Change of career (at 30+)

im 30 now and am planning on doing exactly the same thing. id like to become a plumber/ gas engineer.

unfortunately due to financial commitments i cant just stop working or take a pay cut. feel kinda stuck.
 
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the plumbing trade is saturated, lots of people jumped on that bandwagon 15 years ago and the rates charged have been in decline since.
 
Nodiggidy123 said:
im 30 now and am planning on doing exactly the same thing. id like to become a plumber.

unfortunately due to financial commitments i cant just stop working or take a pay cut. feel kinda stuck.
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out of curiosity, can I ask what kind of cost/timeframe is involved in becoming a plumber ? and starting/average salary
gas engineer is an idea too
 
cm1179 said:
the plumbing trade is saturated, lots of people jumped on that bandwagon 15 years ago and the rates charged have been in decline since.
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My brother has been a plumber for about 5 years now, and this is exactly what he's finding. Long long long days just to pay the rent.
 
You wont get inspiration. The vast majority of people on this forum are in IT or at Uni i'd bet.

Have a good think about what interests you, what field you would like to move into.

The world is huge and there are millions of different jobs out there!
 
FoxEye said:
Guys, please, I can't afford to go to uni. I'm not eligible for any loans/grants/bursaries. I know this for a fact. Please don't suggest it again.

I already have sizeable debts and do not wish to take out more loans to go to uni.
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The ONLY reason you cannot have a student maintenance loan or grant or loan for tuition fees is because of the following:

Grant: Because you have an Undergraduate degree already, or have already had ~3 years funding before

Tuition Fee Loan: Because you have an Undergraduate degree already, or have already had ~3 years funding before

Maintenance Loan: As long as you do not have a degree already, there is ZERO limit on the amount of years you can claim for this part of the funding. (Unless you're taking the **** and have been going to university and failing for the past 10 years, then they might decline it.

Anyone who says they can't afford to go to university because it will cost them £30,000 doesn't understand the system. It annoys me when people come out with comments (not you) like "It's discriminatory between the rich and poor, because the poor people can't afford the new £9,000 fees". That's not true, because you are given a LOAN, just like the rich people can take a LOAN. Big deal if the rich people can pay it all off in one go, if they wanted to. It is not a 'normal' debt, and is not affected by, nor does it affect your Credit Rating. You can claim student finance even if you are bankrupt or have 7 million pounds of debt and no income.

So, you telling us you don't want to consider University because you can't get the finance is either a lie, a misunderstanding of the finance system, or you're not telling us something ;) Which is fair enough, but I thought it was nice of me to post this just in case you didn't know the facts.

Edit: Removed my pro loop hole tip, because I want to keep it a loop hole.
 
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How about I just say I'm not going to Uni and we move on to jobs that don't require a degree?

The next person who suggests I get a degree is getting surprise buttsechs in a dark alley. I will find you...!
 
Nodiggidy123 said:
tbh anythings gotta be better than what im doing now. job at a tool hire company with seemingly no career prospects.
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really? the plumbing trade has been hailed as some as some sort of easy fix to get a trade and make some decent money. wrong. it's a very competitive market and means long hours to make a regular £20K + p/a and that's not forgetting the investment in tools, the keeping up to date on regulations oh and the fact you need to know what you're doing unless you want to spend most of your time doing recalls on work you did the week before. getting into a ltd company is a good option as you will do work they give you so it will be a regular income and no work chasing involved (though you could still get laid off) but it's hard and dirty work, not the 9-3 job it seemed to be that attracted a lot of people into it. don't forget call outs (kiss goodbye to 2 weekends out of 4 a month) but if you want to put the hours in and have a good mind for theory (lot of theory involved, you're not going to go in and simply turn a tap off) then there is decent money to be had. same for gas engineers but more money because if a plumber gets a call saying somethings gone wrong on that job you did for me yesterday, it's likely to be 'my ceiling is bowing, the pipes burst again' a gas engineer gets a call, it's likely to be 'my boilers blown up' and took my bathroom with it.
 
