The 5 year plan to £50k

[booyaka]

Sounds like you made a good decision there @booyaka but I guess the experience early on in your career helped and you have to be grateful for that in some way??

Indeed - I think for me I learned early on that I'm either difficult to manage or I just don't like being managed! Not sure which!! - Enjoy doing my own thing.

Suppose as well that at 17 years old I had no clue what I wanted to do with my life, went to Uni with mid-range grades and it just didn't work for me. Enjoyed working/earning more than studying etc. Happy with the choices I've made but sometimes it's just pure luck that I "fell" into a job with Scottish Widows and things went from there.

I do miss the mad drunken nights out from those days (i was 20/21 at the time) , the amount of affairs, gossip, and carry on from the call centre staff/management was just crazy - could write a book about some of it! Used to sleep under the desks with headset on etc - waiting for calls. 365 days a year, 8am to 10pm so there was plenty of nonsense that went on. Lets just say promotions were not about what you knew, but who you knew!

 

[Ace Modder]

My path is quite different to most people here. I thought I would share my story of my employment history.

1997: Left school (year 11) with the following grades:
Grade A x2
Grade B x3
Grade C x2
1997-1998:
I was unsure about what I wanted to do at this age, and I looked at my family for their history, my closest cousin was 5 years older than me, she left school with similiar results as me, she went onto college and then uni and came out with a degree but found herself unable to find decent work. She ended up working in a greasey spoon for 2 years even with an accountancy degree behind her.
I decided that I would go to a training college for computing studies as this was my interest. I signed up to IT hardware and server setup/management courses. I completed these courses, and passed with flying colours. I actually helped the tutor with the lessons and educating the other students. The course I was on had a few more mature students and the course also provides some stepping stones to employment. I remember being 17 years old and mentoring a guy on the course who was 15 years my senior, I taught him every aspect of the modules we were learning. Because he had a driving licence and a car he netted himself a role as a engineer setting up large network deployment systems for a company. One of his first tasks actually was to setup the networking infrastructre in a new shopping centre that was being built down south. The building was complete but no retail stores were in yet. The centre was called BlueWater shopping centre in Kent. The guy contacted me and asked if I would like to work for the company on a short term basis for 2 weeks to support him. (May 1998) I jumped at the chance, even though I had not heard of the shopping centre at the time. We stayed in local digs and I was paid £50 per day. At 17 I enjoyed this but afterwrads that ended and nothing more came of it. I wish I had a driving license back then, maybe I could have progressed.

June 1998: After the limited work at bluewater, I got a job at a company called SSC (specialist computer centre) in oldbury, this was such a let down role, they were a repair/refurb agent for a number of complanies and my role was within a team who looked after the laptops for a company called pearl life assurance. They had a contract with SSC for the repair and unkeep of their field agents laptops. 95% of my time was spend either stripping down and cleaning laptops or replacing the thumb nipple mice on the keyboard cos they were so prone to being faulty. After a few months I left, the job was almost a factory type role but on old laptops.

September 1998: A job came up at the local Vauxhall dealership, which my Father worked at for over 20 years as mechanic. The role was in the parts team, sales advisor and order picker. I took this as there was nothing much else I could find at the time. I worked for there for 2 years - at this time my priority in life was having enough money to go out and get mashed on the weekends. A career took a backbu

2000: I got a job at a local Staples branch, working the PC Sales on the shop floor and completing in-house PC repairs. This role was not very demanding, it was low paid and I coped wiht it for 18mmonths.

2001: I joined a few recruitment companies and was offered a role at Yorkshire Bank as a front counter assistant. I thought this was a decent stepping stone into a possible careeer so I jumped at the chance, got an interview - smashed it and worked there for a while, however the branch manager didn't like me. She was a bit of a battle axe and I was the only male employee at this time, and after a while I felt that she didnt like me on a personal level. Professionally I felt there was no issue. Due to the untoward feelings I was actively looking for a new role elsewhere, partly because of her and partly because the commute was 1h 45mins each way as the branch wasn't local. I was on £14k in this role and enough was enough, she didn't put me up for any courses to learn things, she put others in for CMAP etc, but didnt allow me to do any of it.

