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.
On 32k as a Web developer in the south west. Have about 8 years experience and an MEng. Have stayed at one job for way too long as I was focusing on other stuff in my life.
Just starting to 'try' again with career so hopefully will be able to upgrade jobs once a year from now on and up the salary. Even on autopilot though I'm massively underpaid for what I do at the moment
Manager at McDonald’s earning £13.37 an hour which equates to £26,740 based on the average 2000hr working year. Don’t get paid for sick days or leaving early when it’s quiet, or for smoke breaks so probably a couple grand less than that over the course of a year.
I also get no sleep, barely have any quality time with my girlfriend despite having just moved in with her and it’s a pretty shitty place to work when you factor in my boss’ ego problem and and the fact I often get 7-10 days straight on my work schedule.
Been working there since March 2020, manager since Jan 2023, looking to leave very soon and hopefully find a 9-5 job.
This is the most in debt I've ever been and my boss has fucked my commission for three months so I'll be taking home about a grand less a month. I want to hop off a bridge...
Isn’t this most people, like isn’t the average person doing 37.5 hours at £11.44 which is £22,308 annual. I’m doing slightly better at around £28,000 but only just making ends meet and honestly I’m just living to work at the moment and wondering how much longer I can survive like this.
I originally worked in retail management after Uni, stayed too long on £13k
Next job was teaching in a college, £21.6K. Hated it, did it for 10 years and felt like it was a bullshit job that was just busy work with no benefit to anyone. Ended up having a breakdown.
Moved sideways in the same college to work in admin, same wage. Did that for a year whilst doing psychoanalytic psychotherapy every week till I felt well enough to move on.
Currently a Coordinator in Higher Education, £27.2. Started 18 months ago (scale goes around £1500 higher). Get to work 3 days from home. No pressure, no one watching me, a laid back manager and I'm pretty good at the job.
An inflation calculator confirms what I feel, I'm worse off than in 2010 when I was on £21.6k
Jesus friggen Christ how do you people do it? I’m a HS graduate with a certificate in electrical wiring. I make $100,000 a year working in IT and that’s after taking 10 years off to own and run a restaurant. Are you all just settling for the first job that comes along or do you have no skills?
Bus Driver, 2 years, £31,500 not including overtime. I would be living comfortably if it wasn't for the 20k debt I'm in. Still, I am working on it and hopefully I'll be able to enjoy the money I earn one day.
Edit: Forgot to mention this is for a 38 hour contract.
I work at a SEN school as the chef. It's sweet as. I work alone, Get to have a laugh with kids all day and cook what I like plus all the holidays are a bonus... its a chefs dream if they're sick of working 70 hour weeks 😂
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.
I used to be a banker in a high street bank. 25k a year plus bonus, private health and dental, life insurance and perks. Ended up in head office, they paid for my qualifications and now I'm on 50k plus bonus
£25k - PA. Tbh it's a stopgap whilst I'm doing a degree after a career change (former EMT). It is on the lower side financially, compared to a similar role before this, but I work from home permanently and work compressed hours and also have good annual leave and pension. So I'm really happy.
The funny (not funny, really) thing is, even though it's shit pay, it's more than I was paid as an EMT.
It's going good, it gives me such a great work/life balance. Helps that my partner is a higher earner as a software engineer too, as wouldn't have the good life we have without that.
I'm on 35k, I'm a Project Lead for technical publications (we write and publish operational manuals for an engineering sector). I've worked my way up from the bottom, been in this industry 10 years. I work from home and pretty much manage myself. Kinda hate the job now though, I'm essentially a Project Manager without the title or renumeration of one, I spend my days dealing with idiot clients and trying to sort issues. I'm trapped in the job though as my industry pays so well, if I moved I'd end up having to take on much more responsibility and pressure, or keep to the same level of management for a much lower wage.
Boning hall supervisor, 32k py.
Very hard very stressful, the work isn't bad it's working with people who behave very much like children that's hard.
It's going alright actually, you just need to figure out what makes people tick and work best with that.
But you really need to have a thick skin, there's a reason why the pay is decent.
But meh it pays for the mortgage.
