Career suggestions...

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 3rd, 2007, 16:35

I've been musing on where to go with my career for a good few months now, and after a few non-starters from careers advice websites I figured I could probably get a good cross-section of ideas from you guys. So....

I'm planning on a career change in another 6 years, which gives me the freedom to go for pretty much any qualification I fancy up to degree level. The RAF will pay for it (or at least most of it), so the only things I have to consider are whether it'll lead to a better job and whether I'm going to be interested enough to stick at it.

For a bit of background; I've electronics qualifications up the ying-yang (NVQ lvl3, BTEC lvl3, HND, B.Eng), a modern apprenticeship with the RAF, and experience in communications (satellite, radio), a bit of radar data systems, and IT and telecomms (phones) support.

Now I'm not neccesarily looking for anything IT or electronic based, although my qualifications and experience in that area would obviously give me a head start. I'm trying to find out what up-and-coming industries are out there so that I can be in a good position for a job that will have less competition of my standard, and as a lot of you guys are employed in or studying for employment in techical industry I'm hoping your collective fingers are more on the pulse than mine. Sherriff has suggested IT security, particularly if I can get on some RAF courses, but it's hit and miss as to whether I can get that kind of training without being a policeman.

Anyone know anything?

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 3rd, 2007, 16:53

I got a whole load of Oil rig contacts including the wood group who will put you through your offshore training. They are looking for all sorts of tradesmen. starting pay is like 35k pa.

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 3rd, 2007, 16:55

Actually, a couple of mates are in the process of doing just that. I've okayed that one with Mrs Pants too, so it's definately a consideration. As I said, I've 6 years to go in this job before I want to come out but if you know what qualifications could be a boost I'd be interested.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 3rd, 2007, 16:59

dude if your a sparky thats all you need. Phone Amber on 01224851000 the WoodGroup. The only qualifications you need other than experiance is your offshore saftey stuff. That'll cost you a few hundred. the woodGroup are the only ones I know of that will pay for you to do the courses. I know blue water are recruiting as well. try Carol.Thomson@bluewater.com but they may ask you to do your survival stuff first. good use of the resetlement package and any ECDL credits you have.

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 3rd, 2007, 17:39

Thanks for the gen. I'm not looking for a move for another 6 years yet, but if I get cold feet early I'll definitely be looking into this.

northwesten · Post by **northwesten** » January 3rd, 2007, 18:49

u could work with

and pat and feed them everyday and smell like shit! just a thought.

on you're career bah i stay out of i dont have advice sorry or info

eion · Post by **eion** » January 3rd, 2007, 18:53

Of course, that is an Aberdeen number, and let me tell you - it gets pretty damn cold up there.

I'd be wary of gambling on the oil companies still hiring in 6 years, but you never know. The job market up there at the moment is apparently pretty good though.

I may be biased, but I'd consider a career in the law... technical background + law degree = patent law (which is pretty good money). On the downside, it is another degree, and then there's a training period. Just throwing it out there.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 3rd, 2007, 18:56

the joy with off shore work you can live anywhere in the uk as long as it has access to an airport or train that can get you to aberdeen. Most Uk offshore in the north sea is two weeks on two/four weeks off so 6 or more moth you get paid for sitting on your arse in your own house.

eion · Post by **eion** » January 3rd, 2007, 19:02

But there's so much about offshore work that isn't a joy at all (from what I've heard - I have relatives in the business, although they prefer to hang around in nice warm, safe offices and get paid more

).

If the RAF will pay for extra edumacation, I reckon you should take full advantage of that.

MIkkyo · Post by **MIkkyo** » January 3rd, 2007, 19:02

Nothing wrong with off shore work at all. I'm trying to get back into it this year.

spoodie · Post by **spoodie** » January 3rd, 2007, 20:06

Here's the job application form that you need: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/cmt/21313 ... titute.pdf

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 3rd, 2007, 20:30

Pffffft. Sold!

