Career Change Actuary ? Instructional design? UX design ?

[profedemates]

I am desperately hoping for a career change, away from teaching. I am currently a Maths teacher and I want to leave the profession due to the stress and poor pay. Currently desperate right now reaching breaking point, the last year has been extremely difficult, with covid and an insane workload, I just want to get out of teaching, its affecting my physically and emotionally, but I cannot take time off as I have final year students who I need to get through the IB diploma.
My background, I have an engineering degree and masters from many years ago which I have never used, and of course my PGCE. I am in my mid 30s and have two kids, I do have some money and can afford to take pay cut, my issue is I’m not sure where to start, what I need to do to retrain. Do I need to go back to University? I cannot see many options for career changers, I have seen programs for women returners, are there similar programs for career changers ? I have even contemplated starting my own business in what I don’t know, just need to do something other than teaching.

Have you considered learning to program? I can’t help with the other options but there are a couple of people taking about it on this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/4104846-I-learnt-to-code-at-27-AMA?pg=1

Looks like a zombie thread but it isn’t!

Yes there are quite a few programmes that retrain women into tech.

here’s one techupwomen.org/apply/

here’s a whole page womenreturners.com/returners/retraining-courses/

Some of these may be old but others will come along

I wouldn't go back to uni unless it's to do a specific degree that is required for a specific career that you want. There's no point, and it will cost the earth.

If you are happy to take a pay cut, there's no reason you can't look at apprenticeships, traineeships or graduate roles. The first question though is - what do you want to do? What type of work do you enjoy?

If you have a engineering degree, I suggest you look at data science instead. How strong is your maths? It's a new emerging field with a lot of opportunities for people moving into it. Otherwise, anything related to software will be a good choice.

I left maths teaching aged 29 and became an actuary - started as an actuarial student (paid graduate-entry role), took a pay cut, and now 22 years into that career. So, it can be done. There are specialist recruitment firms that work with graduates looking to work in my sector (life insurance company), so it might be worth looking into them.

If you are interested, there's probably useful stuff on the Institute and Faculty of Actuaries. There's also this old thread: www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/3419589-Im-an-actuary

I’m an actuary, as you have a maths based degree you can apply for training courses. The training is quite intense, you can however spread it out, generally it takes 3-5 years to qualify, the wage during the qualification process is generally quite good, so if you did spread it over five years you should be okay financially.

Thanks for the response@simonjt and @daddaddad re the level of mathematics, I have a c in Alevel mathematics, which was take many years ago, of course that time I wasnt so serious, which is why I performed so poorly, since then I went on to study engineering (2:1) and now I teach mathematics HL to IB students, my question is will I be considered to be numerate enough ? or will the fact that I have a C in Alevel maths although many years ago, hinder my chances

@WannabeMathematician

Have you considered learning to program? I can’t help with the other options but there are a couple of people taking about it on this thread:

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/AMA/4104846-I-learnt-to-code-at-27-AMA?pg=1

Looks like a zombie thread but it isn’t!

I have, in university I did c++ which I bombed, more recently I tried my hand at python which was okay, however I still found it challenging and drove me crazy a little bit, I dont think I have the skills to become an expert coder if that make sense, it's a real struggle for me.

@ChildrenGrowingUpTooFast my maths is pretty good ( I think ) re data science would I need to do a course ? or can I get in via an entry level role ?

@CSJobseeker honestly Im not sure, I like numbers... so something related to that...and as long as dont see another teen again im good

@profedemates - I'll be honest and say that if I see anything below an A for A level maths on an applicants CV I'm not that keen, as I think they will struggle with the mathematical content of the actuarial exams. But a 2:1 in a numerate degree counts in your favour (I might make a judgement on where the degree was from - Russell Group fine, former polytechnic less so).

Also, if you've been teaching the subject that would count in your favour. Have you taught A level Maths? If you sat A level Maths now do you think you would get an A? What about A level Further Maths Are you comfortable with (to pick a few topics) calculus, summing series, probability distributions (at the level that a strong first year undergrad might operate)?

I'm an actuary.

Please don't disregard the amount of work involved to qualify. I think studying and taking all the exams at the same time as bringing up two children would have broken me ! (I only had the two children after I qualified).

@DadDadDad i teach the IB progam, HL mathematics which in my opinion is more difficult than the equivalent further mathematics in A-level, I do know that a C would look bad, but Im pretty confident that if I retook it I would get the top grades, it just I did my alevels at a time when a lot was going on. If I wanted to pursue actuary, would it be worthwhile retaking A-level Mathematics ? If I had to pick my favourite topic would be calculus, I studied mathematics at
Univerisity and achieved a first in all the Math modules.
@ItsReallyOnlyMe I am also planning to have another child in the next couple of years.... can you tell me more about the amount of work involved... I am open to hard work, I enjoy studying, but also want to spend time with my children.

