I'm just not earning enough!

[oktoknowit]

I did a degree, but I was rubbish at carving out a career.

I now find myself in a job that is average pay and you don't even need GCSES FOR!

I need to earn more money. Is there a way to transfer my skills as a Works Planner in to something like a Data Analyst?

Any help or ideas would be greatly appreciated?

Lol at thinking English lit degrees are just reading.

Copywriting/editing/proofreading as an actual well paid profession (and not just non jobs paying peanuts) re highly competitive and require high skill levels. If it's an area of interest, look into it, but you won't just walk into it with a degree in lit.

Your role sounds like an admin/logistics one (nothing to do with data analysis). You could definitely progress on to Project Management, or higher level logistics.

I wonder if procurement might be a good area for you?

Data analysis - for an entry level role you'll need strong Excel, then preferably experience in the basics of 2 or 3 programs such as Python, Power I, SAS. Last time I recruited an entry level analyst they had self taught themselves these and came prepared with examples of analysis they had done. 3 out of the 6 we interviewed failed the Excel test. The successful candidate had already got a place on one of the funded skills boot camps - 16 weeks free training - and was planning to do this alongside work, these are brilliant at helping you get a foot in the door.

Pick a career and commit to it, research what the roles really involve, do some training, have huge enthusiasm, and go for it. As an employer we are much more impressed by people who seem serious about that career and take on responsibility for starting to acquire the right skills. Not impressed by wishy washy applicants.

Good luck. It sounds as though you are capable of doing a lot more career wise.

@Dogsitterwoes thanks for the compliment! I'm an employed copywriter, after building a portfolio up as a freelancer. My degree was a mixture of mixture of literature and language. There was also a touch of publishing and bookmaking history. I've always thought of lit degrees as a lot more reading intense. It might be simplistic, but if you read a lot then you tend to know how to write well. I was just trying to help. A lot of people have English based degrees but don't consider making a living from it. Once you've got a few years experience under your belt and some SEO know-how, it can be a well enough paid profession.

Thank you @Dogsitterwoes that is really encouraging.

You are right I need to get my enthusiasm back and that is why I want to do something different and more challenging.

I'm also glad to hear those bootcamps aren't all bad, as I did look into them and the reviews were quite bad overall.

Where do you find entry level Data roles?

@Hubblebubble I was thinking of getting into communications, but I think data analysis would be if more interest to me now.

I've read up on the bootcamps too and Firebrand looks horrendous. I ignored the reviews and went ahead with the introductory presentation. It was very odd and scammy.

So many spelling mistakes and they just read off a script 😖

@Cornwallintherain that's exactly what I thought too!

I think a scrummaster would be a transferable role in software for you if you had an Agile/Scrum qualification.

You would be responsible for schedule, organise and help sort out software engineers and testers if they encountered any problems and communicating issues upwards. So a similar role as works planner but possibly more money. It is also a role where good communication is important.

You could then springboard into data analysis/project management/testing etc from there if you like one particular area grabbed you.

@PurpleBrocadePeacock Very interesting thank you. Is the role called Scrummaster? Do you know where I could find a role like that?

Does anyone have any recommendations where to do the Agile and/or Prince qualifications?

I agree with agile training and then becoming a scrum master, it sounds like you have great transferable skills for it. Then you will naturally be able to move into a more techy team and be better placed to pick up skills and gain experience. Besides which my friend is a scrum master and started at around 30k and is now 3 years later on 65k so it's fairly well paid in and of itself

Have a look at Apprenticeships available near you on the Govt website. They aren't just for school leavers any more and there are lots of types including project management and data analysis

I am looking into the Agile training and Scrummaster role. It sounds a lot more interesting in comparison to what I am currently doing and the money sounds a lot better too.

The role is called “scrum master”. Any major recruitment site (e.g. Reed, LinkedIn etc) will advertise roles and you can look for roles near you. Most will probably be hybrid working.

For most of those jobs you are self-employed and it’s paid as piecework. It’s pennies. Possibly below NMW if you do it full time. Also, artificial intelligence and voice recognition software are destroying the few jobs there are, or deskilling them. No-one types any more. I’m in a related field, and also have a first class Eng Lit degree from way back.

Technical writing? If you understand the terminology your engineers use, it could be worth a go and is quite a specialised field.

@Verylongtime the use of AI is forbidden at the publishing company I work for as an employee.

I work in publishing/media, and AI is a fundamental part of the business without which we couldn’t compete. Eventually, very few people will need to be employed as editors - which is what I do. We can all see the writing on the wall, sadly.

@Verylongtime if you do a job search on midweight copywriter you can see the sort of salary you can get once you've built up experience and SEO skills. Freelancing pay does suck, but it's a necessary evil to build up a portfolio to get your foot in the door. A bit like low paid internship.

I think the OP is more interested in data analysis stuff though

@Verylongtime your company isn't worried about this negatively affecting your ranking on Google? If the AI makes mistakes with writing isn't that bad for domain authority? Genuinely curious as its a different approach.

I have to say I have seen the writing on the wall for that type of career and that is why I am no longer interested in that type of work; besides having not used it, I no longer have the flair for it that I once did.

Well this is terrifying. Came on to help our with careers advice, ended up with the news that I'm doomed to be replaced by AI.

Oh @Hubblebubble I am sorry I hope I haven't done that. But it's there has been a decline in that industry and I thought you would have noticed it too. I'm sure you will be fine as an established employee, however.

AI does make mistakes with writing, often laughably so, depending on the content, which is why, at the moment, humans are still employed to check and correct and improve. But some clients don’t care/don’t want to pay for that, and even now AI is solely used, with no human involvement, for some texts. AI is growing exponentially in its accuracy in a frightening way. Just last week I was running new tests on human-created text compared to AI, comparing speed, accuracy, mistakes, types of mistakes and the seriousness of those mistakes. I work for a global communications/publishing company. However, I digress from the OP’s point.