Dorothy

My dad had to quit school in grade 6 in order to go to work to help his family (1932 so height of the great depression). He eventually went to university at age 44 with 10 children to support to earn his law degree. Thus going to show that you are never too old to learn.

I'm in my mid 40's now and would love to get my nursing degree. Back in Canada I was qualified as an ophthalmic technician, but in order to practice over here I would need to go back to uni and I think if I were to go back to school it would be so I could get a degree in something I could take overseas to use - like nursing. I would love some day, when the kids are older, to do charity work such as Doctors Without Borders.

dave99

Congrats on the degree sjo, thats real inspiring hearing you have been and done something I am also considering. I was worried at 31 I would be the oldest person there

You make it sound like an easy decision to make, I have been flapping around trying to figure out what to do for a long time now. Having so many universitys in perth alone makes it all confusing, not to mention considering ones on the east coast or even abroad it gets so damn confusing and overwhelming looking at all the different ones !

wargod

I was an applications developer back in Blighty,since coming over here I swore I would never go near code again. So I started project managing instead, the funny thing is they couldnt maintain there existing appl;ication so I got involved with the code to sort it.

So yes I did manage to change jobs but not entirely!!

Gems

Its never to late to retrain.

* Ive noticed you can do far more courses via distance learning here.
Nursing is done by a few, and also seen everything from planning, surveying, civil engineering distance learning. (I live rural so been looking up courses in all states).

So you have options to work as well as study, if you can manage it.
Look at all Universities in all states and you should find your course. You dont need to be with a provider in your own state.
Some you may need to go to the odd summer school for 2 days to a week.

Go for it, Im thinking of retraining once I have PR next year (cant afford the fees at the moment on 457)

Gems

Gems

Check out this link for distance ed courses in engineering etc:

http://www.usq.edu.au/handbook/current/eng/eng.html

Gems

benlast

My wife's pondering this right now - she's got a first-class degree in Business Admin and left a senior but pretty stressful job in the UK. Here she has the opportunity to change career, and she's taking the time to think about it.

I'm sticking with IT, which is (a) what I know and have been doing for, er, almost thirty years and (b) what I enjoy doing; I've always been a hands-on manager, so I code as well as everything else. Reason (c) would be that I'm the main wage-earner, and if I changed career we'd have a pretty significant drop in salary to deal with.

Cheers
b

Kelli28

go for it im at uni in my 30's and definatly not the oldest there, i study by distance and go in 1 a term for res schools for the science subjects.
theres alot who work full time and study and still manage to have a life inbetween.

sjo

Before I started the degree, I used to think being late 30s would mean I would be the oldest - but there were two ladies in their 50s doing the same degree. And if you still need inspiration, a man aged 82 graduated with a law degree from my uni last year - says he's going to work for free for low-income earners as he doesn't need more money than his pension. Fantastic!

sjo

Dorothy, if you think you would like it, then you've got to find a way to do it. The degree I've just finished is nursing - which is a bit of a career change for me, having been an electrician (yes, a female electrician) amongst other things. I decided that I wasn't money motivated and I wanted to work with people, and due to my lack of formal education, nursing was one of the few degrees I could get into at the time. I figured I'd try it and swap to something else if I didn't like it. But I liked it, got really good marks throughout the degree, and am just about to start my first proper nursing job.

My philosophy is that sometimes you have to take a step back in order to take two steps forward. Financially it hasn't been easy going to uni at this age, but spiritually it has been very rewarding.

AndyR

I'm in the same boat. 28, well 29 when I go to Oz next year and work in IT at the moment (server support). Absolutely HATE it! Completely gone off IT the last 3-4 years and just want a change so thought might as well do that when going to Oz, fresh start and all.

Problem is I'm totally not sure what I'd like to do. If I could do ANYTHING as a normal job then it would be a chef, problem is I don't want the late hours with it. I'm very much a get up early, do my hours and then not want to deal with work at all person. If I could get a chef/cook job early hours or fixed hours during the day I'd be happy with this.

It is scary, but I really don't want to be in IT any more and thought of having to do this depresses me so much, so I'm prepared to put myself in an uncomfortable spot for a bit if it means I get a new skill/career at the end of it.

Wonder if the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleader squad need a new masseuse?

xzibit

I like my job, but I've always wanted a more hands on active job. I work in an office, and a computer screen can get boring after 10 years.

I've always fancied if I went to Oz, to join the police force. But I don't know whether I'd qualify being from the UK. But I may well look into it. I think you even get paid when training which seems good. But from what I have read, it's hard work - which I'm willing to put in.

Will have to see when I arrive.

ottg

A very fascinating subject. Done a career change from electronic engineering, to new business development, back into IT engineering and now business consulting. However, I use all 3 domains regularly.

I have met quite a few highly trained people whose services aren't in high demand here in Perth. I believe that you do not need to retrain completely...but you need to do a gap analysis between what you love to do and what the market really needs. I have just wrote an article on this but it is not on my website yet - trust it is of value.

I also try to deal with how to create your niche and how to created networks and business relationships
See: www.perth-sa-migrant-support.com.au

Regards

Three Legs

Well I've been a Quantity Surveyor all my working life until last year when I thought ... f*** this! ... I'm having a crack at something else.

I'm now a Home Building Consultant with a well known Perth project builder & it's ace.

It can be done ... where there's a will, there's a way.



3

ottg

I have just updated the above website with "Your career transition". The notes were compared with another Aus consultancy.

Hope it helps someone!

s1mon321

Hey Nige,

I sympathise with your situation completely, I am in exactly the same situation. Prior to coming here I gave up my job and worked in a bar for six months - I was so fed up with my career (IT). I came here with big ideas of a career change, however the amount of IT jobs in Sydney and the greater salary than back home pushed me into an IT management role. I justified it by thinking, well this will tell me whether or not its the career choice or circumstances that I dislike. Its official - its the career. Will be handing my two months notice in at the end of January and will start looking for a new job. Think I'm gonna try for something completely different and see where I end up. I know its not the best time for such actions, but the 7.30am to 6.30pm is taking the sparkle off an otherwise exciting venture.

Good luck with eveything and keep me posted on how you get on, I will too.

Simon