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 4th, 2007, 9:29

eion wrote:I may be biased, but I'd consider a career in the law... technical background + law degree = patent law (which is pretty good money). On the downside, it is another degree, and then there's a training period. Just throwing it out there.

I'm liking the lateral thinking - I'm interested in combining my technical degree with something non-technical to narrow down the competition as not many people will have that sort of combination. Aren't law courses terribly boring though? I'd be studying from home and so I'll need to be interested in my subject or I'll just get lazy and forget about it. To put it more constructively - what kind of thing would a law degree entail? I'm thinking lots of reading and remembering of facts. While my English is pretty strong I'm not so good at remembering things unless they interest me.

eion · Post by **eion** » January 4th, 2007, 20:08

Dog Pants wrote:
I'm liking the lateral thinking - I'm interested in combining my technical degree with something non-technical to narrow down the competition as not many people will have that sort of combination. Aren't law courses terribly boring though? I'd be studying from home and so I'll need to be interested in my subject or I'll just get lazy and forget about it. To put it more constructively - what kind of thing would a law degree entail? I'm thinking lots of reading and remembering of facts. While my English is pretty strong I'm not so good at remembering things unless they interest me.

I've not taken any English law courses per se (although Hong Kong is close), but at a guess I'd say that the basic course is probably pretty similar to the US - reading cases, extracting the rules from the cases, and applying those rules to other fact patterns. I'm not going to lie, it can be excruciatingly boring - but some parts are actually genuinely interesting, to me at least. For what it's worth, I'm not good at learning stuff if I'm not interested in it, either.

The advantage of law is that there are very few lawyers in England who have a technical background, and a technical background is extremely useful, if not essential, for some areas of the law - intellectual property in particular (that's my area of specialty).

If you are interested then I can probably give you more details... and who knows, in 6 years time I may finally be actually practicing law.

edit: on re-reading your question, I can confirm that yes, a law course does entail a fair amount of reading (although you learn tricks to read cases more quickly, and cases that seem easy to me now would have completely stumped me three years ago). As to remembering lots of stuff, that's less necessary - at least in the US system, law courses test on understanding and application rather than rote memorisation. In my experience, most lawyers look things up in books, and remembering all but the most important cases (just the rules, mind you) typically wasn't required of me in law school.

Post by **Dog Pants** » January 4th, 2007, 20:15

eion wrote:The advantage of law is that there are very few lawyers in England who have a technical background, and a technical background is extremely useful, if not essential, for some areas of the law - intellectual property in particular (that's my area of specialty).

If you are interested then I can probably give you more details... and who knows, in 6 years time I may finally be actually practicing law.

This is what's caught my eye - they're not really a logical pairing so I was expecting low competition and something a little unusual. Obviously I'd need some interest, but I can deal with slogging some bits out if it's worthwhile in the long run. I really don't want to be competing in the rat-race with graduates for the limited jobs that are out there in IT and electronics. I'm certainly interested enough to hear more about what you've had to do to try and get a feel for it.

eion · Post by **eion** » January 4th, 2007, 20:27

Not wanting to compete with other IT graduates was a primary concern with me wanting to do law - I was living in California at the time, it was 2002 (so the dotcom thing had been and gone), my degree was only a 2:2 (admittedly from a pretty decent Uni, but one that people in the US usually haven't heard of), and to tell the truth I was pretty burned out of the whole computing thing after three years of it.

I'm not sure how much of my experience will be relevant to you, but I'll be happy to share the gory details - after I've slept, though, cos it's almost 4:30am here.

Dolly Parton · Post by **Dolly Parton** » January 4th, 2007, 20:28

spoodie wrote:Here's the job application form that you need: http://www.prnewswire.com/mnr/cmt/21313 ... titute.pdf

OMG thats the perfect job. Being a fat, moon shine drinking, daisy duke chasing, rebel yelling, General Lee driving red neck and you get apid.