Recommend me a well paid career.

[Bilberries]

I have a first class maths degree from a top uni.
I'm good at problem solving and creative thinking.
I'm bad at project management and detail.
I have spent my career as a teacher.
I've had a few years out with young dc.
I'm now late 30s and need a fresh start.

I'm don't want to go back to teaching as I feel that was the wrong choice the first time, I never enjoyed it.

I want the opportunity for great career progression (yes, don't we all!). So starting salary not critical but I want to be making 'good' money in a few years (not knowing what this means is part of the problem, my family are working class, I've always been told I'm doing very well as a teacher on 35k. My peers from uni are all loaded but I've no idea how much they earn).

Can anyone help please?

Ps bonus points flexible/part time working

@Blueberrywitch I had a quick Google..... you're a genius. I can definitely do this. It also uses my people skills skill set.

Thank you

I'm not an expert in that industry tbh - I work in finance (after returning via Women Returners). But if I were considering it I'd look at where their graduates work afterwards. Maybe someone else who knows more might comment.

Dds boyfriend has no coding qualifications and is currently applying for coding jobs. He reckons you don’t need qualifications. Certainly he’s getting interviews. Most of his applications have a coding test as part of the process so if you can code then you’re good.

Hmm. I would only take advice from people who have these jobs already!

The government are doing free coding/data science level 3 bootcamps. There’s lists online. I’ll see if I can find them.

www.gov.uk/guidance/find-a-skills-bootcamp/east-midlands

Data scientist

Do some online courses (udemy) and with your additional soft skills picked up from teaching you should be able to enter a few grades up from fresh graduates, £30-£40k. I believe Natwest DS team are predominantly home working now, sure others will be similar.

Civil service have a data science profession these days I think. Or you can enter as GSS which should be straight forward with a maths degree. Go for senior officer posts which I think are £35k starting, they are way understaffed with literally hundreds of vacancies.

This is very true. Data science and coding algorithms are very fast moving, and university lecturers are inclined to use the same lecture notes for years (decades!) so we are very happy to consider people without a degree and even work experience if they can demonstrate coding ability and have a portfolio of projects they've done as a hobbyist.

HMRC ticks all your boxes.

You can go in at a higher grade because the emphasis is on transferrable skills. You will probably need to start at HO/SO level (£35k upwards) and work your way up from there. Lots of flexibility is offered. Lots of ex-teachers in the CS.

In your position I'd take look at Robotic Process Automation (RPA). It's a relatively low-level way to get into coding and is currently pretty well paid. Certainly something someone with your background could do easily from home and fit around young DC.

Power Automate Desktop is part of the Microsoft Power Platform, it's not the absolute industry leader for RPA but has the advantage of being part of Power Platform, meaning you could easily develop your career into Power BI analytics or Power Apps app development - the latter can be very well paid while being done remotely and flexibly etc.

Forgot to say - lots of free training from MS online to get you started learn.microsoft.com/en-us/training/paths/pad-get-started/

I really recommend the tech industry - it's very much you get out what you put in. I've seen people come in as an office manager or secretary and get promoted over time to really senior roles. If you work hard and are reliably good, you will get recognised.
A lot of remote jobs and starting salaries tend to be at least £40k - many jobs are paid over £80k, if not more.

With your background you could look at jobs in internal training, but potentially any entry level job. Also once you get a foot in the door a lot of tech companies will pay for you to retrain or try something new. I got into Marketing in tech with no marketing qualifications, but then they sponsored me to do qualifications when I asked. I had another boss offer to sponsor an MBA if I wanted to do it. The hours are much more reasonable than other high-paid industries and they tend to look after their staff.

My peers from uni are all loaded

Ask what they do?