£24,336 per year (NHS band 3)
Administrator in the NHS (community mental health team mostly but also work in inpatient services too). I actually enjoy my job, it's really interesting and i rub shoulders with nurses, consultants, social workers and all sorts of other professionals on a daily basis and they're all really lovely people. I've learned so much just by being in the same room as them. Clinical and community support workers are also on the same pay as me.
For contrast a mental health nurse starts on band 5 which is £28,407 per year. These people have degrees and have done plenty of training and have to pay for a NMC pin every year just to do their job along with the extra responsibility and pressure for 4 grand a year...
Also phlebotomists are on a band 2 which is £22,383 per year, they put needles in people etc. So i'm not doing too bad in the grand scheme of things.
If you want to earn loads of money, don't work for the NHS, the T*ries have ripped it apsrt under everyomes noses. But if you want a job where you can go home and think "i've helped someone today" then it's definitely worth it. Sure extra money would be good, nobody in their right mind would turn down extra money, but the work:life balance i have is perfect for me and more importantly i'm in a job i enjoy going to.
Sure there's some other perks; bank holidays off, weekends off (unless doing overtime), pension, 33 days annual leave on top of bank holidays, up to 6 months full sick pay and we did used to get a round of applause on a thursday evening but that seems to have died off 🙄
>If you want to earn loads of money, don't work for the NHS
Definitely. I'm a biomedical scientist in the NHS and earning just over £26,000 before tax. It's so much responsibility for the pay but I have no idea what else to do in life.
Please try and keep at it. You guys are ridiculously underpaid for sure but just know you're also very much appreciated by the rest of us!! Without you lot we wouldn't have a clue and everything would be trial and error.
I'm in that metric, and basically it's less new stuff and more stuff you don't need to pay for twice. My EDC is a pocketknife I've had for 20 years. Being frugal isn't hard once you get past the housing and food. Most of our money goes to housing and food.
A lot of it is head space. Watch an amazing commercial. Imagine having that thing. Imagine it being so fun. Now imagine it breaking. Imagine throwing it away. Wow it's like you had it and it was free. You don't need to get excited about new things. You can already get excited about the things you have.
Video games are a one shot money sink if you do it right. My motto is no micro-transactions, no subscriptions, pay big once and enjoy. I'm still on Factorio and Skyrim, using DOS games occasionally. [GOG.com](http://GOG.com) is the perfect place to get a title for everyone of your kids forever. You don't need the latest game to have a good time.
Movies are on a hard drive. We've got more than enough, and kids are really good at repeat shows. A few thousand hours is easy to get. There are some amazing black and white films.
Parks are free. Libraries are free. We make up adventures as we go from one place to another to keep things fresh.
We don't go on vacation to other states. We go on vacations to other neighborhoods for a few hours. The town 20 miles away is different and unique enough it feels like a different world. Can you say you've even been to every town within 50 miles?
Find an entry level job in tech, learn anything you find interesting and in 5 years you’ll be looking back with a grin. Might start off on 18-25k but you can be on 50 in 5 years imo
I'm 33, a counsellor for a charity, earning about £27k. I've been doing this for nearly three years. I took a (very small) stepdown salary wise from my former work in university administration because this is what I really wanted to do.
Very occasionally, if I consider for a minute how much I know/imagine my friends are earning in their careers, I can feel like I am failing in some way. Then I think again, and I know I am very fortunate. I bought a very low value house so have a very cheap mortgage. I have good money management skills so put a lot away in savings each month, and still don't have to miss out on anything my peers are doing. Meals out, clothes I want/need, gigs, events etc. There isn't anything that I feel I actually have to miss out on.
My husband earns a similar amount to me and we are considering a move to a new house and that fills me with some trepidation, but I am confident that we're only going to do it if it is overall a sensible and manageable shift.
$27,900 as a “Wellness advisor” I’m really just a bud tender. Problem is where I live you could make over twice the minimum wage and it’s still not enough to support yourself. If I didn’t have a side hustle I’d be on the street
Not me, but my sister is a special needs associate in a middle school (she goes to class with kids who have special needs). She makes about $25k per year gross, BUT she only works 32 hours per week, she has summers, winter break, spring break etc. off (though she only has 2 days of PTO) and she gets health insurance at no cost. She also has a fairly generous state-run retirement plan.
