To think I can get an enjoyable wfh job that pays 100k without working evenings and weekends?

[2kidsnewstart]

I am currently a civil servant earning 80k pro rata'd to my 4 day a week part-time hours. Lots of benefits (pension etc) but due to the kind of role I am in I am expected to return to the office more.

That is difficult for me as last year me and the kids' dad split up (6dd and 2dd) meaning I can't afford additional £65 daily train fares to London on top of nursery fees plus all the other bills. We are 50:50 which I have realised is a very expensive way of splitting up!

Plus I leave before 7am and get home around 8pm so would have to find someone to look after the kids on my days in the office (my ex and I coparent very well but he can't always do childcare around my work all the time and we have no family nearby).

The civil service is great but I am 38 and feel like I could have a whole other career ahead of me and I wonder if there's an absolutely dreamy role that would be challenging but satisfying, well-paid, allow me to wfh and not require evenings and weekends?

AIBNU: No there's definitely that kind of role out there if you open your eyes/ retrain! (and please specify what kind of role!)

AIBU: That unicorn does not exist you should stay where you are!

@aiak not the person who posted this originally but have someone in my household who does a role like this

They work as head of cyber, fully remote for £80k per year, sometimes does get calls on weekends or evenings but not that often really, day to day work is usually 9-5 hours. Not based in London either but up north. They have a degree in computing plus 10/11 years experience. They did a couple of years in general IT, (first line, second line, third line etc), then cyber security analyst type rolew, a security ops management role, then head of cyber. They consistently moved roles to progress.

@HebburnPokemon G7 I’ve been a grade 7 for 10+ years. Most of my previous jobs have been regraded as G6 and I’ve had significant line management experience and all the tricky policy challenges you could possibly want. There’s no more challenge but I can’t get a promotion. I’m not great at interviews and there are so many people chasing too few jobs. I’m just hanging on to see if there is some movement after the election but Im kind of done.

Sorry for cheeky thread hijack. I’m a people manager in a semi-public/regulatory sector. I’m objectively good at it (without sounding like a knob) but struggling to see where to make the next step. I love managing people, not super keen on stepping up to something more strategic but maybe that’s the logical move if it means more money.

Are there any qualifications you would look for when hiring a people manager or is it more about the tangible delivery examples? And anywhere in particular to keep an eye out for such roles? My work history is very public sector so current LinkedIn contacts unlikely to lead me in the right direction!

@yogpot I think that's right - the unicorn might exist but v hard to get into. I was thinking maybe retain which will take 5yrs rather than 15...

@bibop Ohh I would be up for being self-employed, are you able to reveal anymore about the type of sector you're in and the skills/ qualifications you need?

Show some experience or examples of managing something in relation to IT - so major systems changes or transformaitons, adoptions of new IT toolsets, that sort of thing. I would basically be looking for a very strong manager (so has all the people stuff down :employee retention & hiring, performance management, employee development, team chesion & moral etc), and then some indicaiton that you're not going to be completely lost on the technogolgy side.

There are bajillions of tech employers, this is a good list of 10 of them, but as you start plowing through job adds on Linkedin you'll see ones that may suit your location https://www.ironhack.com/gb/blog/10-best-tech-companies-to-work-for-in-the-uk-and-why

Appreciate that @OakElmAsh!

IT is the answer if you want a WFH role, but since you are starting from scratch, the first IT job you get will be entry level, so the salary will reflect that. You won't just walk into a 100k job in tech, it will take years to get there.

Still if you want to learn tech skills Code First Girls is a good way to do it. All of their courses are free, online and start at 6.30pm so can be done after your 9-5!

Also, if you are after an IT job where you don't have to work evenings and weekends - avoid start ups!!!

Exactly this.

Whenever threads like this come up on MN they're full of, "I worked in a shop but then I just did a 6 week coding course and got a £100k/pa job at the end of it". It's so vanishingly rare that something like that would happen it's just meaningless.

People are being led to believe they can go from zero to a £100k flexible, normal office hours WFH job, in months, with no experience.

Think about it logically, if it was so easy there'd be thousands/millions doing it and then it would be self-defeating as the supply would outstrip the demand so massively it would become a £30k job at best.

I think it’s going to be tricky- most jobs are now 2/3 days in the office and unless you can choose your own terms because of a specific sought after skill it’s going to be difficult to change that. You also would probably need to re-train which sounds difficult in your role.

