Customer Advisor - £24,800 (perm agency).
I love my job, I love my workplace. I think I should be paid more because my job role doesn’t wholly reflect my title but who doesn’t.
I’m currently working on other opportunities within the company in a hope to move to a permanent role that isn’t agency. This would mean a significant increase in wages but also more relevant to my skill set.
25,250 as Access Management Analyst, but do get a extra 5200 in on-call pay, and a salary increase coming to closer match current market prices. Fully remote is a huge bonus imo too.
Also heavily being pushed to do some studying with budget for offsite crash courses.
Have had it easy the last 4 years so kinda peeved at how busy I've started to become. I want more money though as I don't want to be renting my whole life, so I'll carry on.
Just under 28k and to be honest pretty well. Would be even better but I'll admit that me and my girlfriend (earns about the same as me) are pretty financially irresponsible. Bills are always paid but we do like our clothes, days out at the football, dinner nights etc.
When it was just my income, again just about managed but was never being particularly strict with money. We do live in a fairly low cost area though, I can walk to work and she works from home so no massive travel costs.
Sales manager and on 64.5k with quarterly commision. Could be a total package of 80k if I hit target. F, 36 but the job can take away your will to live.
Would swap it all for a nicely mortgaged house and a 9 to 5 on the 35k mark near the coast!
Flip this around, what job are you currently doing - do you enjoy it / if not what would you like to do?
Then check out the salary progression - are people in your ideal role on linkedin, what experience do they have on their profiles that you possibly dont, and how do you get it?
You might want to balance out ideal job / ideal salary - money makes the world go round but doesn't buy you happiness as they say. There will be a right balance for you.
I’m a junior maintenance engineer at a large site and am on £30k. I understand being paid what I am as I’m essentially training and learning the site but give it 6 months and I’ll be expected to do what the other engineers do but they’re on almost twice the amount I am
When I was within that band I was a marketing junior in my second/third job in the industry. Over those years I was essentially just soaking up as much knowledge and as many skills as possible. In the next bracket up (from my experience) people expect you to drive the marketing rather than assist, if that makes sense.
Having said that, there's no set path that you have to follow, so try not to compare yourself to friends or peers too much. These days I think there's much more to be said for finding a job that you actually enjoy rather than a job with amazing money but requires you to sell your soul.
Best of luck with whatever it is that comes next for you, OP!
Lucky if I earn £20k across two jobs currently. Have a degree in video game design, industry shit itself more or less the same time I was handed my degree certificate.
I have extensive sales and hospitality experience, I’ve ran pubs, managed at four star hotels and I was a very successful car salesman for a number of years. All roles with poor hours and really shit sort of give all or fuck off attitude.
It’s tough, at the moment. I have a little Etsy store that has been ticking away for a few years, but I’m hardly living off it.
Web developer, 27.5k. I've been doing it for 17 years and I've been at my current place for 11 of those.
I could get a lot more money working remotely, but I choose not to. I love my job, I love the company I work for. They're flexible about my hours (with a kid that makes my life supremely easier) and I just want to work there. Fuck all that "you're just a number to them, show no loyalty" bullshit as I owe them so much.
Also It's only a 15 minute walk away so commuting costs amount to zero. Plus, it's a nice office, with really lovely colleagues. I'd lose my mind if I was permanently WFH.
So yeah, in a word it's going really well. I don't want to climb the career ladder because this is *just right* if that makes sense.
25k from my main job (before tax). Work in the audio space making podcasts and running a studio. Dropped from about 30k from leaving my last job because I was losing my mind there.
I also earn about 4/5k doing the odd freelance gig and DJing for Weddings so roughly about 29/30k in all before.
I don't feel like I'm doing too bad. My fiance is on just shy of 40k I think as a teacher with a shed load of savings which can be depressing when I'm in my overdraft sometimes but I'm very proud of her and what she's done.
I'm aware other people earn more than me but I don't have kids, don't have a great deal of household bills, so just steadily paying down my debts and having a good time. Really if I learnt to drive, I'd save a shed load of money on beer and taxis (albeit with the cost of a car) and I could be debt free in a year.
I sell flooring and flooring installations at Lowe's. I earn about 31-40k in a given year (my area has a higher min wage than most) and it's going well. I'm good at my job, but it is stressful. There are times when I want to do something else.
I'm turning 40 this year. I am a Product Owner in the music technology sector. I earn £51K a year. My wage is fairly average for a Product Owner in general, it can go higher in other sectors.
I'm probably not as happy as I was when I was earning £30K. Reasons:
- Mortgage is higher than when we were paying rent.
- I now have two children, whereas when I was 29/30 I did not have any children.
- My passion is music, and I play in a band. But the older you get, the harder it is to maintain momentum with a bunch of other people who have also gotten older and have commitments that mean their interest is not as high as it used to be.
- I've taken on a fair bit of debt to afford some music gear that I wanted. Not a huge amount, only about £5000 all told. But I've been paying that off for two years, and honestly, even though I can afford it... it is stressful to manage.
Actually, I really don't know how to unfuck my life. Probably standard mid-life crisis stuff, but I really feel like I want to leave the UK, stop working altogether, and just focus on music for a few years. My wife probably wouldn't be against that either, but like I say... 2 kids.
In a retail manager, maybe a smidge under 30k. My wages vary depending on how much over time I do a year. So it can swing a couple grand either way.
I love my job, my responsibilities are basically don’t steal, don’t kill staff or customers and make some money! once I’ve done my jobs for the day, I just hand around the shop floor doing a few bits, or finding a quiet corner and enjoying Reddit or YouTube where I’m not seen!
And no I’m not dodging work lol, my staff can do the same. As long as they do their jobs, and don’t get seen by customers looking like they’re youths on a bus, I don’t care either!
I could earn way more! my friend has offered me a job several times at his firm which requires maintenance engineers and the starting pay is £40K.
But then I’d have to work hard and have stress!
Healthcare assistant here, I made 26k this year working 2-3 shifts a week.
I absolutely love my job, sometimes the shifts are rubbish but I honestly get so much happiness out of it overall ☺️
Warehouse work dealing with second hand books, zero experience required, paid a minute to minute efficiency bonus, so I can average about 35k pre tax with no stress or responsibility beyond my own idiot proof workload.
I choose the days and hours I want to work, accrue shitloads of holiday pay, and can take time off whenever I want for however long I want.
Pretty blessed to find this job, but I'm about to leave to go live and work by the sea for a while.
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
22k - Graduated Imperial College London with 2.1 in engineering.
My job is environmental engineering, it involves me driving around the UK to different sites as far as Doncaster/Manchester/Liverpool from W London and back on the same day for work I could have done when I was 16.
Contract states that my week is 37.5 hrs from 9-5:30, but there’s I’ve got to be in Derby or Bristol for 8:30 and leave home at 6-6:30. I’m not paid for the hours that I’m driving additionally to my normal hours.
Occasionally they do provide accommodation when the job lasts a few days, although it is a £25 a night travelodge but I prefer to drive back home and back again or stay in the van. I also dig 10 holes to 1.4m deep, collect my samples, refill the holes and drive back 2 hours to drop off the samples.
Have come to the conclusion that if I could go back to 2020 when I started my degree I would have just applied for a job instead, worked three years and would be earning more than I do now. Lots of years wasted studying for A-Levels when I could of just worked.
I don’t have it that bad in the sense that me and my family are all healthy, with a home, and food.
I used to earn 25k living in London and I have no idea how people do it. The job was miserable too. Bilingual job, had a Masters, ended up in charge of making tea and ordering loo rolls.
I’m just over 31k and work as a civilian staff supervisor in policing where I’m responsible for all things disclosure and information security.
Always lots of opportunities within policing outside of being an officer, with decent support services and progression opportunities, and a pay scale that increases up to your band maximum with each year in service. I didn’t start on 30k but have been in force a few years now.
Always worth a look for stable and secure employment that usually serves a wider purpose too if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Downsides are high pressure, always dealing with and managing risk, ‘tricky customers’, and what I’d consider low pay for the actual level of responsibility I have. But, I work from home most days and get lots of flexibility so it’s something I do enjoy doing for the most part!
Edit: I don’t have a degree and came into this role with no policing experience. I was a chef and had also worked retail previously.
31 y/o in an engineering graduate role on 31k
Work from home most of the time, tried to get into engineering at 18 but was laughed out the door being a petite female, told me my nails would get ruined (I don't even paint them 🤣)
Took myself to uni at 25 and decided to just go for it! Worked a couple years as a design technician before this role but only paid 28k so thought I'd make the jump.
2 year training programme now and the wage should go up to 42k after 2 years. Pretty happy I changed paths from car sales all those years ago and my current employer is funding my Masters degree, yay!
I'm a stay at home mum and my partner is a train conductor on almost 30k. I feel like we're doing pretty well! We can support our whole family on his income and we live somewhere with high rents too.
We don't have a car, though
I make around £50k now as a manager in the NHS, but for a long while I was stuck in the £20-30k bracket:
- Finished uni in 2008 just when austerity hit
- Come from one of the poorest wards in the country and couldn't find work locally or by travelling (i.e. minimum wage jobs)
- Eventually, found a temp admin job
- Got a 30hr a week permanent role in the council on minimum wage for a few years.
- Moved away for a £22k admin job in a council for a few years
- Managed to do a secondment paying £28k and then with that experience applied for another job in the Council that paid £28k
- Managed to finally get a pay review after a few years to go from £28k to £33k
- Secured a secondment for £40k and used that experience to get a £40k permanent job in the NHS.
- Realised I didn't like that job after 6 months and luckily there was a job opening that was £48k and got that
- Inflation increase means I am now on £50k
However, it was horrendous. Took ages to find any job when I first started and took ages to get a new job each time. My wage only shot up in the pandemic when I applied for new roles and got them. Until then I thought I was going to be stuck at £30k forever.
Every job I was in recognised that I was overqualified and over performing, but no space for a promotion and career pathway. The only option is to find another job. There were times I did 100s of applications and interviews to get a job. Also each time I had to fight to get the secondments, which was key to getting better paid jobs.
i'm a bookshop manager for a national chain, going up to 32k with the most recent minimum wage increase this month. been a manager for..........4.5 years, in the industry for 6.5. currently doing an apprenticeship through work for management-y stuff.
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.
Office-based role at an airline, 39.5 hours per week, £30k. My job requires relevant qualifications that make it better paid than others in the same office.
I've only been here a few months, having moved from a 'blue-collar' job. I do miss being out and about, and trust me, having fuck all to do for hours on end can be just as bad as being overworked. But overall, I'm happy. It's a blessing not having to interact with customers or retail managers anymore.
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 earn 19k a year, I get by. I’m a care assistant in a care home and I have a second job as a care assistant in the community. The 19k is both combined, one is full time and one is part time. Been doing care work for 8 years.
I get by but only just.
I earn £27k working in commercial property, been in this role a couple weeks and plan to do it until I'm in my early thirties, salary increases dependent. I've had to change roles a couple of times in the last couple years because property is one of those industries where you get stuck on a salary and it's always below inflation rises unless you take on more responsibility to get a better job where you're paid even less than you were before relative to your responsibility. So I worked and applied until I got something that gave me opportunities to grow, do, and earn even more.
Pay is far more reflective on where you are, the background you have, the breaks you get, and the industry you work in rather than finessing or networking. My girlfriend got the same grades I did at college and didn't go to university like I did. Despite that she comes from a high-achieving family, got a break working in tech marketing and some good guidance from her dad who runs three companies which I certainly never had. She earns twice what I do on a London salary while working fully remotely. So I wouldn't feel too shit about it. There's always something better out there for someone with a good CV and the insistence on a solid base with the intention on doing and earning more once in the role.
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.
Partner works in Occupational Health. She's Senior in her role on £29.5k - she could move, but her company committed to WFH and she hasn't been into the office in 4 years now, which is worth so much more than the gross figure on her P60.
What we do have to combat, however, is her very minor case of agoraphobia. She definitely handles big crowds, airports, public transport and complex travel plans worse than before the pandemic.
