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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you could retrain as anything what would it be?

193 replies

BlairBass · 05/03/2015 10:01

I'm a PA and a bloody good one (if I do say so myself) - am on mat leave from being PA to a Director... there's some satisfaction in what I do (I manage some projects solo, etc.) but most of my role is frantic last-minute activity for someone else, in office 8am - 6pm and contactable until 10pm (US company)...
I'm just wondering if you could retrain as something else, what would it be??
Money being no object (ha, wouldn't that be nice?!)
I wish I'd taken my degree more seriously (not majored in art history! why???!)
I think I might have enjoyed graphic design... maybe even accountancy...

OP posts:
VivaLeBeaver · 05/03/2015 21:00

Olivio, I'm a midwife and often think I'd like to be a teacher. Maybe we should swap lives? Grin

Moreisnnogedag · 05/03/2015 21:01

Ooh if i couldn't do my job and needed something less physical, I'd either open a quilting/craft shop or be that person who puts together the skeletons for the natural history museum.

Musicaltheatremum · 05/03/2015 21:14

I'm a GP but would love to work in an airport as a dispatcher. My brother is a performance engineer in the airline industry and I think I got his love of aeroplanes from taking him to the airport every weekend when he was young (in the days when you could watch the planes from the roof)

BiscuitMillionaire · 05/03/2015 21:21

Speech and language therapist. Or paramedic. I also did a useless arts degree and am now too old.

Bunnyjo · 05/03/2015 21:21

I have always wanted to do medicine, but never had the self-belief to pursue it.

I went to college to do an access course with the aim of going on to study midwifery, but I had a very encouraging tutor who completely believed in me and he persuaded me to go for my original ambition. I am so glad he did, because I am now in my second year of a biomedical science related course at an RG university and loving it.

My original plan was to apply for graduate entry medicine, but I have had my head turned by the prospect of research...

So now my ambition is to do a PhD after graduation!

Oh and I am 36 - age is only the barrier you make it out to be!

Siennasun · 05/03/2015 21:29

I'd love to be a cellist, but seeing as I've never even touched a cello I think that is unlikely to happen for me now Sad
I work as a therapist in the NHS. It's awful. I'd love a job that involved no contact whatsoever with the public; research or something analytical. Somewhere I could get the train to work, and have a lunch break, and my own desk, with a plant on it....

GotTheKey · 05/03/2015 21:31

Currently a nurse but would love to be a police woman and work on child protection cases.

Ohanarama · 05/03/2015 21:39

Art teacher. So I could wear floaty hippy clothes and have easy marking to do.

Bunnyjo · 05/03/2015 21:42

GotTheKey, my friend is a DI in the PPU and she wants out. After the birth of her 2 children she finds the job almost intolerable at times Sad

VetNurse · 05/03/2015 21:43

I honestly don't know what I would do instead of being a vet nurse. The hours are long, money isn't great and I get vomited/urinated/defeated on and scratched and bitten but it is the best job in the world :)

LolaCrapola · 05/03/2015 21:48

I retrained as an Occupational Therapist and qualified at the age of 44! It's not all baking cakes though and still lots of paperwork and not brilliant pay....

Ideal world I'd be a yoga teacher :)

frumpet · 05/03/2015 21:49

When I was at school I really wanted to be a pig farmer , eventually trained as a nurse . Would love to own a wedding venue or be a writer , no money or ability so will probably stick with what I have for another 20 years !

TheRealAmandaClarke · 05/03/2015 21:56

Pastry chef

hmm2 · 05/03/2015 21:58

Swimming coach or clothes designer

SinisterBuggyMonth · 05/03/2015 22:05

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

OublietteBravo · 05/03/2015 22:06

I'd like to be a perpetual student please. I think I could find plenty of interesting courses to do.

OVienna · 05/03/2015 22:07

Mounted police. 100%.

poorbuthappy · 05/03/2015 22:08

Instrument Engineer...
I'd be a damn good 1 too.

DecaffCoffeeAndRollupsPlease · 05/03/2015 22:13

Perpetual student here too.

70isaLimitNotaTarget · 05/03/2015 22:13

I'd like to own and run a naice B&B

or

Social Worker

But my Dream Job ( or one I could fit in with my current job which I do part-time) is Traffic warden (or Parking Enforcement Officer)

Uniform, excercise, I'd be round the schools ticketing people

"Is your mother proud of you"?

"Hell, yes" Wink

chickydoo · 05/03/2015 22:21

Travel journalist, failing that an actress

Loletta · 05/03/2015 22:26

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Selks · 05/03/2015 22:26

Biologist / environmentalist / working in wildlife conservation. I wish I had gone down that path. I didn't have the self confidence at 18 to apply for an ecology / zoology degree Sad although I very much wanted to.

Catsrus · 05/03/2015 23:33

I spent 20yrs studying and teaching a humanities subject. In my late 30's I started a p/t degree to keep my brain alive when I had three dc under the age of 4 and got so involved I ended up doing an MSc and then PhD in computer science. Got the PhD in my early 50's, now work as an academic in that field. As I'm approaching retirement I'm thinking about the next 20yrs (fingers crossed) and soooo many interesting things to choose from. Ironically I quite fancy art history Grin

cerealqueen · 06/03/2015 00:02

A herbalist specialising in skin conditions.

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