Work outside IT

[TheBigYinJames]

I know a PeopleSoft contractor who is also a qualified plumber - I think he did more than a six week course though.

I looked into it, there was a 6 week hands-on course running in north London for about £4k, at the end you came out with a BTEC2 or whatever it is you need to call yourself a plumber* and away you go. Considering how bad most plumbers are at customer relations, it should be relatively easy to build up a good regular client base just by being halfway professional.

* I don't think you actually need any professional quals to call yourself a plumber, gas fittings notwithstanding (need CORGI cert)

[Bagpuss]

The unblocking of the u-bends would put me off and the sterotypical right wing views you'd have to adopt..... erm hang on.. it's the perfect career for a computing contractor

[Jog On]

I've dipped my toe, gingerly and clumsily, in to internet marketing a bit. Get $50 a month from adsense... not sure if that is for me though. I get a bit bored.

I volunteer at this arts centre and we do films and theatre and live music... always enjoy that... I do enjoy IT work often...just not corporate stuff... love what I'm doing at the moment... but I am working from home.

Adsense is hard work to make serious money at, you need a ton of traffic and for the higher paying keywords it’s very competitive because so many people are trying to make money from it. Also you’re at the control of Google – they can cancel your account or drop your site so it’s really not something to rely on.

I’m a bit obsessed with IM, Just finished a load of books on copywriting and got 3 big fat ones about landing page optimisation, split testing, web analytics and Google analytics lined up.

My CCNA expires this October and I’m studying analytics/copywriting/SEO as I would if I were doing my CCNP

[Lucy]

My uncle was a plumber it sounded horrible, he ended up a millionaire by the time he was 40 - 25+ years ago, though.

[TheBigYinJames]

The unblocking of the u-bends would put me off and the sterotypical right wing views you'd have to adopt..... erm hang on.. it's the perfect career for a computing contractor

Being a canny (tight) Scotsman, I tend to do minor plumbing jobs around the house anyway, and I'm no stranger to unblocking soil pipes.

[rootsnall]

I* I don't think you actually need any professional quals to call yourself a plumber, gas fittings notwithstanding (need CORGI cert)

Correct, only needed for gas work, but this is where you'll earn Ok money and won't generally be doing the dirty tulip work that a lot of other plumbing requires.

The Posh Plumbers telly program from a year or two back made me laugh, they did have one token posh bird on there who was obviously not going to last 2 minutes once the cameras left. I seem to remember one prof bloke also who looked dead keen until he had to man handle some real tulip

[expat]

I looked into it, there was a 6 week hands-on course running in north London for about £4k

The guy running the course has a good Plan B idea. No getting under people's sinks or baths while the dog bites you and the kids steal your stuff, only to be told that they'll pay you at the end of the week the peanuts that you're charging.

[expat]

My uncle was a plumber it sounded horrible, he ended up a millionaire by the time he was 40 - 25+ years ago, though.

It's not the trade that makes you rich, it's running a successful business. Your trade can be a good starting point for that; but if you're any good at business, why aren't you already running one in IT?

[Jog On]

I remember a flat I lived in once where the khazi broke. I poked my head around the door to see the plumber there with the floor absolutely covered in poo and him as well with it all the way up to his elbows.

I remember thinking “No amount of money can be worth that”…

[Chugnut]

As soon as summer arrived a few years back, an article appeared on the BBC's website asking the same sort of question.

Everyone fancied being a roofer all of a sudden! Of course as soon as winter appears and they'd hammered their thumb a few times, they'd all be back at their desk jobs before you could say "soffits".

The grass is always greener and all that. IT contracting pays pretty well on the whole. Once my monthly outgoings are down a bit more, I might consider a change, but I have a strong suspicion they'd just get replaced by different outgoings.