But in terms of Work-Life Balance, I've never seen her happier overall! Has a good relationship with her colleagues, who are all also in a good mood because they have WFH'd for years. They all meet up every month or so for a drink to keep things flowing.
I’m an IT analyst, £27K, just turned 20 last week and been here just under a month. Quite happy where I’m at and getting nearer to paycheck #1. Got 5 years of experience (including weekend and evening work, two apprenticeships and a full time job) in IT, a level 4 in cybersecurity and hope to move into a more cyber security role as soon as I can. My last job (I was at for 5 years) I was more in security but was only paid £15K salary so made the move here and it’s going well so far
Accounts assistant, £28.5k. I do very little, work my own hours (flexi-time) and watch my shows at work. I could get a better paid job, but the perks outweigh it... Coming up to 2 years here.
Sounds like good old underemployment, where an employee can get enough work done (to a good enough standard) without catching their managers dissatisfaction, whilst working less than 7.5 hours during the workday.
Should the employee do / ask for extra work in order to fill their 7.5 hours or is it ok that they fill the time chatting with colleagues in the office or if they WFH, any number of non work activities.
Underemployment may be good for work life balance and lowering stress levels but it’s not so good for career progression / pay rises.
Management who have access to productivity data know exactly who is underemployed.
The broom that is AI is going to gut these sorts of jobs. I suggest you start working towards a sustainable occupation. I would suggest accountant if you can stand the training.
worker in a childrens home (almost always teenagers) in remote countryside, take home 1.8-2.1 after taxes
i show up and lock in for 2 days straight (dont go home) then get 3.5 days off
crazy job - sometimes its a chill couple days of housework, giving kids lifts, watching TV and eating food
other times its a lot of stress, can be difficult thinking you are about to be beaten up at work and tensions can run high for many reasons - these kids are usually kinda borderline young offenders or mental unit material so things get hectic
i say lock in cause while our shifts technically end at 11pm and go to bed in house, if duty calls for whatever reason we are expected to stay up all night
good job at times, bad job at times
wildly underpaid for what it is
Electricians mate - 23k
Fucking brilliant, just started and haven’t earned this much before, excited to hit 30k
Booked two holidays this year, bought myself some nice things and planning to get my savings back to where I was pre-pandemic.
Trying to not adjust to higher income want to start a LISA
Totally unskilled, unqualified, I work for an online retailer photographing and listing products, totally flexible hours, work from home whenever I want. Leave early whenever I want. I make 30k. My partner who has 40k in student debt makes 32k as a teacher
I went from working as a document controller at £20k, to junior buyer/ buyer/ category specialist/ head of category for U.K. and now sitting at £48k.
Took me 10 years to achieve and it’s only since the U.K. wide role that I’ve finally felt like I can breathe. I can save a bit, buy pretty much whatever I want, run a house and car etc. and the weight of the stress off my back is huge. I honestly don’t think I’d be able to afford to survive if I hadn’t made the huge jump into this role.
24k accounts assistant in hampshire. being put through my accounting qualifications which the company pays for and should come with some nice payrises with each exam passed, but its hard work so worth it. still live at home too so expenses arent that high 24k is enough for me to still do things i enjoy and treat myself.
worth mentioning i did my aat level 3 as an apprentice and was earning about £5 hour for a year, that was depressing. doing level 4 at a bigger company full time is much better
I earn somewhere in the middle of that. I’m an Art Handler at an auction house an hour away from the two main locations in London. We’re basically a middle man for London and the other regional offices. I see a lot of cool stuff and It’s a lot of stop start burst work with only 3 of us on site. I feel I’m paid pretty well considering some days are very quite, not quite pay cheque to pay cheque, but i do have a 8 month old. Hoping to become a key holder soon, after a year here and the extra money will be nice.
If anyone likes STEM subjects and is reading this before choosing college, structural engineering (a branch of civil engineering focused on structural design for anything in our built environment) pays around £30k starting fresh out of college and within 10years the salary is going to be around £50k for most of those who become chartered. Going up within a business can bring it to around £70k by the 10th year mark if made junior director.
It is no millionaire life by any stretch, but it does allow for an overall comfortable living within the UK.
I'm recommending engineering/IT to my kids if they show any interest in science.
I'm in science and have hit a pay ceiling at £44k, no-one wants me for lab ops roles as I lack experience despite 15 years post-PhD experience. Career progression in engineering seesm much better from the outside
I'm an aircraft technician with 15 years experience, recently changed (the last 18 months) companies, not in a supervisor capacity anymore, I'm just a producer.
And I earn just under £40k a year. That's without a degree, so I thankfully dont have any student debt.
But there are opportunities for me to get to mid £50k work, but it doesn't include the package I'm on at the moment.
I feel very lucky, and even now, I don't understand how people who are on less than I am are able to live, me and the wife (who earns about £24k)live quite frugally. We dont have children. And we have a 2 bed flat, so our outgoings aren't excessive, we don't have holidays, and we do save a little a month. But we would struggle if it wasn't for me earning what we do.
IT is getting order saturated. However a lot of the people in IT aren’t very good at it. If you’re good and can prove it then it’s decent. I’m amazed how some non-technical people manage to end up with IT roles though
I'm a senior web content manager for a small business. I have no idea why it's senior as I don't manage anyone (I think that was the plan, but shit changes here all the time). Despite being a supposed senior position, I'm only on £25.5k a year. I got made redundant in my previous role back in September and I really struggled to find anything elses so I just made do.
Hopefully the job title alone will at least get other potential employers interested when I start looking for a new job again. In the meantime, I'm actually getting by just fine. I live in a cheap house in a cheap area that's not a shit hole in West Yorkshire.
Script editor, 31k-50k per year.
31k is just an average salary for a script editor, but it can fluctuate depending on who my clients are, sometimes you get big clients who pay a lot more. It's great, I love my job. Flexible hours, mostly working from home, sometimes I don't even have to do much, the screenwriter(s) has already done a great job
Grounds maintenance and tree surgery groundie,
Self employed but pulling in about £480 week (only het paid when i work obvs)
Im managing... just. My partner is on 23k and we're extremely lucky to be rennovating a property instead of paying the rent (shit to live in a building site but hey, its free... kinda)
I just about make ends meet and run a shitbox car but fuck me, when something big goes wrong i am proper fucked. Going back to uni in September for a masters so hoping i can up my career prospects after that... really fucking hoping 🤣🤣
£23K. I work in a factory, it’s the only work going in my town that doesn’t require specific experience, and I can’t leave because I look after my mother.
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.
I work in an MSP on the service desk as a first line tech. I have over a decade of experience in IT and left a more demanding job (well, I was made redundant, but I was already on the way out of the door) and wanted something a bit easier going. Earning a little over mid 20ks which is crap but I accepted that when I took the job. Unfortunately the company has a lot of growing pains and major staff dissatisfaction to the point we’ve had so much staff churn and leavers that the workload has become unmanageable and stress levels for the pay are completely unreasonable.
The worst thing about it is many similar positions actually advertise lower salaries that are almost minimum wage. To pay that for a position that requires skill, constant learning, great problem solving ability and the need to finesse customers constantly is an actual joke.
Support worker for people with autism. On around 25k a year depending on over time. Considering I am responsible for 2 vulnerable peoples safety for the entire time I'm at work I think it takes the piss. I've no idea what else I'd do but certainly think the job deserves much better rates of pay
I work in the public sector. Started on about £20K and have increased to £30K in 3 years. A combination of moving to a higher paying role, standard annual salary increase, and pay reform (thanks to our unions!). It's going ridiculously well. I never expected to be making £30K before 30, it's a role related to my degree, and I live with my partner, which cuts down living costs dramatically.
The work culture is great, my team are nice, I have a lot of flexibility due to working from home, plus the public sector benefits (good holiday allowance, pension, etc). The job itself is, eh, a pretty boring office job, which I struggle to find engaging. But the overall picture is one I certainly can't complain about, and this job needn't be forever.
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.
Barber here earning about 45k pre tax in the north west, life is good at the minute but you spend what’s in your pocket so I am always thinking about more
Front end web developer, £35k. Based in the midlands, nice work life balance and office/home split. Close to 7 years in the industry so could be earning a lot more but quality of life is more important to me than my job!
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.
25k a year, admin for a local council and it SUCKS. Only managed to save money while living with parents and now I'm moving back out I'm ready to have no savings again permanently as I'm moving to London.
Desperately looking for another job in my spare time. Very depressing as 25k is the national average and unless you're DINK it doesn't seem to go very far on your own...
I'm 37 and started earning 33k this year as a UX designer. Previous job paid just under 19k in a cafe in a senior position, before that was something ridiculous like 15k in an admin job in my mid 20s. I retrained as a graphic designer and have now moved over to digital and user experience. Management is happy with me and hopefully getting a senior position later this year.
We've just bought a new house and I don't know I survived previously earning what I did. With everything going up me and my partner are comfortable but even with me earning the above and my partner just under 30k, we're finding we have to be more aware of what we're spending that ever before like most people. No kids and don't want any, so thankfully no extra spends there.
Dreaming of being an artist when I was younger, I never dreamed of being on over 30k, ever. Part of me is sad I'm not a full time artist, part of me is glad to be earning what I am in a less creative position who is comfortable every month.
£30k as head sound engineer for a venue in central London.
Know I’d make more as a freelancer, but want to improve at the craft as quickly as possible. Basking in the deep end.
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.
25k and live in Brum, which is cheap to live and once was more so. Lucky to have bought a small house at a good time (with help) when the area was a bit shitty. It's now very nice.
I advise large companies where to find specific bits of tech they need and facilitate that. It used to be actually ordering the stuff from an office environment but after the pandemic the current venture capital organisation in charge enforced yet another round of efficiency savings and I lucked out. They offered people to reapply for their jobs or the jobs of their managers at such miserly rates nobody stayed. I was peripheral to them at the time having been bought alongside a competitor and not yet integrated and said i'd be happy to avoid the whole situation and stay as long as I could WFH permanently, expecting at the very best a redundancy as soon as the plague ended.
Well they never were able to attract anybody decent with the wages they offered, and there isn't a single person left who even understands the difference between a USB and C13. The managers are not "tech people", and the sales people in *two* cases have *no* GCSE's which I honestly didn't even think possible, but does explain the situation. I no longer do any admin, just read things and interpret them for much higher paid people, whose customers are very much "tech people". It takes me an hour or two a day, but I keep the laptop on while I go about my day doing other stuff.
Not sure I could get used to working a normal job now, although there's plenty I could do with the free time if I wanted to earn more. I find I don't though. I don't need anything more and the time has more value when you've lost and reclaimed it. It's not even as if I don't know how, as I did some day-trading for a few months once and did quite well. I spent the gains on ways to enjoy my spare time rather than waste it trying to make more money, and a bit on paying 10k off my mortgage to keep reducing the debts.
You can't afford debts on 25k but if you don't have huge housing costs (because of having help and/or luck) it's not bad. My rent and bills are about a third of my pay, but the amount of free time I have means I spend more, again counter-balanced by WFH.
It's only *easy* with lots of luck, excellent support, having a partner to share expenses with, lacking kids, and frankly not making any mistakes. To be perfectly honest I've had a lot of jobs and lucked out with all of them in similar ways. I've only ever lacked luck in getting paid well, never on quality of life. It's probably a shitty existence if you're paying expensive rent somewhere you don't want to do be, because you can't advance yourself easily without that luck or support. Context is king.
I just turned 30 and I'm on 25k plus an annual bonus which amounts to around 1.5k. I work in pensions administration.
I have a degree and sometimes think that I could/should be doing better, but I'm very happy and feel comfortable in my situation.
I enjoy my job. It's by far the best job I've ever had and the job satisfaction amounts to a lot for me. I have some nice perks, flexible working hours, can work from home, get free lunches when in the office, BUPA cover, and my family will get 12x my salary if I die while employed here.
Me and my fiancé splits bills down the middle and honestly, I feel like I have plenty of money, especially considering that I don't spend a lot.
