If you are fully WFH (or almost) and earn around £50k, what do you do?

[YouCouldUseAFlakeOrTwo]

My job feels like a set of golden handcuffs at the moment - decent-ish salary, lots of WFH, decent-ish pension, plenty of annual leave, nice people - but I am bored to tears and fed up. I've been working in the same area for over 15 years and really, really need a change. However at the same time I feel a bit paralysed because of the above benefits. I know, for example, that I absolutely want to maintain WFH and I need to maintain a similar salary, at least for the next few years.

I have job-searched but I don't really know what I'm looking for, sector-wise. I tend to stick to what I know but obviously that just brings up the same kind of thing I'm doing now, which I want to get away from!

So I'm looking for random inspiration. If you've got a fully or mainly WFH job and earn around £50k, what do you do? What's out there?

Amazon and Google can't possibly be 100% wfh

Not just that but despite loads of puff pieces about how AirBnB was 'designed for remote work' a quick search of their open positions show quite a few hybrid.

Of course there are companies that do 100% remote work I don't deny that but what is the point of looking for those when you don't even know if they'll have a role for you.

Another procurement manager here! About £65k FTE. Fully remote, I'm in the Midlands but could be anywhere.

I go into the office about once a month if something fun is happening.

Procurement/purchasing doesn't require any specialist skills as such, just quick thinking, empathy, negotiation, problem solving. So we all come to it from very different backgrounds!

My last 2 roles have been fully or mostly remote.

Hi @Letsnotargue, would you mind if I PM you?

I would like to get into your field and would love some advice 😊

No problem. It’s a fast moving thing at the moment, but I’d be happy to share what I can.

One key point for many of these ojbs is you don't just start them on these salaries in most cases- you work up - just like the lady wanting to be the train driver - there is the 2 yearso n £22k. Similarly for solicitors 3 year law degree. one year full time professional course/exams, 2 years training whilst p;aid trainee wage. After those 6 years you are qualified )( 7 years if you don't do a law degree first) but are at the bottom and you put the full time hours in after that to work your way up. Whereas the train driver may not need particular exam results if you go to the professions most people are excluded because they cannot pass the exams or their A level grades are not high enough - it is like a pyramid with many people not making the grade.

Digital role in the civil service. I earn just under £60k, as a ‘Senior’ in my discipline.

Interestingly my sons who left school in 2017 have a good number of best friends from school and they are all qualifying about now in 2023 ( six years) - one friend a dentist has finished his 6 years of course and started his first job this week; another one doing ICAEW has last exams next month accountant (although he has been paid since university whilst doing the exams and working) ; my twins qualify as solicitors early next year.

I'm in exactly the same position. Earn £60k, WFH full time, go into the office once a month or so. Very flexible, good annual leave, sick pay, pension etc. I work in professional services for a London university. I got the fully WFH flexible working agreement agreed before they mandated 2 days a week back on campus so I am very lucky and would never find a remote job at any other university in my particular area of Professional Services so I feel thoroughly stuck. I am 50 and sick and tired of the commute so never want to go back to that, and don't want to give up the benefits. Equally I am bored to tears every day and really need a new challenge. Any internal move would also mean going back to campus.
My husband also works FT from home. He's a software engineer and earns a lot more than me and can easily move jobs as a lot of them are fully remote. So if you have the energy to retrain I'd go for that. He keeps telling me I should be but I have no interest whatsoever in coding, sadly.

@TedLasto I may pm you if you don't mind?

Sure, no problem.

I was looking on the Civil Service jobs earlier.
Just pop your postcode in and search to see all jobs. You can set a minimum salary to see what you are interested in.

Lots of jobs at the salary you describe, lots of work from home or hybrid with local office a couple of days or meetings.

https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi

I’m an experienced Secondary School Teacher who is desperate to do something else, and would sure love to work from home.

Reading through the roles on here though, I don’t even understand what most of them are (I mean that respectfully), and feel resigned to the fact that I’ll teach until I literally drop.

Hi, I was a primary school teacher of 8 years. I left last year and took a HR role in the civil service. I'd recommend the life after teaching group on Facebook for help and inspiration

@Summertime10

Thank you for this, it’s really helpful.

I’ll definitely check out that Facebook page!

You don't have to code to get a new job in tech
Product manager, product manager, service manager etc there are so many non coding roles.
The media keeps pushing 'learn to code' but this is actually the worst way.
Not only do you need to invest a lot of time but be continuously learning a decade into your career there's also a lot of ageism if you're still an Individual contributor later on. Also as everybody and their dog has swallowed the 'learn to code' mantra there's a lot of competition.

Finally unless you're extremely good technically someone else in a cheaper country may be equally good or only a little bit worse. So your job is at high risk of being outsourced. Of course it may be the wrong decision but companies often think short-term. Roles close to the business that require excellent communication and collaboration are more resistant to that

I say this as someone who learnt on the job and moved from a non-technical role. I genuinely like my job and am good at it however the effort is immense. I plan to go into more technical leadership/business roles but many people who like coding and are good at it don't like managing people so they stay at individual contributor level.

There are also roles like cybersecurity analyst which while none coding are somewhat technical but you learn a lot on the job. Data and governance roles good for anybody with a policy background.

@TuckingFypos may I ask what qualifications are needed to get into that role? 😊

Aye, same, I take the money and have a hobby job to keep me sane as I've worked places where it's a nightmare or there's a bully boss, so I've settled for dull. Dull is good.

Not only do you need to invest a lot of time but be continuously learning a decade into your career there's also a lot of ageism if you're still an Individual contributor later on.

Depends... our management quakes if some of us murmur the word 'retirement'.

I’m similar situation, nearly 80k and the employer pension contribution is 16%. I try and count my blessings for the most part just sometimes get a niggle as I’ve been there for 10 years. I’m not 100% career driven though so it’s perhaps easier in that respect

Oh OP I so could have written your post! WFH 95%, occasional travel, £125k basic, excellent pension, bonuses, benefits include car allowance etc....today I received......8 emails, 8! two of them were general company updates....so bored...aged 57 and considering what next whilst maintaining earnings ideally (obviously 🤣). Reading this thread with great interest, thank you!

What do you do now? Would you retrain - bid writers work from home and earn decent money

IT service delivery manager earning 65k, totally wfh, I go into the office once a month at the most.

a lot of other IT companies I know are 100% wfh

Insurance adjuster

@Giantcausewayside we do the same job but my pay is significantly lower what am I missing? 😂