How to decide what to do ?

[sagt550]

You may have seen my previous thread on getting out of IT... This has all made me wonder - what do I actually want to do ?? I'm 32 and still don't know other than I fancy a change.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma ? I'm just not sure where to begin with this. There are so many jobs out there that I probably don't even know exist...

[fade2grey]

lol currently having the same dilemma.. I'm 31 soon & been in the IT game for a long time. I have to say although I don't have an urgent desire to leave, I'm not as enthusiastic as I once was.. I do have a strange desire to have a bistro & coffee shop though.

[russ_a]

Hiring JetSkis on a nice beach somewhere warm is my dream job.

I guess it's a bit like working in IT in Derby with an office were the windows are nailed shut!

[Wado-Ryu]

sagt550 said:

You may have seen my previous thread on getting out of IT... This has all made me wonder - what do I actually want to do ?? I'm 32 and still don't know other than I fancy a change.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma ? I'm just not sure where to begin with this. There are so many jobs out there that I probably don't even know exist...

...

[StardustV8]

sagt550 said:

You may have seen my previous thread on getting out of IT... This has all made me wonder - what do I actually want to do ?? I'm 32 and still don't know other than I fancy a change.

Has anyone else faced this dilemma ? I'm just not sure where to begin with this. There are so many jobs out there that I probably don't even know exist...

I have faced this dilemma, a few times.............

I allways wanted to be a pilot and followed aviation and flying through air cadets and such like. At 16 I went to RAF Cranwell for a Sixth form sponsorship- i didnt get it, but they did offer me a part flying scholarship which i duly accepted. By the end of A-Levels I was being pushed into uni (like everyone was and still is). I was accepted to read Avionics systems engineering at coventry. With just a few weeks to go I froze my slot for 12 months (my father was not happy) with the idea of a "year out". I worked for a large logistics firm driving for a bit. This was a lot of fun and the money was good (£1650 pm @ 18 with no overheads). I didnt ever go to coventry!

So i knew i didnt want to go into the airforce and thought id train myself to get my pilots licence and relative ratings. This is a well known route for wannabes. I gained my private pilots licence and a few other bits. I then applied for a management training scheme at work. Within 6 months i was the Operations Manager of the networks largest distribution hub and the major Midlands base.

The dream of flying still lingered and I applied for airline sponsorhsip (22 places, 7500 applicants). Another trip to Cranwell and more tests, medicals and chats with the guild of air pilots and navigators-at my own cost of nearly £1000. To my joy in the august I got a place. 757s here we come!

De Mob happy I notified work and duly trained a replacement ahead of my full time intensive free (normal cost at that time was around £58k) airline pilot course. I left my job and started the course in the december. In january I was taxying my aircraft for a solo cross country flight to the pumps to be told "no fuel for you, your company hasnt paid their bill!". A return to the ops centre gave news that flying was suspended. The short story is that 9/11 had been just a few months before and the airline had pulled out of training us ahead fears of lack of passenger confidence. The training provider went bust (it transpired they were financially ruined before our course ever started). The dream was over.

So i returned to the logistics job-back to driving that is. It wasnt the best feeling in the world- we'd done the farewells and goodlucks and many TopGun styled jokes. After a few months of wet deliverys and late nights I couldnt go on. I finished and thought about what i was going to do.

I decided to go back to school, well uni. This time to do Motorsport Engineering and design. What a brilliant time and an interesting course (allways had a love of cars second to flying). When I graduated the job market wasnt the best and the govn were offering £7500 grants for folk doing a PGCE. So i did a secondary PGCE in DT (systems and electronics) to enable me to teach.

After a few weeks at my placement school I knew i didnt want to teach in schools. So when the time came I chose to lecture at a college.

I got a job lecturing motorvehicle engineering. Ive been doing this for a year. However, due to all sorts of domestic/financial/upcoming mergers and career prospects ive recently given notice. I'll be finishing in Dec.

So once again I face a new direction. What i really want is to work within the automotive sector of engineering, preferably performance durability or motorpsort.....the hunt is on. How nice it would be to be able to build my own british sportscars.

I'm 27 now and aware I need to settle into something or my future security will be bleak, but sticking at something that doesnt make you happy is pointless. You wouldnt do it with a partner (alhto some do), so why do it with a job.

I wish you the best of luck...................unless you happen to ever be sitting beside me at an interview for the same job offcourse!

Edited by StardustV8 on Friday 31st October 14:13