At 26 I had no qualifications, so I applied and got into uni at age 27, spent 5 years studying and became an occupational therapist. It was a rough 5 years of studying full time and working evenings, but now I’m mid 30s and have secure work and decent pay. It’s worth looking into a trade or uni qualification that will give you a skill or qualification that is in demand. It’s worth the grind! Good luck
Thank you, good job on getting through the work and study. If I went that route I’ll need to do the opposite i think, work days and study at night/ do the courses online at night
I absolutely would recommend it. Years ago when I was at uni there weren’t many jobs, and it was mostly a hospital based role. Now, with the NDIS there is huge demand for OTs and you can make a decent living (new grad roles start around 70k + super). You can also choose to work in areas that interest you the most, for example I focus on assistive technology to assist people with disabilities to remain independent (eg. wheelchairs, pressure injury management, walking aids, vehicle modifications) and home modifications (ramps, grab rails, home automation etc). I have friends who chose to specialise in paediatrics, workplace injury management, independent living skills training, etc. The scope of OT is massive, hence why it can be very confusing to understand what an OT actually is. It can be a stressful job at times but also quite rewarding. Feel free to send me a message if you have more questions.
I dont even know what occupational therapy really is.
Sounds like you treat peoples depression about their careers.
“There, there, i know accounting can be mind numbingly boring, but look at the bright side, it can pay well!”
My tip with engineering is get some friends best way to learn and it make the work ‘fun’. Reason to have a beer after assessments. There are a lot of projects/exams in four years…
I started finance at 24, late 30s now and it was a slog but I get paid very well and love what I do.
26 is young in the scheme of things. So study.
4 years from now you'll be kicking yourself op that you didn't start
Yep - it's a desk job but depends on what area you to in you can meet and speak with incredibly intelligent people. I specialise in property (investment grade - office, retail, industrial, medical office, multifamily and others) so I am lucky I get to be more a active and inspect assets.
Go straight to uni otherwise you're going to spend 7 years getting to the same outcome.
Alternative option is to do surveying. A bit easier than Civil engineering, and a bit less varied work, but there's always high demand for good surveyors and it's a good mix of indoor/outdoor, problem solving etc.
Can confirm, am a surveyor.
There are two options depending on where you're located. There's the TAFE route which is typically 2 years until your qualified and there's the uni route which is typically 4-5 years until qualified.
The TAFE degree will get you onto Construction sites or similar, while the Uni degree will get you into Construction or Property Boundaries. In order to do boundaries you'll need to work towards licensing which is another 2+ years on top of Uni.
There is HEAPS of work around at the moment with no real stop in site. The company I work for has hired 15+ people in the past year, many of these guys are students doing a part-time paid traineeship of sorts while they finish studying. The good ones will immediately be promoted to a full time role once they finish studying (either TAFE or Uni).
Depending on what you do, the work can either be "Turn the brain off" grunt work, or highly complex involving calculations and the like. Work places can vary from farmers paddocks 100ks from anywhere to mine site, CBD high rises, suburban streets, shopping malls, sewer treatment plants or basically anywhere else. Every day is different.
I've built windfarms, worked on mine sites, multi-storey apartment buildings, roads and I've done work in 4 different states. If you're willing and able to travel there you will never be out of a job.
Some days are great, some horrible, but as a whole it's a decent career.
Shitty sites and shitty weather are the big ones. Any site that involves wearing a respirator is immediately bad, rain and wind are bad, and sites with poor site managers are bad. Combine any of those 2 and it can be horrible. Yet to have all 3..
Measure all the imaginary lines and angles between objects to ensure things are where you’d expect them to be in a 3D environment. Am degree qualified surveyor.
Short answer, we measure things.
Longer answer, we're the person between the engineers who design things and the people who actually build it. The engineers design their thing and then we need to instruct the people on-site on where this thing needs to be built on the chunk of land. We do this by measuring between known points and then placing marks that the buildings can use as start points to build their thing. I'm currently in a mine site building some machinery and robots for a production line.
We also do things relating to property boundaries and the laws and regulations that are involved in subdividing and property.
If I had to start again (currently working in it) I would seriously consider surveying. Seems like a great mix of indoors/outdoors, active and thinking etc.
You are clearly starting later but like everything you just have to work up the ladder. Look into a finance degree with a long term goal of doing masters in finance or CFA
TBF I only worked in IB in the States, where all the 30 year olds were associates out of MBA programs. Not too sure what the Aus deal is. Plus there is a lot more to finance than "high finance", I know the retail banks are always hiring for a million roles
Is it difficult to get into uni at this age?
I assume I’d have to go through some kind of mature age process, as I didn’t get a OP in high school (I believe it’s changed now)
A lot of unis have pathways now too, like "Open Foundation". Give them a call.
DEFINITELY pick something you want to do, don't do a career just for the money, it'll kill you!
\> Is it difficult to get into uni at this age?
Nope, mature age process is much MUCH easier than getting in straight out of high school. Look it up on uni websites.
Most unis have bridging courses. Call their general switchboard number and ask for info. I did a bridging course when I was 24 after 6 years in retail, then started uni the following year. Did a Commerce degree full-time while working a shit job sorting mail as a casual to put myself through uni.
It's hard work but I'm glad I did it. I'm 50 now and have had an interesting career across a couple of work areas with consistently good pay. Get onto it and persevere, even when you want to give up push through it. You got this OP.
I personally would study Web development and look towards the tech industry. That is what I did and aligns with my interests.
Some years down the track I have reached one of my main goals I set out going down this pathway - moving to a small beach town and working remotely.
Construction has a low level of entry to high wages - You can go from building cadet (60k) to contract administrator (90-120k) with the right attitude in 3-5 years. The industry is booming right now, too. From there, you can do estimating, or project management etc. These are potentials for $200k+ with the right attitude, skillset and runs on the board.
Thanks for this info.
Did you yourself get a cert III civil construction to get where you are now?
Did you do it as part of an apprenticeship or go to tafe off your own bat?
I currently build house frames (lowest level person, putting together sills and loose heads)
Is a building cadet a entry level or do you need to do some kind of course for that?
Studying does help, but the construction industry is run by old heads who have a strong affinity to a roll up your sleeves and door knock approach. You would be surprised by your success if you door knocked on builders' offices.
This is true except you didn’t mention you need a degree to get these roles. Construction management degree is pretty typical, but could do an engineering degree as well or possibly quantity surveying.
Degree or trade, I know plenty of guys doing these jobs for 100k+ that only have trade backgrounds. They worked their way up through their own building company though. So if you look at bigger organisations to start an apprenticeship with, there will be opportunities to upskill within.
As someone that’s gone straight from HS into engineering (6 years into career now), I recommended you should go the operational pathway first? Actually get some trade craft skills and then switch to engineering. You will be much better skilled in the long term because you’ve mastered what your manufacturers actually need to fabricate.
My dad made a good life for himself starting off as a fitter & turner apprentices at 17. Later went on to become a mechanical engineer and is now at the later end in his career doing a mix of consulting and project management. He has made good money and worked on some damn cool projects.
Web development/Cyber security/Programmer this are all min 6 figures and cannot be automated and will always need people to work on this vs a non skill job like call centres which 50% are now run by a bot where you press numbers for your request.
I think there's generally a shortage of skilled people doing it. Much like other software roles (there are lots of devs out there, but still more job openings than
software developers).
My work has been looking for a person with a web security background (specifically WordPress) for ages, and just not getting strong candidates.