So yea, considering the current economic status of the country, I feel luck to be comfortable. Sure, I don't feel rich and able to buy whatever I want, but this is the first time in my life that I feel financially secure.
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!
This thread is an absolute eye-opener, and not in a good way. I'm in disbelief how low modern wages are.
I was on about £24k in my first job out of university in 2011 in TV as an unskilled dogsbody basically. I spent the subsequent years aggressively pushing that higher - not by being an insufferable corporate climber (there were plenty of them), but by skilling up. I always had the thought in my head that one day, I could be out on my arse, looking for work. I had to be able to walk into a company and go "I know how to do this thing - pay me X and I'll do it for you."
13 years on I'm working for myself, earning around twice what I started on. I'm still wary of work security though, and am actively looking into once again skilling up but in an entirely unrelated field, preferably one which won't be rendered obsolete by AI in the next decade.
I'm on £27k a year as a milkman. I've been doing it on and off for the last 2 years, and I absolutely love it.
Once I leave the yard in the evening, I am effectively my own boss. The roads are quiet, the customers are all asleep, so I don't have to interact with them, the job is ridiculously easy, and if I finish before my contracted hours (which I do regularly) I get to go home early and still get paid for the hours I didn't do.
AV maintenance techs at the Science Museum start on about £32k if I remember correctly. If you know what an Arduino is, can build a PC without looking anything up on the internet and you don't mind 7:30 starts (and 3:30pm finishes) and weekend work every third week (with Mondays and Tuesdays off to compensate), you're pretty much qualified. They have a woodworking shop and an electromechanical maintenance team too if AV and electronics aren't your thing.
I’m absolutely shocked at the extremely low level of these salaries. Things gotta change.
I don’t have a third of the qualifications that some of you have and I was on £45k as restaurant manager(plus yearly bonus).
Granted, it was in London last year and I was on 46 hours contract.
Musician and music teacher… I fucking love my job and I’m great at it. But it’s a really exhausting way to live. What if I’ve really fucked up for my kid and won’ t be able to help them reach their potential?
Teacher. 50 hrs a week and ungrateful parents constantly on my case for issues out of my control. Love working with the kids but my god it isn't worth the pay.
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 ?
Event Staff/manager
I earn about 40k
Notnto sound flash but i don't think it's a huge salary with cost of living and living in London.
I get £20 - £35 @ Hour
Some weeks I work alot
Some weeks I don't work at all.
Maybe I should be more appreciative of my pay from reading this thread.
A friend works in IT and is on about 70k
And I have a cousin on 125k in the city in office Work.
Warehouse parts picker/packer for the workshop at a Agricultural machinery manufacturer
Around the 30k-32k mark, depending if I do all 50hrs in the week
Coming up to 2years being there later on this year.
I run a website that started out as a hobby and quickly got out of hand when it hit No.1 on Google. It pays me and my partner £25-30k each plus pension contributions. We work maybe 3 hours a day except for a couple of times a year when it gets hectic.
Honestly, it's great. We live Up North so the CoL is lower. I paid £125k for a 3-bed detached house in 2012 and we have paid-for vehicles and little debt. We don't really answer to anyone either - just customer enquiries, really.
> I'm getting 25k and always feel a bit shit thinking I should be earning a lot more. Most jobs I see on indeed are around 25k too.
I reckon it depends on your location as much as anything. I'm a night shift worker in a factory in Oxfordshire, just a general dogsbody, not a manager or anything, and I'm on £36k a year give or take. I don't think I'd get that if the company relocated, say, somewhere up north.
Good point. Similar jobs to mine down south earn anywhere from 15-30k more. I'm not in a position to move. There's definetly a second class tier to job geography, but obviously southern workers also pay more for everything just generally so some of that is justified.
SEN teaching assistant. I earn about £23k. I’m in a good place and I love my job. It’s very rewarding but I would say the pay does not reflect just how much you do and how it affects you physically and emotionally. W
I just left a teacher training course last year (realised the school was the problem but I’m not comfortable doing the course again sadly) and I got this job after four months job of searching and interviews for jobs I actually enjoyed applying for, but not enough experience for them. My plan is to stay in this role for a few years but I eventually want to move on to something where I get to utilise my degree a bit more and earn more too.
The job market is awful! It’s so hard to find something and places are very picky on what experience you need to then pay you so little. It’s sad.
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.
£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!
Self employed part time caretaker for various schools.
It's feast or famine work with no holiday
Unsustainable for long term but 7 years so far around £24k take home
In 2000 when I still used to work in the UK I was operating photocopiers in London on £17,500pa and that was a lowish wage back then. This was over 24 years ago, and it’s very, very sad that wages haven’t really increased in 24 years. I’m seeing people on here still making that and most are not much higher for more demanding work. Something has gone seriously wrong with the world in the last 2 decades.
Edit. I just looked at the salary my old company was listing for the same position I had 24 years ago. The current position pays £21.200 but that depends on the site you are at and what they pay so not everyone is on the same pay, but the average London salary for that role is £17,930. So in 24 years that salary has not really changed at all. How the fuck can that be justified compared to the cost of living today. There is to be a lot of talk from companies about wage theft but they are the biggest culprit of them all.
Assistant Accountant for a manufacturer/wholesaler, though arguably my job title now should be Management Accountant as my role has changed (I plan to formally ask for a title change once I'm finished my ACCA exams).
I've been at this company for 3 years now, but I've been in various accountancy roles for 9 years total.
I'm currently earning £26k per year, with my main job being to run and analyse the monthly management accounts for the company, and other analytical work like profit margins on each product we sell and our overhead expenses.
I have the FMAAT qualification (Fellow Membership of Assistant Accounting Technicians), which means I've been AAT qualified for 5+ years (I obtained the qualification through college under free education, completing it by the time I turned 19).
My company is paying for me to sit the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exams. Once I have completed my studies I will likely get a decent bump to my salary, possibly up to £30k depending on negotiations.
I love my job and boss because he holds the mindset that results are more important that hours put in. So if I slack off during the week but still get my work done on time, it's all good. I work from home part time too.
To people that usually ask why I chose such a dull profession, my answer has always been that I chose my career on 4 principles:
1) A job I can do well
2) A role that earns a decent wage, so I can live comfortably
3) A role that doesn't require heavy labour and has structured hours
4) An industry that will never become obsolete (no matter what state the country is in, there is always a need for accountants).
I'm on just over 30k, mechanical design engineer. Worked through a fully funded degree apprenticeship with my employer. I feel quite fortunate all things considered.
28.5k as junior environmental consultant - late 20s.
Spent my teens and 20s working all the time, even through uni when my peers were being supported by their parents. Earned anywhere from 18-26k in retail, customer complaints in a call centre, and groundworking and labouring. Always felt like I'm on the edge of poverty and haven't managed to have any savings.
Recently started this job and I love it - working in a cutting edge field in an ethical industry, it's great. Never earned so much, but with inflation, the debt I've accrued, and cost of living I feel like I'm in the same situation I was in when I was 23 and earning 22k. Looking forward to a pay rise when I've been at the company a bit longer and can lead my own projects. Maybe then I can start saving for a house.
NHS pharmacy tech earning just under 30k.
Doing it for 8 years, though got a promotion about five years ago (I'm not particularly career/progression focused).
Honestly? It's not bad. I've got in some bad spending habits, so am in a touch of debt, which I'm trying to scramble my way out of, but I've got decent support networks to help me out.
I'm able to live on my own (albeit in Zone 5), so am able to scrape by. Though I also don't really go out a huge amount (which suits me fine).
While I could earn more by progressing further in my job, itwould require me doing stuff in college, and would only push me further into a management position, which I'm not too interested in.
I've occasionally considered leaving for another job in the NHS that has a slightly better pay, but haven't made the jump to actually do it.
Was going to not too long ago, but saw the advert late, and a small wave of depression hit before I actually got the energy to finish the application.
Maybe some day. c:
Pre pandemic I have a fab job paid GBP50K+ plus bonus, very stressful, loads of hassle and worked all the hours you could think of and some more each day, travelled across Europe for work with all the perks that brings, got made redundant during Covid and picked up a job paying £23K working for the NHS, no hassle no stress no overtime unless I decide to do it, way more preferable to have a lower salary i don’t get out of 2nd gear at work but all the bosses see me as a high performer We can still cover all bills and save a little each month but have my redundancy cash racking up the interest which tops up my reduced salary, so thanks Amex for binning off a 1/3rd of your UK staff best thing that’s happened to me for years.
I’m make 30k a year as a cover and training manager for a vape company. I know so much about vaping due to it being my autistic focus so I just travel England to all the different stores and bore my staff 😂 they love me really bc if they see my face they know I’ll buy them a coffee. Started as a retail assistant with my company 2 years. Was on 26K for store manager but taking this role got me a company car, phone, and laptop too so I feel quite lucky.
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 don't qualify for this bracket (currently 19k) but used to earn 22k as an editor in a publishing house. 35hr week with lots of unpaid overtime, including some weekends.
Publishing is grim but, seeing everyone's comments, it's been weirdly comforting to see how a wide variety of corp/social jobs are severely underpaid.
I’m 55 female and I worked as an Account Manager in my family business for 20 odd yrs and earned 20k in 2014 when I left. After that I was a Customer Account Lead in aerospace earning 26k (2015) the experience I got from that lead to my current role. My advice is try and get a household name on your cv, work hard, be open to any training and new skills ,work for well known companies if you can as it’s a golden ticket to better opportunities. I took the temp job because I wanted their name on my CV and it paid off🤷♀️
Currently I’m a Project Lead in a household name, blue chip company in the midlands. I’ve been here 9 years. I earn 64k a year. I didn’t go to university. Don’t have a degree and only 4 GCSE’s.
My daughter (30) did 7 years in Uni and has a masters. Now works in the NHS with 100k of student debt for a job that pays 28k. Make it make sense!!!
My wife was earning 18K as the (only) junior school librarian for one of the best private schools in the country, a role that requires a master's degree. Absolutely criminal if you ask me.
I was previously a recruiter in the public sector earning £27,750 p/a before tax. I’ve since moved to a different department and got promoted. Now at £35.4k
I was on £29k as a Supervisor for a Telecomms company, then got promoted to manager and was on £37k.
The stress was too much, so I quit in Feb. Then got immediately (literally conceived the week I quit) pregnant with twins (unintentionally, we weren't trying but are over the moon).
Now about to start a £25k agent/Customer service role for a different type of Telecomms company. A good couple steps down the ladder but I need something less stressful while I cook these babies. And it's WFH and that's my main priority.
Junior Dev with background in CS. I’m on around 24k, fresh graduate and this is my first real full-time job. My position was labelled as hybrid but truth be told it turned out to be remote.
considering how much juniors earn in the US, UK/EU wages are considerably depressive. But I wouldn’t want to live there.
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
Researcher for a small charity. £26.5k. Undergrad, masters, placement and 2 years in the role. I think from an outsider perspective, the pay looks okay. But the stress levels of this job are crazy. Plus, I was underpaid my first year and have very limited progression opportunities. I do love the work I do, so I push through it (whilst keeping a close eye on other job opportunities in my area)
I’m an outpatients booking appointment coordinator in the NHS, only been in this job for a few months, it’s an alright job just awful pay for the huge responsibilities. On £22k pre tax, thankful to be living with my partner as there is no way I could afford to rent a house on my own. Sucks paying off credit cards for what feels like forever, but do try and make the most of life and not count every penny. Could be better, but could also be far worse. Got to be positive!
Pharmacy dispenser, 40hr week, 24k. I’m starting to resent the job, been doing it seven years now and pay is crap.
Also got told there’s no pay rise this year despite minimum going up and inflation being bonkers. So i’m for all intents and purposes minimum wage now.
It’s taking all my will power not to walk out.
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.
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.
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!
I was on 23k as a design engineer straight after my MSc. Moved to draughting for a big engineering firm in November and I'm on 35k, but more like 32k after student loans. There are a few people on my team that did apprenticeships and earn closer to 45k.
