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Been seriously considering dumping the cosy, secure, financially rewarding, but ultimately soul destroying IT world. Something to do with turning 45 and not seeing how I'll be able to survive this crap for another 20 years! How serious I'll turn out to be, is maybe another matter, but can anyone offer any advice, preferably those that have actually done it (ie. changed their life by changing their job).
Someone posted a Forestry job working at Coed-y-Brenin, that sort of thing would be perfect, but without the experience required, would I even be considered?
Where else to look for these types of jobs?
Currently doing the same, from IT into Environmental stuff. Spoke to a few people first but wouldn't get a look in without quals / experience so doing an MSc but more vocational courses would probably hit the spot.
Thanks jimmy, will look into that. Was beginning to think I'd gone a little deep for today's STW mood 🙂
i did 15 years ago.....from accountancy to university for 6 years and a Ph.D in geology - never looked back. I was broke for quite some time though.
DezB,
I 'quit' IT a few years ago after having one of those moments of clarity you speak of, and had to dabble again just to make sure the bills were being paid, but, life outside of IT is fantastic, I went to site this morning, had a meeting with a chap about a website and some other design work, stopped and had lunch at home, got a long day on friday, but life is excellent (despite needing a new car and not really being able to justify it this side of spring)
My thoughts would be to set a plan, work out what you want to do, work out what financial details you need sorting, then go and take a wee in the bosses office-plant (while he's asking while you're leaving...)
OK, you dont have to do the last bit ... but ... still... the recession is a good thing, there are training courses galore, funding, business mentoring all being thrown at you.
Go and do it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh, and while you don't need me to say it, but i will! 😉 "you can teach a skill, you can't teach the right attitude" so bearing that in mind, are your skills so desperately needed?
good luck bud and do not listen to the nay-sayers!
Jonathan 😉
Cheers Jonathan, nice one.
(boss is female, might just take a leak in one of her diet shakes) 😈
Not to the same degree, but I had a fairly successful career in my 20s, lost my job in a takeover, and basically faced two options - either continue with my insurance career, which would have involved getting a job in London and commuting half my life, or doing something else and having a work/life balance where we could afford to start and raise a family.
We went the latter route - relocated to take advantage of house prices and minimise the mortgage, and I've more or less drifted through a variety of jobs for the last 10 years, part of which was spent doing a part time degree. Have a great work/life balance with our young family, just enough money to live on and dabble with bikes. Yes, more money and a more repsonsible position would be nice, but I've no regrets.
Currently tempted by the idea of a rights of way officer role, but need some practical experience to land one so maybe when the kids are both at school and MrsSwadey can get back to part-time work I might take another pay cut and look into that option.
I'd love to make a change - but i'm too chicken and have too many debts from university first time round to consider doing it all again. If I lose my job (which in the current climate is a distinct possibility) then I think I'll have a good long think about what I'm doing.
Brother in law jacked in his job in TV (art direction/set design) because he was fed up with working with w@nkers. Did a foresty course then spent a couple of years skint doing voluntary work for whoever would take him (sitting watching Osprey Nests all night near Bassenthwaite etc) and has now landed a job with the RSPB, loves it, still a bit skint, works on one of their reserves and can be giving a tour to some kids one day, dry stone walling the next, painting a mural showing the seasons the other, nice. Me, I love working in IT, wouldn't change it for the world, no sireee ehem...
I'm 38 next month and the month after, I am jacking in my cosy 'job' (actually director of an online car parts retailer, that I and a colleague set up 8 years ago). I am sick of what is effectively a 9-5 grind with extra hassle and responsibility for little extra reward.
While I would love a job working in the great outdoors (mountains, bikes, nature -love 'em all), I am loathe to go down this route for fear of being sick of it in a few years (the company I set up was specific to a car marque that I was heavily interested in - I am now very disillusioned with them and their owners!) . No, for me, it will be retraining in a useful trade. Electrician or plumber. Something that will pay the bills and allow me to work when I want and free up more time for the stuff I love doing.
I have enough savings to live off for a year or two if necessary, a supportive wife and no kids. I am not dreading this move in the slightest, although this may change as the end of April rolls around.....
[i]still a bit skint, works on one of their reserves and can be giving a tour to some kids one day, dry stone walling the next, painting a mural showing the seasons the other, [/i]
Sounds perfect! 20 years of that I could look forward to...
