Discussion
Hi all
I'm looking for a bit of career advice as I simply don't know what to do with myself.
I'm 27 and I've been working full time since I was 18. I spent 6 years working as a technician in an electronic production company and then three years ago I managed to get a position on the brewing team in a brewery. I only had homebrewing experience so this was quite the coup and very exciting for me. I initially was the head brewer's assistant but within a few months he was sacked and I assumed a sort of lead brewer role. I was the head brewer in all but name as the owner (who couldn't brew tea) wanted that title for himself.
After two years there I moved back to my home town and I'm now the assistant head brewer at a small brewery but to be frank my career is going nowhere.
I don't make a lot of money and half the job isn't particularly enjoyable. Scrubbing walls and hosing out drains etc. There also doesn't appear to be any future prospects due to the industry being so small. I don't want to have to move halfway across the country every time I want a pay rise. Which tops out at around 30k for brewers anyway.
One of my ideas is to move into IT. I don't have any experience or qualifications aside from using computers almost my whole life but I think with 6 months or so of studying I could get two or three entry level certifications under my belt which should be enough to make the move.
Any help would be much appreciated.
I'm looking for a bit of career advice as I simply don't know what to do with myself.
I'm 27 and I've been working full time since I was 18. I spent 6 years working as a technician in an electronic production company and then three years ago I managed to get a position on the brewing team in a brewery. I only had homebrewing experience so this was quite the coup and very exciting for me. I initially was the head brewer's assistant but within a few months he was sacked and I assumed a sort of lead brewer role. I was the head brewer in all but name as the owner (who couldn't brew tea) wanted that title for himself.
After two years there I moved back to my home town and I'm now the assistant head brewer at a small brewery but to be frank my career is going nowhere.
I don't make a lot of money and half the job isn't particularly enjoyable. Scrubbing walls and hosing out drains etc. There also doesn't appear to be any future prospects due to the industry being so small. I don't want to have to move halfway across the country every time I want a pay rise. Which tops out at around 30k for brewers anyway.
One of my ideas is to move into IT. I don't have any experience or qualifications aside from using computers almost my whole life but I think with 6 months or so of studying I could get two or three entry level certifications under my belt which should be enough to make the move.
Any help would be much appreciated.
Edited by mmcg1 on Monday 29th January 20:07
Edited by nought2sixty on Tuesday 30th January 17:29
goodwoodrainmeister said:
The craft ale market has expanded hugely in the UK recently. Have you considered using your knowledge to set up your own brewery, or advise others who want to do that? Both could be great fun and potentially lucrative. If 'yes' I would be interested to speak to you.
Good luck whatever you do, I know from experience that career change is hard.
Matt
I think the problem with starting my own brewery is that I'd have all the same career problems as I do now except if it went wrong I'd be £100k in the hole instead of just being out of a job. Plus it's not actually a very lucrative industry. Far too many breweries competing for too few pumps and in a lot of places it's basically a race to the bottom.Good luck whatever you do, I know from experience that career change is hard.
Matt
I've thought about consultancy but I doubt I'd get much work with my relatively short brewing career. Consultants tend to be retired brewers with 30+ years experience.
Feel free to send me a message though if you want to chat.
Yipper said:
The general rule of thumb when switching industries is that it takes around 10 years to become a highly-paid expert. So, you need to be realistic about how fast you can switch careers at the relatively old age of ~27.
If you want a longterm career with a future, then I would quit brewing. Alcohol is being demonized, like cigarettes, and the health scares are rising.
IT -- particularly robotics or AI or AR -- is likely to give a much longer future and one with potentially much higher pay.
I think I'd be able to get the A+ and Network+ certifications under my belt within the next six months which should get me an entry level job around what I earn now. I'd then do entry level support for a year or so before picking something to specialise in.If you want a longterm career with a future, then I would quit brewing. Alcohol is being demonized, like cigarettes, and the health scares are rising.
IT -- particularly robotics or AI or AR -- is likely to give a much longer future and one with potentially much higher pay.
I don't think there's any danger of the whole country stopping drinking but I do believe there's a big cull of breweries coming. There's simply too many now.
Shay HTFC said:
Don't listen too much to this - AI & AR is good to get into, but the rest of software / web development isn'T going anywhere fast.
You mention that you have to keep moving around for a pay rise, which tops out at £30k anyway, so I'm guessing you're currently on less than £30k.
If thats the case, then you should have no trouble getting into web dev and getting back to your current level in a relatively short time.
Spend a bit of time doing some online tutorials, and basically just get yourself together a half decent portfolio site (maybe make a craft brewing website, or a calculator where you can create the perfect beer recipe - something like that), get familiar with the latest tech lingo ( React, Rails, mongoDB etc) and then get your CV out to a few companies and startups.
My brother just got a job at a package holidays website doing basic web design (after time in call centres and basic chef work) and he's on £20k in a small northern town. Once he has a year or two of experience he'll be looking at an easy switch up to about £25-30k.