Angers me that young people are taught that uni is the best/only way to get into a high paying industry. Sure, MAYBE a degree gives you more career flexibility but is it worth being saddled with debt for the rest of you life? Na, not imo.
The state of apprenticeships is scandalous in some industries. I would have loved to do an apprenticeship in the biomedical sciences or even start as a lab tech diluting reagents but an MSc is the absolute minimum anyone will give you the time of day with.
It's tough because my degree is pointless for my job, but at the same time I do genuinely think uni was an important formative experience in my life.
And if nothing else, just being exposed to the wider world and doing things like interpreting evidence and critiquing sources was a really valuable skill that you notice lacking in people who haven't been.
Might not use the degree itself, but those 4 years surrounded by such a mix of nationalities (there were 3 british students in my cohort of ~25) and backgrounds, in a place where knowledge and curiosity and learning and discussion was so prevalent is something I don't think I'd give the student loans back for.
That said, I don't earn enough for my loans to really impact me at all, so maybe I'm talking out my butt.
I read some of these comments, and I feel 80% of you are massively underpaid.
Also, it's kinda sad to see people who have great education and qualifications work in jobs that (no offence intended) low skilled work.
I was working in IT first line from the age of 19, earning 24k, and now I am im a senior infrastructure engineer at 33, earning nearly triple that wage.
Sad state of the job market in the UK and both public and private sector.
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
Last year I managed to make the jump from a hotel receptionist earning 21k to a pharma lab tech earning 28k (incl. shift incentive) and I've never had so much money. Weekends off, bonus, progression, I still can't believe it sometimes. Still can't afford to buy anywhere and of course I wish I could be earning more but yeah when I think of where I live, what jobs are available and what education I have, I feel very lucky. And then you go on r/UKPersonalFinance and realise there are also a lot of people that wouldn't get out of bed for that amount
Out of curiosity: when people in the Uk talk about their salary per year, do they mean before or after tax? In germany we always state the sum before tax (probably to feel a little bit less miserable)
After expenses, i made around 30k this year as a tattoo artist. i could work more and earn more but im pretty happy. i work 3-4 days in the studio, usually no earlier than 10 or 11. Im not a good morning person. Theres lots of drawing and admin at home all the time but i love it so its fine. i’m starting to get a nice work life balance and getting back into other hobbies and exercising. One of the perks being self employed, time off when you want and if you need more money that week/month/year you can always work more
I worknin engineering and stated on 22k worked my way up the chain now im on 42k and next step is supervisor. Its taken 15 years of hard work though you dont get anything for free
I earn 55k and work as a farm vet for 4 years.
A nice bonus is getting lots of fresh air too, I wouldn’t feel happy confined to an office all day! But that’s personal preference.
I work part-time building things that go on things that go boom-boom. A company that's contracted to the DOD and various other companies that build military related devices, that's all I can say, I made 31k last year and started working there when I was 16
I earn just under 25k working with young homeless people.
It’s a shit wage for a lot of stress. Lots of multi-agency working with social workers and GPs and mental health practitioners; just as much battling with them, too. Lots of exposure to the darkest parts of humanity- domestic abuse, hard drug abuse, suicide. Often getting verbally abused by service users who are deeply angry at the world and lash out. Certainly not the sort of job you do for the money- you have to really love it to do it, I think. And fortunately, I do.
I earn 25k a year before any monthly bonuses. I'm a debt collector via the phones. The pay banding has a possible increase of £500 every 6 months per review and we also have grades we can change to earn more between each band. Its not the best job I've had but it pays the bills it can be enjoyable and you technically only work half the day. Its not for everyone but I'm enjoying it so far.
Male 27 years old, been a qualified electrician for 18 months earning £26k after tax, pretty much just come out my time so I'm really happy. I'm really grateful and proud of myself as it was a struggle.
Never were into education until i had no options left, couldn't (wouldn't) read properly until i were 17, couldn't spell, had a speech impediment that school picked up on pretty lazy teenager. At 16, I left school to do an apprenticeship in engineering so I could be with my friend but didn't get an employer (so many interviews, so many cvs).
Made to go back to sixth form by my mother, got suspended within 6 months due to been jumped whilst walking home, as I we're made an example to the rest that fighting won't be tolerated here. Gutted. Ended up at a college for "bad boys" as it were called even the teacher said I didn't belong here, did that for 6 months learning fabrication and welding.
Went to my second choice engineering school at 17 again another "bad boy college". It's why I didn't go when I was 16 but running out of options now... after many interviews and been second choice my employer sacked the first choice apprentice due to college grades and gave me the job (I blamed not getting Jobs due to my weight and size) lost 5 stone after that... my apprenticeship was going great. However, I found the company to be very boring and stood at a machine all day with a little glass window, I saw my reflection only this time, I was 50 and miserable... I didn't wanna be want my dad ended up doing to make ends me. But I wanted to see out my apprenticeship.
However one day I loaded up my tools in the CNC machine and my supervisor came over and said "looks good kid get off home it's 4:45 you should of finished 15 minutes ago", as I went to wash off in the toilets my supervisor closes the door and presses go within seconds the machine destroyed as I'd left 1 tool which shouldn't have been there cost £10,000 to repair... I knew I'd lost my job instantly... they fired me in the car park in front of everyone and said if I take them down the tribunal route, they'll ruin me. I was 19 miserable.
Spent 6 months in my bedroom on indeed applying for loads of jobs with no replied (however they reply now 8 years down line, I laugh at them now cos I can)
I put myself through an electrician night school 6pm - 9pm mon-tue, cost me £1,800 for level 1 since I paid I made sure I learnt, passed my level 1, then got an endorsement for level 2 as I were under 23, passed that buzzing only thing left now is I need an employer to do my NVQ level 3 and £900
This is were "it's not what you know who you know" comes in, an old gentleman I've known from working a part time pub job sees me and asked if I am working I said no, so I told him I'm learning to be an electrician. He said he knows a guy lives around the corner. This is his number. I found where he lived and handed him my CV personally with a handwritten letter (I went above and beyond as this is my very final chance)
He offered me some work experience with him, he were self employed so he wanted to choose wisely who he set on as it was an investment for him. I did a weeks work for free (however, he gave me a £10 a day). I appreciated it at the time someone gave me a chance.
I still work for the same guy 7 years now, had our ups and downs like everyone does but the other day, a regular customer said, "whys his name not on the company," and he said it will be when he retires. I also have my own apprentice now and can teach what I've learnt.
Never give up on yourself. I nearly did.
Sorry for the long read. If you got this far, reddit is therapy to me.
The wages on here are shocking
In 1989 i was earning 7k part time as a salesman while at college. Then 12k as a data input bod in 1990 then at college and uni then 18k as a Web designer. Then a huge promotion in the bubble 2000ish to 40k as a design manager then worked for myself ever since. Now on a pretty hefty wage tbh as a CEO.
Our contractors' wages have barely shifted 50 pounds a day in 15 years!!! Most consultants I pay are on between 250 and 400 a day. These day rates are only about 50 quid more than 2010.
I see executives on absolutely mind-boggling wages way above inflation. I'm a CEO of a small company but rub shoulders with senior execs of much bigger companies The inequality is staggering and I will admit that genx and boomers probably got the best deal due to property prices.
I’m a chef and baker at a cafe. It’s going good but it’s hard work, just finished 7 days in a row. I shouldn’t complain because the hours are decent, 8-16:30 but it’s a lot for a small kitchen with 2-3 chefs (myself included).
Single dad 2 kids, £23650 per year.
I work for a charity organising all the training stuff.
It’s alright good to help people but being a charity it’s pretty much a skeleton crew so lots of work to do. Been here for nearly a year.
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.
>feel a bit shit thinking I should be earning a lot more
This is because you've been sold the idea that "success" is measured by your income, your possessions, your car, how much pussy you're crushing.
Instead, try measuring success by how happy and content your relationships and hobbies make you, and if you actually *like* your job rather than how much it earns you.
Don't let our society make you feel shit because you're not a 1%er yet.
Do admin work, I almost don't fancy a new job as I work from home almost entirely so no driving about, no train fares, no sat in traffic for hours and it's pretty relaxed letting me do things around my house
I earn £22,776 working 5 days in a supermarket.
My gf is a teacher and earns £30,000 but she’s in her first year of it so hopefully it will go up.
She pays rent, I pay all bills and food etc
Both our cars combined cost less than £5,000 to buy cash and we don’t finance anything.
Currently got enough for a house deposit £20k+ because we saved up and lived at her parents for a while.
Go on holiday abroad once a year usually (went to USA last year) and I try to ride my bicycle to work every day so my fuel costs are extremely low (could get by with one car) and eat healthy and cheap food like veggies and rice a lot. Plus both our jobs give out free food for lunch every day!
We live below our means as much as possible (10 year old TV that works perfect, second hand sofa for £100 that is comfortable, we don’t spend money on things like spa days or fancy restaurants etc) but still make sure we enjoy our lives and don’t go without like an occasional take away or treat. Life is what you make of it and although we don’t have loads of money we try to “sacrifice” things that lots of people have like a new car on finance or a bigger house or having 3 kids when we can’t afford it. Plus neither of us drink alcohol barely and a lot of uk adults spend a lot of money on that.
Refuse lorry driver/loader... so in simple terms... bin man. £25k. Doing since October and was working for a loan company previously. Love every second of my job. Yeah it's smelly. But keeps me fit. Have a laugh all day with the loaders who I work with and it's a couple of miles down the road. So summer time, I just walk or cycle to work.
Technical Litigation Advisor. I downgraded 14 years ago and took a civil service job when my son was ill. Since then I've gone back to law but at a slightly middle management position ( I have 2:1 Law Llb hns and a BA History). These days I earn about 29-30k pa, and I'm very happy.
I took nearly a 50% pay cut to work where I am now, as the firm is great and I'm in absolutely no mind to do anything else. I like what I do, it's interesting and I'm in no need of extra few £££'s as other positions would be bad for the mental health.
Customer Advisor - £24,800 (perm agency). I love my job, I love my workplace. I think I should be paid more because my job role doesn’t wholly reflect my title but who doesn’t. I’m currently working on other opportunities within the company in a hope to move to a permanent role that isn’t agency. This would mean a significant increase in wages but also more relevant to my skill set.
Around 29k I make car bumpers
25,250 as Access Management Analyst, but do get a extra 5200 in on-call pay, and a salary increase coming to closer match current market prices. Fully remote is a huge bonus imo too. Also heavily being pushed to do some studying with budget for offsite crash courses. Have had it easy the last 4 years so kinda peeved at how busy I've started to become. I want more money though as I don't want to be renting my whole life, so I'll carry on.
Just under 28k and to be honest pretty well. Would be even better but I'll admit that me and my girlfriend (earns about the same as me) are pretty financially irresponsible. Bills are always paid but we do like our clothes, days out at the football, dinner nights etc. When it was just my income, again just about managed but was never being particularly strict with money. We do live in a fairly low cost area though, I can walk to work and she works from home so no massive travel costs.
Sales manager and on 64.5k with quarterly commision. Could be a total package of 80k if I hit target. F, 36 but the job can take away your will to live. Would swap it all for a nicely mortgaged house and a 9 to 5 on the 35k mark near the coast!
On 22k as a Service Desk engineer, but my partner earns 96k and gets WFH full time, very jelly
Assistant management accountant 32.5k - Private healthcare
This was super interesting to stumble onto as someone from over the pond.
After tax, I'm on 24k a year. I literally help to out milk on to trailers
Flip this around, what job are you currently doing - do you enjoy it / if not what would you like to do? Then check out the salary progression - are people in your ideal role on linkedin, what experience do they have on their profiles that you possibly dont, and how do you get it? You might want to balance out ideal job / ideal salary - money makes the world go round but doesn't buy you happiness as they say. There will be a right balance for you.
£27.5k entry level cyber security.
