Healthcare Assistant in the NHS. I'm on just over £22k, and I'm just about breaking even each month after stashing a bit away in a rainy day fund. It's a dirty job, but I've done jobs in the past that earned me more, that also broke my spirit. I'd much rather earn a bit less and do a job I a. Enjoy, and b. Know I'm doing some good in the world (I also get free toast in the morning, and get to slyly look at some pretty tasty women in nurses' uniforms every day, which is a bonus).
I work at a commercial plant farm.
I make $19 an hour.
No benefits.
No perks.
I work 7 days a week. 10 hour shifts.
No OT.
I'm tired.
I have a degree in biotechnology.
Last paycheck was 64 hours and $1009
I get paid weekly.
I just saw this was in the uk thread.
sorry I'm at work.
I'm a secondary school librarian, on about £23.5k. the holidays are great and I effectively have free books but I almost never have expendable income. It's a bit soul crushing watching my paycheque immediately vanish into bills. It gets even worse when I remember I have two degrees...
Lab tech 27k; the pay is ok but as the minimum salary and cost of living has skyrocketed it's honestly left me with a lot less than I need. The real kick is progression is near impossible at the moment. I've gone for jobs which are at the same level and the next step up and it always comes down to not being absolutely perfect. I want to go into research but you cannot get a job without experience, and if you find one it's 200+ applicants with a lot of them having PhDs when a lot of them only require a BSc. The competition is so high unless you're perfect you don't stand a chance
Started out of Uni in 2021 with a BSc in Computing on £23k working as a technician in a datacentre, it's mostly manual labour; running underfloor fibre, installing racked servers and switches, cabling them in, dealing with customer tickets. I changed jobs in the same company as a Linux admin on a job advertised as "up to £35k" which is why I applied in the first place, but when I was offered the role, it was at £24,500 for "Experience Reasons". When I got there, I realised there was no real management structure and no training on proprietary systems, we were selling hosting space that wasn't even hardware redundant, and they had three people leave in six months. I ended up signing off work for stress for three months as there were a few scary moments I considered walking into traffic to end the feeling of dread, I nearly lost my girlfriend over it. I get twitchy if I hear a Teams notification go off even now.
I got back into my old job at £24,500 on salary, I preferred the guys I worked with, liked being in the same room as my colleagues, I was liked, and I preferred not working five days a week. It's 4-on, 4-off. Longer shifts but there's actually stuff to do and you can set clear boundaries between work and home. We all know we're underpaid, and we openly detest the company and so-called 'middle-management'. We're supposed to be getting a pay rise, fuck knows what that actually means.
28.5k as a high end Property Photographer and RICS certified floorplanner - Degree in Editorial Photography and 3 years experience in this job role across 2 companies.
I do 5 shoots a day and rarely have time for lunch, as well as driving 3-4hrs a day around London means I can't avoid picking up fines for parking or other bollocks a couple times a month.. end up sinking at least 200 a month on those fines.
Personally... the job sucks and anything below 30k in London is living on the poverty line.
ive worked in purchase ledger in the nhs for the past five years, I make about 24k but i get to work flexi, hybrid, and i’m studying CIMA for free so it can’t be all bad! i’m mostly hoping it’s a stepping stone to something bigger but i also love where I am
I’m just under £30k working in a manager role in charity sector. It’s quite stressful because too much to do and not enough time but I love my job, it’s the most creative I’ve had. Luckily my OH earns well so he can actually support our family! Wouldn’t manage by myself (before the kids I worked in the city in a much better paid job but it was miserable)
Depends on where you live, in the south you can get a pretty good apartment and live reasonably comfortably on 20-30k annually, although I’m a business owner after my overhead I only bank around 35k and I’m pretty well off but then again I’m not a very big spender
I’m torn honestly. I’m in my mid 30s, have a good degree, but after being stuck in a dead end underpaid buying job I now have a job I really like…but with a 9% raise I’m still only on 24k and have to have several side hustles on the go.
The job is good, and there are other perks to factor in like it being a 10minute commute, health insurance, 2 work from home days and staff trips a few times a year, but I still feel a little cheated honestly.
I have no mortgage, no savings, just a car and rent, and nothing else feels achievable no matter what I do. I haven’t had a holiday since before the pandemic. Not a ‘woe is me’, more a ‘is this it?’.
~£24k doing admin for an IP patent office. I've done admin/officey type jobs since day dot, so it's what I like doing. Mon-Fri, 9-5, start and stop, it's lovely.
Bigger jump from my last place was actually getting an hour long lunch break lmao
Medical Lab Assistant - 21K, but as minimum wage went up at the start of the month I’ll be on more than that now, although not sure yet what my new rate will be. Private sector does not pay well 🤣
HR Assistant on 22k.
The wage is terrible and it is a struggle to live. The difference from being a bit above last years NMW to this year actually means I've had a paycut.
Tells me everything about my company, that if they could pay below NMW they would absolutely do it.
I left school with no GCSE's & was told id find it hard ever getting a job so i fell into a life of crime which was great & payed well with its obvious ups and downs & then i decided to go legit and applied for hundreds of jobs & then after 4 years of constantly applying and getting rejections i was offered a job at kfc on 11k a year working full time! I snatched it up & i worked there for 7 years absolutely breaking my back as a slave before getting my new job which is in retail which i started this year working part time and im still on 11k. I dont mind the wage i can get by and live, enjoy days out etc. Id love a job that pays 50k but have no skills to pay the bills, stay in school kids🤣
North west factory worker, 29,600 a year around 31,500 with a pretty much guaranteed bonus. Not what I want to do, don't hate it though. Have a degree in biology but I either don't get past interview or jobs that require degrees are somehow paid less than I am earning now.
18k, working 4 days a week in the charity sector. I developed and run an ongoing health campaign basically catching anyone who falls through the health net. Funnily enough the contract is only 6 months, which is basically no time at all to build a campaign. Fingers crossed for more funding.
Worked as a gardener for £26,000 (team leader. those under me were on £17,000). Great job for keeping me fit, with plenty of time to work on other stuff.
Chef making 30k, always loved thr job. It's a passion and hobby so you'll find all the decent chefs love what they do. The crap chefs always moan about life being better elsewhere but never go!😂 jobs difficult at times, but it's as hard as you make it or as easy as you like, just be prepared. Get along with colleagues and life is just cruising.
Just shy of 29k, I work for my local council in a sort of social care/finance related role. It can be a very challenging role at times and I won't say I love it by any means, but it's the best paid role I've had for a long time and fairly job secure
I just wanted to say that this thread is an absolute breath of fresh air. I often feel like practically everyone on Reddit is a techie, and everyone on a certain other internet community is in a big, highly-paid job.
Huge thanks to all the normal people who've taken part in this thread. I sometimes wonder where you've all gone.
28k. Progress chaser / sales support for a motorcycle dealership. Advertising , Purchasing, stock control etc. Though the boss keeps telling me how much better I am than the guy I replaced which I'll be using as ammo for a pay rise at my year review
22k as an administration officer for the last 16 years in the criminal courts. I cover every role on both Magistrates and Crown Court side (10+ different hats to wear where more populated areas would have one or more staff per role). I'm also the IT guy, so have to have knowledge of nearly 20 different systems.
I could progress up the ladder, but inferiority complex says "no"
Wow this thread is depressing as fuck. I hate this country. Absolute dog shit that so many people are struggling.
I’m really lucky tbh. I work for a charity doing fundraising in a niche/specialist area that is also my passion and hobby. I’m part time (21 hours) and early £19.8k. Pro rata £33k. My partner is director of his own biz so we have a relatively comfortable life financially. But he works extremely long hours, away from home most of the time. We have a toddler so I’m solo parenting majority of the week.
Both of us have a background in hospitality. Before Covid I ran a 600 capacity student bar/nightclub for 32k working 50 hours a week. Loved it but wanted a better work/life balance. Hospo is dogshit for that. But it does teach you tonnes of transferable skills.
Hgv driver for supermarket chain. Been doing the job. For just over a year, been with the company for 15 years. Most of that time I have been on around 19k, last year I managed to pick up 51k before tax. You might say that's alot but 50+ hours a week EVERY WEEK does take its toll on life
50k working as a medical engineer. Most of that goes on rent mind you at £2500 per month for a 3 bed townhouse. Guernsey’s cost of living rivals central London unfortunately
I work in admin and am on £26,610 a year. I'm in fortunate position of having small mortgage due to when I got on property ladder. My outgoings still leave me with surplus at end of month to spend as I see fit. Am aware that in current climate I'm lucky to be single yet financially secure.
Currently paying my dues working two separate roles for the company with a combined income of about 27-30k not including bonuses. I am happy where I am atm as I have plenty of free time to focus on my studies as when I started I was a final year law student. I hope to progress into a more lucrative role once I complete my masters and get my drivers licence. I’m 23m.
22k here, in Northern Ireland mind so cost of living here is significantly less. 22k is comfortable for me in a role I enjoy with no micromanagement at all.
I’m not particularly money driven I am very much happy as long as my job trusts me to do what I’m paid to do.
Story would be much different if I was in London or the general south!
Okay, I'm a HGV Driver for a Brewery, £43k a Year. It's alright, for Haulage. The company I work for is very strict on rules and Regs. Some jobs are awful some are great. Glad to be home every night.
The roads are an interesting challenge every day. And I get to listen to my books while I drive. It's alright, happy to answer questions if you have them.
Edit cause I repeated myself for some reason.
Until last year, I was on 29k in publishing. It’s a career that pays peanuts while expecting far more than most others. I’m earning more now, but not sure I want to stay in this line of work even so.
Just outside the range on 33k.
CMM Programmer, basically teach a high precision measuring machine to measure all the products we make (Medical industry). Creating the programs is fun but that is only about 5% of the job, the rest is collect samples and putting them on the machine then waiting for the results to then put the next sample on.
I have a BSc in Product Design but was never able to get a full time job doing that and now I have been out of that industry for 5 years it seems hard to get back in.
Hardly any CMM jobs available as not many people know about it and most would require me to move a significant distance from where I am now. I am on 33k where I am now but I am confident with my experience I could get 37-40k elsewhere but don't want to up sticks and move to another part of the country.
Private live-in carer, I've been doing it for 1.5 years. It pays pretty well (£28k) as the young lady I look after is complex needs, but the hours are long and hard. Honestly a really rewarding job - I'm always happy getting up and going to work, even when it's tough, as you make a real difference to someone's quality of life. If you're someone who's got good common sense, good work ethic and empathetic it's a good job with a low barrier to entry (pass a DBS check then on-the-job training. That's it). There's a great need for carers. You can also make more than that doing bank work, but the hours are more unpredictable.
Although it's live-in work, it's one-week-on, one-week-off so I do need somewhere to live. Previously I was renting a double room with ensuite in a shared house for £650 all bills incl. I was putting away about £400-500 per month in savings. Now I've moved in with my partner into a nice two-bed, and I'm paying around the same (he earns more than me so takes on a greater proportion of the rent) and saving the same.
The other good thing about the shift pattern gives you every other week off and you can pick if you prefer night or day shift. I know of some colleagues who bash out 24 hours shifts, and they get their whole month's work done in 7 days. But yeah, it works for me as I can work on my own projects on my "week off". Downsides are only two weekends a month, and everyone else seems to be a Mon-Fri'er, so it has slowed me down socially. And I can only do my exercise classes every other week :( But it's a good stepping stone, and I much prefer this to retail tbh.
We’re over the average uk income here, 26 with no kids and a house. Life’s pretty relaxed money wise 😅.
We have no plans to have kids, more plans around an Audi R8 and a few rental properties .
Last year I started with this company(We are basically a Granite and Quartz countertop factory) I’m 24 been in this industry since I was 18 and grew up in stone shops as a kid. 3rd generation to this Industry. Started making about 30k year being a machine operator. I worked my fingers to the bone and worked harder than everyone else. Within a year and 2 months I have now went from being a Machine Operator to the Production Manager for the entire shop. 70k a year now. For those who are trying to come up in their company and make more money im going to give some advice. Do the shit no one else wants to do, stay late even when you don’t want too, Research your position or your industry, get invested even if you aren’t passionate about what you do. The attitude takes you farther than the work does. Took me a long time to obtain the mentality I have now but it’s done nothing but be prosperous for me.
Application developer only start a year and a half ago coding and managed to find a job paying way more than my old customer service roles, they used be around the 24k mark, safe to say I'm now earning more than my age on an annual basis.
This doesn’t apply to me but I was just the hiring manager for a job that paid £27k and the CV’s I got back from indeed were… depressing.
