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!

I would start with approaching current job about the flexibility you need rather than leaving. I could never imagine leaving public service I think private sector would eat me alive 🤣

My thoughts exactly. Highly unlikely there would be such a demand in the U.K. with almost the entire population relying on the NHS. Even so I really doubt this is true

Coding auditors are band 7 so £43 to 49k. To get to £100k you need to be a band 9 which is a chief finance officer.

Thanks for all the responses. It seems like there are dreamy roles out there but for a career switcher they might take more like 10 years to achieve which probably isn't worth it for me.

I also think anyone who knows me would laugh their socks off at the idea of me retraining into cyber or IT.

I'm a coding auditor and only a band 6 so £35-£42k.

Who do you work for/ how many hours to you work? Guidelines seem to suggest £50-55k max for experienced medical coders. £14.50ph for those new to it.

I took a job in clinical coding and I wanted to poke my own eyes out with boredom after 2 days. I quit after 2 weeks. Each to their own though.

It depends what your definition of “enjoyable” is.

I work in Cyber security and only get £40k. I need to up my game (and get my Cissp)

Try looking into phone support services. I worked for a 24hr Dv support service, work from home, doing the night and weekend shifts bumped up the salary because of penalties, left me open for school runs and you could take additional shifts when kids with dad? Might work in with your humanities skills and require less retraining?

Could you look at local authority jobs near to you so you don't have to work from home. I don't know where you are or what job you do but I pulled these off Surrey County Council's site as an example. (Hope the link takes you there) https://www.surreycc.gov.uk/jobs/search?salary=262

Easiest way to guarantee majority working from home is to work for companies in another country 😉

I work in sales, based in UK but consult for a US company. No set hours, as long as I get the work done and results in then it's fine. Broadly 30 hours a week but some weeks are 45, some are 20
I work around what's best for me, so if I want to go shopping/walking/lunch/do something with dc or dh, then I do, but work more hours early morning or in an evening
I have 20 years experience though, and would not have got to this level of pay/autonomy/flexibility without putting in the hours for a few years

Depending on what you personally are expert at though, can you consult?

Where did you study? This is something I have been looking into and was going to do a masters in it but perhaps there is a better route.

We do have medical coders in UK to input your notes and pay by code in England. I wouldn't want to rely on this in the longer term as we're moving to FHIR/Snomed coding by AI (Natural Language Processing) but it's early days!

If you are looking for qualifications to get into tech I would look at Six Sigma

@2kidsnewstart is it the jump from 40% to 60% that’s causing this rethink? I do think it’s worth hanging fire for a bit to see how a new government approaches this. The blanket 60% is ideology driven and there are plenty of CS roles for which it makes limited sense, and the government estate can’t meet the demand. I would hope a more sensible approach might emerge.

Have you looked at local authorities and NHS non clinical roles? Not likely to be fully WFH but may be closer to home. I think at your level (G6/ DD?) you will struggle to get WFH anywhere as there is the leadership element and showing the 60% rule applies equally to everyone.
Have you looked at whether there are any departments with offices closer?

Local authority roles for that pay usually go to people who have been working their way up and know the right people. But for a bit less but a better work/life balance there might be options.

You could just do what everyone else in the CS does and go on the sick for years with the odd month back at work....

We still have medical coding jobs. My friend does one and it sounds very similar.

Big Pharma clin research. Home based, 100k+ bonus, decent pension (not comparable with you DB public sector gig though). No weekend work, not typically evening work but maybe a bit of flex for time zones. I’m no very senior especially, probs due to not climbing the ladder as am remote so don’t partake in the face to face schmoozing. But I’m happy where I am. I work part time too which suits (0.7)

maybe not a fit for humanities based OP but maybe for someone else here.

You do realise that the CS is massive with a wide variety of roles and people. This just isn't true at all.

@Aliciainwunderland What was the difference in culture that lead ex public service people to get eaten alive? Not bashing, just curious. I'm in industry and I'm wondering if we're the baddies!

That kind of role is completely achievable in the private sector on a hybrid basis. Not sure about purely wfh.

I earn over £100k and am hybrid but I am expected to work some weekends and evenings. Not all the time and weeks will go by when I do 40 hour weeks but when it gets busy it gets really busy and you can do 15-16 hour days.

My working patterns are pretty flexible: I am notionally expected to go in at least two days a week (and do more than I don’t) but there would be no real negative consequences if I didn’t. Very senior roles in my industry you are trusted to manage your own diary and not really micromanaged as long as you are occasionally visible.

I don’t know anything about the civil service though. I think you are likely to find it easier in the private sector.

I saw another post about medical coding the other day. Apparently it's used for research. I work in the NHS and saw a job at my trust for a medical coder today actually so it is done here. Not sure it's a high earner though, think it's under 30k