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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Am I too old?

26 replies

LittleLamb999 · 01/08/2017 16:50

Is it too late to change career at 38?

I'm 38 years old and stuck in a job I don't like.

I want to work as a nutritional therapist, I'm passionate about food and how it affects our overall health and life, but I'm thinking that I'm maybe too old to start that now; by the time I finish an accredited course could be at least 3 years from now.

I know it would make me a lot happier if I could have success in this field.

Am I too old? Has anyone done similar? Any stories/advice to share?

I'm feeling quite low at the feeling of have made a wrong choice on my 20s and now being stuck on a job I can't bare anymore (I work in IT, btw). It feels like "game over, this it it, suck it up"

OP posts:

Brainwashed · 01/08/2017 16:54

Not too late at all. I've been working as a PT for almost 2 years after a career change. I am 48.

GreenFingersWouldBeHandy · 01/08/2017 16:54

Hello no, go for it!

PoorYorick · 01/08/2017 16:59

You'll be working till you're 60, you could have 20 years of an enjoyable career or 23 years of shite.

elmo1980 · 01/08/2017 16:59

I would hope not. At least you feel passionately about something and know what career you would change to. I'm 37 and desperate to change careers but have no idea what I would do instead so I envy your position.

Go for it. Life's too short.

thefairyfellersmasterstroke · 01/08/2017 17:08

You're never to old!

I went to University at 50 then after graduating set up my own business, doing work that didn't even exist back when I left school. Similarly two other friends changed career in their mid to late 40s and haven't looked back. Do it OP - life's too short to be miserable, and too long to spend it doing just one job.

LaArdilla · 01/08/2017 17:10

My fears would be - and I say this as someone who selected a lucrative financial career pathway which was swallowed up in the crash of 2008 and now barely exists in its prior form - is it sustainable?

Is there a lot of money in it?
Will there be a lot of money in it in three years when austerity and spiralling costs take up everyone's free cash? Luxuries like... 'nutritional therapy' tend to be the sort of thing that lose popularity once everyone's got no money and no free time. I'd be concerned that personal trainers - another oversaturated and now underpaid career choice - will already have a chunk of your target market and the internet will take the other chunk. Paying a nutritional therapist will be the preserve of the wealthy with a lot of free time and apparently no energy to google. It's a niche market. It could end up going to the way of 'the life coach'.

Hey, I'm all for career changing - I'm only a smidge younger than you and am about to embark on a career in IT (software development, specificially). Because there's money in it, it's creative, I like problem solving, and computers will last and there will, for the foreseeable future, be a demand for programmers. I wouldn't take the risk, in this economy, on something so niche with a huge chance of failure.

Why not turn your current skillset into something better? If you're not a web designer/programmer/back-end dev/etc now, branch off into one of the many free online courses or local workshops and ge into something still in tech, but with more scope for creativity or whatever it is you want to do.

Let's face it, work isn't supposed to make us 'happy' and very few jobs will. Get money from the job, then in your free time do the happy stuff. Find a role with some work-from-home flexibility or designing things for clients, if that sounds more your thing.

UserThenLotsOfNumbers · 01/08/2017 17:13

38 is definitely not too old! Do it.

Littlebitshort · 01/08/2017 17:13

If 38 is too old then im done for next year
Littlelamb you should definately go for it!!
At nearly 40 and in a crappy p/t job, i wish i had the chance or cahoonies to change career

FoofFighter · 01/08/2017 17:13

I'm 44 and about to start a degree.
Never too old to change!

FreyaJade · 01/08/2017 17:15

Working in a hospital I know a lot of people who changed career late 30s to early 50s! So it can be done successfully.

mummyclarke1987 · 01/08/2017 17:19

I'm in my early 30s and changing careers too. By the time I finish both of the qualifications I want to do I'll probably be your age, so I'd say I' going through something similar. Life's too short, to be stuck in a job that you hate. My husband was in the same situation and in his early 40s. He couldn't get out of it cause he was getting paid too much money, but it almost destroyed our relationship. He dropped it all and now probably his income has dropped by 30% but we did get back together and ended up getting married.

Greenteandchives · 01/08/2017 17:31

I know someone who started training as a nutritional therapist at 46.

HorridHenryrule · 01/08/2017 17:35

Op have you got your walking stick beside you and your simmer frame.

You are never to old my partner became a gas engineer at 50. Anything is possible. An old man at 101 skydived. When I'm old I won't behave like I am old if sickness doesn't affect me I plan on working my piano teacher was 80.

FinallyHere · 01/08/2017 17:35

Good question about what the market would be like for your skills as a nutritional therapist. What are the openings, what skills and qualifications are required?

RandomMess · 01/08/2017 17:37

You've been working what 18-20 years...

You've got 30 years left, you're not half way through your working life yet!

chocatoo · 01/08/2017 17:50

I started a new career in my 50s and love it. Go for it!

bananafanana1 · 01/08/2017 18:15

Go for it! The bonus this time round is if it doesn't work out you have your old career to fall back on

How exciting!! Good luck

Original poster

LittleLamb999 · 01/08/2017 18:19

Thanks you SO much, everyone!!! You're answers really lifted me up! I'm going for it, and now stronger than ever. MASSIVE THANK YOU!! ❤️

OP posts:

Original poster

LittleLamb999 · 01/08/2017 18:21

Ops, lots of typos there!!

Thank you, and Your answers

OP posts:

juneau · 01/08/2017 18:22

I'm 43 and one year into a 6-year PT second degree course, so I damn well hope you're not too old, because if so I'm well past it!

Really glad you've decided to go for it. I'll be 48 when I embark on my new career, but that will give me 20 years to do something I'm passionate about, which sounds pretty good to me. Carpe diem!

Cantseethewoods · 01/08/2017 18:28

Re nutrition specifically, it depends what sort of course. Nutrition is trend driven and an unregulated industry. My friend spent years learning a certain approach which had a few years of popularity and then became deeply unfashionable. It's kind of limping back now but in a different guise. I think to continue to make money you need to be something of a reed in the wind. There is, after all, little accepted wisdom in this area.

drinkingtea · 01/08/2017 18:29

Not too old.

Disagree it matters whether it'll make you lots of money, better to enjoy what you do as long as you can live on the wage...

But

Do agree that you should be as certain that it is possible to be that there is and will continue to be plentiful work in the career you're retraining for. Doesn't matter how old you are if there is no or very little demand.

Is it something you can only do privately or are there nutritional therapists in the NHS, and if there are is there a shortage? (Is it the same as a nutritionist or more of a counselor role?).

Luncharmstrong · 01/08/2017 18:42

Not too old !
But will there be a job at the end of it?
I've never heard of a nutritional therapist

mrsRosaPimento · 01/08/2017 18:43

I hope not. I'm 44 and when I stop having crippling anxiety and depression I'm changing career! Most people I come into contact with change their career. We change as we get older.

Original poster

LittleLamb999 · 01/08/2017 18:47

Drinkintea, there's definitely Nutritional Therapists in NHS. The role is sort of a Nutritionist but with less focus on illness and more on life improvement by minimising symptoms for illnesses and prevent disease development through diet.

I can run my own private practice or search for a job in health clubs, spas, gp surgeries, gyms, etc.

OP posts:

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