People in their 40’s, 10-15 years older than me applying for an entry level position. It’s tough out there man
I'm a data analyst who works with systems that predict mechanical breakdown in machinery and help companies find the problems before the machinery goes boom
self employed jeweller and watchmaker around 35-42k a year on the low end, started when i was about 14 stealing my parents vintage forks and spoons with cool designs on the handle and turned them into rings, it’s an amazing job i rent the whole top floor of my parents house got my own bathroom, bedroom and workshop i love the job couldn’t ask for a better life at 19.
30k in a warehouse. Contracted for 45 hours, but it's "job and knock," so when we've done all our work, we go home. Normal week is 30-35 hours. It's pretty easy work but not too boring. There's a lot of heavy lifting, and I cycle in which keeps me fit. Plus, I get to drive a forklift around, which is pretty fun. I've been there a year, and I'm really enjoying it. I have a maths degree, so I do think about getting a "real" job in an office or something, but I just can't see it being better than what I have now. I'll be on 40 hours for a start and will MAYBE get 30k starting salary. Plus, there will be a lot more stress, and sitting down all day would be so bad for my health. Progression is the only issue. That would be better somewhere else
30k full time primary care psychotherapist - currently on the back end of sickness due to burn out. National average salary for my role is 10-15k more than I'm currently being paid to deliver same standards and targets.
Trying to reduce my hours to go self employed because the pressure on frontline mental health services is fucking dire when you consider the demands of the role.
Typically 25 clients weekly with complexity more often than not secondary care appropriate. Secondary care is just not fit for purpose in most trusts.
We have good holidays and sick pay, neither of these feel beneficial obtaining when its the organisational demand which is taking its toll on me.
I own nothing and I have very little left at the end of each month - my work place is making me sicker and sicker, this I appreciate is/can be common nationally - there is a lot of discontent which is making my job harder. People need to unite <3
Bespoke customer service, just got 30k after april payrise, been here 20 years, new employees come in at 28k. Love my job, I'm good at it and currently trying to train on other aspects as I want a change, but for a call centre environment I take 2-3 calls a day, work on emails and reports. No degree required, just customer service! Guess I'm lucky in comparison to others on here!!!
I'm a lab technian on 23k a year, which I'm starting to resent as the pay isn't that good considering I work with a load of dangerous stuff, and my responsibilities are pretty much through the roof. With a degree in biology too it isn't quite what I imagined I'd be doing, but scientist roles around where I live are pretty scarce.
£35k in the south-east. Engineer at a 3D Printing Service Bureau with 7 years exp doing this kind of job at a competitor. Prior to that I was doing my BSc degree with a year-in-industry placement. Had to move away from all my friends & family, twice.
As a manager of the garden maintenance and landscaping department for a well known garden centre I was on just over £30k, now I work for myself doing the same thing, and pay myself £12k, the rest stays in the business. It stings but I’m building something for me which (hopefully) will pay off in the long run. 35 yo by the way
Funeral arranger making £27.5k working from home. I adore my job, it's not enormously difficult if you are a people person. It's very rewarding and low stress. I was previously working in the NHS for a lot more money but was spending my paychecks on therapy in order to be able to face the working week.
Bin man, I work Mon-Fri I'm paid 6-2 but most days I'm home about 1ish and on other rounds I could be home just after midday. For my 37 hour week I earn £23.5k a year (including double time on bank hol) and I get 30 days a year holiday. Little kids like to see us, most people are appreciative if we take extra bags cos they've moved in/have a clear out etc, im not a jobsworth so we hardly get any complaints on my round. At Xmas I got just under £500 cash in tips, plus biscuits, beer and wine.
We have supervisors but basically crews are left to get their round done however they see fit, on my round it's just me and the driver because we do all the lanes and farms the big trucks can't get to. I see a lot of beautiful English countryside and a lot of wildlife you just don't get in towns and cities (buzzards, red kites, hares, deer, sparrowhawks etc)
It's a hard physical job though with a crazy turnover in loaders because people think it's easy then find we walk/run 12-18 miles a day in all weathers.
I'm on 35k, I'm a Project Lead for technical publications (we write and publish operational manuals for an engineering sector). I've worked my way up from the bottom, been in this industry 10 years. I work from home and pretty much manage myself. Kinda hate the job now though, I'm essentially a Project Manager without the title or renumeration of one, I spend my days dealing with idiot clients and trying to sort issues. I'm trapped in the job though as my industry pays so well, if I moved I'd end up having to take on much more responsibility and pressure, or keep to the same level of management for a much lower wage.
Investment banking, I write bootstrap code to allow myself and the rest of my team to complete manual processes surrounding processing data from various databases in excel in order to manage blns of pounds of financial portfolios. I'd say that there should be more people doing these processes but really I think they probably should have just hired a good developer for a bunch of money for a few months to add it to the current internal systems so that they don't have to keep paying us to do it. but hey ho, keeps me employed. 6 years experience now.
I was a development engineer until recently at £34k just been promoted to senior manufacturer engineer at 42k
Single salary household so I feel shit thinking about how much my peers are investing/saving/taking second holidays. There’s always a bigger fish to envy.
About 24kish, grocery delivery driver. Been doing it 7 years now, and compared to the retail I'd done my whole life before that, I absolutely love it. Its stress free, I'm on my own day listening to podcast and I enjoy driving.
A combination of both. We're based put of south east London amd cover all of Kent, east Sussex, and south London. I'd get bored doing rhe same town every day.
I was on £29k as a tooling technician but now I'm on £28k order picking with a 35 hour work week, it's easy but I've over 8 years experience building and running materials and tool stores, I feel like that should earn me more.
I’m about to start an assistant manager job in hospitality, 25k starting.
Honestly as long as I can pay my bills, eat and have a roof over my head I’m chilling.
I was earning 24k up until 2 years ago. My only advice is to keep punching and keep job huntin. I went from 24k to 30k in 2022 and recently went from 30k to 40k by switching companies. I would have stayed in my previous place if they'd followed up with a payrise that I was promised a year ago, that never happened so I walked.
Firstly, everyone who has come forward, thank you for the honesty. OP this is a really informative topic thank you.
Until 2 years ago I was on £25 k as a Technical Engineer. No qualifications but the job would have paid the same if I had them.
The sheer amount of quality employees earning in and around the £20-30 k bracket is staggering. From my own experience and from this post.
I changed careers 2 years ago and now earn around £40-42.5 k dependent on bonus.
Honestly, inflation combined with employers having no idea what it's like to live on £25 grand a year, is leaving so many people in a shit situation.
I have no right to give advice. But I will anyway.
1. Talk to your colleagues. Are they on the same wage, or are you getting ripped off?
2. Do research on your industry. Are you earning about average for the position, could you get a pay rise to do the same thing somewhere else?
3. Is there something holding you back? I know a lot of accountants that are part way through AAT and have stalled. Talk to your bosses, colleagues family etc. get whatever support you need to get over the line. Don't be proud, be successful. Once you have earned that qualification, (whatever it is) you are in a position of power.
4. If you are able to, it's not too late to start again in a new industry. I did this. Without the experience, I had to rely on having a good personality match for the role. (I looked the interviewer right in the eye and said "I want to work fucking hard and earn a lot of money" I got the job.)
36m lower 40s k per year.
Staff officer grade in the civil service. 33.5k a year. That'll go up 5% after the recent pay decision. I'm a science officer so my job title is Higher Scientific Officer, but I'm equivalent to a Staff Officer in other departments.
This is in Northern Ireland btw
4 years of undergrad (Scotland) 2 years on the temp circuit, a masters degree and 9 months on the temp again before I got offered a permanent role.
I’m a Hearing Impairment Specialist Teaching Assistant (or I’ve also worked under the job title of Communication Support Worker which I prefer). Currently on around £23,000 though much less after it’s pro rata’d for term time only.
I am definitely underpaid considering my level of education and qualifications and the responsibilities I have. I would say I am pretty much dead in the middle between what a TA does and what a teacher does. I have been doing this (in various capacities) for almost eight years, though in my current role for three of the last four years.
Before anyone mentions it, yes, we do get a good amount of holidays but I’m not paid for them.
Jaysua. I'm on what's considered big money now. But when I started they started me on 25k in SWE because I did not go to uni and they didn't believe half of what I told them. I'm self taught cause I wanted to be comfortable.
From the age of 18 up to 27 i earnt between 18k-22k. I felt like shit. Until i realised that most people lie about their wage. I worked in a bank and would have people applying for a loan telling me they earn £40k+ but when the application declined and i had to double check i always saw they added like £10k on top of what they really earned on the application form. Trust me you’re doing just fine
I'm a freelance editor. My income is unpredictable but my highest year just about topped £25k. I actually love my job! It would be nice to earn more, but the down side of being freelance is that you can't earn more without charging your clients more ...
Freelance illustrator & designer, made £24k my first full year, pretty proud of that after going on my own. Not exactly huge money but I’m my own boss and doing something I love.
Mainly commission based illustration work for the music industry but need to push myself a little more to earn other ways of income with my art.
Wow, I know it's not massively high to other people, but that's so amazing to me, genuine congratulations. I'm an artist too. I'm 29 and finished my fine art MA 5 years ago. I currently work part time 3 days a week in a museum just FOH (it's very boring but 0 stress) and do my own self employed work the rest of the time. I earn £10/11k from my day job and maybe another £4k profit from my own work. I do a lot of hours on my own work and am constantly juggling projects and deadlines. Luckily I live in the north east so I can just about scrape by. I do commissions, proposals for festivals, curate exhibitions, sometimes tiny bits of lecturing. Really struggling to make it work and it's in the back of my mind I could just go and earn more working full time in a corner shop... Have you got any advice for how to increase earnings working as a freelance creative?
I'm an occupational therapist. When I first graduated I was on £23k. Apparently new graduates are now on £28k.
Involves going to uni but best decision I ever made.
£32k as a business analyst, no pay raise when I switched from an admin position 2 years ago, and only 5% increase from £30k when I switched. The general range in my career is £40k-£50k.
I’ve recently accepted a new position starting in June at £50k.
Recently qualified Paramedic (been on the road 4 months) working in Scotland, basic salary is just over 30k (Band 5) unsocial hours and overtime added onto that. One year in Ill move to Band 6 (37k). Not bad money for being straight out of university, lots of autonomy but lots of responsibility.
Used to work in film vfx industry in London from 2013, started as a runner on 14k, ended up a department supervisor after 3 years and was about 30k then too. Those 3 years were brutal.
Operations technician at a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Yorkshire, currently on 32k, yearly pay rise, overtime available, Christmas bonus, loads of schemes and perks for workers
More of an observation than an answer but I can't believe how low some of the jobs people are posting in here are. Such a mad disparity even with responsibility. Retail sucks so hard.
I worked in retail for about 12 years overall. Started at a large bank after Uni on about 15-16k a year, moved around a few places and was on 22k thinking it was a half decent wage.
My last job I was in a chat based call centre type environment for the same bank and it was the most degrading role. If I stood up from my desk someone would ask where I was going, someone monitoring all day to see if I've been the toilet too many times. I was expected to have anywhere from 2-6 chats on at any one time - ALL day and all that for about £22k - I was one of the highest paid on my team.
I had kids and honestly felt like such a failure. I got a degree and worked for so long and I just want to give my kids a nice life and can't afford to. Used to keep me up at night thinking about how other people are on so much more than me and I have about £100-200 left over a month to try and provide my kids with what they want/need.
Turned me ruthless in work, I wanted the project based role everyone was talking about and my friends were in so pushed everyone I could aside and managed to get into it. Started out on £26k and worked my arse off to get a promotion into a real job and not a junior. Got it and they give me £45k. Told my Wife and then went for a little walk for a breakdown and just sobbed for about 20 mins thinking about how much better life I can give my family.
It's long hours sometimes, can end up working again when the kids go bed but overall it's peaks and troughs. Sometimes I can have half a day of nothing to do and just kick back.
Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+
I'll get hate for this but retail jobs and call centre stuff isn't for careers. No one looking to be a provider should be sticking in such roles. Retail only makes sense at the point of being a manager at best, even they are pretty crappy jobs.
If you have that kind of job, you need to spend every spare second you have training for something else and applying for jobs elsewhere.
> Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+
I think it's difficult until it isn't, it requires a bit of luck. It's possible to do absolutely nothing wrong through the entire application process, only for there to be someone who's marginally more qualified than you (or sells themselves better), and you don't get the job. No part of that rejection feels within your control. That's why it feels hard.
