The 5 year plan to £50k

[FoxEye]

Without taking the **** what are you actually up to these days? Genuinely interested and not to mock, as someone who is slowly working up to your original goals im interested.

I Google for a living Aka IT (admin, not support). Nothing impressive, I just click around in SCCM all day, whilst the other guys do the real work

When I was young I wanted to be in software development, but I only ever succeeded in writing bugs About 5 per line of code.

These days I just add /qn switches to msiexec strings and not a lot else. I'd love to do more but I really don't have any in-demand skills. So I just keep adding those /qn's Kind of amazing that you can do that for a full-time job, all day every day, no?

 

[FoxEye]

Chemical Engineering stuff

Like Breaking Bad?

 

[FoxEye]

Pretty routine stuff in the power industry. Not surprising office workers wouldn’t know about it

@FoxEye would you like the thread closed?

I'm happy for it to remain open. I don't mind either way.

I probably deserve a bit of a ribbing/kick up the arse for making the thread and then giving up soon after I can take it tho. I have plenty of Kleenex here to dry my tears.

 

[FoxEye]

Not able to sift through the entirety of this thread, but did the OP succeed in his aspirations?

No, don't think so

He bought a cat.

I had to LOL at this.

I'm glad I can laugh at myself tho. Thoroughly deserved in this instance.

Tbh I don't post in this thread anymore as it seems to be helping others achieve their own ambitions, and that's great. I don't want to bring the tone down

 

[FoxEye]

All joking aside, it might be interesting both for you and your audience to understand why you gave up on this plan, and if you have a new plan going forward. Were you too ambitious? Too inflexible? Do you have other issues that impacted on your ability to execute? Was the advice given in this thread wrong, or just too hard for you to follow?

If I gave you a simple answer, it would be the wrong answer.

I guess like just about everybody else, my reasons are complex; a mixture of fears, hopes, conflicting desires, insecurity. It would be easy to point and say, "He's too lazy to..." or something along those lines. The trouble is I'm internally conflicted about just about everything. Nothing is every simple.

I don't even understand myself a lot of the time. Some of my ideas are only half-formed and fleeting. These rarely amount to anything.

Why does anyone do what they do? For the most trivial of actions you could probably give a simple, accurate answer. "I ate that doughnut because I saw it and it looked good." "But I didn't eat the second because I'm going to a party tonight and I want to watch my figure." "But actually I nearly did eat it because my willpower let me down." "But then I remembered a promise I made to my Dad and..."

What I'm trying to get at in a very roundabout kind of way is that there is no simple answer for why I'm not sitting on £50k or shooting up the wealth ladder.

Maybe I'm not capable? Maybe I'm not clever enough. Maybe I'm not driven enough. Maybe I'm too soft.

Maybe I'm not the kind of person I thought I was?

Maybe my priorities aren't even set in stone. Maybe my priorities aren't concrete because I have so few responsibilities that I can go whichever way the wind blows. Or maybe that's because I'm too stupid/apathetic.

I can't give you a simple answer. I don't have a clear picture myself.

That probably wasn't the answer you wanted

 

[FoxEye]

Did you lose 3.5 stone?

Is that a genuine question? Think about when I started and tell me that's a genuine question, not a dig (because you expect I will have failed completely)

 

[FoxEye]

Do you still want to hit that target though?

Yes, but not at any cost.

For example, a lot of suggestions naturally involved moving to the capital (or in fact anywhere other than Cornwall). I know from the experiences of others that there is good money to be earned elsewhere. But for family reasons I have chosen to stay down here.

That's not to say people down here are not making £50K... of course they are, but it's less common. And mostly they all have degrees, too.

But it highlights how I'm not prepared to make certain sacrifices that maybe I would need to to increase my earnings.

One of the biggest obstacles to getting ahead that I currently face is a total lack of self-belief. I've got old, fat and stupid - although I was never all that smart to begin with When I look at people earning good sums my first thought tends to be, "I could never do that." With that kind of attitude towards myself nothing good is ever going to happen. But getting rid of that negative voice and negative perception of myself is something I've always struggled with my whole life, with little to no success.

Or maybe I'm just making excuses. At this point there's no value in self-delusion, so I'm prepared to accept that maybe the only issue is that I'm a pretty weak-willed, lazy, ignorant fool. I wouldn't hire me for any role.

 

[FoxEye]

I do enjoy reading people's success stories but I wish I could get some more detail on how they jumped up the ladder, one rung at a time.

For me it often comes back to the chicken and egg problem.

OK, so I'm doing basic IT full-time, for a basic IT wage. Although the job isn't demanding, it's non-stop with no downtime. There is no time to shadow others and no desire from the business for that to happen, either.

Basically their stance is that "We already have a person for X, and if they left we'd hire externally someone who can already do X and hit the ground running."

So if a person gets hired for basic IT, as I was, you do basic IT... well, forever. It's not just me, the other guys who started out doing basic IT are still doing basic IT. Those who "progressed" in this company entered management, with almost no exceptions. The "techies" who aren't interested in management to a man find themselves doing the same thing they've done since they joined.

It should be noted that the wage for basic IT is ... basic So paying for expensive training courses is right out.

What I would like to know for a start is: the people like randomshenans, who joined a company doing basic IT - just how did you move into a more advanced role? Did your first employer elect to train you up? Did they offer to train you, or did you have to push them into it via persistent pleading?

Did you instead teach yourself entirely via free online courses/ Google? Did you manage to land a more skilled job just by applying for something you weren't really qualified to do? Bluff your way in? Bluff your way up?