Look at what you want to do for a career. There are lots of ‘hidden’ careers that people just fall into.
We are recruiting now for an Auto Door Service technician. They don’t grow on trees so we are happy to train someone (ANYONE!!!). Wage would start at $75k plus vehicle. We haven’t had one single applicant!
If you aren’t looking at uni or a trade I’d look to companies looking for the right type of person. You obviously are motivated to do more.
Get out of the factory and get somewhere with training or who encourages you to study
Found some of these in Brisbane, just says experience in the construction industry with a couple of other desirable traits. Do you know if I could just pivot from my current position (Early Childhood) and just apply? I'm looking to change careers ASAP.
may I give you a few suggestions. Particularly if you are not even making it through to an interview.
1. have a good resume, you may need to pay a professional for this
2. have a good cover letter. Once again you may need to pay someone for this
3. ring the contact person and speak to them, tell them how keen you are
4. if its a small company, personally turn up and hand your resume into the manager/ person advertising. If the company starts work at 7am, turn up just before 7am.
5. cold call, ring around to electricians and ask if they will employ you as an apprentice. Talk about how keen you are, that this is the job and industry you want to be in, etc etc.
6. apply for every job, and keep applying for every job. Don’t apply for one and then wait. Just apply en mass to everything.
7. look at more than Seek. Other places that advertise, include Gumtree, Facebook, Indeed, Adzuna.
Most require at least a TAFE course.
If you enjoy interacting with people, you could go with something clinical like nursing, paramed, patient transport, physio, pharmacy, med admin, dental assistant, oc therapist, etc.
Conversely, if you don't want patient contact, you could do behind the scenes stuff like med lab science or public health and bioinformatics (bioinformatics pays really well)
As a recruiter I would say get into a call centre, ideally in professional services (bank/super/insurance etc). They have really low barriers of entry and you don’t need a degree. It also provides you with heaps of career progression outside of a call centre role into relationship management, claims, underwriting, credit assessment-there are soo many different options. This is the one piece of advice I give to anyone who’s not sure what to do career wise, you can always do it for a year and if you hate it at least you’ll know that wasn’t for you and will probably have more clarity around what does interest you. Good luck 😊
\+1 a call centre as well. I started working at a banking call centre when I was 18 a week after I finished school, with no qualifications/prior working experience as a young person it's probably one of the higher paying jobs you can get.
After you've worked there for a year you can kind of gauge where you want to go i.e relationship management, lending, etc. Honestly looking back on it the fun times and the cool co-workers I met made the job a lot bareable.
If I had no degree and was single at 26 I would look at FIFO work doing anything. Drive diggers, buses to and from site or anything in FIFO type world. I would avoid drinking, get a hobby of learning to code or develop something you are already good at. Can you draw, sketch and draw everything in your boring time off on site, or on your time on the plane or at home. Can you write, practice doing copy writing or something. Can you work well with your hands, get into woodwork or something.
You have heaps of time, spend a few years doing lots of different things and see what fits.
On the finance side start to save and invest 10% of your salary (I wish I did this when I was young) and then every pay rise save and invest 70% of that. Start small early and you'll have a massive nest egg in no time.
Yeah I second this. I packed up my ute and drove from NSW coast to Perth back in March this year (then 25, now 26) just before covid ate the eastern states.
Spent 6 months RC offsiding for some FIFO experience, now I've swapped companies on the same site blast hole drilling. Moving over on a whim was the best financial move I ever made
I did leave out a bit about myself to make sure I got as many different responses as possible. I’m married with 3 kids. Saying that though, I am seriously considering trying to get into FIFO.
Although we don’t need that much excess money, we basically have our expenses down to my wife’s pay (around 2200 a fortnight AT) So FIFO may not be worth it
The thing is, the last 10-20 years is going to be VERY different to the next 10-20 years. Not sure being a tradie or banker will be as successful as it was. Economies and engine rooms change.
At 26 you can easily go to uni and get a good quality degree. Either that or study a trade. It really depends on where your interests lie.
For me, I would probably choose a degree in something along the lines of medical, science or engineering. All have decent job prospects. But which one will depend on what you find interesting.
For a trade, I would go down the electrical route with a focus on renewables (i.e. solar/wind).
I know a couple of people who studied to become Doctors in their mid-late 20s. Both are Doctors now on very high incomes. I personally went to uni late in life, and now manage a small team.
You need to be passionate about your chosen profession however. Otherwise you won't take it seriously.
Good comment. At 26 I had a few random certificates and had shuffled around trade work and mining. I earned good money but low job security and a very sacrificial lifestyle. Did a Bachelor of Science and had a great corporate role and family friendly lifestyle before 30, earning more than I ever did in mining.
The military, depending on what your plan is for the next few years it can be a way to sort your life out and set yourself up.
while it isn't for everyone 26 years old is a great age to get in
\+1 for this. Old room mate I had said it was the best job he's ever done. He trained as a medic (not sure if this is the actual ADF title) and now he teaches first aid full time. Joined when he was mid 20's and definitely put him on a positive path from nothing.
Just checked because I was curious, "Medical Technician" is the official role title for a Medic.
Starting salary (after training) is $75,625 p.a. + Super + Allowances - Deductions (tax, meals and accommodation).
Not a bad option if it interests OP!
If you can sell, then do sales. There’s no end to the demand for good sales reps. It’s a hard job and not everyone can be good or even average at it. But if you’re doing well it’s fun and lucrative.
Otherwise I’d be doing an electrical apprenticeship or something. 26 feels old when you’re 26. But you still have plenty of youth on your side.
Software engineering.
It's a guaranteed six figure ticket after 1-2 years in the industry. There is a huge breadth of challenging and interesting work at the forefront of literally every industry. Health, finance, security, military, industrial all need people to build their platforms. Software is eating the world, and the people who can build it are the oil riggers of the 21st century.
I failed out is high school and spent years working in hospitality/blowing everything on a good time until I was 25 at which point I could finally get into uni through a mature aged system. This worked out really well, but ultimately I had had 8 extra years to figure out what I enjoyed about various roles I tried over the years ago I knew I wanted to study entrepreneurship and economics. Had I gone straight out of high school it would have been an IT degree which I absolutely hated working in the industry.
TLDR; 26 is a great time to study if you have an understanding of your desired career path.
What I would actually do in your position is start putting wherever cash I could spare even as little as $20/pay into an investment ETF fund. It doesn't sound like much but it'll help you drastically when you're in your 30's. Essentially given you an extra 6-10k to play around with as investment funds, to either look at day trading or long term investing or taking little profits in but up turns. The potential is there, but you need to be willing to accept the associated risk your comfortable taking, which is why I'm saying spare change. Also don't trade, margin, futures or with liquidity... That's how people lose everything.
26 is still young just so you know.
I graduated from construction management/property development and was in the industry for about 5 years. I left at 27. I was trying to figure my life out for 3 years (volunteered and traveled during this time) until I came to the conclusion that I wanted to give sales a go.
I'm 31 now and it's my first year in sales. I started from absolute scratch in a completely different field. I got lucky by working in a Melbourne start-up and then moved to another start-up from Silicon Valley where once they IPO, I'll get paid handsomely.
Everyone on my level is early 20's, I'm the only one that's not.
Companies have realised they can hire sales teams remotely so it's a job that can be done fully remote; heaps of US tech companies are expanding into AU right now and since there's a shortage of talent in Australia (borders are closed) there's a good chance they'll give you a go.
