Took voluntary redundancy and think I screwed my career :(

[redundancyregrets]

Name changed as possibly a bit outing

I think I might have fucked my career by taking voluntary severance just before a big downturn in the job market :(

I took redundancy just over a year ago, happily (15 years in role, dying sector, burnt out, good payout). I spent the year retraining in something completely different that I've loved (MSc in a tech subject). But now I've finished the Masters I'm feeling properly terrified about getting another job. I'm nearly 50. Jobs related to my Masters subject are becoming increasingly hard to get and pay is dropping. I don't have any experience in that area, although loads of 'soft' skills from my previous career. I was on £70k in my previous job, I'd be very very lucky to get a job paying £40k in the new field. I've put in lots of applications, had a couple of interviews (unsuccessful). There are no jobs doing what I used to do (this is not an exaggeration!), so it's not like I can go back to doing that.

I'm panicking. I've eeked out my redundancy and it will run out in 3 months. DH doesn't earn enough to support the family and anyway his income is unreliable (self-employed/ freelance - already working as many hours as he can). I spend every day trawling LinkedIn getting increasingly depressed about not being qualified for jobs that pay half of what I used to earn that all ask for 3+ years of experience and an unrealistic list of essential criteria.

Can anyone tell me any happy stories about successfully navigating a significant career change at this stage in life? This is not where I thought I would be, career-wise, at 50 and I'm feeling so despondent. I was a bit of a 'high flyer' when I was younger and it feels like my career has just petered out :(

I don’t think your age will be a barrier - I know several people of a similar age who took VR and have gone on to have new careers.

There are roles out there for junior data scientists without experience but there will be a lot of competition probably hundreds of applicants per role. Try and be one of the first to apply ideally within 4 hours of a job being posted. If you get another technical skills (I assume python) interview its worth doing some practice tests on leetcode because that's what the other candidates will be doing. Google does a free data scientist course that might be worth checking out and also sometimes big companies offer return to work programs, might be worth applying for one of those.

Have you had a look at Career Returners? Your profile might be a little different to traditional returners but it sounds really interesting. Even if the companies posting roles d

Could you do interim/contractor roles in your “old” profession just to tied you over? And then carry on looking for roles in your new profession- doing what someone up thread recommended around so unpaid networking events/hackathons or what have you?

If it’s any consolation, the job market is shocking at the moment so it isn’t only you

Linked In os awful for job hunting.

Check your entitlement to benefits and back to work support.

Sign up with an agency who focuses on the right sector. Be prepared to take short term contracts for expensive.

Look at stable employers such as local authorities, they can't be so picky because they don't pay as well.

What did you do before?

@redundancyregrets
If you worked in banking and your masters is related to Data science, I'd suggest going for junior actuarial jobs.

Or failing that something adjacent in insurance companies.

Sorry if you've already tried that!

Are you missing the technical skills for python or maths? I could imagine it being very hard to break into data science. It’s a new field but many move sideways into the roles. DH works as a data scientist but has a maths PhD and experience with algorithms and DevOps before. Which means he has experience with databases, REST APIs, cloud and able to spin full systems up in a very small team. A portfolio of toyed GitHub projects aren’t going to cut it. I’m a software developer and I do interviews for juniors. We don’t look at Github projects. They are mostly bad tutorial code and we aren’t big enough to attract big open source contributors. Besides if you are a contributor to numpy you will say on your CV. We do live coding tests instead.

I was going to say the same, OP. Financial Services have a number of pretty well-paid schemes to support older candidates. They can be quite flexible in my experience.

The Aviva link below is just an example.

https://careers.aviva.co.uk/life-at-aviva/tech-returners-programme/

also now is the time to call on your network. Coffees with previous colleagues, friends who work. Ask for advice, tips, them to keep you in mind if any opportunities come up.

But don’t give up. You are a high flyer so you must have transferable skills that employer wants. There are many jobs in the tech sector and not all of them require hard technical expertise.

Have you thought about looking at Local Authority Data roles? As they generally need data analysts. But also because of equality processes your age will not be as much of a barrier in comparison to private sector.

I keep dabbling with the idea of doing a data sci postgraduate qualification. But I'm very risk-averse so I never make a decision!
Sorry you're in this situation OP. Obviously you have a time limit to get some income. But you only need one job... fingers crossed the right one comes along.

I was made redundant 2.5 years ago at 50. I took a completely different qualification (language related) but no jobs in that, either. It was still interesting though, so I don't mind. I was out of work for 16 months in the end,including the training. I finally got another job in tech (systems admin) on much lower pay than previously, but was getting to the point I needed some money coming in. That was through LinkedIn, and I had a couple of other interviews through LI job ads.

I left it after a few months because of micromanagement and I'm now a few months into another tech role (through Indeed,) more like my pre-redundancy salary, and while it's not perfect, it's a pretty good job, and I am definitely enjoying people appreciating my work and being encouraging about my career. And seems to prove that thing about easier to get a job when you've already got a job.

