The 5 year plan to £50k

[Conanius]

I think it's doable. But, you need to be willing to move, and you need to be willing to take a few risks.

Option 1 - Apply to be a driver on the London Underground. It's pretty close to 50k PA already, and with overtime and the travel perks etc, it will be a package 'worth' 50k.

Option 2 - do some sort of ITSM Contracting. Start off getting a job on a IT Service Desk as a Service Desk Analyst. In London, expect 20-25k p/a depending on company and hours. Do ITIL V3 Foundation, and then do the Lifecycle module in Service Operations. Get 2 years experience on the Service Desk with those quals, network like a beast, be hugely proactive in learning all about ITIL, and learn how to get experience of doing Incident Management. Spend time volunteering to do extra stuff to gain exposure and experience. After those 2 years, start to apply for Incident manager roles. By this point, in London, you should be looking at Mid 30's. Get another 2 years experience. Network like a beast. Volunteer for everything. Get loads of exposure. Be willing to go on call for no pay to get evidence of Major Incident Management. By this point, you should have the experience and understanding to start applying for contract roles as an Incident Manager. You can easily get 300-350 per day doing this in London. Basing that on 45 weeks per year, there is your 50k a year. It's closer to 80k, but that's no pension, fighting and proving yourself to get good contracts, but you can be more tax efficient.

I'd start applying for this job - http://www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=0380cd7ea0ac171b&from=serp - Good employer for the CV, research like a mofo so you can show interest in working for them. Ask for 25k as you are moving out of home. Get into a house share.

http://www.indeed.co.uk/m/viewjob?jk=121e1c6177119808&from=serp ironically, they are also recruiting a Major Incident Manager. Gives you a idea on the job. There are several for other major employers like Vodafone, Three and ASDA, the right sort of name again for yor CV also recruiting. Have a read.

The latter option is totally doable, but as others have said, you could have worked this outfit yourself ... I'm not convinced you have the motivation to make it happen... But happy to talk you through how I would do it in more detail.

 

[David_VI]

Interesting how most of the members on this forum earn above the national average. Really messes with your mind.

My first job was 16,000, which I just left and i'm now on 25,803 rising to 44,000 within 3/4 years. Those are basic numbers as we work Sundays but they aren't part of the working week so are overtime.

I never even thought i'd earn 25k. I suppose the majority of members here are in IT which seems to earn well.. I come from being a careworker in a secure unit where my bosses/nurses and even charge nurses are earning less than I am now. Such a strange world.

 

[pitchfork]

The fact you have to ask us where to start I probably wouldn't hire you on minimum wage. I expect the apprentice to ask how to do things and to be paid accordingly.

Not the bloke who wants £50k, you can't be arsed to go out and do your own research and you ****ed around with your education. What makes you think you're worth £50k?

 

[Terminal_Boy]

So much aggression in this thread.

Let's play devil's advocate:

So, you're now nearly 40. You've somehow managed to get your desired benchmark of 50k, but the job doesn't fill you with meaning or content. You're working for the sake of working.

Now what?

Sometimes a job is just what you do to pay the bills.

I'm working to fund my retirement and minimise the amount of debt my girls leave Uni with.

 

[RedvGreen]

I wouldn't like to do that amount of overtime.

KaHn

/edit :- I mean on a regular basis.

You do get used to it after a while. You'll only miss it if you have outdoorsy hobbies or a busy social life.

I used to only do about 35hrs per week, now i'm racking up 66.5hrs average. First few weeks were tough, but then nearly doubling the hours, you get used to it. It does sap the energy from you sometimes, like when you come in from work and just want to sleep for 1hr or so.

If the overtime is worth it, it can be very very useful for things such as pre-holiday funds, or paying off debts. However if it is flat rate overtime (1x hourly) then it is much harder to do in every sense of the word. You do find that instead of popping in and doing 2-3hrs (at 3x rate of my last place), you need to work 8-12hrs to make it worthwhile on the salary recoup vs. your time and your fuel commuting outlay.

 

[The Funktopus]

try to become a rastabout on the rigs, that will get u 50-70k may need to be a labourer for a few yrs first on onshore stuff first.

I think 'Jamaican' a spelling mistake right there my friend....

 

[KaHn]

You do get used to it after a while. You'll only miss it if you have outdoorsy hobbies or a busy social life.