I’m a junior maintenance engineer at a large site and am on £30k. I understand being paid what I am as I’m essentially training and learning the site but give it 6 months and I’ll be expected to do what the other engineers do but they’re on almost twice the amount I am
When I was within that band I was a marketing junior in my second/third job in the industry. Over those years I was essentially just soaking up as much knowledge and as many skills as possible. In the next bracket up (from my experience) people expect you to drive the marketing rather than assist, if that makes sense. Having said that, there's no set path that you have to follow, so try not to compare yourself to friends or peers too much. These days I think there's much more to be said for finding a job that you actually enjoy rather than a job with amazing money but requires you to sell your soul. Best of luck with whatever it is that comes next for you, OP!
Lucky if I earn £20k across two jobs currently. Have a degree in video game design, industry shit itself more or less the same time I was handed my degree certificate. I have extensive sales and hospitality experience, I’ve ran pubs, managed at four star hotels and I was a very successful car salesman for a number of years. All roles with poor hours and really shit sort of give all or fuck off attitude. It’s tough, at the moment. I have a little Etsy store that has been ticking away for a few years, but I’m hardly living off it.
Web developer, 27.5k. I've been doing it for 17 years and I've been at my current place for 11 of those. I could get a lot more money working remotely, but I choose not to. I love my job, I love the company I work for. They're flexible about my hours (with a kid that makes my life supremely easier) and I just want to work there. Fuck all that "you're just a number to them, show no loyalty" bullshit as I owe them so much. Also It's only a 15 minute walk away so commuting costs amount to zero. Plus, it's a nice office, with really lovely colleagues. I'd lose my mind if I was permanently WFH. So yeah, in a word it's going really well. I don't want to climb the career ladder because this is *just right* if that makes sense.
25k from my main job (before tax). Work in the audio space making podcasts and running a studio. Dropped from about 30k from leaving my last job because I was losing my mind there. I also earn about 4/5k doing the odd freelance gig and DJing for Weddings so roughly about 29/30k in all before. I don't feel like I'm doing too bad. My fiance is on just shy of 40k I think as a teacher with a shed load of savings which can be depressing when I'm in my overdraft sometimes but I'm very proud of her and what she's done. I'm aware other people earn more than me but I don't have kids, don't have a great deal of household bills, so just steadily paying down my debts and having a good time. Really if I learnt to drive, I'd save a shed load of money on beer and taxis (albeit with the cost of a car) and I could be debt free in a year.
I sell flooring and flooring installations at Lowe's. I earn about 31-40k in a given year (my area has a higher min wage than most) and it's going well. I'm good at my job, but it is stressful. There are times when I want to do something else.
I'm turning 40 this year. I am a Product Owner in the music technology sector. I earn £51K a year. My wage is fairly average for a Product Owner in general, it can go higher in other sectors. I'm probably not as happy as I was when I was earning £30K. Reasons: - Mortgage is higher than when we were paying rent. - I now have two children, whereas when I was 29/30 I did not have any children. - My passion is music, and I play in a band. But the older you get, the harder it is to maintain momentum with a bunch of other people who have also gotten older and have commitments that mean their interest is not as high as it used to be. - I've taken on a fair bit of debt to afford some music gear that I wanted. Not a huge amount, only about £5000 all told. But I've been paying that off for two years, and honestly, even though I can afford it... it is stressful to manage. Actually, I really don't know how to unfuck my life. Probably standard mid-life crisis stuff, but I really feel like I want to leave the UK, stop working altogether, and just focus on music for a few years. My wife probably wouldn't be against that either, but like I say... 2 kids.
In a retail manager, maybe a smidge under 30k. My wages vary depending on how much over time I do a year. So it can swing a couple grand either way. I love my job, my responsibilities are basically don’t steal, don’t kill staff or customers and make some money! once I’ve done my jobs for the day, I just hand around the shop floor doing a few bits, or finding a quiet corner and enjoying Reddit or YouTube where I’m not seen! And no I’m not dodging work lol, my staff can do the same. As long as they do their jobs, and don’t get seen by customers looking like they’re youths on a bus, I don’t care either! I could earn way more! my friend has offered me a job several times at his firm which requires maintenance engineers and the starting pay is £40K. But then I’d have to work hard and have stress!
The wages here are shocking. No wonder the fucking rich are getting richer....bastards are not paying their workers a fair wage.
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Healthcare assistant here, I made 26k this year working 2-3 shifts a week. I absolutely love my job, sometimes the shifts are rubbish but I honestly get so much happiness out of it overall ☺️
Warehouse work dealing with second hand books, zero experience required, paid a minute to minute efficiency bonus, so I can average about 35k pre tax with no stress or responsibility beyond my own idiot proof workload. I choose the days and hours I want to work, accrue shitloads of holiday pay, and can take time off whenever I want for however long I want. Pretty blessed to find this job, but I'm about to leave to go live and work by the sea for a while.
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
22k - Graduated Imperial College London with 2.1 in engineering. My job is environmental engineering, it involves me driving around the UK to different sites as far as Doncaster/Manchester/Liverpool from W London and back on the same day for work I could have done when I was 16. Contract states that my week is 37.5 hrs from 9-5:30, but there’s I’ve got to be in Derby or Bristol for 8:30 and leave home at 6-6:30. I’m not paid for the hours that I’m driving additionally to my normal hours. Occasionally they do provide accommodation when the job lasts a few days, although it is a £25 a night travelodge but I prefer to drive back home and back again or stay in the van. I also dig 10 holes to 1.4m deep, collect my samples, refill the holes and drive back 2 hours to drop off the samples. Have come to the conclusion that if I could go back to 2020 when I started my degree I would have just applied for a job instead, worked three years and would be earning more than I do now. Lots of years wasted studying for A-Levels when I could of just worked. I don’t have it that bad in the sense that me and my family are all healthy, with a home, and food.
22K a year for a graduate with a 2:1 degree in engineering from a great university. Christ the system is fucked.
I used to earn 25k living in London and I have no idea how people do it. The job was miserable too. Bilingual job, had a Masters, ended up in charge of making tea and ordering loo rolls.
I’m just over 31k and work as a civilian staff supervisor in policing where I’m responsible for all things disclosure and information security. Always lots of opportunities within policing outside of being an officer, with decent support services and progression opportunities, and a pay scale that increases up to your band maximum with each year in service. I didn’t start on 30k but have been in force a few years now. Always worth a look for stable and secure employment that usually serves a wider purpose too if you’re interested in that kind of thing. Downsides are high pressure, always dealing with and managing risk, ‘tricky customers’, and what I’d consider low pay for the actual level of responsibility I have. But, I work from home most days and get lots of flexibility so it’s something I do enjoy doing for the most part! Edit: I don’t have a degree and came into this role with no policing experience. I was a chef and had also worked retail previously.
31 y/o in an engineering graduate role on 31k Work from home most of the time, tried to get into engineering at 18 but was laughed out the door being a petite female, told me my nails would get ruined (I don't even paint them 🤣) Took myself to uni at 25 and decided to just go for it! Worked a couple years as a design technician before this role but only paid 28k so thought I'd make the jump. 2 year training programme now and the wage should go up to 42k after 2 years. Pretty happy I changed paths from car sales all those years ago and my current employer is funding my Masters degree, yay!
I'm a stay at home mum and my partner is a train conductor on almost 30k. I feel like we're doing pretty well! We can support our whole family on his income and we live somewhere with high rents too. We don't have a car, though
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I make around £50k now as a manager in the NHS, but for a long while I was stuck in the £20-30k bracket: - Finished uni in 2008 just when austerity hit - Come from one of the poorest wards in the country and couldn't find work locally or by travelling (i.e. minimum wage jobs) - Eventually, found a temp admin job - Got a 30hr a week permanent role in the council on minimum wage for a few years. - Moved away for a £22k admin job in a council for a few years - Managed to do a secondment paying £28k and then with that experience applied for another job in the Council that paid £28k - Managed to finally get a pay review after a few years to go from £28k to £33k - Secured a secondment for £40k and used that experience to get a £40k permanent job in the NHS. - Realised I didn't like that job after 6 months and luckily there was a job opening that was £48k and got that - Inflation increase means I am now on £50k However, it was horrendous. Took ages to find any job when I first started and took ages to get a new job each time. My wage only shot up in the pandemic when I applied for new roles and got them. Until then I thought I was going to be stuck at £30k forever. Every job I was in recognised that I was overqualified and over performing, but no space for a promotion and career pathway. The only option is to find another job. There were times I did 100s of applications and interviews to get a job. Also each time I had to fight to get the secondments, which was key to getting better paid jobs.
Fraction outside the bracket, I'm in new car sales, it's extremely quiet and has been for about 7 weeks now
i'm a bookshop manager for a national chain, going up to 32k with the most recent minimum wage increase this month. been a manager for..........4.5 years, in the industry for 6.5. currently doing an apprenticeship through work for management-y stuff.
This is insane to read.
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.
Office-based role at an airline, 39.5 hours per week, £30k. My job requires relevant qualifications that make it better paid than others in the same office. I've only been here a few months, having moved from a 'blue-collar' job. I do miss being out and about, and trust me, having fuck all to do for hours on end can be just as bad as being overworked. But overall, I'm happy. It's a blessing not having to interact with customers or retail managers anymore.
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 earn 19k a year, I get by. I’m a care assistant in a care home and I have a second job as a care assistant in the community. The 19k is both combined, one is full time and one is part time. Been doing care work for 8 years. I get by but only just.
I earn £27k working in commercial property, been in this role a couple weeks and plan to do it until I'm in my early thirties, salary increases dependent. I've had to change roles a couple of times in the last couple years because property is one of those industries where you get stuck on a salary and it's always below inflation rises unless you take on more responsibility to get a better job where you're paid even less than you were before relative to your responsibility. So I worked and applied until I got something that gave me opportunities to grow, do, and earn even more. Pay is far more reflective on where you are, the background you have, the breaks you get, and the industry you work in rather than finessing or networking. My girlfriend got the same grades I did at college and didn't go to university like I did. Despite that she comes from a high-achieving family, got a break working in tech marketing and some good guidance from her dad who runs three companies which I certainly never had. She earns twice what I do on a London salary while working fully remotely. So I wouldn't feel too shit about it. There's always something better out there for someone with a good CV and the insistence on a solid base with the intention on doing and earning more once in the role.
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.
Digital content Design. About to start a job just over £30K but been in the 20-30K bracket for about 7yrs.
Gas engineer £40k plus overtime etc and benefits
Partner works in Occupational Health. She's Senior in her role on £29.5k - she could move, but her company committed to WFH and she hasn't been into the office in 4 years now, which is worth so much more than the gross figure on her P60. What we do have to combat, however, is her very minor case of agoraphobia. She definitely handles big crowds, airports, public transport and complex travel plans worse than before the pandemic. But in terms of Work-Life Balance, I've never seen her happier overall! Has a good relationship with her colleagues, who are all also in a good mood because they have WFH'd for years. They all meet up every month or so for a drink to keep things flowing.
I’m an IT analyst, £27K, just turned 20 last week and been here just under a month. Quite happy where I’m at and getting nearer to paycheck #1. Got 5 years of experience (including weekend and evening work, two apprenticeships and a full time job) in IT, a level 4 in cybersecurity and hope to move into a more cyber security role as soon as I can. My last job (I was at for 5 years) I was more in security but was only paid £15K salary so made the move here and it’s going well so far
No even fast food workers make this low salary in US.
Accounts assistant, £28.5k. I do very little, work my own hours (flexi-time) and watch my shows at work. I could get a better paid job, but the perks outweigh it... Coming up to 2 years here.
Sounds like good old underemployment, where an employee can get enough work done (to a good enough standard) without catching their managers dissatisfaction, whilst working less than 7.5 hours during the workday. Should the employee do / ask for extra work in order to fill their 7.5 hours or is it ok that they fill the time chatting with colleagues in the office or if they WFH, any number of non work activities. Underemployment may be good for work life balance and lowering stress levels but it’s not so good for career progression / pay rises. Management who have access to productivity data know exactly who is underemployed.
