Perhaps it’s not though is it. What was your suggestion?
Change in Career
- Thread starter RDB85
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Perhaps it’s not though is it. What was your suggestion?
Look, I'm not trying to be depreciating here and I'm sure there are more stringent measures in place for people wanting to become electricians.
That said, you had a foothold via family and I would assume contacts he had on top. I cannot see someone genuinely motivated if capable getting held back in those scenarios, especially at a relatively youthful age of 30. I've never seen it happen in anything trade related frankly, they're crying out for skilled workers and have been for a long while last I checked, which is why almost everyone I know working within those areas is making silly money comparative to those that went the academia route.
It seems to me like you're not really committing to anything fully if I were to speculate, perhaps from a lack of interest on your end or something else. Unfortunately most people don't like their jobs, and granted the older you get the more difficult that becomes to change unless you're financially healthy.
You're not going to financially do well with the above if you just want to plod along and work a 9-5 for a company either, and there is the crux of things because that will ultimately always become boring if it's what you want.
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Not really committed.. okay so £10k worth of debt from uni and the best part of studying from 16 to 24 to gain a degree. Graduated and worked for 4 companies for FREE to hopefully gain skills and experience. Worked the best part of 10 year before being made redundant and suffering massively with depression.
To then change to a trade. Pay all that money and then not be successful after trying so hard. To then doing an apprenticeship in your 30s and getting £4p/h the first year and then minimum wage to earning £30k a year. But I’m not committed?
You spent that money and did free work (for some god forsaken reason) for a lengthy period, that was a bad move on your end but the industry you were trying to enter is extremely connection-based. You build ties with people, you find opportunities, networking is absolutely king when it comes to the tech industry unless you're **** hot, and even if you are if you're offering free work for almost half a decade people will continue to take advantage.
You then went on to spend more money to be an electrician, but despite what I would assume would be a lot of healthy connections were not willing to do things by your own merit which is almost necessary in any trade.
Now you're in a job you dislike, that I would assume would have avenues to climb the ladder or cross-apply for better paying roles and rather than do that you're considering retraining again.
Commitment takes many forms, you don't just get opportunities/jobs/money for being good at X or Y, you also need to put yourself out there and aim to progress and I get the impression you're hoping someone else will see you plodding along and magically do that for you. I've no doubt you have worked hard, but people do not reward the sort of attitude you seem to be presenting. I genuinely think if you did enter another industry you'd be right back where you are now within a few years, and by that point it really might be too late.
I'd argue that you need to consider being more outgoing and pushing for growth, rather than jumping ship when it doesn't happen. At the very least, look to shift into something similar to what you're currently doing with better pay and go from there.
Soldato
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Were these trying to get a job as an electrician?
My comment is if the e-mail doesn't work, try other tactics, e.g. letters or recruitment fairs, talking to the local vocational college etc. The thing with e-mails is they can easily get ignored or forgotten about or go into the trash folder etc.
Yes, plus job adverts emailing recruiters who specialise in the area. LinkedIn and even the place where i studied my 2365 Level 2 and 3.
Soldato
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Are you still interested in becoming an electrician? Have you got the potential/ability to become one?
If so, I'm saying try to think of a way in which you could make a real world connection into this, instead of relying on online stuff.
Soldato
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Hospital Porter. No two days are the same, hot doctors and nurses, you meet tonnes of different people, you get to help people on some of the darkest days of their lives, hot doctors and nurses and it keeps you fit. Oh, did I mention the hot doctors and nurses?
How did I mess up. He’s retired. He worked as a maintenance electrician for a company that no longer trades. It was also over 10 years ago that I worked for him. It wasn’t that deep it was 6 months whilst I found employment.
It’s probably not for your or your not good at it but that’s okay.
Did you enjoy the work or not? As you seem to be placing invisible road blocks in your path. If you are not work shy and can work independently. Absolutely no reason why you cannot be working self employed in the trade. No idea why you were looking at a 9-5 company job as an electrician. If you were good at it, go back to it and finish the regs you need. Money to be made without a doubt.
I did enjoy it. They aren’t invisible road blocks as such. You need to be working for a company in order to complete the next set of course. It’s not as easy as it sounds as the next question usually is what experience have you got? Which is counterintuitive as you need the experience to gain the qualification.
2. Work as an "Electrical Mate" or "Improver"
You don't need to be a "Qualified Electrician" to work on a site; you can start as an Electrical Mate.
• The Strategy: Apply for an ECS Labourer or Apprentice card first. This allows you onto sites. Once there, you can gather evidence (photos and witness testimonies) while working under the supervision of the site's qualified electricians.
• Pro Tip: Use agencies like Hays, Randstad, or MMP specifically for "Mate" roles. Tell them up-front you are looking to complete your NVQ; many site foremen are happy to sign off on your work if you’re a hard worker.
I’ve got an ECS Card. I’ll try those agencies.
My Dad had a somewhat similar experience when leaving the Navy aged 38 - hugely experienced and massively qualified on state-of-the-art mil-comms systems, but found it really hard to find any work in a similar field in civvy-street.
He had his 16th Edition (1995), but no domestic or commercial experience, plus his age seemed a huge barrier.
...so he got a £15k/pa job installing domestic alarm systems, then moved on to cable installs for Nynex/Cable&Wireless/Virgin, then his friend helped him get his railside safety qualifications, which led to setting up his own company to maintain the secure Gov Comms lines under the London Underground...
...he's just retired, with a comfortable future ahead.
At no point did my Dad feel any work/jobs were beneath him (he's the most humble person I know), but he did struggle to adjust to effectively starting over.
