OK, I need some job/career/life advice.
Warning.. LONG POST…………
This forum is filled with so many knowledgeable and life experienced people that I’m hoping someone will help me have an “ahah” moment to get me out of the career corner I seem to have backed myself into.
I have a job that frankly bores me to tears. The organization I work for are fantastic as far as conditions and family friendliness is concerned, pay is very average. If I had a better job here I would never leave. The only reason I am still here is the good conditions and a fantastic boss.
I currently work in the aviation industry.
The job when advertised was supposed to be 50% stores (yuck) and the rest paperwork (engineering compliance required by the government body) and running a computer based maintenance management system, of which I had a little experience when I was in the airforce. When I took the job it seemed like it would eventually include some maintenance scheduling and control which I wouldn’t mind getting into.
Well 2 .5 years on, I am really only a glorified storeman/purchaser, and I am scared if I don’t do something soon I will end up doing this job till I retire. I try not to tell anyone what I really do as I find it embarrassing. I could have done this job as an 18 year old. I am now 44 and getting a bit old I think to be starting another career, I think I probably have a few years to get into something I’m happy with before I get to the age where employers start to see my age as a disability.
A bit of background on myself.
Ok, a brief rundown of my work/study life and quals from the last 20 years or so.
After school went to TAFE and did an Engineering Drafting Cert, then worked as a draughtsman for a steel frame housing company for about 2 years drawing plans, wall frame drawings for fabrication and submitting and liaising with council for the customers. Pay was not good but liked the job, was very young at the time and wanted a bit more excitement ………..so…………..
Joined the defence force because I came from a military family and loved aircraft. Ended up doing lots of different stuff that most people wouldn’t believe but core job was aircraft maintenance. Did this job for 13 years also a couple of years of EO disposal and technical assessing of spares. Don’t regret joining but probably should have pulled the pin a lot earlier than I did. Had an absolute ball!
I wanted to be an Architect from about 13 but didn’t have the courage or the parental support to do this, no one in my family had gone to uni, and frankly at 18 all I wanted to do was party and chase boys (no one told me that uni is actually the best place to do this as I found out many years later). So after 13 years in the defence force I resigned and went to uni and graduated in 2005 with a BSc (Architecture). This is the first of 2 degrees needed to become an Architect and frankly is pretty useless on its own.
During this time I had met and married Mr Bespoke and little bespoke (known as The Child) was on the way. The child was born in Aug 2006 so had till Feb 2007 off with the baby. Then went back to uni and found out just how hard it was to do such a demanding degree with a 5 month old, so I cut down to 1 subject and considered how I was going to do this. Did a sideways move of degrees to Construction Management mid year (has some of the same subjects and I got lots of credits). This degree can be done online whereas Architecture can’t. By the end of 2007 we had bought our first PPOR (together) and hubbie was not happy with me spending another 2 or 3 years at uni full time and so I started looking for work and applied for 3 jobs (all aviation related) and got 2 of them. Didn’t go back to uni.
So my dilemma is I am working as a glorified storeman earning 40% of what the guys who I work with are as I don’t have the civilian qualification (only military). I can get the civilian quals and after about 2 years I could possibly be on what they are, BUT the boss really only likes guys who have lots of experience on this aircraft type and I haven’t had hands on experience for 10 years. I have asked him about moving in this direction and he is non committal.
I must be the most over educated storeman in Australia and I am bored silly everyday. Sounds so superficial but I need a job with more responsibility, more status and more pay.
I need to get out of this particular job but which way to go?
Some thoughts:
Stay and try to worm my way into a maintenance position (this may never happen and I could be wasting my time)
Try to work out a way to earn enough income to keep hubbie happy and go back to uni to finish Architecture.
Start another line of study complimentary to Architecture like….. Town planning or I did consider a QS course at TAFE, correspondence but they have since discontinued the course, maybe Landscape Architecture. I love Architecture and construction, love aviation love gardening and landscaping.
Hubbie knows I’m not happy at all and he has lately been trying to convince me to set up a Architectural draughting business, but frankly I don’t have the industry experience to do this. I would need to do alot of brushing up to do this.
If I do more study I need to be able to do it part time and online or by correspondence.
So……………… any ideas, constructive comments, thoughts. Am I too old to try to get an entry level position in anything? Should I just try to stick it out here and hope I’m not wasting my time? Or should I do more study with the risk that I could not get a job after? Is there another avenue I haven’t thought of?
I wasnt sure about posting this so I reserve the right to remove it as it contains alot of information about myself.
