Need a new career. Suggestions? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Need a new career. Suggestions?

TwistedKestrel

TwistedKestrel

King of GTAM
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Have been working in TV sports advertising for 10 years, realized that I don't care for TV, sports, or advertising. Does the GTAM think tank have any good ideas for a fresh start? I'm not above milking cats or whatever, as long as it doesn't hurt the cats
 
After over 20 years in the IT industry, I became a full time motorcycle instructor and licensed tester for the province. Teach 3-5 days a week. Most of it is rote, new rider courses, but every now and then I get an experienced student who wants to learn Gymkhana type skills or dirt riding and then it becomes a little more interesting.

Pay is shiite, but I get a gas card which more than makes up for it. Also I get paid to ride a motorcycle, which I always get a huge kick out of.
 
If I could go back and choose a new path, I'd decide if I wanna make money, or if I wanna do something that makes me happy.
If you can find something that checks both of those boxes, do that.


Coming from an advertising background I think the most obvious choice would be to move into sales.
Insurance or real estate are always options.

If I had to start over right now, I would get into sales, or start my own business.
I don't mind working hard.
I just don't like working hard to make someone else wealthy.

Sent from my Pixel 7 using Tapatalk
 
Instructing gives quite the sense of fulfillment. However unless you’re financially sound you really need to stretch the money to make it work as your only income. You’re only paid for 7 months, at least out this way.

Having recently made the move to Canada Post, I would absolutely recommend it. Again, it may require a particular financial situation as you may be on call/relief for 6 months to a year. But at least pension starts at part time!
 
When I was looking to change away from indoor office work, I went back to school for horticulture and became a gardener. It didn't pay much but was very satisfying work. Did that for 15 yrs and while I'm back in an office now, the work is still satisfying because it's still related to landscapes.

And if money is not the biggest deal, I agree with @Lightcycle - being a moto instructor is also very rewarding work.
 
With that experience I’d be leaning toward a sales job of some sort. Whether direct, inside, or start your own gig being a manufacturer rep is all up to you.

I did sales for a few years (cars and water / ww equipment) and really enjoyed it. But when I got into inside sales of BIG equipment is what really made me enjoy my work.

Maybe add some info on what you enjoy, and what brings you pleasure and maybe we can have better suggestions than pie in the sky guesses of what worked for us.

Good luck.
 
There's a shortage of ambulance drivers here, but I'm not sure if it's lucrative or the government is going to do anything about it.
 
Baggsy said:
There's a shortage of ambulance drivers here, but I'm not sure if it's lucrative or the government is going to do anything about it.
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Is ambulance driver a thing? I thought they were both paramedics and rotated driver/gurneys roles. That was the situation on my last ride anyway.
 
Baggsy said:
There's a shortage of ambulance drivers here, but I'm not sure if it's lucrative or the government is going to do anything about it.
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Training for Paramedics is 2 years. Pay for the first few years, once you pass all the exams sucks. You start as a level 1. After that as you increase gets better. Skills increase as you take various courses. The training never really stops. Exams once qualified, are also constant. In my contact with many Paramedics, they are top of the ladder in skills. Great, great guys. That also means Females. I have never ever meet a Paramedic I did not like and respect.
It is not for everybody.

FYI. Ambulances drivers stopped in 1985. When they became trained in Basic/Advanced Trauma Life Support. Becoming more advanced ever since.
Critical Care being very advanced. They can do surgery in the field. The Orange Helicopters Paramedics are truly amazing Heroes As are all Paramedics and EMT`s.
 
Some sales can be good but beware of "Me too" products that sell on price. I sold a unique product and really enjoyed working with my clients until the company was bought out by a growth at any cost organization. We were pushed to sell stuff that was cut rate quality in the name of profit.

I moved onto servicing what I used to sell. My previous customers welcomed me, a huge start up bonus.
 
