What trade/niche to retrain in

AskAsk

BoBoDobie said:

AskAsk said:

wrong side of 40, i am assuming late 40s.  in my opinion, you are a little bit too long in the tooth to be considering a career change at this stage of your life and if you are, it would only be possible if it was related to your existing career, where your existing skills are useful for the new career.

what about getting an admin job with the public sector?  they may pay no more than the private sector but i believe there is less pressure and you get the public sector pension, which for someone in their late 40s, would be significant value.

a public sector job would also be a lot more secure.  so you could look for vacancies with the council, schools, universities, colleges and the NHS? and other public bodies?

Thanks I'm 43 and I work in the public sector.  I get the pension sure its secure and I don't dislike the job, my colleagues are great but I want a change of direction.  I want to wake up feeling enthused that I'm training for something that I'm proud of doing.

i treat a job as a means to an end.  it is of course nice to be able to have a job that can do you proud, but to me, i do a job to make the money, and nothing more.

it is not always easy to get a job that you really enjoy and one that pays well.

if you want to move into a sector where you feel working is achieving, then it would have to be specific to what you actually feel you would enjoy doing and that would make you proud as this is very individual.  what one person may enjoy, another person would absolutely hate.

from your comments, it sounds like you would enjoy working outside rather than in an office.  perhaps look for roles within the public sector where you are not inside an office all day long.  like working for the trains companies at their stations for example.

BoBoDobie

AskAsk said:

i treat a job as a means to an end.  it is of course nice to be able to have a job that can do you proud, but to me, i do a job to make the money, and nothing more.

it is not always easy to get a job that you really enjoy and one that pays well.

if you want to move into a sector where you feel working is achieving, then it would have to be specific to what you actually feel you would enjoy doing and that would make you proud as this is very individual.  what one person may enjoy, another person would absolutely hate.

from your comments, it sounds like you would enjoy working outside rather than in an office.  perhaps look for roles within the public sector where you are not inside an office all day long.  like working for the trains companies at their stations for example.

Yes I agree, I work to live not live to work!  But if I've another 25 years of working I'd rather do something that I get well paid for if it meant taking a year or two or three out to make that happen.  I think I would like a change from working behind a computer all day.  I'm thinking a trade as I thought that would be a way to earn a decent salary.  I know what some trades can charge per day for labour plus making on parts etc.  I also like the logical aspect of problem soloving, ie learning how to fix something that's broken. 

Savvy_Sue

I'm not saying this is the only route to becoming a locksmith, nor that this is the only trade association, but did you look at https://www.locksmiths.co.uk/?

theoretica

BoBoDobie said:

theoretica said:

What shape of working day are you looking for?  9-5 or 2am call outs?  A stable salary or self employed?

I think whatever I did I'd want to work for someone else at least for a while, maybe self employed down the line it'd be nice to have the option.   Daytime preferably would fit better around family life.

Anything which copes with emergencies or urgent repairs might not fit well with your desire for daytime hours - something that is usually a scheduled improvement (insulation, decorating) might be worth considering.

AskAsk

BoBoDobie said:

AskAsk said:

i treat a job as a means to an end.  it is of course nice to be able to have a job that can do you proud, but to me, i do a job to make the money, and nothing more.

it is not always easy to get a job that you really enjoy and one that pays well.

if you want to move into a sector where you feel working is achieving, then it would have to be specific to what you actually feel you would enjoy doing and that would make you proud as this is very individual.  what one person may enjoy, another person would absolutely hate.

from your comments, it sounds like you would enjoy working outside rather than in an office.  perhaps look for roles within the public sector where you are not inside an office all day long.  like working for the trains companies at their stations for example.

Yes I agree, I work to live not live to work!  But if I've another 25 years of working I'd rather do something that I get well paid for if it meant taking a year or two or three out to make that happen.  I think I would like a change from working behind a computer all day.  I'm thinking a trade as I thought that would be a way to earn a decent salary.  I know what some trades can charge per day for labour plus making on parts etc.  I also like the logical aspect of problem soloving, ie learning how to fix something that's broken. 

training into a trade will be competitive as you will be competing with very young people and your age may work against you when you apply for an apprenticeship as employers may choose the youngsters over you.  these trades will almost certainly require apprenticeship training.

similarly when it comes to applying for employment, so you will have to be prepared to become self employed, which means you will have to be prepared to take on risks of running a business rather than rely on a salary.

you could look at a gas safe engineer, but training won't be cheap but a self employed gas safe engineer will be earning a decent amount of money.

