Have you changed career?
Was it a good move?
How long before you settled in?

I live in a big city and I have a job that relies on big companies implementing complicated management systems.

I've been doing this for the past 16 years, and I get paid fairly well, for fairly easy work (if you know).
I'm less and less interested and slowly the technology is starting to pass me by, and most of what I do now is argue with people who have YOUTUBE'd or gone to a conference where X vendor said it should be done this way. I hate my immediate colleagues, but I like the many PhD's in the company.

I'd like to get out of the chity, have a little garden with some pets OH and NBN otherwise less scene releases for y'all torrent addicts.

WTF am I going to do in a small coastal town?
If I was a Dr., radiologist it would be easy.

What do small coastal towns need? I thought of a Dollar shop, or grocery store...
I thought about being a chopper pilot crop dusting... but I farked my back and can't sit up straight.
I'd have to do something were I was the boss (my own).

And then there's my wife... she's an international paralegal, with some special UK certificate... her clients are exclusively British banks and she feels isolated living in Sydney!
We've been together most of our adult lives and I ain't leaving her cos she has an opinion.

You have interweb-IT-programing background? You could become a scammer! Be your own boss having a business based in Barbados or Nigeria, having top (free) legal advice and find your victims in the UK!
Lot more time to go wind-kitesurfing, drinking beer and looking after your back!

felixdcat said...

You have interweb-IT-programing background? You could become a scammer! Be your own boss having a business based in Barbados or Nigeria, having top (free) legal advice and find your victims in the UK!
Lot more time to go wind-kitesurfing, drinking beer and looking after your back!

That was my first career, figured I'd get out while I was ahead .

I'd looooove to retire!

Krispy54 said...

About 2 hours north is a thriving city that still has a country feel.
You could even come and live in paradise and travel down to Newy each day. Heaps of people here do it.
You wouldn't need to change careers.

Newcastle is closer to what I want, not exactly paradise, but NO WAY would I commute.
I once caught a train from Newcastle to North Sydney, it took just under 4hrs; x 2???
Driving would take from 2hrs - 1day.

I know. What about a BMW dealership, or a chocolate shop by the beach ?

sharkbiscuit said...

I know. What about a BMW dealership, or a chocolate shop by the beach ?

BMW!!!
I hope they burn in hell.

But chocolate? Lindt franchise? Na, I'd get too fat.

If you can find something that you want to do then its well worth the effort involved in the career change. I did this a few yrs back. It takes a while to learn to reduce your out-goings as your income drops - be warned!!! I was restricted to work in big cities due to my previous life, it took me a few years to engineer what I was after but now its happy days. I earn less than I did 8 yrs ago but am stoked on life. Never been happier. I work from home half the time and charge myself out for 30 hrs a week. I used to do 60 to 70 hr weeks. Stoked!!! I commute 94km each way twice a week - but its no real drama as most of it is on the freeway. If I leave by 5:15am I am in the office in 1hr 15 mins.

The best advice I ever received was to find someone that does a job that you like the look of and go and speak with them about it. Ask them the simple questions about what its like, good and bad points, people, locations, money etc People love to talk about themselves when you give them a chance (ego) so take advantage of it and ask their advice on how to get their. They will be thrilled to help I am sure.

It sounds like you have lots of practical skills that are probably easily transferrable if you can find the right avenue to attack. I went from one side of the risk equation to the other - into a place I had never even thought of / had thought about / knew about. And only because I talked to lots of people seeking advice and it came up.

Best of luck. If you need any more info send me a PM and I can tell ya some more.

FlySurfer said...

Have you changed career?
Was it a good move?
How long before you settled in?

Yep;
Yep;
Not long.

I was once an arts producer, I brought out performance artists/small circus groups from the US and toured them in Australia. I made lots of money a couple of times but lost far more on subsequent tours - in hindsight I wasn't a very good promoter/gambler. But even that experience gave me long reaching opportunities. When my children were born I pretty much had to get serious and was forced to get a real job.

I was always interested in computers, at first I was doing graphic design for two bit bands. When the internet came I was hooked and very quickly learnt a programming language. I taught myself the basics, and adapted very quickly. It got me where I wanted to be and has worked for me for many years.

Now, I'm tired of looking at computer screens and the sedentary life that come with the territory of computer programming, my children have grown up and I want the beach lifestyle myself. Don't get me wrong, I still love a good programming challenge - but I'm tiring of living in the suburbs, with my knob neighbor, commuting on packed trains and working in the city.

My ideal in the next five years is to move down to the coast. I'd love to move around Western Port Bay - probably the equivalent of Margaret River in WA, but a lot closer to the city. I'm pretty much down there every weekend - it's about an hours drive from where I live now.

I know quite a few people who live or have shacks there. The people who live there are all pretty much all retired dentists. So there is probably not much work there for me. However, I think I can still do it. I just would like to find some business idea with a bit of recurring income.

My wife is a nurse, and I think there are plenty of opportunities for her with home caring etc.

If you find a good idea, let me know.

My goals aren't that high these days. I'm content just getting high, watching the telly and writing crap on seabreeze.

Don't do it , country coastal life is a drag ,all ways fish to catch people are real friendly ( well most) , fish every where ,social life is crap
(never a chance to sleep), every one wants to , or knows you, so much to do tv doesn;t matter any more .
Gees I am getting tyred just typing

adolf said...

