Say you don't want to be a solicitor, you miss out on grad programs at the big companies, then what? I've heard insurance but I'm not sure. Would love to hear some suggestions if anyone has any?
Besides going into management
I know you can use agencies for factories/warehouse jobs but I'm a bit stumped about how you do this for office work and what jobs you'd actually be doing.
29 this year. Did a few factory jobs after high school, started an apprenticeship but quit. Have never worked a day in an office. Never knew how to get into uni until late because of a poor ATAR and never knew how to get white collar work. Started a Bachelor of Accounting at WSU but its going badly. Transferred to WSU online but lost a semester's worth of unit's because I discontinued the face to face degree before the exam period. Total disaster.
6/24 units in the degree done, repeat failures. I'm enrolled in the online degree which starts at the end of the month but I'm thinking it might just be better to see if I can get the credits converted and try and obtain a Cert IV Bookkeeping instead through TAFE. The degree has no early exit so I can't finish with a diploma.
I just want some sort of white collar work and I genuinely don't know how to get it. One factory job became another and now I'm almost 30. Is there any path into the APS for me?
I'm on the spectrum and logistically this was always a major problem for me. I want 2 days of work but all the jobs I see in warehouses, factories etc. are full time. You exhaust all the big employers like mcdonalds, big w etc. and I'm not sure. It's not that I don't want to work it's just that this I don't understand how people end up in those arrangements.
I find the whole concept of self enrolment extremely stressful. The unit codes keep changing, the whole process is just a maze to me. I'd love to just be given a timetable. Here are your units. Attend at this time. If you don't like these times change it. It just upsets me having to do it myself and causes severe distress. It makes me feel like no one is there to help.
Look I studied at WSU and no disrespect to the cohort but it was hard to envision many of these people ending up at the Big 4, Grant Thornton etc. Not for a lack of trying either. It just seemed like there were too many people for too few jobs. Degree for the sake of a degree more for some of them. Where do people like that end up?
29M. Struggled through high school, low atar and did a handful of factory jobs. Started a toolmaking apprenticeship, quit after 9 months. Went to uni to study accounting. Failed badly. Due to a unit transfer issue I literally may have only passed 6 units in 18 months. Degree had no early exit. Quit uni and I'm back to working in a factory. Will do any white collar work. Just - I literally have not spent a single day working in an office. To me it would be heaven.
Place I'm at we had a tool and die apprentice quit the week he was signed off. He's working at the railways now in an office job. I don't know.
Say you just want basic office work, payroll, APS work etc.
I enrolled in a Bachelor of Accounting at WSU and it's been a disaster. I never wanted to be an accountant and at this point I'd be happy with a basic qualification that would get me into payroll or the APS - just any office job. All I've done is blue collar.
I don't know how many units I've completed. Last semester I wanted to transfer to WSU Online. The woman said great - just discontinue your face-to-face program so we can enrol you. I didn't know this would pull me out of the face-to-face degree immediately. I did this before the exams. I'd been attending the whole semester and even now I don't know if I lost those units completely. I passed two of them. I've been asking and asking and no one can give me a straight answer.
At best I completed 8 units, at worst 6. I just want some sort of qualification. The degree has no early exit. I don't want to continue the whole bachelors online. TAFE says I need to enrol first before they'll assess me. I just feel really distressed about this. All my life I've worked in factories, warehouses etc. doing dirty manual work. All I wanted was to sit in a computer and work in an office. Just at a complete loss.
Enrolled in a Bachelor of Accounting, it's been a disaster. I never wanted to be an accountant and at this point I'd be happy with a basic qualification that would get me into payroll or the APS - just any office job. All I've done is blue collar.
I don't know how many units I've completed. Last semester I wanted to transfer to WSU Online. The woman said great - just discontinue your face-to-face program so we can enrol you. I didn't know this would pull me out of the face-to-face degree immediately. I did this before the exams. I'd been attending the whole semester and even know I don't know if I lost those units completely. I passed two of them. I've been asking and asking and no one can give me a straight answer.
At best I completed 8 units, at worst 6. I just want some sort of qualification. The degree has no early exit. I don't want to continue the whole bachelors online. TAFE says I need to enrol first before they'll assess me. I just feel really distressed about this. All my life I've worked in factories, warehouses etc. doing dirty manual work. All I wanted was to sit in a computer and work in an office. Just at a complete loss.
What would you recommend to someone who can manage physical work but can't handle heavy lifting?
TLDR: 29M, dad is dying, mum is 66 and about to retire. After a string of unskilled factory jobs, long periods of being a NEET, an apprenticeship I quit and never got over, and a failed stint at uni, I’m staring down 30 and looking at going back to low paid manual work with no path out of it. Not sure what to do and would love some suggestions if anyone has any.
