Change of career (at 30+)

Caporegime
Joined
17 Feb 2006
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Location
Cornwall
I'm a bit fed up of earning next to nothing in my current profession (IT support).

A completely new career is something I'd like to consider, but..

*I'm 30+
*I have no degree (only A-levels)
*No savings (so spending 30,000 on tuition fees is not an option)

On the plus side, I'm literate, numerate, and reasonably intelligent (not Mensa; but not your average footballer either ;))

Don't mind moving; don't mind unsociable hours - anything considered. So apart from winning the lottery or founding my own pyramid scheme, what are good careers to be in if you want to make a good wage (20k minimum)?

(IT support down here is paying <16k btw)
 
Thats not a lot for IT support really
Why not look to broaden your experience and get some specific qualifications in IT.

Difficult job market out there so finding a 20k minimum job when basically you will be taking no experiance isn't going to be easy unless its comes with something that makes it pay that well, ie read unsociable hours, danger, off short that type of thing
 
Thats not a lot for IT support really
Why not look to broaden your experience and get some specific qualifications in IT.

Difficult job market out there so finding a 20k minimum job when basically you will be taking no experiance isn't going to be easy unless its comes with something that makes it pay that well, ie read unsociable hours, danger, off short that type of thing

And apply for some other IT support jobs, IT support can pay a decent amount more than that
 
i put a thread on here a while ago to get ideas to move away from what i'm doing, driving HGV's
but 20k is easily made driving a truck, would cost about 1500 quid for the licenses tho....
 
i put a thread on here a while ago to get ideas to move away from what i'm doing, driving HGV's
but 20k is easily made driving a truck, would cost about 1500 quid for the licenses tho....

That's a huge coincidence. I was looking at HGV drivers the other day. I'm told 20k is easily made, if you put in lots of overtime.

Agency work can be as low as £6/hour I saw. And like pilots, the high-paying companies want experienced drivers not newbs :)
 
I heard that truck drivers were one of the vastly over subscribed vacancy areas, ie literally tens if not hundreds going for the jobs.
There is certainly a significant reduction in the traffic on the A14 from felixstowe so there is certainly less stuff being hauled.

Not sure it still is but the long distance used to be the way to make money, ie eastern europe runs that type of thing. Hard to do too much overtime due to taco limitations
 
You're kidding right? I know salesman on 100k plus commission - IBM, EMC, VMware etc

I guess that's a different kind of IT sales to working in a purple shirt, then. Not retail, anyhow.

But I can't imagine landing a sales job for 100k, lol. That's not going to happen, ever. Let's keep the thread realistic :)
 
But I can't imagine landing a sales job for 100k, lol. That's not going to happen, ever. Let's keep the thread realistic :)

With that attitude no, it won't. Think about where you want to be in 5-7 years and work backwards.

So, do you want to still be earning ~£20k in 5-7 years?
 
Look through the local paper on "jobs day" and see if anything takes your fancy?

Im afraid I bet anything that does wants some or all of :
a) experience
b) qualifications
c) involves something nasty (hours/location etc)

But then you pick and work towards that if it is the case.

Otherwise you get on with your lot.
 
With that attitude no, it won't. Think about where you want to be in 5-7 years and work backwards.

So, do you want to still be earning ~£20k in 5-7 years?

What do your sales guys do to justify making 150k-180k a year? I can't get my head around that much money for a sales job.

In 5-7 years if I'm earning 25k a year I'll think I've done reasonably well.

As for my attitude, well I'd rather not aim high and never achieve my goals. And I don't think earning 100k is a realistic goal. If it was, everybody would be earning 100k.
 
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