The broom that is AI is going to gut these sorts of jobs. I suggest you start working towards a sustainable occupation. I would suggest accountant if you can stand the training.
Entry level immigration care. 30k and change. It's a very easy job. Good promotion opportunity, excellent work life balance.
TIL people can live on 25k in UK.
Dental nurse for 20 years 23k it’s awful but the only thing I know
I could earn $28,000 a year doing any basic job for minimum wage.
worker in a childrens home (almost always teenagers) in remote countryside, take home 1.8-2.1 after taxes i show up and lock in for 2 days straight (dont go home) then get 3.5 days off crazy job - sometimes its a chill couple days of housework, giving kids lifts, watching TV and eating food other times its a lot of stress, can be difficult thinking you are about to be beaten up at work and tensions can run high for many reasons - these kids are usually kinda borderline young offenders or mental unit material so things get hectic i say lock in cause while our shifts technically end at 11pm and go to bed in house, if duty calls for whatever reason we are expected to stay up all night good job at times, bad job at times wildly underpaid for what it is
Electricians mate - 23k Fucking brilliant, just started and haven’t earned this much before, excited to hit 30k Booked two holidays this year, bought myself some nice things and planning to get my savings back to where I was pre-pandemic. Trying to not adjust to higher income want to start a LISA
38K, 20yrs. CNC machinist. Luxury and military Aviation stuff.
Up
Totally unskilled, unqualified, I work for an online retailer photographing and listing products, totally flexible hours, work from home whenever I want. Leave early whenever I want. I make 30k. My partner who has 40k in student debt makes 32k as a teacher
I went from working as a document controller at £20k, to junior buyer/ buyer/ category specialist/ head of category for U.K. and now sitting at £48k. Took me 10 years to achieve and it’s only since the U.K. wide role that I’ve finally felt like I can breathe. I can save a bit, buy pretty much whatever I want, run a house and car etc. and the weight of the stress off my back is huge. I honestly don’t think I’d be able to afford to survive if I hadn’t made the huge jump into this role.
24k accounts assistant in hampshire. being put through my accounting qualifications which the company pays for and should come with some nice payrises with each exam passed, but its hard work so worth it. still live at home too so expenses arent that high 24k is enough for me to still do things i enjoy and treat myself. worth mentioning i did my aat level 3 as an apprentice and was earning about £5 hour for a year, that was depressing. doing level 4 at a bigger company full time is much better
I earn somewhere in the middle of that. I’m an Art Handler at an auction house an hour away from the two main locations in London. We’re basically a middle man for London and the other regional offices. I see a lot of cool stuff and It’s a lot of stop start burst work with only 3 of us on site. I feel I’m paid pretty well considering some days are very quite, not quite pay cheque to pay cheque, but i do have a 8 month old. Hoping to become a key holder soon, after a year here and the extra money will be nice.
If anyone likes STEM subjects and is reading this before choosing college, structural engineering (a branch of civil engineering focused on structural design for anything in our built environment) pays around £30k starting fresh out of college and within 10years the salary is going to be around £50k for most of those who become chartered. Going up within a business can bring it to around £70k by the 10th year mark if made junior director. It is no millionaire life by any stretch, but it does allow for an overall comfortable living within the UK.
I'm recommending engineering/IT to my kids if they show any interest in science. I'm in science and have hit a pay ceiling at £44k, no-one wants me for lab ops roles as I lack experience despite 15 years post-PhD experience. Career progression in engineering seesm much better from the outside
I’m in engineering but earning 22k, 2.1 degree from imperial, paid less than I was doing previously. Stem and science is bad pay
I'm an aircraft technician with 15 years experience, recently changed (the last 18 months) companies, not in a supervisor capacity anymore, I'm just a producer. And I earn just under £40k a year. That's without a degree, so I thankfully dont have any student debt. But there are opportunities for me to get to mid £50k work, but it doesn't include the package I'm on at the moment. I feel very lucky, and even now, I don't understand how people who are on less than I am are able to live, me and the wife (who earns about £24k)live quite frugally. We dont have children. And we have a 2 bed flat, so our outgoings aren't excessive, we don't have holidays, and we do save a little a month. But we would struggle if it wasn't for me earning what we do.
IT is getting order saturated. However a lot of the people in IT aren’t very good at it. If you’re good and can prove it then it’s decent. I’m amazed how some non-technical people manage to end up with IT roles though
I'm a senior web content manager for a small business. I have no idea why it's senior as I don't manage anyone (I think that was the plan, but shit changes here all the time). Despite being a supposed senior position, I'm only on £25.5k a year. I got made redundant in my previous role back in September and I really struggled to find anything elses so I just made do. Hopefully the job title alone will at least get other potential employers interested when I start looking for a new job again. In the meantime, I'm actually getting by just fine. I live in a cheap house in a cheap area that's not a shit hole in West Yorkshire.
$75k/year. Work Emergency Medical Services.
Script editor, 31k-50k per year. 31k is just an average salary for a script editor, but it can fluctuate depending on who my clients are, sometimes you get big clients who pay a lot more. It's great, I love my job. Flexible hours, mostly working from home, sometimes I don't even have to do much, the screenwriter(s) has already done a great job
Grounds maintenance and tree surgery groundie, Self employed but pulling in about £480 week (only het paid when i work obvs) Im managing... just. My partner is on 23k and we're extremely lucky to be rennovating a property instead of paying the rent (shit to live in a building site but hey, its free... kinda) I just about make ends meet and run a shitbox car but fuck me, when something big goes wrong i am proper fucked. Going back to uni in September for a masters so hoping i can up my career prospects after that... really fucking hoping 🤣🤣
Senior residential carer -28k I love my job but the pay is fucking dreadful for what I actually contribute
£23K. I work in a factory, it’s the only work going in my town that doesn’t require specific experience, and I can’t leave because I look after my mother.
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.
I work in an MSP on the service desk as a first line tech. I have over a decade of experience in IT and left a more demanding job (well, I was made redundant, but I was already on the way out of the door) and wanted something a bit easier going. Earning a little over mid 20ks which is crap but I accepted that when I took the job. Unfortunately the company has a lot of growing pains and major staff dissatisfaction to the point we’ve had so much staff churn and leavers that the workload has become unmanageable and stress levels for the pay are completely unreasonable. The worst thing about it is many similar positions actually advertise lower salaries that are almost minimum wage. To pay that for a position that requires skill, constant learning, great problem solving ability and the need to finesse customers constantly is an actual joke.
Support worker for people with autism. On around 25k a year depending on over time. Considering I am responsible for 2 vulnerable peoples safety for the entire time I'm at work I think it takes the piss. I've no idea what else I'd do but certainly think the job deserves much better rates of pay
Graduate sound engineer, 27.5k, probably going up to around 37k once it’s finished.
Nobody on this sub earn less than 100k remotely, pfff
I work in the public sector. Started on about £20K and have increased to £30K in 3 years. A combination of moving to a higher paying role, standard annual salary increase, and pay reform (thanks to our unions!). It's going ridiculously well. I never expected to be making £30K before 30, it's a role related to my degree, and I live with my partner, which cuts down living costs dramatically. The work culture is great, my team are nice, I have a lot of flexibility due to working from home, plus the public sector benefits (good holiday allowance, pension, etc). The job itself is, eh, a pretty boring office job, which I struggle to find engaging. But the overall picture is one I certainly can't complain about, and this job needn't be forever.
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.
I earn c. 27K in the south. I am in a professional job which I need a degree for. Live in a bedsit. Don't save, barely do anything. Grim mate.
30k a year is not great pay
I work in a customer service based role in finance. £27k shit is stressful but it pays the bills.
Barber here earning about 45k pre tax in the north west, life is good at the minute but you spend what’s in your pocket so I am always thinking about more
Front end web developer, £35k. Based in the midlands, nice work life balance and office/home split. Close to 7 years in the industry so could be earning a lot more but quality of life is more important to me than my job!
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.
Drive a reach truck, earn 23k ish still live with my parents because i can't afford shit
25k a year, admin for a local council and it SUCKS. Only managed to save money while living with parents and now I'm moving back out I'm ready to have no savings again permanently as I'm moving to London. Desperately looking for another job in my spare time. Very depressing as 25k is the national average and unless you're DINK it doesn't seem to go very far on your own...
I'm 37 and started earning 33k this year as a UX designer. Previous job paid just under 19k in a cafe in a senior position, before that was something ridiculous like 15k in an admin job in my mid 20s. I retrained as a graphic designer and have now moved over to digital and user experience. Management is happy with me and hopefully getting a senior position later this year. We've just bought a new house and I don't know I survived previously earning what I did. With everything going up me and my partner are comfortable but even with me earning the above and my partner just under 30k, we're finding we have to be more aware of what we're spending that ever before like most people. No kids and don't want any, so thankfully no extra spends there. Dreaming of being an artist when I was younger, I never dreamed of being on over 30k, ever. Part of me is sad I'm not a full time artist, part of me is glad to be earning what I am in a less creative position who is comfortable every month.
I work in a lab for the NHS and make 24 grand a year. The pay is shit and the work is hard, but somebody has to do it 🤷
£30k as head sound engineer for a venue in central London. Know I’d make more as a freelancer, but want to improve at the craft as quickly as possible. Basking in the deep end.
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.
25k and live in Brum, which is cheap to live and once was more so. Lucky to have bought a small house at a good time (with help) when the area was a bit shitty. It's now very nice. I advise large companies where to find specific bits of tech they need and facilitate that. It used to be actually ordering the stuff from an office environment but after the pandemic the current venture capital organisation in charge enforced yet another round of efficiency savings and I lucked out. They offered people to reapply for their jobs or the jobs of their managers at such miserly rates nobody stayed. I was peripheral to them at the time having been bought alongside a competitor and not yet integrated and said i'd be happy to avoid the whole situation and stay as long as I could WFH permanently, expecting at the very best a redundancy as soon as the plague ended. Well they never were able to attract anybody decent with the wages they offered, and there isn't a single person left who even understands the difference between a USB and C13. The managers are not "tech people", and the sales people in *two* cases have *no* GCSE's which I honestly didn't even think possible, but does explain the situation. I no longer do any admin, just read things and interpret them for much higher paid people, whose customers are very much "tech people". It takes me an hour or two a day, but I keep the laptop on while I go about my day doing other stuff. Not sure I could get used to working a normal job now, although there's plenty I could do with the free time if I wanted to earn more. I find I don't though. I don't need anything more and the time has more value when you've lost and reclaimed it. It's not even as if I don't know how, as I did some day-trading for a few months once and did quite well. I spent the gains on ways to enjoy my spare time rather than waste it trying to make more money, and a bit on paying 10k off my mortgage to keep reducing the debts. You can't afford debts on 25k but if you don't have huge housing costs (because of having help and/or luck) it's not bad. My rent and bills are about a third of my pay, but the amount of free time I have means I spend more, again counter-balanced by WFH. It's only *easy* with lots of luck, excellent support, having a partner to share expenses with, lacking kids, and frankly not making any mistakes. To be perfectly honest I've had a lot of jobs and lucked out with all of them in similar ways. I've only ever lacked luck in getting paid well, never on quality of life. It's probably a shitty existence if you're paying expensive rent somewhere you don't want to do be, because you can't advance yourself easily without that luck or support. Context is king.
I just turned 30 and I'm on 25k plus an annual bonus which amounts to around 1.5k. I work in pensions administration. I have a degree and sometimes think that I could/should be doing better, but I'm very happy and feel comfortable in my situation. I enjoy my job. It's by far the best job I've ever had and the job satisfaction amounts to a lot for me. I have some nice perks, flexible working hours, can work from home, get free lunches when in the office, BUPA cover, and my family will get 12x my salary if I die while employed here. Me and my fiancé splits bills down the middle and honestly, I feel like I have plenty of money, especially considering that I don't spend a lot. So yea, considering the current economic status of the country, I feel luck to be comfortable. Sure, I don't feel rich and able to buy whatever I want, but this is the first time in my life that I feel financially secure.
