Tell me about your successful mid life crisis career changes

I think i’m having a mid life crisis.

Fed up with all the political bollox, night work, of what i’ve done for the past 13 years.

No real proper qualifications.

Fancy something new to do.

Pipe dream of a cycle themed coffee/tea/juice shop, gutted that i missed the local brewery recruiting for an apprentice brewer.

Tell me about your career changes & inspire me.

😀

Driving instructor for 10 years and I’ve been studying to become a social worker for the last three. 43 this year so don’t let age put you off.

Not quite mid life as only 37 but last year ditched 15 years of retail & events management for a new career as a rope access technician. Swapping paperwork and organising people for manual work in all sorts of awkward to get to places. Absolutely love it, actually earn more money & am fitter and happier than I was.

mattbee – how’d you do that then? I always fancied being one of them…

Ditched my career in 2003, retrained and set up on my own. Recession hit, business died, hated working on my own anyway. Now desperately trying to get back into the rat race but I seem to have too much experience for the entry level jobs & not enough recent track record for the higher level jobs. Inspired?

Took the IRATA Level 1 course, which gave me the basic qualification to get on the ropes. I was lucky though in having a good friend who runs a rope access company who gave me a start. Without a trade it can be a struggle to get your toe in the door, rope access gets you to work but you need to be able to do the job when you get there.
Apparently the easiest type of work to get as a new Lvl 1 with no trade as such is geotechnical work, de veging railway sidings etc. hard, dirty and not the best pay but good for getting hours in your logbook. Either that or if you are a London local getting a window cleaning gig.
Everyone seems to want to get offshore but I can’t be bothered with the extra costs of the courses and quite simply don’t have the skill set or qualifications needed or indeed the desire so I prefer to stick to onshore work.

Leak detection work on Spinnaker Tower in Portsmouth, up at 110m.

I always fancied being one of them…

+1

After 20 years of banking ( no comments thanks, had them all) I could see the way things were heading, with pressure to become insurance salesman, and no authority to lend anyone anything, without referral to so called lending experts, I took a sabbatical for a year and project managed the building of my new home, then retrained as an accountant. 4 years of that, then not so much of a mid life crisis, but conscious decision, started family, and I look after my 2 boys, now 2 and 3 yrs old. Do a bit off part time accountancy at home, also project managing new house for someone. Hope to develop both when boys at school, and get a bit more time out on the bike. Loving it 🙂

Was in IT for 10 years and opened an indoor climbing wall with a couple of mates 2 years ago, best idea I have had a in a long time.
Luckily I have a wife who is a doctor so we didn’t need the second income.

Just do it. Life is to short to be unhappy

In the process of trying to find a soft landing from law. Currently looking at commercial vacancies in my current employer.

I’ve manged to change ‘career’ on a fairly irregular basis and kept on moving upwards in doing so. I’m even now thinking about where I go next. I’ve done this role for 14 years so getting ready for a change. The last time I did it, I worked out what qualifications I needed and planned how to do it, this involved 4 years at uni, so I bit the bullet and lived at a student level for 4 years, sold a car in this time to fund. Sacrifices were indeed made. You just need to work out a plan of how to get their and then take a leap.

There is also an old saying, youre over thirty? its not a career, its a job.

fixed that for you

Years as an insurance/bank bod – training, compliance, systems, pretty much all of it.

Jacked it in and became a care worker six or so years ago.
Hours and pay unbelievably bad, but I sleep better.

Just do it. Life is to short to be unhappy if you are financially independent.

🙂 yeah not that simple for most of us. I’m also keen for a change, seems mad in a way to bin years of experience, but the sector I want to work in is getting quiet these days, and I’m fed up of sitting on my bum infront of a puter all day.

I did a lime building course at the weekend so I can start doing my own work to my house – absolutely loved it and now wondering if jacking in my day job and trying to become a stone mason is a sensible idea!

honeybadgerx – Member
I did a lime building course at the weekend so I can start doing my own work to my house – absolutely loved it and now wondering if jacking in my day job and trying to become a stone mason is a sensible idea!

I have often wondered about doing something like that too but I cant help thinking that as soon as it becomes work rather than a hobby, it will get tired pretty quickly. You are outside in the cold and wet, pay not always very good, have to travel quite far for work etc.

Never had a career as such, actively avoided it, as I’d seen my old man get made redundant enough times. Been self-employed all my working age, but what I’ve done has varied a fair amount – run an E-commerce company, now run a video animation company, and consult for the government on the side. If I had a family I wouldn’t be able to live off my income, so that makes a huge difference as to whether you can jack the current job in.

Not so mid life but swapped things around a few times.
Served apprenticeship as a plater in oil rig construction.
Done that for a few years. Opened and worked a shop for 5 years.
Went back to plating then decided to be a kitchen fitter. Been doing that for 10 years plus.
Fancy a shot a snowboard instructing once my daughter is older!

Despite being one of the

bright

kids at school, I was a lazy beggar. Worked in awful retail / catering / driving jobs for years. At 30, I went to uni and got a degree in photography. 40 now and whilst I can’t claim to be successful, I earn enough to be happy and supplement my wife’s (larger) income whilst enjoying spending a few days a week with the boy.

Im currently a firefighter but have an interview on the horizon for a train driver trainee position 🙂 I’ve got everything crossed

Jam no, bigjim

Just do it. Life is to short to be unhappy if you are financially independent.

Couldn’t agree more, as I said I was luckily enough that we can eke out an existence on a doctors wage …….

Having said that, I think it is always worth looking around to see what else there is out there, even if you need to get qualifications like ti_pin_man has done ( looks like he made some huge sacrifices there)

Im currently a firefighter but have an interview on the horizon for a train driver trainee position I’ve got everything crossed

You going to be doing both?

I thought Fireman were normally electrician’s or plumbers as their second job? 🙂

At 39, I’m currently working out how to get away from being an Architectural Technician.

I have thought about land surveying, but I’d need a bit of training.

Don’t be too hard on andyfla – if you met him you’d realise he should just be grateful he found a wife 😆

Was in finance/IT for 20 years. Was bored for most of it, but reasonable salary/benefits/hours and the security (for most of it) and a fear of the unknown kept me in it. Always had hobbies doing manual things & 9 months ago got a job as a welder for a high end furniture designer. It’s so much better than being bored in an office and have learned a lot, but now beginning to yearn for a change again. Pretty sure i don’t want to go back to the office, but not totally sure what to do next.

I’d say if you can change and think it’s what you really want, then do it. But bear in mind it might take more than one change to get to the dream job. I’d definitely try to get work experience in what you think you want to do to try and suss it out and see what it’s really like.

supermarket manager for 20 years (Every little helps) gave 8 weeks notice 8 years ago and never looked back. self employed gas engineer/ plumber