FlySurfer said...

Have you changed career?
Was it a good move?
How long before you settled in?

Yep;
Yep;
Not long.

+1

Owned a small joinery business for 14 years with a few employees - 60hrs+ every week for little pay, although benefits were good. I hit a ceiling where I needed to either upscale or die a slow death in business - needed to invest at least $500k to get ahead.

After discussions with wife, I decided to follow my dream of architecture and started commuting 3hrs (plus accom) to go & stay in Geelong for 3-4 nights a week for 2 years to get my Diploma (leant toward Building designer as opposed to Architect as I doubt that I could afford it, also not much of a need for an Arch here). I kept the joinery & employees going for 6 months, then gave them 6 months notice. After doing what I could to get them all jobs - which they did, I shut the doors at the end of 07.

Spent the next year commuting & 'living' in Geelong, which was tough for both my wife & I with 2 young kids under 5, but we managed on her income and some casual work I picked up. At the end of that year, and once I got my dip. I approached who is considered the best building designer in the area (1 hr away) and 'pitched' an offer to work for him whilst using my local trade contacts & building knowledge to bring work to him. He was also able to use my people skills to handle initial client contacts whilst setting up here in my home town. The pay was only slightly above-award, but also less than half of what many of my friends were/are on - which was fine with me as we simply lived within our means.

Nearly 3 years later after struggling with referring small jobs away (not 'core' work) and with the high-end jobs beginning to dry up (I could see the writing on the wall), I spoke with him about the option of getting registered and dropping a couple of days a week so I could do the small jobs under my own steam.

After a couple of months and during the registration stage, we decided that this wouldn't work so I gladly stepped out on my own (last November) with the support of my ex-boss. Now, self-employed in a small office I have complete flexibility with work/family life and things are going great. I'm putting in a plan to employ a graduate in the next year or so to help me handle my workload & hopefully train them to become a multi-skilled building designer.

My advice - do what you want to do. Although we need an income to afford to live & give our kids the best options, life is not about making money & working in a job that we have no interest in. Make the sacrifices that are necessary to get where you want, but not at the expense of living - my opinion anyway.

"WTF am I going to do in a small coastal town?"

You'd be surprised...many small towns need skills that you may have, but not many/any one living there with those skills. They're mostly attracted to city life & $$$.

"What do small coastal towns need?"

Like-minded people, people that aren't there for the money, but for the lifestyle. If you want to make money, stay in a brain-numbing over-paying job...if you want to enjoy life, find it.

FlySurfer said...

Have you changed career?
Was it a good move?
How long before you settled in?

I live in a big city and I have a job that relies on big companies implementing complicated management systems.

I've been doing this for the past 16 years, and I get paid fairly well, for fairly easy work (if you know).
I'm less and less interested and slowly the technology is starting to pass me by, and most of what I do now is argue with people who have YOUTUBE'd or gone to a conference where X vendor said it should be done this way. I hate my immediate colleagues, but I like the many PhD's in the company.

I'd like to get out of the chity, have a little garden with some pets OH and NBN otherwise less scene releases for y'all torrent addicts.

WTF am I going to do in a small coastal town?
If I was a Dr., radiologist it would be easy.

What do small coastal towns need? I thought of a Dollar shop, or grocery store...
I thought about being a chopper pilot crop dusting... but I farked my back and can't sit up straight.
I'd have to do something were I was the boss (my own).

And then there's my wife... she's an international paralegal, with some special UK certificate... her clients are exclusively British banks and she feels isolated living in Sydney!
We've been together most of our adult lives and I ain't leaving her cos she has an opinion.

Get the misses to pop out a few kids & be a stay home dad :-)

FlySurfer said...
BMW!!!
I hope they burn in hell.

I think you're being harsh there FS. Beamers are fine pieces of machinery. If I got 250k out of any bike I would be stoked. You can't beat German built.

Almost every country town that is half decent to live in have residents who moved there from the city and regret it.

This article tells some of the downside of moving out of the city.

www.domain.com.au/news/

Surprised at the red thumbs above. The reality is incomes are usually lower in regional areas that are pleasant to live in, especially those areas where the most businesses in the main street are employment and real estate agents.

I can't start at the bottom again... I need a business idea.

I have a friend who wants to be a commercial pilot, he's getting his hours up buy flying parachute jumps... I haven't seen him in a while, but he gave the best ride ever... 1000ft negative G... dude put your feet on the roof and hold on!

I've got another friend who claims his blog posts pay well with advertising... I don't get it... maybe cos I block all ads.

MavericK040 said...
hands and fingers all busted up back and knees stuffed haggrid beard and low moral.

Almost where I am at the moment, 48 years old, hands worn out, (osteo- arthritis) medics say no more heavy manual work- or repetitive fine dexterity work for me.

Which pretty well means no more shotfiring!
Trying to get back on the mines with something that will be a bit easier on my hands - simple stuff like just driving a water cart refilling drill rigs or whatever- but companies dont want the risk.

stephen.

You have my empathy. Call me crazy but I've decide to leave an easy, well-paying job that I enjoy (for the most part), pack it all in and repatriate back to Oz and start again. Hope to plan to start a business but I have no idea either. I've moved internationally before but this time, after 20 odd years away, it's daunting me especially in this economic climate.