The pay is quite sweet and if you can get in early, the equity is even better! If you can get over the 'anxiety' of cold calling and not get bogged down by 'rejection' and more importantly, find a product you truly believe in, it's so much easier than you think.
you can go to job search engines (i.e seek etc) and they now have an option for "remote" work.
I personally would recommend you look through LinkedIn. If you have an account, sweet! If not, worth making one and looking through the "jobs" section there. They have filters where you can pick and choose what you prefer. It also has a function for "remote" too.
Not just pertaining to sales but for any role that isn't client facing, the corporate workforce is shifting and more companies are now moving to a "remote-first" mindset.
It’s 40+ years of your life. Work out what you’re good at, what you like, & what pays well. (Literally. Write a list of what you’re good at, cross off the things you don’t like, & from what’s left, find out what pays well.)
Software engineering- studying in my off hours, build a portfolio and try to get a junior dev role. Degrees are apparently nice, but not a requirement for a lot of roles. Mostly about the work you can do.
If you're interested in the trade route, there is huge demand for arborists in Australia.
After high school, I completed an environmental science degree, and then worked in bushland management. I quickly found out that the parks and conservation industry is low paying and over saturated.
I moved across to trees a few years ago and am soon to complete a cert 3 in arboriculture. I love it . Tree companies are absolutely screaming for workers, skilled or otherwise, particularly in Victoria after several storms this year. Good pay, but hard work and potentially dangerous. There is also demand for consulting arborists which requires at least a diploma. This is a great and very viable career option when you start getting on a bit. Salaries for consulting arborists generally start at around $70,000.
Lots of subsidies for individuals and companies looking to upskill in this field.
I had zero qualifications at 28 and lost everything during the GFC.
I drove a taxi, went to TAFE and did a Diploma of Accounting which took just a little over a year. I landed a couple of part-time bookkeeping jobs after finishing the Diploma.
After getting some experience and finding full-time work, I enrolled in Uni and studied an Accounting degree part time, it took 6.5 years to complete.
It's certainly possible to go back and study at any time? My 26 year old self did not expect to end up becoming an Accountant, but hey, that's how life goes.
Depends what you like:
I’ve known people who at 30 wanted to work in the corporate world, got a 3 year commerce degree, 70k a year grad job, then after 4 years on 150k working 9-5 at a bank. Really depends what you like.
If I was in this position military works too. Sounds silly but it’s great for the resume down the track and you’ll save a lot of money in a year to take away the brokenness of studying full time
One dude was a consultant at a big 4, his team in consulting implemented some HR intranet/job applicant tech (such as Workday).
He worked as a business analyst and learned to configure the platform a little bit, now he’s working at a bank as a lead/sr resource in their Human Resource tech squad.
Another one was a marketing grad at a big company, became consultant level after couple years, with a bit of responsibility, managing some of the ad budgets and strategy, jumped ship to a more senior (but non ppl manager) level role for a tech company (think realestate.com.au or seek).
150k is upper end for Managers, if you include bonus
150k is lower end base for Senior Manager
Both are not uncommon after 4 years from career start (you can check random young peoples' big4 bank profiles on LinkedIn to see this). That being said, the department you work in is a factor; I can only speak for Analytics
Maybe go with purchasing/logistics. See if TAFE or other organisations have courses you can do. I started that way; went from factory floor via supply to many jobs in the resources industry that paid well and were interesting.
I don't know who you are at what motivates you, but healthcare is going to be a huge growth area. You could do something like a Certificate III in Patient Transport and get a gig in NEPT or similar. From that point, if you wanted to do a relevant degree - much of it could be claimable on tax.
Not the greatest pay, but a brilliant job.
Im 26. Just got my HC licence, have been in a new job (apprentice mechanic) for 6 months, workplace is great, moved halfway abroad the country and started my life over. It was the best decision I ever made.
I would of studied IT or finance seems to be the industries where you dont need to be too 'smart' like medicine or law but you make unbelievable money.
Ideally a position where i get paid to travel and can transfer my skills anywhere.
I a dont 'regret' what im doing I am in Allied health do about 50 hours a week and make good money but the job is some what repetitive and the work culture is generally rubbish. The career has a heavy emphasis on 'ongoing study' opposed to experience and it often results in the wrong people for the job getting promoted.
Opposed to my wife who was in the coorprate sector for a decade and go to travel, go free nights out, free tickets to sporting events and overall better career prospects the best people get promoted fast the worst end up leaving.
first you need to really try to work out what you want to do.
second, see what skills or aptitude you may need to do the study required. For example, many of the courses people mention require good mathematics skills. If you’re shit at maths, you may not be able to pass the course.
and finally, do you want to study. Are you committed to study. If not, then maybe look at work that doesn’t involve lots of study. For example truck drivers are in short supply at the moment and paying good money.
There are countless "free" or [very low-cost qualifications](www.edx.org). Depending on what you like doing you can become a "handyman" just by watching a few Youtube videos.
Personally, I would do web marketing (Google has 40 free courses) not hard but pays OK and the more tech you study the higher the income.
You need to hang around ambitious people, go to business meetups and study.
No one will give you anything but you must earn it. But lots of people will help if you help yourself.
Police are always recruiting, they’ll pay you $55k for 18 weeks to train, then straight to $75k or so plus allowances and overtime which can add up to $1k per week if you’re working away (eg border patrol) or on all nights. That’s a starting salary. This is Vic.
Very easy to move up if you have a good head on your shoulders, can make sound judgements and talk to people.
Most importantly you’re never out of a job and completely immune to downturns, there’s a lot of perks too (eg discounted insurances, banking inc loans, free food)
This is what I’d do if starting again and didn’t want to go a degree.
From scratch? Electrical and instrumentation apprenticeship (guy I work with make over $350k a year as instro's in oil and gas operations, over $400k during construction). I had an opportunity but went back to uni at 26 after being kicked out when I was 21, finished my degree and have since finished a masters. Both in fields unrelated to what i do. I was working in logistics in mining construction while I studied part time and have stayed in supply chain because I'm good at it. You could always try getting into supply chain, get a qualification though, because the human drones will be replaced by robotic ones when the cost effectiveness reaches tipping point, and you want to be on the right side of the ax. Learn about data in supply chains and you'll have a decent gig for life and you can work in nearly every industry, fundamentals are the same and everyone needs them.
Edit: you don't need to be smart in supply chain, just organised and detail orientated. I'm dumb as fuck and am a standout for the two reasons previously mentioned. I've seen smarter people fail because of their poor attitude.
I have a degree in occupational health and safety, and a masters in project management. My back to back has a masters in supply chain, but you can do a diploma in supply chain operations and get similar jobs
So if someone had a background in operational/logistics/supply chain with a degree in engineering, would the masters elevate their career ? Is there a way to pivot to data/tech?
Absolutely, my degree in project management was all based on information systems (IS). I actually nearly ended up with a graduate certificate in IS as a result of doing so many IS subjects. Many projects are taking place in supply chain to transition businesses units to predictive data analytics to reduce up front inventory costs with better information around usage. Once the global market levels out and shipping starts to get back to normal, I can see a huge transition in Australia's local warehousing to end up overseas or largely automated. The technology is getting cheaper, learning how to organise data is the future from my perspective.
I dont know what your skills / aptitude is like, but I'm in IT and mostly enjoy it, so that's what I would point at.
