To wonder how you get that amazing career

[Mrswhiskerson]

There are a lot of people on here earning fifty k plus and I really admire them, a high flying career is what I have always wanted. i'M currently working as a clerical officer banking money filling in invoices on oracle etc and I am wondering what the next step is I want to have worked my
way into a really good well paidjob by the time ds is five , he is six months now. I would mostly like advice on what qualifications are best to take and what are the well paid jobs like? Is it having loads of money but no time ?

Appletrees...?

No, I mean it is -- I particularly liked your determination to make demands of your employers. Along with the extent of your dedication.

Jesus AndyGray, you sound so driven!! Good on you!

Op, sorry if I missed this but how old are you?

I started in a bank when I was 18, I did leave to go to university but my degree is completely unrelated.
I am now on a very good salary but that's 20 years of experience!
It didn't happen overnight. I worked 7-7 maybe but not huge hours, and I took it all very seriously and worked hard, but honestly I didn't do anything special. It can just happen .

Thanks. I understand the OP wanting a better quality of life where she doesn't scrape by..... my family were living under the threat of eviction when I was doing my GCSES and I did my A levels while we were living in a homeless shelter. My sibblings and I were driven as we were determined not to end up back there.

what degree course did you do andy?
I do think some limit people'sincome considerably. I could never make 500K in my professional area.

But even ex cleaners and care home workers and nurses have gone on to earn £500k+ if they set up their own business and sell it off or even don't sell it off.

I think most people would agree with me that those with a good educational background find things a bit easier to earn larger sums. I am sure that is true against the 3 of my children who are early 20s and their friends. It's by no means all you need and you can earn a lot even without it but it certainly helps.

The hard work makes a difference. I remember when I had baby twins (and 4 others) and I saw 5am to 7am before they woke on Saturday a working hours in one busy period. And even a few days when I worked here to mid night,m breastfed them then, then worked to 3am, fed them again and slept to 6am and then got the family up. No one wants to work like that for too long but... whistper.. it can be huge fun it you love the work, the adrenalin is going and you're really good... it can be heaps better than housework believe it or not and the money helps too.

("tiggy winkle"... I think someone was implying andyg was Nicola Horlick and that's been implied of me from time to time but perhaps that just shows that those women with large families who earn a lot are not in the press enough. I did post once about a job ad for £50k salary in Wales and hardly any women applied. They reduced the pay down to £30k and got loads of women. Some women need to be told yes £500k is possible. Do a lot of the stuff on this thread and it's possible in just about most areas)

Agree with sexistandy about being single-minded. In the early years, I even took reading materials related to my job on vacation (for long journeys - not the whole time), would read up about stuff during lunchbreaks, relate a lot of things I read in the newspapers etc. back to my work. When studying and the early years of working - I basically had very little, if any time off. I remember at one point in my second year realising I hadn't had a day off in 3 months - I had either been studying or working the whole time. During the first few years, I only used 4 days of vacation for actual vacation - all the rest was used as study leave.
Unless you're very driven (or a bit touched), there's no way you can get through that.

And, I too came from a deprived background (not as bad as sexistandy's) but enough to give you the "hunger"

Yes, I actually prefer to read about work stuff to watch TV or scrub a floor. If you can get really into what you do it's brilliant because work is fun as well as well paid. If you have children too as most of us do it's even b etter because we have that too.

Get a professional qualification
A career with specifc career path and progression
A career that stimulates you,that you like doing
be prepared to put in the hours
sort out childcare get good nursery
maintain skills and study post qualification
accept that a £50k job impacts on family life.need to be available and flexible by phone and email.Even at weekend,eve,and on holiday

chose a job that suits your skills and aptitudes. Can a collegue mentor you?Can you shadow someone?

grow a thicker skin when then precious moments mamas start bumping on about how work means you never see your dc, and its only money

OP - yes, having a really well-paid career means that you will have very little time at home, and that the time you do have with your DCs and partner may be short and/or interrupted.

Sadly, having a really well-paid career is no guarantee that you will have lots of spare cash. If you want really good childcare and to ensure your children are not missing out from spending time with an involved parent, it will cost £££ over the years. Plus cost of housekeeping etc.

Do your sums properly - I know far too many second earners who work for nothing/negative money. That's fine if you prefer work to being with your DC but really not fine if you don't!

