Middle aged. Lost job. Want a change, but what? how?
Discussion
I lost my job last week, which was rather out of the blue, although not entirely unexpected, having been expecting this moment for some years now, and rather than carry on with the status quo, I'm treating this as a potential opportunity to change things up a bit. However, having worked in a 'standard' job for nearly 30 years, I'm feeling overwhelmed with it all.
Most of my career was in second line desktop support (IT). I used to really enjoy it in the early days as the variety was excellent, and there was always opportunities to learn. I'd drive around different sites, meeting different people, and doing a variety of tasks. I didn't fully appreciate how good I had it back then. Pay wasn't great but it was about as 'fun' as a job as I've ever had.
However, as years have gone by, and having changed employers, and in fact, just the way IT as an industry has changed since the 1990s, I feel it has become stale; then covid came and I started to have to work from home, remote support on the phones, which I despised.
Then a re-structure happened 4 years ago, and I was put into a new role, which actually looked exciting initially - using a 'digital employee experience management platform'. Basically, a piece of software that helps an organisation understand and improve how people interact with their IT environment.
However, the plug was pulled on that as it was expensive, and I was left in limbo for quite some time, while they decided what to do with us. I then began to work on some online customer satisfaction forms, Excel dashboards and Power BI reports, a bit of data analytics here and there, and I was starting to get used to that when my employment sadly came to an unexpected end.
I really don't want to go back to desktop support again, as I am of the opinion the glory days have gone and it's really just a glorified call centre job mostly these days. Not only that, but the jobs that are out there pay fairly poorly for the knowledge that they ask for, and no doubt will appeal more to younger, hungrier people. Frankly, I don't think that particular job has mileage any more, nobody fixes things any more, just replace / reimage, and anyone can do that.
I also hated the culture in a big corporation, for reasons I'm sure many of us are familiar with.
I'm 46 so I'm getting to the age now where I'm going to be ruled out of a lot of stuff, and I'd really quite like a change, but I'm honestly feeling quite lost at the minute, which I understand is probably normal after finding myself at a loose end after all these years of relative stability. I've only been out of work for 3 weeks in the last 29 years.
It's probably the best chance I will ever get at making a change in my life before it's too late, but I need inspiration, I need ideas, and I'm finding it all mind boggling; I've never known what I wanted to do at the best of times, and still feel like I need some direction.
I have got time on my side; I've got a decent amount of savings which will keep me going for a couple of years, potentially, and my Mrs still has her job and I have the support of my family. I have a fairly small mortgage a modest house, and I have no children or pets. My share of the bills is well under £600 per month. My lifestyle isn't a particularly expensive one really, I am a bit of a minimalist and will only buy things when I need to. Fundamentally, I think the lifestyle thing is fundamentally sound.
What I enjoy doing:
I feel like I have some untapped creative potential; I used to do some freelance web design about 25 years ago and enjoyed it. Really just for some pocket money, but I've always been told I have a talent at making things look nice and work well. However, I'm well aware things have changed enormously since then.
I love cars and driving, and I would seriously love to do what the likes of JayEmm does, for example, but honestly I think I am both not rich enough to be able to get into it, and probably the whole area is saturated. I like driving too, but can't say whether I would after doing it for 40 hours a week.
I am a tech enthusiast although I have lost my mojo a bit with that recently. I used to build my own PCs etc. I still own a lot of tech. Again, I could review tech, on YouTube, but again, how much room in the market for yet another tech reviewer. Not much, I'd wager... and much like cars, I don't have the funds to keep buying tech to review for videos. I'm also not sure how cut out for video creation I am, not really a naturally good speaker, nor am I particularly good on camera.
I used to be into HiFi and still have HiFi systems in my house today. I used to enjoy that hobby quite a bit. I would probably enjoy selling it. I had thought about flipping HiFi equipment, see if I can pick stuff up cheap and sell it for a profit etc.
Talking of selling, I don't mind the idea of that either, but I'd either need space to keep stock, or do something like dropshipping, which probably rules out the HiFi idea.