I've done it when I was a graduate and I'd still do it when required but wouldn't want to do that many constantly.

KaHn

 

[antijoke]

Good luck with your quest OP, but this thread does come across as a "Tell me what jobs you do that earn lots of money that I might be able to apply for".

 

[Kemik]

Electrician would be one way to go. College after work or full time then become an apprentice or it alone. With that time frame you would definitely be earning decent money and you an start to expand with employees.

Honestly, you need to go with something you will enjoy. Two years at college, three years at Uni, and three years professional exams have left me with a decent paying job but one I'm quickly discovering isn't my love. I'd rather be doing something I really enjoy for £30k because if you find something you enjoy, you can generally be motivated to make more money at it too.

 

[LordSplodge]

Thanks for that

To be fair it is where 99% of people fail. Planning is great but doing takes a lot of effort.

 

[LordSplodge]

So much hard work though, some weeks I'm hitting close to 70 hours a week, though 30 of those hours are paid overtime

Exactly, so he's basically almost working two jobs. It's still a nice amount of money but it's a slightly different picture put like that.

Agreed £60,000 is a nice amount of money but as I alluded to in an earlier post money isn't the goal people should set in life.

Everybody is different. I'd happily take less and work less hours so I can spend time with my family because at the end of the day I'd rather be with them that in the office earning more money. Money cannot replace that time.

 

[Adam]

It can't replace that time but it can provide a nice home and give your child opportunities.

I work long hours in London to ensure my family have nice things and also so my partner can work part time so she can spend more time with my son. I leave work early from time to time, see him at weekends and also have a generous holiday allowance.

Unfortunately very few people can have the money for a decent lifestyle and spend every second under the son with their children.

 

[oulton]

I was very lucky to get where I am but must admit to being really ambitious and driven to get a good wage from early on, after knowing what it was like to grow up in a family where money was tight.

After graduating from my masters at 23 my first job was 40K.
I then took a job at 56K aged 25.
At 26 I set up my own consultany business and took around 80K for the first year, its risen to about 110K aged 29.

You should specialise in something. I wouldn't abandon your current skillset completely (it support). You could try to expand it with in demand skills such as advanced networking, though I imagine you would need to stump up the training funds unless you can convince your employeer.

 

[Richdog]

I went from £22K to £60K in 4 years so it's defo possible. I was around the same age also.

I did exactly the same. Basically, I started working in IT support, got into a good company, then after a year and a bit got seconded to another country to do the same job. After 8 months there I then got permanent position and 100% payrise, and then from there after a couple of years I moved internally to the fee-earning business side of things where I then entered a new salary range.

However, I did have A-levels... although I didn't have a degree, and as a result am now studying a Bachelors now as part of my career progression requirements.

Either way, I have certainly managed to achieve a different kind of life in the last few years, and not with a certain amount of luck... for example I have no idea where I would be now had I not gotten that secondment opportunity. However, that is how you change things, you get into good companies and you make your mark however you can and take advantage of every opportunity given to you.

 

[LordSplodge]

It can't replace that time but it can provide a nice home and give your child opportunities.

I work long hours in London to ensure my family have nice things and also so my partner can work part time so she can spend more time with my son. I leave work early from time to time, see him at weekends and also have a generous holiday allowance.

Unfortunately very few people can have the money for a decent lifestyle and spend every second under the son with their children.

I'd rather live in a house that isn't so nice and have more quality time with my children. I agree that money is nice to help support your children but not at the loss of actually seeing them a decent amount of time...

Thankfully I am lucky and can spend a hell of a lot of quality time with my family. That time is irreplaceable and I wouldn't want to look back thinking they had nice things but didn't see me except at weekends and the odd family holiday.

Not an easy choice though as you do have to be fortunate to be in my position.

 

[Rich_L]

As has been mentioned you have a pretty great job for pursuing self-employment or self-improvement - it sounds like it is completely undemanding, pays well for Cornwall with your lack of qualifications and affords you a lot of spare time both in and out of work so I'd stick with the job and look at a part-time education or doing some form of freelance pursuit that generates money.

