How do you make your living? I work for a small consultancy, and am currently working for Volvo Penta as an Enterprise Architect. I also run training courses in various tools and methodologies within the Enterprise Architect area.

Are you happy doing it? Very much so, especially the training courses as I get to travel around the Nordics and meet a whole bunch of motivated people

Would you consider a change of career? Nope, not considering one currently

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably? It pays well enough for me to race a full CX and XC season. Although one doesn’t move from the UK to Sweden for the wage.

How do you make your living?
Digital Marketing Consultant, Project Manager (Web Dev), Body Builder/Personal Trainer

Are you happy doing it?
Hell yes!

Would you consider a change of career?
No

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
Yes but I have hardly any time to ride these days!

How do you make your living? Plant Research Technician in a Chemistry department. I look after a pretty diverse array of instruments, that I wouldn’t get to do in a non-academic environment, and help students with practical issues. Go out harvesting for other non-student related research, and currently looking at quantifying floral scent in common British flowers.

Are you happy doing it? Not really. It’s interesting, and different every day, but I’m tired of the location, and I’m not passionate about the work. Mixture of work and non-work issues make me want to leave.

Would you considering a change of career? I’d love to do something a bit more engineering related. Always toyed with the idea of outdoor ed, but I’m falling apart, and I’d like to have a trade to fall back on.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Just about. I have no dependants, only have to look after myself, and have a pretty reasonable stable of bikes. Living in North Wales helps, and the ability to ride Snowdon from the house is awesome!

How do you make your living? own a company that does applications/ r&d work in semiconductors.

Are you happy doing it? Yep best thing i ever did

Would you considering a change of career? No chance

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Yep

stuff 8)

How do you make your living? Probate Lawyer and Company Director.

Are you happy doing it? Yes, interesting challenging and rewarding.

Would you considering a change of career? No I came to this as a second career and love it.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Yes thanks very much

I hang on in quiet desperation. It’s the English way…

How – Hospitality and Catering Management

Happy – 50% of the time I am bored, but I like the people I work with/for

Change – Would like to manage and outdoor business or (cliche alert) bike shop/delicatessen

Does it pay for MTB – I don’t own top end gear unless it is 2nd hand but I am probably better off than I think. Time management issues mainly.

How do you make your living?
Financial Planning and Analysis

Are you happy doing it?
Very

Would you consider a change of career?
No

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
Yup – but my needs are simple

How do you make your living?
Offshore Rope Access

Are you happy doing it?
Yep, I like the time off.

Would you consider a change of career?
Yes or I’d go back to doing rope access onshore which is far more interesting.

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
Yes- but I only need one bike. I just make it nice one.

Freeagent. Got any vacancies going I’m a fridgey a/c bloke with 24 year’s experience, facing an uncertain future at present due to going through tupe process, the company I’ve worked for have lost a contract basically and new company want to subbie the work out.

How do you make your living?
IT consultant for large consultancy

Are you happy doing it?
Nope. Hoping an upcoming switch to small consultancy will help (but it won’t)

Would you considering a change of career?
If I had no mortgage certainly – but I get paid too much to do what is an easy job.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably?
Yep – it’s one of the few things I spend money on and every penny I spend i enjoyed.

I’m a Chartered Quantity Surveyor.

I enjoy it most of the time. I like being out of the office, poking around site…I’m quite sad and enjoy construction, iI like seeing buildings progress etc. I’ve been lucky and had some good projects which has kept it interesting. I quite like the company I work for, my team is good and we all have a good laugh. I’m allowed a bit of flexibility so can work from home when I feel like it, which works well in the summer when I want to start and finish early to get out on the bike.

I’d consider a career change…ideally doing something outdoors butfor now I’m quite content.

Money is OK, better now I’m chartered although like many people I’d prefer a bit more. Keeps me in bikes and bike stuff, although I buy a lot of stuff second hand. I couldn’t go out and drop £3.5k on a whiney new bike though. I guess thinking about starting a family will put money back under pressure a bit!

Resourcing Manager for a big bank
Do I enjoy it? Not especially, its a job to pay for stuff I like.
Would I consider a career change – probably, will end up getting made redundant at some point this year I reckon, worse things have happened
Does it pay for my bikes….Yes, the money is the only thing I will miss.

tacopowell – Member
Veterinary nurse!
Tried the vets out for my work experience day during school all them many years ago,
Watched a cats tail been amputated and fainted, had I applied myself I could have worked through my squeamishness and gone down your route.
POSTED 1 DAY AGO # REPORT-POST

It’s never too late! Practice makes perfect you know, you do get used to it 😉 and its so worth the perseverance! 🙂

Fascinating thread btw! You are all extremely interesting! 🙂

How do you make your living?
Sell computer hardware.

Are you happy doing it?
No. Stuck in a rut as the pay is OK, especially for down here in Devon.

Would you consider a change of career?
Yes, I stopped enjoying it a couple of years ago. I should do more to make a change happen as well, but due to ougoings (mortgage, kids etc) and lack of qualifications it’s difficult for me to change.