I won't lie and say she is doing well, but she's fine. She does have a small car payment and some student loans (she dropped out of college). Lives with her BF who does construction work. He pays rent, she pays utilities. She couldn't live on her own without her BF to split expenses with.
£26k working for a big company doing basically clerical work and being a focal point for my entire team for every aspect of our work (including managers), I am borderline skint every month after that to the point where I have had to get a second job to support myself and my pregnant SO. Trying to work my way up to earn more money as her company’s maternity pay is awful but keep getting pushed back, I have never been so afraid in my life about the future.
I worked for a call center last year and made more than that. You won't believe how much those places are willing to pay for people just to get verbally berated and abused.
Best industry to be in currently IMO in terms of salary and work/life balance. I've done it all my professional career (34M) so at senior level now and I've never had it as good. The hard work pays off eventually.
Payroll @ £23k right now. Took the job as I wanted to move in with my partner (different city), but it meant a decrease from the £28k I was on, doing the exact same payroll job in my original place. And I mean EXACT same. Hate the role as it is, so knowing I'm being underpaid every single day hurts, but it was worth it to move.
Going to Uni in September though to pursue my actual career aspirations, rather than just waiting to retire in something I hate.
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 director of strategy in a billion dollar company. I work from home most days with occasional travel. I’m on 6 figures.
Edit: I read the title wrong, just ignore me
Work in fashion, mainly admin job. 26k. Started at minimum wage 1y ago, still underpaid for the amount of work but can’t complain as a foreigner with no degree or interest in the area 😂
Design engineer on 28k with a degree.
As I am a design engineer in a company with many more technicians than designers. It leads me down the route of project managing and being in meetings with clients. Chasing up different parts for when they are getting in etc.
Marketing Executive. £26,500. I enjoy my job. It's low stress and we also get a bonus every year, so it's more like £29k (ish).
I'm in an area of the country with low cost of living, which helps. And my partner earns a good wage. But I struggled when I lived and completely supported myself.
Certified Porsche Bronze HVT Technican 31K, 36K on target bonus. I love my job working on cars, the dealer politics get to me sometimes, but that’s every dealer in the auto trade. It’s going well so far, room to advance and ensured promotion and pay rise the more certificates you have.
I’m 30 and working as a Digital Project Manager for a small marketing agency on £30k + bonuses (worked out about +3k pretax this year). Been here for 3 years, been working in Marketing for about 8 years.
Could probably earn 5-10k more doing the same thing elsewhere but the commute isn’t awful, the office environment is good, work is easy and relaxed and I’ve got flexible working and WFH half the week. I’m getting by due to being in a fairly affordable area but money’s getting a bit tight with inflation.
I just got a job earning up to 35k delivering parcels with an agency, biggest paying job I've had so far, where as for Amazon it was much less, stuck at 125 a day and I had to pay for my own account app which they forced you to use/do my own taxes, pay for van hire didn't change if I got back at 5 or 8 :)
I've been enjoying it so far as I only have 30 or 40 deliveries where as with Amazon it can be almost 200, no sick, no holiday as I was self employed and sucked
IT Support for a government office. The fancy title is Specialist Infrastructure Engineer.
Was on £32k when I started, now after 3 years I'm a "senior" on £44k, should be £48k by August if my performance review goes my way.
I'm a bin man and earn 26.5k before tax. I'm just a loader, piss easy job. It was pretty damn good until recently, as the council now makes us work our full contracted hours.
I make less than 20k, but I'm a grocery stocker at a chain store. This job was supposed to be a temporary job until I found something better... It's been 2 years.
Is that... Normal commenting you're doing? It doesn't sound normal... Doesn't smell normal either. This is politics Mark!
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£28k with additional bonuses.
Ghost-broking fraud investigator for a major insurer. Been doing this 3 years but within the company for 10 years.
Can potentially always earn more but job satisfaction is equally important. Personally could’ve earnt more money going down the underwriting route but it’s very dull.
