Who one here has got a fabulous* job and what is it?

[Pruners]

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I have a fabulous job that i absolutely Lurve.

had to negotiate hours to fit in with child care.This was a first in my line of work, just isnt the "done" thing.

didnt have to pay too much on child care

fell very very very lucky BUT was heavily planned and scrutinised.

I am a nurse trainer, traditionally in nursing you work the shifts....NO negotiation,, that is all there is to it.

I fitted my hours in with my childs hours at pre school, thus it did not impact on him at all.

what are you thinking of pruny?

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Are you working now?

Well, I'm a freelance writer and writing tutor/consultant, which is great for flexible hours but has all the usual attendant uncertainties of self-employment... so it's swings and roundabouts.

I'm a university lecturer which is not too bad a job.

Writing/journalism/research/proofreading/copy-editing/indexing that you do freelance from home fits the bill (I don't want to say exactly what I do as it might identify me). You can train in a lot of these things, proofreading for example, quite quickly.

I work for £17 an hour with one of my clients and that is considered a shamefully low rate in my industry (I accept it because they give me long-term, regular work). For other clients I usually work on contracts with fixed fees. They tend to work out to about £200/day. Overall, I can make about £25K for a 3-day week (if all goes well, obviously there are times when I haven't got much work on, but I'm usually busy).

Out of that I do have to pay for things like reference books, computing equipment, pay my own pension and of course I don't get sick pay or holiday pay etc. But it's still very well paid and working from home is heaven.

I work 3 days a week and DS goes to nursery on those days. It would work equally well doing a 5-day week just working in school hours.

Sorry batters I haven't actually done a course (I got into my job through having an office job and training there). So I can't recommend a particular one, but you could contact the NUJ or Society of Authors and ask for their advice. I can recommend a great book though - Copy-Editing by Judith Butcher - contains all the facts very clearly explained.

I couldn't do indexing all day every day, though I do do it sometimes. I think it does depend on your personality, and I need a bit more stimulation and variety. For proofreading etc. it obviously helps if you are highly literate, a big reader, a punctuation pedant etc - that stuff is harder to learn if it doesn't come naturally. You also need to have the right personality for working at home - self-motivated, enjoy your own company etc. Anyone who loves going to work for the social scene there will not find that part easy (I'm the opposite - hated the office!).

I've got a great job, I think.

I'm a freelance pharmaceutical and medical researcher. I work when it suits me and it fits round the children so I can do school runs, help in school, do after school activities etc. School holidays are not an issue.

Money wise - not bad. Don't really want to say how much.

Didn't have to retrain - I work for my old employer. Because I have marketing/market research background from there, and the medical background from my degree and previous jobs, I'm in demand from the company and consequently I've been consistently busy since I started up 6 years ago.

I have a fabulous job

Like Milf I'm employed by a (rich and powerful) university so I get the benefits of working for a big company (tax breaks on childcare, generous mat leave / sick pay / T&Cs etc)
but
day-to-day I work in a v small team with a flat and informal management structure so flexible working, parental leave etc is arranged by chatting to the group leader about workload and priorities rather than (eg) filling in complex timesheets.
Also helps that my two bosses are both married with children so have know how it goes, and that my co-workers are much of the same age / lifestage as me.

And I'm saving the world, of course. This is what I've been studying and training for since I was 17 though, so maybe not something you could slip into after kids, but other than that I highly recommend it.

Fabulous tends to be in the eye of the beholder.

I'm a nanny. I'm not a parent, but how do you parents feel about working with kiddies for a living? Nursery/nanny/cm etc. Just that most parents I've met would run a mile!

I was a Gp but recently left that and now do freelance work for a drug coampany, work at a local gym training their staff in first aid/nutrition etc and have set up a private aesthetics practise. I only do work around school hours or evenings and pick and chose. It is very liberating after years on the nhs treadmill, and best of all I love all the different things I do .

to MrsBadger for Saving The World

I'm a lecturer too, and I love it.... most of the time. (But not at the moment, as I have to finish a book and write an article in order to be entered into the RAE... all before I'm allowed to go on holiday in 2 weeks!)

ahem Which is why I am not on here. Oh no. Never. You haven't seen me.

Don't know if I can call it "work" IYSWIM cos it's unpaid, but I love what I do

Being a foster mum to newborn babies, my idea of what heaven is.

Batters have you had any further thoughts on the indexing/proofreading? I have been mulling it over, did a search, and was quite surprised to see a recent thread on the list.

I currently work 3 days a week in IT but am likely to be made redundant in the next few months. However my IT skills are not up to date and my youngest is due to go to school next year, so now seems a good time to change direction.

I haven't been on here for ages and I could be getting this COMPLETELY wrong, but aren't you something of a writer, Pruners?

I do a little indexing for my old employer during holiday periods. The Society of Indexers is the main training body for indexing. Most indexers seem to be either ex-librarians (where you use similar skills) or specialists such as scientists. The work I get is from existing contacts - in fact I've only ever had one offer of work from a publisher I haven't got existing connections with. I suspect it is something that is difficult to get into without an existing portfolio or contacts.

MrsBadger, are you in fact a vampire slayer?

I swapped jobs from a well paid one & am now a TA in a high school which I think is a great job that fits in around school & I don't need childcare but pay is total rubbish. Qualification wise - I have a range of qualifications which helps as I work across the curriculum & have also done a basic TA qual too - hope to do more

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Hmm lilymaid, like most things! I'm just exploring my options really. I think I could probably do it, but the difficulty would be getting the work as you say.