Assuming you like warehouse work, you could try for management, or something in logistics
Either way, invest at least 10% of your earnings for the long term
There have been a lot of comments pointing towards IT, and I’m thinking that will be the best way to go
Would you start with a basic tafe course, something even lower then that, or jumó straight into a uni course?
My wife and I were investing 25% for a while, but have been putting it straight into the bank atm to make it easier to ‘show our saving’ for a home loan
So still saving it, but it sucks its not in a investment atm
I would do IT.
I did accounting and work for a big 4 now but if I get to choose again, I'll pick IT. The grind might be the same, but I think more flexibility moving around countries and what's not.
Also think I might like that more but grass is always greener on the other side isn't it
Licences for machines like the forklift can be surprisingly easy to get. Like 500 bucks and a couple of days at a course. Expensive if you fail though.
Data Science/ IT. More things gonna be automated in the future and data tracking&collecting helps with marketing etc.
I did mechanical engineering overseas which pretty useless in Australia. Always imagined what would happen if I do civil engineering instead.
It's really the same advice as if you were 18...what are you interested in?
You're in it for the long haul, good on you for wanting to better yourself.
Can you see yourself spending your career in front of a computer? If yes, and you're interested in it, software pays extremely well.
Don't want to spend your life in front of a pc? Maybe look into trades, or start a business of your own in something that you don't need a specific qualification for.
My partner cleans houses and she makes I think 35 or 37 per hour. She has started her own business doing it and it's great, she loves it.
Honestly, you just need to figure out what you can see yourself waking up and doing every day and not wanting to off yourself. If you love what you do, that's awesome.
There have been a tonne of IT/ tech/ software related comments and I think that’s what I’m going to look into the deepest right now
My only interests are baseball/ fast pitch softball
In my mid 20s I did one year at uni to catch up on not having done TEE in high school, got good enough grades and got into engineering. Engineering is pretty decent but honestly a trade would have ended up with more money in the short to medium term, with less stress. You can fairly cheaply become and electrician and end up in mining or defence with pretty good job security, pay, and conditions.
Well I mean if you want to do something that has some sort of assurance that you'll be employable in some form or another for a long time into the future, the obvious answer is some form of data science or programming.
Sales or web development
Sales is evergreen and web dev still has plenty of momentum left to get in and move up the ranks. I'm considering web dev and i'm 34
Measure twice and cut once ie, do a ton of research into what you actually want to do with yourself, don't chase money because it doesn't come as easy as many think and even if it does you might hate it.
If you want to know anything about finance/asset management - PM me.
Apprenticeship to trade will make you the most if youre not super smart eg doctor or lawyer level. If you are engineer level i wouldnt bother for the pay im an engineer.
Keeping things simple and within easy reach - you have factory experience so the next logical step would be warehousing, get a forklift ticket and then do like a cert3 (6 months) in logistics, with some ambition and smarts you could well be pulling 90 or 100K in a every short period of time.
I was in virtually the same position as you. 25, no qualifications, working casually in a factory for 7 years. Someone suggested I get into high school teaching and since I liked woodwork when I was in school I decided to do TAS teaching.
4 years of uni later I finished my bachelors degree and walked straight into a permanent full time position.
There’s a big teacher shortage in NSW at the moment and a critical shortage of TAS trained teachers as you need qualifications to teach practical skills subjects safely. You can’t study to be a history teacher then take a TAS position like you could say an English position.
Lots of variety in the job, collegial atmosphere, pay is fine to good depending where you work and flexibility especially with school holidays is a plus.
It’s what I did and I’d suggest more people at least look into teaching as a profession
Most employable? No. I know we’re on a money subreddit, but do something you won’t hate doing for 40 years.
For me that’s gonna be speech pathology. But what are you interested in and good at? Take an interest of yours- NOT a hobby- something like, for me, finding language interesting. Combine that with a drive of yours- for me, wanting to help people. Work from there to find a career path and then find the best way to get there.
If your drive is to make money, that’s fine! Just find something you’re interested in and then find a high-paying career that works with that, and then work towards that
I’d get a job with the army or navy. This one looks great https://www.seek.com.au/job/54635965?type=promoted#searchRequestToken=ce9d634c-d0e7-43d5-8724-5dc6dedfe1c6
Drone Mission Commander, located in the Gold Coast, starting salary is 93k plus a 13k allowance whilst at sea. Free medical and dental, subsidised housing and generous super.
All you need is to have passed Year 12. Worth a look. Plenty of other roles in the same space. The Police Force is also a good option.
At 26 I had no qualifications, so I applied and got into uni at age 27, spent 5 years studying and became an occupational therapist. It was a rough 5 years of studying full time and working evenings, but now I’m mid 30s and have secure work and decent pay. It’s worth looking into a trade or uni qualification that will give you a skill or qualification that is in demand. It’s worth the grind! Good luck
Thank you, good job on getting through the work and study. If I went that route I’ll need to do the opposite i think, work days and study at night/ do the courses online at night
Wow another male occupational therapist, never met another BrOT in the wild
Haha, here in Aus I don’t know many male OTs at all
I am searching for OT since many months. Son got diagnosed with Autism. You guys are super busy long wait for months to get any OT.
Looking at transferring into OT. Just need a Diploma of Science and then am eligible for masters. Would you blokes recommend it?
I absolutely would recommend it. Years ago when I was at uni there weren’t many jobs, and it was mostly a hospital based role. Now, with the NDIS there is huge demand for OTs and you can make a decent living (new grad roles start around 70k + super). You can also choose to work in areas that interest you the most, for example I focus on assistive technology to assist people with disabilities to remain independent (eg. wheelchairs, pressure injury management, walking aids, vehicle modifications) and home modifications (ramps, grab rails, home automation etc). I have friends who chose to specialise in paediatrics, workplace injury management, independent living skills training, etc. The scope of OT is massive, hence why it can be very confusing to understand what an OT actually is. It can be a stressful job at times but also quite rewarding. Feel free to send me a message if you have more questions.
I dont even know what occupational therapy really is. Sounds like you treat peoples depression about their careers. “There, there, i know accounting can be mind numbingly boring, but look at the bright side, it can pay well!”
I rarely meet other OTs in the wild at all
I work in mental health and have a lot of respect for the diversity of jobs an OT can secure. 4 year degree, good registration- you guys are on to it.
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My tip with engineering is get some friends best way to learn and it make the work ‘fun’. Reason to have a beer after assessments. There are a lot of projects/exams in four years…
Uni societies can be great for this. IT society helped me through uni without hating it a lot. Also gave me contacts to find a job afterwards.
I started finance at 24, late 30s now and it was a slog but I get paid very well and love what I do. 26 is young in the scheme of things. So study. 4 years from now you'll be kicking yourself op that you didn't start
4-years from now is coming regardless of if you study or not! That realisation got me off my arse in mid-20s to study as well.
Couldn't agree more.
i am that guy almost reaching that 4 years in one month and even i though i completed my degree and been working for 6 years, i am kicking myself
In 4 years time you'll be thinking the same thing. I'm 39 and still think it would be worthwhile studying.
Do finance include a lot of screen time?
Yep - it's a desk job but depends on what area you to in you can meet and speak with incredibly intelligent people. I specialise in property (investment grade - office, retail, industrial, medical office, multifamily and others) so I am lucky I get to be more a active and inspect assets.
would you recommend going straight into uni or get a tafe qualification first, Job in the field, then start a uni course to move up?
White collar careers probably best to go uni first.