No, for me, it will be retraining in a useful trade. Electrician or plumber. Something that will pay the bills and allow me to work when I want and free up more time for the stuff I love doing.
chap i know was made redundant a few years ago. he saw the writing on the wall and did his sparky quals, plastering quals and all that before the event. he reckons he now earns nearly what he earned as an engineer ( mid 30s i'd expect ), but spends all evenings and spare time doing paperwork, whereas before in his old job he just walked out the gate and was done. yes - you can set your own agenda, but if that involves not doing too much work, just bear in mind that this will generate not too much money!
wish you all the best though. wish i had the nerve tbh.
DezB - I might join you. Unfortunatley I actually quite like my job
Could you find a way to put your IT skills to use in a more positive setting - eg an organisation you believed in?
the national trust are actively recruiting in the Peak District. not sure if you'd need experience though. get yourself on a HND course of some kind, countryside management or similar. be aware though that charities pay VERY poorly.
[i]Could you find a way to put your IT skills to use in a more positive setting - eg an organisation you believed in?[/i]
It's a nice thought, but I kind of believe in what this company does - it's a big business, no doubt, but all about healthcare and hospital supplies. Makes absolutely no difference in the day-to-day IT bollox though.
The recently published Trek job was interesting, but I'd still be staring at a screen all day.
I've just realised that it's 13 years since I was shown the door from my nice managerial position. Nice salary, car, health cover etc. Didn't like it but was too scared to change. After "agreeing to leave" I bumbed around for a couple of years doing similar jobs, but not realy liking it. Then by chance an opportunity arose to set myself up in a completely different line. Now instead of being the boss, I'm just a menial. But I am my own boss, and if a customer craps on me I can just walk away - they need me more than I need them. Haven't touched the pay off money yet, and now have more money than I ever did, and am working far fewer hours. (Just had a day out on the bike.)
Problem comes if you've got a wife and kids to support. Paying the mortgage, and food on the table is a big incentive to stay put. We've no kids so the wife was working, and had plenty of cash herself.
You'll have to get agreement from the management before you even think of it!!! What does she think? Any job can get boring after a few years. Out of the frying pan...The grass is always greener...
I ditched the world of IT in 2003, went back to school for a year and am now self (un)employed. I was in the consultancy side and got sick of all the corporate bollix and feeling that everything I was doing was pretty pointless. The upside is that I looked out the window this morning and thought 'nice day, i'll go for a bit of a ride' - the downside is that I've probably earnt about as much in the last 3 years as I did in the year before I quit.
I've got no dependents and MrsP earns a decent wage too, and I knew I was able to take a year's break from earnings without putting anything at risk, si it was a fairly easy decision in the end.
Well, it's too early to say if it was a good move or not but I chucked my job last year and have been busy setting up a mountain bike holiday company in the basque country. I guess I'll know in a couple of years if it was the right thing to do or not. I probably couldn't have picked a worse time to do it though!
The way I see it I don't actually have to make much money to be in a similar financial position as I was previously. I'm early thirties and I couldn't see myself sticking my job until I was 60 no matter what the financial reward. I have a Basque girl so it made it an easier decision for me.
[i]You'll have to get agreement from the management before you even think of it!!! What does she think? Any job can get boring after a few years.[/i]
She's in a similar boat, in the world of teaching (lecturer) and looking for a change. Wouldn't expect to stay living where we are, but someone cheaper, somewhere with a better quality of life for the kid, where he doesn't have a fed up father coming home every day 🙂
I reckon the money I get only compensates for the complete lack of job satisfaction.
It's all a bit pie-in-the-sky at the mo, but I'm getting some good ideas off here. Namely, planning and qualifying for Forestry (or similar) work.
Where can I get me one a them Basque girls? 😉
i wouldn't be walking out of a lecturing job at the moment, very secure and protected up to the eyeballs if made redundant
DezB, right here, there's loads of them 🙂
Was that a job offer?!
Mrs_OAB and I, as well as the three kids, will decide this weekend if a huge move back to a job I love (outdoor instructor) and geographically (Sheffield to Loch Tay) is definitely happening.
The job is on the table, we are expecting it to happen, just worries about how remote Killin is, and the usual house/money stuff.
