To ask your salary, profession, location and years of experience

[Nosey77]

I know I am being really nosey and it's not very British to talk money. I was inspired by another thread where people are asking questions to all sorts of careers.

I was just wondering if people could take part and say what they do, how much they earn and where they are. Also, could you also provide advice on how to enter the profession and whether you recommend it. Thought this might be more u self than just go ogling as I get real life opinions and have found the other thread really insightful

Please let's not make anyone feel bad for what they are. I'll start

Retail assistant, 3 year, Leeds, £6.50ph. Whilst I actually enjoy it, I'm looking to leave. No advice needed - just hand in tour CVs

Head Waiter
Central London
7 years experience in the hospitality industry from age 16
£28k + tips at approx £100 per weeek so around £33k per annum

I am also a published author which earns me a little from time to time.

Clinical psychologist in the NHS. About 48k. Am 10 years post-qualification.

First degree in psychology, then work as assistant psychology, then doctorate in clinical psychology.

I'd recommend it.

I earn a over a million pounds a year . I did it all by myself. I was cold and hungry as a child. I keep trying to pull away from mumsnet because it seems full of angry people but I have read this thread and know not everyone hates the world and thinks they are owed a living. Am I a troll ?

Nosey, my friend works in tax in a law firm so you could consider that too. Start from an accounting basis and specialise later. Her particular branch of tax is quite niche and interesting too so makes her quite valuable. I would guess £70-100k. She works longish hours and will never earn what the lawyers earn, but she doesn't have to give herself totally to her career the way many of them do. She has some work life balance.

I am totally in the wrong job. Although to be honest I wouldn't be capable of doing them.

Regional property manager. South East (work from home), on 41k + car + bonus (and benefits - healthcare, sick leave, mat, pension etc). Approx 8 years experience.

I do have a degree but it's not necessary. Also have industry based qualifications and currently considering 'topping up' to be RICS qualified; the company I work for will fund it.

Like the other PM up thread said, there's too much to do with most of these jobs, and people only contact you when there's a problem so you get a lot of irate phone calls. You need a relatively thick skin and to be able to compartmentalise your life. I used to enjoy it but I'm not so mentally resilient now (had a really crap year) so I'm struggling a bit, looking at alternatives.

Head Teacher
Salary £62k
Been in profession for 15 years. (Teacher 10 years DHT 2 years HT 3 years)
I did 4 years at Uni full time then a further year of part time study.
Is it worthwhile? Yes, love my job.

Debt advisor (dealing with a specific debt solution)
£20k
2.5 years experience

I have a degree but it's bog all to do with my job.

Would I recommend it? Absolutely. If you like helping people and you like a bit of problem solving it's great. A real eye opener into society.

I'd add to mine though - there's very little progression unless you want to study further at your own cost, which is very difficult, and no guarantee of job progression as a result.

If you're happy to just plod along (like me!) then it's fine.

I was a paramedic, then after a back injury I moved into mental health in residential care. I adored both - at the most I made about 42k.

Now, I am a SAHM to a disabled child. While the "pay" is awful, the benefits are beyond measure.

0k PA.
SAHM in the NE.
I'm still young and only had very temp admin jobs before having LO. I'm applying for entry level admin jobs and looking into doing an OU course atm but have no idea what in however this thread has been truly inspiring so thank you.

Another lawyer here, newly qualified in regional office of a City firm after training in London. Chose to move out partly for better work life balance and lifestyle.

Salary - £48,000
Experience - 2 years of training contract + the usual degree and law school (I was non-law and converted)

My starting salary at this level would have been about £20k higher for the same job if I'd stayed in London but by my calculations I'm still financially better off now, largely due to more reasonable property prices and losing my commuting costs. This option is also much better for my general well being!

So far I've enjoyed the job and would recommend it but I'm still very junior so I guess no time yet to get disillusioned

I started as a customer service rep after my business degree (random uni, had to work through the 3 years as PA part time), I think I was on 14k in the NE. A year later I switched to the competition in a project management role at 24k in the SE. After 2 years I ended up as a management consultant for one of the biggest firm at 44k in London. I was sooooo happy and learned soooo much, loved it. After 2 years I took a redundancy package and moved abroad. Got freelance jobs and managed to keep that 45k salary level. I did my MA in marketing and got back to being a management consultant on 70k-80k (manager level) (still abroad). 2 years later took a pay cut at 55k to refocus on the customer service operations part of my job. Didn't work out, resigned, had DS. Now about to start a very senior very cool very exciting job in my favourite area of my job at about 65k (still abroad). My management consultant friends are now at senior manager level (8-10 years exp.) and earning 100k +
I'm good at learning new things very quickly. I worked very hard. I think it's rewarding to do what I do. I stress a lot about money though as I'm still repaying my 2 student loans.