I've just realised that no-one has given the most basic advice of all, which I think the OP will find really useful. Get loads of newspapers, Guardian, Times, local council publications, any of the really dull trade rags lying around in your office reception, and read all the job adverts. If any of them catch your eye ask yourself what would stop you from getting that job, and what the requirements are in the small print - which gaps would be easiest to fix.
I'd also consider talking to an IT recruitment consultant - if you go on their books (or say you're thinking about it) then they will happily tell you which skill sets are most in demand at various salary bands.
FWIW I think that if you have the right mindset then an IT cv full of really marketable skills is quicker and easier to build than an academic degree-based cv. The route to solid money in IT is pretty straightforward but to get beyond it you'd probably need to go into management / project management, but that's a realistic ambition. But I'm prepared to be contradicted by IT professionals.

Sorry but what's "Russell group" all about? Hopefully nothing to do with Russell Brand?

In the City, there is Oxbridge/US equiv and then all the others clumped together. Or is it a new subdivision designed to create a hierarchy within the latter?

Russell Group refers to 20 Research Univesities that tend to be well regarded by employers.

(super contentious issue on MN).

OK thanks - If it's contentious then I think I'll sidestep that one.

good salary/job doesnt=not see children.but expect with responsibility comes expectation of input and availability.if you want lots of precious mama moments time, you wont be able to devote the graft to obtain your responsible high paid job

however as you progress, it gets easier, can delegate, junior staff and work at home sometimes

but you are expected to be available by email,phone,mobile evening.weekend, and on holidays

"if you want lots of precious mama moments time".

Of course, scottishmummy is right and love is for wimps. In fact, when emotion is cut out of lives entirely, the human race will be so much more efficient

it really depends what field you work in, and in what capacity
as a trader, you might start at 7, but the work gets left in the office( to a certain degree)

I work pretty much 9-5 now, but have taken my trading/banking experience into consulting
And I don't take any work home!

is all about love actually.the love of working, sense of achievement and autonomy.that you derive from liking chosen career.the self efficacy of being good at chosen career

op is asking how to get established

establishing a career requires time,commitment and effort,and compromise

Your own childhood must have been very empty of love, scottishmummy, for you to feel so strongly the way you do - to need to fill up with work so badly.

what an unboundaried and bizzare thing to say.how very disinhibited of you

You are hardly known for your own inhibitions, scottishmummy, when commenting on others' choices.

i dont indulge in psychobabble and dagnostics online,but feel free.do proceed Dr Crane

How odd that you think that you don't, scottishmummy.

I disagree that you have to love your job; I'm sure that it helps, but I deliberately picked a career where I would bring in the big bucks, not one that was going to be necessarily enjoyable.

There are loads of jobs I'd prefer to do if money wasn't an object, but security was the most important thing for me; you need to decide what's important for you, and what you're prepared to do to get there.

Once you have achieved sufficient seniority, it does become easier; I would disagree with Bonsoir here, as I manage to earn frightening sum without too many compromises with regards to my leisure time - it can be done.

No, many women and men who love their work and presumably a good few husbands and partners of women on mums net who love their work have had loving childhoods and have nice lives.

Most us don't just want to be with babies 24/7 whether we're male or female so get a nicer balance.

If I can earn 40x the minimum wage per hour or something then I don't see why low paid housewives have to assume the higher paid thus see less of their children. Once you are pretty successful and are the boss you can decide what you do and when. I can work when I choose. Although as I've said above I have at times adn still now work very hard, you do end up in many cases having better adn more time with families if you earn a lot. It is not a simple traed off as the low paid like to claim. In fact some of the low paid surviving on cleaning job incomes will have less time with families than the high paid which is why our children need to think about their choices carefully. I remember my girls wanting to be grooms they were keen on horses until they went back to the grooms on minimum wages lodgings and saw the life. Being a groom unlses you marry well usually means you will never be able to afford a horse never mind easily a new set of riding boots.

I agree with sm and many others - those of us who love our work do better. That doesn't mean we dont' love other people too. You love youyr chidlren just as much whether you are male or female and whether you work or don't work.

As for which university well yes everyone knows some places will take almost all comers with very bad results and some are harder toget ni to and employers snowed in with applications as now choose according because they genuinely have so many applications. It's a blood bath out there in some sectors at the moment.