Change of Career advice and help

Right, so I have a job in a research lab that I find 'OK' and it pays the bills and most of the time I can ignore the fact that I simply don't find it satisfying.... you know, turn up, sit round, potentially find the cure for cancer, get paid, go home....

BUT some days I think I'd just like to do something I care about, something I enjoy.... I'm still not sure what this might be, but I know it doesn't lie in science based research (I don't know many happy scientists).

I think I want to be a physio.
I'm pretty sure I can apply for a 2 year full time MSc in Physiotherapy - though its pretty competitive.... Kings College only take 20 people/year.

I'm Australian. If I do it in the UK its going to cost a shite load cause I'll be a full fee paying student - though if I was a UK/EU citizen, then Dept of Health would pay. Anyone want to get married?
If I do it back home, its also going to cost about £15,000 just in course fees.

Where does one get such cash?

I'm still just looking into it, but does anyone have any advice on taking the plunge and how to finance it? Are there any benefits I might be able to get - rent assistance/lower council tax etc?
Scholarships? Loans? Loop holes?

The only way I think I can manage to retrain is if I move back to my folks place in oz... this would still give me a a hefty debt and I'm pretty bloody sure I'm not strong enough to not survive such an experience.

OR, should I just shut up and deal with the fact I'm bored with my 'career' and should I just strive for life fulfilment in every means that isn't work orientated?

Let me know if you figure out the answer, I had the exact same conversation at the pub on Monday (turn up, sit round, edit stuff about people potentially finding the cure for cancer, get paid, go home....). Want to bin my so called career, but not qualified to do anything else, and re-training would be financially crippling (especially since I already have a 10k undergrad student loan to pay back).

[edit - wouldn't save any time]

I know so many people in the same situation. Are we all just destined to be miserable at work, but happy in the rest of life?
Answers on a spokecard please.

Become a teacher, it's free and you get to work with kids

And if I don't like kids? Don't think it would be free for me either - being from Oz and all that.

I know so many people in the same situation. Are we all just destined to be miserable at work, but happy in the rest of life?
Answers on a spokecard please.

First world problem.

Don't become a teacher. Not in London anyway. If you're going to try and be any good it is incredibly hard work; the kids who really need you usually hate you; ditto the parents of said kids.
And those famously long holidays? You'll work so many hours of unpaid overtime that you'll not feel the benefit

Hi kattiep, yep student fees can be quite a pain - I should know having studied for no kidding 10 years. No way around that other than applying for a scholarship, but they are from my knowledge mostly available for research degrees. I financed mine through a mixture of part time work, parents and private loans, though I don't think these are as readily available as they used to 10 years ago. Its simply a fact that as a non-european (or even as a UK/european) student, its going to be bloody expensive and you just have to live with that depth - I still think its better to have that depth and a job you enjoy for the rest of your life that being bored at work. Personal choice, I guess....

Both my parents were teachers - I saw what it did to them, hence the lack of appeal.

for £10k, i will marry you (that's £5000 cashback, right there.)

seriously though, what about looking at doing it part time, whilst working for in the industry you ar currently in? sarah is doing an MA that she does at night, and that will take her 2 years.

i am really bored of my job, but the study side has now gone from something i dreaded to something that has kept me interested.

Um right, so this just back from Kings College.......

• be ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man for the three years preceding the prescribed date, apart from occasional or temporary absences;
  
  

AND

• be ordinarily resident in England, Scotland , Wales or Northen Ireland on the prescribed date (other than medical and dental students who must be ordinarily resident in England.);
  
  

AND

• have ‘settled status’ in the UK - within the meaning of the Immigration Act 1971. This means that there must be no restrictions on your length of stay in the UK.
  
  

1 and 2 check, 3 no check.

I can't even pay to do the bloody cause if I had the money!
Racists.

Often wondered why people want to be happy in work.