What I am not good at:
Even though I have a history in IT, I would say I'm pretty competent as long as things aren't too specialised. I am the definition of a jack of all trades, master of none. That could be a problem.
I am absolutely hopeless at DIY to the point I dread doing it at all. The thought of it makes me anxious. I am always putting off jobs in the house because I lack faith that I'll be able to do it without seriously messing up or end up spending twice.
I don't think I would be good at being a carer or anything like that, I'm just not a people person in that respect. Fair play to those who do it, massive respect, but not for me.
I am pretty unfit and out of shape - I can walk decent distances, running is a no, I lift weights once or twice a week, and am about 3 stone overweight - so physical jobs, if they were overly demanding, wouldn't be good. I'd often thought a fireman would be a good job, but I am way, WAY too unfit and probably too old to do anything like this.
What I have considered so far:
Contracting - yes some of it would be the same as my IT gigs, but maybe the temporary nature of them would give a little more variety, and I wouldn't have to be involved with the politics of being a permanent staff member. I also think it might be easier, especially in the short term, to find something without the barriers of multiple interviews and impossibly high standards that employers are now probably expecting.
Online business / freelancing - try and leverage my skills at becoming a sole trader. I'm not trying to be the next Peter Jones here, I'd be quite happy with a small business that paid the bills and helped me fund my interests. I've done some early research into this, things like Print-on-demand, dropshipping, building apps, websites, documenting that sort of thing. Maybe a combination of workstreams. I also figure that companies might want work doing but not to have to employ a permanent staff member?
Driving jobs - taxis, chauffeurs, deliveries etc. Self explanatory really.
Learn a trade - crap at DIY is a big blocker for this? My age means my body would be shagged out in no time.
Re-train in something else entirely?
Closing thoughts
Nothing is off the table as far as I'm concerned, I'm just waiting for the lightbulb in my head to go off, but at the moment I'm feeling overwhelmed, confused, and frankly, slightly scared.
I'm not after being rich, but if it happened, I wouldn't complain
However, I am quite happy to have a modest income and be my own boss. Hell if I could even bank close to what I did (which was only really just above average), and work less, I'd be all for that too, but I don't mind putting some graft in for myself.
Also, I am sick of these big companies playing god with my life and I am totally done with the whole office culture if I'm totally honest.
If you made it this far, then thanks for reading, and any advice, pointers, directions or suggestions are all gratefully received... and if I don't get any advice, I guess it was helpful just to write this down.
Most of my career was in second line desktop support (IT). I used to really enjoy it in the early days as the variety was excellent, and there was always opportunities to learn. I'd drive around different sites, meeting different people, and doing a variety of tasks. I didn't fully appreciate how good I had it back then. Pay wasn't great but it was about as 'fun' as a job as I've ever had.
However, as years have gone by, and having changed employers, and in fact, just the way IT as an industry has changed since the 1990s, I feel it has become stale; then covid came and I started to have to work from home, remote support on the phones, which I despised.
Then a re-structure happened 4 years ago, and I was put into a new role, which actually looked exciting initially - using a 'digital employee experience management platform'. Basically, a piece of software that helps an organisation understand and improve how people interact with their IT environment.
However, the plug was pulled on that as it was expensive, and I was left in limbo for quite some time, while they decided what to do with us. I then began to work on some online customer satisfaction forms, Excel dashboards and Power BI reports, a bit of data analytics here and there, and I was starting to get used to that when my employment sadly came to an unexpected end.
I really don't want to go back to desktop support again, as I am of the opinion the glory days have gone and it's really just a glorified call centre job mostly these days. Not only that, but the jobs that are out there pay fairly poorly for the knowledge that they ask for, and no doubt will appeal more to younger, hungrier people. Frankly, I don't think that particular job has mileage any more, nobody fixes things any more, just replace / reimage, and anyone can do that.
I also hated the culture in a big corporation, for reasons I'm sure many of us are familiar with.