BoBoDobie

training into a trade will be competitive as you will be competing with very young people and your age may work against you when you apply for an apprenticeship as employers may choose the youngsters over you.  these trades will almost certainly require apprenticeship training.

similarly when it comes to applying for employment, so you will have to be prepared to become self employed, which means you will have to be prepared to take on risks of running a business rather than rely on a salary.

you could look at a gas safe engineer, but training won't be cheap but a self employed gas safe engineer will be earning a decent amount of money.

Thank you, I’ve been self employed before run my own business so that doesn’t phase me, as long as I’d done the training and had some practical experience first. 

My partner is a gas safe engineer and he commands a high day rate. He does plumbing too though and it’s very heavy work. His back has just gone again, I couldn’t do what he does ie lifting boilers into lofts, lifting fireplaces, bathroom suites upstairs etc. I’ve never thought about the gas bit and if you could do that without the plumbing aspect.

AskAsk

BoBoDobie said:

training into a trade will be competitive as you will be competing with very young people and your age may work against you when you apply for an apprenticeship as employers may choose the youngsters over you.  these trades will almost certainly require apprenticeship training.

similarly when it comes to applying for employment, so you will have to be prepared to become self employed, which means you will have to be prepared to take on risks of running a business rather than rely on a salary.

you could look at a gas safe engineer, but training won't be cheap but a self employed gas safe engineer will be earning a decent amount of money.

Thank you, I’ve been self employed before run my own business so that doesn’t phase me, as long as I’d done the training and had some practical experience first. 

My partner is a gas safe engineer and he commands a high day rate. He does plumbing too though and it’s very heavy work. His back has just gone again, I couldn’t do what he does ie lifting boilers into lofts, lifting fireplaces, bathroom suites upstairs etc. I’ve never thought about the gas bit and if you could do that without the plumbing aspect.

i love DIY, as like yourself, i love fixing things.  i am a woman of small frame so i don't have the physical strength to work in the trade otherwise i think that would be the sort of profession where i would be happiest at.  the attraction of the trade is the self employment side for me, as it means i could be my own boss and not have to listen to anyone else telling me what to do, which i have trouble with!

gas safe engineer is the better profession of the trades in my opinion if you are the sort of person that has a good academic background as it requires more learning than other trades, like carpentry or plumbing.  to qualify you have to go to college to study.  this is why a gas safe engineer can earn more than your bog standard plumber as anyone can become a plumber without having to qualify in any academic course.

people in the trades will retire early as it is physically challenging, so you don't want to be lugging heavy things in your 60s.  i can't recollect seeing a tradesman older than their late 50s.

tradespeople would have an apprentice with them so when they do the heavy work, the young apprentice would do the heavy part and they do the technical part.  this is why i said it will be difficult for you to get an apprenticeship as you would be the dogsbody, doing all the heavy work, and so they would want to choose someone young for that.

some gas safe engineer will only do boilers, and this is where the money is.  so if you want to minimise the heavy work, then you could concentrate on the central heating systems, but you would have to be proficient with the gas boilers and they are complex beasts to learn and become good at.  it also depends on where you live.  in london, for example, where demand for gas engineers is high, a gas safe engineer can pick boiler work only, but in areas where there is less demand, then a gas safe engineer will have to take other plumbing jobs as well.

strawb_shortcake

If your partner is a gas safe  engineer/plumber could you possibly do something to compliment his work i.e. tiling? My Sister's ex husband did some short tiling courses and picked up some quite easily  but if you have someone in the trade recommending you then you might well be on to a winner? 

Or you could look at decorating or basic gardening if you like being outside. I'm public sector and a lady from work went part time to do decorating/handywoman on a self employed basis and has done exceptionally well.

joebob

I caught the back end of a news item on tv the other day about a seventy odd year old man who was the oldest apprentice in the world  he was working on the railways as a face to face customer services agent or something similar, your never too old. If your in to films and tv what about signing up to an extras agency, 

BoBoDobie

annabanana82 said:

If your partner is a gas safe  engineer/plumber could you possibly do something to compliment his work i.e. tiling? My Sister's ex husband did some short tiling courses and picked up some quite easily  but if you have someone in the trade recommending you then you might well be on to a winner? 

Or you could look at decorating or basic gardening if you like being outside. I'm public sector and a lady from work went part time to do decorating/handywoman on a self employed basis and has done exceptionally well.

Thanks, he does the whole lot himself.  He's a plumber/gas engineer but will do the tiling, bathroom fitting so some carpentry and small plastering work (anything larger he has a mate who does it).

Unfortunately I can't abide gardening or decorating but thank you they'd be great if either were my thing!