Change of Career
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So i have got to 35 and decided i want to change what i do. Problem being i have no real idea what i want to do. I work in print and design, the industry certainly the print side is dying and every body these days has a copy of photoshop/indesign and calls themselves a designer. So it is getting harder and harder to find decent job that pays well.
I have thought about retraining as a Electrician or Plumber, but problem with that is the money to start with will be crap and i need to support a family and pay the bills.
So advice and ideas welcome please
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People may have photoshop but they will not necessarily have the knowledge of printing techniques necessary to execute things properly. My mate switched from screen printing to graphic design (he still does freelance printing occasionally) and his technical knowledge on printing has really helped him carve a good reputation.
Have you thought about doing a qualification whilst working?
I have done three qualifications in my spare time and it is tough but once it is done it is done and it can open doors. If that appeals I would start by having a think about the things that you enjoy and perhaps looking at some industry publications in that sector.
My dad did retrained in his own time whilst working and switched careers when he was about forty (and he had four kids at the time) so it can be done!
My mate did the whole plumbing thing and the money is indeed wank to start with but he is doing pretty well for himself now. He does deal with a heck of a lot of rancid shit though (pun not intended).
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Plus I am in exactly the same boat btw. However, working fourteen hour days is stopping me from even looking!
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All the designers I know in my town (and that's a load as I used to run the Media dept. in my school), have gone one of four ways, either they teach, have moved over to design for web/apps, or they've gone into communications consultancy; or they do shit, uninspiring work to pay the bills while working like crazy on their own projects in the hope that they'll take off. Three people I know have done well here, the one makes designs used on premium quality rugs, the other privately sells graphic art based fusing traditional Norwegian motifs with ultra sharp funky graphics and the last one makes decent money from her designs on Society6.
If they're in demand where you are then training to be a plumber or electrician may be a good idea as a long term option. I've seriously considered retraining as a carpenter/builder before.
I think that unless you see an immediate market for your current skillset, whatever you're going to do will mean a temporary drop in earnings. Whether that be chasing a grand idea design-wise or doing something new. So taking a short term hit while retaining the long view in terms of earnings and not least, job satisfaction is probably a good plan.
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I'm jumping on this bandwagon too. I've spent 19 years as a Production Manager for an electronics company, I'm 40 in 2 weeks so it feels like time for a change.
Likewise, no idea what, but my skills are in organisation, people management, production and inventory. Now I'm thinking it's time for something different.
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Plus I am in exactly the same boat btw. However, working fourteen hour days is stopping me from even looking!
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What do you do for a living Mr. Hound?
Either way, that 14 hour working day lark is interesting. I was (informally, not contractually) expected to do more or less that in the UK while teaching in W. London, and indeed did so. In Norway I'm not expected to work more than my contracted 40 hour week (and that includes 5 hours a week that goes into a holiday bank that means we get xmas, easter and half term, plus 8 (!) weeks in the summer. Not to rub anyone's face in it but for 11 of those 40 hours I don't even have to be at work. It's frankly ridiculous…
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Thanks for the replies fellas.
For me i am thinking i am done with being in a office all the time and chained to a desk.
In a perfect world i would like to be able work part time and then go to college the other couple of days but with a kid and bills i doubt that will happen. Been looking at night course etc but to be honest giving up more time i could spend with my son really isn't that appealing. But then maybe i just have to accept that for the greater good and better/happier long term…
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@neph93 get me a job teaching in Norway please. I love the cold and 8 weeks summer holidays!
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Yep, Norwegian teacher sounds the way to
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Not my intention to de-rail a serious thread, but it's so cushy compared to teaching in the UK. I actually had to leave the Norwegian version of the NUT as they we're taking me out in strike every other year for things I just couldn't get behind. They were all, "Government wants us to teach one extra lesson a week! It's a scandal, let's strike!" and I'm sat there thinking "Seems fair enough to me". Also, I haven't had to restrain any homocidal, compass-wielding mentalists intent on perforating their fellow pupils. That shit was once a week in Hounslow.
But @spitfiredealer, I reckon that the work/family/freetime balance thing is key, but also in the long term. Your boy is young, no? He's not going to know or care if times were tight and Dad was away studying in the evenings, the next year or two. But if Dad is happy in his work and doing well when he's older? Taking him on good holidays, helping him out with school etc. Then that's golden. So maybe now is the time to make change?
