Career advice needed?!

[SirSliceAlot]

Hi all, just after a bit of advice and opinions from these forums as there seems to be a good mixture of ages and personalitys that may be able to help me.
Basically I am desperate for a career change. I currently work as a production engineer for a chemical manufacturer and have been here for 10+ years, the salary/bonus scheme is around the 'average' mark but as it is a small business there isn't really any scope for career progression as such. I am unhappy, unchallenged and just plain bored of my job basically!
The problem I have is that although I am still a relatively young 31, I now have a wife, 7 month old baby and mortgage to think about and so cannot afford a drop in wages to re-train or start at the bottom of the ladder so to speak. I would love to work for myself or start a small business but these just don't seem like a valid option in my situation. I don't have a degree or a-levels as I left school at 16 and want out of the industry I am currently in.
I am seriously considering a career in sales, maybe as a rep or account manager, as I feel I potentially have the right sort of personality for it but am a bit stuck on how to get my foot in the door without any experience, and also what the sales world is actually like to work in..
Any advice would be greatly appreciated and sorry for rambling on!

 

[cookelad]

I started a part-time college course about 5 years ago as I was sick of the hotel/pub trade (I was 25ish at the time, no dependents and felt the risk was minimal) so I could keep working while I was getting a qualification in a different field, during the 1st year I started applying for jobs and got in towards the end the 1st year exams.

It's probably going to be a slow process - not something that will happen over night

 

[HotDogAssassin]

I spent 7 years in sales. Trust me it's not easy, I made a career change out of it when we started our family. Sales always looks good from the outside for the salaries that can be achieved, but in reality it's only a relatively small percentage who achieve highly. Working off commission means that you can often find that your salary fluctuates month on month, and requires long hours of work, bringing high stress with it. To your employer you're only doing well when you hit the numbers at that time, it doesn't matter what you did last month, or expect next month, so there tends to be a lot of pressure. I found that this was counter productive towards my family life, so got out. I'm glad that I did, now that I am earning roughly what I used to with commission, but as a steady salary.

Don't get me wrong though, for some it's the perfect role, but those that I know who have been successful are either not married with kids or their marriage has split.

 

[vkurup]

My 2c on this... Given that you have 10+ yrs of experience, you could transition into a Consultancy that works around manufacturing process consultancy. Are your skills transferrable to 'generic' manufacturing process or limited to a specific chemical process? Any exposure to Lean manufacturing process would be an additional bonus. Consulting can be long hours and also a lot of travel. You may need to start lower in the ranks, but the pay is generally 'above average'. At 31 the worlds is your oyster. Good luck.

 

[Baldyeagle]

I spent 7 years in sales. Trust me it's not easy, I made a career change out of it when we started our family. Sales always looks good from the outside for the salaries that can be achieved, but in reality it's only a relatively small percentage who achieve highly. Working off commission means that you can often find that your salary fluctuates month on month, and requires long hours of work, bringing high stress with it. To your employer you're only doing well when you hit the numbers at that time, it doesn't matter what you did last month, or expect next month, so there tends to be a lot of pressure. I found that this was counter productive towards my family life, so got out. I'm glad that I did, now that I am earning roughly what I used to with commission, but as a steady salary.

Don't get me wrong though, for some it's the perfect role, but those that I know who have been successful are either not married with kids or their marriage has split.

+1 Sales can be well paid but I got out of it when my first daughter was born - it often involves long hours (many unsocial) and a heap of pressure. Combination of those can shift a fair bit of weight onto your partner, make you not so much fun to live with and put pressure on your relationship (and maybe miss a few 'special' moments with your kid/s).

 

[Rooter]

just to counter the guys that have got out of sales due to family.. I have been in sales for 13 years now, I now have 3 kids aged 5 and under. I am still in sales and still doing OK. OK my wife has a "full time job" with the kids, sometimes i am lucky enough to have a late start or an early finish, but she works on the expectation i am out of the house by 6am and wont be home until 8pm (if i come home at all from northern sales meetings, i did used to look after northern europe as a region, so was often away for 3-4 days!)

Its all about what you want from life IMHO. I know i couldn't earn the money i want/expect doing anything other than sales and so am now in catch 22. If i were to make a career change, it would be a drop in salary.

Commission is great, but make sure its backed up by a decent basic and work your outgoings/lifestyle as if you will never earn comms. if you start relying on it and you have a couple of quiet months, you are screwed.

I got into from the very bottom though, so cant really help with the move you would be looking to make, pretty sure you wouldnt want to start where i did processing orders for £10k a year! you have to start somewhere though... Have a chat with your Mrs and see what she says, my wife is very supportive of my career because she knows if i do well, we can have a nice car, pay the mortgage off early have a nice holiday etc, so she supports it 100%. if she wasnt behind me, it would be very very difficult on our relationship.

Do you have many "reps" coming to see you where you are? are you clued up on what they do? often companies will look at their customers for potential staff as you will have a good knowledge of what they do and how...

 

[Hobbit]

Our top Sales guy started out as an engineer, so yes it can be done.

I worked for BT for about 14yrs installing new telephone exchanges. As BT changed I decided I wanted out and moved into medical electronics/medical physics. 20yrs later and I still love it...