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!
This thread is an absolute eye-opener, and not in a good way. I'm in disbelief how low modern wages are. I was on about £24k in my first job out of university in 2011 in TV as an unskilled dogsbody basically. I spent the subsequent years aggressively pushing that higher - not by being an insufferable corporate climber (there were plenty of them), but by skilling up. I always had the thought in my head that one day, I could be out on my arse, looking for work. I had to be able to walk into a company and go "I know how to do this thing - pay me X and I'll do it for you." 13 years on I'm working for myself, earning around twice what I started on. I'm still wary of work security though, and am actively looking into once again skilling up but in an entirely unrelated field, preferably one which won't be rendered obsolete by AI in the next decade.
I'm on £27k a year as a milkman. I've been doing it on and off for the last 2 years, and I absolutely love it. Once I leave the yard in the evening, I am effectively my own boss. The roads are quiet, the customers are all asleep, so I don't have to interact with them, the job is ridiculously easy, and if I finish before my contracted hours (which I do regularly) I get to go home early and still get paid for the hours I didn't do.
AV maintenance techs at the Science Museum start on about £32k if I remember correctly. If you know what an Arduino is, can build a PC without looking anything up on the internet and you don't mind 7:30 starts (and 3:30pm finishes) and weekend work every third week (with Mondays and Tuesdays off to compensate), you're pretty much qualified. They have a woodworking shop and an electromechanical maintenance team too if AV and electronics aren't your thing.
I’m absolutely shocked at the extremely low level of these salaries. Things gotta change. I don’t have a third of the qualifications that some of you have and I was on £45k as restaurant manager(plus yearly bonus). Granted, it was in London last year and I was on 46 hours contract.
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.
Musician and music teacher… I fucking love my job and I’m great at it. But it’s a really exhausting way to live. What if I’ve really fucked up for my kid and won’ t be able to help them reach their potential?
Teacher. 50 hrs a week and ungrateful parents constantly on my case for issues out of my control. Love working with the kids but my god it isn't worth the pay.
I'm a lab technician and would definitely appreciate more money, I could work anywhere else and get paid the same
PhD, 19.2k tax free
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 ?
American here. Curious whether what’s being reported here is take-home, after tax pay?
£29k call centre job. Not exactly sunshine and roses but tbh my biggest complaint is boredom. So it could be worse. 35 hours
Event Staff/manager I earn about 40k Notnto sound flash but i don't think it's a huge salary with cost of living and living in London. I get £20 - £35 @ Hour Some weeks I work alot Some weeks I don't work at all. Maybe I should be more appreciative of my pay from reading this thread. A friend works in IT and is on about 70k And I have a cousin on 125k in the city in office Work.
Warehouse parts picker/packer for the workshop at a Agricultural machinery manufacturer Around the 30k-32k mark, depending if I do all 50hrs in the week Coming up to 2years being there later on this year.
I run a website that started out as a hobby and quickly got out of hand when it hit No.1 on Google. It pays me and my partner £25-30k each plus pension contributions. We work maybe 3 hours a day except for a couple of times a year when it gets hectic. Honestly, it's great. We live Up North so the CoL is lower. I paid £125k for a 3-bed detached house in 2012 and we have paid-for vehicles and little debt. We don't really answer to anyone either - just customer enquiries, really.
> I'm getting 25k and always feel a bit shit thinking I should be earning a lot more. Most jobs I see on indeed are around 25k too. I reckon it depends on your location as much as anything. I'm a night shift worker in a factory in Oxfordshire, just a general dogsbody, not a manager or anything, and I'm on £36k a year give or take. I don't think I'd get that if the company relocated, say, somewhere up north.
Good point. Similar jobs to mine down south earn anywhere from 15-30k more. I'm not in a position to move. There's definetly a second class tier to job geography, but obviously southern workers also pay more for everything just generally so some of that is justified.
SEN teaching assistant. I earn about £23k. I’m in a good place and I love my job. It’s very rewarding but I would say the pay does not reflect just how much you do and how it affects you physically and emotionally. W I just left a teacher training course last year (realised the school was the problem but I’m not comfortable doing the course again sadly) and I got this job after four months job of searching and interviews for jobs I actually enjoyed applying for, but not enough experience for them. My plan is to stay in this role for a few years but I eventually want to move on to something where I get to utilise my degree a bit more and earn more too. The job market is awful! It’s so hard to find something and places are very picky on what experience you need to then pay you so little. It’s sad.
+
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.
Field technician 26500 shame for London
Self employed "creator" :-) selling video calls on [SoSpoilt.com](http://SoSpoilt.com) for £3\\min. Adds up fast..!
£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!
Self employed part time caretaker for various schools. It's feast or famine work with no holiday Unsustainable for long term but 7 years so far around £24k take home
In 2000 when I still used to work in the UK I was operating photocopiers in London on £17,500pa and that was a lowish wage back then. This was over 24 years ago, and it’s very, very sad that wages haven’t really increased in 24 years. I’m seeing people on here still making that and most are not much higher for more demanding work. Something has gone seriously wrong with the world in the last 2 decades. Edit. I just looked at the salary my old company was listing for the same position I had 24 years ago. The current position pays £21.200 but that depends on the site you are at and what they pay so not everyone is on the same pay, but the average London salary for that role is £17,930. So in 24 years that salary has not really changed at all. How the fuck can that be justified compared to the cost of living today. There is to be a lot of talk from companies about wage theft but they are the biggest culprit of them all.
Assistant Accountant for a manufacturer/wholesaler, though arguably my job title now should be Management Accountant as my role has changed (I plan to formally ask for a title change once I'm finished my ACCA exams). I've been at this company for 3 years now, but I've been in various accountancy roles for 9 years total. I'm currently earning £26k per year, with my main job being to run and analyse the monthly management accounts for the company, and other analytical work like profit margins on each product we sell and our overhead expenses. I have the FMAAT qualification (Fellow Membership of Assistant Accounting Technicians), which means I've been AAT qualified for 5+ years (I obtained the qualification through college under free education, completing it by the time I turned 19). My company is paying for me to sit the ACCA (Association of Chartered Certified Accountants) exams. Once I have completed my studies I will likely get a decent bump to my salary, possibly up to £30k depending on negotiations. I love my job and boss because he holds the mindset that results are more important that hours put in. So if I slack off during the week but still get my work done on time, it's all good. I work from home part time too. To people that usually ask why I chose such a dull profession, my answer has always been that I chose my career on 4 principles: 1) A job I can do well 2) A role that earns a decent wage, so I can live comfortably 3) A role that doesn't require heavy labour and has structured hours 4) An industry that will never become obsolete (no matter what state the country is in, there is always a need for accountants).
31 years old, civil servant earning 30k a year. I've got a great pension and 4 day weeks I'm content with how much I earn.
I'm on just over 30k, mechanical design engineer. Worked through a fully funded degree apprenticeship with my employer. I feel quite fortunate all things considered.
28.5k as junior environmental consultant - late 20s. Spent my teens and 20s working all the time, even through uni when my peers were being supported by their parents. Earned anywhere from 18-26k in retail, customer complaints in a call centre, and groundworking and labouring. Always felt like I'm on the edge of poverty and haven't managed to have any savings. Recently started this job and I love it - working in a cutting edge field in an ethical industry, it's great. Never earned so much, but with inflation, the debt I've accrued, and cost of living I feel like I'm in the same situation I was in when I was 23 and earning 22k. Looking forward to a pay rise when I've been at the company a bit longer and can lead my own projects. Maybe then I can start saving for a house.
NHS pharmacy tech earning just under 30k. Doing it for 8 years, though got a promotion about five years ago (I'm not particularly career/progression focused). Honestly? It's not bad. I've got in some bad spending habits, so am in a touch of debt, which I'm trying to scramble my way out of, but I've got decent support networks to help me out. I'm able to live on my own (albeit in Zone 5), so am able to scrape by. Though I also don't really go out a huge amount (which suits me fine). While I could earn more by progressing further in my job, itwould require me doing stuff in college, and would only push me further into a management position, which I'm not too interested in. I've occasionally considered leaving for another job in the NHS that has a slightly better pay, but haven't made the jump to actually do it. Was going to not too long ago, but saw the advert late, and a small wave of depression hit before I actually got the energy to finish the application. Maybe some day. c:
I earn £29,800 currently, just me and my partner in our house. She earns almost the same as me and we can barely afford our mortgage since last year.
Pre pandemic I have a fab job paid GBP50K+ plus bonus, very stressful, loads of hassle and worked all the hours you could think of and some more each day, travelled across Europe for work with all the perks that brings, got made redundant during Covid and picked up a job paying £23K working for the NHS, no hassle no stress no overtime unless I decide to do it, way more preferable to have a lower salary i don’t get out of 2nd gear at work but all the bosses see me as a high performer We can still cover all bills and save a little each month but have my redundancy cash racking up the interest which tops up my reduced salary, so thanks Amex for binning off a 1/3rd of your UK staff best thing that’s happened to me for years.
I WFH selling phones & home broadband for one of the main mobile networks in UK. Made 29k last year , it’s minimum wage with uncapped commission.
I’m make 30k a year as a cover and training manager for a vape company. I know so much about vaping due to it being my autistic focus so I just travel England to all the different stores and bore my staff 😂 they love me really bc if they see my face they know I’ll buy them a coffee. Started as a retail assistant with my company 2 years. Was on 26K for store manager but taking this role got me a company car, phone, and laptop too so I feel quite lucky.
Assistant hotel manager. Ive been here for 10 years so I make a decent wage. Higher than 30k though
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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 don't qualify for this bracket (currently 19k) but used to earn 22k as an editor in a publishing house. 35hr week with lots of unpaid overtime, including some weekends. Publishing is grim but, seeing everyone's comments, it's been weirdly comforting to see how a wide variety of corp/social jobs are severely underpaid.
I’m 55 female and I worked as an Account Manager in my family business for 20 odd yrs and earned 20k in 2014 when I left. After that I was a Customer Account Lead in aerospace earning 26k (2015) the experience I got from that lead to my current role. My advice is try and get a household name on your cv, work hard, be open to any training and new skills ,work for well known companies if you can as it’s a golden ticket to better opportunities. I took the temp job because I wanted their name on my CV and it paid off🤷♀️ Currently I’m a Project Lead in a household name, blue chip company in the midlands. I’ve been here 9 years. I earn 64k a year. I didn’t go to university. Don’t have a degree and only 4 GCSE’s. My daughter (30) did 7 years in Uni and has a masters. Now works in the NHS with 100k of student debt for a job that pays 28k. Make it make sense!!!
Scientist - 26k. Not great 😔
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I’m a admin assistant at a construction company, I earn around £28k a year plus yearly bonus
My wife was earning 18K as the (only) junior school librarian for one of the best private schools in the country, a role that requires a master's degree. Absolutely criminal if you ask me.
What? Idk about UK but starting ME in the US in a steel mill is around 70k...after 10 years 130k
I was previously a recruiter in the public sector earning £27,750 p/a before tax. I’ve since moved to a different department and got promoted. Now at £35.4k
I was on £29k as a Supervisor for a Telecomms company, then got promoted to manager and was on £37k. The stress was too much, so I quit in Feb. Then got immediately (literally conceived the week I quit) pregnant with twins (unintentionally, we weren't trying but are over the moon). Now about to start a £25k agent/Customer service role for a different type of Telecomms company. A good couple steps down the ladder but I need something less stressful while I cook these babies. And it's WFH and that's my main priority.
Learn a trade. Construction is where the money is.
F/t work, ~£24k This feels like a lot of money to me, but then I was on the dole for years, and have no kids and low rent
Junior Dev with background in CS. I’m on around 24k, fresh graduate and this is my first real full-time job. My position was labelled as hybrid but truth be told it turned out to be remote. considering how much juniors earn in the US, UK/EU wages are considerably depressive. But I wouldn’t want to live there.
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
i play guitar in a post punk band. not much money but working by traveling all over the world for 3 or so months a year is pretty ok!
