Suggest me a career

[kc431]

So I have a 1st in Maths (love the subject, in fact I loved and was good at most subjects at school, sad I had to narrow them down so quickly!) but at 18 did not think at all about careers afterwards, and basically everything I've done since has been really dull. I'm 28 and about to start my 5th job as a statistician/data analyst, and have a cycle I can't get out of - start keen and well-meaning, get bored after 6-12 months once the job gets routine or not what it was sold as on the JD, lose all motivation, do nothing at work for months while pretending to work, feel really guilty and spiral into severe depression, quit and move to similar job hoping it'll be better. COVID has also thrown a huge spanner in the works, I hate WFH, for me work has to be a separate place and no amount of WFH productivity tips stop me just browsing the internet all day. I feel really alienated from colleagues as I really miss the office life and atmosphere, they all love WFH and don't get what the problem is.

The main points I am looking for:

-Sociable job that involves being at a physical workplace interacting with people. I can't focus or motivate myself alone at home, I'm an extrovert that needs to go to a place of work and be around others.

-Short term "projects" with a fast turnaround and sharp deadlines, I'm really good at getting things done fast when it's important, but not so good at seeing through long projects that last months or years with vague loose deadlines

-Intellectually stimulating and varied, a job where the learning curve doesn't just quickly flatten out into monotony

-Useful for society in some way. This is the main reason for lack of motivation in mathematical jobs, they are all helping a company make more money and most are intrinsically pointless - no-one will be negatively affected if I don't do my job or if the role disappeared. Money is not really a motivator.

-Decent work life balance, the cushy life of clocking off at 5 is the main reason I'm still in my data career (that and saving to buy a house, which we've now done). However I would take a much worse work-life balance if the job was really fulfilling. I have no kids and don't want them so that's not an issue.

The only things I can think of is maths teacher, A&E doctor, paramedic or lawyer. Hoping to save money from the new job with the ultimate goal of retraining. However when you Google "shall I retrain as a teacher/doctor/lawyer" the answer always seems to be NO followed by loads of horror stories! Am I just being unrealistic and are all jobs boring to some degree? Or is there a dream job out there that would fit the bill?

You could be describing me OP! I worked in data analysis for years and really enjoyed it to a point - but then all jobs have an element of routine and wfh can be soul destroying.
I retrained as a teacher and yes, it's challenging and can be all consuming. But my previous jobs were never 9-5, so I haven't found the hours a problem. I was never 100% fulfilled in analyst roles - as you say, they exist to make more money for companies. I do feel I'm making a more positive contribution to society now.
There are so many maths teacher vacancies - and you are paid a £24k bursary in your training year (unlike the majority of subjects) so if you did the training and hated it, you could return to data analytics with having given up too much.

Not maths related as such, but the probation service ticks all those boxes it’s not limited to probation officers, you could look at victim liaison officers, partner link workers, etc.

At present it’s in the office as and when you need to be to see service users, social in the aspect of being encouraged to bounce ideas/issues off colleagues and not work in isolation. Deadlines are generally short, and work with certain groups of more chaotic service users often means ever changing priorities. Certainly can be useful to society, you get the opportunity to make a significant impact, particularly with those who want to engage and make and sustain positive changes in their lives.

Only negative is work life balance, I think if you’re able to ‘switch off’ and distance yourself emotionally and have good boundaries in place you’re fine, but it’s not always easy. There will be occasions where there will be some sort of crisis and you find yourself online report writing at daft times of night, and you’ll never feel fully on top of anything in terms of admin, but in terms of face to face intervention and building relationships with people it’s incredibly rewarding.

I may be slightly biased

Actuary?

What about quantity surveying?

Hmmm. Management Consultant? Not the best work life balance but some companies are ok for it. Fast paced intellectually stimulating work, your maths woukd be valuable and you’re constantly in meetings with clients so is sociable. Some would say it isn’t important for society (but they’re probably not aware of eg how much of the covid vaccine scheme was initially set up by management consultants).

My experience had been that jobs EITHER have good hours OR are intellectually stimulating and fast-paced. But never both. If what you’re doing is important, people will be keen that you do it asap. So I’m not sure that you’ll find everything on your list in one job.

Other option is something in Civil Service like Cabinet Office, but that wouldn’t use your maths. Or code cracking at GCHQ?

I would say don't be a lawyer .

If you have to be a lawyer, perhaps go into an area like child protection, family law or employment law. Caveat - I know very little about those areas of law as deliberately avoided it because of the human drama in favour of more dull areas like finance and compliance. Since you are an extrovert, you will like the emotional element of it though as a lawyer, you will have to remain objective.

Hydrologist modelling flood risk.

