Tell me what you do for a living? Do you like it?

[Sp3849]

So I am 34 this year and have a degree in public health spent my whole working life in health care and I am just exhausted and fed up. I hate working in this field now have done for a good 2 years. I want a different career. So many choices I just don't know what to pick?!

I am a Customer Success Manager for a software company. I love it.

I was in Sales all my career before this. Got sick of having a number on my head, and applied for this job in the same company.

It's great - none of the issues are of your making and you can't solve many of them on your own so you corral the right resources to resolve things and own the process. Al the good things about sales like relationship building and networking etc, and barely any stress. Loads of ways you can improve things and make everyone's experiences better and more positive. People trust you and tell you much more than they would if they thought you were trying to flog them something.

It's great and I have kept my sales base salary so win win. Also very flexible. Only down side is most of my customers are global so I have early and late calls but I don't mind that.

@StarryStarrySocks can you also get a job at Amazon Prime, I find it almost impossible to navigate.

Sure @BertieBotts happy to tell you more but with some caveats - I can only speak about my experience in my current role, it's my first UXD role and I've only been in it 18 months so I am very much still learning. Also, I work in the public sector so UXD roles in private sector/agencies might be different.

Do you spend all day in front of a computer alone, or is there quite a mix with client interaction? What would you say the percentage is?

I currently do spend all day in front of a computer alone but that's only because I've been working from home since March 2020!
But in general it's very collaborative, I spend quite a lot of time in virtual meetings or design sessions with colleagues. Because of Covid all our testing is virtual too but in normal times I would be in face to face sessions with users observing what they say/do. During the testing phase of a project, we'd do several sessions over a week. Overall I'd say it's about 50/50 working with other people in some way versus working on things by myself.

Is it really really OK not to do coding?

In my organisation we use either a standard content management system or software called Axure to create prototypes - if you know how to use design programs/can generally pick up new software quickly you could do my job no problem! However in other roles you might well need to do some coding, I don't know enough about how it's done elsewhere, sorry.

I have history in graphic design and customer service, would those things be useful?

100%, that background would be a huge advantage. Several of my colleagues are trained in graphic design and I am considering getting a formal qualification in that area. Customer service skills would really help with doing the testing side of it too.

Lastly is it only about websites and apps or does it spill it into anything else as well?

Again, not really sure about the full spectrum of things that it might cover as I only work on online content so that's mainly websites and services like online forms. I think any digital product would need UXD input at some point though.

Or if you were meaning what else do I do apart from digital design, it's things like creating and updating style guides/pattern libraries, presenting designs to teams across the organisation, and keeping up to date records of design decisions. The last one is so that if someone asks why something is a certain way, I can point them to the exact reason. This is very helpful when someone makes a suggestion and I know that we have already done that and it didn't work!

Sorry that was so long but hope you found it useful. It's a great area to work in and I would recommend it to anyone.

And loving the suggestions for places I should get a job. My dream companies to work for would be IKEA or Lego (if anyone is reading...!) - I'm all about that Scandi lifestyle!

@TeddingtonTrashbag

Secondary teacher. Love it! Pay 💰 okay but obviously are fantastic and good pension.

Me too. Love it and been doing it for 23 years. It’s not for everyone though.

I foster and I love it, I foster babies who are withdrawing or those with complex medical needs.

Placemarking

I am a freelance print designer. I do lots of designing for textiles, prints/illustrations for campaigns, packaging, massive murals and all sorts. It's very fun.

@DonLewis

Public health? Why not retrain to be a food inspector? 1 year at uni, 1 year placement and ta-da, new career! A friend of mine did this from a similar background to yours and LOVES it!

I was going to say Masters in Environmental Health? You could do food or many other different avenues.

I make people do push ups and burpees and what-not. I bloody love it. It’s not possible to do it full time though and it isn’t very well paid.

To clarify: it is of course possible to do Personal Training full time but I mainly teach Group Fitness and there’s only so many classes you can do per day.

@Cheeseycheeseycheesecheese I know it sounds daft, but those combinations of words don't mean anything to me! If you don't mind me asking, what does a service administrator or engineer controller do? Are you in trains?

I teach children with severe and complex needs mostly non verbal autism with developmental delays, I love my job. The pay is OK.

@SquirrelFan close, so the business I work for deals in large engines (trains, generators, heavy plant etc) as a service administrator I organise the setting up of jobs, arranging of parts and general paperwork filing. As a controller I will be arranging the jobs, liaising with customers, coordinating the engineers and running/overseeing the jobs the administrators set up.

It's extremely interesting and the amount of random knowledge you pick up is crazy

Jobs being general repair work, and services to make sure the engines are in running order

Im a registered veterinary nurse - i love it, but the pay is rubbish and the profession is massively under valued. My day is never the same. I monitor aneasthesia, place cannulas, take blood and admiminister medication. I take X-rays, apply bandages, carry out 2nd vacvinations and run nursing clinics, bereavement counselling. However, the perception is that I cuddle kittens (sometimes i do, if ive time!) and clean up body fluids (i do a fair bit of that). I am a radiation protection supervisor and manage the inhouse laboratory.

I could earn more money behind the checkout at Aldi!

What exactly have you been working as? Is there something you could move into that is different enough, but needs your experience and qualifications.
For example start as an analyst for PHE and then move into project work.

I’m a nursery manager
It’s stressful and not very well paid but I do enjoy making a difference in children’s lives
I know what I do is important, even if that isn’t recognised by others

I'm a sonographer but spend most of my time in a private ultrasound clinic. I love it. Today I took a (scan) picture of a baby in their mums womb 'smiling'.

I work in international development. I actually started out in a health area- working on HIV/AIDS. I do something else now but I love it- I've lived and travelled all over, worked with fantastic people and am never bored. Sure it has tricky and less interesting parts, but I'm always challenged. Work patterns are often very flexible and PT available.

Global Public health is a thing- helping think through how to strengthen health systems, or roll out vaccination programmes in a crisis. You won't get rich though.

I work in Cyber Security for a large and very well known institution. I pretty much hate it, the money is good though, the pension brilliant and they are so flexible I won't leave anytime soon. I'd love a job I loved though.

I retrained as a beauty therapist at the ripe old age of 32yrs. I used to be in recruitment.

11 years later and I specialise in intimate waxing.

The money is awesome and the job is the best thing ever!

This is such an interesting thread!

I'm a housewife (does that count?) and love my 'job'. In the past I have been a primary school teacher, waitress, run a bed and breakfast, worked in retail, worked in professional kitchens. This is by far my favourite role so far. I realise I am very lucky to have the choice to do this. I find it very rewarding.

Ah, ignore my post. I see you are looking for a different career path so ignore that, it doesn't make much sense given your question 🙈.

I work in radiotherapy cancer treatment