To change career at 31?

[Anonnnnnnm]

Let me start by saying I've naturally dropped into my current career. It's 100% corporate. The money is good, £60/70k with more achievable. BUT....

I don't enjoy it, at all. It's boring. Soul destroyingly so. I do it purely for the money, but the more time goes on, that simply isn't enough.

I want a fulfilling job. I want to go to University and do either Diagnostic Radiology or Primary Education with QTS. This gives me fulfilment of helping others, whilst allowing me to continue with a mixture of some office work and an element of practical work (which I really, really want)

I can't see myself staring at Microsoft excel for the next 30 years.

Am I totally crazy to give up my job for 3 years and go back to Uni? I have support from DP and with their salary and my student maintenance we would be "comfortable" - obviously a big adjustment but we have very affordable bills. We have a baby due soon and I think it's probably now or never.

Should I just bloody go for it?!

I would really look into the primary teaching if you're going to have children. So many people wrongly assume that it's a cushy number. I never ended up going into primary teaching, got sidetracked with something else then spent years following DH's career. At just a bit older than you are with 2 young children I seriously looked into it again. I decided against it for their sake and till last year I wondered if it had been the right decision.

But then I got an office job in a primary school and I see the workload that all primary school staff (not just teachers) have to deal with. It's bloody horrendous! I've never worked so hard in my life, at any other job. And the poor teachers. They are there from 7.30-7.45, sometimes earlier, dont' get any proper break through the day, it's full on high energy "performance" all day (no slumping back behind your PC when you're feeling rough with a cold or period), then meetings or dealing with parents after school and prep for the next day. They get chucked out when the caretaker finishes at 5.30, then go home to eat something before they're back marking or on the PC doing more prep. Carry on like that till 11 at night. The ones that DON'T do this end up falling behind. Burn out and stress is rife. The team work is amazing as we all know each other's workload and try to help each other out as much as possible.

All for probably half of what you earn now. So depends what kind of hours you do at the moment. Sometimes the grass isn't always as green as you think. Some patches are, and others are full of weeds 😂

@CurlyhairedAssassin You've put that really well!

Thank you for this. It's really appreciated. I'm definitely getting a picture for the career as a teacher! Lots of elements similar to what I'm facing now but overall sounds teachers aren't supported that well with their workload.

I was definitely veering towards Radiography more anyway, but more so now. However, I appreciate that won't be all roses either. No job is. I just can't take 100% corporate numbers and excel spreadsheets for another 30 years!

More thinking required I think.

I don't see what your question is. You want to do it, you're capable of doing it, you can afford to do it and your partner is supportive. What's to debate?

Just checking I'm not totally crazy 😂 glad I asked though given the answers surrounding teaching.

If you dan afford it to do it (short term and long term) and want to - I have to say yes.
Age not that important, but 31 is young, so even more yes.

However, coming back to the “and want to” I admit I raised an eyebrow at Teaching or Radiology. Not a lot of crossover there! Which makes me wonder if you actually fulfil the “want to” criteria, or are just casting around for public sector “working to help people” ideas, rather than being genuinely excited about one of those options.

Maybe worth a free chat with the national careers service? Maybe other options. Could you contact local primary to shadow for a few days? Look at uni open days( many on now ) for health based courses?

Radiography or radiology? You've referred to both but they're not the same.

With respect, if your knowledge of the reality of radiology/radiography is as limited and rose-tinted as your knowledge of teaching, I think you need to do more research with people in the field. Work experience of some description. Depending on which profession you had in mind, are you aware of the rates of vicarious PTSD ?

I'm actually a little shocked someone could get as far as planning a teaching degree whilst being oblivious to the widely known harsh reality of that profession. Most teaching courses expect work experience, have you any?

It's not that teachers aren't supported that well with their workload, it's that the workload is huge.

The age point doesn't really matter. But if you are going to bin one career to sink tens of thousands of pounds into retraining, I think the research and selection process for the new career needs to be somewhat more robust than yours appears to have been.

Rather than going to uni when you have a baby on the way (finances make life easier with a baby - if you’re tired it’s gusto boxes/cook meals/takeaway, you can get a cleaner in, you can buy something that’s £30 just in case it helps baby sleep) perhaps look at the charity sector? You want to do something meaningful, which I get, so look at using your skills in a better environment. Say you’re in finance, look at finance in the charity sector (look at charityjobs.co.uk). You could pick charities focusing on primary children and try to shadow someone in those roles to get exposure to if you want to do this full time. Whilst you won’t have the salary you have now, you will still have an income so be able to afford the odd takeaway etc.

