To ask you all how much you get paid?

[UnderWorkedOverPaid]

Name-Change if you want to - I have. AIBU to be curious what other people earn?

I am a nurse. Qualified 6 years. Work 30 hours a week.

I earn about 25k (with unsocial hours etc added in)

DH is an engineer, and loves it. Not massive bucks, but more than me (teacher).

in terms of number of jobs, interesting projects and salaries attached
guess that was too sweeping a generalization
excellent top of field friends ex imperial love love love the engineering they do but find the scope now limited and def the pay scales
for example can be doing new innovative work in motor industry and paid comparatively v little
also again using motor industry v limited in terms of size of industry and scope in uk now

disappointing but true

Well, motor industry limited in the UK yes. DH (also ex Imperial!) works in automation - life sciences mostly but not exclusively. As with many areas though, the higher you climb, the less getting your hands oily there is.

Although this is fascinating, it's also bloody depressing. Do we really want to be telling our DDs "nooooo don't do engineering (replace with alternative career as appropriate), in 20 years time you won't be earning megabucks and the opportunities won't be great?" That is so demoralising. The tenor of this thread appears to be " do law or be an entrepreneur because you will earn a fortune" not "do law or be an entrepreneur because you will love it and be good at it".

There are so many amazing potential careers. Round here a lot of girls seem to see childcare and 'beauty skill' as the only choices open to them - don't want to replace that with a similarly narrow range of choices because only a narrow range of careers cuts the mustard in terms of salary.

due to impending cb cuts and dh tax increase, csa increase etc starting new job in march - admin for local gov - 9-3pm 5 days pw @ £12k pa ( council only taking on temp posts so not sure how long got it) :( was doing 12 hrs pw admin - had time for school help, chickens, allotment, volunteering etc - had good life balance - but at least still keeping roof over head.west midlands area

Omrian - both my older two teens ( 1 of each) have been driven by money for as long as I can remember. We are a very liberal and left wing house hold with a lot of children and comfortably off ( by no means flash)

they both looked at earnings when thinking of future career. DD was looking at speech therapy until she saw the pay

I think if money drives them - then that no bad thing at this stage...... it is certainly making dd work harder right now

I'm a vet, work 1 1/2 days a week (one of those days is until 7pm) earn 10K a year

BUT about to start my own practice, so could be either very skint or better off- who knows!

Jool!! Fabulous feel free to ask business advice here anytime

PaulaYates I did a hard science degree at a Russell Group university. All my employer was looking for was not a specific degree but a good one, from a respected university for that subject, backed up by good "academic" A-levels and GCSEs. But I am not a lawyer, and for that a law degree (but not GCSE or even necessarily A-level) is usually (but not always) preferred.

paula -sure I will be doing that very often! In the spirit of this thread, I would have to say that the potential earnings aren't the attraction for me. I will be local and very near to the kids' school, and can arrange my consulting hours to tie in with school pick-ups etc. I can do the job as I think it should be done, and if I make any money at it, then that will be a bonus

Important that girls know that these roles are there and obtainable and if a lifestyle is what they desire then better that they plan a career to pay for it than try to snare a footballer.

Somewhat dismayed to think that girls should be expected to think of caring or creative roles more than boys. I'll be very happy if my daughters want top flight careers to provide secure and comfortable lives for themselves. I will actively encourage them toward those routes.

I know that this is frowned upon but I think it's easier to make a life around a decent education and hard established career path. Volunteering, charity work, drama etc can be add ons or sabbaticals once you have your own life nailed down

FRGR I highlighted that I am a "female engineer" because the previous post said that "we need more women engineers". As no one out there can see me, and there are a few Dads on here, I felt that this was a relevant qualification in this situation.

I never ordinarily refer to myself as a "female engineer". I am an engineer. I am female. I am also many other things.

This the trouble for children - knowing what careers there are. I remember buying one a book at Christmas (I am not sure it was read) and it listed very well all the different careers there are. There is money to be made in all sorts of things from undertaker services (nothing as certain as death) to tax adviser (we can be pretty sure tax will remain around too) and it's knowing what careers there are that is hard for children.

Some salary surveys are misleading too as you have caer home worker earning minimum wage but ex care home worker who sets up nation wide chaing of care homes selilng up for man y millions but we can probably say on average most teachers earn less than most people who work in the City in the various jobs there are there.

I also don't think low paid job equals really love it and happy life and high paid job means awful dull work. in fact over all the more difficult it is to qualify for some jobs the more intellectual interest in the job itself per se. My work feels like I'm paid to solve jigsaw puzzles some days and I'm very lucky. Even though I'm intrinsically happy anyway I do think I'd be a bit more bored if I were on a factory production line.

I am a Dietitian and earn about £43K as a full time wage but work 3 days a week so basically its about £26K. I have 20 years experience and 3 postgrad qualifications.

Xenia - I think I need that book!

I am being very rude here and completely hijacking but posted before and didnt get many answers (not that I have so many experienced people on one thread I cant but ask).

