UKC

Dear UKC,

I am looking for some life advice please.

Following a recent injury, I am feeling a little lost and unsure of my future. Climbing has been my sole focus for many years, especially so in the last year, with it giving me great satisfaction. Up until a month ago I had no real qualms other than knowing that I could not continue to juggle jobs as I had been forever.

Injuring myself has meant I had to stop climbing but also stop work as I couldn't walk. I have had a lot of time to think and apart from feeling frustrated I have realised I don't need loads of time to achieve my climbing goals, and in fact being part of the 9-5 rat race allows me to maximise my free time/get into good sleep pattern/have enough money to go away and go to wall regularly.

I have been juggling a 0 hours NHS job with a bit of low-skill construction work building climbing walls as and when I'm needed. I really enjoy the wall-building but work for a v small company that cannot take me on full time. This has worked but is not a long term solution.

I'm basically looking for a full time job mon-fri 9-5 that pays reasonably (up to now I have existed on <£1200pa.) However, I prefer to be active and practical and am much more productive in this environment. I have a degree in environmental conservation but I only got 2:2 as I put more focus on climbing (theme emerging) than uni. I'm not necessarily too worried about loving my job as climbing and my great mates make my life brilliant. But I do want some semblance of career/good job so that I can support myself and maybe others one day.

Since losing a job I really enjoyed last year in favour of someone with better qualification I generally feel like I have few skills to offer a potential employer And am unsure/of what my best course of action. Do I get a shitty office job and start working my way up or should I try something like rope access (not massively keen on idea of working away but think the job is something I could/would enjoy). Another job that interests me is tree surgery and is something I am looking into.

I wish in some ways that I had done an apprenticeship when younger. Living on £2.50 an hour is not an option for me really.

In a roundabout way I'd like to know what you do/ how you got into doing it/ if you enjoy your lifestyle.

Or any ideas as to active mon-fri 9-5 jobs that I could start low and work my way up would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers, Bob

In reply to Supersonic:

Don't know of the jobs as such but I would think about, as it sounds like you are, what kind of life you want to have over the next 5/10/20 years.

I used to work for a management consultancy and did about 80-100 hours a week. It was well paid and very interesting a lot of the time but incredibly demanding and quite stressful.

So I gave it up and went back to uni. Now am a doctor. The hours are a bit shorter but more antisocial, the pay is worse, it's very interesting, can be demanding and stressful but overall it's a great privilege to do it most of the time.

In reply to Supersonic:

When I was your age I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life, I hadn't even started climbing!

Now, a few years later I've done the addicted to climbing bit, followed by an accident (three months in a wheel chair). I now try and spread my spare time between climbing, caving and cycling.

My job is making rope access kit and I love it. Don't get me wrong I don't enjoy every minute and I'd rather be out climbing but we all have to do something. Monday to Friday 9-5. Work with some good people. Make good stuff.

(What I really would like to be is the winch man on a rescue helicopter.)

I don't really have any advice for you other than cycling is good, and your ideal job will (hopefully) come along eventually.

In reply to August West:
How did you get into making rope access kit? Did you do specific training or just find yourself applying for the job?

All well and good saying my ideal job will come along but I might need to get quals to get that job!

In reply to BGG: the sort of life I want over next 5 years is one where I have the money to make most of my spare time and have this spare time at the same time as most other people so I can maximise my usage of it. Ideally I would like to do a job that is reasonably active and that is of benefit to society in some way/interesting.

Just trying to get some ideas really

In reply to Supersonic:


Look on the bright side, by 2020 you'll be on £9ph, £360 per week, 18G a year full time, and you'll still only be 30.
I have to manage on £62.10 a week Carers Allowance

In reply to Supersonic:

I had no idea what I wanted to do for a long time and worked in catering and then warehousing for a long time. I decided I needed a change but got a job doing the same thing but the product was something I cared about more (climbing kit and rope access kit). There was a guy whose job it was to make rescue kits and chop rope etc and I used to help him when he got busy and do it when he was on holiday. I also spent some of my holidays doing rope access courses and rescue courses. I then spent a couple of years working in an outdoor shop but couldn't see myself doing it very long and the pay was crap. Then I saw a job advertised in the local paper. I already knew some people who worked there (a couple are on the same rescue team as me), but I've no idea whether that helped.

I feel rather lucky that I've got a job that I really like with good predictable, social hours. I'm resigned to the fact that I'm never going to be a millionaire.

In reply to Supersonic:

Have you thought about dry stone walling? You're in the right part of the world according to your profile and it fits with your interest in conservation. Working for yourself you can make £100 per day, enjoy the fresh air (and occasional rain), keep fit and maintain a beautiful feature of our landscape. Plenty of work available in my part of Yorkshire if the waiting time for our local waller is anything to go by.

In reply to Supersonic:

If you enjoyed the NHS work have you considered one of the career paths there. I used to climb with someone who's wife had done a different degree and later trained to become an OT and still got an NHS bursary (fees paid and small grant I think) she did care bank work while training and in the holidays. This was a little over 10 years ago and the rules may have changed. If you enjoy practical stuff and making things what about something like orthotics/prosthetics?

Your post comes across a bit "I hit 25 and made all the wrong choices." I think many many people go through this stage. Either at about your point (I did it)or if they have been focused they have a mid life crisis later(I am due one of those ). One comedian put it as you haven't really grown up until you find yourself as an adult in your mum's kitchen sliding down the fridge and sobbing "my life is ruined!" The other way of looking at it is you have tried a bunch of stuff and are now mature enough to select something you would really want to do and with the commitment to see it through. It might be hard but lots of stuff is and they tend to be the more rewarding accomplishments.

In reply to BnB:

Is this for real about the walling? I've had a go in the past but am not great at it.

In reply to Supersonic:

A few bits of advice....

Don't stress you're too old and wish you'd done something 'when you were younger'. There's plenty of time, be easy on yourself and don't rush into things. I'm 44 and I've skipped about between different careers and jobs and big periods of time off traveling and climbing (and dossing about) and I wouldn't swap any of it, and then I re-trained at university for a health related job when I was in my late 30s, and it's all going great.

Have you thought about working in the NHS as a paramedic, nurse, physicians associate, or similar? They're all 2-3 year (often funded) courses that when you're qualified you can go in a number of interesting directions including overseas.

It'll be OK!

In reply to squarepeg:

Well, it was a serious suggestion. It's not going to make anyone a millionaire but it suits some people down to the ground.

In reply to Supersonic:

I would say if you can’t find a job you love, get the qualifications to get the best paid job you can. (Perhaps something which means you can be a contractor, anywhere in the world.)

The reasons I say this are; If you can’t find a job you love then there are several factors which affect how much you enjoy your job; the type of work, the people you work with, the commute, the hours, pay, holidays, other benefits. During your career all of these are going to change. Levels of interest and motivation will fluctuate, good colleagues will leave, you might relocate, physical abilities change.
You have said that you enjoy climbing and hanging out with your mates. This might be true now, but like a job that might change, you might find a new hobby, friends might move away, or you might have a family.

What I am trying to say is, there are a lot of variables and unknowns in life, but one constant thing is the need for money, and while money does not make you happy, it certainly gives you options, so if you are not certain about what you want to do, you might as well do something that gives you lots of options