I'm 46 so I'm getting to the age now where I'm going to be ruled out of a lot of stuff, and I'd really quite like a change, but I'm honestly feeling quite lost at the minute, which I understand is probably normal after finding myself at a loose end after all these years of relative stability. I've only been out of work for 3 weeks in the last 29 years.
It's probably the best chance I will ever get at making a change in my life before it's too late, but I need inspiration, I need ideas, and I'm finding it all mind boggling; I've never known what I wanted to do at the best of times, and still feel like I need some direction.
I have got time on my side; I've got a decent amount of savings which will keep me going for a couple of years, potentially, and my Mrs still has her job and I have the support of my family. I have a fairly small mortgage a modest house, and I have no children or pets. My share of the bills is well under £600 per month. My lifestyle isn't a particularly expensive one really, I am a bit of a minimalist and will only buy things when I need to. Fundamentally, I think the lifestyle thing is fundamentally sound.
What I enjoy doing:
I feel like I have some untapped creative potential; I used to do some freelance web design about 25 years ago and enjoyed it. Really just for some pocket money, but I've always been told I have a talent at making things look nice and work well. However, I'm well aware things have changed enormously since then.
I love cars and driving, and I would seriously love to do what the likes of JayEmm does, for example, but honestly I think I am both not rich enough to be able to get into it, and probably the whole area is saturated. I like driving too, but can't say whether I would after doing it for 40 hours a week.
I am a tech enthusiast although I have lost my mojo a bit with that recently. I used to build my own PCs etc. I still own a lot of tech. Again, I could review tech, on YouTube, but again, how much room in the market for yet another tech reviewer. Not much, I'd wager... and much like cars, I don't have the funds to keep buying tech to review for videos. I'm also not sure how cut out for video creation I am, not really a naturally good speaker, nor am I particularly good on camera.
I used to be into HiFi and still have HiFi systems in my house today. I used to enjoy that hobby quite a bit. I would probably enjoy selling it. I had thought about flipping HiFi equipment, see if I can pick stuff up cheap and sell it for a profit etc.
Talking of selling, I don't mind the idea of that either, but I'd either need space to keep stock, or do something like dropshipping, which probably rules out the HiFi idea.
What I am not good at:
Even though I have a history in IT, I would say I'm pretty competent as long as things aren't too specialised. I am the definition of a jack of all trades, master of none. That could be a problem.
I am absolutely hopeless at DIY to the point I dread doing it at all. The thought of it makes me anxious. I am always putting off jobs in the house because I lack faith that I'll be able to do it without seriously messing up or end up spending twice.
I don't think I would be good at being a carer or anything like that, I'm just not a people person in that respect. Fair play to those who do it, massive respect, but not for me.
I am pretty unfit and out of shape - I can walk decent distances, running is a no, I lift weights once or twice a week, and am about 3 stone overweight - so physical jobs, if they were overly demanding, wouldn't be good. I'd often thought a fireman would be a good job, but I am way, WAY too unfit and probably too old to do anything like this.
What I have considered so far:
Contracting - yes some of it would be the same as my IT gigs, but maybe the temporary nature of them would give a little more variety, and I wouldn't have to be involved with the politics of being a permanent staff member. I also think it might be easier, especially in the short term, to find something without the barriers of multiple interviews and impossibly high standards that employers are now probably expecting.
Online business / freelancing - try and leverage my skills at becoming a sole trader. I'm not trying to be the next Peter Jones here, I'd be quite happy with a small business that paid the bills and helped me fund my interests. I've done some early research into this, things like Print-on-demand, dropshipping, building apps, websites, documenting that sort of thing. Maybe a combination of workstreams. I also figure that companies might want work doing but not to have to employ a permanent staff member?
Driving jobs - taxis, chauffeurs, deliveries etc. Self explanatory really.
Learn a trade - crap at DIY is a big blocker for this? My age means my body would be shagged out in no time.
Re-train in something else entirely?
