iDave – haven't been following. What's the latest venture?

some work for a company in brazil, which has scope a certain degree of automation which they're not quite aware that i'm able to do, but getting better results than they were expecting. is that vague enough?

yep. highly vague. 😀

I made a fairly big change a number of years ago from working in the offshore drilling industry to being an air traffic controller. Big risk to start with as the pass rate for training is well under 50% from ab-initio trainee at the training centre to being a full rated controller. I also took a drop in pay from 30K+ a year under 20K initially. It's paid off now though as I'm earning a lot more than if I'd stayed in my previous job, it's also taken me to the other side of the world (currently working in NZ).
Much better than before, more money, less hours, cheap flights and really enjoyable job which is nowhere near as stressful as you'd think

ourmaninthenorth – Member

+1

Don't mind being a lawyer right now, but a change may be forced upon me in 12-24 months*.

Then it will have to be a sizeable change of tack and a mahoosive paycut.

Ideas so far have been:

1. Remortgage and study medicine
2. Teaching
3. Academia
4. Buy a chip shop
5. Run a (kids) day nursery.

Any others?

*long story – I'll share another time.

1. Remortgage and study medicine

Do this if you are able to last for 5 years because the pay off is far better.

2. Teaching

Secondary or further education but below Uni level is better.

3. Academia

Assuming you're referring to Higher Education at Univ level unless you are in medicine, science or engineering (depending on the type of engineering – biotech, nanotech or chemical is preferable) avoid it by all means especially in humanity or social science as you need to "fund" your own salary and the cut is coming in this area.

4. Buy a chip shop

Yes, provided you have a naturally talent to cook the perfect fish & chip. Well not necessary perfect but something that differentiate yourself from the ordinary chip shop. If you can perfect the taste you hit the jackpot.

5. Run a (kids) day nursery.

Yes, good one if you have the skills and capital.

Personally, I would choose 1 or 5 with 5 needing some business plan.

🙂

I don't have a passion for what the company is trying to achieve

This was the clincher for me. I went from a well paid job in the private sector which was essentially about making a lot of money for some not very nice people, to a job using the same skills in the NHS. Now I'm lucky enough to be able to make what I believe is a genuine difference to people's lives. I made the change in my mid thirties, and was very lucky not to have to retrain or take that much of a pay cut. The only problem now is that the NHS has massively worse job security than it did a couple of years ago. Job security aside though, I couldn't be happier with the change.

Think you need to analyze yourself. Strength, weaknesses, qualifications. What can you reasonably achieve and what style of life do you want. Casting around for other peoples ideas is just as likely lead to failing to achieve what you want. I changed what I was doing about 8 years ago after a long look at myself and what I wanted and where I wanted to be. Now where I predicted I would be and am very happy. But I did it after a good look at me, warts and all. I was honest about what I would be happy doing. I set some goals to change the situation that I worked towards.

Looking at the options through Pawsy Bear specs I personally would avoid those that didnt leave me time to do what I want. I chose my job on the one that gave me control over how I worked and I can allocate time as I want. Maybe that is the key. Being in control?

I think thats what most people are telling you in the above. There is no magic wand or solution each one is only applicable to that person in that circumstance for their goals and needs.

My ideal job would be millionaire playboy.

Sponging-Machine wants to go on benefit 😆

or live off parents 😈

nd I'm not one of those people who can take an attitude of "I'm not paid to be interested,I'm paid to do a job". I actually envy those people, because if I was one, I'd have got a lot further in my career.

+1

plus if I'd just rolled with the crowd and agreed with whichever boss I needed to agree with, rather than tried to do my job properly and aimed for what was 'best' for the business…

Left HM Forces in my thirties, decided as I had no civi recognised trade behind me (specialised combat infantry) that I would re-train in data cable/fibre optics etc. Training cost me nothing and I was lucky to walk straight into a pretty well paid job. Got board of that after a few years and decided to leave and re-train(at my expense)as a sparky. Took a HUGH pay cut but finally became very well qualified and enjoyed the job for a while. Last year I attempted to join the Fire Service (something I’ve always wanted to do ever since leaving the forces), after over 10 months of waiting and selection it didn’t work out too well, got down to the final 68 from over 3000 though only to find out that there was no vacancies at that time for the brigade I was applying for!

Not sure what I want to do now, guess at the moment I’ll stick with what I’ve got as I’m not sure how long that will last given the current state of things and any job is better than none.

36. Redundant 18months ago from a 40k+ PM job in the contaminated land industry. Kind of glad I got kicked because I wouldn't have left the money, and the job had changed to something I didn't enjoy.

Full time daddy day care since then. My little boy starts school next week and I've just signed on as a temp – hoping it'll give me some exposure to different industries because I have no idea what I want to when I grow up.