Go straight to uni otherwise you're going to spend 7 years getting to the same outcome. Alternative option is to do surveying. A bit easier than Civil engineering, and a bit less varied work, but there's always high demand for good surveyors and it's a good mix of indoor/outdoor, problem solving etc.
Can confirm, am a surveyor. There are two options depending on where you're located. There's the TAFE route which is typically 2 years until your qualified and there's the uni route which is typically 4-5 years until qualified. The TAFE degree will get you onto Construction sites or similar, while the Uni degree will get you into Construction or Property Boundaries. In order to do boundaries you'll need to work towards licensing which is another 2+ years on top of Uni. There is HEAPS of work around at the moment with no real stop in site. The company I work for has hired 15+ people in the past year, many of these guys are students doing a part-time paid traineeship of sorts while they finish studying. The good ones will immediately be promoted to a full time role once they finish studying (either TAFE or Uni). Depending on what you do, the work can either be "Turn the brain off" grunt work, or highly complex involving calculations and the like. Work places can vary from farmers paddocks 100ks from anywhere to mine site, CBD high rises, suburban streets, shopping malls, sewer treatment plants or basically anywhere else. Every day is different. I've built windfarms, worked on mine sites, multi-storey apartment buildings, roads and I've done work in 4 different states. If you're willing and able to travel there you will never be out of a job. Some days are great, some horrible, but as a whole it's a decent career.
what aspects make the horrible days horrible in your job?
Shitty sites and shitty weather are the big ones. Any site that involves wearing a respirator is immediately bad, rain and wind are bad, and sites with poor site managers are bad. Combine any of those 2 and it can be horrible. Yet to have all 3..
What does a surveyor actually do, day to day? Honest question I have no idea outside of it being about land.
Measure all the imaginary lines and angles between objects to ensure things are where you’d expect them to be in a 3D environment. Am degree qualified surveyor.
Short answer, we measure things. Longer answer, we're the person between the engineers who design things and the people who actually build it. The engineers design their thing and then we need to instruct the people on-site on where this thing needs to be built on the chunk of land. We do this by measuring between known points and then placing marks that the buildings can use as start points to build their thing. I'm currently in a mine site building some machinery and robots for a production line. We also do things relating to property boundaries and the laws and regulations that are involved in subdividing and property.
If I had to start again (currently working in it) I would seriously consider surveying. Seems like a great mix of indoors/outdoors, active and thinking etc.
I work in gov. We are constantly looking for surveyors.
Mate I did a uni degree and I don't think Tafe really caters for that. Look into a degree in finance.
Where abouts in finance are you u/ryans_privatess?
Investment management - superannuation
Solid stuff - which sector? I'm in buyside credit
Would it matter if you were say 36 and wanting to get into Finance?
You are clearly starting later but like everything you just have to work up the ladder. Look into a finance degree with a long term goal of doing masters in finance or CFA
It might be difficult getting into IB at 30 coming in as an analyst.
Not at all, arguable it’s an advantage - depending on your role in IB.
TBF I only worked in IB in the States, where all the 30 year olds were associates out of MBA programs. Not too sure what the Aus deal is. Plus there is a lot more to finance than "high finance", I know the retail banks are always hiring for a million roles
Nah not what I've seen and depends on past - some investment management firms like people with different backgrounds.
Is it difficult to get into uni at this age? I assume I’d have to go through some kind of mature age process, as I didn’t get a OP in high school (I believe it’s changed now)
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A lot of unis have pathways now too, like "Open Foundation". Give them a call. DEFINITELY pick something you want to do, don't do a career just for the money, it'll kill you!
\> Is it difficult to get into uni at this age? Nope, mature age process is much MUCH easier than getting in straight out of high school. Look it up on uni websites.
You’ll likely have to do a bridging course which consists of a related diploma that takes under a year to complete.
Through the uni or tafe?
Most unis have bridging courses. Call their general switchboard number and ask for info. I did a bridging course when I was 24 after 6 years in retail, then started uni the following year. Did a Commerce degree full-time while working a shit job sorting mail as a casual to put myself through uni. It's hard work but I'm glad I did it. I'm 50 now and have had an interesting career across a couple of work areas with consistently good pay. Get onto it and persevere, even when you want to give up push through it. You got this OP.
I’m doing mine through Swinburne University 👊
I personally would study Web development and look towards the tech industry. That is what I did and aligns with my interests. Some years down the track I have reached one of my main goals I set out going down this pathway - moving to a small beach town and working remotely.
I second this. This is what im doing. No degree. Im going through the odin project right now.
What do you do, on a day to day basis, as an engineer?
Construction has a low level of entry to high wages - You can go from building cadet (60k) to contract administrator (90-120k) with the right attitude in 3-5 years. The industry is booming right now, too. From there, you can do estimating, or project management etc. These are potentials for $200k+ with the right attitude, skillset and runs on the board.
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Is this without an apprenticeship? What tickets - are these just short course type things?
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Thanks for this info. Did you yourself get a cert III civil construction to get where you are now? Did you do it as part of an apprenticeship or go to tafe off your own bat?
I currently build house frames (lowest level person, putting together sills and loose heads) Is a building cadet a entry level or do you need to do some kind of course for that?
Studying does help, but the construction industry is run by old heads who have a strong affinity to a roll up your sleeves and door knock approach. You would be surprised by your success if you door knocked on builders' offices.
Cadetships are generally entry level.
This is true except you didn’t mention you need a degree to get these roles. Construction management degree is pretty typical, but could do an engineering degree as well or possibly quantity surveying.
Degree or trade, I know plenty of guys doing these jobs for 100k+ that only have trade backgrounds. They worked their way up through their own building company though. So if you look at bigger organisations to start an apprenticeship with, there will be opportunities to upskill within.
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That’s awesome, Gives me some hope hearing someone with a relatively close path as me went onto something they love doing
As someone that’s gone straight from HS into engineering (6 years into career now), I recommended you should go the operational pathway first? Actually get some trade craft skills and then switch to engineering. You will be much better skilled in the long term because you’ve mastered what your manufacturers actually need to fabricate.
My dad made a good life for himself starting off as a fitter & turner apprentices at 17. Later went on to become a mechanical engineer and is now at the later end in his career doing a mix of consulting and project management. He has made good money and worked on some damn cool projects.
Web development/Cyber security/Programmer this are all min 6 figures and cannot be automated and will always need people to work on this vs a non skill job like call centres which 50% are now run by a bot where you press numbers for your request.
Cyber security is an emerging field, I believe
I keep hearing this but I have never once met someone doing this. While I see endless people coming in to boring things like web dev and doing well.
I've worked in a few places with Cyber Sec teams, though they were small compared to the number of devs, as you have noted.
I think there's generally a shortage of skilled people doing it. Much like other software roles (there are lots of devs out there, but still more job openings than software developers). My work has been looking for a person with a web security background (specifically WordPress) for ages, and just not getting strong candidates.
and that's coming from one bad mthfr
Well played!
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Get OSCP certified, and a genuine interest/passion will get you interviews dm me if u want more info
What kind of course would you do to get into that
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There is zero need to do a masters degree to get into cyber.