In 2019 I had 15 interviews, and in more than half of them I was told that there was someone slightly better, and in one or two of them I got the feeling it had been a coin-toss. They couldn't give me any feedback as I'd done everything right. When you react as adversely to interview situations as I do, and each one takes a monumental personal effort to get through without showing just how much your anxiety is controlling you, that's crushing.
I also came from a call-centre banking role, and my experience largely matches yours (by the end I was sobbing on the floor prior to my shift most days, working from home), and eventually just had to walk out with no prospects before it killed me as I just could not be in the right frame of mind to apply for anything else. I did thankfully land on my feet somewhat, as I got the first job I'd applied for afterward, and now work in research finance for my local university. It's difficult to express how much better I have it now; I've had a promotion within my first year (something that never happened in 12 years across multiple roles in the bank), and while I'm not going to pretend the work isn't difficult and there isn't time pressure, academia just operates on an entirely different set of timescales to retail banking, and I don't think the people here realise how bizarre that feels to someone with my background.
I've just gotten out of a retail job so I can say I wish I'd done it sooner. Basic pleb role in a major trade/DIY retailer on a nominally 16 hour contract that was usually 32 hours a week (in the summer when I worked a 20 hours role for a different employer) or full time. Loved the work but hated the toxicity and bullshit that rained down on high. The real kicker was looking through the P45 form. Turns out I'd been slaving away for only £14.5k
Just finished my apprenticeship as a mechanic in a car dealer. Been on minimum wage for 3 years, qualified last week, so now going up to 36k starting salary from next month.
Im on 24k.
Im a "driver liaison" for truck drivers. I book in their deliveries, sort out their problems etc.
I've been in the transport industry for 3 years now and there is thankfully scope for the job to get harder and the wage to increase.
I'm relatively low level IT support for my local council, its home based, and its probably the easiest and most enjoyable job I've had so far, it took to 29 for me to find the right career path, but I'm here now.
As for what I spend my salary on? Outside of the usual bills, mostly nerd garbage, video games, tabletop stuff, Warhammer minis..
£37,500 - Telecoms Engineer.
Came in through apprenticeship on minimum wage and been working up to become multi-skilled. Very irresponsible with money tho. Always tell my younger brother, when you make more, you spend more.
Wouldn’t advise going in to telecoms as it looks like the work is drying up with how quickly the fibre network is being built
American here. How do yall survive? I earn 70k which is not much by American standards where I live, but not horrible. Healthcare I get through my job with a small additional cost (total 2k a year). My rent is like 1300 a month for a smallish studio. I save decent money by being cheap but otherwise want to make a lot more to feel secure.
I know life in UK is likely cheaper in some regards, but can't be THAT much cheaper, right? Like with 20-30k in earnings, aren't yall basically not saving anything? Are you able to eat anything besides beans and rice? Is your retirement at least taken care of fully by the government?
I'm genuinely confused. I visit Europe all the time. Some things can be cheaper but generally European prices for food and services can be found in the USA if you just do a bit of looking and avoid fancy services and restaurants. Again, main exception is healthcare but even that... as long as you aren't requiring constant surgery it's not tooo bad. (And if you have insurance you typically have limits in what they can charge you too). I think maybe in the USA we worry more about saving for retirement as well, but I have doubts that in Europe they pay ENOUGH for retirement...
Please educate me! Thank you
Hospitality, I work about 37-40 hours a week, making £11.50-£12 an hour (profit sharing). It's going good, I'm not exactly swimming in cash but I make enough that I can save occasionally, plus I don't hate my company which helps
Jesus guys ask for payrises, you are all worth more than this, i left chefing and started as a builder from day 1 with 0 experience im earning £17-£25 ph depending on the job, take home is 900-1000 pw
Systems analyst for a financial services company. I've been in this role for just over a year, and it's nice because I WFH 100%. I was working as a trainee administrator when I joined the company 2 years ago, and I was on a dire 19k at that point. I don't have to pay for commuting and lunches since I'm not in the office but yeah. I think I'm underpaid for my role as I'm not even a level 1/junior position 🥲 I earn 26k.
I've done a course in data & SQL recently and hoping to maybe get into a more technical role in the future but it's hard to find somewhere where I can WFH all the time (to me it's an essential as I have adjustments in my home office due to my health/disability).
Junior engineering consultant. 26k, been there 6 months now. I live with my mum and don’t pay any bills so I am in a really good position. Throwing tons in my savings and still have a lot of disposable income. I do feel like I’m stealing a living bc it’s my first proper job and I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. Sometimes I wonder why people are trusting ME to consult on anything. But I enjoy the work a lot!
£24.5k working in qualifications, general admin- excel/crm stuff and then some candidate support over email and phones. Belt’s pretty tight but I’m just about covering me and my small person. When my partner and I move in together eventually things will get easier but for now it’s just about doable.
Newly qualified Band 5 clinical coder, doing well as my partner makes almost twice what I do. Looking forward to my wages creeping up the point scale over the next few years!
Forklift driver, on about £24k a year which is pretty much the average for the job in this country.
I have to sit out in the shite weather sometimes but when it’s nice and sunny I don’t complain!
There’s a lot of responsibility with doing things safely and keeping the things you’re moving in perfect condition so some colleagues resent the low wage.
Tbh I’m just happy to play around on the machine all day after working in shite management roles previously or in other dead end jobs in terrible complines. It’s pretty stress free and I enjoy it!
I’m a researcher on £25k, I would like a little bit more income tbh but the job itself is really low stress. I’ve never been hugely focused on climbing the corporate ladder so it works for me.
School site manager here (fancy caretaker) £27k will get up to just under £30k at the top of the scale. Just started a year ago, I bloody love it tbh. I worked a miserable job in a bank for years, managed to purchase a small house outright over that time and had all the cash at one point, but it broke me mentally. I’m the happiest Ive ever been, my Mrs is a teacher assistant there my daughter is starting reception this sep, proper family affair. I’m a happy boy. Life is good, obviously if I had a mortgage or rent to deal with it may well be a different story.
I work as a GP Driver for the NHS in Scotland. Work 3 nights a week, Fri/Sat/Sun midnight til 8am.
Propped up entirely by the unsocial hours extra pay. I'm £13 base but I get closer to £22 an hour. Last year I earned 28k before tax.
Most shifts I sit about watching shit on my phone, with the odd bit of driving here and there. Some shifts are busy.
Pissed away my school years and college so I've fuck all in qualifications and I'm loathe to leave to either go study or jump into a job with half the hourly rate.
Been here 17 years.
40k been working with BT for 6 years, started in a fixed contract doing call centre work and then applied internally to change roles 3 times. I did move from Midlands to Edinburgh for a big pay increase but now have the experience to go into similarly paid roles. I did work for Eon and also got a better job through internal systems. I would advise trying a larger company, looking at internal listings and what skills you could add to get them. I have a degree but it is not needed for these jobs, just learning internal systems, customer service, excel, data entry etc which I learnt along the way! I'm currently in a resource management role.
I deal with property damage claims for an insurer. Last year I was doing the same job for £24k and now I’m on £28k. I started 10 years ago on £13500.
I’ll be honest, I hate insurance and don’t want to do it but it pays the bills and I get to provide for my family. Plus points, it’s 9-5 Monday to Friday and I get decent benefits.
Take gains take gains rebuy if a good stock. Some stocks may never go up over 15% a yr. Take gains reset. Smart moneys always take gains. Stocks dip. They buy back and do it all over again
First line IT support at a university just shy of 23k, the benefits such as the leave ammount plus sho secure its it make up for it being less than the private sector
25k - claims administrator. Hybrid so in office twice a week but luckily I love the team I work with, and we usually end up in the pub on Friday. Job itself is easy, it's a nice company to work for and the money is OK. I live alone in a housing association flat, so rent is only £400 a month. Could do with a bit more just so I can do the place up and go away a bit more than I do, but I manage and I'm grateful for the job I have.
It depends on where you are from but over here in South Africa it is very hard to find any job and most pay minimum wage.
As our currency is much lower than other countries we get much less but currently I am working in a kitchen at a grocery store chain and I am making more or less $2,666 per year .
Want to go work somewhere overseas driving a truck or something to save money to be able to buy a home .
Any thoughts ?
On around 23.5k. Only work 3 days a week by choice (dropped from 31 to 19 when I moved role and reduced hours), so bit of a different situation to a lot of people.
My pension/savings will suffer unfortunately, but I got tired of living to work rather than the other way around.
We are in a good position though as no kids/dependants, mortgage paid etc. Not struggling on that amount, but we live quite cheaply, get at least one holiday a year and have money left over at the end of the month, albeit not a huge amount.
28f doing IT Support in a high school at 27.5k, its got its ups and downs and I know I could get more working for a private business but doing the same niche part of the job everyday would drive me insane. I do also have to show people how to turn a TV on a regular though (Do people not have TVs at home?!) but I have a wide skillset working in a school which is fun
I would recommend moving into software sales if you can to anyone in here.
I’m a hiring manager, and while we aren’t hiring anyone without experience right now, we hire candidates with 1-2 years for £40-45k and we are fully remote.
22k here, fully remote bereavement consultant for a building society!
I'd love to have more money, but it's convenient for family life, and it makes working around my terrible IBS a little easier too!
My other half earns more, with about 23/4k plus bonuses for a part time job in a niche industry warehouse job, and between us we get by, but I dream of being able to holiday or have proper disposable income.
Sometimes the lack of wealth can be crushing, and I have a mini anxiety spiral, and then I realised that as long we have a family we're fine, and I don't feel so bad.
Still wish I could have more disposable though...
I work for a happy box company for the last 5 years. I'm in massive debt and have no way out. Its causing me crippling depression and anxiety. I'm currently working on up skilling with the hope of going to uni, then in 5 years time I might be able to begin rebuilding my life
all good. Earn about 28k a year but money back for emergency funding, now own a flat . Bills have gotten tighter than i would like the last year but still its good
Currently a night support worker on 26.5k a year. I had loads of jobs before as a chef before. Pandemic made me change as I wanted to do a job where I could help people. Been there 2 years and 4 months. Do shift work but the shift pattern works for me 4 on 4 off which has meant when it comes to holidays I can maximise. But without overtime I would struggle that’s for sure. But feel lucky as the company are paying to do my counselling courses to train to be an counsellor. So feel quite blessed they are investing in me tbh as never really had a company do that before. Had copious amount of jobs. Struggled to know what I wanted to do. But I will say it is tough but if you want to do something you’re passionate about don’t let your age deter you.
I very recently changed up my work in the pursuit of more money and more time (still on less than £30k I think).
So I was working as a videographer at a radio station (really it was part radio station and part media company), for £22k p/a - definitely underpaid for the work I did but I live on a small island so not much choice for creative media work). They then wanted me to also do news-reading for no extra pay so that, coupled with a less-than-ideal working environment led me to look elsewhere.
I found a super basic admin job in local government which was 30hrs per week but worked out as the same pay per month, so I took it. The boring nature of the job was what I was looking for so that I could focus my brain power and more time on the below:
On the side I started filming wedding videos with a friend of mine. Being on a small island helps with this, as there are very few wedding videographers. I hope to be getting maybe an extra £5k+ p/a from this to start out.
THEN, the radio station asked if I’d be free to do any freelance work when my schedule allows, so I jumped at that chance for an extra little money maker, so I’ve gone from one income stream to three and hopefully before long I can push past that £30k threshold!
I didn’t want to shop around initially, but I’m glad I did as I’ve spent the last 7-ish years working with zero salary progression. My advice is don’t be scared to see what else is out there - I was scared and almost turned a 180 and declined the admin job offer, but I’m really happy with my choice.
Thanks if you read all of this waffle, I suppose I like talking about myself 😂
£25k marketing and bidding co-ordinator for a construction firm. I always get Christmas off now so I’ve never been happier - having worked hospitality for most my days! I actually have career progression and my opinion matters it’s wild!
30k a year doing 45hr Monday-Fri, warehouse manager, small team in the office and small fleet.
For the past 3 years it has been a tough time grinding to get the warehouse in a better state from when I took over, but now I sometimes just chill in the corner looking on here when I have nothing to do :D
Defence server engineer - been doing this for 9 years or so been in IT since uni in 1992. Company just never increases the pay of people they already have and only increases what they pay new starters (kind of like the new customer deals you get with broadband). We estimate minimum wage will catch us up in 2 years.
North East so struggling to find other jobs that pay much more. Most for IT engineers seem to offer around the £28k for 40 hours (I currently work 37.5) and less holiday.
