Anyone learnt a trade older in life?

[ayedubya]

Hello was wondering if anyone ever decided to completely change career later in life, and how did it pan out? i am looking for some unbiased opinions please...

i graduated as an structural engineer and have found that i don't get much job satisfaction from it. i am not someone who needs a lot of money to get by, so money isn't my driver... now i would say i would like more freedom with my job- so something i could do anywhere, and doing a job i would feel some kind of reward for doing it well.

i have looked at some courses to be a tiler for example... being a spark/plumber etc might be too involved to learn in a concentrated course without quitting my job- plus i think tiling is a job that could be quite rewarding. Of course i don't expect to master it in a 3 week course but would give me a start.

obviously with the current pandemic situation a career change to a trade where people potentially will soon have a lot less income to spend on home improvements... maybe the signs point to not making this change.

i don't have any debts other than a mortgage which is manageable.

Would appreciate anyone's experiences who might have done something similar. thanks

[ayedubya]

hyphen said:

Are you fit and healthy? As a lot of tradesmen get worn out with age, all the carrying/kneeling.

You can get weekend/evening tiling jobs, so just keep your day job, learn to tile, and then see how it goes before chucking in the main job. Little risk.

i'm in my mid 30s... this is what i was thinking. get smaller jobs, test the waters... if nothing else i will learn to be better at DIY tiling

[ayedubya]

StevieBee said:

I believe it's possible for anyone of any age to learn something new.

The issue is then making a living from that new skill. A 50 year old sparky will have 30 years of building up networks and reputations and thus capable of earning a living off the back of an ad in the Parish Magazine and a few Vista Print cards.

I think that career transition is more effective in later life when it naturally transitions from what you have been doing. A friend of mine is 55 and spent most of his life as a top-end recruitment consultant. He put himself through some hefty training and is now a qualified work-place mental wellbeing professional. The two disciplines are closely correlated but different at the same time. But crucially, he's able to use his existing networks from recruitment to drum up new business for his new offer.

Thanks that makes sense... ideally i would have worked in small domestic/commercial structures which would have well placed me to start up on my own. but i have been pm-ing and working on big industrial and not really being doing any calcs for over 10 years. so feel incapable of doing that move.

maybe one leg up i might have on the older generation with all the experience is understanding the social presence and advertising online/website for the trade business. i do have some experience there.

appreciate all the other comments too.

[ayedubya]

MC Bodge said:

For many people, re-training would require a big reduction in income, income levels would possibly never recover.

yes and i would be willing / prepared to live on less than currently.

[ayedubya]

Xaero said:

One of the points I was trying to make earlier is a lot won't even have the choice. You're redundant if you don't learn a new skill. This is already fairly common in IT as software goes out of date relatively quickly, and this is going to affect many other industries, especially once AI starts to come online.

I work in a small hardware engineering company run by guys in their 60s where a lot of our products run on old software, connects with RS232, displays on VGA, and USB is considered exotic. Graduates aren't familiar/educated with it and keen to move over to new tech, so there is going to be a big bump in the road when the big updates need to happen as the old guard aren't updating their knowledge and the new employees have to learn the old while slowly forgetting what they've just been educated in (which is usually dated and not on the cutting edge anyway).

Moving across in different careers makes things more interesting for everyone, a structural engineering who is now a tiler, can probably specialise in stacking those tiles a lot higher and more considered than the average bathroom tiler for example.

Graphics design to marketing to film making probably can grab peoples attention quite well and will consider that when making the film.

I personally think the crossing of industries will add up, and the current desire to have specialists that do nothing else but one subject will drop out of fashion compared to a polymath who sees things from multiple backgrounds. It does depend a little on our mentality shifting away from respecting red brick degrees more than online self education too.

thanks i really appreciate the feedback from you, and of course the other posters.

i guess one thing which is partly my work experience but also my personal trait is that i have a very high attention to detail, and this could make me a slower (read: pernickety!) tiler but also one that does a high standard. i guess its taking the gulp and making the jump to do the course... and set up.

a big part of me is like: wait til Q2 2021 and it should provide a better outlook as to the nations economy and the way it is looking.. part of me thinks home improvements such as re-tiling might be a luxury rather than a whim.

[ayedubya]

Nick928 said:

They may not want you tiling at 5pm but you will spend every evening visiting people to quote and once you get home you can look forward to spending evenings writing up the quotes.
Weekends you can spend doing the accounts because you aren’t making enough to pay an accountant to do bookkeeping and keeping on top of marketing (that thing that gets you the customers).
The trades are a hard slog with long hours but unfortunately few people outside the trade see the true picture.

appreciate your honesty. thanks.

i do recognise it will def be a slog to start with. but maybe a rewarding one. but obviously spending 2k on a course and adding to that digs when i am down at the course, then tools. its a big expense (for me) and a bit of a gamble in the current climate.

[ayedubya]

Buzzfan said:

I've got quote a broad view of the design/construction/procurement industries and may have some suggestions - but can you narrow the field down ? You mention tiling - as a self-employed person doing individual househod projects, or working for a a tiling contractor as a salaried employee, or being a tiling contractor, employing or subcontracting to others ? There are other specialist areas (non-tiling) where your structural experence might help - (I can dm you if you change your settings to permit messages)

Edited by Buzzfan on Thursday 5th November 20:00

hi i have tried to email you... not sure why i can't received DMs ?

thanks again