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Yep you are right mate, now is the time as he is still young.
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I'm not helped by the fact that my job is particularly crappy at the moment, and just today I've had to talk myself out of jacking it in
Time to move on I reckon….
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I'm not helped by the fact that my job is particularly crappy at the moment, and just today I've had to talk myself out of jacking it in
Time to move on I reckon….
Should be lots of management jobs open for you? That's a lot of transferable skills you can demonstrate.
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Since I am in a very "interesting" situation with my job(s) I figured I would share some Pros and Cons to leaving the day/desk job.
Job A: I work for myself, however, we have set hours that clients will be there. I put in about 25 hours of actual hands on instruction with clients, and then another 5-10 doing business/management work behind the scenes. This either happens at the gym or at my house. I have rotating schedule with my partner, so we work in 3-5 hour blocks. If I worked the 8-12:30am MON block, he works the 4-8pm MON block that day. Vice versa - if I work the 5:30-9am TUES block one day, he works for 3:30-8pm (TUES) block that day. That way we only have to come to work once a day and not have to worry about rushing back 2 hours after you've left. It's a great schedule, and it allows for a lot of extra time with the kids (which I have with me full time, 3 days per week while their mom is at work). I always joke that the worst decision my business partner ever made was bringing me on, since we split the salary budget between us. The job would be a fairly high paying job if it was done by one person and you simply paid a few people hourly to handle classes when you needed a break, however, we are the only (CrossFit) facility in "our" area that has multiple full time salaries being pulled out… so the salaries are less than impressive and we don't have a ton of cash to throw at fancy stuff for our facility, although I think we have done a good job making the whole "warehouse fitness" concept pretty cool. Although the salary based on a 40-50 hour week may seem low, if you calculate it based on hours coached, and you figured any bonuses we pay ourselves out at the end of the year cover the "management" hours, it would be pretty sweet gig, depending on you look at it.
Job B: I Had this job right out of college and tried to leave in 2012 to start working at the gym, but we have a big website build going on and I stayed until that launch... like I said, that was in 2012 and I'm still there lol. The pay is rubish, the workload is never ending and I get zero benefits since part of our agreement when I started working from home was that I stay under 40 hours per week. With that being said. I don't think I could find another job that allows me to clock in on my terms, work on Sunday mornings before the kids are up, or take off a friday if and when I feel like it. I don't have to file PTO sheets, I don't have to ask for time off. If I work, I get paid. If I don't work, I don't. It's an easy and fair agreement, but it does make it hard to justify taking more than a day or two at a time off because I'd be taking away a considerable amount of money from my family. Plus, we are american, so we already live close to our limit (Jk, but we are pretty young, so everything is a struggle). I do enjoy the work I do for Job B, and it keeps my skills high in case i ever have to move and look for a job in this field. Plus, i've now been at this company for nearly 6 years, which looks great on a resume. And I work for the Largest Vacation Rental Company in the world, so I can travel for pretty cheap.. if and when I do it. I do clock about 34-38 hours per week with Job B which includes 3-5 hours on Saturdays and Sundays to simply catch up.
Job C. I started a business in May of 2015 that was designed to replace Job B. Ironically, my Boss from Job B and Myself, own Job C together - I know, confusing right haha. This year has been pretty good for us (based on our growth over 2015), but we have been reinvesting everything back into materials, software, etc, so it's been a lot of extra work late at night and on Sunday afternoons getting everything together and clients pleased so we can keep moving forward, and not seeing any monetary gains from it. All part of entrepreneurship. I dedicate about 3-15 hours per week to Job C based on what projects are happening.
Job
I work freelance as a writer for another (competing actually lol) ad agency. It's only a few projects a year, but they pay what I bill and it's my "Clothes" money for the most part.Ok, so my point of this post was to point out a few things: 1. What is the cost of freedom 2. What does it take to make ends meet in order to "do something you love." 3. Is doing "your thing" better than doing "their thing."