Late 2001: I found a role within a call centre for PRG Powerhouse a large store like Comet etc. This was a call centre for the home delivery enquiries as PRG Powerhouse has its own internal fleet of depots and deliver vechicles etc. I massively excelled in this role and within 3 months I went to team leader, then another 3 months later I became Supervisor for a team of 30 phone advisors. The pay wasn't very good at a supervisor I was only earning £18k. I stayed there for a number of years, the job was fun, made a lot of friends there. After 6 years the company got into trouble and eventually went into administration and closed.

2007: Within 1 week of being made redundant I got a job in a call centre for a company called NightFrieght - within their specialised 2 man delivery team network. Again wihtin 3 months I was promoted to Team Leader (there were 2 team leaders for about 25 staff - I was one of them). I worked there for 2 years but the company wasn't great to work for. I actually took a pay cut to get into that role. As team leader I was on £16.5k.

2007: I applied for a job I found on a forum, a company called Overclockers were recruiting for a a purchaser. I applied for the job, I got invited to an interview. I ended up having three interviews and after the final one I was advised I would be contacted if succesfful. Time passed and I never got anything back. After around 5 months I randomly got a call asking if I was still interested in the role at OcUK. I said yes. I started there a month later. I was on £17k to start with as a trainee. After providing myself I was given a raise to £18k after around 1 year. I continued to work hard, Gibbo was the purchasing manager and he left to move to (competitor1). A number of people within the purchasing team left, Phil M, Whitworth and Yemen (from theses forums) I took a more senior role in the purchasing team and was given £20k a year. Then Gibbo came back to OcUK after doign stints at (competitor1) and (competitor2). Gibbo was given the purchasing manager role again and I was made assistant manager and a minor rise to £20.5k with a view of a review after a few months. Then Caseking bought OcUK and for the next two years I remained on my £20.5k a year. Every quarter I asked for a paye review as promised but it never happened and each time was told "next quarter..." in the end I decided to move on.

2013: I joined Antec as UK and Ireland country manager after being offered a basic salary which is very good plus a company car and a bonus structure. In the first year I earnt about £38k in total. For the next 3 years my total pay was around the same. Then in 2017 my sales excelled and my commission was much better so in 2017 I earnt £47.5k. This year I expect to break the £50k barrier.

So with only formal qualifications of GCSEs and NVQ Level 3s I am very close to the £50 per year salary now. This shows it is certainly possible and I attribute the skills to do it from the sales roles, and customer service roles in my early years. Most people tend to think jobs at a car parts team, Staples/PC World etc and inbound call centre roles to be quite unskilled, they are, but they can really teach you disciplines that you can take into higher roles for sure.

OcUK was a massive stepping stone for me though, getting into an industry I love so much.

 

[Ace Modder]

I do miss the mad drunken nights out from those days (i was 20/21 at the time) , the amount of affairs, gossip, and carry on from the call centre staff/management was just crazy - could write a book about some of it! Used to sleep under the desks with headset on etc - waiting for calls. 365 days a year, 8am to 10pm so there was plenty of nonsense that went on. Lets just say promotions were not about what you knew, but who you knew!

Sounds very much like the call centres i worked in when I was the same age

 

[dr_volki]

some great posts in here

my story:
2003-2007 did an apprenticeship in electrical design for building services in switzerland
2007-2008 got taken on by the partner company starting at £35k (according to google ) and remember different kind of wages due to living costs.
2008-2010: moved over to the uk for my now wife. took a few jobs here and there, but did not find anything within the engineering sector due to having no degree or experience. So took same telemarketing and technical clerk jobs paying somewhere from £7-£8 / hour.
2010-18: got a call to work as a cad technician £18/h in the public sector working at a fusion research site. Last year was taken on permanent with the IR35 changes at £36k + very good pension (19% employer contribution). However i have kinda become complacent now and i certainly don't see any progression in my current position. This year where i really need to pull the finger out and finish of my IT training that i started over a year ago. i doubt i will ever be able to go back into electrical design without taking a pay cut unfortunately

 

[malachi]

June 1998: After the limited work at bluewater, I got a job at a company called SSC (specialist computer centre) in oldbury, this was such a let down role, they were a repair/refurb agent for a number of complanies and my role was within a team who looked after the laptops for a company called pearl life assurance. They had a contract with SSC for the repair and unkeep of their field agents laptops. 95% of my time was spend either stripping down and cleaning laptops or replacing the thumb nipple mice on the keyboard cos they were so prone to being faulty. After a few months I left, the job was almost a factory type role but on old laptops.

