What is your steady, secure and fairly paid job?

[NW2SW]

There are loads of careers out there that I’ve never heard of. Possibly not the most exciting on paper, but in reality offer job satisfaction, fairly paid and life balance. What are they?

I’m approaching mid 30s, earning £40k in digital marketing and I hate it. Between the constant imposter syndrome, toxic work places, unrewarding work and very few hard skills - I just cannot see myself sticking this out for another 30 years.

I’m happy to retrain, so long as it’s possible part time and isn’t massively pricey. I have a BA/MA related to my current job, so I’m not looking for another degree. I’d like to keep as much of my salary as possible, or at least know I can progress back to it fairly quickly.

Some of the careers that I’m looking into are; dental hygienist, mortgage broker, archivist...

I know the golden ticket atm is to learn to code, but I just don’t think that’s what I’m looking for. I sit chained to a computer all day as it is.

There is a difference between 'job' and 'career'.

Correct @AriettyHomily, and I do clarify I'm looking that for a career in my opening post. Someone with a career tends to still have a job regardless... they apply to job adverts, and each have job roles etc.

Maybe professional pedant could be my next move

Are you a details person? If so, have you considered a role in testing new apps?

It is tangentially related to Digital Marketing, and importantly it is a growing area with lots and lots of vacancies

Think of any big organisation with any kind of app. Supermarkets, utilities, telecoms, media companies. They will need testers to check it every time they do an upgrade.

Pick a few apps that you know of, find the company's we site and there will be a careers page somewhere.

It's not thought of as a very glamorous role, but you do get to know a lot about the organisation. You are up to date with new initiatives and have plenty of scope to move into other areas too, like business analysis and project management.

There are courses you can attend but loads of testers manage without until they are sent by their employees. If you are detailed oriented and meticulous and happy to work in a team, testing is a good place to be. Very sought after, in short supply b

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks @LadyJaye I have also been researching into Agile qualifications, do you find they're predominantly soft skill based? I did spot there's even one now specifically for marketing by IC Agile, hard to gauge how well regarded it is though.

Have a look at the pharmaceutical industry OP. If there's any near you? It's a good industry to work in.

I'm in corporate Comms too in finance sector and most of the time really enjoy it.

You probably have more experience than I did when I moved into it 6 years ago but I've worked in a couple of different industries in that time to get more experience at a Comms executive level. Started at 30,000 and within 2 years was on 50,000. That is London though and I purposely targeted big companies with good salaries and room for progression.

Do you know what @FinallyHere I can be yes, I like to know the nuts and bolts of how things work and testing is a small part of my current role. I have looked at the testing JDs, I like the idea of a more singular focus and methodologies involved. I just find the job ads esoteric and a bit intimidating.

Wasn't aware of a course/qualifications - do you know what it's called or who is a provider?

There are loads of testing qualifications

We used https://www.tsg-training.co.uk

For ISTQB foundation and advanced courses

The qualification seems to have an international board https://www.istqb.org

It might be worth investing some of the 'free, on line courses to get a feel for the area. Like lots of things, it works best when you have a job so that you get a feel for the 'its not quite so simple in real life situations'

I would also check out the BRitish Computer Society's pages in testing. They have The Tester magazine which will give you a flavour.

You are welcome to PM me if you find an esoteric job ad, I may be able to do a translation. It's a very wide field, though, so you would soon get to know what you were interested in.

Having said that, the role is very similar, but the culture and vibe of different organisations might make more impact on your day to day life, so I would never turn one down because it doesn't sound 'interesting'. Good luck

Amazing @FinallyHere super helpful - thank you.

Where in the country are you? Similar to pp I work in recruitment marketing for a university and I think it has what you are looking for. Skill set very similar. Could probably move sideways for a very small drop in pay/same salary and room to progress. Check out jobs.ac.uk for the latest.

It's is a bit slow at the moment though!

@GoGoGone I'm SW, yes I've spotted recruitment marketing job ads. I struggle know how relevant my skills are, I'm finding after multiple applications to HE I don't even get shortlisted due to having a strictly commercial background. Are there any skills/experience that should be highlighted for this area more than traditional digital marketing?

I actually think the sector is crying out for more commercial style digital strategy- I know we are at my place.

I spotted this the other day. Might be right up your street and it's mat cover so could be a good way in. Once you are in its much easier to move around.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/CBS100/assistant-director-of-daro-marketing-and-communications

I think there is a bit of a change in language and emphasis, possibly a bit less "commercial" as we don't really like to think of our stakeholders as "customer" it's worth? It also tends to be very much done on a person spec/job role scoring system so making sure you address all points. Id be happy to look at a cv/app form if you've got one.

That's really helpful thanks @GoGoGone