The Brick is right. Apprenticeships are not easy to get into unless you are 19 or under due to funding restrictions and the higher minimum wage paid to over 20’s. The reality is most employers won’t touch an older apprentice when they can get a cheap young boy to abuse! Which many relish with fervent enthusiasm, it’s almost a sport in the industry as is job protection! Getting in if you don’t know anybody and are a green grass trainee is tough as there’s no shortage of out-of-work young lads/labourers prepared to work for next to nothing.

Plumbing is best for fast money if you want to work locally/domestic as boilers are always breaking down.

Electrician is the best trade but only on the commercial/industrial side if employed and you will be chasing contracts up and down the country like a yoyo. Domestic generally only pays well self employed, as most pisspot companies unsurprisingly don’t pay the going rate to their PAYE employees.

Had a mate who worked (I think he paid them for the privilege) for BSM, used and abused is an understatement. He jacked it in to work for minimum wage in a supermarket, so he wasn’t working all hours for peanuts, just set shifts for peanuts!

OP, if there are no opportunities within your area then why not consider moving to an area where there are more? I’ve had to move across the country several times to further my career, just means driving to see family and making new friends. If I’d stayed where I grew up then I’d probably would have been still doing minimum wage stuff.

i’m a software engineer and unless its something you already have experience with its not something you can just jump into as a career without several years experience.