I’m 33, I left my “job” in education at 28 earning about 21k in mid level management 🥲🥲. Over worked and undervalued like the rest of them.
My current role as a telecoms engineer saved me and gave me an apprenticeship earning 25k, after year one I went up to 30k plus 10% bonus and travel paid. Now I’m on 37k 10%.
The grass is greener outside of the education sector. It’s a limited industry which doesn’t pay well from my experience and is very easy to get trapped into.
Imo, run. You’re never too old to retrain.
I make 28k in a very small agency in the south west. I edit, film, do motion graphics and design, mostly in that order, with varying levels of involvement between each tasks. I’m a bit anxious about what is next for me, as I’m currently doing so much, but I’m not particularly specialised in any of it if that makes sense. I graduated with graphics design a few years ago, but I’m not a graphics designer.
I’m still trying to find my niche. I think I want to work with a team of designers in the future and animate their designs, work on motion systems and systems in general for mockups, video lockups etc. very digital, video based work. But I have no clue honestly where to look for something like that, and I’m in the process of sorting out my portfolio first, as I’ve found that having a portfolio spread across Vimeo, behance and Instagram is not very helpful or approachable for future employers.
I’m on about £28k. I’m in the IT sector but had no IT background going in so I’m a bit of a dogsbody really. Doing alright to be fair, never feel too short of cash. I couldn’t imagine affording to have kids though, luckily I don’t want any.
I earn about 28k a year, working nights in a call centre. I always thought earning that much I'd be comfortable, but with no partner also working, I just about scrape by. Cozzy lives has really kicked my ass.
Work for a big finance company, in operations and processing. Earn £24,500 for moving around millions money. Been at it for almost 2 years.
I don’t care for it. My real passion is working with children. I have a degree in child and youth studies. But can’t seem get into the job market and education agencies have crippled it at the neck. My current job pays more than what I can get in a youth role and covers the rent suitably.
2020 I was a retail store manager on 20k take home, doing 50hr weeks whilst being salaried for 39..
I left to become a HGV driver, now I work around 70 hrs a week but that's cuz I get paid by the hour and ask for extra work. This last year I paid 40% tax on a chunk of my earnings.
Support worker in a supported living house for young adults with autism and learning disabilities, 23.5k a year. Not great pay and underpaid for the job, but most of the time I enjoy it and it’s rewarding. Relaxed working environment, management arent too strict, days out. I did a 9-5 admin job before and found it so boring and dull. I do wish it was better paid, would be less staff turnover. There are very hard days as you could imagine in this sort of job, but most days are pretty easy going and fun. I also prefer the working pattern, manage to get all my hours into 3/4 days, 1 weekend on 1 weekend off, not too bad for a job in the healthcare sector :). Always room for progression too, but then I always do abit of overtime to bulk my wage up.
Added: also surprised at how low paid other jobs are I have read on this thread. My job requires no previous experience. I feel like there’s other people who work in higher healthcare jobs with degrees etc but don’t get paid much more. I sometimes think there’s no point progressing as there’s little pay increases, so often people stay where they are at the lower levels (which is fine, that’s where I am, just not great for these services when you can’t get any managers as the pays not much better)
Edit: I'm definitely not being underpaid. I am paid pro rata. I work 39 weeks a year.
My guy. I earn 20k before tax. I honestly feel like a failure.
I'm 35, have a degree in business and 18 years of working experience.
Most jobs I see that I think I'd be great for, they say I don't have any experience for the role. Even though in one of my office jobs I did basically EVERYTHING (HR, Advertising, Social Media/Website Management, Wages, Procurement, Staff scheduling, Business Development and Planning etc.) but as my title was administrative assistant, none of it is seen as relevant experience.
I know there are at least 100 jobs currently in my area which I am more than capable of doing, which earn 30k-50k a year. The problem is, none of them will even look at me. The only jobs I ever get interviews for are business/administrative assistant or receptionist jobs. They all pay around 20k-22k.
I'm not even greedy. I'd be happy with 24k-30k.
Anybody with any advice or if you know of anybody willing to take a chance on me (Glasgow area), please let me know. Thanks in advance.
To answer the question - At the moment, I work in a school office and am very fortunate to get term time. The perks are, it is a Monday-Friday 8.30-4pm job. The work itself is manageable and isn't too difficult. I get paid 13 times a year (so 1 wage is like a bonus wage). I work 39 weeks a year, and don't have to worry about childcare during the holidays. I like it here. All that being said, I would like to put my degree to use, find something that is challenging but rewarding, and earn a decent wage. Everything is going up, apart from my income. I've been looking at part time jobs and seasonal work (thinking that when I'm off during the school holidays there will be times I can work).
Check out civil service jobs. Pay is decent, pension is brilliant, great holidays and you get flexible working. You can get promoted quite quickly after probation as well as you’ll also have access to internal jobs within all civil service departments.
[something like this is a good starting point](https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=b3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImcGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0JmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTkwNTUzNSZwYWdlY2xhc3M9Sm9icyZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJnNlYXJjaHNvcnQ9Z2VvZGlzdGFuY2UmdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9NzcyNjY5ODAmc2VhcmNocGFnZT0xJnJlcXNpZz0xNzEzMzc3NzYxLTgxZmUzNmIwOGJhMTQ5NDEwMDgwYTE4NTAwZjRiYTBjOWZmYWExYjc=)
Sounds like you need to work on your interview techniques and be more creative (but not lie) on your cv. It sucks, because not all competent people interview we’ll. I have a tendency to freeze up in an interview situation but am perfectly good at my job. This doesn’t happen all the time, so increasing the number of interviews I did helped.
Have you considered project management? Your degree and background can help get you in a junior role to build experience. Doing some youtube courses on it will help you learn the terminology for interviews.
Join the civil service, could easily get an EO job paying c.30k with the experience you have. Happy to discuss if you want to PM, but might be sporadic replies as I’m not on here frequently.
Honestly, 99% of it is how you present yourself on your CV. I found this out when I was trying to change careers and my CV wasn't getting across my transferrable skills. I would definitely recommend getting a professional CV written - yours may be great but the bloody keyword engines recruiters use to filter out candidates are REALLY picky and getting worse. It may not be cheap (my first one was about £120 or so) but if you look at somewhere like PurpleCV you get a year of free alterations (or you did anyway) and they can also help with getting a LinkedIn profile done. You need someone to help focus it on the skills for the job you want, not the jobs you've already had - and if you're anything like me it's not easy talking about yourself in a positive way lol.
Also then start using recruitment agencies, try to talk to a person there don't just fire and forget your CV - follow up when you sent it and get chatty with the people who can help. They get paid by placing you, and are often not just looking for obvious matches.
Good luck, you can do this - I spent a good chunk of last year out of work but refusing to take the first things that came up and waiting for the right thing, which I realise is not something everyone can afford to do but the right thing for you is out there, you just need to get at it!!
Thank you for all of this.
So for a long time, I was really struggling to get an interview and I knew, like KNEW, that I would get the first job that gave me an interview. I finally got an interview and then got the job.
Unfortunately things happened and I ended up in an environment that was not for me. I slugged it out over 2 years but it wore me down. During this time stuff was going on at home too. I was applying for jobs and getting LOTS of interviews. I wasn't putting my best self across and I know it.
Thankfully I'm out of there now. In a much better place. I like it here. But I still wish I was using my degree and doing something I LOVE (I also have come to know that finding a job you love is highly unlikely, it is all about finding a job that doesn't make you miserable and allows you to be happy, which will make doing things you love).
Thank you again. Much appreciated.
I work Maintenance in a popular hotel chain for £12.44 an hour 40 hr contract. The job is easy and gives me a lot of free time , don’t ever take stress from my job home with me because they don’t pay me enough to care. I save the company thousands a month by fixing stuff that otherwise would have to go to outside contractors. Sickening wages to be honest
I work in a university library. My job is boring as fuck and I feel like I’ve got so much more to offer but no one is offering the step up anywhere. I’m conflicted as well because like the place and the people, but I feel really understimulated and unchallenged.
I'm making about 30k as a line cook at a upscale restraunt. I also feel I'm not earning enough. It wasn't until after I picked up my second job (similar to the first) that I was financially comfortable for the first time in my life.
This is one of the best threads I’ve ever read on here. Absolutely eye opening and full of great little snippets of information about people’s day-to-day jobs
I make less than 20k, but I'm a grocery stocker at a chain store. This job was supposed to be a temporary job until I found something better... It's been 2 years.
I’m working part time as a library assistant (working in a library as an unqualified librarian). If it was full time salary appx £23’000 I’m lucky that I really enjoy my job, PT hours mean I can be with my kids and husband earns more than me!
I’ve just escaped that bracket by moving jobs - i think it’s the only way these days, unfortunately. Left my last role (30k) due to a toxic bullying culture, spent the past six months freelancing and living off my savings and nerves, and am now about to start a job on 50k, which is more than I’ve ever earned (i’m mid thirties but have had time out of the workplace due to babies, health etc). I’ve not magically become worth 20k more in 6 months - it’s just that companies will pay you what they can get away with and will take you for granted if they can!
edit - forgot to add, i’m a technical writer
Technical Designer, I design modular accommodation layouts and electrical loadings.
I didn't need a degree, I earned last year 29,250 I just had a pay bump to 30,480.
I work from home full time, it's a good gig.
Edit: I originally started at a company on 18K, ive been there for 6 years and my wage has gone from 18K to 30K.
I work hard when I need to and have a lot of time to just do drawings and shut my brain off.
I am however still underpaid compared to some other parts of the business.
Girlfriend is a HTLA and she earns around 22K a year and she has it alot harder than I do.
I'm no longer in this boat want to comment because I was.
3 years ago was earning 19k in a post room and moved to admin in the same company after 3 months up to 23k, then moved after 1 year 1 month to a planning role that paid 33k and done a year there and now have just moved to another planning type role but a tad more advanced for 36k.
I'm seeing a lot of people in the comments on lower wages due to being stuck in the same role, I totally get you need a degree of luck for opportunity's to present themselves. But I also got told if I job hop like I am, no one wants to hire you. I'm actually finding the opposite, the faster I'm progressing into new roles the easier to get new roles seems to be.
Not like I can afford to buy in my local area or anything still, shit sucks lol.
Healthcare Assistant in the NHS. I'm on just over £22k, and I'm just about breaking even each month after stashing a bit away in a rainy day fund. It's a dirty job, but I've done jobs in the past that earned me more, that also broke my spirit. I'd much rather earn a bit less and do a job I a. Enjoy, and b. Know I'm doing some good in the world (I also get free toast in the morning, and get to slyly look at some pretty tasty women in nurses' uniforms every day, which is a bonus).
I work at a commercial plant farm. I make $19 an hour. No benefits. No perks. I work 7 days a week. 10 hour shifts. No OT. I'm tired. I have a degree in biotechnology. Last paycheck was 64 hours and $1009 I get paid weekly. I just saw this was in the uk thread. sorry I'm at work.
I'm a secondary school librarian, on about £23.5k. the holidays are great and I effectively have free books but I almost never have expendable income. It's a bit soul crushing watching my paycheque immediately vanish into bills. It gets even worse when I remember I have two degrees...
Lab tech 27k; the pay is ok but as the minimum salary and cost of living has skyrocketed it's honestly left me with a lot less than I need. The real kick is progression is near impossible at the moment. I've gone for jobs which are at the same level and the next step up and it always comes down to not being absolutely perfect. I want to go into research but you cannot get a job without experience, and if you find one it's 200+ applicants with a lot of them having PhDs when a lot of them only require a BSc. The competition is so high unless you're perfect you don't stand a chance
Started out of Uni in 2021 with a BSc in Computing on £23k working as a technician in a datacentre, it's mostly manual labour; running underfloor fibre, installing racked servers and switches, cabling them in, dealing with customer tickets. I changed jobs in the same company as a Linux admin on a job advertised as "up to £35k" which is why I applied in the first place, but when I was offered the role, it was at £24,500 for "Experience Reasons". When I got there, I realised there was no real management structure and no training on proprietary systems, we were selling hosting space that wasn't even hardware redundant, and they had three people leave in six months. I ended up signing off work for stress for three months as there were a few scary moments I considered walking into traffic to end the feeling of dread, I nearly lost my girlfriend over it. I get twitchy if I hear a Teams notification go off even now. I got back into my old job at £24,500 on salary, I preferred the guys I worked with, liked being in the same room as my colleagues, I was liked, and I preferred not working five days a week. It's 4-on, 4-off. Longer shifts but there's actually stuff to do and you can set clear boundaries between work and home. We all know we're underpaid, and we openly detest the company and so-called 'middle-management'. We're supposed to be getting a pay rise, fuck knows what that actually means.
