale and although my sales job is not commission based or have to deal with the ‘hard sale’ like a car salesperson for example, it’s still a sales role, you’re still pretty much disposable with nothing to fall back on than sales experience which doesn’t count for much unless you again, do sales. I’ve no experience with a management role or anything like that which is what I’d like to get into. I like responsibility and I don’t mind taking the stick for when it goes a bit pete tong as long as it’s within my control.

I just don’t feel that job security or get too much job satisfaction here.

I’m currently looking to be an overhead linesman or jointer possibly? It’s a complete change but I am worried about dropping the money and not being able to get it back up to a decent level but surely with enough commitment and drive to succeed I should be able to. The benefits for me seem to be outweighing the negatives. I don’t want to be climbing up poles for the rest of my life or digging up electrical cables but as it’s a huge firm, I could hopefully move into management and have my skills geared towards a more mentally engaging role with more benefits. I know that the firm will send you on btec’s/diplomas on their expense which I would never get here.

My other choice is going to work in London for a financial institute – possibly investment banking. Maybe a data analyst.

I do NOT want to be one of those 40-something year old DSF salesman. I can't stand those sort of people and would probably commit suicide if I was ever faced with that prospect.

[MC Bodge]

vinnie83 said:

However, dentistry has the advantage of allowing the businessman in me to excel when I do eventually buy a practice. I do not plan to work in general practice as an associate for long.

If that is your aim, then why not just invest in/run some sort of private cosmetic(?) medicine clinic rather than take the considerable time and expense of becoming a dentist?

[Alfafan]

Interesting topic this, I'm 37 and really bored with work, the trouble as I'm sure many people have is that I get a very good income, have a lovely house, couple of kids which makes changing direction daunting. I have enough savings to pay the bills for a couple of years so have been thinking about a change of direction as the thought of carrying on like this for another 30 years is not something I particularly look forward to.

[Wozy68]

Jasandjules said:

When I was mid twenties I left my bank to go to Uni to change to law. Not having my income for a few years was not nice, no more holidays in the Maldives or Caribbean but we had some savings to live off.

You only live once.

Blimey this made me laugh. In my mid twenties I was lucky if I had the time off, let alone a holiday, let alone abroad.

Next you'll be explaining how you almost had to give up your daily takeout Costa.

Not really a good example of living it rough, or taking the plunge.

Edited by Wozy68 on Tuesday 21st May 12:22

[dave_s13]

Alfafan said:

Interesting topic this, I'm 37 and really bored with work, the trouble as I'm sure many people have is that I get a very good income, have a lovely house, couple of kids which makes changing direction daunting. I have enough savings to pay the bills for a couple of years so have been thinking about a change of direction as the thought of carrying on like this for another 30 years is not something I particularly look forward to.

I'm the same age (well a tad younger), savings? What are they....? anyway. If you've got a couple of years security moneywise then you'd be a mug not to try something else. Do it while you have the chance.....just make sure you do something worth doing.

[rog007]

MC Bodge said:

vinnie83 said:

However, dentistry has the advantage of allowing the businessman in me to excel when I do eventually buy a practice. I do not plan to work in general practice as an associate for long.

If that is your aim, then why not just invest in/run some sort of private cosmetic(?) medicine clinic rather than take the considerable time and expense of becoming a dentist?

Good point: The opportunities for changing the way you own and manage your dental practice arises out of the Dentists Act 1984 Amendment Order 2005. This Order effectively abolished the prohibition on corporate bodies carrying on the business of dentistry. Further, as long as a Dental practice has a majority of “directors” who are either Dentists or Dental Care Professionals registered with General Dental Council (“GDC”) non-dentists can now own and be involved in the management of Dental Practices.

http://www.richard-howard-business-and-media-solic...

[J012E]

Not necessarily a massive change in career but a big change never the less. I was working for a big bank in the city doing well but realised I hated working for someone else and wanted a change. I also realised the one aspect I liked (dealing and forming relationships with clients) were being sidelined and it was very much a data role. So on the side of my job, I took some finance exams and left my job about 12 months ago.

I am now a qualified financial adviser working for myself, although I don't have the security of a paycheck every month I do not regret it for one second. I have to admit I was fortunate enough to have some savings to last me a while but not forever! I am now much happier and good luck to you if you decide to change jobs/career.

[vinnie83]

rog007 said:

MC Bodge said:

vinnie83 said:

However, dentistry has the advantage of allowing the businessman in me to excel when I do eventually buy a practice. I do not plan to work in general practice as an associate for long.

If that is your aim, then why not just invest in/run some sort of private cosmetic(?) medicine clinic rather than take the considerable time and expense of becoming a dentist?

Good point: The opportunities for changing the way you own and manage your dental practice arises out of the Dentists Act 1984 Amendment Order 2005. This Order effectively abolished the prohibition on corporate bodies carrying on the business of dentistry. Further, as long as a Dental practice has a majority of “directors” who are either Dentists or Dental Care Professionals registered with General Dental Council (“GDC”) non-dentists can now own and be involved in the management of Dental Practices.

http://www.richard-howard-business-and-media-solic...

A non dentist partner in a practice would earn significantly less than a dentist partner. It was something I did look into, and unless you are able to buy very large practices (like the corporate practice chains do) there's little point. Unfortunately I don't have that kind of money - and loans for practices are not easily available to non-dentist partners.

Also, I actually do like the profession as a whole - like I said I have a lot of interaction with dentists including my girlfriend and find the profession itself something I would like to do (as mad as you all will think that I am).

I very much like the idea of being a highly qualified professional, in a respectable (it is, honest!) field with stability that very few other occupations provide - 0% unemployment.

ETA Not to mention the idea of buying a business in which I have no knowledge of the actual job would be a great risk - I would be better off investing further in my finance company - but that's what I'm trying to get away from.

Edited by vinnie83 on Wednesday 22 May 15:37

[AmiableChimp]

I worked in group pensions from 17-21, then moved internally into the IT dept until 25.

The same year I got married, I switched to become a mobile car valeter

Ran it for a year, got fit, tanned...and skint!

Ended up heading back into IT for a services/consultancy company and worked for them for 14 years until last March.

I left to go self-employed as a contractor (same role, better pay and best boss )/

I say go for it - what's the worst that can happen?

[vinnie83]

AmiableChimp said:

I say go for it - what's the worst that can happen?

Not doing it, and then sitting there in 30 years time thinking "what if?"....