Do NOT NOT NOT go into teaching just because you think itll be a fulfilling career. In theory it should be, but in reality it's not, it's overwhelming and the nature of the job nowadays means you have very little autonomy but still held accountable for a lot. Do a weeks shadowing in a primary school and talk to teachers before you make a decision.

Diagnostic Radiology or Primary Education with QTS.

Whatever you do choose the radiology.

Go for it. You have so many years of working ahead of you.

im older than you and in the middle of a healthcare degree. Though studying when you’re older and have more commitments is a challenge. It was definitely the right decision for me.

Absolutely. You sound confident and you sound like you know what you want. You have a supportive DP, and at 31, you have life experience that 18 year old’s don’t yet have. I say go for it, and whenever you feel the self-doubt creeping in, block it out.

This is your life. Your vehicle. You are in the driving seat. So hit the road, Jack!

I’ve been waiting to incorporate that into a sentence for some time now. I realise this is totally incorrect and that Mr Charles was actually referring to the ending of a relationship but I hope you got my point 😉

Haha. Best of luck OP. You got this :)

Totally off topic but ‘Hit the Road, Jack’ should be a theme tune for Amber Heard because the lyrics in the verses were written for her. I’m listening now. Enjoying my weekend off, clearly! DH is away at PIL with DD for the weekend. Yay me! 💃

This.

You might find out a bit more if you search in 'The Staffroom' for all the hundreds of threads that ask about what it is really like being a teacher.
But I do agree (from what you have written on this thread) that you seem to have a vague notion of wanting to do some vocational public service role, rather than having a passion for either career mentioned.
You definitely need to do a lot more research.

You could volunteer as a magistrate or mentoring for Care Leavers or for anyone of the charities that support families of children with SEND or Hospices or any one of the Youth Organisations in so many capacities to feel you are 'doing something for society' or 1001 other voluntary roles, rather than giving up a well paid job for a vague notion of wanting to be more fulfilled.

Radiography.

The courses are based in the school/hospital to some extent, that's where you get the experience.

I'm in exactly the same position as anyone going to Uni, of course I don't have all of the experience and reality of what those careers entail. If everyone did, no one would go on the courses by your token?

Yanbu.

A lot of teachers are miserable and quitting etc etc BUT a recent mumsnet thread on ‘if you love your job and are happy what do you do” had a surprising amount of primary teachers on it who adored their job…

@cornflakedreams also, I've made it clear I've not decided. I am of course in the process now of researching any and all of my ideas. I'm not going to go through 3 years of training for something I'm not sure about, that would be stupid. Same with taking on all of the debt. I'm obviously going to look before I leap.

I have to get it right, for me, my wife and my child. Trust me, I am planning to be 100% sure before I do anything.

Thanks, I'll search for this. Looking from all perspectives! There's people in my role who absolutely adore it, then there's me and others who hate it. Ultimately it's my gamble I suppose. A big one though, granted.

You should be a motivational speaker.

Hi
Access to degrees both careers depends on work experience and an understanding of the role.
It would be a great start if you volunteered, and also went to university open days.
Please don't leave volunteering until you start your access course. Your application for uni needs to be in by Jan 25, and most colleges have internal deadlines. This doesn't leave much time to get your head around level 3 learning, new baby/ home commitments/ and volunteering. Many places have a queue of people, and also may require a DBS check, which is time consuming. The sooner you start this, the better.

Many people who want to 'help people' tend to knee jerk to health care or teaching.
There are many ways of helping people. Baking lovely cakes for celebrations helps people. Being a hairdresser helps people. Managing a restaurant helps people Why radiography or teaching?

My worry would be that your intended careers have the potential for being unfriendly to family time. Is that what you want right now?

Would you consider having a 'pause' year- where you step into a different job ( a temporary one), give yourself time to volunteer, welcome in baby, properly explore, and then go for it?

By the way, there are apprenticeships available as a TA- school can then support you to become HLTA or qualified teacher ( for which you need a degree).
There are also assistant radiography roles too. They seem rare, but can lead to full training ( for which you also need a degree)

If you have a corporate brain but want to help people- would you consider public health?

My sister decided to become a doctor at 28. She had an English degree so really had to go back and take all the sciences she missed out on to get into med school, and her specialty required 7 years training.

Wow. This is inspirational. Kudos to your sister! :)