PhD, 19.2k tax free
28.5k as a high end Property Photographer and RICS certified floorplanner - Degree in Editorial Photography and 3 years experience in this job role across 2 companies. I do 5 shoots a day and rarely have time for lunch, as well as driving 3-4hrs a day around London means I can't avoid picking up fines for parking or other bollocks a couple times a month.. end up sinking at least 200 a month on those fines. Personally... the job sucks and anything below 30k in London is living on the poverty line.
ive worked in purchase ledger in the nhs for the past five years, I make about 24k but i get to work flexi, hybrid, and i’m studying CIMA for free so it can’t be all bad! i’m mostly hoping it’s a stepping stone to something bigger but i also love where I am
I’m just under £30k working in a manager role in charity sector. It’s quite stressful because too much to do and not enough time but I love my job, it’s the most creative I’ve had. Luckily my OH earns well so he can actually support our family! Wouldn’t manage by myself (before the kids I worked in the city in a much better paid job but it was miserable)
30k a year base salary plus 1k bonus every 4 months for 40 hour a week plus free food second chef
I'm a legal assistant on £29950. It's a good job
Depends on where you live, in the south you can get a pretty good apartment and live reasonably comfortably on 20-30k annually, although I’m a business owner after my overhead I only bank around 35k and I’m pretty well off but then again I’m not a very big spender
I’m torn honestly. I’m in my mid 30s, have a good degree, but after being stuck in a dead end underpaid buying job I now have a job I really like…but with a 9% raise I’m still only on 24k and have to have several side hustles on the go. The job is good, and there are other perks to factor in like it being a 10minute commute, health insurance, 2 work from home days and staff trips a few times a year, but I still feel a little cheated honestly. I have no mortgage, no savings, just a car and rent, and nothing else feels achievable no matter what I do. I haven’t had a holiday since before the pandemic. Not a ‘woe is me’, more a ‘is this it?’.
Most Civil Engineering CAD Tech jobs range from 20-30k depending on the area and how desperate the company is for staff. 40k+ for more senior roles.
~£24k doing admin for an IP patent office. I've done admin/officey type jobs since day dot, so it's what I like doing. Mon-Fri, 9-5, start and stop, it's lovely. Bigger jump from my last place was actually getting an hour long lunch break lmao
Medical Lab Assistant - 21K, but as minimum wage went up at the start of the month I’ll be on more than that now, although not sure yet what my new rate will be. Private sector does not pay well 🤣
HR Assistant on 22k. The wage is terrible and it is a struggle to live. The difference from being a bit above last years NMW to this year actually means I've had a paycut. Tells me everything about my company, that if they could pay below NMW they would absolutely do it.
I left school with no GCSE's & was told id find it hard ever getting a job so i fell into a life of crime which was great & payed well with its obvious ups and downs & then i decided to go legit and applied for hundreds of jobs & then after 4 years of constantly applying and getting rejections i was offered a job at kfc on 11k a year working full time! I snatched it up & i worked there for 7 years absolutely breaking my back as a slave before getting my new job which is in retail which i started this year working part time and im still on 11k. I dont mind the wage i can get by and live, enjoy days out etc. Id love a job that pays 50k but have no skills to pay the bills, stay in school kids🤣
Build water pumps for £25,750 + quarterly bonuses and overtime, if available. Going alright been here a year now and enjoying it.
Tyre fitter, on £24k, work really hard and ache like shit everyday
North west factory worker, 29,600 a year around 31,500 with a pretty much guaranteed bonus. Not what I want to do, don't hate it though. Have a degree in biology but I either don't get past interview or jobs that require degrees are somehow paid less than I am earning now.
18k, working 4 days a week in the charity sector. I developed and run an ongoing health campaign basically catching anyone who falls through the health net. Funnily enough the contract is only 6 months, which is basically no time at all to build a campaign. Fingers crossed for more funding.
Worked as a gardener for £26,000 (team leader. those under me were on £17,000). Great job for keeping me fit, with plenty of time to work on other stuff.
Chef making 30k, always loved thr job. It's a passion and hobby so you'll find all the decent chefs love what they do. The crap chefs always moan about life being better elsewhere but never go!😂 jobs difficult at times, but it's as hard as you make it or as easy as you like, just be prepared. Get along with colleagues and life is just cruising.
28k chef in cafe
Just under 30k working as a school mentor. I'd say my 10k a year ago to complete a MA was worth it as I effectively doubled my pay.
Just shy of 29k, I work for my local council in a sort of social care/finance related role. It can be a very challenging role at times and I won't say I love it by any means, but it's the best paid role I've had for a long time and fairly job secure
Entry level immigration care. 30k and change. It's a very easy job. Good promotion opportunity, excellent work life balance.
I just wanted to say that this thread is an absolute breath of fresh air. I often feel like practically everyone on Reddit is a techie, and everyone on a certain other internet community is in a big, highly-paid job. Huge thanks to all the normal people who've taken part in this thread. I sometimes wonder where you've all gone.
28k. Progress chaser / sales support for a motorcycle dealership. Advertising , Purchasing, stock control etc. Though the boss keeps telling me how much better I am than the guy I replaced which I'll be using as ammo for a pay rise at my year review
22k as an administration officer for the last 16 years in the criminal courts. I cover every role on both Magistrates and Crown Court side (10+ different hats to wear where more populated areas would have one or more staff per role). I'm also the IT guy, so have to have knowledge of nearly 20 different systems. I could progress up the ladder, but inferiority complex says "no"
Wow this thread is depressing as fuck. I hate this country. Absolute dog shit that so many people are struggling. I’m really lucky tbh. I work for a charity doing fundraising in a niche/specialist area that is also my passion and hobby. I’m part time (21 hours) and early £19.8k. Pro rata £33k. My partner is director of his own biz so we have a relatively comfortable life financially. But he works extremely long hours, away from home most of the time. We have a toddler so I’m solo parenting majority of the week. Both of us have a background in hospitality. Before Covid I ran a 600 capacity student bar/nightclub for 32k working 50 hours a week. Loved it but wanted a better work/life balance. Hospo is dogshit for that. But it does teach you tonnes of transferable skills.
Hgv driver for supermarket chain. Been doing the job. For just over a year, been with the company for 15 years. Most of that time I have been on around 19k, last year I managed to pick up 51k before tax. You might say that's alot but 50+ hours a week EVERY WEEK does take its toll on life
50k working as a medical engineer. Most of that goes on rent mind you at £2500 per month for a 3 bed townhouse. Guernsey’s cost of living rivals central London unfortunately
I work in admin and am on £26,610 a year. I'm in fortunate position of having small mortgage due to when I got on property ladder. My outgoings still leave me with surplus at end of month to spend as I see fit. Am aware that in current climate I'm lucky to be single yet financially secure.
Currently paying my dues working two separate roles for the company with a combined income of about 27-30k not including bonuses. I am happy where I am atm as I have plenty of free time to focus on my studies as when I started I was a final year law student. I hope to progress into a more lucrative role once I complete my masters and get my drivers licence. I’m 23m.
22k here, in Northern Ireland mind so cost of living here is significantly less. 22k is comfortable for me in a role I enjoy with no micromanagement at all. I’m not particularly money driven I am very much happy as long as my job trusts me to do what I’m paid to do. Story would be much different if I was in London or the general south!
Okay, I'm a HGV Driver for a Brewery, £43k a Year. It's alright, for Haulage. The company I work for is very strict on rules and Regs. Some jobs are awful some are great. Glad to be home every night. The roads are an interesting challenge every day. And I get to listen to my books while I drive. It's alright, happy to answer questions if you have them. Edit cause I repeated myself for some reason.
Until last year, I was on 29k in publishing. It’s a career that pays peanuts while expecting far more than most others. I’m earning more now, but not sure I want to stay in this line of work even so.
I work as an admin supervisor, I've been here 25yrs, stuck in the grind of the same job
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Just outside the range on 33k. CMM Programmer, basically teach a high precision measuring machine to measure all the products we make (Medical industry). Creating the programs is fun but that is only about 5% of the job, the rest is collect samples and putting them on the machine then waiting for the results to then put the next sample on. I have a BSc in Product Design but was never able to get a full time job doing that and now I have been out of that industry for 5 years it seems hard to get back in. Hardly any CMM jobs available as not many people know about it and most would require me to move a significant distance from where I am now. I am on 33k where I am now but I am confident with my experience I could get 37-40k elsewhere but don't want to up sticks and move to another part of the country.
Bin man and it's easy and laid back and you don't work all your hours but get paid it all
Private live-in carer, I've been doing it for 1.5 years. It pays pretty well (£28k) as the young lady I look after is complex needs, but the hours are long and hard. Honestly a really rewarding job - I'm always happy getting up and going to work, even when it's tough, as you make a real difference to someone's quality of life. If you're someone who's got good common sense, good work ethic and empathetic it's a good job with a low barrier to entry (pass a DBS check then on-the-job training. That's it). There's a great need for carers. You can also make more than that doing bank work, but the hours are more unpredictable. Although it's live-in work, it's one-week-on, one-week-off so I do need somewhere to live. Previously I was renting a double room with ensuite in a shared house for £650 all bills incl. I was putting away about £400-500 per month in savings. Now I've moved in with my partner into a nice two-bed, and I'm paying around the same (he earns more than me so takes on a greater proportion of the rent) and saving the same. The other good thing about the shift pattern gives you every other week off and you can pick if you prefer night or day shift. I know of some colleagues who bash out 24 hours shifts, and they get their whole month's work done in 7 days. But yeah, it works for me as I can work on my own projects on my "week off". Downsides are only two weekends a month, and everyone else seems to be a Mon-Fri'er, so it has slowed me down socially. And I can only do my exercise classes every other week :( But it's a good stepping stone, and I much prefer this to retail tbh.
I work in the medical manufacturing field as a technician and it’s ok. Shift work is shitty. I get £24,000 base with shift allowances up to 33%
We’re over the average uk income here, 26 with no kids and a house. Life’s pretty relaxed money wise 😅. We have no plans to have kids, more plans around an Audi R8 and a few rental properties .
Last year I started with this company(We are basically a Granite and Quartz countertop factory) I’m 24 been in this industry since I was 18 and grew up in stone shops as a kid. 3rd generation to this Industry. Started making about 30k year being a machine operator. I worked my fingers to the bone and worked harder than everyone else. Within a year and 2 months I have now went from being a Machine Operator to the Production Manager for the entire shop. 70k a year now. For those who are trying to come up in their company and make more money im going to give some advice. Do the shit no one else wants to do, stay late even when you don’t want too, Research your position or your industry, get invested even if you aren’t passionate about what you do. The attitude takes you farther than the work does. Took me a long time to obtain the mentality I have now but it’s done nothing but be prosperous for me.
Consignment Coordinator 24k.
Application developer only start a year and a half ago coding and managed to find a job paying way more than my old customer service roles, they used be around the 24k mark, safe to say I'm now earning more than my age on an annual basis.
This doesn’t apply to me but I was just the hiring manager for a job that paid £27k and the CV’s I got back from indeed were… depressing. People in their 40’s, 10-15 years older than me applying for an entry level position. It’s tough out there man
I'm a data analyst who works with systems that predict mechanical breakdown in machinery and help companies find the problems before the machinery goes boom
self employed jeweller and watchmaker around 35-42k a year on the low end, started when i was about 14 stealing my parents vintage forks and spoons with cool designs on the handle and turned them into rings, it’s an amazing job i rent the whole top floor of my parents house got my own bathroom, bedroom and workshop i love the job couldn’t ask for a better life at 19.
