Anyone got any career change stories to share?

18 - Computer games sales
19 - Software development NVQ
20 - 6 years in manufacturing, despatch, warehouse, forktrucks worked in a few industries in here (food, furniture etc) and worked up to management levels.
26 - 7 years running a chat team for an online bingo company (left with no job to go to I had just had enough of **** managers)
34 - Tech/web stuff for a company specialising in visual impairment + learnt braille. spent a few days helping on building sites and in my friends warehouse. BIG PAY CUT
35 - blog writing, then SEO, google analytics, adwords/PPC and IT
36 - App Support

I've also been running my wedding photography company for the last 10 years.

Not a lot I haven't done.

It's never too late to change jobs/fields, you've just got to have the drive and determination to do it.

bloke I'm working with now is my age, left a £40k a year job to move to the company I am at now as he wanted to develop his sql skills and go from there. We've both taken big pay cuts to to move jobs at some point, this job was a 50% increase in money for me but 40% drop for him.
 
Sadly, you can goto a job and put the work in and it gets you nowhere, which eventually gets frustrating.
 
Well i am in the same boat as the OP, i am 34 and seriously considering a career change. Its never to late to train to take on a new career, a lot of it comes down to time and money.
 
31 here...been working in Sales roles for the last 12 years and the last 2 and a bit working from home has really made me start hating the role.

Just after I turned 30 I decided to apply for the local police force who happened to be recruiting, didn't have anything to lose! Anyway been accepted and waiting for a start date subject to fitness and medical.

My current job offers a great salary for the area we live in last year I had earned over £40k plus extra benefits like fully expensed car, phone etc...starting in the police will drop the wage to around £19.7k and no benefits! Decided money isn't everything, I wanted a varied career with scope to progress and the police is a perfect example of this.

Go for it! You only live once and you have a long working life ahead of you...don't be doing something you hate!

Good luck!
 
GinG said:
31 here...been working in Sales roles for the last 12 years and the last 2 and a bit working from home has really made me start hating the role.

Just after I turned 30 I decided to apply for the local police force who happened to be recruiting, didn't have anything to lose! Anyway been accepted and waiting for a start date subject to fitness and medical.

My current job offers a great salary for the area we live in last year I had earned over £40k plus extra benefits like fully expensed car, phone etc...starting in the police will drop the wage to around £19.7k and no benefits! Decided money isn't everything, I wanted a varied career with scope to progress and the police is a perfect example of this.

Go for it! You only live once and you have a long working life ahead of you...don't be doing something you hate!

Good luck!
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The police, i have applied to my local force and currently waiting for a assessment date. Iv got a couple of other ideas that i am considering if that doesn't work out.
 
inflames said:
The police, i have applied to my local force and currently waiting for a assessment date. Iv got a couple of other ideas that i am considering if that doesn't work out.
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Good luck! Let me know about the assessment date and will send over a few things I was advised and I managed to smash it!
 
Energize said:
I've seriously been considering a career change, however I just can't afford the university fees of £9k a year. :(
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You only pay back the money owned once you hit £21k earnings (which I would hope coming from uni you would do without an issue) but reading into it you only pay 9% of the difference back on a monthly basis. Just copied tjhis as an example:

Once earnings do hit £21,000 the borrower will pay 9% of any income above that threshold. Someone earning £25,000 a year, for example, will pay back 9% of £4,000, or £360 a year. The employer will deduct the money through the payroll, while the self-employed pay via their self-assessment tax return. If the borrower's income drops or they lose their job, the repayments also fall.

Don't be put off if you fancy doing it. A mate of mine aged 32 has quit his job and gone to Uni for the first time ever. Only 8 weeks in but says he is absolutely loving it and the best thing he has done.
 
GinG said:
You only pay back the money owned once you hit £21k earnings (which I would hope coming from uni you would do without an issue) but reading into it you only pay 9% of the difference back on a monthly basis. Just copied tjhis as an example:
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You can't get a student loan for a second degree.
 
GinG said:
Ah, didn't know you had already done one!
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Yeah it's a real shame when you consider that in the IT sector where I work now a degree isn't necessary whereas in pharmacology it is. People often say that higher uni fees don't matter, but they really do make it unaffordable for anyone wanting to change careers because you're not gonna get an unsecured £40-50k loan when you're not going be in work for the next 3-4 years!
 
I went to uni, studied sound engineering and had a job straight out of uni paying <£18,000.

Not 6 months later did the company make me redundant (last in, first out) after I did some major project work for them.

Wasn’t sure what to do and felt like I’d wasted 3 years of my life so I did a H&S qualification and went to work at my dad’s business whilst looking for a permanent role. 2 months later I found a glass manufacturing company looking for a H&S graduate and went there.

5 years working my way up there £18-25k, I’d added internal and lead auditor qualifications to my bow and taken over purchasing but I’d hit the glass ceiling of progression and my boss (seemingly) was there for life.