I work in HR for the Health Service, I am studying for my law degree in Uni at night, Im almost finished year 2 so have 1 year left, (2 if I decide to do the honours year which I cant see at the minute. ) Im 25 and am pregnant with dc3 (our definate last! number 2 and 3 are only going to have 16 months between them as we really wanted to be able to have some sort of focus on career (not taking maternity leave!) early in life). My husband is very hands on, works shorter hours than I do so is available for a huge proportion of the childcare/ cleaning etc..

In Ireland, recession has hit badly and there are absolutely no jobs in the legal sector. Im not sure what my options are, what career I could have with a law degree but not in the legal profession, if that makes any sense? I'd really appreciate any advice as Im stumped. Again, huge apologies for being so brazen!!!

twopeople it hasnt done me much good though lol

I have to disagree though (going back a bit) that running around a field=happy toddler living in London(or similar)=unhappy.
that's too simplistic
as a toddler you have little awareness as to whether you are running around a field or Hampstead Heath surely

I find the I live in a field therefore my children are happier than others view is generally held by those who live in a field.

Anyway getting back to the thread it appears that hedge fund manager 'wins' as it were so how do I get to be one of those?

I do wish I could come up with the ideas needed to run my own business, I have had a few over the yearsw but generally find someone has just pipped me to the post

Hedge fund? I suppose the easiest route if a first from Oxbridge, work in a bank, be the best at investing there is, have people desperate to put money your way because you know where to invest it to get stellar returns even in a down turn and move on from there. Most people of course don't have the skills to better the market. The Elena A one has done pretty well in the UK - see www.efinancialnews.com/story/2010-02-05/top-50-women-in-hedge-funds-1 and I think part of that success was on the basis of a computer program and a huge lot of effort of course.

{B, are you saying it will be a law degree but not an honours one, an ordinary pass degree? I had 3 children under 4 when I was 26 and it worked fine as we both always worked full time and then you can build your career after that and it's a wonderful incentive to work hard and do well as you've children to keep and nor do employers fear you won't manage work and children because you already are doing. It's a good way to do it although I wouldn't like to be looking for work in Ireland at the moment. I think studying law is a great topic to run any businesses as it comes up all the time in business life]

ilovecrisps, at least you get those ideas! Hopefully one of these days, someone won't have pipped you to the post. Being creative in that way is not my strong point so I never get these ideas. That's why I love to hear about people who have had unique business ideas and made it work.

Hedge fund manager ....in case it takes your fancy....the usual routes are to be an investment analyst/portfolio manager for one of the big fund managers that manage pensions and isas, so Blackrock, Henderson, Fidelity. To get to that position, you need to get on to the trainee scheme. The competition is understandably fierce. People who tend to get offered places are those who have done maths and science degrees who have a professional qualification e.g. accountant or lawyer.

barbie, have you thought about the financial services sector (although also decimated in the Irish recession) or further training as an accountant?

Thank you so much.

noviceoftheday, I fear I would be really rubbish at accounts although, I hear it really is the business to currently be in..

Xenia, exactly what we were thinking regarding building up a career - we have both being working full time and/or studying since before dd(number 1) arrived so we dont know any different. Its a BA in law, you can either exit with a BA next year or continue on, complete another year and exit with a Hons BA in Law. Im not sure if the extra year is a huge benefit if Im not going into the legal profession (or maybe it is?). Terrible time to be looking for work, but I wont be for at least another year, two possibly so hopefully things have slightly picked up.

I am between minds on whether to finish hons degree or finish basic degree and immediately start a course in conversational chinese (just 6 month cert course) as there is talk of a Chinese trade centre opening close to home in the next few years.

That's interesting. In the UK when you do a university degree which takes 3 years normally (Scotland is different) you obtain an honours degree (first or second or third class) and if you do very badly you just get a pass or ordinary degree but no one just takes a pass degree as a separate thing and then for a good few professions from psychology to law you have to have an honours degree (even third class) to progress. So I suppose as you might not want to rule that out it might be best to get the honours one but Ireland might be completely different.

mandarin etc is very useful. The problem I see is that the UK is stuffed full of people whose parents are from Honk Kong or China, speak it or Cantonese or whatever at home and do it at weekend school too and are properly bilingual so a bit hard to compete with them but I'm just being defeatist I suppose.

In the UK for graduate jobs they want to see what degree you got obviously and it woudl be very unusual if it were just a pass degree not an honours degree. But again might be totally different in Ireland.

No [sigh] I think you are right to be honest. Im just trying to convince myself it'll be ok not to do the last year but really and truely think Ill need too anyway, its probably madness - after putting in those 3 years for me not to do the last one at that stage. Here, you pick between the best results of 2nd and 3rd year to have "on" your degree, if that makes sense - for a first, second etc.. if you go on for an hons degree, you pick between your 3rd and 4th year.

Conversational chinese is probably a bit of a cop out really, but I thought it couldnt be any harm to add on my cv alongside my degree. I couldnt bear to keep studying for much longer if Im honest. I love it, its very interesting but I am looking forward to my life back. I said to DH yesterday "Imagine what it'll be like when we just have work and the 3 kids...."