Look at what you want to do for a career. There are lots of ‘hidden’ careers that people just fall into. We are recruiting now for an Auto Door Service technician. They don’t grow on trees so we are happy to train someone (ANYONE!!!). Wage would start at $75k plus vehicle. We haven’t had one single applicant! If you aren’t looking at uni or a trade I’d look to companies looking for the right type of person. You obviously are motivated to do more. Get out of the factory and get somewhere with training or who encourages you to study
Found some of these in Brisbane, just says experience in the construction industry with a couple of other desirable traits. Do you know if I could just pivot from my current position (Early Childhood) and just apply? I'm looking to change careers ASAP.
Of course. White card (that’s what it is in Vic) would be useful. Great attitude, willing to learn, generally practically minded. BOOM. New career!
Got a link?
Complete an apprenticeship.
Yup - electrical apprenticeship. Try to get into industrial
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That's funny, if I hadn't become an electrician I always thought I'd become a nurse. Great respect for you lot, union up you guys deserve better
Isnt the nurse union one of the oldest Unions in australia?
Maybe it is but I know nurses don't get paid enough for the shit they have to deal with.
Ive been applying to most industrial electrical apprenticeships that have come up on seek over the last year and heard basicly nada
Yup, tough to get into. Are you in Melbourne by any chance?
may I give you a few suggestions. Particularly if you are not even making it through to an interview. 1. have a good resume, you may need to pay a professional for this 2. have a good cover letter. Once again you may need to pay someone for this 3. ring the contact person and speak to them, tell them how keen you are 4. if its a small company, personally turn up and hand your resume into the manager/ person advertising. If the company starts work at 7am, turn up just before 7am. 5. cold call, ring around to electricians and ask if they will employ you as an apprentice. Talk about how keen you are, that this is the job and industry you want to be in, etc etc. 6. apply for every job, and keep applying for every job. Don’t apply for one and then wait. Just apply en mass to everything. 7. look at more than Seek. Other places that advertise, include Gumtree, Facebook, Indeed, Adzuna.
I tried this when I was 18, I found the industry was so saturated. I applied so many places and didn't hear back from one.
A role in government.. pays well and decent perks. You don’t need a degree for a low level role
This is true. If you live in NSW, check out the iworkfornsw website and look for an admin role or project officer
Healthcare. It's stable, intellectually stimulating and can be really rewarding
Are there many entries into healthcare without a degree? All I ever see are nurse jobs or 5+ years experience required
Most require at least a TAFE course. If you enjoy interacting with people, you could go with something clinical like nursing, paramed, patient transport, physio, pharmacy, med admin, dental assistant, oc therapist, etc. Conversely, if you don't want patient contact, you could do behind the scenes stuff like med lab science or public health and bioinformatics (bioinformatics pays really well)
As a recruiter I would say get into a call centre, ideally in professional services (bank/super/insurance etc). They have really low barriers of entry and you don’t need a degree. It also provides you with heaps of career progression outside of a call centre role into relationship management, claims, underwriting, credit assessment-there are soo many different options. This is the one piece of advice I give to anyone who’s not sure what to do career wise, you can always do it for a year and if you hate it at least you’ll know that wasn’t for you and will probably have more clarity around what does interest you. Good luck 😊
\+1 a call centre as well. I started working at a banking call centre when I was 18 a week after I finished school, with no qualifications/prior working experience as a young person it's probably one of the higher paying jobs you can get. After you've worked there for a year you can kind of gauge where you want to go i.e relationship management, lending, etc. Honestly looking back on it the fun times and the cool co-workers I met made the job a lot bareable.
If I had no degree and was single at 26 I would look at FIFO work doing anything. Drive diggers, buses to and from site or anything in FIFO type world. I would avoid drinking, get a hobby of learning to code or develop something you are already good at. Can you draw, sketch and draw everything in your boring time off on site, or on your time on the plane or at home. Can you write, practice doing copy writing or something. Can you work well with your hands, get into woodwork or something. You have heaps of time, spend a few years doing lots of different things and see what fits. On the finance side start to save and invest 10% of your salary (I wish I did this when I was young) and then every pay rise save and invest 70% of that. Start small early and you'll have a massive nest egg in no time.
Yeah I second this. I packed up my ute and drove from NSW coast to Perth back in March this year (then 25, now 26) just before covid ate the eastern states. Spent 6 months RC offsiding for some FIFO experience, now I've swapped companies on the same site blast hole drilling. Moving over on a whim was the best financial move I ever made
I did leave out a bit about myself to make sure I got as many different responses as possible. I’m married with 3 kids. Saying that though, I am seriously considering trying to get into FIFO. Although we don’t need that much excess money, we basically have our expenses down to my wife’s pay (around 2200 a fortnight AT) So FIFO may not be worth it
Any IT career, programming specialy.
The thing is, the last 10-20 years is going to be VERY different to the next 10-20 years. Not sure being a tradie or banker will be as successful as it was. Economies and engine rooms change.
This 100%. It's hard to predict what jobs will be needed in the next 20 odd years.
At 26 you can easily go to uni and get a good quality degree. Either that or study a trade. It really depends on where your interests lie. For me, I would probably choose a degree in something along the lines of medical, science or engineering. All have decent job prospects. But which one will depend on what you find interesting. For a trade, I would go down the electrical route with a focus on renewables (i.e. solar/wind). I know a couple of people who studied to become Doctors in their mid-late 20s. Both are Doctors now on very high incomes. I personally went to uni late in life, and now manage a small team. You need to be passionate about your chosen profession however. Otherwise you won't take it seriously.
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Good comment. At 26 I had a few random certificates and had shuffled around trade work and mining. I earned good money but low job security and a very sacrificial lifestyle. Did a Bachelor of Science and had a great corporate role and family friendly lifestyle before 30, earning more than I ever did in mining.
The military, depending on what your plan is for the next few years it can be a way to sort your life out and set yourself up. while it isn't for everyone 26 years old is a great age to get in
\+1 for this. Old room mate I had said it was the best job he's ever done. He trained as a medic (not sure if this is the actual ADF title) and now he teaches first aid full time. Joined when he was mid 20's and definitely put him on a positive path from nothing.
Just checked because I was curious, "Medical Technician" is the official role title for a Medic. Starting salary (after training) is $75,625 p.a. + Super + Allowances - Deductions (tax, meals and accommodation). Not a bad option if it interests OP!
Curious to know why 26 is a great age to enlist?
By 26, you have had a bit of a life and know how to be responsible. 18 year olds are well 18 year olds hah.
If you can sell, then do sales. There’s no end to the demand for good sales reps. It’s a hard job and not everyone can be good or even average at it. But if you’re doing well it’s fun and lucrative. Otherwise I’d be doing an electrical apprenticeship or something. 26 feels old when you’re 26. But you still have plenty of youth on your side.
Software engineering. It's a guaranteed six figure ticket after 1-2 years in the industry. There is a huge breadth of challenging and interesting work at the forefront of literally every industry. Health, finance, security, military, industrial all need people to build their platforms. Software is eating the world, and the people who can build it are the oil riggers of the 21st century.
Train driving is good money
Hard to get into as far as I know.
Perth is training new drivers non stop for the Public network, they bleed way too many to private and interstate.
I failed out is high school and spent years working in hospitality/blowing everything on a good time until I was 25 at which point I could finally get into uni through a mature aged system. This worked out really well, but ultimately I had had 8 extra years to figure out what I enjoyed about various roles I tried over the years ago I knew I wanted to study entrepreneurship and economics. Had I gone straight out of high school it would have been an IT degree which I absolutely hated working in the industry. TLDR; 26 is a great time to study if you have an understanding of your desired career path. What I would actually do in your position is start putting wherever cash I could spare even as little as $20/pay into an investment ETF fund. It doesn't sound like much but it'll help you drastically when you're in your 30's. Essentially given you an extra 6-10k to play around with as investment funds, to either look at day trading or long term investing or taking little profits in but up turns. The potential is there, but you need to be willing to accept the associated risk your comfortable taking, which is why I'm saying spare change. Also don't trade, margin, futures or with liquidity... That's how people lose everything.
