Career Change

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Discussion

XPushX

Original Poster:

21 posts

122 months

Monday 20th July 2015
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First off apologies for yet another career change thread and also the wall of text that follows. Currently Im in what most would call a pretty decent job with regards to pay but gradually getting more and more fed up with the job as time goes on and recently getting to the stage where its always on my mind especially at nights and weekends which is deffinately taking its toll and not doing much to convince me to stick it out. Anyways I work for a pretty big company as a Heating "Engineer" installing boilers. Started out as an apprentice and have all my relevant qualifications in regards to the role (SVQ3) plus 5 years experience.

Apart from my trade I dont really have anything else to fall back on. Done well at school and have decent passes in both standard grades and highers but never done any college or uni courses and worked part time until I got my apprenticeship. Currently I am 27 and fortuantly don't have any big financial commitments stopping me from considering my options.

Ideally I would like to work in an engineering enviroment either hands on as a fitter or in design. I have been looking at local colleges for a part time HNC in mechanical engineering but cant find any evening or weekend courses unfortuantly. I have had a look at the open university but think I would rather be in a classroom with lecturers/teachers on hand to explain things but deffinately havent ruled anything out. In all honesty im also worried about the maths side of things as ive not had to do anything challenging with it for 9 years and will certainly be rusty at it compared to someone straight out of school.

Has anyone done anything similar? Would a prospective employer take someone on who has only done a college course and no apprenticeship in a proper engineering role? Having worked hands on on the tools for 5 years I would like to think some of the skills are interchangable and relevant. If I had to do it all over again starting from scratch as an apprentice I deffinately would but at 27 I cant see many firms taking on adult trainees unless they had some kind of grant. All advice is greatly appreciated.











XPushX

Original Poster:

21 posts

122 months

Friday 24th July 2015
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Anyone?

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 25th July 2015
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Funny, I was just about to start a thread with a similar situation

You sound like in the same position as me and I imagine thousands of others. Apprenticeship done, time served, half decent money but want a change, but because you only have qualifications relavant for trade 'X' you have to start from the beginning again frown.

I think HNDs are now really more for people working within engineering maybe under an apprenticeship or similar - The Open u steered me away from this and towards the degree that I am seriously considering, and then from there applying for graduate job positions to get my foot in the door and some experience built up.


Martin4x4

6,506 posts

131 months

Saturday 25th July 2015
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What is the problem with your current position, the job or the company.

If you feel you've out grown the job, then do they have any staff development scheme(s) they seem to have demonstrated some willingness to develop you in the past. Perhaps they will go further, talk to HR.

If it is the company, look for opportunities that include a staff development programmes. What about companies that design/build boilers (or something similar).

Higher education is about attitude as much as anything, a willingness to put in the effort to learn the subject. Institution typically have some form of access or foundation course to help mature students brush up academic skills.

You best bet would be to actually talk to the admissions department of your local University to find out their policy.


Edited by Martin4x4 on Saturday 25th July 18:13

Jeni19

11 posts

104 months

Tuesday 28th July 2015
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Don't ever doubt yourself. If you've managed to work for a big company and got pretty decent grades at school you can do anything.
Behavioural psychologists always say you can ltake on any profession, e.g.mdoctor/teacher/musician if you have typical (average)functioning. It's all about motivating oneself to learn.
I don't have much experience to advise you the best move forward, but from what I know....
qualifications is something you will hold forever. It's like a back up plan. You have a lot of experience in engineering, have you ever considered to do a degree in it?

Classrooms are definitely better because Psychological research finds that when your learning amongst others there is a latent element of competitiveness and it motivates a person to do better.

Natural inbuilt human reaction.

Since you've never been to uni, you may be eligible for student tuition loan with student finance.


But definitely don't leave your job unless you've got a plan ready to move into. Be it another employment/studies.