Closing thoughts
Nothing is off the table as far as I'm concerned, I'm just waiting for the lightbulb in my head to go off, but at the moment I'm feeling overwhelmed, confused, and frankly, slightly scared.
I'm not after being rich, but if it happened, I wouldn't complain
However, I am quite happy to have a modest income and be my own boss. Hell if I could even bank close to what I did (which was only really just above average), and work less, I'd be all for that too, but I don't mind putting some graft in for myself.Also, I am sick of these big companies playing god with my life and I am totally done with the whole office culture if I'm totally honest.
If you made it this far, then thanks for reading, and any advice, pointers, directions or suggestions are all gratefully received... and if I don't get any advice, I guess it was helpful just to write this down.
I'd be quite tempted, depending on where you live to seek out something like deskside support in a Head Office. Granted, a decent chunk of it is sitting twiddling thumbs while a laptop reimages itself, but from talking to few over the years, theres enough variety caused by the interface of execs and IT to provide amusement.
Someone will be along with some useful career advice shortly, I'm sure, but if you want a job just to do something 'different' for a while, go and work as a supermarket delivery driver.
I'm serious - I did this for a couple of years back when I was a student and to this day it's still the most enjoyable job I've had. As someone who loves driving, negotiating country lanes, housing estates, towns and cities in a 3.5t van is remarkably enjoyable. Everyone you meet is pleased to see you (you are, after all, bringing them food). It's physical enough to be good for you, but you don't need the fitness of a fireman. You get plenty of time in a van listening to whatever the hell you want.
OK, it's probably not the long-term career you need, but as something to keep you ticking over for a while you could do a lot worse.
I'm serious - I did this for a couple of years back when I was a student and to this day it's still the most enjoyable job I've had. As someone who loves driving, negotiating country lanes, housing estates, towns and cities in a 3.5t van is remarkably enjoyable. Everyone you meet is pleased to see you (you are, after all, bringing them food). It's physical enough to be good for you, but you don't need the fitness of a fireman. You get plenty of time in a van listening to whatever the hell you want.
OK, it's probably not the long-term career you need, but as something to keep you ticking over for a while you could do a lot worse.
randlemarcus said:
I'd be quite tempted, depending on where you live to seek out something like deskside support in a Head Office. Granted, a decent chunk of it is sitting twiddling thumbs while a laptop reimages itself, but from talking to few over the years, theres enough variety caused by the interface of execs and IT to provide amusement.
I live near Newcastle in the North East. I will look into this, thanks! Edit: Deskside support pretty much describes my old role before covid happened and it went to remote. I was looking after an office in Newcastle as the sole IT person.seiben said:
Someone will be along with some useful career advice shortly, I'm sure, but if you want a job just to do something 'different' for a while, go and work as a supermarket delivery driver.
I'm serious - I did this for a couple of years back when I was a student and to this day it's still the most enjoyable job I've had. As someone who loves driving, negotiating country lanes, housing estates, towns and cities in a 3.5t van is remarkably enjoyable. Everyone you meet is pleased to see you (you are, after all, bringing them food). It's physical enough to be good for you, but you don't need the fitness of a fireman. You get plenty of time in a van listening to whatever the hell you want.
OK, it's probably not the long-term career you need, but as something to keep you ticking over for a while you could do a lot worse.
I wouldn't rule it out at all, one of my roles in an old job was driving around sites installing or removing equipment and whatnot and it was enjoyable and the day went quite quickly. I'm serious - I did this for a couple of years back when I was a student and to this day it's still the most enjoyable job I've had. As someone who loves driving, negotiating country lanes, housing estates, towns and cities in a 3.5t van is remarkably enjoyable. Everyone you meet is pleased to see you (you are, after all, bringing them food). It's physical enough to be good for you, but you don't need the fitness of a fireman. You get plenty of time in a van listening to whatever the hell you want.
OK, it's probably not the long-term career you need, but as something to keep you ticking over for a while you could do a lot worse.