The long version: I bombed out of high school in 2015 with an ATAR of 50. Undiagnosed autism. This was devastating. I went to a good selective school. The dream was always to go to a good uni like UNSW, USYD etc. and work for a big prestigious company. This score was so low it didn’t qualify me for any course. My peers all moved on to higher ed, work, apprenticeships etc. and I just had no idea what to do.
Spent a year as a NEET, started and failed to complete a TAFE course then finally got a factory job shortly before I turned 21 after 20 unsuccessful interviews. Was there for 2 months before being let go. Got another factory job just around the corner and worked there for almost 2.5 years as an on and off casual before being let go.
After being let go from that job in early 2021, I spent another 18 months as a NEET. Still did not know how to get into uni with my ATAR and at no point did I ever think to just email the admissions departments and say, “hey, these are my marks, which test, foundation course, diploma etc. do I need to get in”. Just sat outside the system with no idea how to get in. Did not find out about the STAT test until I was 24. To this day, I’ve never completed any qualification outside of high school.
After 18 months doing nothing, I got another local factory job which I worked at for about 7 months. I really enjoyed working there but the pay was low and again, this was time that should have been spent working towards a proper career. Left that job and spent another 6 months doing nothing.
Didn’t know what to do. At 26 I was offered a toolmaking apprenticeship with a local company. This was a total fluke, a bolt from beyond. 15-minute commute, female boss so less blokey than a traditional trades environment, niche less physical trade with few openings. By sheer coincidence my dad used to work for the company 30 years ago too. They hired me. That should have been the fairytale finish. Local job, work there 40 years, 100k plus salary. Train someone new, retire one day and look back on a great career.
Right off the bat I lost money on lithium shares, something like 12k of my money and 6k in unrealized gains. Just an unbelievable loss. I still had 6 figures in the bank but it shook my confidence badly. I lost a lot of sleep over it.
About 5 months into the apprenticeship, I was offered a dream rental. Close to home, first house I applied for. Got cold feet and turned it down. Regretted it instantly and still think about that house. Was never offered another rental. Was constantly stressed living with my parents and made a stupid bet on the 2024 presidential election to try and boost my savings for a deposit. Lost 10k. Felt devastated.
Quit the apprenticeship in haste 9 months in. Was a combination of the financial losses, housing stress and the thought that it would lock me into factory work for the next 40 years. Told everyone I was starting an IT Degree on Monday and left with a few days’ notice. Looked crazy in hindsight. Immediately regretted leaving, even found out 2 months later my uncle used to be a toolmaker. Wanted to ask for my job back but couldn’t work up the nerve to call my field officer.
Spent 8 months doing nothing before enrolling in an accounting degree at WSU. Total disaster. Multiple fails. Never got over the apprenticeship. No desire to be an accountant. Never worked during the degree. Lost another 10k on Wisetech shares during this period as well, which again was devasatating. Dropped out of face-to-face last month to go online. Only 8/24 units done. Miles away. Don’t know if I’ll even continue with it.
29 now. 130k in savings. Still have constant breakdowns over the apprenticeship, constant regret. Dad is sick at 73, cancer, might not live to see next year. Mum is 66 and about to retire. My mum has about 200k in savings after pulling dad’s super and I’m planning to give her another 65000 to tide her over till she gets the pension next year. She has 140k super she can draw on also. House is paid off.
Career wise I’m just at a total dead end. No qualifications at 29, a hodge podge of jobs that lead nowhere. I had an interview at a local 6 person workshop paying $30 dollars an hour last week and it was so depressing because it was so similar to my first job. I’ve gone nowhere. After all those years I’m competing for low skill, low wage manual work and that’s where I might end up.
1000 a week, 60k a year indefinitely. 30 becomes 40, 50 becomes 60. It felt like I had all the time in the world and now it feels like life has passed me by. I don’t know. I’d love some advice if anyone has any. I don’t want to be stuck in process work forever but I don’t know how I can pivot my work history into something better.
Look it's one thing to be on benefits when your folks are alive but one day we'll all be on our own. What then? How do you plan to deal with it?
Feeling lonely. No career. Dad is sick, had a few mental breakdowns and no one to talk to. Got so lonely I started emailing feedback to random companies so someone writes back to me. "Dear Colgate toothpaste I love product X"...then wait for a response.
Every now and again I boot up emerald and it gives me that sense of adventure. It's the first one I played and to me it's just - it never gets old. Maybe one day I'll be 70 and boot it up in the retirement home for good old times sake.
Don't like tax, ledgers etc. Too late to change majors. What other doors does the degree open? I'm thinking payroll but maybe other stuff I didn't even think to consider. Would love to hear some suggestions.