I then moved to a job with the NHS at £35k with a much bigger commute for the chance at getting a decent pension and progression. Stayed there for 4 years and came within a whisker or transferring within the organisation to a location closer to home but it wasn’t meant to be and after that I set about applying for any H&S roles that would get me closer to home regardless of pay.

Funnily enough, I went for an interview with the local council at £29k on a Monday and an interview with my current employer for a role at £40k a week later. The council turned me down (another internal candidate) and my current employer (worldwide conglomerate) said yes! Go figure.

I suppose mine is a weird story as it all happened at the start of my career so to speak, but I still get asked about the degree on job interviews. I also came to within a click of retraining to become a doctor (after I’d started in the NHS) but bottled it because of my mortgage and responsibilities at home.
 
EVH said:
I went to uni, studied sound engineering and had a job straight out of uni paying <£18,000.

Not 6 months later did the company make me redundant (last in, first out) after I did some major project work for them.

Wasn’t sure what to do and felt like I’d wasted 3 years of my life so I did a H&S qualification and went to work at my dad’s business whilst looking for a permanent role. 2 months later I found a glass manufacturing company looking for a H&S graduate and went there.

5 years working my way up there £18-25k, I’d added internal and lead auditor qualifications to my bow and taken over purchasing but I’d hit the glass ceiling of progression and my boss (seemingly) was there for life.

I then moved to a job with the NHS at £35k with a much bigger commute for the chance at getting a decent pension and progression. Stayed there for 4 years and came within a whisker or transferring within the organisation to a location closer to home but it wasn’t meant to be and after that I set about applying for any H&S roles that would get me closer to home regardless of pay.

Funnily enough, I went for an interview with the local council at £29k on a Monday and an interview with my current employer for a role at £40k a week later. The council turned me down (another internal candidate) and my current employer (worldwide conglomerate) said yes! Go figure.

I suppose mine is a weird story as it all happened at the start of my career so to speak, but I still get asked about the degree on job interviews. I also came to within a click of retraining to become a doctor (after I’d started in the NHS) but bottled it because of my mortgage and responsibilities at home.
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Congrats on the new job...nice pay increase also :)
 
malachi said:
Motivation always plays a bigger part in career change.
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I certainly agree with that comment, for me i feel like i need to do something else. What i ever i choose to change to will be a big pay cut for me at first. This seems to be my biggest hurdle for me and my family. But i can’t continue with my current role as i have had enough of the braindead boredom that i endure whilst at work.
 
Until age 34 I was in enterprise software development, mainly business intelligence type roles in investment banks. Made it to Lead Dev/Dev Manager level. Got bored.

Now I'm 37 and an intermediate level AAA Gameplay/AI programmer. It's a bit weird being kind of the newbie at my age with people younger than me having more experience, but not a problem. I'm happy not being in a leadership role as there's so much to learn, with my experience I can easily move up into Senior/Lead roles once I've got more titles under my belt.

It helped that I moved somewhere with a much better standard/cost of living than the UK. Even with the big drop in pay I can still live comfortably here.
 
Friend of mine got a degree in Economics and French, faffed about for a bit, then went to study Spanish overseas for 9 months. Came back, did a crappy office job for a bit and then trained in plumbing and electrics. Got qualified and worked for a bit but found it hard to earn a living once the recession hit. He then did some work as a plasterers mate and a bit of taxi driving to make ends meet. He then retrained as a nurse which he's been doing for a couple of years now.

So it's possible to change careers but the grass may not always be greener, I thought he'd be quids in as a plumber/electrician (meaning he could also do full shower installs etc) but it wasn't like that, at one point he was only earning £15/day cash in hand plus expenses (and benefits).
 
In my working life

IT, payroll, marketing, HM Coastguard, ambulance responder, harbourmaster, doctor
I'm 34
 
Zaphan58 said:
As title really. I'm 34 and in web development, just starting to think I would be happier doing something else that got me outside every once in a while.

I originally wanted to be an electrician but changed my mind and got in to computers, now thinking that was a mistake. I've looked at apprenticeships but I could not live off what they pay.

Anyone out there made a switch in their 30s? I'd be interested to hear how its gone for you.
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I worked in building industry then moved to graphics all kinds then into IT and development. Kinda slipped back into non programming dev roles now.
How did it work out. I'd have like to make more of a go at the building. But that ship has sailed now.
Also I've ended up being an employee, and I'd much prefer to be my own boss.
I've also moved from private sector to public, and I'd prefer to be back in the private. Its more dynamic.
I kinda worked out the average & potential earnings in IT were far ahead of anything in graphics. That has proved to be true. Perhaps building would have been better again.
I'm not sure if I'd be healthier if staying in building, (everyone I know was crippled later in life) or in a desktop which has meant I'm a lot less active than I would naturally be.
 
I wish I had never done a science degree. Worthless waste of time when I had no idea about the terrible jobs after.

Now is too expensive to do an engineering degree due to no ability to pay the loan.
Feel pretty trapped in data analyst role.

Just don't know how to get out.

32yo
 
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