Not sure where to go- Career direction

Soldato
Joined
6 Jun 2010
Posts
5,160
Some background:

I'm currently a Lead Pharmacist and have been in this role for over a year. Last spring/summer, a new manager joined, and their approach has been problematic. They're making changes without consulting the necessary people, which understandably frustrates staff, creates confusion, and undermines existing processes. On top of that, senior management dismisses the legitimate concerns raised by both myself and the team.

As a result, I’m often left to handle the fallout, especially since I work on the ground level amid ongoing staff shortages. These shortages are largely due to increasing dissatisfaction, with people leaving as morale declines.

I often find myself predicting things correctly 3-6 months before they happen and I try to give management the heads up to prepare as some things take time to resolve, however they do not listen and then expect me to resolve the issue instantly.

Every day, I find myself listening to the same complaints from the same people yet my hands are tied and it is very draining and ultimately affecting my health.

I earn a good salary (£60-65k), but there aren't many other opportunities within my field that offer similar pay (I check every day) To be honest, I feel disillusioned with the profession. I've always wanted to explore something different, but I worry about transitioning into another industry that could face the same decline as pharmacy has over the past decade.

My main question:

After researching, I’ve heard that the IT job market is in one of its worst periods in years—rates are dropping, and there are very few contract roles outside of IR35. Given that a career switch would take years of learning alongside my current job, is it even worth considering if my goal is to eventually reach a salary comparable to my current one?

Ideally, I’d like to run my own business one day. That was my original plan with pharmacy, but with government funding cuts, opportunities in the field have become scarce.

Family and friends have suggested various paths, from becoming an electrician to joining a healthcare tech company, given my pharmacy background. I’d appreciate any insights on the best direction to take.
 
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My main question:
After researching, I’ve heard that the IT job market is in one of its worst periods in years—rates are dropping, and there are very few contract roles outside of IR35. Given that a career switch would take years of learning alongside my current job, is it even worth considering if my goal is to eventually reach a salary comparable to my current one?
IMO it's not worth it, there are a lot of very qualified IT people out of work atm who you'd be competing with.
You have a good career, I think you should stick with it. Keep showing up and getting paid, it might not seem good, but the alternatives aren't better.
 
Are you sure it's not the people you're working with rather than the profession that's the problem?

How old are you?

Might be that but then every place could have those issues, all it takes is for one person to come in to upset everything and everyone. Problem is that I'm struggling to get people through the door and struggling to retain people.

I'm early 30's if that helps
 
After researching, I’ve heard that the IT job market is in one of its worst periods in years—rates are dropping, and there are very few contract roles outside of IR35. Given that a career switch would take years of learning alongside my current job, is it even worth considering if my goal is to eventually reach a salary comparable to my current one?

This is my understanding as well, and everyone is saying so on this forum. It's pretty unlikely you'd even get an interview at the moment, because you'd be competing with graduates who will work for less money, and are preferred by recruiters, mostly probably because of their age (and they might have more energy!)

If you can't sort out the problems in your current role, you could very easily find yourself in a similar position if you were in an IT role. Your problem sounds like an issue of being able to deal with how you're managed, rather than necessarily the profession.

I always thought prospects for pharmacists were quite good. If you do enjoy the actual job, then I also think you'd be best to stick with it, and see if you can work through the issues you have. I think in the current climate you'd be a bit mad to attempt to switch to IT (which isn't necessarily that fun anyway) in the current climate and at your age (i.e. not graduate age).

There are however other careers where your pharmacy background might be useful, e.g. pharma sales rep. I could probably think of some more if you're interested.
 
Stick with it, it's good pay tbh. The IT market is awful now and pay has been stagnant for years, yet employers expect the Moon. To get 60k+ in IT you'd probably have to be a top level manager/director, or working on defence contracts which you need a high level of clearance for (which is a real pain in the arse once the novelty wears off, trust me I've done it).

The big issue with IT is no one really respects the role, even though nothing would function without it.
 
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Quiet Quit or look for a new role however 2025 is the year of cuts so it's going to be tough and you're at risk being brand new at any company. The issues you're describing don't sound like they impact you directly but more the service you're providing - you might want to work on drawing a line between these things and work on whatever makes you happy and develop more. Do not go into IT at entry level right now - it's bad and will get worse
 
Being honest OP this sounds to me like a workplace problem, not you current career path.

Terrible managers destroy morale wherever you are from stacking shelves at Tesco to working a high up job in IT. The only way forward is to try improve it which you have tried, or leave and once you do leave you'll find a lot of your current mental woes will probably go with it.

I made the career switch into software engineering, I'm almost regretting it. I've got about 1.5 yoe, trying to move into a better role not for money just better exposure to new projects, and i've been experiencing a lot of the we want to pay you as a junior, give you job title of a junior, then expect you to know/do mid or (touching a bit on)senior level oriented things.

Had awful luck so far with job applications, so my advice is give IT very very careful consideration. That and the field so vast, I have been having to try upskill outside of work. Now granted this is software, not so much IT.
 
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Stick with it, it's good pay tbh. The IT market is awful now and pay has been stagnant for years, yet employers expect the Moon. To get 60k+ in IT you'd probably have to be a top level manager/director, or working on defence contracts which you need a high level of clearance for (which is a real pain in the arse once the novelty wears off, trust me I've done it).

The big issue with IT is no one really respects the role, even though nothing would function without it.
Depends what you mean by "IT". Even considering the downturn over the past year or two, loads of jobs in IT (Architects, BAs, Developers, PMs etc) pay over £60k with no line management responsibility or clearance needs.
 
Depends what you mean by "IT". Even considering the downturn over the past year or two, loads of jobs in IT (Architects, BAs, Developers, PMs etc) pay over £60k with no line management responsibility or clearance needs.

Yea but those don't involve large amounts of the day playing darts or watching YouTube until someone breaks something, you have to work for it :D
 
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