Personally IMO law is the easiest work out there, for some reason they make the actual qualification part quite tricky with all the stuff you need to learn and apply but the job then barely uses any of it and if you possess basic reading and comprehension skills you can earn a ridiculous amount of money for a pretty straight-forward job - especially being a solicitor as if anything remotely complex comes up you can fob it off to a barrister

 

[Richdog]

OK, here goes. I want to start a career. The goal is to get to £50k p.a. in 5 years, starting with nothing. Only GCSEs. I'm not sure if this is even possible, but maybe you guys have done something similar.

Basically I'm 34 and have done **** all up to this point to take control of my life. I'd like to change that. Step 1 will be to get a career, and then move out of my parents basement. Feel free to mercilessly take the **** at this point. (Step 3 is to get a cat, btw. I need a cat in my life but my parents hate them ).

So today I'm looking at various job sites, but it's bewildering. Also the jobs I thought would be good earners (software devs, etc) aren't nearly as good as I thought (various people offering 20k for a software dev with experience )

I keep wondering how people get started and how the heck they end up where they are. I mean, who leaves school thinking he'll be a crane operator, or a control room operator, working on an oil rig? Where do the opportunities come from? P.S. I'm not using them as example of my dream job, just decent paying jobs.

So anyway I just have GCSEs. Got A's in Maths/English/Science. But that's all! I've been to uni and dropped out, and in the process used all of my loan eligibility (I was at uni for 4.5 years, dossing around like a moron. I was a moron. I still am really, as my posts here attest to).

I have no money to fund going back to uni, nor do I want to unless there's no other way.

I currently earn 27k doing **** all for the local council (sorry, tax-payers). It's depressing because I don't learn anything, and there's so little work for me to do I spend most of my time here on OcUK I'm vaguely "in IT" if you could call doing nothing at all "IT". I have average IT skills for someone on OcUK. But nothing "skilled" because most 1st/2nd line stuff is child's play, and a monkey could do it.

So, imagine you are me. Where do you start? All I'm doing atm is looking on job sites but I don't think this is the smartest way of finding a good paying career. All I'm finding is work I'm not qualified to do.

What do?

No offence, but based purely on that post it is highly unlikely that you will achieve your goal of 50k in 5 years. You seem to have no drive, have done nothing with your time at your current job, and have the mindset where you even state that you still think you are an idiot. Not a good prospect really.

Without further training and qualifications you can kiss goodbye to your 50k (unless you magically come up with some kind of working business idea), and without identifying what you are good at, and working to specialize in it, then you realistically have nothing to offer anyone.

If I were you I would do the following:

• Start looking for another job in a large multinational company, preferably financial services, energy resources, or something similar that makes a ton of money
• Lose the "Im an idiot" attitude, and be prepared to blag your hardest to sell yourself to get a support job in another company
• Use the fact you still live with your parents and have no ties to get out of the area you live in. Move to a new major city or area that has real potential for social and professional advancement, and get some new perspective on life
• Start some recognised IT qualifications such as MCSA/MCSE. Even if you haven't finished it, the fact you are actively working on it will go down well in job interviews
• Look also into getting the budget for training in your current role, the fact you seem not to have done this yet is a crime, as by now you could have had several certifications under your belt
• Also seriously look into doing a couple of A-levels, at least English and Maths. They will then then give you the requirements for getting into somewhere like the Open University, where you can then do a part-time IT degree which, while tough, it will do you some real good in the long-term and you could be done with it by age 40

You have 27k a year, more than the average IT support worker, live with your parents, and say you have "no money"? Start managing and taking control of your finances, and look into (if possible, I don't know what your credit rating is like) taking out a single loan with as low APR as possible to pay off all your outstanding debts (that you are collectively likely paying a lot of interest on) asap, then you just have that one to worry about.

And final piece of advice, stop even thinking about this "5 year to 50k" crap, because first before you can even start dreaming about that you need to get your **** together, make a plan of where you want to go and what you want to do, and then focus on it. The salary is a secondary concern until you actually know you are in a position to deserve and command it.

IMO, in 5 years you could have 2 A levels and a degree, as well as a job with decent prospects in a large multinational company. However, it will require a ****load of drive and determination, and likely a big change in overall mindset to pull it off.

Good luck...

