Professional career advice please?

[MattF]

As mentioned, the grass always seems greener... That doesn't mean you won't enjoy a career change, but you have to consider several things.

1) The novelty factor *will*, without fail, wear off. That's when you'll find whether you like or loathe your new career choice.

2) The location/situation you're in, and what you're working on can dictate how much you enjoy doing something. You may love the job, but hate the firm, the current task etc.

3) Self employed or employed?

Finding a good employer can make even a boring job enjoyable. Having a good job and a crappy employer can make something practically unbearable. Also, you can love a certain job, but get put doing the same mundane task day in day out, and you may soon end up despising it. Take electronics. I still enjoy electronics, but the tat that's produced these days has removed any enjoyment I have in the work itself, and component level repair is practically uncalled for these days, else it tends to be highly repetitive if it is. There's no thrill to repair work anymore, and a lot of equipment isn't honestly designed to be repaired. It's simply a means to survive. Conversely, if I even contemplated trying to apprentice in the one other craft/trade I wanted to, (not much chance of that happening when you're knocking on 40), I know I would likely end up bored with that too if I ended up doing mundane or repetitive tasks at the end of it. To put it succinctly, my idea of a good career is one which keeps you constantly thinking and adapting, whilst also not having some a******e breathing down your neck. Add repetition or a numpty into that career, whatever it is, and you'll likely loathe it regardless of what work you do.

You then have the choice of employed or self employed. The former is a guaranteed income with holiday and sick pay, but you have little to no control over hours or work done. The latter will likely mean working every hour God sends initially, at least, and likely still having no control over hours or work done, unless you can do niche work. You also have to cover your own holidays and sick periods, if you have any.

What you can do at home in your spare time and enjoy, rarely translates to an enjoyable career choice, namely because you generally lose control of the particualrs of what you do. Every career has its good and bad points too.

 

[RustyCrampon]

I work full time in IT, and recently took a C&G level 1 welding evening course where I met people who already weld for a living, or want to.

My conclusion is that the average IT job is better paid than the average welding job. For most IT people, it will be difficult to get a welding job that pays better.

I guess welding jobs are harder to off-shore than IT jobs, but most of the people on my welding course were eastern European, which probably helps depress wages.

For me personally, the pressures of an IT job, such as having to constantly update my skill set, often in my own time, are worth putting up with given the salary.

 

[h3rman]

I don't weld for a living and have only just picked up my first mig the other day. However one thing I can tell you is that if you are a good welder and you get a job in the oil industry you are good as gold. They will have you on a rotation (3 weeks on, 2 weeks off, etc) doing 12 hour shifts while you are away, but you will get to travel and the money WILL be good. The only reason I know this is because living in Aberdeen, everyone here works in oil and I know a fair few guys who work as welders in the oil industry.

However, I don't imagine it would be very easy to get into the oil industry as a welder, well not as easy as say an engineer anyway as oil companies are always wanting engineers.

 

[PTvor]

To put this another way, if you were hiring welders for most jobs, maintenance, fabrication etc., how much would you have to pay to get qualified blokes who could pass your acceptance tests and prove satisfactory? I suggest it would be nothing like 60 or 70 grand a year.

Contracting is different. It creates its own pressures. The money isn't quite what it seems. Some people can't cope with the lack of security. It can involve a lot of staying away from home which can have a definite effect on family life. It helps if your house is paid for before you start. You need a fair few years of good experience to attempt it..

 

[Shox Dr]

However, I don't imagine it would be very easy to get into the oil industry as a welder, well not as easy as say an engineer anyway as oil companies are always wanting engineers.

Exactly, as I said; It's not what you know it's who you know.

All the well paid Manual jobs in the construction industry; and that goes for all sectors. Involve working long hours, miles away for long periods of time. Then long periods with time off, either as rest time or looking for the next contract.

If you are in a relationship, this can put huge strains upon it. You are either miles apart, or in each others face. It's usually your partner that can't handle it, as they are used to you earning good money, and not been there while they spend it for you.


I've seen it happen so many times, lucky for me I got out a long time ago. otherwise I know I would not be celebrating my 21st Wedding anniversary today.

 

[PTvor]

If you are in a relationship, this can put huge strains upon it. You are either miles apart, or in each others face. It's usually your partner that can't handle it, as they are used to you earning good money, and not been there while they spend it for you.


I've seen it happen so many times, lucky for me I got out a long time ago. otherwise I know I would not be celebrating my 21st Wedding anniversary today.

I've seen it. Daddy arrives home after a flight from New York and a trip up the M4. All Daddy wants to do is sit and drink beer and examine the walls, and not speak to anyone. No pictures the kids have drawn at school, no stories about how the washing machine is playing up.

On Saturday morning, Daddy wants to know about what's happened at school and whether the washing machine has been sorted out, but no one wants to tell him.

Sunday afternoon, Daddy's off again.

"Mommy, why does that strange and very unpleasant man have the keys to our house"?

The money's great, but not without its problems, and it's a burn out job for all sorts of reasons. Three or four years and have a plan to get out of it and do something with the loot, or not have a relationship to manage, but even so it won't last forever and the pressures are destructive.

 

[Eastblock]

I've been in IT/Telecoms the last 15 years and would really like to try something else. This last year I have been abroad every week, not much of a life. Got the boot today so that's bye-bye to a £70K job. I can live on less but don't have any other skills - can't weld worth a damn. Wonder if I can get a welding course as I join the ranks of the unemployed?

 

[brightspark]

I've been in IT/Telecoms the last 15 years and would really like to try something else. This last year I have been abroad every week, not much of a life. Got the boot today so that's bye-bye to a £70K job. I can live on less but don't have any other skills - can't weld worth a damn. Wonder if I can get a welding course as I join the ranks of the unemployed?

jobseekers allowance more than likely. it wont even pay for the beer on a nightout and u will be p//issed off the amount of paperwork that is needed to get it

 

[Eastblock]

Come to think of it, I don't even have a welder anymore. My MIG was stolen when my garage was broken into as were all my tools.

 

[carbine]

Thanks for the replies all, that's given me some thinking to do.

Some of you are right, it's often where you work that makes what you do good.
However, I've worked for an F1 team now, currently a field service support company, and in-house I.T. for a multinational. In none of those jobs, did my enthusiasm increase apart from when my boss talked about me doing CI management training instead. In short, I think I'm burned out already!

I'm not a programmer, databases, programming, even powershell makes me want to go to sleep. I get slightly interested in power, i.e. UPS's, generators, things along those lines. I think the only thing I could side step into, would be networking, or perhaps specialised hardware like SAN's or WAN optimisation.

I think my rough plan would be, try and get good at welding, MIG and TIG. Then perhaps, see what I can do, to get into mechanical engineering / maintenance which I have seen pay reasonably well. I'm interested in all of that you see, and would like to think welding is an 'in' for this sort of work. To weld, you must understand how stuff goes together!

I realise I would earn roughly half of what I earn at the moment, but I actually think that's not too bad in order to get away from I.T! I just think I.T. is so thankless, and it's hard (in my job) to get any satisfaction from it.

Thanks again for the replies, now my head hurts. Probably the MMA fumes..