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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask you to find me a career?

44 replies

Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 22:21

I'm 45, I've been a trailing spouse for the last 5 years, and I want to go back to my native Scotland. I would like to do the sort of job you can find in any town (my old career was London centric, I'm not moving back there!), I have a science degree, and I could support myself to do a masters. I have two school aged children as well so I'd prefer a job that doesn't have 50+ hour weeks or lots of travel. What would you do if you were me?

OP posts:
LouiseTrees · 14/04/2020 22:26

What did you do in London that couldn’t be done in Glasgow or Edinburgh?

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 22:30

If I told you it would be outing. It's not something I could talk my way back into anyway, as it was very competitive and I'd only worked in it for a couple of years before I left.

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EmmaC78 · 14/04/2020 22:34

Would you enjoy teaching? You could do the one year conversion course.

BlackandGold · 14/04/2020 22:35

PGCE for Secondary school Science teaching?

I think some of them used to have a Golden Hello as a sum of money.

www.ucas.com/postgraduate/teacher-training/train-teach-scotland/explore-your-options

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 22:49

That's what I've been thinking about @emmac78 - although I know there are a lot of teachers on Mumsnet who wouldn't recommend it...

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Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 22:50

That's 2 for teaching Smile

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GirlCalledJames · 14/04/2020 22:54

Data science or programming. You wouldn’t need a masters, just a bootcamp.
If you aren’t driven to teach, don’t do it just because you have a convenient degree. It’s hard for people with high motivation, I‘d imagine it would be horrible without that.

PurpleDaisies · 14/04/2020 22:56

Teaching is much more than 50 hour weeks. Unless you actively want to do it, it’s a lot of hard work for the money. What experience do you have in schools?

I’ve got a lot of science friends who trained as actuaries and like it. It sounds dull to me though!

Haggisfish · 14/04/2020 22:56

Teaching in Scotland is much better than England. Science even more so because it is classified as a practical subject so class size max 20.

Appuskidu · 14/04/2020 22:57

Can I do a -1 for teaching.

As a teacher. It’s not a great place to be at the moment, though-I don’t know how different things are in Scotland. Maybe ask on the Scot board?

EmmaC78 · 14/04/2020 22:59

I live in Scotland and have a lot of good friends who are teachers and very few, if any, are working more than 50 hours a week on a regular basis.

catlovingdoctor · 14/04/2020 23:00

If you have a science background and you might enjoy writing, how about medical writing, scientific communication or something similar?

Would you consider retraining to perhaps be a dental hygienist ? It's a reasonably well paid career and very flexible which you might value.

Lefters · 14/04/2020 23:01

I’d second the above comment, you need to really want to teach to be a teacher. It’s hard work, loads of unpaid hours and not very well paid. Sorry to sound negative, but I’d think long and hard before going down that route and get some experience before committing.

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 23:08

Thank you all for your ideas and input, it's all really helpful. To answer questions: I have considered teaching in the past, no school experience, but I did teach in university labs during my PhD, and I enjoyed that. I know it's a different kettle of fish teaching secondary school pupils (although hopefully they're slightly less likely to turn up half an hour late, still stinking of booze from the night before??)

@girlcalledjames tell me more, that sounds interesting. I've been sort of statistics adjacent in two of my previous jobs and I do like sitting at a computer for hours squinting at figures, which I suspect would be an advantage...

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Ineedabreak19 · 14/04/2020 23:10

Why not teach at university level instead of schools?

Ineedabreak19 · 14/04/2020 23:12

www.jobs.ac.uk/categories/university-jobs

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 23:14

@Lefters I will - one question, would you say the outside the classroom hours are more stiff you can take home (paperwork etc) or more stuff where you have to be in a certain place like meetings and stuff? Because I think I could take the home stuff better. My previous careers were in fields that are really competitive to get into and well paid but it meant there was all this shit presenteeism and the feeling that you had to earn your place. I'll be totally honest I'm not filled with a fire for inspiring young minds - although I do enjoy helping people learn stuff - but a big motivation for me would be just to be bloody needed somewhere instead of trying to hang on to a cushy number.

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GirlCalledJames · 14/04/2020 23:15

I did a weekend on Ruby on Rails once and there was a presenter who had done it two years earlier and from those two days and two years of self study had got a full time job programming.
Since then I‘ve had it in the back of my mind for a career change.
Bootcamps are extensively reviewed online so you can easily compare them.
There are so many remote jobs in both fields if you look at vacancies and supply is lower than demand.
I also think it’s an advantage to be a programmer from a non-typical demographic, you have a higher chance of making things that are usable for everyone, not just for men in their 20s and 30s.

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 23:18

Why not teach at university level instead of schools

Or further education? Afaik, at university level in my subject teaching is seen as a bolt-on to research and I hate academic research.

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Daftodil · 14/04/2020 23:18

Local council? Usually flexible working practices which would fit around your kids.

Something in med comms that you could do remotely (data checker etc)?

If you're looking to retrain anyway, perhaps something like bookkeeping that can be done anywhere?

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 14/04/2020 23:21

Self study and remote working would have a lot of advantages - it would make the move a damned sight easier, as it would be pretty scary pulling the kids out of school here without a job already lined up. And I have a ton of time for self study (usually - obv it's Corona homeschool right now)

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Pollaidh · 14/04/2020 23:25

Civil Service, Scottish Government, Scottish Enterprise? Science writer? analysis of big data is a growing area.

ostinato · 14/04/2020 23:31

Energy industry...lots of renewables in Scotland

Lefters · 14/04/2020 23:37

You’ll definitely feel needed in teaching. It’s often more about all of the other ‘stuff’ than actually imparting knowledge. Sorting out behaviour, bullying, issues with parents etc etc. But within all of this is so much good stuff too. I found it the opposite of clock watching and a breath of fresh air after sitting in an office all day. As for the hours, I’d say most of the overtime is done at home.

Original poster
Anycrispsleft · 15/04/2020 07:00

Thank you, these are all great ideas.

@lefters have you left teaching? Can I ask what you do now?

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