Worked there myself in the call center side when I used to live in Oldbury. Was hoping to start my IT career there but after 9 months I couldn't move onto the IT side coming from the call center. After I found this out I left the following week as I couldn't deal with call center work anymore.

In a better place now, will be in a more better place at the end of this year, well on my way to earning and bypass the 50k mark Just need to focus on getting the rest of my MS certs passed.

 

[bayo000]

2010-18: got a call to work as a cad technician £18/h in the public sector working at a fusion research site. Last year was taken on permanent with the IR35 changes at £36k + very good pension (19% employer contribution). However i have kinda become complacent now and i certainly don't see any progression in my current position. This year where i really need to pull the finger out and finish of my IT training that i started over a year ago. i doubt i will ever be able to go back into electrical design without taking a pay cut unfortunately

Look at doing EngTech, it's fairly easy to do especially with 10 years experience and even if your current employer doesn't pay for it it's only couple of hundred pounds.

 

[dr_volki]

Look at doing EngTech, it's fairly easy to do especially with 10 years experience and even if your current employer doesn't pay for it it's only couple of hundred pounds.

will check it out.
thanks

 

[Diddums]

Wow, never thought this thread would become such a great source of inspiration and help, brings a tear to my eye it does

Here's my story:

Never finished my education in South Africa and moved to Holland when I was 15. Being a 15yo African in a high school meant bullying, lots and lots of bullying, so I started biting back and eventually got kicked out of school for fighting.
Joined this company and started an apprenticeship as a pipefitter and boilermaker. Off topic, best company I ever worked for and I have many, many regrets about burning my bridges there, so remember folks, if you have a good company that treats you well, then treat them well back.
I got fired after 4 years mainly due to drug abuse and spent the next year bouncing between companies but never really settling, this was probably the worst time of my life as I had no purpose, no drive, no motivation. Getting kicked out of Schermer hit me hard.
Eventually moved to London and started moving office furniture for £50 a day. Lasted a few months but was also just rubbish work, no progression, no career, not even a tax code, so I had to look further.
I was walking around at London Bridge one day handing out CVs when I walked past PRS who were then based there (they're now on Alie street in the City, still in touch with them) and checked out some of their jobs in their shop window, not realising that this was a very pivotal point in my life. I saw what jobs they had, what was needed, and that was that. I walked in, had a chat, gave them a CV and they started looking for work for me.
Eventually I started working in the building maintenance game which although isn't glorious, was earning decent money and I was working for actual, proper companies, not mickey-mouse fly-by-night jobbies who would disappear at the slightest hint of a tax man.
I spent the next 2 years bouncing between various companies doing loads of short work, holiday cover, etc. This was probably the most interesting time of my life as I got to work in some incredibly interesting places and see behind the scenes of places most can only dream of. Including Wembley Arena (saw loads of events there too, including Race of Champions, Tina Turner concert, etc. We often sat in David Beckham's box when it was quiet and he wasn't there, but don't tell him, I don't think he'd like it). Other places include Brixton Prison (yes, amongst the inmates and in their cells and everything), Tower of London, 10 Piccadilly (biggest underground vault Ive ever seen, belonged to a 1920s Post Office which was there at the time, also had a small defunct underground rail system for post), and many more. Extremely interesting, would do it again.
Then I started settling, first with Spie Matthew Hall (2 years), then with Integral (4 years), then with BTFS (Bt's attempt at a maintenance company, godawful place to work, great if you want to sit on your arse and play videogames all day) and now CBRE, formerly known as Norland (which I worked for at Wembley and swore never to work for again, weird how the world does that), for the last 3 years.

CBRE have treated me well, sent me on various training courses, promoted me, and generally looked after me. I should point out that this was an area manager that's since left. The new one is a lovely guy but a bit wet behind the ears so the investment in me has ground to a halt. I manage a team of 8, running a £650m building in the square mile with some of the highest profile clients in the world. It's tough, it's demanding, it can get extremely busy and it can drive me up the wall but at the end of the day I have a fantastic team and love what I do. If it weren't for certain people within my circles of employment I'd love my job but some folks just seem to want to make life hell for everyone else which can leave a bit of a sour taste at the end of the day but you get them everywhere so I can't complain too much about that.

