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 hang on to the CS job where possible, op. Can you up your hours to cover childcare and travel costs? Or reduce hours to save on childcare?! The pension alone is worth it imo. I work for SaaS companies based in North America, so I'm fully remote with lots of flexibility because my team is 5-8 hours behind me. I'm not on 6 figures but there is potential, but it's high risk, high reward. SaaS orgs restructure and buy/get bought out all the time, so I don't expect to stay in one role for long.

As an aside, I've been job hunting recently, and the expectations out there right now is that successful candidate has exactly the same experience of what they are looking for in a role, there is no flexibility on experience that can possibly be lifted/shifted from another sector. No interest in potential, basically.

@Floatinginvacherin Partly, but also due to our split and our mortgage's fixed term coming to an end I will probably lose our house. Which I have nearly come to terms with but I am wondering if there's ANY chance I could get a salary increase and keep it. It's probably pie in the sky but mumsnetters seem to have good jobs so thought I'd ask!

@Thepeopleversuswork what do you do? or what sort of sector?

If you have zero relevant skills and experience in the tech world, you'll struggle to get a 100k job. Sorry but that's a fact.
I know someone who recently retrained in data analytics (tech side data engineering really) and has struggled to get a job full stop because everyone wants experience. And she was looking at jobs around 40/50 k tops

"£100k you need to be a band 9 which is a chief finance officer."

And those positions are very sought after.

I only know 1 person who is totally wfh on £100k and she qualified as an accountant 30 years ago.

This is a bit like me moving up the ladder and my bosses trying to hire someone quite inexperienced as my replacement. As if it did not take me 10 years of experience to do what I do. Even once they employ someone they still think the person can do my job in six months time. Then I have to manage the repercussions - make known to them how much I am still involved in their day to day tasks without throwing the new hire under the bus. Then they realise 'oh, the cannot perform at Abitboring's level, oh'.

You don't walk into a 6 figure wfh job unless you have significant experience in that industry and have probably worked for said company for some time with good results in order for them to approve this.

You can request flexible working, i.e. wfh more or always, many people at my company have done this. It is your right to ask and the company cannot decline without good business reason.

It is achievable, but not common I think.
I had a SCS career in a niche operational field, and more than doubled my six-figure CS salary by moving into a related private sector business. This is WFH with an expectation that I am available to attend meetings and visit field operations as required. My employer values my unusual combination of operational leadership and understanding of Whitehall & Westminster. I think something similar might have been achievable via management consultancy, or senior-level local government roles.
I still pinch myself that I was so fortunate as to find a new career on these terms.

We do have medical coders in the UK too. They summarise your GP record down, and it's used for things like the practice's statistics and claiming for certain payments from the CCGs.

Here: https://www.stepintothenhs.nhs.uk/careers/clinical-coder

Does your dept even have the desk space for 60%? None of my teams across 5 locations do. Labour government may scrap 60%. Mad moving so far it costs £65 a day on the train though

I feel like this is the job equivalent of I’m looking for a man in Finance. 6’5. Trust Fund. 😀

I've been looking into re-training in this field. There are so many online courses but do you think I'd be better doing one at degree level?

I don't want to be conned into paying for training that promises roles but doesn't, in reality.

Thanks

I think unless you want to retrain in tech, the civil service is probably a pretty good place for you to be in your situation.

Is there any way you can go part time or take a lower responsibility position whilst the kids are young, and then up your hours again when they are a bit older?

It's probably not worth entirely retraining for what is probably really only a few years until they reach their teens and can be more independent.

You could look into public sector management consultancy. Some firms allow a lot of home working and requirements for in-person time with clients might be light if the organisations themselves are working remotely. The barrier there is that consultancy is having quite a challenging time so recruitment is squeezed and 100k is, depending on the firm, starting at quite a senior level for someone new to consulting.

You don’t need to be technical to work in Tech and earn £100k+. As an example, the Tech company I work for pays that kind of salary for Project Managers and Client Success Managers. You need customer relation skills, the ability to understand technical concepts at a high level but zero actual hands e.g. coding or Dev skills.

I read Politics as university and kind of fell into Tech by accident. I earn 6 figures,
never work weekends or evenings. I am moderately technical but learned everything I know via online courses and on the job. It’s completely do-able.

Yes me too - I was on over £100k in same space. More companies are wanting people back in the office though.

Honestly, I would stick with it where you are. You don't say your DCs ages, but nursery fees won't last forever. 100% WFH roles are rare and becoming rarer, and you could find yourself jumping out of the frying pan and into the fryer.

Can you transfer to closer to home? Compressed hours, if you have 50/50 care, sounds ideal - doing a lot more on one or two days a week, and making those your travel days.

If you're 50/50 are you splitting childcare costs and responsibilities equally?

Hmm. Depends on your definition of 'dreamy'. I was until recently working as an inhouse lawyer, fully wfh, very rarely worked beyond 5/5:30 pm, no weekends and paid just over 100k. I actually quit for a slightly lower paid job because I found it TOO easy - I wasn't being challenged at all and at 39 with no kids I do like my job to be a bit more intellectually challenging (and interesting!). However for someone else with a family and a more stimulating life outside work (I'm not very talented in sport/art/music etc so have never stuck hobbies out much and am not a frequent party person now that the hangovers hot me harder!) I can see how that would be dreamy! My current role is hybrid (one day a week in the office) and about 90k but same hours and lot more interesting (to me).

You would obviously need to retrain but as you already have (presumably) a degree and experience of high responsibility professional work in your current role you'd probably progress a lot faster than your average straight out of uni grad in their early 20s.

Quite!

Could you look at who in your organisation has the work life balance you envy? And then move towards getting their role?

I once asked a very very successful women (runs a FTSE100 company) how she balanced her work with having her three kids. She said she saw a manager who worked three days a week and went after her role when she left. She said she didn't care about the area whatsoever but she wanted the flexibility she had.

Once the kids were older, she moved back to the area she liked and started progressing again.

Could you do something similar? Is there a role in your organisation where you can see people wfh and earn a lot? Could you do a secondment or speak to some managers about moving? Or put in a flexible working request for your current role?

There's possibly some internal opportunities you've overlooked OP. Or are at least worth exploring!

Hope this helps

What do you do on a day to day basis?

@SpringleDingle @Nicebitofsquirrelfordinner

Are you able to share the kind of roles you do? Asking for a Life Sciences chemist, who would like to be able to eat and heat.

Are there tech jobs wfh for Amazon ? I guess there’s a lot of scope for project management, coding even the listings? I imagine there would be wfh opportunities as there’s only 1 office in the U.k afaik .

I’m in regulatory affairs in big pharma company but expected in office 2 days a week. What is your degree in?

Another field you could consider is governance. There’s quite a demand for people who are good at rules and procedures, and heads of governance can make good money. Have a look at some key words in LinkedIn Jobs and see what sort of stuff comes up.

If you are determined to wfh 100% you will limit your options.

There's almost anything available if you can do 2 or 3 days a week in the office.