To ask what jobs you do that earn 40k/50k plus

[TheresAlwaysAnAskHole]

As DD heads to FT school, I'm reconsidering my career. My existing career as a teacher has a salary of around £24,000 - £28,000. I am unemployed right now.

I'm wondering how quickly I can study and what jobs I can quickly move into that will bring big money.

And just to come in on the family friendly hours issue, I'm contracted for 35 hours a week (admittedly I'm also on call but in reality only rarely work weekends and evenings), wfh 3 to 4 days per week (commute to London the remaining), on £50k and feel I have a good balance finally after 15 years in this industry. Ime the higher paid positions expect greater flexibility on your part, but are rewarded by greater flexibility on the employer's part. Once or twice a year I spend a few nights away, but that's the deal with having Monday to Friday flexibility for most of the year.

I do work in industry - I'm in house. I frequently negotiate multi million pound deals and I manage a large team.

I don't claim every senior job is so flexible - I was just disagreeing with the claim that the better paid a job is the less family friendly. The opposite is true generally.

I'm in IT sales, selling huge complex solutions worth multi million £'s and earned over £230k last year thanks to 3 big deals. I've friends in sales that ask if 'there are any jobs going' and think it's simple to get into. No...I've been slogging away for 20 + years at it. No specific qualifications apart from a shed load of patience 😊

I agree Riddley

I used to work for minimum wage and it was awful. If you were unwell, no paid leave. Phone ringing constantly - can you do this, can you do that. Early shifts started at 6, late ones ended at 11, no extra money for anti social hours. Expected to use your own phone and petrol. Paying for own DBS and uniform. And sometimes spoken to like rubbish to boot.

Marketing director.

I have an MBA in Marketing, which accelerated my career progression, and over 10 years of experience. I started as a copy writer in what are unlovingly referred to as "content mills" being paid 5p per word, worked there long enough to move into an editorial position, then used the experience in SEO/SEM and social media this gave me to take my first junior marketing role. I did quite a bit of freelance work on the side to round out my skill set, which led to more diverse and better paying roles, and eventually landed here.

The MBA is what made the difference between "senior" and "executive" level, which is why I count it as a better investment than my undergrad!

My ex is on £70k and that's doing track work on London Underground. He has no qualifications

I would say educational psychology but we are being shafted left, right and centre on the Soulbury pay scale!

49k Project Manager - NHS Trust - currently part time. Closer to £56k FTE. Lots of experience in change management and service improvement and was an Ops manager before this.

Not sure there are that many ‘directly transferable’ big money roles - doesn’t feel like ‘big money’ in london though!

Any job that pays 40-50k will not have family friendly hours.

There is family friendly, and family friendly.

In my role I can't leave at 15.00 everyday to pick children up from school. But I can manage my own workload in line with client priorities, so if I want to go to an assembly on Thursday morning then WFH for the day I can do. Except if I can't - because client priorities come first. So I am flexible, but not reliably flexible.

My ex is on £70k and that's doing track work on London Underground. He has no qualifications

This is the very epitome of a closed club though!

What serbska said. Some posters are wilfully misunderstanding the phrases “ flexible “ and “ family friendly “ to mean being able to do what you want, when you want.

OP I don't understand your post. I'm a teacher, have been for 14 years and am on 45k as I am in leadership. Can you not move up the career ladder?

Haha yes - my job is family friendly - to a point! I can wfh occasionally, do 4 days a week and leave on time for pick ups and that’s great for me but not as some people would define it. You only have to look at the PT working thread to see that!

Teaching, just hitting 40k as a new HoD after 6 years of teaching. It sounds like you've already done a few years so if you can find that permanent job you could progress. Can you teach Economics A level? That's popular.

I'm a chartered accountant

Second whoever said actuary. You will need an excellent degree in maths and a passion for mathematical modelling. I'm not an actuary btw, nowhere near smart enough but I'm an experienced (10yrs) IT project manager for a leading insurance company outside London and earn well over £50k. There are lots of junior/trainee PM roles around, but obviously you won't be starting on £50k!

Actually Consultant eye surgeons have very good hours- they often do a lot of private practice and with a good experienced junior oncall often don’t have to come in to hospital.

It depends if you're Primary or secondary.

Our primary head is on less than £50k, there's no money for TLRs or threshold so you're stuck on M6, which if you're not London is £33k. It's not so easy to just walk into leadership posts if you've been on mat leave/ gone part time/had a career break.

I would love to be earning UPS plus TLR but finding that job is near enough impossible so back to full time M6 for me.

I’m Head of Dept in a core subject. I earn £48,000.

My DH is hiring at 35k to 55k (IT support) . You need to have Python, SQL, and understand what a REST Api is (along with how to call one).

My job is pretty family friendly -- the CEO is fairly understanding when it comes to family emergencies, time off for DC, etc.

Are the hours ideal? No, they're inflexibly married to standard business hours (even though I've demonstrated flexible working is possible and productive) so there's room for improvement. It's the only reason I'm even a little unhappy with what it otherwise a role I love!

Career researcher at a top uni, not that easy to get straight into without the experience I'd say, but maybe a research manager type post would suit you. Also second programming / software engineering, there's a skills shortage and if you can show you have some experience plus leverage your existing skills, might be an option.

I worked my way up to Assistant head of a big secondary on £54k. Now I've gone to 4 days after mat leave I'll get about £45k.

On the 'family friendly' debate. My job pays £50k+ and I work from home so can take DD to school and see her when she gets back. But, I need a childminder as I'm working until 6.30 in my home office and she's too little to be left on her own, so it's not family friendly hours per se, and also involves quite a bit of travelling. But, if there's a school thing or a friend's party I can step out for an hour or two in the middle of the day to participate without having to clear it with anyone, as long as I manage my own time. It's hard work, but the best balance I've found!

I'm not sure if I want to stay in teaching. I loved it in my training year and first teaching post where I had praise heaped in me and 'Outstanding' observations but my second main job started out great until a new head came in and he managed to push me out. He then resigned 3 months later following a bad Ofsted. It's majorly knocked my confidence, I thought I was good at teaching but suddenly I couldn't get any grades above satisfactory in observations and I tried everything including extra training to get them back up.

I'd love to move into SLT but think that this may not be good for family friendly hours?! Also, unsure how you step over from teaching into SLT unless you become HOD and progress that way? I've seen people progress quicker in welfare roles.

I do have the issue of my subject being in low demand in secondary and I do not have the IT skills to teach computing/programming etc.

I'm so lost, I envy those of you earning 50k and still being able to work around your family. The big thing people don't realise that as teacher, if your child is sick there is a lot of pressure on you to still work and you miss a lot of school events unless you have a generous Headteacher. I chose teaching over a marketing post grad as I thought it would be secure! If I'd stuck in marketing at post grad and went into digital marketing I'd be in a very different position now. I wonder if it's not too late?