What job do you do :)

[strawberrymilkshake123]

Pure nosiness really.

What job do you do, do you enjoy it, would you recommend it ?

I'm a welfare rights advisor, and yes I enjoy it, ( although it often leaves me with a higher than average hatred of the Tories ), and yes I'd recommend it.

Childminder horrendous pay for the amount of hours/emotional turmoil/putting up with shit from parents.
Do I love it?? I love that it works well round my own dc (16 and 13), I love that I am self employed so can set my own hours/conditions, one of the little ones I look after is absolutely fab and like a member of my family.....but most of my parents are a pain in the arse, the money can be unpredictable, people constantly complain about the cost of childcare on sites like this which makes me feel undervalued and I have to deal with crap from OFSTED!
Is it my forever job....absolutely not I have set myself a date of 1st Jan 2025 and I will be done by then to do something else (not sure what yet though)

@Iamthewombat

Classical musician in a professional orchestra. That's my main job anyway, on top of it I also perform solo, in chamber ensembles, teach, record...

Ooh I am fascinated by the life of professional musicians. What is your instrument? Every time I go to see the Halle or Opera North I am avid to know what the professionals’ lives are like. It is so different to what I do (finance).

@Iamthewombat it’s a ‘minority’ instrument - so you’ll never see more than 3 or 4 of us on stage, and that’s in a big symphony orchestra.

It’s never boring. Your schedule varies so much, especially if you’re freelance. This week I’ve had a mixture of 11h recording days, bog standard orchestra rehearsals, concerts, a bit of online teaching (I now have my students on a hybrid system so we alternate online and in person). Today I’ve already performed with an ensemble at a film festival (live music to historic projection), have a chamber rehearsal for an education project with preschoolers starting soon, and then I’m meeting some colleagues for what we call a run-through - running through repertoire for upcoming important recitals. Later this evening I’m flying to another country where I’ll be working until Tuesday night.

On top of this you must find the time to do individual practice, 2-3 hours a day ideally. There are weeks that’s simply not possible. Then you’re behind and the workload becomes more stressful the closer you get to a deadline - a bit like in any other job I guess!

I work with kids in a church.

@HavenHeart snap on the job front and absolutely agree with everything you say!
@ILoveAllRainbowsx I have to disagree with you about grammar schools. They are so divisive- if you can afford to pay for a tutor, your child is more likely to get a place. That means that disadvantaged children stand less of a chance and are less likely to go therefore widening the attainment and opportunity gap.

Primary School Teacher and key stage lead. I love my job and I work in a truly lovely school. But it's an utterly exhausting job with long hours (over 10 hour days) so I only work three days a week since having my son.

Sex worker.

@allfurcoatnoknickers people are stupid and short sighted. If you believe in a cause strongly, why wouldn’t you invest money into getting good people to advance the cause? Just like any other return on investment, having something like “preventing malaria” as a return on investment makes good sense!!

@Cottagepieandpeas no you don't need a social work qualification, my colleagues are former welfare advisors, PT counsellors, ex family support workers or other community roles. I wfh most days and run drop in groups for parents and young people too. My colleagues run walking groups. So not all bad 😉

Was an assistant head in a secondary school. Started as a basic teacher and hated it, did different roles and began to love it, loved it even more and then had the misfortune e to be in a school that was forced into academisation and hated it all over again.

More Ofsted visits than I can count and now the system is properly and probably, irrevocably, broken.

I work in systems development / IT - previously dev, but now director level, so a lot more management / strategic stuff, rather than hands-on dev.

I like it (and I like the money), but sometimes I do miss my hunkered-down, hoody and headphones code-writing days.

Thanks for response @Simonjt. I have a lot to say on people limiting girls before they’re even aware there is a difference between themselves and boys. But I won’t go on about it now.

@AffIt

I work in systems development / IT - previously dev, but now director level, so a lot more management / strategic stuff, rather than hands-on dev.

I like it (and I like the money), but sometimes I do miss my hunkered-down, hoody and headphones code-writing days.

Same. I used to be software QA and damn good at it but got tired of contracting and the constant hustle for my next role.

I used my transferable skills and went into insurance. Handling claims to begin with but now a sort of QA/Admin/Anti-Fraud role in which I thrive as I like looking at patterns in data and this job has it in spades.

@ManorMouse - interesting! I'm actually looking at more specialist infosec / disaster management capability resourcing for the next stage in my career in the next three-five years.

[quote niceupthedanceagain]@Cottagepieandpeas no you don't need a social work qualification, my colleagues are former welfare advisors, PT counsellors, ex family support workers or other community roles. I wfh most days and run drop in groups for parents and young people too. My colleagues run walking groups. So not all bad 😉[/quote]
Thank you @niceupthedanceagain it sounds interesting and I might investigate further.

I am very keen to get out of my current role.

Part time cleaner.fits in well with school hours ( I choose when and where I work and sometimes take my kids). I've worked retail, carer, postperson, factory worker, love a change. I would love to do something different again but I've no childcare and dont live near college/ adult education centres.

Payroll manager in a healthcare service.

Love being in charge of my department, process improvement work and small projects. It gets stressful as it gets closer to payday and more often than not there's a lot of unpaid overtime expected.

I've worked in payroll for 17 years now and finally at the top of my game which is a good feeling.

Like a pp, I am also a probation officer technically (wonder if we know each other!). But I took a different role within probation as I was utterly burnt out. It's the sort of job you go into to help people but the super high caseloads and targets mean that you don't have time to do the job you'd like to do. It's quite sad really.

Whether I'd advise any one else to do it depends on your motivation for working. It is high stress but if you value job security it is a job for life (if you want). Probation is so horrendously short staffed and I don't see that changing any time soon. I've been working in probation for 20 years and the staffing issues are getting worse, not better.

The positive aspect for me has been my colleagues. It takes a particular type of personality to be a probation officer, I feel. So that along with the intensity means you form strong bonds.

Construction manager - however I now want to work less on site and more in the office…

Also fancy a change of scenery - so looking at jobs abroad

Just trying to work out which country as a desire for civil engineering and construction to earn £££

Farmer on small sheep farm. I love my sheep more than words can say. Looking forward to lambing

I work in a middle management role in the public sector, it's a very specific role, of the very few people who do it even fewer are women so potentially outing.

Agree. We need to bring back grammar schools and technical colleges.

Everyone should be able to go to a decent school, not just the people who can afford to buy a house in the catchment area. Very unfair

The grammar system divided children into winners and losers at a young age. No child should have that done to them. Have you heard adults speak who failed the exam and went to secondary moderns and the effect it had on them?

We do need good schools for all. But Its not comprehensive schools that have failed but woeful lack of funding, and a crap, target focussed curriculum. And poorly implemented 'initiatives.'

Early years practitioner (nursery nurse in old money )

I love it, the children are gorgeous and total time wasters. I love spending time with them and getting to know their lovely characters.

Downsides - it's very poorly paid. I have almost 20 years of experience yet am paid less than my student son who is a waiter. I don't do it for the money, if I had to earn a decent amount I wouldn't be doing it. I'm just in a lucky position to only need a small job, to earn a bit of holiday/take away money and I happen to love it.

It's sad that many very talented EYP are walking away from their jobs, working all hours possible for a pittance and sometimes agro from parents

Service delivery manager for an IT company. Yes I enjoy it and yes I'd recommend it

@Allsorts1 Spot on. I think people think we're paid to organize coffee mornings or something, when really I personally have to raise a minimum of $2m a year and my wider team has to raise over $20m a year every single year. That's probably a bit more than you can expect a volunteer to take on...