Has anyone here started learning a trade after leaving another career? This forum has been a gold mine for me over the years, not just for bike stuff but for work related issues, and I’d love to hear your experiences (both positive and negative).

A quick bit of background – I went down the university route after school and have two degrees (BA and Masters) in Communication Studies. I did spend a couple of years working for a bank on their graduate scheme after this but office life wasn’t really for me. I did the whole gap year abroad teaching English in Asia which I enjoyed so came back home to spend a further 4 years researching a PhD in my field with the intention of following higher education teaching as the long term career path.

This never worked out though as I got fed up and packed it all in at the start of 2016. The reality of it was that I knew by the second year of my PhD that I was doing the wrong thing, and was pursuing a career path that I didn’t enjoy. Sadly, it took me another two unhappy years to admit to myself that what I was doing just wasn’t working out.

In May 2016 I randomly ended up getting a job in a shop selling wine. The money was ok in comparison to entry level academic stuff and the promotions were forthcoming as I am a grafter and went the extra mile to grow the store. However, the unhappiness has crept in over the past year and some serious soul-searching has been done, to the conclusion that I’m really not that happy with my current job and want to do something more fulfilling, with more control over my workload and better pay.

I’m seriously considering going down the trade route (probably electrician) for many reasons, most of all that I love fixing things, get an immense sense of enjoyment from DIY and building projects, and already own a load of decent tools to get me started. However, being 36 years old with a wife and a young son, what is the best route to go down?

Cheers in advance for the advice!

Some advice here…..

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/career-change-at-40-how-do-i-become-a-chippy/

Chap I know re-trained in his 40s as a sparky. He was a civil servant doing something with immigration and had quite a high security level. This enabled him to go back to the civil service temping in the early years while he was training.

I think he initially self funded a training course, but had trouble getting full quals so he could sign off work rather than have someone else to do it. If he was training with an employer it would have been easier.

In the early years work would be a bit hit & miss, but has settled down now he has made contacts.

I became a cable Jointer, with the local electricity board (known now as DSOs), through an apprenticeship at 32. 3 years training on 18k increasing as you went throught the 3 years. Straight into an engineering Hnc after that. All paid for by the company. Generally the place I am with will employ around 75% of apprentices from 18-24 but then have a quarter that bring with them experience from other areas or maturity. There is a yearly intake of both craft and engineering apprentices each March/April time.

I was your age when I quit my rather secure and well paid job. Never looked back, funnily enough I keep in touch with a few of my old workmates, who all quit to do way different things. I chap stayed, and is still there doing the same job, it’s our reference point and however bad my day is now, I know his is much worse every day.

Top tip, stay focused on whatever you choose and keep a stash of cash as you are a bit vulnerable in your first few years. And expect the unexpected.

Good luck btw.

One of my neighbours was working for Nat West, got fed up with it and retrained as a central heating plumber in his mid 30’s.  I think it took him at least 3 or 4 years to get established, but 15 years on and he’s doing well.  Certainly seems a lot happier.

After years of working in a pretty soul destroying ‘career’, I also retrained in my late 30’s and am now self employed (I work in a very niche branch of materials science/archaeology/forensic stuff). It took me a few years to get established.  I don’t earn any more than I did before, but I work a lot less hours and if the weather is good, I can usually take a day off to go for a weekday ride.  The downsides are the usual stuff like tax returns, record keeping etc., and I sometimes worry about cash flow, as a few years ago, it was a bit hand to mouth income wise.

I agree with what poolman has said above about staying focussed and building up a financial buffer to cushion you from economic fluctuations.  If I’d know about this before, I’d have used the last year or so in my last salaried job to build up some savings.

As long as you’re disciplined with your paperwork and finances (and don’t fritter away lots of money on bike s**t like me!) you should be OK.

Good luck and if you go for it, I hope it works out well for you.

As usual , the reality is less glamorous

Too old for a company sponsored electrical apprenticeship at 36

2 degrees wont count for much im afraid if you want to go down the long hard slog of self funding & organising a proper NVQ , working as a labourer , then improver , on building sites  through agencies to get work experience , but it has the best reward at the end of it  – a JIB gold card = industry approved electrician

But most mid-life career changers go down the fast track domestic installer route , paying many thousands for a fist full of overpriced City & guilds certificates after just a few weeks training , and off you go for a career of house bashing and lifting floor boards and chasing bricks out to pull cables , it will be a bit of a shock when your only previous is working at a bank and a bit of backpacking

I became a spark 25 years ago just to work on the big stuff , commercial , industrial ,  massive cables , steel conduit & tray , 6ft high fuse boards , all the exciting stuff really.

The thought of spending my time fitting kitchen spotlights and pulling up carpets doesnt seem too appealing to me , but for many is the only path into this trade for those determined to try it , it will cost alot though.

As above, most ‘traditional’ trade routes will be closed to you on your 30’s without serious self funding or a fluke find of a new employer. At least you can take heart that you won’t suffer from the majority of school leaving apprentice sparkies, where a big contractor takes you on at a pittance for a couple of years of cable pulling then lay you off as it’s too expensive to keep training you…
I got lucky at 37 with a local family owned fire and security installers and got taken on as a trainee at £16k and now (3years later) average about £32k including o/t and on call – so relatively easy financially to make the jump compared to typical apprentice wages.
Pros are much easier to get into and progress if you find a decent company, cons are lack of formalised certs (no JIB equivalents to electrician etc), more difficult to go self employed if that is your goal, probably lower earnings than fully qualified electricians but a lot better than a lot of part qual roles.

As above to become a real sparky takes a lot of training for commercial and industrial, the easier option is a few boil in the bag courses and become a domestic sparky, it’s not difficult and many make a really good living at it. As an apprentice trained commercial sparky I can’t think of anything worse than domestic. However as a means to an end it’s a start on the road to become a sparky, you may find it’s all you need but you may find it’s only the start. I’d say go for it initially and then look to get experience with a commercial/industrial company whilst earning something from the domestic side. It’ll be hard to break into the non domestic side as rightly or wrongly we always look for apprentice trained sparks, saying that we did have one guy who trained late and made a great sparky. Good luck with it

Genuine question. What do you see yourself doing as a sparky? Have you any idea who does what within the trade, processes involved etc. As above theres a vast difference between wiring a new plug for mrs Jones and being 12m up in a scissor fitting destrat fans.

In my 30s I made the leap from back office manager in a City investment bank to retrain as a cabinet maker. Better on every level. Except money. Still no regrets though.