1. The cost of freedom for me, was taking a 30% pay cut to leave Job B and work for Job A initially (if Job B would have let me leave, luckily they didn't). Luckily, now that figure for Job A has increase about 140%, BUT, it still isn't much compared to the market.
2. Since my "dream job" in Job A. pays Ok, but allows for extra work time, I work the extra hours to make up for the lack of salary from Job A by doing Job B. My overall pay increases by about 60% by adding Job B's salary on top of Job A, but my workload increases more than 110%. Im working a total of 60-80 hours a week (I know, #hustle #grind #GaryV), and still feel underpaid, tired and simply don't feel it's worth it most days. However, our life it set up around my two salaries and my wife's salary, so unless I make a drastic change and replace Job A and Job B's salaries with something better than the two combined, I will forever be in this position. Some days, I wish I would have stayed at my desk job and built a more simple life based around my initial Salary of Job A and tried to move up more in the company. C'est La Vie I guess ha.
3. "Is doing your thing better than doing their thing.?" Yes and No. I enjoy doing my own thing. I enjoy not having someone tell me how to run my business. It's mine and most of the time it's great. However, there is something about the security that comes with having someone else foot the bill. Truth is, for every dollar I fight for, by the time I pay myself that same dollar in salary, I only get about 30% left. (not being political) but it's the sad truth about small business owners. If you can have a steady job while a corporation or big business is providing the benefits, the retirement, the insurance, the holiday pay, covering half of the taxes, etc. it's a sweet deal. THEN start a "side hustle" doing something you truly enjoy doing that could not only provide happiness, but a little extra income. You will feel more fulfilled, happier about your work and have monetary increase as well. The GOAL would be to keep working on your Side Hustle until you make enough to quit your day job. (yes Im paraphrasing a Gary V video, but I agree with it.) It's what I am doing now with Job B and Job C, and I'm hoping in 3 more years, I will be able to either leave Job B or be the CEO (doubtful). either would be cool.
Hope I helped, pretty sure I didn't, but maybe I made your situation seem not so bad? lol
If jumping ship from your current job will make you happy, great. but if the pay is less, or at least less for a considerable amount of time, you will feel stressed. No doubt about it. On the flip side, two of the most successful people I know are 1. an electrician and 2. a plumber. Both own their won businesses, have 10-20 employees and only do the jobs they want to take on. But, it took them decades to get to where they are today and struggled a lot in the process of building their skills. The other most successful person I know is a surgeon. If you can do that, I highly suggest it haha.
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thursday is my "slow" morning
however, I did have to take a few breathes to break apart the twins fighting before I could "publish" it.
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Thanks for the insight @Appfaff that's a hell of a lot of hours you cram into the week. Combined with the Twins!! Making my ass look lazy
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naw @spitfiredealer - In all honesty, I get bored with one thing. Doing multiple different gigs keeps me sane.. or maybe it keeps me insane.. either way, it's what works best for me. Would I love a less hectic schedule? Sure - I was driving the kids back to the house from the nanny yesterday afternoon and had an urgent email while I was stuck in traffic. It's taken me a few years, but I have fully accepted, the "all things will happen in due time" approach to life, and that includes my projects.
My secret is no one really knows what I do. It's great job security, since everyone is too afraid to fire me
before the twins came, my wife made me pick up a hobby to put a little "me" time in, so I started skateboarding again on Sunday mornings with a few of the other "old" guys… Now that my mornings are a little hectic, Im looking for something else since I havn't skated in the last year. Luckily, a package from my from Cabelas (from my father) arrived yesterday for Christmas, and it is shaped an awful lot like a flyflishing set up
Hoping the stocked fishing pond 12 yards from my house will be my new "hobby" in 2017 haha.My final piece of advice is to ask your partner what she feels is best for you guys. If she wants you home more, and you can afford to take a cut in salary, that that's what your priority needs to be. If she feels you guys need more salary to encourage financial freedom for your family's future, than that's the route you should pursue. You can make money doing anything. But you can't always have the time you want or need. For me, the fact that I have multiple jobs that allow me to either 1. bring the kids to work with me or 2. work from home while the kids play, allows us to save money on full time childcare. Does it eliminate financial stresses? Not at all. But does it allow for me to take the kids to the doctor this afternoon and no worry about anyone saying anything about it? Yes.