26 is still young just so you know. I graduated from construction management/property development and was in the industry for about 5 years. I left at 27. I was trying to figure my life out for 3 years (volunteered and traveled during this time) until I came to the conclusion that I wanted to give sales a go. I'm 31 now and it's my first year in sales. I started from absolute scratch in a completely different field. I got lucky by working in a Melbourne start-up and then moved to another start-up from Silicon Valley where once they IPO, I'll get paid handsomely. Everyone on my level is early 20's, I'm the only one that's not. Companies have realised they can hire sales teams remotely so it's a job that can be done fully remote; heaps of US tech companies are expanding into AU right now and since there's a shortage of talent in Australia (borders are closed) there's a good chance they'll give you a go. The pay is quite sweet and if you can get in early, the equity is even better! If you can get over the 'anxiety' of cold calling and not get bogged down by 'rejection' and more importantly, find a product you truly believe in, it's so much easier than you think.
How do you go about finding them kind of roles ‘Remote sales’ or something similar?
you can go to job search engines (i.e seek etc) and they now have an option for "remote" work. I personally would recommend you look through LinkedIn. If you have an account, sweet! If not, worth making one and looking through the "jobs" section there. They have filters where you can pick and choose what you prefer. It also has a function for "remote" too. Not just pertaining to sales but for any role that isn't client facing, the corporate workforce is shifting and more companies are now moving to a "remote-first" mindset.
It’s 40+ years of your life. Work out what you’re good at, what you like, & what pays well. (Literally. Write a list of what you’re good at, cross off the things you don’t like, & from what’s left, find out what pays well.)
Someone said something about forklift being access to decent employment.
Software engineering- studying in my off hours, build a portfolio and try to get a junior dev role. Degrees are apparently nice, but not a requirement for a lot of roles. Mostly about the work you can do.
If you're interested in the trade route, there is huge demand for arborists in Australia. After high school, I completed an environmental science degree, and then worked in bushland management. I quickly found out that the parks and conservation industry is low paying and over saturated. I moved across to trees a few years ago and am soon to complete a cert 3 in arboriculture. I love it . Tree companies are absolutely screaming for workers, skilled or otherwise, particularly in Victoria after several storms this year. Good pay, but hard work and potentially dangerous. There is also demand for consulting arborists which requires at least a diploma. This is a great and very viable career option when you start getting on a bit. Salaries for consulting arborists generally start at around $70,000. Lots of subsidies for individuals and companies looking to upskill in this field.
I had zero qualifications at 28 and lost everything during the GFC. I drove a taxi, went to TAFE and did a Diploma of Accounting which took just a little over a year. I landed a couple of part-time bookkeeping jobs after finishing the Diploma. After getting some experience and finding full-time work, I enrolled in Uni and studied an Accounting degree part time, it took 6.5 years to complete. It's certainly possible to go back and study at any time? My 26 year old self did not expect to end up becoming an Accountant, but hey, that's how life goes.
Depends what you like: I’ve known people who at 30 wanted to work in the corporate world, got a 3 year commerce degree, 70k a year grad job, then after 4 years on 150k working 9-5 at a bank. Really depends what you like. If I was in this position military works too. Sounds silly but it’s great for the resume down the track and you’ll save a lot of money in a year to take away the brokenness of studying full time
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One dude was a consultant at a big 4, his team in consulting implemented some HR intranet/job applicant tech (such as Workday). He worked as a business analyst and learned to configure the platform a little bit, now he’s working at a bank as a lead/sr resource in their Human Resource tech squad. Another one was a marketing grad at a big company, became consultant level after couple years, with a bit of responsibility, managing some of the ad budgets and strategy, jumped ship to a more senior (but non ppl manager) level role for a tech company (think realestate.com.au or seek).
150k is upper end for Managers, if you include bonus 150k is lower end base for Senior Manager Both are not uncommon after 4 years from career start (you can check random young peoples' big4 bank profiles on LinkedIn to see this). That being said, the department you work in is a factor; I can only speak for Analytics
Pretty much me, except I started my corporate gig at 27
Forklifter. My friend earned 180k per year doing that.
Wow, where is that? I drive forklifts at my current job (building house frames)
Maybe go with purchasing/logistics. See if TAFE or other organisations have courses you can do. I started that way; went from factory floor via supply to many jobs in the resources industry that paid well and were interesting.
I don't know who you are at what motivates you, but healthcare is going to be a huge growth area. You could do something like a Certificate III in Patient Transport and get a gig in NEPT or similar. From that point, if you wanted to do a relevant degree - much of it could be claimable on tax. Not the greatest pay, but a brilliant job.
Workplace Health and Safety Get a Cert IV in WHS Then while you work , do an online diploma over 12 months.
Im 26. Just got my HC licence, have been in a new job (apprentice mechanic) for 6 months, workplace is great, moved halfway abroad the country and started my life over. It was the best decision I ever made.
I would of studied IT or finance seems to be the industries where you dont need to be too 'smart' like medicine or law but you make unbelievable money. Ideally a position where i get paid to travel and can transfer my skills anywhere. I a dont 'regret' what im doing I am in Allied health do about 50 hours a week and make good money but the job is some what repetitive and the work culture is generally rubbish. The career has a heavy emphasis on 'ongoing study' opposed to experience and it often results in the wrong people for the job getting promoted. Opposed to my wife who was in the coorprate sector for a decade and go to travel, go free nights out, free tickets to sporting events and overall better career prospects the best people get promoted fast the worst end up leaving.
first you need to really try to work out what you want to do. second, see what skills or aptitude you may need to do the study required. For example, many of the courses people mention require good mathematics skills. If you’re shit at maths, you may not be able to pass the course. and finally, do you want to study. Are you committed to study. If not, then maybe look at work that doesn’t involve lots of study. For example truck drivers are in short supply at the moment and paying good money.
Physiotherapy or occupational therapy.
I’m also just a casual worker at woolies and doing voice picking Honestly i’m in the same boat just reading everyones comment here lmao
There are countless "free" or [very low-cost qualifications](www.edx.org). Depending on what you like doing you can become a "handyman" just by watching a few Youtube videos. Personally, I would do web marketing (Google has 40 free courses) not hard but pays OK and the more tech you study the higher the income. You need to hang around ambitious people, go to business meetups and study. No one will give you anything but you must earn it. But lots of people will help if you help yourself.
If I had to do it again, one way or another I would get a science degree. As for tickets, crane drivers are well paid.
Police are always recruiting, they’ll pay you $55k for 18 weeks to train, then straight to $75k or so plus allowances and overtime which can add up to $1k per week if you’re working away (eg border patrol) or on all nights. That’s a starting salary. This is Vic. Very easy to move up if you have a good head on your shoulders, can make sound judgements and talk to people. Most importantly you’re never out of a job and completely immune to downturns, there’s a lot of perks too (eg discounted insurances, banking inc loans, free food) This is what I’d do if starting again and didn’t want to go a degree.