A few things to consider-
I’m in a similar sounding roll to you and have actually just gone back full time- but compressed 9/10 (so I take one day a fortnight off instead of one a week). The extra money makes a big difference and I haven’t noticed much of a difference in my hours as I was doing over my contracted hours regularly when I was part time. I do my longest days working from home- which works well (just do a normal day with no commute time then log on in the evening for a couple of hours after the kids are in bed). In reality though if I am doing my job no one is checking up on me so if I can’t face it, I don’t do it!
Could you consider moving closer to work- even if you have a non-traditional family home (like a 2 bed flat) for a few years, to cut out commute costs and get back sooner?
If not possible could you rearrange custody so that you can stay over near work for 1-2 nights a week and compress your hours so that you fit most of them into those days, then stay over with a friend each week (obviously paying a bit of rent) or in an Airbnb? I have several friends in the public sector who do this and it works out cheaper than commuting and is a lot less stressful.

It's something I've been doing for a while to be honest...a passion project that didn't require qualifications as such, but lots of self study, and people willingly pay me for it! If you get any opportunities to start your own business in the future, I'd say that's where the flexibility is at.

Yes. Sounds like she’s already in a unicorn 🦄 role.

Maybe a lower paid but closer to home role would suit for the moment?

I earn in excess of £100k and fully WFH, have done for about 10 years. But I have been in my industry for over 20 years now. And it is never just 9-5., however hard I try to keep it up there!

NHS does have clinical coders as providers (hospitals for example) code all services used to bill the commissioners (Integrated Care Boards) who provide the funding. These jobs are paid band 4 or 5 usually… £25-35k ish.

I’m in pharma with relevant STEM degree and background and I earn that 100% wfh. You can’t really retrain in though… either you are STEM background or you aren’t qualified.

Maybe try a different department in CS? I don't think they are all requiring 3 days in the office.

What is medical coding, please?

I'm not very techy so have never really understood what coding actually is.

I earn 100k FT but work 0.8 in a professional services marketing role. I do 1/2 days in the office (usually 1) and get the train after dropping dc at pre school. Very occasionally send evening emails. I’ve been in this type of role 13 years but have stayed at my current firm 10 years due to the flexibility. I think by moving around you could achieve the 100k salary in 8 years.

In that context/pay level it's a US healthcare concept, not tech related.

Former tech employee. After starting at the bottom - after 11 years was on 100k (director level) snr managers would
prob be on your equivalent salary. The unicorn job probably does exist but also very unlikely to walk into from the public sector

• high competition for snr manager and above jobs. Will usually look internally or at competitors
• i mean this in the nicest possible way at but anyone from public sector got eaten alive in my company - different pace, different language, different culture. Not to say they weren’t good at their job - just not what they were used to it or really found it to be what they wanted and what worked for them.
• flexibility exists but that usually comes at the price of weekly late night calls to a different time zone. Leave at 5 and people will look at you like you have 3 heads. The midnight calls were usually a one off but not unusual to have calls up to 7 quite a few nights of the week
• pension not as good - but usually very good benefits including private health care
• more and more are going back to hybrid work - my old company expects people to be in at least 2 days per week
• part time usually only comes after working full time - to give context I left after my 4 day working week request was denied - this was after 11 years service.
• depends on the company but if it’s global expect travel a few times per year

if I had stayed in my role - I would likely have had to pay for a full time nanny to cover childcare. not trying to put you off but something to consider if you are thinking of moving to the private sector. This is of course my experience in one company- a company that does promote itself as being good in terms of balance and family life in comparison to competitors.

Hmmm tricky to say. I don’t think it would be easy to come across now. I have a wfh role in the bracket you’re aiming for but I’m in a professional career that’s traditionally high paying (solicitor) and took on a wfh role soon after the pandemic. I have 12 years qualified experience and more in a related sector. I suspect I’d be in the office more now if I was anywhere near an office (they knew I lived at the other end of the country when they recruited me). Other jobs I’ve looked at tend to be 2-3 days in the office now.

I am looking to diversify into more expertise in cyber security to give me more options but as my specialism is risk management, it’s not a massive leap.

If I were you, I’d look at ways the public sector is doing work that’s familiar to you in the cs and try and pivot into that. AI feels like a boom area, risk and regulatory it still needs humans to operate and oversee it.

Those kind of roles are out there (achievable within my industry, certainly) but you’re not going to walk into a £20k pay rise in a career you’re brand new to! Let alone permeant wfh and with no overtime.

Not IME, I have public sector colleagues on £70k with a huge amount of responsibility… colleagues of DH in private sector on a similar sum have far, far less responsibility but bring in money so justify their salary.

If you’ve got a child with medical needs OP, you need to get a workplace passport. In my department it’s one of the very few exceptions to the 60% rule. Although if you are on 80k and at G6 /SCS then I’m guessing you will know that already!

I work for one of these courses so it's not even rare - it's absolutely impossible. Complete lie and delusion!

The highest starting salary you're gonna get in an IT role is 30-40k at most. Probably more in London, but still nowhere near 100k.

The appeal of IT jobs is that you will get to 100k quicker than in other professions, with a combination of the right skills, job hopping and lying about your current salary in your application, but you will absolutely not start at 100k