You said about not wanting to do odd-job sparky work "here and there" - but if that gets you *some* experience (and more importantly starts building a network of contacts), surely that's better than getting *none* whilst holding out for a FT/PAYE position that may never come...
He had his 16th Edition (1995), but no domestic or commercial experience, plus his age seemed a huge barrier.
...so he got a £15k/pa job installing domestic alarm systems, then moved on to cable installs for Nynex/Cable&Wireless/Virgin, then his friend helped him get his railside safety qualifications, which led to setting up his own company to maintain the secure Gov Comms lines under the London Underground...
...he's just retired, with a comfortable future ahead.
At no point did my Dad feel any work/jobs were beneath him (he's the most humble person I know), but he did struggle to adjust to effectively starting over.
You said about not wanting to do odd-job sparky work "here and there" - but if that gets you *some* experience (and more importantly starts building a network of contacts), surely that's better than getting *none* whilst holding out for a FT/PAYE position that may never come...
Your career somewhat mirrors my path with a few sliding doors moments.
When I finished uni, I didn’t want to go into programming but having a degree in computer science.. I had to take a job on help desk, as a bummed around and missed any opportunities of taking a low entry programming role.
A few years at the company and a few industry certs and promotions. I was desperate to leave but every job was a lower pay.. so I moved to a sister company into hardware repairs knowing that that department was either going to get closed down or move location.
When I was made redundant, I took a year out as I had been working non stop for over 10 years. Once I started working again (one year to the day of redundancy), it was a step back.. less pay and lower row..
Many times I thought about a career shift, I could do with another year out now… but I know if I did, it will be a step back. Sometimes you just have to take the poor roles to build up experience and trust in the organisation before you get the good roles/jobs.
I’m now looking at powering though the next 10-15 years, in a position that I don’t particularly like but gives me the financial opportunity to retire early or have the financial freedom to have a career switch to something that I enjoy doing.
There’s always jobs out there, it all depends if you are willing to do that work for that amount of pay… younger people should look at the roles as a opportunity to develop and learn, rather than just the pay. No matter how experienced and qualified you are… if and when you switch jobs/companies.. you will always end up doing the donkey work for a period of time.
When I finished uni, I didn’t want to go into programming but having a degree in computer science.. I had to take a job on help desk, as a bummed around and missed any opportunities of taking a low entry programming role.
A few years at the company and a few industry certs and promotions. I was desperate to leave but every job was a lower pay.. so I moved to a sister company into hardware repairs knowing that that department was either going to get closed down or move location.
When I was made redundant, I took a year out as I had been working non stop for over 10 years. Once I started working again (one year to the day of redundancy), it was a step back.. less pay and lower row..
Many times I thought about a career shift, I could do with another year out now… but I know if I did, it will be a step back. Sometimes you just have to take the poor roles to build up experience and trust in the organisation before you get the good roles/jobs.
I’m now looking at powering though the next 10-15 years, in a position that I don’t particularly like but gives me the financial opportunity to retire early or have the financial freedom to have a career switch to something that I enjoy doing.
There’s always jobs out there, it all depends if you are willing to do that work for that amount of pay… younger people should look at the roles as a opportunity to develop and learn, rather than just the pay. No matter how experienced and qualified you are… if and when you switch jobs/companies.. you will always end up doing the donkey work for a period of time.
Caporegime
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Similar story to my father. He was in the Royal Signals and left after 22 years with an MBE to his name. Found it hard when he left. He even tried his own corner shop which ended in tears but managed to land a job with ICL computers (Now Fujitsu) and ended up doing hardware consultancy work across the country and Europe installing massive mainframes. He took semi retirement and ended up refurbishing computers to be sold to the Soviet Union but that all ended when it collapsed in 1991.
My half brother also went a similar path. He retrained several times, spent a stint in Dubai and ended up in Australia where he still lives to this day. He was doing some work with Queensland railways in the end.
I was in a middle management corporate job in 2022 but got made redundant. Money was okay but I hated the job. I had this stupid dream that I would work hard and make my way up the ladder only to realise the ladder is not about working hard but being a grifter. Retrained as a HGV driver which I enjoy very much but the money isn't there and now I am doing my commercial pilots licence.
I think it has become a family tradition to make life as hard as possible. None of us can settle at all
....you're talking to a guy who trained as an optician, immediately got bored (and realised I definitely didn't want to spend 40 years in a dark 2x3m box, dealing with other people's halitosis), got a law degree and practically fell into global maritime underwriting.Similar story to my father. He was in the Royal Signals and left after 22 years with an MBE to his name. Found it hard when he left. He even tried his own corner shop which ended in tears but managed to land a job with ICL computers (Now Fujitsu) and ended up doing hardware consultancy work across the country and Europe installing massive mainframes. He took semi retirement and ended up refurbishing computers to be sold to the Soviet Union but that all ended when it collapsed in 1991.
My half brother also went a similar path. He retrained several times, spent a stint in Dubai and ended up in Australia where he still lives to this day. He was doing some work with Queensland railways in the end.
I was in a middle management corporate job in 2022 but got made redundant. Money was okay but I hated the job. I had this stupid dream that I would work hard and make my way up the ladder only to realise the ladder is not about working hard but being a grifter. Retrained as a HGV driver which I enjoy very much but the money isn't there and now I am doing my commercial pilots licence.
I think it has become a family tradition to make life as hard as possible. None of us can settle at all
I briefly considered criminal defense, but my lecturer strongly dissuaded me due to my complete lack of brain/mouth filter and appalling pokerface.
Associate
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“Sorry, but this guy is guilty as sin - he absolutely did it and deserves life in prison.
The defence rests, Your honour.”
My one attempt at joining the Mooting Team, pretty much verbatim.
Didn't win, weirdly.