Edited by TameRacingDriver on Tuesday 2nd September 15:16
If you wanted to stay in IT you have a few options which I would consider, but I have no idea if you have the skills, want to learn the skills or it wouldn't float your boat.
Tech PM
Cyber Security analyst/engineer
Architect
Developer
Service/change management
All of the above would require some form of qualifications to push the door open, but experience is always a big thing, you could start with smaller companies and work your way up, but all would offer a better salary than a 2nd line role etc.
If you went contracting you would more than likely be inside IR35 which would hit you hard in the pocket, and certainly for 2nd line roles you'd be no better off (I'd say worse off) than being a perm.
I moved from a 3rd line role many years ago into project management, programme management and that's where I am today. I'm mainly delivering cyber projects which still keeps me interested and there's usually a lot of tech involved so it keeps it interesting. But it's a bit of a process to get to where I am so it's not going to happen overnight.
Outside of IT the world is your oyster, not really sure what to suggest but I've always fancied a job that revolves around any hobbies I may have, is there anything you could do that revolves around your hobbies?
Tech PM
Cyber Security analyst/engineer
Architect
Developer
Service/change management
All of the above would require some form of qualifications to push the door open, but experience is always a big thing, you could start with smaller companies and work your way up, but all would offer a better salary than a 2nd line role etc.
If you went contracting you would more than likely be inside IR35 which would hit you hard in the pocket, and certainly for 2nd line roles you'd be no better off (I'd say worse off) than being a perm.
I moved from a 3rd line role many years ago into project management, programme management and that's where I am today. I'm mainly delivering cyber projects which still keeps me interested and there's usually a lot of tech involved so it keeps it interesting. But it's a bit of a process to get to where I am so it's not going to happen overnight.
Outside of IT the world is your oyster, not really sure what to suggest but I've always fancied a job that revolves around any hobbies I may have, is there anything you could do that revolves around your hobbies?
Thanks for the replies. I would probably add that I don't particularly want to waste my time with anything that might be replaced by AI or offshoring.
Re: Royal Mail - sometimes I see them out and about and think it would be a relatively pleasant job in some respects, at least, if you get to do it in a nice place. Where I live would be sound, but there are places where I'd imagine it definitely would be sketchy!
Don't think Project Management or Change / Release is my cup of tea personally.
I've always thought I'd quite like something creative, but see opening comment about AI etc..
Re: Royal Mail - sometimes I see them out and about and think it would be a relatively pleasant job in some respects, at least, if you get to do it in a nice place. Where I live would be sound, but there are places where I'd imagine it definitely would be sketchy!
Don't think Project Management or Change / Release is my cup of tea personally.
I've always thought I'd quite like something creative, but see opening comment about AI etc..
Having recently worked with an Education Trust (IT wise) perhaps look there?
Trusts seem to have a very varied set of IT bods with various skill sets and a seemingly wide set of problems to update/overcome
Not everybody's cup of tea, but perhaps a thought?
Usually various campuses/schools to work on etc...
Trusts seem to have a very varied set of IT bods with various skill sets and a seemingly wide set of problems to update/overcome
Not everybody's cup of tea, but perhaps a thought?
Usually various campuses/schools to work on etc...
I've been looking at a change recently. Currently office bound and earn ok so sticking with it, but no love for the job and part of me would love to be made redundant and try something else.
My "plan" would be to retrain as a butcher. It's a sort of trade which is active but not as physically ruinous as working on building sites or crawling under cars, and being a bit of a foody I'd love to learn more about meat, sausage making, curing etc and see the fruits of my labour enjoyed by others and earn money.
My "plan" would be to retrain as a butcher. It's a sort of trade which is active but not as physically ruinous as working on building sites or crawling under cars, and being a bit of a foody I'd love to learn more about meat, sausage making, curing etc and see the fruits of my labour enjoyed by others and earn money.
Inbox said:
Similar thing happened to me, an accountant somewhere and a red pen sealed mine and the fate of a third of the company.
