Would you recommend your career to someone starting out?

[GettingBetter2024]

My daughter is thinking about A levels and degrees and we're talking about careers a fair bit.

I'm quite limited in my circles (mainly teachers and low level learners).

I know very few teachers who would recommend teaching
Doctors often don't recommend doctoring..

My kids are bright (likely to get good grades/ uni etc) and would like to earn better than me (not hard tbf)

Those who would recommend your career - what do you do?!

I'd recommend my job to anyone who is a logical thinker. I'm a safety engineer; we look at the ways systems can fail, and ensure that mitigations are in place. It looks at hardware, software, cybersecurity, people, processes, the environment, and lots of other things, so it never gets dull. It is quite well paid, and there is usually more demand than supply.

I did a social sciences degree, and a postgrad in education, but then realised I was a terrible teacher. I joined an engineering company to do an admin job, and they retrained my by sending me to do an MSc. It attracts people from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Yes. Psychologist. Love it. Loads of options, lots of flexibility, rewarding and meaningful and good for continued learning.

Data analyst - for anyone remotely numerate I'd recommend it.

DH is an academic, he would not recommend that!

@HappyHedgehog247 I still secretly want to be a psychologist.... I have a 1st in psych but the 2 yrs full time when I'm not near a uni is the problem. I wish I'd done this pre kids!

Wow @LoveMyJob22 that's interesting they'd train you up from an admin role. I'm looking at ways out of teaching and never would have expected that to be an option!

I work for transport for London. If your daughter gives the frontline services a large swerve (I'm in the dugout, it's not a fun place) and goes for a post-grad training scheme or apprenticeship in our Corporate sector, it's a job for life. Well paid, good benefits, excellent pension. They take on apprentices in engineering, marketing, all sorts.

Absolutely not.

There's a shortage of private physiotherapists and occupational therapists particularly for community work with stroke recovery as an example

I retired early through ill health, social worker, specialising in Older People with mental health needs. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone.

I'm an nhs clinical psychologist and yes I'd definitely recommend it as a career. The job is fascinating and well paid, and you're generally treated well. The NHS can be very wearing to work for though!

People always say what you've said about medics but in my experience, medics breed medics, down through multi generations, so I'm not sure it's as dire as people make out.

None of my doctor friends/relations have children who have done medicine. They saw what their parents's lives were like.
They do law/economics instead.

I come from a family of medics and for past generations I’d say that was true. For my generation (I’m in my 40s) none of family has gone into medicine (or pharmacy which is the alternative in my family). Instead my cousins and I have a variety of different careers including law, finance, management consultancy and tech. We are have better lives than the current generation of doctors.

I’d recommend accountancy, which both my husband and I chose. We’ve both had interesting and varied careers, travel when we were younger, good work life balance now we have children, and both well paid.

Absolutely agree
DD is going into finance.. The salaries and bonuses are fantastic
I went into Law , wouldn’t advise anyone to do it

DH is senior quality management in Big Pharma. On 1 hand they put him through Uni and then for his Masters and post-grad quals (all for free) and at 45 yrs old he has just reached a 6 figure salary BUT he is permanently stressed, high blood pressure and constantly in fear of redundancy. It is dog eat dog. He would not recommend it.
R+D is the better end of pharma.

I’ve worked for councils since I was about 19. Different roles, some front facing including reception and switchboard which I do not recommend 🤣 the more administrative posts are good as an entry level job, relative good security, good pension, usually good pay, most councils you can work from home and they have good policies on flexible working hours etc. there’s so many services you can transfer to and can earn quite good money at a senior level, even just with administrative, manager or project management type roles.

I'm a SW I honestly love it and would recommend if you can manage the red tape and stress factors and not want to win any popularity contests. It's a privilege to be able to walk with families when they can be at their darkest hours. You'll never get 'rich' doing it but it's far from minimum wage and no 2 days are the same!

You can get a psychology degree through the Open University. It's recognised by the BPS.

I'm a speech therapist. I love my job though a recent thread showed that quite a lot don't. That really surprised me. You probably do have to be lucky/proactive at various points but at its best it's a fucking awesome job.

Chartered surveyor and I love it. Hugely varied types of role, from leasing offices, shops or factories, to developing houses, to managing farms, to technical building, to designing whole new communities. You can go in as a graduate or do an apprenticeship. Massive push to recruit young entrants who are outside the traditional educational backgrounds. You can work for public or private sector, including everything from councils to massive corporations, whether you act as consultant or in-house.

Salary can be pretty good and it's flexible enough to take career breaks if you need or want to.

@stepfordwifey I have the psych degree but to be a psychologist you need to do 3 years full time training and the nearest uni for me is an hour away which won't be compatible with caring responsibilities. I wish I could though!

I am a surveyor, I work on the investment side. Would recommend without hesitation. You can do tons of different jobs as a surveyor - check out the RICS website.
Loads of variety and can be well paid. The people in my team in their late 20s are on £50-90k.

I love my job it can be hard work at times and quite a specialist area but it's reasonably paid, opens a lot of doors once you have 4-5 years under your belt and in high demand as not that many with the right experience.

I specialise in environmental impact assessments (studied marine biology at uni) went into environmental consultancy and took it from there. Have worked on projects from windfarms to CCUS.

Definitely not. Work in Education.

Contrary to popular belief, you earn more in high level media/ advertising/ marketing than you do in many 'professional' careers (and it's a lot more fun/ better perks than most careers in your 20s/ 30s).

Aim for a big agency graduate scheme, and stay agency side for at least 10 years. It will progress their career much quicker.

Edit: it's low paid at the bottom, but you progress quickly if you are good.

I’m a Medical Writer and I love it. I’m in a well-paid industry (pharma). It’s the perfect combo of scientific and creative. The job itself is flexible and WFH and I feel I’m making a difference. I did fall into it through random science degrees and working random lab/research jobs though.

If I could pick again in a more planned way, I’d go for one of the following:

• Psychotherapy degree and be a psychotherapist
• Healthcare profession which has a specific undergrad degree and HCPC protected title, such as Operation Department Practitioner or Radiographer

My friends who are accountants are well-paid and happy.

Overall I think degrees that are linked to a specific rewarding and well-paid career, be it engineer, therapist, etc, are the best choice. I’ll certainly guide my children that way.