So a weekend in Killin it is. 🙂
Ha ha! It'd be great to be in a position to offer jobs right now!
I found my basque girl in Fingers Piano Bar in Edinburgh (total dive) but I think that was their last one!
Happy hunting!
Good luck with your decision Matt.
Dammit Doug, got my hopes up there. 😉
Just remember boys that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
If you do leave can I have first dabs on the vacancy
😉
Just remember boys that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.
I did my proposed job for 10 years before I do what I do now - and it was greener, and deeper and sweeter. 8)
Just saying that theres nowt wrong with most jobs, human beings just like to have a change. Personally I'd say if you want to do something then do it, but be prepared to be skint and working all the hours that god sends.
I got pushed out of my job (basically politely fired )in Financial recruitment in Oct last year. Had been in quite successfull but high pressure sales jobs for 8 years since I left college. Came as a huge blessing in disguise though. I landed a job as a cycling instructor. Work at schools a lot and also teach adults from complete beginners to quite advanced riding techniques for commuting through London. Very rewarding and I love the hours! Less stress, Im doing what I love and showing others how good cycling is. And i dont think I could work in a stuffy office ever again!
How many peeps in IT DON'T feel like this eh?
haha I also dumped my thriving (yet all consuming) career in IT and moved into technical project management, out of the frying pan and into the fire! 😀 but the industry I work in is hugely bizarre and I deal with some of the most demanding, unreasonable and downright original clients it makes it interesting enough to be tolerable (rather than working with/for mundane, thinking out of the box pushing the envelope tossers).
That said, I to have aspirations to set up a mountain biking, art/photography, birding retreat over in the Mountains of Madrid!! (due to having a Spaniard of my own!)
What job do you do now then MrNutt if you dont mind me asking?
[i]Just remember boys that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence[/i]
[b]Everything's[/b] greener than the inside of my office!
This isn't something I'm taking lightly, I haven't just decided this morning and posted up here. Have been thinking about it for years and never had the bottle. Leave it much longer and it'll be too late - will end up in a job I hate for the rest of my life (like my dad, who now has mental health problems (hereditary?)).
Fell into IT because I never knew what I wanted to do and now I feel like I do.
Still, financial security, mortage, nice house etc etc may win out in the end. I'm going to try not to let it this time though.
matt_outandabout. I'm not far from there - near Kenmore at the other end of Loch Tay. Don't really go Killin way much but I understand it has a pretty good community.
Sheffield to Killin - you will either love it or loathe it, but not sure you can tell about a lifestyle move from one visit. We did about 12 years of holidays in Scotland before we decided to up sticks from the south. The travelling now is a bit of a pain, but worth the extra hassle and time
MatOAB - I lived in Killin for a few months - it isn't remote - great place to live. Take the job or I'll hunt you down and shoot you. 😉
Sitting at my desk at 23.45, drafting yet another agreement for a bunch of ungrateful clients and reading this....
It's little wonder I and so many other lawyers would happily do something else. But, sadly, the risk averse nature of the job means all sense of ambition and imagination and desire to leap without looking has long ago been beaten out of us.
😥
Hah how appropriate. I've just been talking about the same thing recently.
I own a successful business, make enough money to be comfortable ... and hate it. Its sounds ungrateful in a lot of ways and i worked really hard to get this beast to where it is now but i cannot stand the IT industry, the general lack of desire to do things properly and the 'paradigm shifting' twunts that inhabit my everyday world.
I once cleaned grease traps and i think i had more job satisfaction which is quite telling !
I've documented and distrubuted to my staff my '12 month exit plan'. They have all been given (if they wanted it) a %age share in the company. I will retain 51% but they can have the rest FoC and we'll do a profit share. The company will bash on without me. I'll take 6 months off with the occasional dip in and out if i am required while still retaining some semblance of an income to maintain my bikes and beer habit. My wife will work at her job as she loves it and I'll spend my time painting our house, doing the garden and relaxing. My Dads really sick and won't last long and he has been on my case about doing everything you can while you can - and he is so right.
Now 1.15. That makes the working day about 17 hours so far. More of the same tomorrow. Really must get finished and go home. Got to be up in 5 and a half hours...