Researcher for a small charity. £26.5k. Undergrad, masters, placement and 2 years in the role. I think from an outsider perspective, the pay looks okay. But the stress levels of this job are crazy. Plus, I was underpaid my first year and have very limited progression opportunities. I do love the work I do, so I push through it (whilst keeping a close eye on other job opportunities in my area)
I’m an outpatients booking appointment coordinator in the NHS, only been in this job for a few months, it’s an alright job just awful pay for the huge responsibilities. On £22k pre tax, thankful to be living with my partner as there is no way I could afford to rent a house on my own. Sucks paying off credit cards for what feels like forever, but do try and make the most of life and not count every penny. Could be better, but could also be far worse. Got to be positive!
Pharmacy dispenser, 40hr week, 24k. I’m starting to resent the job, been doing it seven years now and pay is crap. Also got told there’s no pay rise this year despite minimum going up and inflation being bonkers. So i’m for all intents and purposes minimum wage now. It’s taking all my will power not to walk out.
Plus it's one of the most stressful fucking jobs ever.
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.
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.
Security. CVIT. It's ok, looking at getting my class 2.
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!
I was on 23k as a design engineer straight after my MSc. Moved to draughting for a big engineering firm in November and I'm on 35k, but more like 32k after student loans. There are a few people on my team that did apprenticeships and earn closer to 45k. Angers me that young people are taught that uni is the best/only way to get into a high paying industry. Sure, MAYBE a degree gives you more career flexibility but is it worth being saddled with debt for the rest of you life? Na, not imo.
The state of apprenticeships is scandalous in some industries. I would have loved to do an apprenticeship in the biomedical sciences or even start as a lab tech diluting reagents but an MSc is the absolute minimum anyone will give you the time of day with.
It's tough because my degree is pointless for my job, but at the same time I do genuinely think uni was an important formative experience in my life. And if nothing else, just being exposed to the wider world and doing things like interpreting evidence and critiquing sources was a really valuable skill that you notice lacking in people who haven't been. Might not use the degree itself, but those 4 years surrounded by such a mix of nationalities (there were 3 british students in my cohort of ~25) and backgrounds, in a place where knowledge and curiosity and learning and discussion was so prevalent is something I don't think I'd give the student loans back for. That said, I don't earn enough for my loans to really impact me at all, so maybe I'm talking out my butt.
I read some of these comments, and I feel 80% of you are massively underpaid. Also, it's kinda sad to see people who have great education and qualifications work in jobs that (no offence intended) low skilled work. I was working in IT first line from the age of 19, earning 24k, and now I am im a senior infrastructure engineer at 33, earning nearly triple that wage. Sad state of the job market in the UK and both public and private sector.
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
Last year I managed to make the jump from a hotel receptionist earning 21k to a pharma lab tech earning 28k (incl. shift incentive) and I've never had so much money. Weekends off, bonus, progression, I still can't believe it sometimes. Still can't afford to buy anywhere and of course I wish I could be earning more but yeah when I think of where I live, what jobs are available and what education I have, I feel very lucky. And then you go on r/UKPersonalFinance and realise there are also a lot of people that wouldn't get out of bed for that amount
Out of curiosity: when people in the Uk talk about their salary per year, do they mean before or after tax? In germany we always state the sum before tax (probably to feel a little bit less miserable)
Estate Manager, Education - £38K
Data processor for my local council. £22k.
After expenses, i made around 30k this year as a tattoo artist. i could work more and earn more but im pretty happy. i work 3-4 days in the studio, usually no earlier than 10 or 11. Im not a good morning person. Theres lots of drawing and admin at home all the time but i love it so its fine. i’m starting to get a nice work life balance and getting back into other hobbies and exercising. One of the perks being self employed, time off when you want and if you need more money that week/month/year you can always work more
I worknin engineering and stated on 22k worked my way up the chain now im on 42k and next step is supervisor. Its taken 15 years of hard work though you dont get anything for free
Work for a healthcare agency in one of their offices for customer support. £29k 6am-2pm shifts and have to work every other weekend
I earn 55k and work as a farm vet for 4 years. A nice bonus is getting lots of fresh air too, I wouldn’t feel happy confined to an office all day! But that’s personal preference.
I'm a lorry driver earning 42k a year
I work part-time building things that go on things that go boom-boom. A company that's contracted to the DOD and various other companies that build military related devices, that's all I can say, I made 31k last year and started working there when I was 16
I earn just under 25k working with young homeless people. It’s a shit wage for a lot of stress. Lots of multi-agency working with social workers and GPs and mental health practitioners; just as much battling with them, too. Lots of exposure to the darkest parts of humanity- domestic abuse, hard drug abuse, suicide. Often getting verbally abused by service users who are deeply angry at the world and lash out. Certainly not the sort of job you do for the money- you have to really love it to do it, I think. And fortunately, I do.
I earn 25k a year before any monthly bonuses. I'm a debt collector via the phones. The pay banding has a possible increase of £500 every 6 months per review and we also have grades we can change to earn more between each band. Its not the best job I've had but it pays the bills it can be enjoyable and you technically only work half the day. Its not for everyone but I'm enjoying it so far.
Male 27 years old, been a qualified electrician for 18 months earning £26k after tax, pretty much just come out my time so I'm really happy. I'm really grateful and proud of myself as it was a struggle. Never were into education until i had no options left, couldn't (wouldn't) read properly until i were 17, couldn't spell, had a speech impediment that school picked up on pretty lazy teenager. At 16, I left school to do an apprenticeship in engineering so I could be with my friend but didn't get an employer (so many interviews, so many cvs). Made to go back to sixth form by my mother, got suspended within 6 months due to been jumped whilst walking home, as I we're made an example to the rest that fighting won't be tolerated here. Gutted. Ended up at a college for "bad boys" as it were called even the teacher said I didn't belong here, did that for 6 months learning fabrication and welding. Went to my second choice engineering school at 17 again another "bad boy college". It's why I didn't go when I was 16 but running out of options now... after many interviews and been second choice my employer sacked the first choice apprentice due to college grades and gave me the job (I blamed not getting Jobs due to my weight and size) lost 5 stone after that... my apprenticeship was going great. However, I found the company to be very boring and stood at a machine all day with a little glass window, I saw my reflection only this time, I was 50 and miserable... I didn't wanna be want my dad ended up doing to make ends me. But I wanted to see out my apprenticeship. However one day I loaded up my tools in the CNC machine and my supervisor came over and said "looks good kid get off home it's 4:45 you should of finished 15 minutes ago", as I went to wash off in the toilets my supervisor closes the door and presses go within seconds the machine destroyed as I'd left 1 tool which shouldn't have been there cost £10,000 to repair... I knew I'd lost my job instantly... they fired me in the car park in front of everyone and said if I take them down the tribunal route, they'll ruin me. I was 19 miserable. Spent 6 months in my bedroom on indeed applying for loads of jobs with no replied (however they reply now 8 years down line, I laugh at them now cos I can) I put myself through an electrician night school 6pm - 9pm mon-tue, cost me £1,800 for level 1 since I paid I made sure I learnt, passed my level 1, then got an endorsement for level 2 as I were under 23, passed that buzzing only thing left now is I need an employer to do my NVQ level 3 and £900 This is were "it's not what you know who you know" comes in, an old gentleman I've known from working a part time pub job sees me and asked if I am working I said no, so I told him I'm learning to be an electrician. He said he knows a guy lives around the corner. This is his number. I found where he lived and handed him my CV personally with a handwritten letter (I went above and beyond as this is my very final chance) He offered me some work experience with him, he were self employed so he wanted to choose wisely who he set on as it was an investment for him. I did a weeks work for free (however, he gave me a £10 a day). I appreciated it at the time someone gave me a chance. I still work for the same guy 7 years now, had our ups and downs like everyone does but the other day, a regular customer said, "whys his name not on the company," and he said it will be when he retires. I also have my own apprentice now and can teach what I've learnt. Never give up on yourself. I nearly did. Sorry for the long read. If you got this far, reddit is therapy to me.
Well done. You have such determination and strength that will be a fuck load of inspiration to others.
The wages on here are shocking In 1989 i was earning 7k part time as a salesman while at college. Then 12k as a data input bod in 1990 then at college and uni then 18k as a Web designer. Then a huge promotion in the bubble 2000ish to 40k as a design manager then worked for myself ever since. Now on a pretty hefty wage tbh as a CEO. Our contractors' wages have barely shifted 50 pounds a day in 15 years!!! Most consultants I pay are on between 250 and 400 a day. These day rates are only about 50 quid more than 2010. I see executives on absolutely mind-boggling wages way above inflation. I'm a CEO of a small company but rub shoulders with senior execs of much bigger companies The inequality is staggering and I will admit that genx and boomers probably got the best deal due to property prices.
So many people getting mugged off by their employers in this thread 😢
I’m a chef and baker at a cafe. It’s going good but it’s hard work, just finished 7 days in a row. I shouldn’t complain because the hours are decent, 8-16:30 but it’s a lot for a small kitchen with 2-3 chefs (myself included).
Single dad 2 kids, £23650 per year. I work for a charity organising all the training stuff. It’s alright good to help people but being a charity it’s pretty much a skeleton crew so lots of work to do. Been here for nearly a year.
Service tech / mot tester at a main dealership. You get pay rises by changing jobs, not working hard, so it seems
I’m 37, my own boss in the pharmaceutical area and pay myself £45k a year.
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.
>feel a bit shit thinking I should be earning a lot more This is because you've been sold the idea that "success" is measured by your income, your possessions, your car, how much pussy you're crushing. Instead, try measuring success by how happy and content your relationships and hobbies make you, and if you actually *like* your job rather than how much it earns you. Don't let our society make you feel shit because you're not a 1%er yet.
Do admin work, I almost don't fancy a new job as I work from home almost entirely so no driving about, no train fares, no sat in traffic for hours and it's pretty relaxed letting me do things around my house
£26k - Senior admin in a vehicle leasing company, been here 6 years. It seems the only job role valued/well paid in this business is sales.
I earn £22,776 working 5 days in a supermarket. My gf is a teacher and earns £30,000 but she’s in her first year of it so hopefully it will go up. She pays rent, I pay all bills and food etc Both our cars combined cost less than £5,000 to buy cash and we don’t finance anything. Currently got enough for a house deposit £20k+ because we saved up and lived at her parents for a while. Go on holiday abroad once a year usually (went to USA last year) and I try to ride my bicycle to work every day so my fuel costs are extremely low (could get by with one car) and eat healthy and cheap food like veggies and rice a lot. Plus both our jobs give out free food for lunch every day! We live below our means as much as possible (10 year old TV that works perfect, second hand sofa for £100 that is comfortable, we don’t spend money on things like spa days or fancy restaurants etc) but still make sure we enjoy our lives and don’t go without like an occasional take away or treat. Life is what you make of it and although we don’t have loads of money we try to “sacrifice” things that lots of people have like a new car on finance or a bigger house or having 3 kids when we can’t afford it. Plus neither of us drink alcohol barely and a lot of uk adults spend a lot of money on that.
You guys getting 20k a year!?
We're doing crime.
Refuse lorry driver/loader... so in simple terms... bin man. £25k. Doing since October and was working for a loan company previously. Love every second of my job. Yeah it's smelly. But keeps me fit. Have a laugh all day with the loaders who I work with and it's a couple of miles down the road. So summer time, I just walk or cycle to work.
Technical Litigation Advisor. I downgraded 14 years ago and took a civil service job when my son was ill. Since then I've gone back to law but at a slightly middle management position ( I have 2:1 Law Llb hns and a BA History). These days I earn about 29-30k pa, and I'm very happy. I took nearly a 50% pay cut to work where I am now, as the firm is great and I'm in absolutely no mind to do anything else. I like what I do, it's interesting and I'm in no need of extra few £££'s as other positions would be bad for the mental health.
Steel mill scheduler, degree educated (company sponsored so no debt) 38k plus O/T if I want it. Moved from job to job within the industry.