If I had a teaching background and were strong in maths I would be retraining in digital learning / instructional design or elearning. You can do a Masters remotely and part time, this one looked interesting:
www.drps.ed.ac.uk/21-22/dpt/ptmscdiged1u.htm
The jobs are:
Instructional coordinator
Educational technologist
Multimedia designer
Training and development manager
Director of learning
Educational software developer
Distance learning director
Educational technology director

As a slight counter to @ItsReallyOnlyMe , having come out of teaching, I was used to working evening and weekends, and actually found it quite enjoyable to be studying again after years out of university.

That said, DS1 did come along in the later years of study and he had a tough start - for me, sitting in NICU corridors for weeks while studying and coping with the worry was pretty gruesome. It did ultimately motivate me to focus and get qualified! (DS is now an undergrad himself and doing fine).

I'm an actuary, and mid 30s with two kids. There is no way I would have the head space to do the qualification from scratch with no exemptions now.

I think the estimate of 3-5 years above is optimistic, and took me 8 years and that was before children. Now granted, I took it relatively easy, but I have a first in theoretical physics so it's not like I'm bad at maths.

The work is interesting enough. I do think the work life balance is better than in other similar professions. I don't think it's likely to ignite a passion though!

Given your background, I imagine you could get a decent role in another field, paying less and with far fewer demands on your personal life than the actuarial exams. If you like weekends, you don't want to be doing difficult exams twice a year. Look into data science, days analytics etc.

I wouldn't resit your A level, but I would focus on what your recent experience shows about the mathematical level you can work at. Unfortunately, many of us are less familiar with IB, so you might want to explicitly list out on your CV some of the areas of maths you teach and emphasise that you prepare pupils to a standard equal to / higher than grade A in Maths / Further Maths (whatever you think you can justify).

But, I mentioned recruitment companies and if you sign up with one of them, they might be better able to advise. (If you go to the back pages of The Actuary magazine you can see such recruiters: www.theactuary.com/issues/2021/11/november-2021 ).

I am an actuary and the study, combined with working in a demanding environment should not be underestimated, I cannot comprehend doing it with a young family (and having another). I think only around 2/3rds who embark on training go on to qualify and it generally takes 4-6 years. With pass rates on individual papers generally between half and three quarters- which is saying something when the candidates generally all have A at ALevel maths and have never failed anything before in their life.

As a student I would generally be doing 40 hour weeks in the office (over 4 days as you would generally have one day study leave a week) and then around 25 hours of study a week (some of which was done on the study day). That was probably at the top end and I did qualify in only 3 years as a result. My then boyfriend, now husband, probably used to do 10-15 hours of study a week and repeatedly failed the exams before eventually giving up. That said even ‘failed’ actuaries can generally find good, well paid employment in the field so it’s not a waste of time even if you don’t eventually qualify.

Rather differently, how about insurance claims? You do your professional exams on the job and it can be technically very challenging and interesting. DH takes on people with no insurance experience at all, but with a background showing they will have useful skills (law, building, engineering for instance, although a current trainee is an archeologist) and they work up.

I work with Ux designers, and actually they are often more from a psychology type background as its all about how people interact with things and measuring that.

I’m going to have a look at the math content for qualifying as an actuary, to see if anything looks vaguely familiar. I do plan to have another child but at the same time I don’t want to stay in teaching much longer, so I guess if I have to sacrifice time with my family I will. I mean currently my work life balance is already off, I’m used to working evenings and weekends. Are there any numerate roles, that don’t require in-depth coding, or sacrificing my family life, to retrain?

I would recommend medical statistics. There is a shortage of statisticians therefore possible to get funded MSc in Med Stats which you could do full time in 1 yr or part time over 2. You'd then never be short of work can work in industry, academia, charity etc. Work conditions are very flexible -many work from home roles and industry has excellent pay. I am mid 30s with 2 children and find the work interesting and appreciate the flexibility. Shorter training and fewer exams than actuary training though you do need to be good at maths.

I did my Msc straight after BSc but many of those on the course were people retraining after other numerate careers including a few women with children.

@Ohsugarhoneyicetea I have looked into this and applied for a few roles which I did not get, reached the interview stage for junior learner designer at UCL, but my lack of tech experience let me down. I will look at this course thanks.

@lovepiegon to be honest is not my favourite topic, I tend more to pre mathematics, when you say a good salary, what is the starting salary?

With your background, I would look at data science. It’s a shortage subject so you might find companies will train you.

Thank you all for your suggestions