What do you all do for a job that pays 40k plus?

[CDTC]

I'm after some advice on what jobs I can train to do and earn around the 40k mark (or more but realistically 40k).

I'm knocking 40, I lost my job after mat leave in March and I have the opportunity to train in something. I have seriously considered accounting but looking at my area ish that is only paying 30k, I would still do it ofc but it's by no means a passion. I have also considered dog grooming but again, financially, unless I was self employed I'd be earning around £13 an hour. SIL is a dog boarder and she rakes it is but it's just not possible in this house.

I want to be able to stand on my own two feet financially with 2 kids and a mortgage should things go awry in my relationship, I have no pension, no real prospects and I'm completely at a loss as to what to do. My only experience is shop work and cleaning bar my last job where I had some real experience in an office (very basic accounting, customer service, complaints etc etc).

What do you all do?

My friend is a science teacher in a secondary school, in her 30s, £60k. She says she doesn’t find it stressful at all, the school provides all the lesson plans so no lesson-planning required.

£45K as 4 day a week English teacher, plus in charge of teacher training and new teachers at the school. When the kids are school age will go back to full time and I think will be about 56k with my extra responsibilities.

I think you aren’t understanding career progression. You can earn far far more than that in accountancy no matter where in the country you are. Just not while you’re training.

I earn over 50k in corporate Learning and Development and I’m not even at manager level. I love it. I came at it from a teaching background but many have backgrounds in HR or organisational development as we sit in HR.

I'd like to hear more

Core dept? Private or state? Inner or outer London?

I work in operations in retail banking. 4 day week and I get 45k. However on a constant 18 month cycle of redundancies. Unsettling but won’t leave now without some money! But I would still need to work and have no idea what I would do if made redundant!

Most of the trades earn more than 40k once qualified, but you need to be time served - meaning 3 years on a low apprenticeship wage. And you need to find someone who is prepared to take you on as an apprentice - which can be difficult as a woman, especially one who isn't a school leaver, although you would have the advantage of being old enough to drive the van without incurring prohibitive insurance costs.

Construction trades in particular tend to start early in the morning, which might be difficult to mix with nursery times, which is why things like vehicle mechanic at a dealership might be easier - this would also be better in terms of access to facilities like toilets, which can still be an issue for women.

£57k secondary science teacher, 8 years in but 2 of those years have been off on mat leave. If you’re a really strong teacher it’s easy to apply for double jumps and work up pay scale quicker, especially in shortage subjects.

You wouldn’t get that with AAT though, you would need to be CCAB qualified or equivalent (CIPFA, CIMA, ACCA, ICAS etc). AAT would get you a role along the lines of Accounts Assistant. This is in the public sector; private sector are more likely to give you the title of accountant without being chartered, but the pay wouldn’t be at that level.

I'm an electrician, do well north of £40K - you can start off as self employed and stay that way whilst building your skills.

There are short (ie 1 week) and evening courses in many trades, such as electrical and plumbing - you can then start work doing small jobs you are comfortable with and add qualifications, taken part time, and more strings to your bow and expand your offering.

In the electrical trade we have a card system called a JIB card, and on the back it says what qualifications you have done, and you can build as you go until you get the gold card.

If you choose to join a trade organisation like the NICEIC or NAPIT, again they have different levels of membership, ie: Domestic Installer up to Approved Contractor.

It can be done alone, and as you go.

I've been with network rail 3 years. Made 50k my first year as a low grade signaller. No previous experience req for signalling

It doesn’t. It’s really not a high salary anymore, when you consider minimum wage is now about £28k. £40k is entry/low mid range professional.

That's interesting as under the current building regulations electrical work has to be certified by a qualified electrician. Which isn't going to be achievable on a one week course.

You can do minor stuff without the full qualification ofc, but I would think you'd struggle to get enough of that type of work to sustain yourself on a self employed basis.

Yes I understand all of that. The goal was to train as a book keeper to start then work my way through the exams to be a trained accountant, not just walk into an accountancy job. The question was more of a "what do I want to be when I grow up".

Commercial insurance, £93k.

But I’d say you can easily earn £40k after 2 years as an insurance broker or trainee underwriter.

You must be quite high up in policing to earn that tho...

I’m a part time lawyer earning more than that but I think you’re looking for something where you can earn well quickly?

I agree with PP re railway jobs. Train drivers get well paid. Or trades?

Good luck!

This is interesting. What is it like being a signaller? Do you have to work a variety of shifts or are they set out more or less from the start (for example 3 evenings / 2 days etc)

PA in a school 45K and over 18 wks off!

I'm happy to train up to a role, I was thinking of more of a 5-10 year plan to get fully qualified in something that pays well. I was considering train driving but I have a young baby now so the shift patterns aren't possible but maybe in the future.

Only notifiable jobs in domestic settings require notification under part P, and that list is now greatly reduced from what it was, so you can still issue certificates for the majority of domestic jobs that are not notifiable, for the others you can notify directly to the local building control office, although its a pain and costs (that's what I did when I started out) so ultimately you want to join a trade body that automates that procedure and cuts out the cost..

There is loads of work on commercial buildings, where you can certify anything from changing a socket to a full re-wire without notification, and the minor works in such institutions (schools etc) are a rich seam to mine.

As you get more confident, learn more you take on more - and of course if you get the opportunity to work alongside more experienced folks you can learn from them.

In the electrical trade there is no such thing as a qualified electrician, instead we define it as a competent person, you have to consider yourself competent to undertake the work you are going to do, and sign a document showing it was safe and compliant with the regulations when you did it.

Civil Engineering

Are you in London? Are you able to say what company this is ?

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