You talk about grad jobs only paying £25k a year and having to jump through hoops for that. Those hoops never go away and although the pay does rise, only a tiny proportion of careers lead to a situation where the financial rewards compensate for the mortgage placed on your life. And even then, only if you are of a certain mindset. Employer and user are to be found together in the thesaurus for a reason.
I was a couple of years older than you when I realised that employment wasn't for me. Unlike you though, I had no real skills to fall back on. That turned out to an advantage in that it forced me into avoiding a trap which I see a lot of people fall into - they get involved in a business or enterprise which requires them to be 'hands on'. So their customers and clients become their employers. The one piece of advice I'd give you (should you decide to go it alone) is to work towards something where there is no direct correlation between the personal time you put in and the rewards you take out.
I've been self employed nearly my whole career and there has always been a correlation between effort in and reward out .Originally Posted by Jdh1
The only thing that fits this is lottery win, marrying a Kardashian or moving to Essex and joining TOWIE.
Hard to advise, but you seem to have (1) no financial chains (property owner/mortgage free is a huge advantage) and (2) not driven by £££
It's hugely personal and unique to you...... But, if I were you I would do the following:
Take 3 months off and go to the U.S. and get a commercial helicopter pilot's license. Then I would look at job opportunities in commercial rotary aviation.
I did exactly this at exactly your age (30 years ago). I wanted to be an EMS pilot or fly for a charity. Jobs are hard to find in aviation nowadays, I admit and in my case marriage/kids/greed saw me gravitate to financial services. Given your relative financial stability you would not necessarily need to chase the highest paying jobs and you would be pretty employable.
Your fast jet ambitions are over but you could find helicopters more challenging and I bet you would be hooked if you took a few private lessons here in the UK. That would give you the experience to decide if getting commercially rated would be what you want to do. Then going somewhere where weather is reliable for your further training makes sense.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Sent from my iPhone using TZ-UK mobile app
Last edited by tom waring; 27th April 2017 at 08:12.
That may be because you're doing something with a close ongoing relationship between work done and reward received. There are alternatives. If you're a plumber or a consultant (just two examples) there are always new pipes to fit o rcompany problems to solve. Stop doing it and you stop getting paid. If you're a writer (just one example) you do something once and if you get it right, it pays you for a lifetime with no additional input needed. There are many ways to do this and I've been fortunate enough to latch on to a few.
Care to share them? Spirit of the forum and all that...
Find a job you love so you get up looking forward to work. If you are good the rewards will come. I wish I'd got a job in motorsport, sweeping the floor, whatever, just to get a foot in the door.
And if you do want kids, do not underestimate how a woman's ability to procreate can fall off a cliff once they hit their mid-thirties, younger in some.
A little update for anyone who cares, I've been formally offered two positions. One being a job in a building services company close to home, the second with the biggest defence company in the world, but that is as a contractor and would require relocation.
Safe vs risky I suppose.
Choose risk. There's time for safe later. You don't regret the chances you take, you regret the ones you pass on...
I would so much jump for the latter option and grab it with both hands.
Spoken as a surprisingly grey-haired 39-year old guru of life, obviously :)
Will either of them help you find your objective/direction?
See my previous reply in this thread.
For me it's a no brainer - Where there is risk, there is reward, and risk often transpires to experiences and opportunities that don't come round too often. Good luck
I really have no idea.
The second option appeals the most as I have a genuine interest in defence, albeit the position would be working with land vehicles and not aero. The money being offered is beyond good but it is a contract, 6 then another 6 months and hopefully perm thereafter, but that could just be a carrot. If house prices were par with where I am now I'd probably not even be thinking about it. Ho Hum.
This takes me back to what I asked previously, what defines success to you, and what do you think you want?
You see the carrot in the risky option, I see an opportunity to work for 6 months on something interesting, different area, location and gain vast experience. At the end, you will gain another 6 months or you won't. If you love it and you can stay, you will stay. If you love it and you can't stay, you know more than you knew 6 months prior, you have more money, and will be in a stronger position to negotiate/explore other areas whilst having more clarity on the direction that you wish to pursue.
He who dares Ally, he who dares.
Unless you marry wealth or win the lottery, the rewards very rarely come without the risks. But then money isn't everything.
Last edited by Passenger; 28th April 2017 at 19:28.
Why not. Here are three:
1. Create a physical product that is then licenced to (or sold through) third parties.
2. Create some intellectual property (eg.book/manual/course/software/Film/TV show) that is licensed to (or sold through) third parties.
3. Create marketing material which can be used to sell either the above, or something created by a third party, across a variety of print or digital media,
The beauty of all this is the work is done once but the return continues long afterwards.
-Ally-, you mentioned a mental illness in your opening post on this thread. The fact you acknowledge it might lead you to seek help. There should be no stigma.
