Health.

[Cascademan]

Only now, am I starting to think I should have listened more to what people said to me when I was at school. I was told to work in computing.
My health is OK at the moment, I'm 42 and have a few aches and pains but I can't complain too much.
I'm worried about the possibility of osteoarthritis. It's a lottery as to who will be affected and to what degree.
People might say "Have a career change". But it's easier said than done.

1. I only have qualifications and experience to do what I do.

2. If I gain qualifications in something else, and I apply for jobs, I will have qualifications but no experience. So I will lose out.

3. If I do get a job, salary wise I will be starting at the bottom.

4. There isnt any job that I could parachute into and be on the same money I am on now. I have bills to pay.

I briefly tried working as a maintenance engineer in a food factory but I just couldn't do it.
Firstly, all the experience I have in refrigeration was of no use to me.
In a factory you either have to be a fully qualified, time served electrician with experience. Or a fully qualified, time served fitter with experience.
I was neither.

All the know how I have about refrigeration built up over years is what I would have had to have on packaging machines and conveyer systems. Plus you had to do traditional sparky type things. The fitters could all do TIG welding.......

Lastly, the culture is totally different. I meet other fridge and AC guys and we always get on well. An AC guy once asked for a loan of a bottle adapter. I helped him out.
In a factory, everyone is at each others throats. Nobody shares tools. Nobody will help anyone else. It's very adversarial.

Any body have any experiences which relate to this?

At the moment I'm just glad I have a job😃

[Rob White]

.

I was in my early forties when I made a decision to change direction.
I moved over to teaching because I knew I did not want to be crawling
on top of coldroom roofs when I was in my fifties.

For most of my working life I was a service engineer and worked
on a hugh range of all types of equipment and heavy into electrical systems.

You seem to be trapped in a niche market and the only person stopping you
from moving into other disciplines is yourself.

You need to look at where you want to be in ten years time, then set your self
some goals for the next five years to achieve it. I had to do six years at night school
while working a full time job including standby and overtime to gain the qualifications
I needed. So if you want it you need to do something about it.

:)

Rob
.

[Cascademan]

Hi Rob,

Thanks for the reply.

I will have a look at local night classes. I don't have any ideas at the moment so something might interest me.

I enjoy what I do, but it's good to have a "Plan B".

Cheers,

CM.

[HVACRsaurus]

Hey Mr Cascade,

I too am a advocate for night class

Suggest kick off with a short (6 month?) course of your choosing - computer basics or such

Even if it is stuff you already know - meeting other attendees & interacting with the teachers can really help in terms of awareness, options / avenues that you could then pursue

Also, it is probably one of the best ways to avoid the false start or the "I bit off more than I can chew"

Jumping straight into a 24 month diploma is tough, and the attrition rate is real (often 30 to 50 %)

Lay the ground work, get into the routine & celebrate with something achievable - this will help greatly to leap frog into the next

Big ups!