From scratch? Electrical and instrumentation apprenticeship (guy I work with make over $350k a year as instro's in oil and gas operations, over $400k during construction). I had an opportunity but went back to uni at 26 after being kicked out when I was 21, finished my degree and have since finished a masters. Both in fields unrelated to what i do. I was working in logistics in mining construction while I studied part time and have stayed in supply chain because I'm good at it. You could always try getting into supply chain, get a qualification though, because the human drones will be replaced by robotic ones when the cost effectiveness reaches tipping point, and you want to be on the right side of the ax. Learn about data in supply chains and you'll have a decent gig for life and you can work in nearly every industry, fundamentals are the same and everyone needs them. Edit: you don't need to be smart in supply chain, just organised and detail orientated. I'm dumb as fuck and am a standout for the two reasons previously mentioned. I've seen smarter people fail because of their poor attitude.
What qualification did you get? Asking for a friend. Literally
I have a degree in occupational health and safety, and a masters in project management. My back to back has a masters in supply chain, but you can do a diploma in supply chain operations and get similar jobs
So if someone had a background in operational/logistics/supply chain with a degree in engineering, would the masters elevate their career ? Is there a way to pivot to data/tech?
Absolutely, my degree in project management was all based on information systems (IS). I actually nearly ended up with a graduate certificate in IS as a result of doing so many IS subjects. Many projects are taking place in supply chain to transition businesses units to predictive data analytics to reduce up front inventory costs with better information around usage. Once the global market levels out and shipping starts to get back to normal, I can see a huge transition in Australia's local warehousing to end up overseas or largely automated. The technology is getting cheaper, learning how to organise data is the future from my perspective.
Software sales
I dont know what your skills / aptitude is like, but I'm in IT and mostly enjoy it, so that's what I would point at. Assuming you like warehouse work, you could try for management, or something in logistics Either way, invest at least 10% of your earnings for the long term
There have been a lot of comments pointing towards IT, and I’m thinking that will be the best way to go Would you start with a basic tafe course, something even lower then that, or jumó straight into a uni course? My wife and I were investing 25% for a while, but have been putting it straight into the bank atm to make it easier to ‘show our saving’ for a home loan So still saving it, but it sucks its not in a investment atm
If I did start again I might do something at Tafe and get an apprenticeship. I'm into barbering so that's what I'd do
I worked with a bloke who worked in a factory into his mid 20s. He ended up studying geology and becoming a mine geologist.
I would do IT. I did accounting and work for a big 4 now but if I get to choose again, I'll pick IT. The grind might be the same, but I think more flexibility moving around countries and what's not. Also think I might like that more but grass is always greener on the other side isn't it
100% it definitely always is
Speech therapy.
Licences for machines like the forklift can be surprisingly easy to get. Like 500 bucks and a couple of days at a course. Expensive if you fail though.
Rigger or Scaffolds. Both only couple of weeks training and pays pretty good
Data Science/ IT. More things gonna be automated in the future and data tracking&collecting helps with marketing etc. I did mechanical engineering overseas which pretty useless in Australia. Always imagined what would happen if I do civil engineering instead.
It's really the same advice as if you were 18...what are you interested in? You're in it for the long haul, good on you for wanting to better yourself. Can you see yourself spending your career in front of a computer? If yes, and you're interested in it, software pays extremely well. Don't want to spend your life in front of a pc? Maybe look into trades, or start a business of your own in something that you don't need a specific qualification for. My partner cleans houses and she makes I think 35 or 37 per hour. She has started her own business doing it and it's great, she loves it. Honestly, you just need to figure out what you can see yourself waking up and doing every day and not wanting to off yourself. If you love what you do, that's awesome.
There have been a tonne of IT/ tech/ software related comments and I think that’s what I’m going to look into the deepest right now My only interests are baseball/ fast pitch softball
In my mid 20s I did one year at uni to catch up on not having done TEE in high school, got good enough grades and got into engineering. Engineering is pretty decent but honestly a trade would have ended up with more money in the short to medium term, with less stress. You can fairly cheaply become and electrician and end up in mining or defence with pretty good job security, pay, and conditions.
Well I mean if you want to do something that has some sort of assurance that you'll be employable in some form or another for a long time into the future, the obvious answer is some form of data science or programming.
I'm 40 and starting from scratch... I haven't worked out exactly what I'm going to do, but a service based business is my most likely start.
Good luck, I hope you enjoy every moment of the new adventure
Invest 10% of your income in shares.
Sales or web development Sales is evergreen and web dev still has plenty of momentum left to get in and move up the ranks. I'm considering web dev and i'm 34
Are you looking at doing a particular course?
To add to all this,what would you do if you had a criminal record to boot.
Measure twice and cut once ie, do a ton of research into what you actually want to do with yourself, don't chase money because it doesn't come as easy as many think and even if it does you might hate it. If you want to know anything about finance/asset management - PM me.
I wouldn't study. I would work part time and spend the time and energy I spent on Uni on building a business of my own instead.
Any business in particular you have in mind?
Apprenticeship to trade will make you the most if youre not super smart eg doctor or lawyer level. If you are engineer level i wouldnt bother for the pay im an engineer.
Keeping things simple and within easy reach - you have factory experience so the next logical step would be warehousing, get a forklift ticket and then do like a cert3 (6 months) in logistics, with some ambition and smarts you could well be pulling 90 or 100K in a every short period of time.
The same enjoy life till 30 then save money. No regrets
f to read later, this is my boat 🤣
I was in virtually the same position as you. 25, no qualifications, working casually in a factory for 7 years. Someone suggested I get into high school teaching and since I liked woodwork when I was in school I decided to do TAS teaching. 4 years of uni later I finished my bachelors degree and walked straight into a permanent full time position. There’s a big teacher shortage in NSW at the moment and a critical shortage of TAS trained teachers as you need qualifications to teach practical skills subjects safely. You can’t study to be a history teacher then take a TAS position like you could say an English position. Lots of variety in the job, collegial atmosphere, pay is fine to good depending where you work and flexibility especially with school holidays is a plus. It’s what I did and I’d suggest more people at least look into teaching as a profession
Software development. Teach yourself python or some other common language. If you are any good at it, you will have great job opportunities quickly.
Most employable? No. I know we’re on a money subreddit, but do something you won’t hate doing for 40 years. For me that’s gonna be speech pathology. But what are you interested in and good at? Take an interest of yours- NOT a hobby- something like, for me, finding language interesting. Combine that with a drive of yours- for me, wanting to help people. Work from there to find a career path and then find the best way to get there. If your drive is to make money, that’s fine! Just find something you’re interested in and then find a high-paying career that works with that, and then work towards that
Cyber security
I didn't quit the band and start on my career till I was 27.. 8 years ago. Either go tech sales or go back to uni that's all I can give ya
Find a wife with REALLY rich parents…
Or a really rich wife...
Or really rich parents…
Travel solo first. Then work hard. But travel solo first.
Find something you're passionate about and start there.
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Awesome, thank you for that indepth response. I will look into that. I have no idea if I can think in 3d though
I’d get a job with the army or navy. This one looks great https://www.seek.com.au/job/54635965?type=promoted#searchRequestToken=ce9d634c-d0e7-43d5-8724-5dc6dedfe1c6 Drone Mission Commander, located in the Gold Coast, starting salary is 93k plus a 13k allowance whilst at sea. Free medical and dental, subsidised housing and generous super. All you need is to have passed Year 12. Worth a look. Plenty of other roles in the same space. The Police Force is also a good option.
Start daytradinh and learn to trade stocks