Thought about osteopathy?

kattie, find out what makes you happy and do that. The cost becomes immaterial in the long run, because you'll be doing the new job that makes you happy/satisfied/fulfilled for the rest of your hopefully long life.
job satisfaction is a weird one, but everyone needs to pay the bills, so I'd suggest doing a bit of shadowing, and figure out whether being a physio really is for you, don't want to make the leap and suck up the debt just to realise at the end of the course that actually this change in career isn't going to be as fulfilling.

Friend of mine's husband decided to chuck in his well paying day job and become an osteopath. Now very happy doing that. Very happy.

But as Bobby Byrd sang, "you don't work, you can't eat"

Can you look into what Balki did and get yourself declared Polish (hence EU citizen) via a European grandparent/ancestor?

You don't have to be Polish btw.

How about a sports therapist course, I am sure you can do this part-time and it will be less selective and cheaper. You can then specialise in something you are interested in (?cycling injuries?), build up a client base, whilst keeping main job - part-time maybe. Isn't there a physio on here, maybe they can offer some more inside info, ?Bluequin or something?

If you go down the masters route research it thoroughly and especially what jobs people got after doing it and if you can find out, whether potential employers were impressed enough by that masters etc... Unless its the NHS then I hope you like working with old people because they are all I ever dealt with, a long time ago now.
PS - old people are great to work with - cantankerous or delightfully cheerful you can never be sure...

I gave up a pretty good job to study. If your unhappy in work now it will only get worse so the sooner you try to change the situation the longer you will get the benifit of job satifaction. But it is a lot of cash so make sure you choose your new path carfully.

Work is work, any expectation that it will make your life complete is unrealistic. If it does anything over and above paying the bills you're in gravy.
That said, boredom and depression are entirely reasonable and natural reactions to some work environments.

It's worth having a think about what what you like doing and how that led you into your current job.

If you find the same things interesting but those things are lacking in your job then backtrack a bit and try to find a job where those things are present.

If fundamentally you've changed interests then your options are retrain or htfu.

...But you know that already.

My entirely personal experience is that all education is satisfying long term, work not so much. The notion of a career doesn't actually survive contact with the workplace, and most sane professionals are not happy with work (how could they be).

My current solution is to work freelance and so can disguise the fact that I only work half the year and idle around the rest of it with my family; guess which half of the year makes me happy.

Your mileage will vary and thats part of the fun.

move back to aus and be unemployed like i'm about to!

Argh.
I entirely empathise with this situation. I am a research scientist lost in the wilderness between grants. I know i want to continue being involved in science (making a contribution to the species wah wah wah etc) but the realities of academia really suck the joy out of it (that and not being a brilliant scienctist) and i want to find another way to be involved in what i love but in a way that doesnt crush my spirit on a daily basis. Industry is out as they unimaginative liars. Wish the world health organisation or british antarctic survey would stop ignoring my applications. Good luck kattie i hope you get where you want to be!

at least in Aus you can get a low-interest postgrad fee help loan, and you pay local fees.

i've been thinking about doing a masters but decided i can't afford to do it here... it can wait until I go home.

I know many people that are passionate about what they do as a career. I will actively seek to work with those people, and I'm passionate about my career and job too.

Yep, context is everything, I've met many admirable people with this attitude, I've also met some total sociopaths. craft culture versus corporate culture perhaps ?

Often wondered why people want to be happy in work.

Have your wonderings cast any light on this? Is it an unreasonable expectation to seek job satisfaction? Should people be miserable most of the time as long as it pays the bills?

A sales job for an organisation that sells into a market you're familiar with? While sales jobs can suck, they usually pay reasonaly well, with nice bonusses/commission plans if you do well. And if you're familiar with the market than you should be able to credibly talk to your clients. Not a long term solution (sales can suck, burnout's high), but if you do a good job it's a quick way to make some cash.

Often wondered why people want to be happy in work.

because it's better than hating your job and hating yourself because you lack the will to make a change.