Anyone changed career?

[funkyrobot]

Hello all.

I'm wondering if anyone would care to share stories about changing their career and doing something completely different?

At this moment in time, I am absolutely sick of my job, to the point where it is making me ill. I dread being at work and am utterly fed up.

I want to do something new and completely different. However, I am the sole worker in our house, have a mortgage, a fiancee and a toddler daughter to support. I'm paid ok at the moment, but there has to be more to my career than just waiting for the pay at the end of the month.

Has anyone been in a similar situation and jumped ship? It's something I can't do on a whim, due to my commitments. However, I really cannot stay in my current role for much longer.

Thanks all.

[funkyrobot]

Sounds great.

I need to find something I enjoy.

[funkyrobot]

Thanks for the responses.

I changed jobs a few years ago as I thought the one I'm in now would be better. It has turned out to be just as bad, but it pays more.

I have to deal with more people directly and I'm the sole person on site. I didn't realise until I got stuck in what this job was about. I'm supposed to have a support network, but that doesn't exist. I've also got an overpowering manager and my company seem to allow abuse.

After thinking about it long and hard (and after breaking down this morning in-front of my fiancee), I've decided that I need to get out. I just need to make sure I have something to get out to as I can't leave my family in the lurch.

[funkyrobot]

It does, thanks.

I guess I need to look at train driving.

[funkyrobot]

One advantage of my fiancee and I is that we are not materialistic in the slightest. A long as we could keep the house afloat, a drop in wage wouldn't be the end of the world for me.

[funkyrobot]

rog007 said:

What do you do now?
What three things make you dislike it?

What would you enjoy doing?
What three things about it make you want to do it?

Are you qualified/competent for this new rolle?
If yes, move now. If not, could you train/get qualified for this new role?

I am an IT manager.

1. I dislike the fact that I'm the only person on site dealing with 70 odd users and devices. Despite calls and recommendations for some help, I'm expected to run things on my own. We utilise a lot of external companies for support and they are terrible. I'm technically in call from 6am to 10pm every working day.
2. I dislike my overbearing manager. He doesn't let me take control of things, he pussy foots around the staff (when I have to be stern and assertive, he takes over and tries to be their friend), and he wants to be involved in everything. It's got to the point where people don't listen to me because of the way he takes over.
3. I'm fed up with the attitudes of people. It's so difficult to get anything done where I work. People are rude and they get so angry if something isn't fixed in literally 1 second. Just a few weeks ago, I was hounded in the toilets because I went for the loo and someone got annoyed that I wasn't at my desk.

I enjoy astronomy and sciences. I would love to work in a role related to that field. I'm also quite interested in engineering and cars. Something along them lines would be good.

Unfortunately, I have spent my life working on and around computers and systems. There isn't much else I'm trained in, so I would have to re-train.

[funkyrobot]

Thanks Rog.

Have considered teaching, but never really looked into it in detail.

The 'stern and assertive' comment is a bit strong. I have been given authority to request time and work from people as we are trying to install a new ERP system. However, what has happened is that people haven't listened to me (when I have been trying to setup sessions, training etc), people haven't done the work they are supposed to do, and it has got to a point now where people just do not respond to me or if they do, they respond with large, petty email arguments.

Instead of informing these people that they need to work with me, my manager sends them a grovelling email and then meets with them separately to talk about things. This means that even though he has told me I need to be sorting things out, people now bypass me and basically use me as a punch bag.

I have been banging my head against the wall since last July trying to get things arranged. However, every time I try to do anything, it's either met with ignorance or arguments. These arguments are not genuine things either (like resource, training needs etc.), they are simple examples of people whining because I have dared to ask them to do something.

For instance, I'm trying to arrange a big end to end test next week. I contacted everyone a while ago and stated what we need to do, what they need to bring etc. This was ignored for a week or so. I chased this up yesterday and one person responded with, yet again, more petty arguments. My manager is on leave at the moment, and people know this.

I know that people could say I am the cause of my own problems. They could say that it's me that is the problem, not the staff. However, I have tried so hard to help people as much as I can and I have been treated like poop.

It isn't a nice situation to be in and is compounded by things like support companies taking the pee, lack of help for me on site, being on call at the times I am.

I do believe that my manager should be more assertive towards people and more helpful to me. However, every time something kicks off, he fails to back me up. I have tried to tell him this too.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[funkyrobot]

caiss4 said:

Just PM'd you the details.

Thanks. Just seen that.