Including overtime I earn over £50k but it does take quite a bit of OT to achieve that (I don't mind the OT that much, although I'd like to start winding down a bit).

That said, I am always open to new ideas as I don't want to stagnate. I have various recruitment companies always on the lookout for me and even though I keep my criteria rather specific as I don't want to leave for another crap job, I do get something put before me once a week or so, and this is the interview I'm going to next week:


REDACTED

Sounds like a decent one, money's good, with OT I could probably push past £65-£70k depending on how things work out, but I'll only know once I've been to the interview.


//I'm also doing a degree in engineering at the Open University which combined with my working hours is hard, but worth it. I've got a thing in my head where I have to outdo everyone on my father's side of the family as they're all judgemental people who ask what your job is before your name. There's a lot behind this I won't bore you with but suffice to say I'm fairly close to earning more than most of them at 34 years old and want to be more educated than them as well (this isn't anything against them, although I don't like them much, this is more my motivation, someone once said to me "people without motivation achieve nothing, so find what motivates you and go at it", well, this is my motivation and I'm going for it).

EDIT: Just to add to all of this, you don't need cushy safety nets or fall backs to achieve anything in life. I came to London with £600 cash and a suitcase. I have no parents to move in to if it goes wrong, my mother isn't well off so asking for money isn't an option. I have no safety nets, if I mess it all up I'm sleeping on a bench, simple as that. It took severe determination and an iron will to get to where I am today but it worked and I very firmly believe that anyone can do it.

I genuinely hope others can do the same, I've literally gone from living in a caravan in someone's back yard in a crap country to living in a nice 2bed penthouse in the financial capital of the world with more to look forward to than anyone in my family ever has. If anyone wants to have a chat or wants some recommendations in to getting in to this line of work (which is easy I should add, I've helped a few folks off the dole who are all earning £30k+ now) please get in touch, I'm more than happy to help

 

[Ayahuasca]

EDIT: Just to add to all of this, you don't need cushy safety nets or fall backs to achieve anything in life. I came to London with £600 cash and a suitcase. I have no parents to move in to if it goes wrong, my mother isn't well off so asking for money isn't an option. I have no safety nets, if I mess it all up I'm sleeping on a bench, simple as that. It took severe determination and an iron will to get to where I am today but it worked and I very firmly believe that anyone can do it.

That's a massive driver for many, yeah being born into privilege and wealth often does get you far but so does the fact that if you don't push yourself you'll be on the streets or living in squalor. I honestly believe some of those who struggle the most to achieve are the ones in between, just above working or middle class where you can go back to your parents or you'll always have just enough money to get by. Just like FreeFaller said above, he wasn't willing to accept help/money from his parents either. Very well done on your journey.

 

[Diddums]

Snip

Hi, remember me? I was your one night stand a few years ago.

Great post mate. Something you touched on which I think can be elaborated on a bit more is quality of life. You mention hedge fund managers, well, I have hands on experience in this field. Not as a manager, but as someone who works around them day in, day out. Loads of people, the media and Hollywood like to glamourise dealers and managers as the glory boys, the ones who work short hours and drive around in Ferraris for 5 days a week. Well, I've seen them at various financial companies which I won't name but they're some of the biggest names in the game and yes, many of them have the latest Astons and drink £10k bottles of champagne, but what people don't tell you is that most of them are single and for good reason: their lives are awful. I start work at 7 and on most days these guys are already at their desks, or worse still, still at their desks. Their hours are insane, they need to be available 24/7 and they often look like zombies. They stare at those 8 monitors for more than half of their lives and have to be at clients' beck and call on the shortest notice. Those receipts that were seen in the papers a few years ago of people spending £100k+ on a night out were real, and sad. Those kinds of money were spent on clients mainly, in the hope that they'd toss them a fund to manage. More often than not, those slips reflected debt, not earnings. These people surround themselves with beautiful women and fancy boats, but then 6 months later you hear that they've flung themselves off the Coq D'Argent. It's a crap life, it really is. I used to obsess about it as a youngster, films like Boiler Room and stories in the papers made me want to be a hotshot dealer but when I started working in the square mile, reality hit me and that idea turned sour very quickly.

I'll gladly earn less and have a good quality of life than have all the money in the world and have no life at all.

 

[randomshenans]

Really love these posts, and it is a stark reminder that very few people follow a traditional path through their careers.