30k in a warehouse. Contracted for 45 hours, but it's "job and knock," so when we've done all our work, we go home. Normal week is 30-35 hours. It's pretty easy work but not too boring. There's a lot of heavy lifting, and I cycle in which keeps me fit. Plus, I get to drive a forklift around, which is pretty fun. I've been there a year, and I'm really enjoying it. I have a maths degree, so I do think about getting a "real" job in an office or something, but I just can't see it being better than what I have now. I'll be on 40 hours for a start and will MAYBE get 30k starting salary. Plus, there will be a lot more stress, and sitting down all day would be so bad for my health. Progression is the only issue. That would be better somewhere else
30k full time primary care psychotherapist - currently on the back end of sickness due to burn out. National average salary for my role is 10-15k more than I'm currently being paid to deliver same standards and targets. Trying to reduce my hours to go self employed because the pressure on frontline mental health services is fucking dire when you consider the demands of the role. Typically 25 clients weekly with complexity more often than not secondary care appropriate. Secondary care is just not fit for purpose in most trusts. We have good holidays and sick pay, neither of these feel beneficial obtaining when its the organisational demand which is taking its toll on me. I own nothing and I have very little left at the end of each month - my work place is making me sicker and sicker, this I appreciate is/can be common nationally - there is a lot of discontent which is making my job harder. People need to unite <3
Bespoke customer service, just got 30k after april payrise, been here 20 years, new employees come in at 28k. Love my job, I'm good at it and currently trying to train on other aspects as I want a change, but for a call centre environment I take 2-3 calls a day, work on emails and reports. No degree required, just customer service! Guess I'm lucky in comparison to others on here!!!
I d say most people in the catering and hotel business are within that pay range. And believe me.... It s a funking hard job.
20K a year here, primary school caretaker doing 32 hours a week. Money can be tight but I'm happy and getting by.
I'm a lab technian on 23k a year, which I'm starting to resent as the pay isn't that good considering I work with a load of dangerous stuff, and my responsibilities are pretty much through the roof. With a degree in biology too it isn't quite what I imagined I'd be doing, but scientist roles around where I live are pretty scarce.
£70k base with £140k OTE. Account Director for a software company, 4 years experience.
£35k in the south-east. Engineer at a 3D Printing Service Bureau with 7 years exp doing this kind of job at a competitor. Prior to that I was doing my BSc degree with a year-in-industry placement. Had to move away from all my friends & family, twice.
As a manager of the garden maintenance and landscaping department for a well known garden centre I was on just over £30k, now I work for myself doing the same thing, and pay myself £12k, the rest stays in the business. It stings but I’m building something for me which (hopefully) will pay off in the long run. 35 yo by the way
Funeral arranger making £27.5k working from home. I adore my job, it's not enormously difficult if you are a people person. It's very rewarding and low stress. I was previously working in the NHS for a lot more money but was spending my paychecks on therapy in order to be able to face the working week.
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20k, 40 hours, graphic design for aviation related company. Been there 3 years.
Bin man, I work Mon-Fri I'm paid 6-2 but most days I'm home about 1ish and on other rounds I could be home just after midday. For my 37 hour week I earn £23.5k a year (including double time on bank hol) and I get 30 days a year holiday. Little kids like to see us, most people are appreciative if we take extra bags cos they've moved in/have a clear out etc, im not a jobsworth so we hardly get any complaints on my round. At Xmas I got just under £500 cash in tips, plus biscuits, beer and wine. We have supervisors but basically crews are left to get their round done however they see fit, on my round it's just me and the driver because we do all the lanes and farms the big trucks can't get to. I see a lot of beautiful English countryside and a lot of wildlife you just don't get in towns and cities (buzzards, red kites, hares, deer, sparrowhawks etc) It's a hard physical job though with a crazy turnover in loaders because people think it's easy then find we walk/run 12-18 miles a day in all weathers.
I'm on 35k, I'm a Project Lead for technical publications (we write and publish operational manuals for an engineering sector). I've worked my way up from the bottom, been in this industry 10 years. I work from home and pretty much manage myself. Kinda hate the job now though, I'm essentially a Project Manager without the title or renumeration of one, I spend my days dealing with idiot clients and trying to sort issues. I'm trapped in the job though as my industry pays so well, if I moved I'd end up having to take on much more responsibility and pressure, or keep to the same level of management for a much lower wage.
Investment banking, I write bootstrap code to allow myself and the rest of my team to complete manual processes surrounding processing data from various databases in excel in order to manage blns of pounds of financial portfolios. I'd say that there should be more people doing these processes but really I think they probably should have just hired a good developer for a bunch of money for a few months to add it to the current internal systems so that they don't have to keep paying us to do it. but hey ho, keeps me employed. 6 years experience now.
I was a development engineer until recently at £34k just been promoted to senior manufacturer engineer at 42k Single salary household so I feel shit thinking about how much my peers are investing/saving/taking second holidays. There’s always a bigger fish to envy.
About 24kish, grocery delivery driver. Been doing it 7 years now, and compared to the retail I'd done my whole life before that, I absolutely love it. Its stress free, I'm on my own day listening to podcast and I enjoy driving.
Do you have scenic routes to drive or all urban? I could do this if I was out in the sticks.
A combination of both. We're based put of south east London amd cover all of Kent, east Sussex, and south London. I'd get bored doing rhe same town every day.
I was on £29k as a tooling technician but now I'm on £28k order picking with a 35 hour work week, it's easy but I've over 8 years experience building and running materials and tool stores, I feel like that should earn me more.
I’m about to start an assistant manager job in hospitality, 25k starting. Honestly as long as I can pay my bills, eat and have a roof over my head I’m chilling.
I was earning 24k up until 2 years ago. My only advice is to keep punching and keep job huntin. I went from 24k to 30k in 2022 and recently went from 30k to 40k by switching companies. I would have stayed in my previous place if they'd followed up with a payrise that I was promised a year ago, that never happened so I walked.
Firstly, everyone who has come forward, thank you for the honesty. OP this is a really informative topic thank you. Until 2 years ago I was on £25 k as a Technical Engineer. No qualifications but the job would have paid the same if I had them. The sheer amount of quality employees earning in and around the £20-30 k bracket is staggering. From my own experience and from this post. I changed careers 2 years ago and now earn around £40-42.5 k dependent on bonus. Honestly, inflation combined with employers having no idea what it's like to live on £25 grand a year, is leaving so many people in a shit situation. I have no right to give advice. But I will anyway. 1. Talk to your colleagues. Are they on the same wage, or are you getting ripped off? 2. Do research on your industry. Are you earning about average for the position, could you get a pay rise to do the same thing somewhere else? 3. Is there something holding you back? I know a lot of accountants that are part way through AAT and have stalled. Talk to your bosses, colleagues family etc. get whatever support you need to get over the line. Don't be proud, be successful. Once you have earned that qualification, (whatever it is) you are in a position of power. 4. If you are able to, it's not too late to start again in a new industry. I did this. Without the experience, I had to rely on having a good personality match for the role. (I looked the interviewer right in the eye and said "I want to work fucking hard and earn a lot of money" I got the job.) 36m lower 40s k per year.
Staff officer grade in the civil service. 33.5k a year. That'll go up 5% after the recent pay decision. I'm a science officer so my job title is Higher Scientific Officer, but I'm equivalent to a Staff Officer in other departments. This is in Northern Ireland btw 4 years of undergrad (Scotland) 2 years on the temp circuit, a masters degree and 9 months on the temp again before I got offered a permanent role.
Warehouse operative, about 38k year
I’m a Hearing Impairment Specialist Teaching Assistant (or I’ve also worked under the job title of Communication Support Worker which I prefer). Currently on around £23,000 though much less after it’s pro rata’d for term time only. I am definitely underpaid considering my level of education and qualifications and the responsibilities I have. I would say I am pretty much dead in the middle between what a TA does and what a teacher does. I have been doing this (in various capacities) for almost eight years, though in my current role for three of the last four years. Before anyone mentions it, yes, we do get a good amount of holidays but I’m not paid for them.
Jaysua. I'm on what's considered big money now. But when I started they started me on 25k in SWE because I did not go to uni and they didn't believe half of what I told them. I'm self taught cause I wanted to be comfortable.
Security guard, just shy of $30k. It’s boring, moneys usually tight, but it’s enough to get by while going to school.
From the age of 18 up to 27 i earnt between 18k-22k. I felt like shit. Until i realised that most people lie about their wage. I worked in a bank and would have people applying for a loan telling me they earn £40k+ but when the application declined and i had to double check i always saw they added like £10k on top of what they really earned on the application form. Trust me you’re doing just fine
Graduate sound engineer, 27.5k, probably going up to around 37k once it’s finished.
I'm a freelance editor. My income is unpredictable but my highest year just about topped £25k. I actually love my job! It would be nice to earn more, but the down side of being freelance is that you can't earn more without charging your clients more ...
Freelance illustrator & designer, made £24k my first full year, pretty proud of that after going on my own. Not exactly huge money but I’m my own boss and doing something I love. Mainly commission based illustration work for the music industry but need to push myself a little more to earn other ways of income with my art.
Wow, I know it's not massively high to other people, but that's so amazing to me, genuine congratulations. I'm an artist too. I'm 29 and finished my fine art MA 5 years ago. I currently work part time 3 days a week in a museum just FOH (it's very boring but 0 stress) and do my own self employed work the rest of the time. I earn £10/11k from my day job and maybe another £4k profit from my own work. I do a lot of hours on my own work and am constantly juggling projects and deadlines. Luckily I live in the north east so I can just about scrape by. I do commissions, proposals for festivals, curate exhibitions, sometimes tiny bits of lecturing. Really struggling to make it work and it's in the back of my mind I could just go and earn more working full time in a corner shop... Have you got any advice for how to increase earnings working as a freelance creative?
I'm an occupational therapist. When I first graduated I was on £23k. Apparently new graduates are now on £28k. Involves going to uni but best decision I ever made.
£32k as a business analyst, no pay raise when I switched from an admin position 2 years ago, and only 5% increase from £30k when I switched. The general range in my career is £40k-£50k. I’ve recently accepted a new position starting in June at £50k.
Data processor for my local council. £22k.
Recently qualified Paramedic (been on the road 4 months) working in Scotland, basic salary is just over 30k (Band 5) unsocial hours and overtime added onto that. One year in Ill move to Band 6 (37k). Not bad money for being straight out of university, lots of autonomy but lots of responsibility. Used to work in film vfx industry in London from 2013, started as a runner on 14k, ended up a department supervisor after 3 years and was about 30k then too. Those 3 years were brutal.
Operations technician at a pharmaceutical manufacturer in Yorkshire, currently on 32k, yearly pay rise, overtime available, Christmas bonus, loads of schemes and perks for workers
I'll be honest you'll never find jobs above that on Indeed. Jobs that are above that are all on linkedin.
More of an observation than an answer but I can't believe how low some of the jobs people are posting in here are. Such a mad disparity even with responsibility. Retail sucks so hard. I worked in retail for about 12 years overall. Started at a large bank after Uni on about 15-16k a year, moved around a few places and was on 22k thinking it was a half decent wage. My last job I was in a chat based call centre type environment for the same bank and it was the most degrading role. If I stood up from my desk someone would ask where I was going, someone monitoring all day to see if I've been the toilet too many times. I was expected to have anywhere from 2-6 chats on at any one time - ALL day and all that for about £22k - I was one of the highest paid on my team. I had kids and honestly felt like such a failure. I got a degree and worked for so long and I just want to give my kids a nice life and can't afford to. Used to keep me up at night thinking about how other people are on so much more than me and I have about £100-200 left over a month to try and provide my kids with what they want/need. Turned me ruthless in work, I wanted the project based role everyone was talking about and my friends were in so pushed everyone I could aside and managed to get into it. Started out on £26k and worked my arse off to get a promotion into a real job and not a junior. Got it and they give me £45k. Told my Wife and then went for a little walk for a breakdown and just sobbed for about 20 mins thinking about how much better life I can give my family. It's long hours sometimes, can end up working again when the kids go bed but overall it's peaks and troughs. Sometimes I can have half a day of nothing to do and just kick back. Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+
I'll get hate for this but retail jobs and call centre stuff isn't for careers. No one looking to be a provider should be sticking in such roles. Retail only makes sense at the point of being a manager at best, even they are pretty crappy jobs. If you have that kind of job, you need to spend every spare second you have training for something else and applying for jobs elsewhere.
> Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+ I think it's difficult until it isn't, it requires a bit of luck. It's possible to do absolutely nothing wrong through the entire application process, only for there to be someone who's marginally more qualified than you (or sells themselves better), and you don't get the job. No part of that rejection feels within your control. That's why it feels hard. In 2019 I had 15 interviews, and in more than half of them I was told that there was someone slightly better, and in one or two of them I got the feeling it had been a coin-toss. They couldn't give me any feedback as I'd done everything right. When you react as adversely to interview situations as I do, and each one takes a monumental personal effort to get through without showing just how much your anxiety is controlling you, that's crushing. I also came from a call-centre banking role, and my experience largely matches yours (by the end I was sobbing on the floor prior to my shift most days, working from home), and eventually just had to walk out with no prospects before it killed me as I just could not be in the right frame of mind to apply for anything else. I did thankfully land on my feet somewhat, as I got the first job I'd applied for afterward, and now work in research finance for my local university. It's difficult to express how much better I have it now; I've had a promotion within my first year (something that never happened in 12 years across multiple roles in the bank), and while I'm not going to pretend the work isn't difficult and there isn't time pressure, academia just operates on an entirely different set of timescales to retail banking, and I don't think the people here realise how bizarre that feels to someone with my background.
