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The Advice Thread

Depending on the pain/cause, a yoga stretch called the downward dog is potentially great.
 
Having a real issue doing the corporate/office world - off with stress right now - looking for ideas of how I could earn a medium income for, hopefully, the 10 years until I can retire. Had a quick look at training to be a plumber. All sensible suggestions welcomed.
 
At this stage of your life (and if you have the financial flexibility to make a career change) then surely it comes down to what you want to do. No doubt there's decent money to be made in plumbing - probably sparky work as well - but is it what you fancy doing for a decade? If so then great, go for it, if not then why move from one career where you aren't happy to another?

What sort of skills have you got at the moment?
 
Plumbing is the way forward matey, electrician is too much financial outlay per year, bricklayer is too much twisting and lifting and carpentry is the noblest of professions with requires years of spiritual dedication ( guess which one I trained in ?? :) )

Spoke to my IT chap and he said the way forward is computerised AI, how quick can you learn it :)
 
At this stage of your life (and if you have the financial flexibility to make a career change) then surely it comes down to what you want to do. No doubt there's decent money to be made in plumbing - probably sparky work as well - but is it what you fancy doing for a decade? If so then great, go for it, if not then why move from one career where you aren't happy to another?

What sort of skills have you got at the moment?

I've been in software sales for 23 years - just numbed and bored out my brains in the office - fancy doing something where I can have flexibility and not be chained to a desk, and there seems to be a shortage of plumbers out there.

I have childcare costs and a mortgage to cover for the next 8 years or so.
 
Plumbing is the way forward matey, electrician is too much financial outlay per year, bricklayer is too much twisting and lifting and carpentry is the noblest of professions with requires years of spiritual dedication ( guess which one I trained in ?? :) )

Spoke to my IT chap and he said the way forward is computerised AI, how quick can you learn it :)
Cheers - trying to get a plumber round here is like waiting for DW to say nice words about Doc....
 
Plumbing is the way forward matey, electrician is too much financial outlay per year, bricklayer is too much twisting and lifting and carpentry is the noblest of professions with requires years of spiritual dedication ( guess which one I trained in ?? :) )

Spoke to my IT chap and he said the way forward is computerised AI, how quick can you learn it :)
How much training is involved in becoming a plumber, and can you jump straight into starting your own business after that?
 
Plumbing is the way forward matey, electrician is too much financial outlay per year, bricklayer is too much twisting and lifting and carpentry is the noblest of professions with requires years of spiritual dedication ( guess which one I trained in ?? :) )

Wood butchery?
 
I find this chained to the desk approach so counter productive, even to jobs that you'd almost think require it. More workplaces are becoming flexible, and I guess I'm lucky my generation will get most of that benefit (early thirties). Personally it always seems I have a lot of good technical skills which come from a desk, but a clear ability to also be strategic too. Yet it takes a good employer (and member of staff, i.e. me in this case) to try and move that office mentality to something else. Gosh I have tried, perhaps not hard enough as I've given up at points, but thankfully I'm glad to now be leaving this employer on this basis alone (because I love so much else of the organisation and it's work). Thankfully they aren't kicking me out the door and I'm going through interviews, including one promising one which is a work from home arrangement. If you do sales, perhaps there should be more of those field/WFH type roles available for you to ulitise those skills you do have for your last decade of working perhaps?
 
I find this chained to the desk approach so counter productive, even to jobs that you'd almost think require it. More workplaces are becoming flexible, and I guess I'm lucky my generation will get most of that benefit (early thirties). Personally it always seems I have a lot of good technical skills which come from a desk, but a clear ability to also be strategic too. Yet it takes a good employer (and member of staff, i.e. me in this case) to try and move that office mentality to something else. Gosh I have tried, perhaps not hard enough as I've given up at points, but thankfully I'm glad to now be leaving this employer on this basis alone (because I love so much else of the organisation and it's work). Thankfully they aren't kicking me out the door and I'm going through interviews, including one promising one which is a work from home arrangement. If you do sales, perhaps there should be more of those field/WFH type roles available for you to ulitise those skills you do have for your last decade of working perhaps?

I'm lucky in the fact that our office encourages freedom and space at work, we have lots of break out areas with couches, swings, picnic tables, meditation rooms, relaxation pods etc.

We all have laptops too, so you are free to go off and work in any part of the buildings. I have a desk assigned to me but I'm literally never there, it's too quiet and stuffy, so I prefer to be mobile.
 
I've been headhunted for a training role at Facebook, which is really cool.

An old colleague went there recently and sought me out when a role in Data Management came up. Big data is something that I've wanted to get into for a while, its definitely an industry thats growing so the potential to learn new stuff and add it to the CV is here.

However, the salary is exactly the same as what I currently earn and the bonus is annual and depends on company performance ( at the moment my bonus is quarterly and depends on my performance)

The location is 5 mins further away from my current office with the possibility of travelling further outside the city regularly as they have offices on the southside.

TBH, I have a great job at the moment, I would happily do it for a few more years but this is an interesting opportunity and I trust my colleague's judgement.

If you were in my position, what would you do?
 
Absolutely nothing to lose from going and having a chat.

If they come back with something interesting, take it to your current bosses. "I've been offered X (overstate what salary they've offered you by 10%) with this kind of progression, I don't really want to leave as I like it here but this looks to be a great opportunity, what can you offer me".
 
Absolutely nothing to lose from going and having a chat.

If they come back with something interesting, take it to your current bosses. "I've been offered X (overstate what salary they've offered you by 10%) with this kind of progression, I don't really want to leave as I like it here but this looks to be a great opportunity, what can you offer me".

I've been in that situation a few times, as soon as you have that conversation with your boss you have to be prepared to leave your current job even if you don't really want to. A few times they've said they can't do anything and a few times I got offered more money.

It does sound like a good opportunity though and learning new skills plus having Facebook on your CV sounds like no bad thing
 
As Andy says above, always be mentally ready to leave before talking to your current boss. Plus keep in mind that, though they may offer you more money to stay, if you have made your mind up to leave for non-monetary reasons you'll be leaving eventually anyway.
 
It's not so much that Rob wants to ask for a bump in salary (though it's nice to have, and why I would say to overstate what the new employer is offering, they're not going to know if you're making it up), more "they are offering x/y/z in terms of progression/seniority/whatever, can you offer me the same or similar path".
 
Definitely agree, but as a serial 'leaver' I had a bit of form for this. Had similar chats 4 times in my previous to last job, pretty much every time came away with a 20% min pay rise and other perks / promotions. At the end of the day, though, I only ever considered other jobs as I was bored. More money etc didn't change that.
 
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