Over It

[Guest XR09]

The best jobs don't fall in your lap...or pay well lol.

I've done both. Fun everytime...if you can afford it.

At your guys age you need a base...bricks and mortar or the bank will never touch you......or they will touch you badly if you don't or have never owned a home.

My good jobs have taken at least a few months to a year to get paid for the fun.... I tried for a year in Adv car instructing. Got work every weekend.....never got a pay check. You get the qualifications and then go do volly till you find a paying seat or saddle

[JETURBO]

yep this is a concerning factor definately

[Ace]

dont do it jet . went from being a fridgie earning good coin to driving tractors then to retail. im sick of it. thinking about doing electrical apprenticeship to be dual trade and heading back to the fridge work. money is sometimes required unfortuneatley

[JETURBO]

feel like iam having a mid life crisis sometimes lol

iam one of those easerly bored types, but somehow iave stuck it out this far ...........................whats another 30 years

[SuckSqueezeBangBlow]

Im also a sparky but been out on my since I was 26. I love my job but I only work hard when ive bitten off more than I can chew. Money ranges from ok to excellent depending on whats happening. I dont chase work or advertise and never have, only had 2 people not pay because my biz is all word of mouth which works both ways. For me its a lifestyle thing. I worked out last year I was working on average 23 hours a week for around $75k which is fine for me as my wife earns good money. I look After my two boys (4 yo and 18 month) one day a week and its great as this time goes pretty quickly. Work really seems like a small part of my life most of the time and sometimes it has to take over a bit more

[bossmang]

I <3 Bananas this ima gonna be a sparky

was gonna do it when I left school, regret it now.

[discostig]

Have been thinking about changing to a trade like a sparky. Currently in IT and just get a bit bored, been at it 8 years now and started as my hobby. That's now cars which is bad since cars cost way more...

But mature age apprenticeship would mean a pay cut and I'm not on good cash as it is, probably a bit below average. Haven't looked hard for a better paying spot though so can't complain that much really.

[old_mate]

I left my first trade as a avionics maintenance engineer with Qantas because the money was sh*t and I saw the recent struggles with the unions coming (I left in 2006!)

I then did a cross apprenticeship to get my normal sparky license, then the GFC hit and work dried up. Got stuck doing data, then finally ended up in electronic security and now am state manager for a mob that turn over north of 20 mill a year working with big retail clients.

I'd give my left nut to get back on the tools, but not as a sparky. Access control and IP CCTV is where its at. I pay my guys more than 100k (*beep* earn gut loadsmore than I do after some overtime) and the work is so f*cking easy if you have half a brain.

Have you thought about Project Management? Estimating I loathe but delivering projects is good fun. Then again you are only as good as the people who work for you and the estimators can't have sold you a ham.

Its also been on my agenda to look into fire and BMS - one day.

I too always wanted to be a mechanic and the planes were my fix (I miss them). However I think working on everyone elses bucket of sh*t car would suck. Its all good to think you'll be smashing out turbo fords and blown commodores but very few mechanics can say they do that all day. And if they do, I bet the spent a fair while fixing buckets to get to where they are.

[Guest XR09]

Maybe you are just bored Jet

Ya have it all and still have time on your hands...... makes what you have seem a little boring sometimes.

If I am missing the edge in my life I get it back through sport.

If I am just being a farkwitt and bored I will go help a mate out who runs a childrens crisis center. Makes me feel good about me and what I have.... and shoite can hit the fan there sometimes and it gets pretty exciting

[XAH03]

One thing though jet is. You say u love working on ya car and mucking around with cars but if u did it 40hrs+ a week it maybe the last thing ya wanna do when ya get home. It may kill your hobby having to work on peoples cars and all the chit that goes with it.

This was me, I had done 3 yrs of my refrigeration trade but it to the point were the boss and I were always at each others necks. So I decided I was going to find myself a career I enjoyed, working on cars. I started a mature age apprenticeship at 24 as a panel beater. I stated when I started my interests were modifying, restoration and show car quality cars. It's a good feeling going to a car show and seeing half the cars there I had helped build.

After time went on I earned myself a good amount of cashies to do on weekends, so after work I'd get in my car and go and work on others cars for another 4-5hrs after doing 8 at work. It started to wear thin very quickly, I found myself turning down jobs and just being lazy to work on the cars in my own time. In June this year I finished my trade and left the panel beating to work as a boiler maker doing fabrication on all kinds of fun stuff. I love it and my passion has come back to working on cars, I'm now building a car for a mate in my time and have another 2 ready to go when I get to them.

I guess the moral of my story is don't always choose your passion or hobby as your job because then it becomes a job not an enjoyment.