Career advice much appreciated!

[SevenDaysinSunnyJune]

Hi everyone,

I am looking for some career advice and hoping someone can help me.

I am 30 years old and really looking to progress my career.

I was always very clever at school, all A's and A*s at GCSE, apart from 2 B's in subjects I was dropping! And then 2 A's and a B at A-level, an A level paper with full marks etc.

I was always very good at Maths and science and my teachers wanted me to do it at A-level but I decided not to.

I didn't know what to do at university and I admit I was most interested in going out etc....I chose a party University and a subject that required me not to attend class more than 8 hours a week ( Public Relations) - nothing wrong with that degree I might add, plenty of people on the course who were great at it, but it was a more creative type course and I'm not creative.

HOWEVER - unfortunately I developed a debilitating illness age 21 (chronic UTI, very severely ) and would not have been able to cope with a demanding course that requires 9-5 attendance etc.

I was able to finish my degree without having to go into university and my lecturers were wonderfully supportive of this and I only had to go in to do exams. I achieved a high 2:1.

I now work for a US company fully remotely which is necessary due to my illness and the severity. The company have been wonderful about this.

However, it is essentially an admin type role and I know academically I am capable of a lot more. It makes me feel a little bit sad!

I would really like to do further study and gain another qualification and enter a field that is well paid and that I can use my brain in....I see my peers on LinkedIn who didn't achieve high grades at school who are in quite academic/brainy type roles earning much more than me! I don't mean that as an insult, I just mean, that I'm more than capable of that also!

The role I am currently in wouldn't even require any formal qualifications to perform. I don't mean that in a bad way, as everyone has their strengths, but I am very clever and it seems like such a waste :(

So essentially I am looking to retrain in something that is a career not just a job, but would allow me to work fully remotely due to my illness!

I did a BUPA assessment with my current employer and they said that I should work from home permanently.

Does anyone have an idea of well paid/high-paying roles that are remote and the degree/masters I would have to undertake to get there?

I was considering software development, but I don't like computers, however I heard the likes of programming (SQL/tableau) is not just computer work!, it's about writing a language etc.

I was also considering the likes of data analytics etc, but I just don't know where to begin!

Due to my illness I will not be having a family so wouldn't have to take a break to raise a family etc!

So I want to put my focus into something as I won't be having a family, so putting it into my personal development and building a career would be good!

If anyone could offer any advice I would really appreciate it!

I am UK based but not mainland UK.

Thanks in advance and sorry for the long post!!

Apologies also if I have posted in the wrong thread!!

Is there a career one?

Speech therapy

Dietitian

Depends what your interested in x

Could I do that fully remotely though?!

Is it well paid?

I always really liked science and maths, was very good at it and massively regretted not doing it at uni...however as things turned out I need a remote role so doing the likes of bio medical science or medicine would of been a waste of time!

Cyber security

Something that I forgot to add in my post...

I would also have really have loved to babe done a law degree, being a solicitor would suit me I think.

A masters in law only takes one year to complete, however... if I got a training contact to train as a solicitor that would require a lot of time/full time in an office which I wouldn't be able to do 😕

@Anunusualfamily - yes I looked at that,..there is a masters degree in cyber security at a very good local university ( I do hope they offer remote learning, otherwise no good for me!) but to get onto that masters you needed a bachelors in something like maths/ computer science 🙃

dont need a masters or a degree to get into cyber. Lots of courses but can recommend the SANS course
www.sans.org/mlp/upskillcyber-uk/?utm_medium=Email&utm_source=HL-EMEA&utm_content=1127002+CTA+Button+Portal&utm_campaign=Upskill+Cyber+UK

@Anunusualfamily - I will take a look at that thank you!

For the masters I was looking at certain requirements are needed!

I take it it's a pretty well paid field?

There’s a lot of potential career progression. I think entry level is 20-25k but then goes up quickly with experience and skills.

I think something in Finance could suit, you could very easily do an accounting & finance masters which would get you most of the way there with the professional qualification too. There are loads of roles still being done on a fully remote basis too.

@Anunusualfamily thank you for the info!

@dancingqueen345 - yes I would love to do something like that...but it would seem a lot of accounting roles for example PWC etc are hybrid - 3 days a week in office 😕

Project management, you should be able to
start as co ordinator/assistant with admin experience

Pharmaceutical industry... Regulatory officer, quality assurance, pharmacoviligence, medical information, scientific liaison officer, supply chain analyst, portfolio mgr. all can be done remotely but you need an interest and/or knowledge of pharma.

@SevenDaysinSunnyJune you only need to search finance on LinkedIn and select 'remote' to see how many there are... working in finance is so much wider than working for a Big 4!!

@MuchasSmoochas thank you, would I need to do another qualification?

@BerryTree1 - that also sounds interesting. Would it require a degree in pharmacy?

@dancingqueen345 - yes that is very true! The big 4 seem to be the better salaries around here though!!

Why do you need to retrain?

You say you are doing well in your admin role, that the company are good and works with your personal needs.

Admin teams have managers, they have strategic direction from a leadership group, they have specialised roles developing and improving on processes and efficiency, have you considered progression internally within the company?

@FatAgainItsLettuceTime - you can progress but the salary doesn't go up that much, my colleague is only on 2k more than me and she has around 5 years more experience than I do!

I'm unsure I would want a managerial position!

I guess im thinking all of the higher paid jobs such as tech, finance, law etc...specific qualifications are needed for those...so I would need to qualify in something additional

Is working full time at home non negotiable? I think many of the suggestions mentioned above tend to need to be present (like speech therapy) or would need intensive coaching or on the job training (law, technology).
If WFH is a must, do you have a flair for writing, whether it’s technical or lifestyle stuff for magazines and papers or indeed novels? Perhaps your creativity is your key to success and you can always try to build your network while working in your current job.

@Savoury yea non negotiable. Even occupational health say I should work from home permanently and they tend not to say that easily!

Yea I agree some of those would require a physical presence!

However I see tech jobs on LinkedIn and they are fully remote...but I'm just a little unsure which subject area I would study to get into that iyawim?!

If you're considering working in software development/web development/coding/etc but aren't sure you'll like it, there are free courses you can follow that will teach you the basics - I'm partway through www.theodinproject.com/ and am finding it interesting so far!

Have you thought about talking to your boss to see if there's more developmental stuff you can do in your current job? They may not pay you much more for internal progression, but the extra experience will help when you're looking at other jobs elsewhere.

I think software engineering.

the Masters in Law wouldn’t be a qualifying LLB, you need to do a conversion course, then LPC, then training contract and there aren’t many areas of law that you could do well remotely e.g. without face time with supervisors/clients.

Software engineering is a vast field, many different routes within it, if you like data, a current shortage is data scientists- you would need to learn Python, SQL etc and if you have an aptitude for maths, this would be a good fit.

Pay will be very very good. A lot of large finance firms/banks advertise these roles as hybrid but would 100% be open to discussing fully remote as a reasonable adjustment for your condition. For that reason I don’t think you should limit yourself to roles that as posted as remote to start with- you have a genuine condition that WFH would be a reasonable adjustment which can be discussed during the hiring process. It’s not just a preference of yours!

With project management you will need quals at some point but I’m assuming if your company is in the US they will be fairly big so see if you can do a sideways move onto a project, ask around. Be absolutely honest, say this is an area you would like to progress in. They might pay for a qual but even if they don’t after six months to a year you could look for a project co ordinator job and take the quals in your own time. See if you like it. There is a huge need for change practitioners in project management so that’s something you could aim for ultimately. And lots of remote work. Good luck OP 💐