Double 😥
Ive just been made redundant after 25 years in my job and most of the time feel pretty scared about what's not available out there, got a bit of btreathing space though as i am walking away with a decent pay off.
The scary thing is that most jobs out there in my line of work do not pay anywhere near what I have been earning and still got a big mortgage and kids etc...
I am looking at changing direction too but it seems the job market is decreasing by the day.
I jacked in my 9-5 job in November due to other personal things going on and am now set up in France gardening.
Completely different but still here and getting by and it's very rewarding personally. Pay completely different to that monthly pay cheque I slogged away each month for but here they seem to value what's important.
oh and they think the Brits are 1) rich and 2) mad. Maybe not so much 1) now.
They're right. Maybe we could set up a dilbertesque empire for all us disattisfied IT peeps, chuck in some spy cams, and sell it to the tv networks?
In fact maybe this is already happening - we're probably on French prime time tv?
rich_tee. Sounds ace. Where do I sign up.
I sacked off a well paid job as a lawyer 4 years ago after 10 years of having to work with and be answerable to... basically... w@nkers and thinking i was getting an early finish if i got away before 8pm.
After that travelled a bit, worked in a bike shop and am now a firefighter. Best thing i could have done. Money is ok and its a recession proof job that fits round family life pretty well with shift patterns.
I think too many people feel the need to have a well paid job, above and beyond what they actually need to get by comfortably - fine, but you can lose that well paid job at any time as recent job losses have shown.
I now work on a busy station so get all sorts varied jobs and get out and about meeting people. Also met the soundest mates through work and look forward to work. Never had that in law.
I was going apply to the fire service years ago, but found you need to have 20-20 vision. Still the case? (just out of interest, like)
Sticking with IT for the next 5 years then plan to take a gap year with the mrs and travel around the world in our early 50's. Hopefully I can negotiate a sabatical so I can choose whether I want to go back to IT or do something else. Kids will be off the payroll by then so I don't want to leave it until I retire in case I don't make it that far.
I do what I want to do now. Not doing software development as my main job any more, am now a researcher in a computer science department, looking at ways of using computers in performance, games, art and fun stuff like that.
On the plus side
- I get to do really fun stuff.
- My bosses are not idiots.
- I don't have to live in London.
- I get to go to exciting places
- I'm quite flexible with hours, holidays etc.
On the down side
- I work harder. At the moment I'm finishing my PhD, so I'm working long hours. Before I started here, I'd always worked strictly paid hours only - in at 10, home at 6.
- I don't always take enough holiday.
- I have to live outside London.
- After 3 years doing a PhD, I'm now looking at the potential to be paid over £10,000 a year less than I was previously.
I've also previously worked in computer programming in companies in London, which was fun too. For me IT outside London (in Nottingham) was what really sucked, all the interesting and fun work, where you get to work with clever people who are really into their work seems to be in London. Nottingham was full of bored, cynical career people who were just in it to pay their mortgages, who every so often got so completely fed up with a job that they quit and moved on to one of the other 2 big employers in the town (only to inevitably come back after a few years when they got fed up at the other ones).
Joe
DezB - no, not the case at all. Since DDA your sight does have to come within certain limits which would be tested at the medical but it doesnt have to be perfect. Most brigade websites have details of the requirements which you can print off and take to the optician to be checked against. We have guys at our station who wear glasses and i have heard of firefighters who have had their breathing apparatus facemasks adapted for glasses.
Ditched my secure, nicely paid easy job in Sept 07. I was a project manager at Vodafone and had been with the company for 8 years. Although well paid, I was skint anyway, commuting 110 miles a day and although I worked with great people in a beautiful office and a great restaurant/canteen on site I was sick of it and spent a lot of my time on this forum as a result.
Sitting at my desk one day and looked at my to do list for the day. Although it involved some new projects I realised that every day it was exactly the same nonsense I had to deal with and no matter how good something was - be it 3/10 or 10/10 quality wise, the reaction/enthusiasm of my boss was fixed at 4/10. A thankless task.
So deep in debt, with a wife and 2 kids to support I decided to quit and join the fire service. Madness.
However nearly 17 months later, and with a second job of painting/decorating/home improvement working for myself I have never been happier. The money works out the same, I see more of my kids, I am flexible as to when I have to work and the 110 mile motorway commute has been replaced with an 18 mile round trip along the Thames by bike.
