The 5 year plan to £50k

[Buffman]

This

27k a year is enough to get your own house, let alone a flat. Why haven't you taken the chance to get your own space?

If I earned that much, I'd be gone.

Depends where in the country as well, you'd struggle to get a mortgage in most southern places on that kind of money (and renting you will lose a fair amount..)

However nix has posted some good comments on what you really should go for re: work and not arbitrary salary figure.

 

[Burned_Alive]

Go IT contracting and you could probably earn that in your first year.

 

[Sui]

Fast forward to today. With 4 days left of the month, MY company I own are just shy of 100k turnover this month. It's our 3rd month of trading.

Turnover doesn't mean you are making money though

Just pointing it out that turnover isn't exactly a good way to determine if you're making money or not. For example, your costs for the month could be 101k, and that 100k turnover is a loss of 1k.

Although you probably already know this.

 

[Russinating]

Although you probably already know this.

If he's running a building firm I'd hope so .

 

[builder22]

27k with no qualifications isn't bad! are living costs high in cornwall?

I'd think carefully before leaving your kooshty 27k job

I left an OK paying job to do something that had potential to make much more money, turns out I can't be arsed!

 

[SDK^]

You need to factor in inflation; in 5 years time you'll need to be earning £55k+ to match the buying power of £50k today.

 

[newbiejim]

27k with no qualifications isn't bad! are living costs high in cornwall?

I'd think carefully before leaving your kooshty 27k job

I'm astonished OP is earning 27k with no qualifications, AND right now he's resting on his laurels, the glaringly obvious thing to do is self study and get as many industry certs as you can , this will put you in a strong position to get kept on and apply for better posts within the council. This will do you no harm at all and won't affect any other ideas/goals you may have. You are in a very privileged position right now, I can see things getting worse.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

Scary money. Money that a local s***kicker like me should never have earned. Yet, somehow I did. I don't even know how it happened.

For context and for those who are not living in New Zealand, what happened was some bloody great big earthquakes which essentially demolished Christchurch (a NZ city) and drove demand for builders, painters, sparkies, plasterers etc through the roof. Hourly rates went crazy due to demand/supply and there was a mass influx of trained (and not so trained) personnel into the area. I think the last projection was that this will last for 4 or 5 years.

So to blithely say you don't know how it happened is at best an oversight in your post.

By the way, you're not the former poster Oxygene (oxygen?) who was always talking about moving to NZ but never seemed to get his life in order to manage it? I'm only interested in case there are parallels here between you and the OP but not the ones you've stated.

 

[gambitt]

How about supplementing your income with some business on the side? You get 27k already and from what I gather you have plenty of spare time to read forums etc. Can you run an ebay store or do some freelance IT work?

If you want a 50k salary and the status/perks that go with it, you're going to have to move out of Cornwall. Bristol might be an option but London is where all the money is (as well as £1200 pcm rent

First things first - move out of your parents' house. You will feel so much better.

 

[craptakular]

Additionally, I imagine some of the most rewarding jobs are voluntary. But you can't support yourself with voluntary work, no matter how much you enjoy it. Conservation work falls into this category. I imagine that has a really good feel factor, but most conservation work is voluntary, as you may know.

What a load of rubbish!

Volunteer at your local Wildlife Trust or Nature Reserve.

This is a list of employers off the top of my head that do environmental/conservation work

DEFRA
Environment Agency
Natural England
100s of Wildlife Trust
MAFF

Then there are the consultants.

What other opportunities are at the council? You do realise if you weren't a lay-about dosser at work you could really shine?

Everyone knows council employees are useless, lazy jobsworths... if you applied yourself at the Council and pulled up some trees you could get the Project Manager role that you say yourself is useless.

However, you do the reverse and sit on your backside and just say "it's not my problem", make it your problem!!!!!!

That is the attitude that gets you 50k+

 

[Things change I've changed]

Like I said before start banking your cash, people may take the pee earning 27k and living at home but that provides you with a unique opportunity to bank cash and more than a lot of people earning more than you that have larger outlays.

You say you live in Cornwall, so do I and houses are pretty affordable down here, you should be able to easily afford one on 27k, living at home on your income I could save 15-20k a year seriously and still have plenty of money to enjoy myself, in no time you could easily save a good chunk of deposit no mortgage lender would refuse.

 

[Surveyor]

living at home on your income I could save 15-20k a year seriously and still have plenty of money to enjoy myself, in no time you could easily save a good chunk of deposit no mortgage lender would refuse.

£15-£20k seems rather optimistic.

I assume the £27k is gross pay so net would be around £21,300 then less whatever other deductions the OP has, e.g. pension contributions.

 

[gothic_hobbit]

First things first - move out of your parents' house. You will feel so much better.

This.

 

[McBain]

Last time I recommended this to someone they jumped on my **** saying the salary is gash, until they went off and took a look for themselves.

One word, Drupal. Market is absolutely booming, loads of jobs about, if you've got Drupal on your CV your phone will literally will light up. 50K within 5 years is a bit of a stretch, but 40'ish within 3/4 years isn't out of the question, then you can push on from there.