I guess I'm confused because none of the companies I've done basic IT work for have ever allowed me to train up for anything else. So I've been doing basic IT for over 10 years now :/

 

[FoxEye]

<snip>

Thanks for that post.

I do think to myself reading some of these replies, "How did they have the courage to do that?" Like jumping into a field you have absolutely no experience of. I mean, I've never applied for any job if I couldn't tick every box in the job spec. Bad mistake I guess. I've looked at great jobs in my area and thought, "Shame they want xxx; I can't do that but I can do 50% of what they're asking for."

But then the other thing I think listening to your experiences is, "These guys have basic social and inter-personal skills, which is definitely helping them. Networking ability seems to be a important factor in success." And that is one box I am just not capable of ticking. That is not an excuse - I could still be doing a lot more than I am - but I know this is going to hold me back always. I'm socially retarded

Anyway, I'm not looking to bump this thread, so will just stick to reading and not responding from now on. There is plenty of good stuff in this thread, and a better person than me would be able to put it into action. And I know I wind a lot of people up with my responses, so I will butt out now.

 

[FoxEye]

Yup totally nuts that it's been 5 years.

 

[FoxEye]

Has he moved out of his mums basement? Surely that alone would be a step in the right direction. Money is an enabler, but there are so many other things in life you should focus on and sort out before money.

We don't have a basement. Who in the UK has a basement?

That aggravates me so much. I don't care that y'all know I live at home. It's not even unusual (at least down here, or elsewhere like in London, etc).

But for Pete's sake, it's not a basement I have free roam throughout the whole house! Imagine that!

I'm still not going to be a renter. Think I'd rather end it all than pay 75% of my wage to let someone else pay off their mortgage. Not even joking.

Renters are the slave class of modern Britain. They really are. Wage slaves. #RentIsSlavery

 

[FoxEye]

Are you going to answer the question? How have you done?

I could, but it would make for quite painful reading, and perhaps not for the reasons you might expect.

There are issues in my life that far outweigh the amount I'm earning. This thread has taken on a life of its own and seems to have been of some use to a few people, as others have chipped in with good advise, etc.

If I actually tell you what you want to know this thread is going to some dark places. It's probably better that I don't.

 

[FoxEye]

So still living with parents and clearly an issue then

Lots of people have basements

In my head, being a renter would be an issue. Living at home is not.

I know people find it ridiculous, but I refuse to live my life as a slave to a landlord.

And frankly everyone I know who pays rent is crippled by it. Positively crippled. To the point where they can't save a deposit or break the cycle. Slavery, because there is no other choice.

 

[FoxEye]

You might have convinced yourself it's not an issue, but being a grown man in what, your 30s? It is an issue. You've convinced yourself that renters are the new slave class or something, that's some warped view of the world that has helped you manifest the excuse to stay at home and leach. If what you say is true then in that case your parents are slaves to you.

And despite what your parents say, I guarantee it's an issue for them. When my child is grown up in his 30s I bloody well hope he's stood on his own two feet and got his life on track. If he hasn't then I will take that as an indicator that I've let him down in preparation for life as much as he hasn't gone out and taken it on himself. However, if he is absolutely stuck and asks if I can accommodate him, I'm never going to refuse him am I, he's my son. I'm never going to want to make him feel like he is putting me out, instead I'm going to smile and tell him he's welcome always, all the while probably thinking I'd like to enjoy my retirement in peace as I'd planned ...your poor parent(s).

You don't know what you're talking about.

Not every family is the same.

Perhaps that would be true for your family. I won't claim to know. Neither do you know about mine. Thanks.

 

[FoxEye]

Welcome to ignore @RoboCod. I told you you have no idea what my parents want or think or what their attitudes to me living at home are. Since you can't resist keeping on about it, and I've made it quite clear you're talking ***** (and yet your arrogance seems to let you speak for people you've never met), I can't be bothered to read any more from you. I remember you from other threads btw. I think you're generally quite a spiteful person.

If mods wish to close this thread they are welcome to. I will leave it to their discretion.

 

[FoxEye]

Without mentioning my parents any more (please), let me just ask you.

Is it a good thing to struggle... I mean really struggle at some point in your life?

Let's say for argument's sake, that the amount I earn means I would have nothing left after paying rent and living costs. Be unable to save anything and probably have to sell my car, etc.

Is that going to make me happy (clearly not), or is the idea that it's character building to have nothing and no one and be at complete rock-bottom for a while? That it does a person good?

People live at home (increasingly) because the alternative is to barely be able to exist.

Is everybody here so middle-class that struggling to exist isn't something they could possibly understand? Or maybe everybody is coupled off so don't understand just having a single income? And not a great one at that?

 

[FoxEye]

I'm not suggesting you move out and go to some other location in order to push trollies around Tesco car park or to flip burgers etc... I thought the point of the thread was that you'd want to start a new career, if you're in a location where there are fewer opportunities then it would seem sensible to be open to moving around in order to initiate a career (especially when you're single and in position where you're not tied down to a single place by a mortgage, family etc...).

Then once you've established yourself in a career perhaps you can either move back to where your parents live or indeed settle down/buy a place in some nearby county - especially if you've already got the deposit for a house available.

Bear in mind I didn't bump this thread. That was those of you who wanted answers about my current situation. I should probably have stayed well enough away from it.

Tbh the more I think about it the more the future appears bleak and hopeless. This world we've created weeds out people like me. You've got to be smart, strong-willed, resilient and I'm none of those.

I've kind of given up really. It is what it is. Life is tough, I'm not able to deal. The end.