I enjoy my work for the first time since I left Uni in '93 and managed bike shops for 4 years. I love going to work - I actually look forward to it.
I must be honest though - I did question my sanity at the time, but purely because of the financial pressure it would put me under, and with the economic situation of the last few months, it has been hard at times, but thank God I made that decision.
You need to keep some key things in perspective from my experience.
1. Don't stay where you are because of the people you work with, no matter how well you get on. You need to put this to one side. Friendships will last if they are as good as you think.
2. It's only money! . . . and I don't mean to sound flippant about this, but I was in the $hit big time when I left with debts mounting, but like most things in life there is usually a way through it. It takes a lot of planning and self discipline, but it is achievable. I was approx £30k in debt at the time and my job change equated to a £17k per year pay cut! Amazingly I am better off now.
3. Think how it will mentally change you and the effect this could have on those close to you - wife, kids etc. Talk it through in detail with those concerned and look at the worst case scenario. If you think it's still do-able, then go for it.
4. Write a list - pros and cons. Ignoring money - write down what you like about your current job and what you might miss if you left.
5. Think longer term. You current job may have changed to the point that you hate it now as it bears little resemblance to the one you started. This could always be the case again with your new chosen career.
All I know is that I am a different person today than I was little over a year ago. I felt lost with little ambition in life and was in a position where I felt I was unable to do anything for fear of finacial meltdown. My thinking at the time was that I just had to do something. Something in my life had to change.
I used to sit at a comfy desk surrounded by lovely looking women, with fresh coffee and croissants on tap, and got to stay in some lovely hotels and was paid nicely in return.
Yesterday at work it was 6am,and I'd had about 3 hours sleep. It was -5 degrees and I was standing in a ditch up to my knees in freezing water cutting somebody out of a car with horrendous facial injuries. I was there for about 2 hours in total. We got her out and off to hospital.
Think I made the right choice.
Soup - we both sound like a recruitment leaflet for the Fire Service!!
You could be right! Bloody love my job.
sacked off a well paid job as a lawyer 4 years ago after 10 years of having to work with and be answerable to... basically... w@nkers and thinking i was getting an early finish if i got away before 8pm.
So there is a life beyond chargeable hours!
Smee - I know, its mrs_oab that needs the reassurance...
CaptainMainwaring - drop me an email, it may be that Kenmore or Aberfeldy are more appropriate / may actually have some houses to rent at the moment...
I am assuming that the riding is rather good....The commute to work is either 12.5k and 300m on road, or 10.5k and 400m off road.. 🙂
We used to live in/near Kirkcudbright, so have an idea what to expect....ended up in Sheffield so that mrs_oab could do a teacher training course for a year, 10 years later we are still here 😕
matt_outandabout AT hotmail.com
[i]Been seriously considering dumping the cosy, secure, financially rewarding, but ultimately soul destroying IT world. Something to do with turning 45 and not seeing how I'll be able to survive this crap for another 20 years! How serious I'll turn out to be, is maybe another matter[/i]
/start honest and no offence intended mode/
How serious you are about changing is the point – everything else is just talk.
My meaning of “serious” is “committed”. Change tends to involve some uncomfortable situations, many by virtue of the newness of everything and lots unsubstantiated fear sloshing about. Being serious means not scurrying back to the familiar at the first sign of a little additional effort being required.
The payback is in the long term - looking back knowing that what you’re now doing actually means so much more.
TM
p.s. Soup - great post!
Spot on, TM.
Dez
[i]Spot on, TM.[/i]
Thanks - I work as a Coach, helping people sort out what they want and how to get it. Work mostly in the corporate sector but happy to have a chat (for free!) if that'd help AND you're serious. Email in profile.
TM
Can you use your IT skills to do something for yourself?
Can you relocate, but working for someone else in a nicer environment?
Could you live without the money?
IT moves swiftly so a few years break will close the doors if you decided to return to it. The competition out there is stiff!
I reckon a cosy job in IT sounds very appealing in the current economic climate, especially to those who have been out of work for sometime.
The saying "the grass is always greener" is not all it's cracked up to be.
Don't make the mistake I did and think something will come up. Look for a viable alternative and [b]make a plan[/b]. It could take 5 years to make the transition.
Don't make any hasty moves or you may regret it big time!