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
Yes. No new or “dream” bikes but if anything fails I can replace the parts and I run 4 bikes.

How do you make your living?
Graduate Civil Engineer for a large engineering/construction company.

Are you happy doing it?
Yep! Only been with this new company for a few months but we are getting ready for a big project (£100million+) starting in the summer and then I get to get back out on site!

Would you consider a change of career?
No – i’m a bit new to it still so still keen on it.

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
Well I cant just go out and buy a new bike whenever I want, especially as we are getting married and have a honeymoon still to pay for this summer. But I manage to keep my bike ticking over nicely and manage a few lads trips away a year. Hopefully next year ill be adding a new bike to the garage!

How do you make your living?
kind of program computers

Are you happy doing it?
not really, alway thought I’d work for myself doing something technical but hands on.

Would you consider a change of career?
yes

Does it pay enough for you to MTB comfortably?
job doesn’t pay very well but enough mtb by, but I’m not a gear head when it comes to mtbing. I’m happy on a basic bike. That and the fact that I haven’t been mtbing in 9 months make mtbing cheap.

How do you make your living? Engineer in the fastest paced industry there is (probably).

Are you happy doing it? Yes.

Would you considering a change of career? I will do in the future at some point, but I’m still ‘fresh’ out of uni, learning so much, and have real responsibility and excitement at work. The hours (whatever it takes to do the job properly) don’t leave time for much else, so I can see that being the push factor towards another industry, but not for a while yet.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Yes, but as above, not enough time to mtb properly, and cars are starting to become a big part in my life again, which reduces available time further.

ok i’ll play

I sign on at the mo

I’m happy doing it

would i consider a job– yes , but not one that pays less !

does it pay enough to cycle– a puncture repair kit and an inner tube are not that expensive

How do you make your living? Safety engineer contracting at an automotive OEM

Are you happy doing it? Not really

Would you considering a change of career? Yes, though like others don’t know what I would really like to do instead. Something that gets me outdoors (Site Engineer/Project Manager Wind Turbines?) or out of the office (Pilot?) occasionally crosses my mind. I guess I’m at the stage where if I make another move then I want it to be the right one but also still need to provide for my family.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? My needs aren’t great at the moment so yes.

How do you make your living? Professional grammar Nazi, subtitling TV programmes.

Are you happy doing it? No. Shifts are a bummer and time off when you want or need it is hard to get. Each day is a battle with the limitations of the technology. This describes a large portion of my working day perfectly:

[video]http://vimeo.com/31286252[/video]

Working from home is a plus point.

Would you considering a change of career? Yes. Think my advancing tinnitus might make that decision for me before long. No idea what to, though. Would like to work/live somewhere else in Europe with mountains and sunshine. The holy grail.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Pretty much, although with partner being a full-time student, I need to hammer the overtime, shop around and buy second-hand.

Stay at home dad.

I get paid in hugs and have loads of time to go and ride my bike apart from today, because the little one is ill. Still get the hugs but with added contagious sickness. 😐

How do you make your living? Shuffling paper and sending emails whilst sat in an open plan office full of very dull people.

Are you happy doing it? No.

Would you considering a change of career? Yes. But lack direction when it comes to work.

Does it pay enough for you to mtb comfortably? Yes

How; Paramedic
Happy: indifferent.
Change: looking around for where I can take my skills to move on when the NHS gets chopped up and sold. Mostly looking to mental health and regional planning.
Pay: Could do with being top of band 5 rather than 3 points up. Overtime ban is hurting my pockets but increase in end of shift overtime adds £200 a month to my pocket, so we get by. Applying for band 6 roles from April.

How do you make your living? Merchant navy engineer

Are you happy doing it? Sometimes, it has it’s good points. I get to travel and ocassionally see and experience some great places, though fewer and farther between. On the other hand, 3month trips away from the family are still a killer, even after 8years, worry it might be starting to affect the relationships and wish I knew my son more.

Would you condider a career change? Yes. A side step to the rig/offshore industry with less time away would be ideal, but don’t know how to get my foot in the door or where in the industry my skillset would best be applied. Still love the hands on side of things. Tried sitting behind a desk and loathed it.

Does it pay enough to mtb comfortably? Yes

How: househusband/nanny/chauffeur/teacher to our kids, and provide moral, logistical and technical support to my wife who’s a freelance consultant to banks behaving badly.
Happy: Occasionally lack of meaningful adult contact can be a bit depressing- wife’s hours can be pretty long when she’s working.
Change: Live in constant fear of having to go out and find a ‘real job’. The longer I remain at home, hopefully the more unemployable I become.
Pay: A fairly decent allowance for myself, and not much to spend it on. .

Dodgy author

Entrepreneur

How? Freelance technical illustrator.

Happy? More often than not yes.

Change? Sometimes think of other things I’d like to do but so far none have looked like a viable alternative.

Pay enough? Varies a lot but even through multiple recessions I’ve done ok, I get a lot of repeat work from very good clients and I’ve weeded out the ones that are difficult to work with.