cm1179 said:
really? the plumbing trade has been hailed as some as some sort of easy fix to get a trade and make some decent money. wrong. it's a very competitive market and means long hours to make a regular £20K + p/a and that's not forgetting the investment in tools, the keeping up to date on regulations oh and the fact you need to know what you're doing unless you want to spend most of your time doing recalls on work you did the week before. getting into a ltd company is a good option as you will do work they give you so it will be a regular income and no work chasing involved (though you could still get laid off) but it's hard and dirty work, not the 9-3 job it seemed to be that attracted a lot of people into it. don't forget call outs (kiss goodbye to 2 weekends out of 4 a month) but if you want to put the hours in and have a good mind for theory (lot of theory involved, you're not going to go in and simply turn a tap off) then there is decent money to be had. same for gas engineers but more money because if a plumber gets a call saying somethings gone wrong on that job you did for me yesterday, it's likely to be 'my ceiling is bowing, the pipes burst again' a gas engineer gets a call, it's likely to be 'my boilers blown up' and took my bathroom with it.
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perhaps im just unhappy where i work.

plumber/gas engineer just appeals to me. im fairly good with all types of work. eg i repair diggers etc,im always the one who does the maintainance to the depot etc

ive been there for 11 yrs now. not always doing hire. my friend who works at a independent company and does the same job as me gets paid 12k more. kinda soul detroying when you cant find a job elsewhere as there is literally nothing around here. and i seemingly unless i leave im not gonna get a payrise as ive asked on a few occasions now.
 
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to the op. look at your age as a plus point by focusing on areas where the working environment would be more suited to it. for example, working in a funeral home or something. an environment where patience, understanding and life experience would be preffered by the people you will be dealing with.
 
Morba said:
I'm guessing nothing tbh.
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So what have I done to upset you now?

Anyway, you're half right. I have absolutely no idea what line of work I'd like to get into. If I did, I wouldn't have made this thread, I'd be working towards whatever I'd chosen to do.

The fact is, I've not done a whole lot with my 30 years on this Earth. You could even say I've completely wasted my life - there is some truth to that.

So please don't jump to conclusions that I'm trolling or being negative or whatever. I'm just lost. And not entirely filled with hope for the future either. But I am interested in hearing people's ideas and suggestions.
 
Slight curveball - forces/police/fire service. Serious suggestion. I was all set to investigate seriously going down that path when I got a break and my career took off.
 
FoxEye said:
So what have I done to upset you now?

Anyway, you're half right. I have absolutely no idea what line of work I'd like to get into. If I did, I wouldn't have made this thread, I'd be working towards whatever I'd chosen to do.

The fact is, I've not done a whole lot with my 30 years on this Earth. You could even say I've completely wasted my life - there is some truth to that.

So please don't jump to conclusions that I'm trolling or being negative or whatever. I'm just lost. And not entirely filled with hope for the future either. But I am interested in hearing people's ideas and suggestions.
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are u married? kids to feed? obviously those are things to consider when looking into a career change.
 
cm1179 said:
to the op. look at your age as a plus point by focusing on areas where the working environment would be more suited to it. for example, working in a funeral home or something. an environment where patience, understanding and life experience would be preffered by the people you will be dealing with.
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LOL! Not sure if serious :)
 
FoxEye said:
So what have I done to upset you now?

Anyway, you're half right. I have absolutely no idea what line of work I'd like to get into. If I did, I wouldn't have made this thread, I'd be working towards whatever I'd chosen to do.

The fact is, I've not done a whole lot with my 30 years on this Earth. You could even say I've completely wasted my life - there is some truth to that.

So please don't jump to conclusions that I'm trolling or being negative or whatever. I'm just lost. And not entirely filled with hope for the future either. But I am interested in hearing people's ideas and suggestions.
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nothing to upset me? just making an opinion, one that you actually think is at least half right :P
yes, you are negative. You must have some idea of something that interests you. We cannot draw blood from a stone.

What do you do for a hobby? what magazines do you read? what programs do you watch that makes you think 'i'd like to do that'?

You think that you need direction, you need to help people point you in the right direction :p
 
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