Maths teacher, A&E doctor, paramedic or lawyer - these are quite different, is there any one of them that you feel more drawn to than the others?

You say you want a decent work life balance, I don't think A&E doctor or paramedic would be for you, probably not the other two either, but can you identify what it is about these paths that appeal?

Do you want to keep a maths angle or expertise in your new career or could it diverge into other areas?

What are your interests, what topics do you tend to read about, talk about, like to find out about?

I work for an examination board. We recruit for data analysis people. We work 9-5 in the office and you can be in 5 days a week if you want. You'd be doing good in that you'd be in a charity, helping teachers and students.

Plenty of similar organisations that are private sector but still so good in the world.

Retraining into a profession would take you years now and it would be expensive - not impossible but you need to be realistic. Many lawyers and other professionals wfh mostly since the covid era so that's probably not a choice for you.

Estate agent?
Banking?
Actuary?
(the latter two only if not wfh)

And of course you need to shed the illusion the professions you've mentioned offer a good work life balance...that's in every JD, not IRL.

Accountancy?

Some of these job suggestions are not more interesting than data analysis...

www.gchq-careers.co.uk/jobs/intelligence-analyst.html

Have you thought of research? Maths skills are always in demand in areas like computational Neuroscience. You could do an MSc to see if you like it and then move on to a PhD if you do.

Plus points are that it is always novel - you are creating the cutting edge of research. And generally socialable and useful.

I'm a lawyer and I love it. You can be a lawyer in any field they sparks your interest. It's good if you're looking for a career that stays interesting long term. But...

Lots of lawyers are wfh, even barristers are appearing in virtual hearings and it's a challenge.

I don't know where you got the idea that a legal career offers good work-life balance! Especially not when you're junior. Unless you work in-house ie in a company legal department rather than law firm. But really you need to train and qualify in a law firm (solicitor) or do a pupillage in chambers (barrister), and put in the hours, in order learn and gain the experience in order to go the job properly.

I’d check out career shifters - they are pretty good for helping you find your North Star

Teacher! Go for it…. Every day is different and the rewards for feeling like you’ve accomplished something or helped someone are like no other.
If you already have a degree getting your PGCE could take as little as one year.

You could get a feeler for teaching by getting a TA job or tutoring GCSE/ A Level students

Another vote for quantity surveyor but it’s a career in itself, not a job to do while you make money for your ‘real’ career.

The only box it doesn’t necessarily tick is perhaps point 4 but you do have something to show at the end of it: a school/library/house etc

Re quantity surveying and being useful for society...

A big push by the government as part of their Ten point plan for a Green Industrial Revolution is green buildings

Thanks for all the ideas!

@Yika I'm aware the 4 jobs I listed have pretty bad work-life balance, but this point I'd be willing to drop - it's a nice to have but not essential, as someone said above, the more interesting jobs tend to not be those hours.

I would either like a job with a lot of maths or something else entirely; data analysis/stats is kind of the worst of both because they advertise for people with maths degrees and Masters, but the maths you do is so basic (a couple of averages and maybe a hypothesis test once a year) that I feel anyone who can read and type could do my job. The job I'm about to leave is "data science" but in reality I run some Excel reports and write some requirements for software developers. Companies list loads of cool sounding methods in the JD to attract more applicants, you turn up and the job does none of that!

My interests change a lot and often, there hasn't really been one constant "passion" all my life, so no clear career path. There's been intellectual stuff like chess or cryptocurrency and creative stuff like sewing and hairdressing. I've always enjoyed learning and studying, I do evening classes in creative subjects as a hobby. Really envy people that just know what they want to do from a young age. Loads of jobs sound interesting but unless you shadow them or try them you don't know the reality. I'm afraid to admit I've been attracted to the hospital roles after watching 24 Hours in A&E and 999: What's Your Emergency....the thrill, constantly being busy, having not much time to work out what's wrong and fix it, directly helping people and seeing the impact of your work.

I'm going to look into some of these suggestions and also sign up for relevant volunteering - hospital/first aid and mentoring young people.

@Moonlaserbearwolf I did 3 observation days at a school last year, loved the observing but the teaching part was terrifying and went quite badly (obviously, as it was the first time and I was untrained). I left it too late to apply for Schools Direct last year, would defo like to get more school experience this year.

@Poppinns don't think I would get into GCHQ as I'm a dual national so would have to forfeit the other passport...

Another vote for quantity surveying.

Niche areas of finance can get very interesting and challenging - think venture capital or private equity. There's a lot of money in the firms that do that, and they demand increasingly complex analysis. It's all wrapped up in making investment decisions etc. so not pointless at all. The work-life balance will depend on the firm, but the pay cheque helps with that.

www.prospects.ac.uk/planner

Best careers suggestor I've found

Forensic finance?