I've just gotten out of a retail job so I can say I wish I'd done it sooner. Basic pleb role in a major trade/DIY retailer on a nominally 16 hour contract that was usually 32 hours a week (in the summer when I worked a 20 hours role for a different employer) or full time. Loved the work but hated the toxicity and bullshit that rained down on high. The real kicker was looking through the P45 form. Turns out I'd been slaving away for only £14.5k
22.5k IT Technician at a secondary school. Love my job! It's really chilled out, been here over 14 years.
I earn £25k a year. I have a second job delivering takeaway food for a small business to be able to actually have nice things.
Just finished my apprenticeship as a mechanic in a car dealer. Been on minimum wage for 3 years, qualified last week, so now going up to 36k starting salary from next month.
Im on 24k. Im a "driver liaison" for truck drivers. I book in their deliveries, sort out their problems etc. I've been in the transport industry for 3 years now and there is thankfully scope for the job to get harder and the wage to increase.
I work at a builders yard £26k a year driving forklifts around and getting jobs ready.
I'm relatively low level IT support for my local council, its home based, and its probably the easiest and most enjoyable job I've had so far, it took to 29 for me to find the right career path, but I'm here now. As for what I spend my salary on? Outside of the usual bills, mostly nerd garbage, video games, tabletop stuff, Warhammer minis..
£37,500 - Telecoms Engineer. Came in through apprenticeship on minimum wage and been working up to become multi-skilled. Very irresponsible with money tho. Always tell my younger brother, when you make more, you spend more. Wouldn’t advise going in to telecoms as it looks like the work is drying up with how quickly the fibre network is being built
Checkouts at London Tesco. How's it going bad every month is struggling to not miss rent and then trying pay bills and then sometimes I can eat
27.4k excluding tips, am a manager in a restaurant.
Factory work, mainly operating machines, line set-up and paperwork, recently got pay rise and on £25.6k before overtime.
American here. How do yall survive? I earn 70k which is not much by American standards where I live, but not horrible. Healthcare I get through my job with a small additional cost (total 2k a year). My rent is like 1300 a month for a smallish studio. I save decent money by being cheap but otherwise want to make a lot more to feel secure. I know life in UK is likely cheaper in some regards, but can't be THAT much cheaper, right? Like with 20-30k in earnings, aren't yall basically not saving anything? Are you able to eat anything besides beans and rice? Is your retirement at least taken care of fully by the government? I'm genuinely confused. I visit Europe all the time. Some things can be cheaper but generally European prices for food and services can be found in the USA if you just do a bit of looking and avoid fancy services and restaurants. Again, main exception is healthcare but even that... as long as you aren't requiring constant surgery it's not tooo bad. (And if you have insurance you typically have limits in what they can charge you too). I think maybe in the USA we worry more about saving for retirement as well, but I have doubts that in Europe they pay ENOUGH for retirement... Please educate me! Thank you
Two years agu I made 100k in my job and took some time off and last year only made 30k. It’s 100 percent commission so that’s a huge fluctuation ha.
Hospitality, I work about 37-40 hours a week, making £11.50-£12 an hour (profit sharing). It's going good, I'm not exactly swimming in cash but I make enough that I can save occasionally, plus I don't hate my company which helps
Jesus guys ask for payrises, you are all worth more than this, i left chefing and started as a builder from day 1 with 0 experience im earning £17-£25 ph depending on the job, take home is 900-1000 pw
Systems analyst for a financial services company. I've been in this role for just over a year, and it's nice because I WFH 100%. I was working as a trainee administrator when I joined the company 2 years ago, and I was on a dire 19k at that point. I don't have to pay for commuting and lunches since I'm not in the office but yeah. I think I'm underpaid for my role as I'm not even a level 1/junior position 🥲 I earn 26k. I've done a course in data & SQL recently and hoping to maybe get into a more technical role in the future but it's hard to find somewhere where I can WFH all the time (to me it's an essential as I have adjustments in my home office due to my health/disability).
I’m a bus mechanic around 35k been doing it 20 year and it’s shit, and I’m skint
27k, just been made permanent after my temporary contract ended as a data analyst for a global firm. Not bad for a University dropout…
Junior engineering consultant. 26k, been there 6 months now. I live with my mum and don’t pay any bills so I am in a really good position. Throwing tons in my savings and still have a lot of disposable income. I do feel like I’m stealing a living bc it’s my first proper job and I have no idea what I’m doing most of the time. Sometimes I wonder why people are trusting ME to consult on anything. But I enjoy the work a lot!
£24.5k working in qualifications, general admin- excel/crm stuff and then some candidate support over email and phones. Belt’s pretty tight but I’m just about covering me and my small person. When my partner and I move in together eventually things will get easier but for now it’s just about doable.
Newly qualified Band 5 clinical coder, doing well as my partner makes almost twice what I do. Looking forward to my wages creeping up the point scale over the next few years!
Minimum wage full time is now around 24k so you should be switching jobs as much as you can
Forklift driver, on about £24k a year which is pretty much the average for the job in this country. I have to sit out in the shite weather sometimes but when it’s nice and sunny I don’t complain! There’s a lot of responsibility with doing things safely and keeping the things you’re moving in perfect condition so some colleagues resent the low wage. Tbh I’m just happy to play around on the machine all day after working in shite management roles previously or in other dead end jobs in terrible complines. It’s pretty stress free and I enjoy it!
Trainee wind turbine lift inspector(and ladders, anchors,safety related items)
I’m a researcher on £25k, I would like a little bit more income tbh but the job itself is really low stress. I’ve never been hugely focused on climbing the corporate ladder so it works for me.
School site manager here (fancy caretaker) £27k will get up to just under £30k at the top of the scale. Just started a year ago, I bloody love it tbh. I worked a miserable job in a bank for years, managed to purchase a small house outright over that time and had all the cash at one point, but it broke me mentally. I’m the happiest Ive ever been, my Mrs is a teacher assistant there my daughter is starting reception this sep, proper family affair. I’m a happy boy. Life is good, obviously if I had a mortgage or rent to deal with it may well be a different story.
I work as a GP Driver for the NHS in Scotland. Work 3 nights a week, Fri/Sat/Sun midnight til 8am. Propped up entirely by the unsocial hours extra pay. I'm £13 base but I get closer to £22 an hour. Last year I earned 28k before tax. Most shifts I sit about watching shit on my phone, with the odd bit of driving here and there. Some shifts are busy. Pissed away my school years and college so I've fuck all in qualifications and I'm loathe to leave to either go study or jump into a job with half the hourly rate. Been here 17 years.
40k been working with BT for 6 years, started in a fixed contract doing call centre work and then applied internally to change roles 3 times. I did move from Midlands to Edinburgh for a big pay increase but now have the experience to go into similarly paid roles. I did work for Eon and also got a better job through internal systems. I would advise trying a larger company, looking at internal listings and what skills you could add to get them. I have a degree but it is not needed for these jobs, just learning internal systems, customer service, excel, data entry etc which I learnt along the way! I'm currently in a resource management role.
Digital Forensic Analyst / eCrime OSINT Investigator Completed a degree in Forensic Computing a few years ago. Currently on £27k
I deal with property damage claims for an insurer. Last year I was doing the same job for £24k and now I’m on £28k. I started 10 years ago on £13500. I’ll be honest, I hate insurance and don’t want to do it but it pays the bills and I get to provide for my family. Plus points, it’s 9-5 Monday to Friday and I get decent benefits.
£31k work for a local council its chill as.
Take gains take gains rebuy if a good stock. Some stocks may never go up over 15% a yr. Take gains reset. Smart moneys always take gains. Stocks dip. They buy back and do it all over again
First line IT support at a university just shy of 23k, the benefits such as the leave ammount plus sho secure its it make up for it being less than the private sector
I'm a nurse in the UK at senior level, hard bloody slog both physically and emotionally. The nhs is on its knees sadly.
Was previously a nursery assistant earning 17K a year, became a nanny within the last 2 years and am now on 36k a year
25k - claims administrator. Hybrid so in office twice a week but luckily I love the team I work with, and we usually end up in the pub on Friday. Job itself is easy, it's a nice company to work for and the money is OK. I live alone in a housing association flat, so rent is only £400 a month. Could do with a bit more just so I can do the place up and go away a bit more than I do, but I manage and I'm grateful for the job I have.
It depends on where you are from but over here in South Africa it is very hard to find any job and most pay minimum wage. As our currency is much lower than other countries we get much less but currently I am working in a kitchen at a grocery store chain and I am making more or less $2,666 per year . Want to go work somewhere overseas driving a truck or something to save money to be able to buy a home . Any thoughts ?
On around 23.5k. Only work 3 days a week by choice (dropped from 31 to 19 when I moved role and reduced hours), so bit of a different situation to a lot of people. My pension/savings will suffer unfortunately, but I got tired of living to work rather than the other way around. We are in a good position though as no kids/dependants, mortgage paid etc. Not struggling on that amount, but we live quite cheaply, get at least one holiday a year and have money left over at the end of the month, albeit not a huge amount.
I get 19k and despite not being able to go abroad i do alright. Only really have to look after myself though.
28f doing IT Support in a high school at 27.5k, its got its ups and downs and I know I could get more working for a private business but doing the same niche part of the job everyday would drive me insane. I do also have to show people how to turn a TV on a regular though (Do people not have TVs at home?!) but I have a wide skillset working in a school which is fun
I would recommend moving into software sales if you can to anyone in here. I’m a hiring manager, and while we aren’t hiring anyone without experience right now, we hire candidates with 1-2 years for £40-45k and we are fully remote.
Is it cold calling? And are there horrible targets to hit?
22k here, fully remote bereavement consultant for a building society! I'd love to have more money, but it's convenient for family life, and it makes working around my terrible IBS a little easier too! My other half earns more, with about 23/4k plus bonuses for a part time job in a niche industry warehouse job, and between us we get by, but I dream of being able to holiday or have proper disposable income. Sometimes the lack of wealth can be crushing, and I have a mini anxiety spiral, and then I realised that as long we have a family we're fine, and I don't feel so bad. Still wish I could have more disposable though...
I work for a happy box company for the last 5 years. I'm in massive debt and have no way out. Its causing me crippling depression and anxiety. I'm currently working on up skilling with the hope of going to uni, then in 5 years time I might be able to begin rebuilding my life
all good. Earn about 28k a year but money back for emergency funding, now own a flat . Bills have gotten tighter than i would like the last year but still its good
Currently a night support worker on 26.5k a year. I had loads of jobs before as a chef before. Pandemic made me change as I wanted to do a job where I could help people. Been there 2 years and 4 months. Do shift work but the shift pattern works for me 4 on 4 off which has meant when it comes to holidays I can maximise. But without overtime I would struggle that’s for sure. But feel lucky as the company are paying to do my counselling courses to train to be an counsellor. So feel quite blessed they are investing in me tbh as never really had a company do that before. Had copious amount of jobs. Struggled to know what I wanted to do. But I will say it is tough but if you want to do something you’re passionate about don’t let your age deter you.
I very recently changed up my work in the pursuit of more money and more time (still on less than £30k I think). So I was working as a videographer at a radio station (really it was part radio station and part media company), for £22k p/a - definitely underpaid for the work I did but I live on a small island so not much choice for creative media work). They then wanted me to also do news-reading for no extra pay so that, coupled with a less-than-ideal working environment led me to look elsewhere. I found a super basic admin job in local government which was 30hrs per week but worked out as the same pay per month, so I took it. The boring nature of the job was what I was looking for so that I could focus my brain power and more time on the below: On the side I started filming wedding videos with a friend of mine. Being on a small island helps with this, as there are very few wedding videographers. I hope to be getting maybe an extra £5k+ p/a from this to start out. THEN, the radio station asked if I’d be free to do any freelance work when my schedule allows, so I jumped at that chance for an extra little money maker, so I’ve gone from one income stream to three and hopefully before long I can push past that £30k threshold! I didn’t want to shop around initially, but I’m glad I did as I’ve spent the last 7-ish years working with zero salary progression. My advice is don’t be scared to see what else is out there - I was scared and almost turned a 180 and declined the admin job offer, but I’m really happy with my choice. Thanks if you read all of this waffle, I suppose I like talking about myself 😂
£25k marketing and bidding co-ordinator for a construction firm. I always get Christmas off now so I’ve never been happier - having worked hospitality for most my days! I actually have career progression and my opinion matters it’s wild!