GreyGhost said:
Is ambulance driver a thing? I thought they were both paramedics and rotated driver/gurneys roles. That was the situation on my last ride anyway.
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You are correct, All are Paramedics. Roles of the the Paramedics calls vary to the status of the Patient. Heart Attacks, Shock, etc are. For example, Triage , will vary the same as the Nurse/Dispatch who decides who is serious, with Life and Limb complications. Nurse's to me are the best thing since sliced bread. I am sure you have heard/read about the struggles they have always had. Overworked and underpaid. Way be for Covid.
Thanks you Nurses and all in the Medical Field. St John Ambulance, Red Cross and all the Medical Volunteers. Including, Dental, Chiropractors. who also do many medical area life saving skills.
The medical field has many skills varying and like to give credit to all of them.
I speak from experience.
 
Aw, you guys are being nicer to me than I expected lol

mimico_polak said:
With that experience I’d be leaning toward a sales job of some sort. Whether direct, inside, or start your own gig being a manufacturer rep is all up to you.

I did sales for a few years (cars and water / ww equipment) and really enjoyed it. But when I got into inside sales of BIG equipment is what really made me enjoy my work.
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This is absolutely a logical suggestion, based on what I said. There have been people in my role that have successfully transitioned to sales... but that was more a product of successful networking than anything else. I'm not directly involved with the marketing stuff, I'm sorta halfway in between the sales and the technical sides. A gear in the machine that makes the TV sausage (a bit hesitant to be too specific for now because I feel like there's less than 100 people in the country that do what I do, and I am annually "trained" to not blab on the internet about The Company).

mimico_polak said:
Maybe add some info on what you enjoy, and what brings you pleasure and maybe we can have better suggestions than pie in the sky guesses of what worked for us.

Good luck.
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Fair question, and I will exercise tremendous restraint and try to answer it seriously. My personal interests I guess are... transportation? (planes, trains, and automobiles, with a specialization in MOTORCYCLES). And also technology/computing, but more the hardware side. I actually studied software development for a bit, but when I got to a class on Windows GDI I realized that I do not want to do that for a living... ever. I DO have a diploma in "Computer Networking and Technical Support" and finally entering that field is one option on the table. If I never work in IT a day though, I still appreciate that diploma for understanding how the internet works at the wire level. (There was a single fun day where I realized that we had the ability to edit/create reports on the AS/400 system we used to use, and I trimmed down an 11 page report that we used down to 1 with zero loss of information. Now that system is retired and there is a specific funnel you have to go through to getting reports made/maintained, and it is comically agonizing. They no longer get changed/updated unless they have been broken for a month)

I'm not necessarily looking for a career that aligns with my interests, for what it's worth. Just something I can do with a modicum of pride and that will put a roof over my head. And by pride I mean like... something like that contributes to humanity, like garbage collection or sandwich construction, instead of siphoning off the life force of the planet, like advertising
 
And I am absolutely loading every suggestion so far into my brain for consideration, so I actually appreciate all of it
 
TwistedKestrel said:
And I am absolutely loading every suggestion so far into my brain for consideration, so I actually appreciate all of it
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While it may not be ideal for you, I would probably do HVAC tech. Good chance I know most of what is needed already and I have found it very hard to find a single one that is competent (I haven't found one yet). Many parts (and almost all refrigerants) are license controlled so you aren't competing against homegamers or handymen. We all know that electricians should be involved with most electrical work but with no part control, I think the vast majority of alterations happen outside of the legal process.
 
GreyGhost said:
While it may not be ideal for you, I would probably do HVAC tech. Good chance I know most of what is needed already and I have found it very hard to find a single one that is competent (I haven't found one yet). Many parts (and almost all refrigerants) are license controlled so you aren't competing against homegamers or handymen. We all know that electricians should be involved with most electrical work but with no part control, I think the vast majority of alterations happen outside of the legal process.
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The only thing stopping me from going for my HVAC license is the damn apprenticeship.

No one will take me on a part time / weekend basis.

But IIRC the first level is primarily online and you can do HVAC ‘service’ with just that G1 designation…been a few years.

As for your response @TwistedKestrel id highly consider sales / applications Eng/tech role for heavy civil or transport.
 
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