So yeah, it might take 10 years to get to expert level, but it will take a heck of a lot less time to get up to a perfectly reasonable ~£30k level!
Could you point me in the direction of a good book or website on web design?You mention that you have to keep moving around for a pay rise, which tops out at £30k anyway, so I'm guessing you're currently on less than £30k.
If thats the case, then you should have no trouble getting into web dev and getting back to your current level in a relatively short time.
Spend a bit of time doing some online tutorials, and basically just get yourself together a half decent portfolio site (maybe make a craft brewing website, or a calculator where you can create the perfect beer recipe - something like that), get familiar with the latest tech lingo ( React, Rails, mongoDB etc) and then get your CV out to a few companies and startups.
My brother just got a job at a package holidays website doing basic web design (after time in call centres and basic chef work) and he's on £20k in a small northern town. Once he has a year or two of experience he'll be looking at an easy switch up to about £25-30k.
So yeah, it might take 10 years to get to expert level, but it will take a heck of a lot less time to get up to a perfectly reasonable ~£30k level!
S9JTO said:
I know you mentioned you're interested in pursuing IT and I don't blame you! However, for a quick(er) way of surpassing ~£30k, have you considered working in a factory/plant doing shift work? I have family members who do so and are earning just under £40k in the NW - It doesn't require any skills and/or qualifications, just gotta be prepared to do the work!
Similarly for places like Jaguar Land Rover etc (don't know how far away they are from you).
Shift work doesn't appeal, to be honest. And with the way manufacturing is going in this country it doesn't really seem like a good long term plan. Similarly for places like Jaguar Land Rover etc (don't know how far away they are from you).
The jiffle king said:
If you get some technical IT qualifications and have good communication skills, then there is a great opportunity to be a business partner who really understands the impact of decisions on the business and can support with how technology can enable.
The supposed new Tech out there is partly old tech re-badged and partly new tech which is not very explained to business leaders.
Anyone with good tech understanding and the ability to simplify messages to senior stakeholders will be in a good position
What do you mean by a business partner?The supposed new Tech out there is partly old tech re-badged and partly new tech which is not very explained to business leaders.
Anyone with good tech understanding and the ability to simplify messages to senior stakeholders will be in a good position
Shay HTFC said:
Just start actively getting into 'the community'.
One of the best places to start is www.freecodecamp.com - Complete that and you should be walking into a job in now time.
Then there are places like www.reddit.com/r/webdev and various other sub-reddits.
On top of that, there are a bunch of very good online tutorials. My brother used to swear by udemy. You can get like 30 hour long video lectures for £10
https://www.udemy.com/courses/development/
Awesome, thanks for the help.One of the best places to start is www.freecodecamp.com - Complete that and you should be walking into a job in now time.
Then there are places like www.reddit.com/r/webdev and various other sub-reddits.
On top of that, there are a bunch of very good online tutorials. My brother used to swear by udemy. You can get like 30 hour long video lectures for £10
https://www.udemy.com/courses/development/
I'm in Scotland.
I started off using FreeCodeCamp and Colt Steele's Udemy course which was loads of fun. I built silly little examples whenever I learned something new.
http://micweatherapp.herokuapp.com/ - weather search using the Yahoo ALI
http://www.micmcgrorty.co.uk/fiiiight/fight.html - silly fighting game
http://www.micmcgrorty.co.uk/textgame/textgame2.ht... - text adventure
After realising that I enjoy programming more than websites and wanting to give myself a good computer science grounding I started Harvard CS50 which is what I've been focusing on for the past couple of months. It's a fantastic course, has you programming at a low level in C so you really get to see what's happening behind the scenes.
The new job is vb.net developer which is a language I have no experience of so far but the company knows this and are happy to take me on anyway even given my overall skill level. I must have really impressed during my interview!
I've spent most of my free time for the last five months studying which has been hard at times but it's paid off and I don't intend to stop what I'm doing because I've got a job. I'm going to cram vb.net for the next month to allow me to to my job but I fully intend to keep doing courses like CS50.
I started off using FreeCodeCamp and Colt Steele's Udemy course which was loads of fun. I built silly little examples whenever I learned something new.
http://micweatherapp.herokuapp.com/ - weather search using the Yahoo ALI
http://www.micmcgrorty.co.uk/fiiiight/fight.html - silly fighting game
http://www.micmcgrorty.co.uk/textgame/textgame2.ht... - text adventure
After realising that I enjoy programming more than websites and wanting to give myself a good computer science grounding I started Harvard CS50 which is what I've been focusing on for the past couple of months. It's a fantastic course, has you programming at a low level in C so you really get to see what's happening behind the scenes.
The new job is vb.net developer which is a language I have no experience of so far but the company knows this and are happy to take me on anyway even given my overall skill level. I must have really impressed during my interview!
I've spent most of my free time for the last five months studying which has been hard at times but it's paid off and I don't intend to stop what I'm doing because I've got a job. I'm going to cram vb.net for the next month to allow me to to my job but I fully intend to keep doing courses like CS50.
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