You imply that you are financially secure, so that is positive for you. Concentrate on your finals, with appropriate support, then take your time to find something that means something to you. Even if you cannot fly professionally, you could still do a PPL for pleasure, and perhaps find something engaging in police, fire, nursing or paramedic services if that would interest you.
Other things that might appeal, e.g. volunteer for a food Bank, with refugees or homeless folk? You might gain some direction from these things and do some good. But if you suspect depression, talk to the docs or someone else you trust soon.
Good luck with your finals!
Great post OP!
I must confess I am having similar mid-life confusions after leaving School at 16, going to college to train as a Surveyor and here I am at 42 still a Surveyor. So too have many friends; my Police Officer mate has just re-trained to become an Electrician. I think this is perfectly natural.
A few years ago, I left a consultancy to work in a Local Authority and despite the less stressful workload the environment can be a bit depressing at times, this allied with personal pressures led to me being diagnoses with depression last year; which thankfully I am over now.
I always envied my Dad when he was working, he had a working life more varied than I could ever imagine; but things were different back then, he said he could walk out of one job on Friday and have a new job lined up the following week.
Another small strategy I have is that a few years back I sought a hobby job on the side and trained as a Pilates Instructor, so now I work a full week but teach two classes per week; teaching is very fulfilling and rewarding, plus you get to do something you enjoy doing and are getting paid for it. Also in the summer I book a week off work as holiday and work at Festivals as 'Site Crew', again great fun and I can disengage my brain and erect barriers, carry straw bales, build stages, put out chairs and tables, push stuck Ice Cream vans out of a muddy field, you name it; bloody good fun it is too! I also put my name down for 'Election Duties' working as a 'Poll Clerk' in my local Polling Stations; two coming up this year with the County Election on 4th May followed by the General Election soon after. Again just a welcome distraction from the day job. Sometimes a small change and distraction is all you need; maybe just a hobby; maybe just someone to have a good chat to?
Maybe give something else a try; if you don't like that try something else, if that doesn't work go back to what you know; there is no shame in reversion. Another of my friends couldn't wait to leave the Army, after 18 months of Civvy life he couldn't wait to get back into the Army.
The most important thing in all of this is you. You only get one life so live it to the full, and as already mentioned, in full health. I wish you all the very best.
I've been wondering how to answer this, as there is many parallels to my life, just a decade behind.
Also I see this regularly when hiring & retaining recent graduates in Mechanical Engineering.
Between 21-28 I'd jumped around a little between different jobs & organisations always looking for the greener grass.
As a result of my troubles & self reflection at this age I did a few things;
1). Reflect on what you have - I realised I was taking some things for granted, decided to get engaged & subsequently married to my long term girlfriend.
2). Opportunity - I took a significant pay cut & "backwards" step. This was potentially a risk, but I had faith that my mixed experience would give me an advantage in future opportunities within the new organistaion in the future.
3). Outlook - Perhaps most importantly, I changed my outlook on things, the simplest way to describe this is with the 80:20 rule.
Before I would think "that's ok, but what about the 20 that it doesn't work for?"
Now I think "That's Great it'll immediately work for 80, now how can we mitigate the risks for the 20?"
Now on the more direct advice side, I think everything has been covered already, but I wanted to reiterate a few points that have been said before.
Firstly, you need to get out there & try some things to see what you like & dislike.
You'd be surprised at how much flexibility many engineering roles have, particularly once you start to get some more experience for senior roles etc.
If I had myself & my colleagues summarise to you what we each do the roles would sound entirely different, that's because we've all made them our own.
Next, don't get too hung up on salary, look more at the opportunities available in a role. £25k in some parts of the south is tough for a graduate, in the North that's a blinking good salary to start & perfectly comfortable. It's more important to focus on what you're going to do with that money, what's the lifestyle?
Finally, be confident, but humble at the same time. This a difficult balance but one a lot of us get wrong in our early & mid 20's particularly.
Bottom line, try something & see how it goes, you can always change if it doesn't work out.
2 bits of advice from me, 45 year old RAF helicopter pilot.
Don't join the military if your reason is to fly and you cannot. (Asthma is an absolute stopper, as is your age). Being an EngO or something similar will eat you up if you are faced with what you really wanted every day.
Don't give up on a good opportunity for a relationship. I always wanted to be a pilot but the future Mrs Madness not so keen. I very nearly turned down my offer of being a pilot to keep her happy but on chatting to my dad he told me that if I gave up this opportunity then I would always hold it against her and it would poison any future. Best advice he's ever given me. Mrs M accepted me joining up, still married me and has enjoyed my 23 years of service.
Good advice this! I knew I wouldn't be happy in the military if I couldn't fly so am glad I didn't join...as an aside I've flown in RAF multi-engine, rotary and FJ aircraft so I'm pretty happy with the way things have turned out 😊
Deleted
Last edited by Analogue; 11th September 2017 at 23:30.
Posting Permissions
Reply With Quote