Problem being is getting you foot in the door, you'll need to learn quite a bit at home to get going. That being said, you don't need any qualifications. It's a fairly radical career change, and lots to learn. But it's creative, demanding and rewarding at the same time.

Finally, your location is a bit of an issue. Hot beds for this type of career are London, Manchester and strangely last time I looked, Bristol.

 

[Winky_The_Winking_Turtle]

What a load of rubbish!

Volunteer at your local Wildlife Trust or Nature Reserve.

This is a list of employers off the top of my head that do environmental/conservation work

DEFRA
Environment Agency
Natural England
100s of Wildlife Trust
MAFF

Then there are the consultants.

What other opportunities are at the council? You do realise if you weren't a lay-about dosser at work you could really shine?

Everyone knows council employees are useless, lazy jobsworths... if you applied yourself at the Council and pulled up some trees you could get the Project Manager role that you say yourself is useless.

However, you do the reverse and sit on your backside and just say "it's not my problem", make it your problem!!!!!!

That is the attitude that gets you 50k+

Yeah, if your job is so easy "a monkey could do it", why do you take such a laid back approach and complain about it. It is your fault after all you are in your current position (quite a blunt point), so why not try to excel at it, work hard, prove yourself. Basically, do something about it. If the only opportunities you have are to work at your current workplace, due to your qualifications, etc., then at least try to be the best, if it is as easy as you make it seem, then you can work on from there.

 

[Sheff]

If I were in your position I would do the following:

1. Try to make that 27k job permanent or at least have another fixed term lined up.

2. Work out what you want to do as a career as soon as possible, even a vague idea is better than none at all.

3. Use the opportunity of living at home to save for a two bed flat rather than buying a house outright, get a lodger for extra income.

 

[Liampope]

Never mind your next job - you can start right now. You need to change your attitude. For example your contract is ending next year, and what are you doing to ensure it is renewed? By your own admission - nothing. You say you have nothing to do, the project is a mess, you think all the problems are higher up, etc etc. So you just ride along doing nothing. Why can't you be part of the solution instead? Why aren't you being proactive - telling your boss you've got time and the desire to do more if you can? That's the sort of thing someone who is set to earn 50k+ would be doing, even while thinking about other jobs entirely. You might create an opportunity you never new existed - they certainly don't find you if you're not being proactive.

I've stepped out of my comfort zone, grabbed opportunities, moved twice including abroad, and trebled my salary in a few years. So it's possible, but it doesn't happen by doing nothing. Thinking about moving on and asking for advice is something, but even before that there are plenty of things about yourself and your current situation you can start to change immediately. Good luck.

 

[RedvGreen]

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?

OK, to start off, you earn more than my basic wage.

I've got a 2:1 IT Degree, a Distinction at MSc, 8yrs working in IT, 3yrs in current expert role, and about 20 law enforcement/police/military training courses to my name.

I only actually earn more than you if you consider that I am expected to work 60-100hrs extra per month at flat 1x rate., which brings my annual gross salary to around £32k, but I never have weekends off.

There are many people with slightly lower quals than me who are on far less than me in my agency.

So first of all, you have what I would term a 'cushy number' - you are earning way more than most people on this forum (if they're being honest).
In fact, you are earning more than me with little to no hassle or stress. Need to go to court? Need to interview suspects? Need to examine nasty crimes? I doubt you need to do any of those.

On your current £27k, you could easily amass a lump sum to go to University and excel in any subject of your choosing. If you get a 1st, you could walk into any graduate entry scheme, same with a 2:1. If you do this, don't go clubbing or drinking or blowing your funds on technology. FOCUS.

Alternatively, you could do some training (such as Firebrand intensive courses) where they will power you through Microsoft or Cisco courses in 1-2 weeks. These quals are passports to big jobs and big salaries. Your downside is the lack of experience at those levels though.

If you are looking to fast-track advance, you could do an MBA - basically management postgraduate degree. Once you get a Manager position, you are pretty much made. The organisation's HR will insulate and protect you, and you will often advance fast if you tow the party line and do as you're told.

 

[[FnG]magnolia]

I can't tell if this last post is serious or not.

 

[dowie]

@xs2man: If I said there is no job I want to do, people would mis-interpret that as not wanting to work. What I actually mean is that I don't have a pull towards any particular job.

It's for me not an easy question, sorry

What interests me? I guess technology in general interests me. But I'm sure there would be other things that would interest me had I been exposed to them. I haven't done that much in 34 years.

The only thing that would motivate me at the current time is money. Not a thing else. Largely because of what I said above.

Maybe you're right and I'm approaching this from the wrong angle. It's all food for thought.

But you know what your strengths and weaknesses are - you know if you're a sociable person...

You'll likely have some idea of whether chatting to people all day, bashing numbers on the phone and trying to close them in a sales role is something that you'd be comfortable with or would fill you with dread. You probably also have some idea of whether sitting in a train carriage with little contact with others, concentrating on the track, constantly looking out for lights/signals etc... is something you'd be comfortable with.