[Closed] change of career

You might need to narrow it down.

If I said "paino tuner", would that flick your switch?

It's kinda tough right now to change (though prob not as hard as being a builder in the current market).

Gigolo?

piano tuner no tone deaf and its a good job theres no pic of me you wouldn`t have mentioned gigolo 😉

Though not much of a change it would be worthwhile to some in winter, can I be the first to suggest a central heating engineer? Gazman the Gasman.

i`d sort of like to work at the airport maybe baggage handler or something like that maybe customs,

dr_brakes good one i never thought of that 😀

i`d sort of like to work at the airport maybe baggage handler or something like that maybe customs,

Do you like breaking stuff????

monkeychild, yeah but not my bones lol

I read an article the other day about how there is a general shortage of properly trained bike mechanics. How about a cytech course?

fishmonger?

handsomedog, could you provide more information please that sounds interesting as im always tinkering anyway thanks, gaz

yossarian, no thanks they smell lol,

Policeman, fireman, paramedic! Those are the easy ones to recommend. You can contact your local police station and arrange a "ride along" go out on a shift in the back of the car and following a shift around to see exactly what they get up to on a "typical" day! worthwhile if something you've ever considered or thought about.

munque-chick i think fireman would be my first of these options thanks, gaz

Gazman, link is [url= http://www.thecyclingexperts.co.uk/cytech/ ]HERE[/url]

Basically a professionally recognised bike mechanics course at various levels. The workshop boss at Edinburgh Bike Coop in Manchester told me that they would snap the hand off a mechanic who had a cytech qualification. Maybe worth talking to your local shop and asking what they would be looking for in a mechanic.

Don't think meching pays too well though. I think the max you could be expecting as a full time shop mechanic/workshop manager is about £25k - can't remember where I read this so that may be totally wrong.

More worthwhile than a builder and you'd consider that to be a baggage handler/customs.

Ever thought of a career in stand up 😆

Plumber is always a good bet or a gas fitter

You can contact your local police station and arrange a "ride along" go out on a shift in the back of the car

or have a think about any markets your skills would transfer to. If you like making stuff can you shift to another environment or market.

Some of my work is in film set construction - same tools and materials, different 'language'. Its a pretty informal industry. I volunteered to help build a set for a low budget short, they decided they couldn't manage without me so they started paying me. That was me in. Depends where you live though, there needs to be the work going on, the similar work I do includes exhibition construction, public art fabrication, fancy interiors (clever and careful) and stuff like promotional builds, theatre props etc (fast and daft)

If you don't like making stuff are there other roles within the building industry that are less hands on, but where a knowledge of the trade would be useful? Inspection, training, surveying?

Gaz get onto your local fire brigade then and I'm guessing they'll do something similar, well show you around the station have a chat about the realities of their job (not what you see on the TV!!). Go for it, definately worth having these career changes, you can always go back to being a builder if it doesn't work out.

I certainly wish I had the nerve to do this. I'm heartily sick of the daily grind and wish I could do something else. Problem is I earn quite a lot (don't want to come accross as a dick so sorry if I have there) and my wife and kids would have to make some serious sacrifices. I'm genuinely thinking about not coming back in after Christmas.

told me that they would snap the hand off a mechanic who had a cytech qualification

That sounds more like a threat! Its difficult to pick your own hands up. No wonder theres a shortage.

skidartist, i`m based in manchester area is there anyone you know of around here? i would be intrested in that kind of stuff, thanks

well at our firestation we can have people in to look at the gear but not touch anything lol and certainly not come for a ride. im in west yorkshire tho and we have just began a five year spell of non recruitment due to our funding being cut drastically ;-(

Same goes to Algarve, there are niche businesses that are using fairly common/transferable skills in quite interesting circumstances.

I used to work in fine art transport (still do a little) you're only driving a truck, but your driving trucks of facinating stuff to facinating places, I got to hang out in mayfair galleries, the tate, country houses and far flung artist studios all over the uk.

I bumped into a company the other week that moves and installs antique machinery - old iron etching presses, that kind of thing. They are pretty much the only people in europe that do it, so work all over europe, all the time.

With jobs like that the actions are ordinary but context is really enjoyable

where are you based skidartist? do you know of anyone who does this type of stuff in manchester?

I'm in Scotland, Manchester wise.... Yes the work is going to be happening. Most big councils will have a film officer / department who will know whats going on locally. See if they can point you towards some sort of local directory of film crew (filmbang.com is the one for scotland - but there'll be something similar for Manc or the northwest). Look up construction managers, art directors and production designers and let them know you're available and keen to muck in on something interesting. There may be some scenic or props making companies locally too. Also try all the local theatres.

There are a lot of galleries in manchester too, the bigger ones will have quite involving exhibition change overs that can involve ripping the gallery to pieces and rebuilding it between shows, some will have inhouse staff for this others will rely on freelancers.