I got pointed at 'What colour is my parachute' book to do the flower exercise which may provide some clarity on what you want going forward.
Best of luck.
Excellent, I will check it out, thanks!I got pointed at 'What colour is my parachute' book to do the flower exercise which may provide some clarity on what you want going forward.
Best of luck.
jules_s said:
Having recently worked with an Education Trust (IT wise) perhaps look there?
Trusts seem to have a very varied set of IT bods with various skill sets and a seemingly wide set of problems to update/overcome
Not everybody's cup of tea, but perhaps a thought?
Usually various campuses/schools to work on etc...
A good mate of mine works in the schools. He hasn't sold it to me though Trusts seem to have a very varied set of IT bods with various skill sets and a seemingly wide set of problems to update/overcome
Not everybody's cup of tea, but perhaps a thought?
Usually various campuses/schools to work on etc...
JuanCarlosFandango said:
I've been looking at a change recently. Currently office bound and earn ok so sticking with it, but no love for the job and part of me would love to be made redundant and try something else.
My "plan" would be to retrain as a butcher. It's a sort of trade which is active but not as physically ruinous as working on building sites or crawling under cars, and being a bit of a foody I'd love to learn more about meat, sausage making, curing etc and see the fruits of my labour enjoyed by others and earn money.
Funny thing is, my local butcher is 2 minutes walk from my house and I keep joking with them to give me a job My "plan" would be to retrain as a butcher. It's a sort of trade which is active but not as physically ruinous as working on building sites or crawling under cars, and being a bit of a foody I'd love to learn more about meat, sausage making, curing etc and see the fruits of my labour enjoyed by others and earn money.
Interesting position to be in. I’ve always thought that if I got to my mid 40’s doing what I do now, if I got paid off or fed up I’d take a complete job change and do something I wanted to do rather than what fallen into.
You mention driving, ever thought about getting your hgv license ?
You mention driving, ever thought about getting your hgv license ?
Edible Roadkill said:
Interesting position to be in. I’ve always thought that if I got to my mid 40’s doing what I do now, if I got paid off or fed up I’d take a complete job change and do something I wanted to do rather than what fallen into.
You mention driving, ever thought about getting your hgv license ?
Re HGV, it's certainly a possibility I'm not ruling out.You mention driving, ever thought about getting your hgv license ?
One musing I did have this morning though is that perhaps I've come to dislike IT simply because of the bad experiences I've had over the years, but if I could somehow get into a decent smaller company with a better culture, that might be an acceptable outcome too. But in all honesty it's not been a good career for me; people have always told me I'm good but the only rewards I seem to get are situations like this, not to mention some of the terrible managers I had much earlier in my career.
I quit my 20+ year financial services job 4 years ago for HGV driving. Best move I made, as I earn more money and work less hours, but, I was very lucky and got in at the right time, with the right job for me anyway i.e. home after every shift, no load interaction, no waiting at depots and just drop and swap trailers, mainly 1 drop and swap a night.
Despite there being a shortage of drivers, it's got hard for new passes to get on again now and some of the jobs out there are really bad pay (we're talking just over minimum wage for lots of hours, 3-4 nights out a week and general haulage so lots of strapping of loads etc etc. Fine if that's what you want, but I wanted an easier life ha ha). We've had lots of new drivers at our place over the last 6-12 months (they've been out with me on training lol) and some of them took months to get an opportunity in a job.
Despite there being a shortage of drivers, it's got hard for new passes to get on again now and some of the jobs out there are really bad pay (we're talking just over minimum wage for lots of hours, 3-4 nights out a week and general haulage so lots of strapping of loads etc etc. Fine if that's what you want, but I wanted an easier life ha ha). We've had lots of new drivers at our place over the last 6-12 months (they've been out with me on training lol) and some of them took months to get an opportunity in a job.
Edited by towser44 on Wednesday 3rd September 13:53
Edited by towser44 on Wednesday 3rd September 13:54
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