u/nedderss

Hey everyone, I'm 26 and currently based in Melbourne. I'm trying to get a bit of perspective from people who've maybe made a late-ish career shift or started again financially from a low base.

My background is a bit all over the place. I originally went to uni and completed studies in exercise science and business/sports management. For the past ~4 years l've been working as a researcher at a university, but I'm starting to realise this academic/research path just isn't for me long-term.

More recently I started studying cardiac sonography, but I'm running into a big issue with placements being really hard to secure, and I'm also questioning whether it's actually the right career fit for me anyway.

At the moment I'm feeling a bit stuck. I don't have a huge amount of savings behind me, so whatever I move into probably needs to be realistic financially (i.e. I can't just stop working and retrain full-time without income).
What I do know is I'd like something more hands-on and practical. I've been looking into technician or trades like electrical work because it seems structured, skill-based, and more tangible than what I'm doing now. But I honestly don't know how viable it is at my age starting out, or how people even make the transition when they still need to earn while training.

I guess I'm just wondering, if you were in my position at 26 with limited savings and a career that didn't feel right anymore, what direction would you seriously consider in Australia? Doesn't have to be trade related, just something that's popped into my mind recently.

And if anyone here has gone from uni/office-type work into a trade later on, I'd really appreciate hearing how you made it work financially and practically.

Thanks in advance:)

Hey everyone, I'm 26 and currently based in Melbourne. I'm trying to get a bit of perspective from people who've maybe made a late-ish career shift or started again financially from a low base.

My background is a bit all over the place. I originally went to uni and completed studies in exercise science and business/sports management. For the past ~4 years l've been working as a researcher at a university, but I'm starting to realise this academic/research path just isn't for me long-term.

More recently I started studying cardiac sonography, but I'm running into a big issue with placements being really hard to secure, and I'm also questioning whether it's actually the right career fit for me anyway.

At the moment I'm feeling a bit stuck. I don't have a huge amount of savings behind me, so whatever I move into probably needs to be realistic financially (i.e. I can't just stop working and retrain full-time without income).

What I do know is I'd like something more hands-on and practical. I've been looking into technician or trades like electrical work because it seems structured, skill-based, and more tangible than what I'm doing now. But I honestly don't know how viable it is at my age starting out, or how people even make the transition when they still need to earn while training.

I guess I'm just wondering, if you were in my position at 26 with limited savings and a career that didn't feel right anymore, what direction would you seriously consider in Australia? Doesn't have to be trade related, just something that's popped into my mind recently.

And if anyone here has gone from uni/office-type work into a trade later on, I'd really appreciate hearing how you made it work financially and practically.

Thanks in advance:)

Hey all,

I’m 26 in Melbourne and feeling a bit stuck career-wise. I’ve got a uni background (exercise science + sports management) and 4 years working in research, but it doesn’t really feel like the right fit anymore.

I’ve also tried studying cardiac sonography, but placements are really hard to get and I’m questioning that path too.

Lately I’ve been thinking about switching into something more hands-on like a trade (maybe electrical), but I’ve got limited savings so I’d need to keep earning while retraining.

Just wondering if anyone else here has done a full career reset around this age? What did you end up doing? Or if not, what would you do or have done?