Executive Officer in the Civil Service, 19 yrs service. Worked my way through uni at same time as working so have a BA in Business and Finance. Salary FTE is £27k which used to be decent for the amount of stress but no payrise for last five yrs.

Oh and also work part time as a letting agent in the family business. Will eventually take over from my dad managing around 100 houses, tenant issues etc. I believe he draws around £4k per month as a salary which dwarfs his tiny teaching pension.

2 Headteachers who secured a headship within 10 years of teaching on this thread - impressive!

Remus - how do you earn 50k as a classroom teacher?

I love this thread! Thanks to all the fascinating posters here, and well done OP

Benefit scrounger. £10k, soon to be reduced. Qualification: be poorly all the time. Not recommended!

(I've told the truth on LinkedIn, but made it look a bit better than that )

Criminal Violence Interventionist at a large police department. I work as a liaison between victims of violent crime and the criminal justice system. I hold a Master's in Social Work. I make a bit under $50,000

Research nurse
28k (band 6) South West
3 years in this job, before that worked 3 years as a staff nurse on a surgical ward. Training was 3 year diploma followed by part time top up to a degree.
I love my job and would highly recommend working in research for nurses who are sick of the daily grind. I spend 50% of my working week in clinic seeing patients who are taking part in clinical trials, the other 50% is office based. I work in an NHS hospital but am employed by a university so I get good terms and conditions without having to deal with constant reorganisation and management crap like my poor NHS colleagues.

MN is just reflective of society as a whole - there are a lot of lawyers in a very wide variety of roles: the ones that advise, the ones that litigate, the ones that lecture, the ones that cover healthcare/criminal/banking/property/family/patent/charity/employment/space - you name it there will be lawyers in the field - law.

Pretty much every medium sized plus firm will have at least one lawyer I the team.

I'm an Enterprise Architect, I get $220K in Sydney.

I started off as a trainee programmer in 1988, earning 4K a year. I worked my way up though trainee, to systems administrator to solution architect and then up to Enterprise Architect.

I did an MBA while working full time. As part of professional development when I did my first post-grad qualification I had to put together a 5 year plan. I went for Enterprise Architect as it's a stepping stone to CIO. The 5 year plan drove the MBA, which is the bridge between technical and business knowledge.

Nosey one thing people often don't realise about law is that it's not always possible to qualify into the area that interests you. When you do your training contract your firm must move you around into a number of different areas (typically six months in four different areas but not always). You then effectively pick a post qualification specialism from those areas since those are the ones where you have had experience. You don't always get to chose which seats you will do. If you're lucky you'll get one or two of your choices.

It's not impossible to qualify into a specialism where you have had no experience whatsoever but it is unusual. Recruiters will often be concerned that you have no idea what you are letting yourself in for and you are effectively going into an (overpaid without exception) NQ position but are still a trainee.

To then refine this even further to say for example that you wanted to be a lawyer within an accountancy firm would really be extending that principle. I have worked as a lawyer in an accountancy firm (and would not recommend it but that's a personal thing). Working in house is the holy grail for many lawyers and so these positions are hard to get. Typically, in house lawyers are recruited at 3-7 years and so you have to work in private practice first before moving jobs. To limit your options like this even further is likely to have a big impact on your career prospects.

To aim to be a lawyer is one thing, to aim to be a commercial lawyer is another, start getting your heart set on a particular niche/specialism/place of work before you've done your training contract and you may well be in for disappointment.

Not meaning to hijack the thread and turn it into a thread about law but thought this might be useful given your previous comments.

The only lawyers I know who are happy (once they're over around 5pqe or have families) are the ones who work outside private practice. Either self employed or in house. I'd say I've never met an unhappy self employed lawyer on it I've met some in house ones who don't love it.

The big earning city lawyers rarely seem to enjoy what they do and talk about being trapped by their salaries and lifestyles. It's not above profession to go into.

I don't know many lawyers who work outside London- perhaps that is a better way of life.

I'm a consulting actuary, salary is lowish 6 figures. I did an undergraduate degree then post grad qualification. Have over 25 years experience. Thought I'd made the wrong career choice in my twenties but it's worked out well and I now enjoy my job a lot of the time. It can be long hours and quite stressful, but less so than working in a big law firm or in banking.