 

[Squink]

The trouble with epiphanies, such as that which the OP has had, is that they tend to be short lived. One day you think "good god I'm wasting my life and I really need to make a change" and you're fired up with the lust to do something. Trouble is, the feeling of excitement fades over the next couple of days and next thing you know you're at work as usual, staring into space when it's quiet, thinking about what's for tea, what game you'll load up when you get home etc etc. I don't say this as a criticism as I am like this too, but am fortunate that I have wife and child to provide me with some direction.

Some thoughts off the top of my head:
Become a primary school teacher. If you include the wage, pension and pretend that the extra holidays are in lieu of salary, the package is an easy 50k. And you'll be doing some good.

Or look at the NHS jobs website. Some of the jobs will contribute to your university fees where they are in shortage. You'll not earn 50k easily, but you should be able to get security and longer term prospects, along with good pensions.

Or if university really isn't for you and you fancy a challenge, maybe the local police force will take on people at 34. I dunno, but hear they like people who've got a bit of life behind them.

 

[Buffman]

I was very lucky to get where I am but must admit to being really ambitious and driven to get a good wage from early on, after knowing what it was like to grow up in a family where money was tight.

After graduating from my masters at 23 my first job was 40K.
I then took a job at 56K aged 25.
At 26 I set up my own consultany business and took around 80K for the first year, its risen to about 110K aged 29.

You should specialise in something. I wouldn't abandon your current skillset completely (it support). You could try to expand it with in demand skills such as advanced networking, though I imagine you would need to stump up the training funds unless you can convince your employeer.

40k straight out a masters ? Doing what and where?


Also some of the advice in this thread seems less than ideal... If you're earning 50k in London you're still not going to be able to afford a house like OP wants, also I imagine being an electrician /plumber isn't as lucrative as you let on.

 

[BuffetSlayer]

Oh hey, it is FoxEye asking t'interweb randoms for advice again

Given your seemingly high propensity for boredom, I would recommend a role which offers something different on a regular basis. I think you would probably like site project management roles where you are contracted to the job, then when it is done you move to a new challenge. Be warned though, you will have to travel the UK (maybe even the world depending on the employer/project). You will need all kinds of tickets, including first aid, but you could be helping to manage all kinds of projects and each one will throw new challenges at you and usually site specific 'hurdles' as it were. It is most definitely not a job that just anyone can walk into, and it pays pretty well too. Not sure if you can make it in 5 years, but I would lose that ambition straight away if I were you because of your other propensity.........

..............you like you talk yourself out of so much and that is something you need to snap out of. It is cliche, but a positive mental attitude is important and you can and will be more successful by looking for ways around problems rather than letting them get in your way. Try having a good long look in the mirror and asking yourself what do I love? What do I enjoy? What kind of personality do I have? What interests me, what am I passionate about? The point being that you may discard roles or opportunities that would be perfect for you because they do not fit into this idea of a 5 year plan, which is ridiculous.

You mention you are a strict pacifist - perhaps some kind of humanitarian role would be up your street? Sure, you may not get £50k a year but money is not everything. If that is something you are passionate about, perhaps you could pursue it? What about Social Services?

I think you need to modify your overall outlook. You have now got your foot in the door with certain skills in a certain industry. Perhaps you should be lookng for what opportunities are out there in that line of work, perhaps as a trainee for a better role? How can you make yourself more employable doing what you do? Can you partake in additional training? OK, in the scheme of things it may not be what you want to do, but it may open doors into other disciplines.

I also think you need to accept that unfortunately, you need to move out of the area. It is a tough call, I know, but if you really want a better life you need to make that move because there is not a lot in Cornwall. Flat sharing and so forth can be hit and miss, but the one thing it does do is help you become more sociable, and it helps you to find a way to 'get on' with people you do not know or like (if you have any sense anyway). Sometimes in the workplace, you have to grin and say yes sir, three bags full sir. Bite your tongue, do as you are told et al.

The same goes for life in general. You dont want to move out, you dont want to go it alone on a low wage and live in a mouldy flat - but to get what you want, you have to. Think long term, big picture.

Accept that you will not have everything your own way, and be prepared to be knocked down. More importantly, be prepared to get back up and carry on. Also - be prepared to graft and do things you do not want to in order to reach your goals. There is no point hating your life because you want XYZ if you are not prepared to do ABC to get it.

Also, take some advice and fix your financial situation if you are still struggling with debts. This can make a huge difference to your prospects.