Warning.. LONG POST…………
This forum is filled with so many knowledgeable and life experienced people that I’m hoping someone will help me have an “ahah” moment to get me out of the career corner I seem to have backed myself into.
I have a job that frankly bores me to tears. The organization I work for are fantastic as far as conditions and family friendliness is concerned, pay is very average. If I had a better job here I would never leave. The only reason I am still here is the good conditions and a fantastic boss.
I currently work in the aviation industry.
The job when advertised was supposed to be 50% stores (yuck) and the rest paperwork (engineering compliance required by the government body) and running a computer based maintenance management system, of which I had a little experience when I was in the airforce. When I took the job it seemed like it would eventually include some maintenance scheduling and control which I wouldn’t mind getting into.
Well 2 .5 years on, I am really only a glorified storeman/purchaser, and I am scared if I don’t do something soon I will end up doing this job till I retire. I try not to tell anyone what I really do as I find it embarrassing. I could have done this job as an 18 year old. I am now 44 and getting a bit old I think to be starting another career, I think I probably have a few years to get into something I’m happy with before I get to the age where employers start to see my age as a disability.
A bit of background on myself.
Ok, a brief rundown of my work/study life and quals from the last 20 years or so.
After school went to TAFE and did an Engineering Drafting Cert, then worked as a draughtsman for a steel frame housing company for about 2 years drawing plans, wall frame drawings for fabrication and submitting and liaising with council for the customers. Pay was not good but liked the job, was very young at the time and wanted a bit more excitement ………..so…………..
Joined the defence force because I came from a military family and loved aircraft. Ended up doing lots of different stuff that most people wouldn’t believe but core job was aircraft maintenance. Did this job for 13 years also a couple of years of EO disposal and technical assessing of spares. Don’t regret joining but probably should have pulled the pin a lot earlier than I did. Had an absolute ball!
I wanted to be an Architect from about 13 but didn’t have the courage or the parental support to do this, no one in my family had gone to uni, and frankly at 18 all I wanted to do was party and chase boys (no one told me that uni is actually the best place to do this as I found out many years later). So after 13 years in the defence force I resigned and went to uni and graduated in 2005 with a BSc (Architecture). This is the first of 2 degrees needed to become an Architect and frankly is pretty useless on its own.
During this time I had met and married Mr Bespoke and little bespoke (known as The Child) was on the way. The child was born in Aug 2006 so had till Feb 2007 off with the baby. Then went back to uni and found out just how hard it was to do such a demanding degree with a 5 month old, so I cut down to 1 subject and considered how I was going to do this. Did a sideways move of degrees to Construction Management mid year (has some of the same subjects and I got lots of credits). This degree can be done online whereas Architecture can’t. By the end of 2007 we had bought our first PPOR (together) and hubbie was not happy with me spending another 2 or 3 years at uni full time and so I started looking for work and applied for 3 jobs (all aviation related) and got 2 of them. Didn’t go back to uni.
So my dilemma is I am working as a glorified storeman earning 40% of what the guys who I work with are as I don’t have the civilian qualification (only military). I can get the civilian quals and after about 2 years I could possibly be on what they are, BUT the boss really only likes guys who have lots of experience on this aircraft type and I haven’t had hands on experience for 10 years. I have asked him about moving in this direction and he is non committal.
I must be the most over educated storeman in Australia and I am bored silly everyday. Sounds so superficial but I need a job with more responsibility, more status and more pay.
I need to get out of this particular job but which way to go?
Some thoughts:
Stay and try to worm my way into a maintenance position (this may never happen and I could be wasting my time)
Try to work out a way to earn enough income to keep hubbie happy and go back to uni to finish Architecture.
Start another line of study complimentary to Architecture like….. Town planning or I did consider a QS course at TAFE, correspondence but they have since discontinued the course, maybe Landscape Architecture. I love Architecture and construction, love aviation love gardening and landscaping.
Hubbie knows I’m not happy at all and he has lately been trying to convince me to set up a Architectural draughting business, but frankly I don’t have the industry experience to do this. I would need to do alot of brushing up to do this.
If I do more study I need to be able to do it part time and online or by correspondence.
So……………… any ideas, constructive comments, thoughts. Am I too old to try to get an entry level position in anything? Should I just try to stick it out here and hope I’m not wasting my time? Or should I do more study with the risk that I could not get a job after? Is there another avenue I haven’t thought of?
I wasnt sure about posting this so I reserve the right to remove it as it contains alot of information about myself.