Do any well-paid jobs exist in the UK?
- Thread starter captain dilbert
- Start date
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2009
- Posts
- 14,064
- Location
- France, Alsace
OP has seriously been on the pipe. Sure, you might be annoyed your current career choice is limited to your earning potential, but most people will assess that and find a solution and do it. Not have a hissy fit and quit with no plans.
What are your next steps now then OP?
What are your next steps now then OP?
Acquaintance of mine was on 30K as a baggage handler at Heathrow - albeit he did a lot of hours, etc. and worked really hard and 30K don't go so far when you have to live in that part of the world but still.
My brother started work in IT at the NHS without any proper degree, etc. worked his way up through hard work until he was earning top of the pay scale at which point decided to go contracting instead and work for himself.
So yeah these things aren't just handed to you.
Associate
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2012
- Posts
- 2,332
If you're young and in relatively good shape then you can make a killing selling yourself to wealthy old men.
A young man such as yourself would be highly sought after, especially coming from a construction background and having a hard hat and high visibility vest you can wear on the "job".
Pick your own hours, pick your own clients, you'll be on £1000 easy if you're a pretty boy.
A young man such as yourself would be highly sought after, especially coming from a construction background and having a hard hat and high visibility vest you can wear on the "job".
Pick your own hours, pick your own clients, you'll be on £1000 easy if you're a pretty boy.
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2015
- Posts
- 73
As mentioned I'll be vacating bricks and mortar and moving into a converted motor-home panel van (I'll be doing the conversion myself) with a bid to cutting housing costs immediately and long term - I can live off the proverbial shoestring then plus I'm drawn to the nomadic lifestyle.
Work plans? Can't ditch the day job just yet - in all honesty it will come in useful for generating quick bouts of funds (self employed contract work) and the motor-home will enable me to travel to the most lucrative contracts and act as a base - I'll not have to commute to a particular place of work which has been a particular bane in recent times. Long-term work plans? Exit the rat-race and aim for true self-employment: PC repair business, photography business for example; whatever I'm destined to do.
Permabanned
- Joined
- 9 Jun 2009
- Posts
- 11,924
- Location
- London, McLaren or Radical
Yeah - that first job out of uni wasn't the best... low pay but the good guys got a lot of hours offered to them which I took. That lead to me getting on their top tier contract which only 2 or 3 engineers out of ~200 were able to get on which lead to me working for a lot of big name clients... being able to stick those on my CV and talk around them a little got me my next job which turbo boosted things substantially. It was hard work, but it really paid off.
Then again, ended up doing some big data work and running a managed service for a multi-billion pound pharma company and there's some decent money in that.
I think the main thing that helped me stand out though was that I've specialised in many wide ranging areas where others tend to focus on certain more isolated areas.
Permabanned
- Joined
- 9 Jun 2009
- Posts
- 11,924
- Location
- London, McLaren or Radical
Don't you like washing yourself?
I struggle without a daily shower... drives me nuts... can't even handle a low pressure shower.
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2015
- Posts
- 73
There's an abundance of leisure centres and gyms for that purpose - or a simple bowl full of hot water. I can't recall ever using a high pressure shower.
Where do you live that you need a 10 person house share?
I earn a tad more than that, but only due to current bonuses and I live a bloody good life. Expensive mountain bikes, expensive holidays (normally twice a year) and only share with one other.
I earn a tad more than that, but only due to current bonuses and I live a bloody good life. Expensive mountain bikes, expensive holidays (normally twice a year) and only share with one other.
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2015
- Posts
- 73
You can't independently finance the average UK home, you can't build a pension, hence other than for sustaining yourself your efforts and salary are worthless. Seems the majority are more than happy with that - jizz up the wall on holidays, mandatory BMW PCP car on the drive, live for today.
Soldato
- Joined
- 11 Sep 2013
- Posts
- 12,475
You think we can afford BMWs...??!
How cute.
It's really this simple - If you don't feel the country values your job high enough, find another job. You have a degree, your prospects are far better than mine. Just don't have unrealistic expectations.
I think that is what every NEET or low paid person on the forums seems to rather unimaginatively dream of when considering self employment... along with buying some BTL properties.
Do you not enjoy being a civil engineer then? That is an issue, it generally better to be passionate about something if you want to be really successful at it. I mean why not contract as an engineer, look into setting up an engineering consultancy. It just seems really odd to think about self employment then conclude that repairing PCs is somehow a good option???
I don't think rage quitting your job is a good idea either.
I don't know too much about civil engineering but I think I've got a reasonable understanding of compensation - you seem to feel entitled to better pay because you worked hard for a bit at university, I've got to tell you that it simply doesn't work like that - there are various factors that can affect your pay:
having a skill that is in demand - presumably there are plenty of civil engineers out there else you'd be paid rather more than you are... so perhaps you'll need to specialise in some way, or build up a good reputation or get some seniority and be in a position to not only do your job but be well established/competent and experienced enough to supervise a team of others - this will all be easier if you're passionate about your job
the most highly paid people however have a stake in the business they're involved in - sometimes they don't literally own a stake, it could just be a contractual share of the profits they or their team generate (or even discretionary but working to a general set of unwritten rules) for example sales people entitled to a certain compensation structure based on the revenue they generate, traders in banks/hedge funds. Senior management get stock options as do startup employees, some solicitors are fortunate enough to make it to partner, ditto to accountants and some people set up their own firms. If you want to earn a lot then basically you need a stake in the business - in your case, that would seem to taking on contract engineering work and eventually starting to employ others beneath you to do the same thus starting to build a small consultancy. (you then need more than engineering skills - you need to be a manager, a salesman, an account manager etc...)
Think I have typed out and deleted a response to this a few times now... I will sum it up with this
1. Having a 1st Class Degree guarantees you nothing, and nor should it
2. Stop expecting everything on a plate
3. The suggestion that you deserve 138k a year is hilarious, but even more so when you then go on to say that you may enter the PC repair business
4. Surely the wage you were/are on is plenty if you are willing to live in a van and reduce your cost to next to nothing.
Troll thread?
1. Having a 1st Class Degree guarantees you nothing, and nor should it
2. Stop expecting everything on a plate
3. The suggestion that you deserve 138k a year is hilarious, but even more so when you then go on to say that you may enter the PC repair business
4. Surely the wage you were/are on is plenty if you are willing to live in a van and reduce your cost to next to nothing.
Troll thread?
Well the ICE currently boasts 90,000 active members, most of which will be in the UK.
They're no doubt including student and associate membership but even so, a big chunk will be properly professionally qualified.
Then throw into the mix all the engineers who don't feel they need letters after their name...
It's a huge pool of potential competition.
The secondary problem, as I experienced in my civils degree, is that they spend 4 years blowing smoke up your ass and telling you that you are God's gift to engineering. In reality, only a handful are, the rest are just average graduates with an over inflated sense of worth.
good idea
at least they aren't 2 oversaturated markets where you would struggle to make much at all
- Joined
- 6 Jun 2015
- Posts
- 73
I drive a 2005 Vectra Estate
I have a OKish pension. But yeah I do mostly spend my money on stuff for today, but I'd rather enjoy my youth than waste it.