So don't give up hope! There are some tech roles out there for we older ones. Good luck. It's a hard slog.

Could you do Data Engineering instead? Lots of jobs for that right now and it’s a growing area. Easier to get an entry level position than Data Sci.

Data Sci has usually been hard to break into without experience or moving from an adjacent role within same employer to get experience.

Have you had a look at getting on the Government Digital Service grad scheme?

https://www.civil-service-careers.gov.uk/fast-stream/fs-all-schemes/fs-digital-scheme/

What I would advise if you haven’t already, is adding a couple of projects you have done in your own time to your CV, especially as you don’t have commercial experience. Don’t be disheartened, it’s tough out there at the moment, I recruit technical specialists in my role and the attitude and approach to problem solving are by far the biggest attributes, your soft skills will be a huge asset in a technical role. Tech stacks, languages etc… can all be learned.

A PP has suggested local government, I think this is a good call.

The civil service and public bodies too could be good to aim for, as less overt age discrimination.

Or could you go for a total change - you don't say what your original job was, but could you apply for management roles in a supermarket - I know MandS used to have a career changers intake. With whatever soft skills you have from your previous role, and your skills in data analytics, you would be a very attractive candidate.

You’ve made a really brave move, and it’s normal to feel wobbly at this stage. Sometimes talking to a career coach or mentor can really help — even a few sessions can make it easier to reframe your experience, spot opportunities, and feel clearer about your next step.

Going against the grain here but data science is a great field and totally growing with the focus on having top quality data for AI. Another growth field is data management, and the banks are desperate for people. Have you considered looking at the websites for all the UK banks and others? You just need one job to get some experience on the CV

There are some good coding bootcamps that you can do. They are for job changers and they generally have something like a 14 week course where they train you hands on and then help place you with employers. There are data engineering tracks on many of these. Don’t know what area you live but look at north coders as an example

Have you considered taking in ironing? (I’m so sorry, I couldn’t resist 🙈). Wishing you all the best xx

I’m sorry I don’t have much advice but just want to wish you luck on your search. Well done for being brave and trying something new!

& @ recruiters how do we get experience without experience ??

This is well meaning but missing the point. Without experience the OP is struggling to even get an entry level job because the market is saturated at entry level / junior levels. And realistically the lower salary at entry level will be a financial challenge for the OP after earning much more in her previous role.

OP is competing with recent grads who already have experience in data science / AI / machine learning etc from internships, hackathons, personal portfolios etc. She needs to get some experience to stand a chance of competing but getting experience without taking a huge financial hit is going to be difficult. That’s usually the big challenge for mid-life career changers.

I work in banking (and have done for 25+ years) and we have data people coming out of ears. We most definitely are NOT desperate for people. We turn gazillions of talented people away actually. The data ‘field’ in Financial Services has been well advanced for a long time. (More than 10 years ago I was one of the management team for a global consultancy’s Financial Services Data UK practice, working with most of the big UK banks as well as many international ones). It changes quickly and it’s essential to keep up but there have been a lot of people doing data analysis, data management, data architecture, data governance, data visualisation etc for years and the majority have now pivoted towards AI, machine learning, Cloud etc. There are jobs yes, but there’s also a lot of competition which is why employers can be picky about experience these days.

Hi OP I have an MSc in data science as well and have been working as an analyst for almost 10 years now across 3 countries.

My advice would be to tell everyone you know that you're looking for a job in data - real networks are more useful for landing a job than LinkedIn. I landed my first data science internship from a drunken pub conversation. My brother broke into data through working for his friend's business.

Whilst you're waiting to land your first role, see if there's any Data Science projects you can work on - sites like Fiverr may give you an opportunity to get paid whilst working on smaller projects for clients. You can also reach out to any business owners you know to ask if you can do a project for free for them just to get the industry experience.

Just a hint for your search: Smaller businesses can be a lot more flexible with their requirements and may appreciate your experience from your previous career as they can use you flexibly across the organisation. From my experience the pay can also be better at smaller organisations compared to larger ones. Try and reach out to smaller business owners directly (this worked for me to land my first proper data job).

It's a fairly saturated market so also try applying for data engineering/analyst/analytical engineering roles too or anything allied to data. It would be good to also get some accreditation for a visualisation tool of your choice (e.g. Tableau) to bolster your CV.

Have you reached out to the careers office at your uni for advice? Does your uni do a careers fair (mine did and I got a role this way too after my MSc)? Can you leverage use of the alumni network?

Have you reached out to your classmates from your MSc on whether they know of any jobs going? E.g. I was already working in data when doing my MSc and provided internships to 3 of my course mates. We also set up a WhatsApp group in my cohort where we posted interview advice/open jobs etc

Good luck - don't give up yet! Get creative and ballsy about landing a job.

I was looking at Firebrand. But Govt skills bootcamp should be a good resource. I don't know how much will be pointless given you've done an MSc but might be worth a look.