Anyone changed career?

[russ_a]

I went from Insurance to IT. Lived on beans for a couple of years whilst completing my HND.

Contracting was the answer for me when I got fed up! I now get paid 30% more and have zero staff, result!

[Undirection]

Great thread this, good to see so many people making big changes in their career. I know many people who no longer like what they do but don't see a way out. The big challenge is often money but I think that people often don't need to earn as much as they think they do.

[limpsfield]

Undirection said:

Great thread this, good to see so many people making big changes in their career. I know many people who no longer like what they do but don't see a way out. The big challenge is often money but I think that people often don't need to earn as much as they think they do.

Good points and I would agree.

I think in the UK at least plenty of us end up married to the job, maybe more in the SE with ridiculously stupid commutes, and it is just not worth it if you don't enjoy it.

[0000]

russ_a said:

I went from Insurance to IT. Lived on beans for a couple of years whilst completing my HND.

Contracting was the answer for me when I got fed up! I now get paid 30% more and have zero staff, result!

Insurance must be a better gig than permanent IT. Contracting afforded me something like a 3-4x increase if I work the entire year (and I've always had that opportunity), but perhaps important for the OP is I've also taken up to 6 months off in a year when I needed some time off. And because I'd limited my pay in previous years I still had paid myself 3x what I'd been earning as a permanent employee that year.

OP - might be worth telling us where you're based if contracting sounds like it could suit?

[227bhp]

Any reason why your partner can't work to share the load?

[funkyrobot]

227bhp said:

Any reason why your partner can't work to share the load?

She really wanted to be off with our dughter during her early years. If she needed to, she would find a job tomorrow. This setup has been working fine for a bit now. Incidentally, we had a chat about her working part time today. I think she is missing her own bit of income so may be looking at something soon.

Her only limit is the job location. She is type 1 diabetic and the DVLA took her licence off her last year.

[funkyrobot]

0000 said:

Insurance must be a better gig than permanent IT. Contracting afforded me something like a 3-4x increase if I work the entire year (and I've always had that opportunity), but perhaps important for the OP is I've also taken up to 6 months off in a year when I needed some time off. And because I'd limited my pay in previous years I still had paid myself 3x what I'd been earning as a permanent employee that year.

OP - might be worth telling us where you're based if contracting sounds like it could suit?

I'm based in Lincolnshire. Never considered contracting. May take a look. Thanks.

[russ_a]

Started off working for a Lloyd's syndicate on £60 per week in the early 90's in a remote office nowhere near London.

That doubled to £120 over the next 4 years then I quit to stack boxes in a factory for £250 a week and was living the dream!

[caiss4]

Just over a year ago I took redundancy from a telecomms company; an industry I had been involved in for over 30 years. As you'd expect the 'network' was fired up and a couple of opportunities popped up pretty quickly.

It was then that I realised something was wrong. I just couldn't get excited. The roles were right up my street but I felt I just could not be a***ed with putting up with corporate b****cks anymore. So I paused for thought and then decided to do something I would (hopefully) enjoy.

I became a driving instructor.

Now you'll never get rich (unless i franchise my brand )but I guess I'm in the fortunate position of not having to generate megabucks from a job as there are other sources of income. The upside is I get to do as much or little as I want, I can plan days off whenever I need them and I get a real feeling of fulfillment when a student passes their test.

[funkyrobot]

Sounds good. Funnily enough, I was thinking about that career as I made the initial steps to becoming an instructor years and years ago.

What is it like to get into now? I think it was going to set me back thousands as it was with a large, national driving school.

[caiss4]

Not too bad. Total cost was just shy of £2k plus car etc. The driving school I went with charged a reasonable amount (and the instructor was first class). The only downside was paying a franchise fee if you wanted to go down the trainee route (which I would recommend).

Later this year I'll be independent

[PoloStu]

I've had a few changes of career lol, started off as an apprentice machinist, then a warehouse op, van driver, welder/fabricator, workshop tech, offshore subsea hydraulic tech, subsea hardware tech..... each change you get a bump down a bit in wages till you are up to the same level as the other lads, and it usually doesn't take long to be on higher wages than the job you had previously.

[funkyrobot]

caiss4 said:

Not too bad. Total cost was just shy of £2k plus car etc. The driving school I went with charged a reasonable amount (and the instructor was first class). The only downside was paying a franchise fee if you wanted to go down the trainee route (which I would recommend).

Later this year I'll be independent

Sounds good. Can you provide some details of who you trained with etc?

I've just had a quick look and I have the funds to cover the training. Just need to find out more info and make sure that if it looks interesting, I go about it the right way.

[227bhp]

funkyrobot said:

227bhp said:

Any reason why your partner can't work to share the load?

She really wanted to be off with our dughter during her early years. If she needed to, she would find a job tomorrow. This setup has been working fine for a bit now. Incidentally, we had a chat about her working part time today. I think she is missing her own bit of income so may be looking at something soon.

Her only limit is the job location. She is type 1 diabetic and the DVLA took her licence off her last year.

I understand, I was just thinking that if she did then some of the load would be taken from you. The root cause seems to be you having to work at something you hate to support two people. If you took a different job with less responsibility and were happier at you'd have to take a pay cut. Swings and roundabouts as ever....

[funkyrobot]

227bhp said:

I understand, I was just thinking that if she did then some of the load would be taken from you. The root cause seems to be you having to work at something you hate to support two people. If you took a different job with less responsibility and were happier at you'd have to take a pay cut. Swings and roundabouts as ever....

Yes. Sorry if I sounded bullish.

I think it is very important for my fiancee to be home with our daughter. If I could take a pay cut and still support them, I'd be fine with that. My fiancee has started making noises about getting back to work recently though. So, she may be finding a job soon anyway.

I must re-iterate that supporting my family is not the issue here. It doesn't help when you are unhappy in your work as, like you say, it is a hell of a responsibility. I'm just unhappy in what I am doing at the moment.

[vanordinaire]

Funky, I'm following your other thread . You need to stop thinking about this right now, make use of the time you have off to relax and get better. Deciding what to do next can wait, you don't want to make any major decisions the way you are feeling at the moment.

[227bhp]

funkyrobot said:

227bhp said:

I understand, I was just thinking that if she did then some of the load would be taken from you. The root cause seems to be you having to work at something you hate to support two people. If you took a different job with less responsibility and were happier at you'd have to take a pay cut. Swings and roundabouts as ever....

Yes. Sorry if I sounded bullish.

I think it is very important for my fiancee to be home with our daughter. If I could take a pay cut and still support them, I'd be fine with that. My fiancee has started making noises about getting back to work recently though. So, she may be finding a job soon anyway.

No not at all, a straight forward question deserves a straight forward answer
I hope you're enjoying your time off btw and taking time to straighten your head up, reflect and plan avoidance of it happening again.

[caiss4]

funkyrobot said:

Sounds good. Can you provide some details of who you trained with etc?

I've just had a quick look and I have the funds to cover the training. Just need to find out more info and make sure that if it looks interesting, I go about it the right way.

Just PM'd you the details.

[dazwalsh]

Started out in IT, networks to be specific but hated every second of it, hated working under some clueless idiot of a manager, so i quit. I spent 6 months in America doing landscaping with an uncle then set up in property maintenance myself when i got back. After a few years of that i dipped my toe in BTL and now have a fairly good portfolio and do the odd refurb too.

You can change career as many times as you want when young and not tied down but more difficult with mortgages and kids.

Edited by dazwalsh on Wednesday 2nd March 16:51

[funkyrobot]

caiss4 said:

Just PM'd you the details.

Thanks. Just seen that.