Do any well-paid jobs exist in the UK?

[ttaskmaster]

Still Water, just a different area is all I meant by different utility.

Ah, as in geographical region?
I'd have to go pretty far out to do that as we're (I believe) the largest in the UK, and we're still the highest paying. I'd have to join a consultancy, but then my role is usually an in-house one anyway.
Instead, I'm just looking at a career change.

Keep an open mind with Water too, you don't need to stick to wholesalers, try retailers and supply chain too.

We have one retailer which, for the moment under current legislation, only deals with commercial customers. Household retail is still handled in-house. Same for anything worthwhile in the supply chain, and even then most of their staff are like rats leaving a sinking ship... high turnover and lots of utterly scathing employee reviews online. In a fairly closed (bordering incestuous) industry, some people would be afraid of burning their bridges... not these employees!

 

[wesimmo]

How the heck am I earning a chunk more than the OP with zero tertiary education?

Sure, I work in Surrey, but still, I'm just a self-taught analyst

Because if there are a couple of half decent jobs on it I barely glance at education on a CV.

If someone is literate enough to write a decent cover letter and CV and has a proven track record of even a few years, that trumps what you did when you were essentially a kid.

 

[HEADRAT]

handed in my notice in in July and I'm off the the job centre today

Have you ever heard that adage "it's easier to find up job when you're in a job", what is you bargaining position, before it was "I'm on 33K" so another employer would have to offer you more than that. So now not only don't you have any kind of bargaining position in terms of salary you also jobless, which will to absolutely nothing for self confident etc.

 

[Axeboy]

We have one retailer which, for the moment under current legislation, only deals with commercial customers. Household retail is still handled in-house. Same for anything worthwhile in the supply chain, and even then most of their staff are like rats leaving a sinking ship... high turnover and lots of utterly scathing employee reviews online. In a fairly closed (bordering incestuous) industry, some people would be afraid of burning their bridges... not these employees!

Naa, the wholesaler in your area has one retailer but there are many retailers who operate in your area, maybe 20 or so. Yes, its non-domestic only but the technical roles in these businesses and their suppliers can be good. Many of the employees are call centre, support etc but each usually also has a delivery team or technical team of some kind (or they will). Keep an open mind, honestly, don't just assume things are poor. Few people understand that area, you should keep an eye on it. Developer services is also moving to retailers in a few years too.

 

[Deleted member 651465]

Have you ever heard that adage "it's easier to find up job when you're in a job", what is you bargaining position, before it was "I'm on 33K" so another employer would have to offer you more than that. So now not only don't you have any kind of bargaining position in terms of salary you also jobless, which will to absolutely nothing for self confident etc.

Clearly you missed the part about living in a panel van.. that's his ace up the sleeve. He'll be pushing the "zero commute", "always available" card.

How he's going to handle all these jobs offers flying in, whilst he's smelling like a dirty toilet is anyones guess. I await the clearly formulated and well-considered game plan.

Oh, wait...

 

[ttaskmaster]

Naa, the wholesaler in your area has one retailer but there are many retailers who operate in your area, maybe 20 or so.

None of whom require Technicians.

Many of the employees are call centre, support etc but each usually also has a delivery team or technical team of some kind (or they will).

Again, none of which require Technicians to do their job. They're office-based desktop study people, while I'm a field-based network specialist - Actually doing the job is still an in-house only role, so unless a contractor is able to create a specific vacancy for work that they don't have anyway and won't ever get, this role is stuck here.

 

[delta0]

Engineering can pay well with a lot of experience. It is a bit of a long grind to get there but at least there is that carrot there at the end. A lot of careers don’t have that earning potential. My only grievance with engineering in the UK is the lack of risk appetite that means they hold back on R&D. I side stepped my career from working at a big name engineering firm to the tech sector. I had been headhunted. I was extremely hesitant at first as I was progressing well and enjoying role but still felt I was being held back. I had built up 10+ years experience so had progressed reasonably far in the system. The issue with engineering is promotions required number of years of experience, not ability or thirst to rise. Moving to the tech sector has been a breath of fresh air. R&D is much faster and there’s a real appetite to get out there and disrupt industry. The pay is absolutely epic too. Do well and you will be in your early 30s earning 100k. There are people in my organisation that are less than 30 and are directors! I remember being back at the old place and seeing the old boys at the top and thinking wow they have a patent or two. I have several currently pending and I moved across only a couple of years ago. Whilst I have absolute huge respect for those people I think our industry needs a shake up. It needs a tech industry mentality and it needs to actually start paying well.

 

[Fusion]

Engineering can pay well with a lot of experience.

What was your role/sector?

 

[delta0]

What was your role/sector?

Aerospace and automotive. I did a lot of structural engineering, materials science and R&D (when I could).

 

[Ayahuasca]

Engineering can pay well with a lot of experience.

It can pay well with very little experience, a friend of mine did Nissan's maintenance engineering program and was earning 33k or something when he came out at 23yr old. He's now transitioned into the electrical engineering side there and I don't know a specific figure but he's on over 40k and with the overtime he does nearly every weekend he's probably pulling in 60k a year at 26yr old in the North East of England. He might get burnt out but he's going to have a lot of money behind him if he wants to take a break or go elsewhere.

 

[delta0]

It can pay well with very little experience, a friend of mine did Nissan's maintenance engineering program and was earning 33k or something when he came out at 23yr old. He's now transitioned into the electrical engineering side there and I don't know a specific figure but he's on over 40k and with the overtime he does nearly every weekend he's probably pulling in 60k a year at 26yr old in the North East of England. He might get burnt out but he's going to have a lot of money behind him if he wants to take a break or go elsewhere.

That’s great. Really good to hear people are doing well in this field.

 

[Nitefly]

Bah, careers with their overtime - how sensible and depressing

 

[panthro]

Just read this whole thread. 138k a year? No chance pal. Even senior project managers in oil and gas (most of whom are chartered civil, mechanical and chemical engineers) don't earn anywhere near that. You might get that if you're a consultant with 20 years+ experience working at an hourly or day rate contract; as some of the most senior engineers I've worked with were on £100-120 per hour. This was a while ago, before the financial crisis and oil price crash.

 

[spoffle]

Im a teacher and on a salary of around £43k

Renting with a wife and a baby its enough but I would like more...

What do you teach?

 

[spoffle]

No adult should be forced into sharing a house with strangers... that's just wrong and I'd certainly consider that below the poverty line.

OK... semi-detached or terraced would be half-reasonable... but even in a poor area like Bedford, it's still difficult to find a semi-detached for less than £800.

This is BS. I have a 5 bed semi, I pay £500 a month. It's a mortgage, but still, nowhere near what you're suggesting.

 

[crinkleshoes]

We were talking about rent... for a 5-bed semi anywhere in the south 2/3 of the country you'll never find one under £1k

 

[spoffle]

We were talking about rent... for a 5-bed semi anywhere in the south 2/3 of the country you'll never find one under £1k

You said anywhere outside of London.

 

[skaif]

What do you teach?

Head of Business and Computing

 

[Luke_Bowman]

Surely the OP is a bad troll and many people have fallen for the bait?

 

[crinkleshoes]

You said anywhere outside of London.

I see... so you count China too, do you?

I just expanded the region from my post to include further north too.

Last time I looked in Lincoln area it was hard to find a 2/3 bed semi for under £750... detached was much more than that and in London surrounding area is near impossible to find a 3-bed detached house for under £1,000/month rent... I stand by my statement of that.

I know there are still some places up north getting close to Scotland where there's no real work and you can get much cheaper housing... just no job to pay for it