 

[Mr^B]

Agreed. I think it's interesting that the course of careers isn't smooth - and that most people have some sort of defining moment, usually following a bout of indecision or lethargy (the latter for me), after which they sort themselves out.

 

[Jony27]

Hi, remember me? I was your one night stand a few years ago.

Great post mate. Something you touched on which I think can be elaborated on a bit more is quality of life. You mention hedge fund managers, well, I have hands on experience in this field. Not as a manager, but as someone who works around them day in, day out. Loads of people, the media and Hollywood like to glamourise dealers and managers as the glory boys, the ones who work short hours and drive around in Ferraris for 5 days a week. Well, I've seen them at various financial companies which I won't name but they're some of the biggest names in the game and yes, many of them have the latest Astons and drink £10k bottles of champagne, but what people don't tell you is that most of them are single and for good reason: their lives are awful. I start work at 7 and on most days these guys are already at their desks, or worse still, still at their desks. Their hours are insane, they need to be available 24/7 and they often look like zombies. They stare at those 8 monitors for more than half of their lives and have to be at clients' beck and call on the shortest notice. Those receipts that were seen in the papers a few years ago of people spending £100k+ on a night out were real, and sad. Those kinds of money were spent on clients mainly, in the hope that they'd toss them a fund to manage. More often than not, those slips reflected debt, not earnings. These people surround themselves with beautiful women and fancy boats, but then 6 months later you hear that they've flung themselves off the Coq D'Argent. It's a crap life, it really is. I used to obsess about it as a youngster, films like Boiler Room and stories in the papers made me want to be a hotshot dealer but when I started working in the square mile, reality hit me and that idea turned sour very quickly.

I'll gladly earn less and have a good quality of life than have all the money in the world and have no life at all.

I thought this was going to be a 13 Reasons Why post the way it started

 

[Telecaster]

Seeing as it's P60 time I was going to do mine, but after reading the last few pages it would be too embarrassing and depressing.

Fair play to most of you though for getting where you are.

 

[Mr^B]

Seeing as it's P60 time I was going to do mine, but after reading the last few pages it would be too embarrassing and depressing.

Fair play to most of you though for getting where you are.

It's worth doing anyway, if you feel depressed or think you aren't realising your full potential (or whatever) a common theme in the diaries is that "we've all been there". I'm not sure if anyone would have any advice - but maybe writing it down (even if you don't end up posting it) would help.

 

[malachi]

Seeing as it's P60 time I was going to do mine, but after reading the last few pages it would be too embarrassing and depressing.

Go for it! Might push you to take an alternative path when typing it down.

 

[dr_volki]

Seeing as it's P60 time I was going to do mine, but after reading the last few pages it would be too embarrassing and depressing.

Fair play to most of you though for getting where you are.

what exactly is depressing? your earnings compared to others on the forum?
there will always be other people earning more than you, that is just a fact of life. the question is more are you happy with what you have right now and if not what are you willing to change / give up to achieve your goal?

 

[Telecaster]

what exactly is depressing? your earnings compared to others on the forum?
there will always be other people earning more than you, that is just a fact of life. the question is more are you happy with what you have right now and if not what are you willing to change / give up to achieve your goal?

It's depressing from the POV that people seem so well organised and have a career, they've spent time progressing and I've just wasted most of mine doing nothing with no clue where I wanted to be or what to do, no idea of any sort of training I'd want to get involved with or indeed even what I'd want to get trained in.

I may write it up here but it will be long winded because it will be a process of venting some frustration as well as documenting what I've done.

 

[malachi]

It's depressing from the POV that people seem so well organised and have a career, they've spent time progressing and I've just wasted most of mine doing nothing with no clue where I wanted to be or what to do, no idea of any sort of training I'd want to get involved with or indeed even what I'd want to get trained in.

I may write it up here but it will be long winded because it will be a process of venting some frustration as well as documenting what I've done.

All of us are here to offer some friendly advice if needed.

 

[Fusion]

It's depressing from the POV that people seem so well organised and have a career, they've spent time progressing and I've just wasted most of mine doing nothing with no clue where I wanted to be or what to do, no idea of any sort of training I'd want to get involved with or indeed even what I'd want to get trained in.

I may write it up here but it will be long winded because it will be a process of venting some frustration as well as documenting what I've done.

If you're willing to listen/change, then you'll find tons of advice here and people wanting to help.