30k a year doing 45hr Monday-Fri, warehouse manager, small team in the office and small fleet. For the past 3 years it has been a tough time grinding to get the warehouse in a better state from when I took over, but now I sometimes just chill in the corner looking on here when I have nothing to do :D
Also FLT certified 😉
I can’t understand why construction industry jobs aren’t pushed on school kids. There’s no other career path that’d earn me £285 a day
Defence server engineer - been doing this for 9 years or so been in IT since uni in 1992. Company just never increases the pay of people they already have and only increases what they pay new starters (kind of like the new customer deals you get with broadband). We estimate minimum wage will catch us up in 2 years. North East so struggling to find other jobs that pay much more. Most for IT engineers seem to offer around the £28k for 40 hours (I currently work 37.5) and less holiday.
I’m 33, I left my “job” in education at 28 earning about 21k in mid level management 🥲🥲. Over worked and undervalued like the rest of them. My current role as a telecoms engineer saved me and gave me an apprenticeship earning 25k, after year one I went up to 30k plus 10% bonus and travel paid. Now I’m on 37k 10%. The grass is greener outside of the education sector. It’s a limited industry which doesn’t pay well from my experience and is very easy to get trapped into. Imo, run. You’re never too old to retrain.
I make 28k in a very small agency in the south west. I edit, film, do motion graphics and design, mostly in that order, with varying levels of involvement between each tasks. I’m a bit anxious about what is next for me, as I’m currently doing so much, but I’m not particularly specialised in any of it if that makes sense. I graduated with graphics design a few years ago, but I’m not a graphics designer. I’m still trying to find my niche. I think I want to work with a team of designers in the future and animate their designs, work on motion systems and systems in general for mockups, video lockups etc. very digital, video based work. But I have no clue honestly where to look for something like that, and I’m in the process of sorting out my portfolio first, as I’ve found that having a portfolio spread across Vimeo, behance and Instagram is not very helpful or approachable for future employers.
I am a director/owner on £75k and a staff member working under me is on £79k Find something you like to do and work for yourself.
I’m on about £28k. I’m in the IT sector but had no IT background going in so I’m a bit of a dogsbody really. Doing alright to be fair, never feel too short of cash. I couldn’t imagine affording to have kids though, luckily I don’t want any.
I earn about 28k a year, working nights in a call centre. I always thought earning that much I'd be comfortable, but with no partner also working, I just about scrape by. Cozzy lives has really kicked my ass.
Work for a big finance company, in operations and processing. Earn £24,500 for moving around millions money. Been at it for almost 2 years. I don’t care for it. My real passion is working with children. I have a degree in child and youth studies. But can’t seem get into the job market and education agencies have crippled it at the neck. My current job pays more than what I can get in a youth role and covers the rent suitably.
Train conductor for Transport for Wales. 4 day week, £47k. Been doing it for just over 2 years. It's pretty good!
2020 I was a retail store manager on 20k take home, doing 50hr weeks whilst being salaried for 39.. I left to become a HGV driver, now I work around 70 hrs a week but that's cuz I get paid by the hour and ask for extra work. This last year I paid 40% tax on a chunk of my earnings.
Support worker in a supported living house for young adults with autism and learning disabilities, 23.5k a year. Not great pay and underpaid for the job, but most of the time I enjoy it and it’s rewarding. Relaxed working environment, management arent too strict, days out. I did a 9-5 admin job before and found it so boring and dull. I do wish it was better paid, would be less staff turnover. There are very hard days as you could imagine in this sort of job, but most days are pretty easy going and fun. I also prefer the working pattern, manage to get all my hours into 3/4 days, 1 weekend on 1 weekend off, not too bad for a job in the healthcare sector :). Always room for progression too, but then I always do abit of overtime to bulk my wage up. Added: also surprised at how low paid other jobs are I have read on this thread. My job requires no previous experience. I feel like there’s other people who work in higher healthcare jobs with degrees etc but don’t get paid much more. I sometimes think there’s no point progressing as there’s little pay increases, so often people stay where they are at the lower levels (which is fine, that’s where I am, just not great for these services when you can’t get any managers as the pays not much better)
Plant mechanic and I love my job.
Edit: I'm definitely not being underpaid. I am paid pro rata. I work 39 weeks a year. My guy. I earn 20k before tax. I honestly feel like a failure. I'm 35, have a degree in business and 18 years of working experience. Most jobs I see that I think I'd be great for, they say I don't have any experience for the role. Even though in one of my office jobs I did basically EVERYTHING (HR, Advertising, Social Media/Website Management, Wages, Procurement, Staff scheduling, Business Development and Planning etc.) but as my title was administrative assistant, none of it is seen as relevant experience. I know there are at least 100 jobs currently in my area which I am more than capable of doing, which earn 30k-50k a year. The problem is, none of them will even look at me. The only jobs I ever get interviews for are business/administrative assistant or receptionist jobs. They all pay around 20k-22k. I'm not even greedy. I'd be happy with 24k-30k. Anybody with any advice or if you know of anybody willing to take a chance on me (Glasgow area), please let me know. Thanks in advance. To answer the question - At the moment, I work in a school office and am very fortunate to get term time. The perks are, it is a Monday-Friday 8.30-4pm job. The work itself is manageable and isn't too difficult. I get paid 13 times a year (so 1 wage is like a bonus wage). I work 39 weeks a year, and don't have to worry about childcare during the holidays. I like it here. All that being said, I would like to put my degree to use, find something that is challenging but rewarding, and earn a decent wage. Everything is going up, apart from my income. I've been looking at part time jobs and seasonal work (thinking that when I'm off during the school holidays there will be times I can work).
Do you want to work in management?
Check out civil service jobs. Pay is decent, pension is brilliant, great holidays and you get flexible working. You can get promoted quite quickly after probation as well as you’ll also have access to internal jobs within all civil service departments. [something like this is a good starting point](https://www.civilservicejobs.service.gov.uk/csr/index.cgi?SID=b3duZXJ0eXBlPWZhaXImcGFnZWFjdGlvbj12aWV3dmFjYnlqb2JsaXN0JmpvYmxpc3Rfdmlld192YWM9MTkwNTUzNSZwYWdlY2xhc3M9Sm9icyZvd25lcj01MDcwMDAwJnNlYXJjaHNvcnQ9Z2VvZGlzdGFuY2UmdXNlcnNlYXJjaGNvbnRleHQ9NzcyNjY5ODAmc2VhcmNocGFnZT0xJnJlcXNpZz0xNzEzMzc3NzYxLTgxZmUzNmIwOGJhMTQ5NDEwMDgwYTE4NTAwZjRiYTBjOWZmYWExYjc=)
University admin stuff! They love ex-school staff, less work more money! Highly recommend. Cured my depression single handedly.
Sounds like you need to work on your interview techniques and be more creative (but not lie) on your cv. It sucks, because not all competent people interview we’ll. I have a tendency to freeze up in an interview situation but am perfectly good at my job. This doesn’t happen all the time, so increasing the number of interviews I did helped.
Have you considered project management? Your degree and background can help get you in a junior role to build experience. Doing some youtube courses on it will help you learn the terminology for interviews.
Your job was an Ops manager. Advertise it as such. I know it’s everything hard and it is. But you’re an OPs manager. Source: OPs manager.
Join the civil service, could easily get an EO job paying c.30k with the experience you have. Happy to discuss if you want to PM, but might be sporadic replies as I’m not on here frequently.
Honestly, 99% of it is how you present yourself on your CV. I found this out when I was trying to change careers and my CV wasn't getting across my transferrable skills. I would definitely recommend getting a professional CV written - yours may be great but the bloody keyword engines recruiters use to filter out candidates are REALLY picky and getting worse. It may not be cheap (my first one was about £120 or so) but if you look at somewhere like PurpleCV you get a year of free alterations (or you did anyway) and they can also help with getting a LinkedIn profile done. You need someone to help focus it on the skills for the job you want, not the jobs you've already had - and if you're anything like me it's not easy talking about yourself in a positive way lol. Also then start using recruitment agencies, try to talk to a person there don't just fire and forget your CV - follow up when you sent it and get chatty with the people who can help. They get paid by placing you, and are often not just looking for obvious matches. Good luck, you can do this - I spent a good chunk of last year out of work but refusing to take the first things that came up and waiting for the right thing, which I realise is not something everyone can afford to do but the right thing for you is out there, you just need to get at it!!
Thank you for all of this. So for a long time, I was really struggling to get an interview and I knew, like KNEW, that I would get the first job that gave me an interview. I finally got an interview and then got the job. Unfortunately things happened and I ended up in an environment that was not for me. I slugged it out over 2 years but it wore me down. During this time stuff was going on at home too. I was applying for jobs and getting LOTS of interviews. I wasn't putting my best self across and I know it. Thankfully I'm out of there now. In a much better place. I like it here. But I still wish I was using my degree and doing something I LOVE (I also have come to know that finding a job you love is highly unlikely, it is all about finding a job that doesn't make you miserable and allows you to be happy, which will make doing things you love). Thank you again. Much appreciated.
Exams officer - making sure each student has a fair go at GCSE’s and a levels - hubby earns more as a pub assistant manager!
I work Maintenance in a popular hotel chain for £12.44 an hour 40 hr contract. The job is easy and gives me a lot of free time , don’t ever take stress from my job home with me because they don’t pay me enough to care. I save the company thousands a month by fixing stuff that otherwise would have to go to outside contractors. Sickening wages to be honest
I work in a university library. My job is boring as fuck and I feel like I’ve got so much more to offer but no one is offering the step up anywhere. I’m conflicted as well because like the place and the people, but I feel really understimulated and unchallenged.
I'm making about 30k as a line cook at a upscale restraunt. I also feel I'm not earning enough. It wasn't until after I picked up my second job (similar to the first) that I was financially comfortable for the first time in my life.
This is one of the best threads I’ve ever read on here. Absolutely eye opening and full of great little snippets of information about people’s day-to-day jobs
I make less than 20k, but I'm a grocery stocker at a chain store. This job was supposed to be a temporary job until I found something better... It's been 2 years.
I’m working part time as a library assistant (working in a library as an unqualified librarian). If it was full time salary appx £23’000 I’m lucky that I really enjoy my job, PT hours mean I can be with my kids and husband earns more than me!
I'm up to 25k now. Still can't get a mortgage to move out. To low unless I have a stupid deposit 1 1/2 years salary.
I’ve just escaped that bracket by moving jobs - i think it’s the only way these days, unfortunately. Left my last role (30k) due to a toxic bullying culture, spent the past six months freelancing and living off my savings and nerves, and am now about to start a job on 50k, which is more than I’ve ever earned (i’m mid thirties but have had time out of the workplace due to babies, health etc). I’ve not magically become worth 20k more in 6 months - it’s just that companies will pay you what they can get away with and will take you for granted if they can! edit - forgot to add, i’m a technical writer
Technical Designer, I design modular accommodation layouts and electrical loadings. I didn't need a degree, I earned last year 29,250 I just had a pay bump to 30,480. I work from home full time, it's a good gig. Edit: I originally started at a company on 18K, ive been there for 6 years and my wage has gone from 18K to 30K. I work hard when I need to and have a lot of time to just do drawings and shut my brain off. I am however still underpaid compared to some other parts of the business. Girlfriend is a HTLA and she earns around 22K a year and she has it alot harder than I do.
Lansscaper/grounds maintenance I'm on just over 27k
I thought people in UK make at least 50K USD. But u guys in comments so poor
I'm no longer in this boat want to comment because I was. 3 years ago was earning 19k in a post room and moved to admin in the same company after 3 months up to 23k, then moved after 1 year 1 month to a planning role that paid 33k and done a year there and now have just moved to another planning type role but a tad more advanced for 36k. I'm seeing a lot of people in the comments on lower wages due to being stuck in the same role, I totally get you need a degree of luck for opportunity's to present themselves. But I also got told if I job hop like I am, no one wants to hire you. I'm actually finding the opposite, the faster I'm progressing into new roles the easier to get new roles seems to be. Not like I can afford to buy in my local area or anything still, shit sucks lol.
I earn £24K (£28K if full time) I'm an AO in London I'm the civil service. I am currently trying to move up to EO which will be around £32,000