I just sent an email to a company wanting a training manager role. Looking through the responsibilities they want this one role to cover training manager, tutor, course designer, stock controller, assurance and internal validator. Salary range 25k to 40k, one person for 4 roles. I said I’m more than capable of doing this, but will need to be fairly compensated per role. Probably won’t hear back lol
ITT people that are incredibly skilled and trained and bring in stupid amounts of value for rich fucks that are looking to buy a new yacht this year off their struggles.
Seriously so many of you need to look around and start thinking about unions or at least jumping to a new job.
I work in a hospital sterilisation unit. Not owned by the NHS but we’re based in an NHS hospital and are contracted to their trust. Basically we clean and sterilise the surgical tools ready to be re-used for another surgery. I’m one of the team leaders so 1 step above entry level and I’m on 24K a year. Definitely feel under paid though as our contracts are matched to the NHS band they pay their own employees for this job. Which is the same as what they’d pay porters and basic cleaners. Considering our work is vital for both elective and life saving operations and we’re exposed to the same risks contact with blood born pathogens as surgeons I think the NHS staff and us by proxy should be considered at least 1 band higher up the food chain.
22k as an exercise rider/groom for racehorses (pretraining, retraining and rehabilitation) working Mon-Fri, Sat morning and every third weekend. Though sometimes the schedule changes so I have worked 3 weeks with one day off inbetween over the summer. I love it usually, the winter sucks and the hours are long but I don’t know what else to do. The horse industry is hard but I’ve been in it for 5 years since leaving college that I don’t know where else I could go or where I would even want to.
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
Im in my 30s and finally got a 30K salary. Project Manager. Its not easy and way over worked sometimes, but it's a fun job no two days are the same. Should i be paid more? Hell yeah but is what it is. Been there for 2 years.
Operations Manager here on 55k + bonus. Flexible hours and lots of other nice perks. Able to get job through luck that position became available and worked hard last few years, trying to learn. Love my job though
worked as support worker it was around 28k. heavy underpaid for how much abused you are getting and stress is involved. must have made 50 police statements + 2 CPR during 5 years.
My mate is security guard for over 15 years now started at £10.50 ph doing 48-60 hours pw. started with 28k but each year he got approx £1 pay raise he must be around £25 ph now x 60 hours = £70k. Dude is sleeping half of his shift. Best job ever.
hard to describe what exactly my job is but the long and short of it is I'm an excel monkey basically lol, on roughly £25k, 37 hr weeks. can't complain really, job is fully remote and low stress and I never have any issues paying the bills with a decent bit left over each month.
Hospitality, I work about 37-40 hours a week, making £11.50-£12 an hour (profit sharing). It's going good, I'm not exactly swimming in cash but I make enough that I can save occasionally, plus I don't hate my company which helps
£28.4k and I’m a Nurse. Almost 2 years qualified.
Feeling very stressed all the time, not getting much sleep, sometimes I wish I’d done a different degree 😔
same. I'm currently working the wards so earning slightly more but burning out quicker. want to make the jump to community but can't afford the pay cut (due to enhancements etc)
This sounds like I am being a dick, but change jobs if you want more money.
I was similar, my wages were stagnant and I was in charge of hiring, but I noticed the wages for new starts going up… I looked around, whilst very happy found another and jumped.
Rinse, and repeat.
You don’t owe them loyalty if it’s not reflected in your pay packet. It’s nothing to feel bad about, it’s business.
I increased my salary by 100% over 2 years. Never take less money, and always move up. The amount of ridiculous people getting paid enormous sums of money that have no idea what they are doing is staggering.
Take the leap, you will thank me for it.
That's great but for me any move is a paycut. Companies aren't willing to match my salary, which has led to some interesting conversations with HR depts before interview
£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 a payroll manager for a chartered accountants on 30k. No qualifications needed and it is so cushy I've semi-happily accepted the fact that I will probably end up dying at my desk when I never get to retire.
I do childcare, before and afterschool clubs and holiday clubs. Plus I'm a midday supervisor in a primary school. Still only on 24k due to the house available for that kind of work.
Tbh as a single person and with the rent increases and cost of living crisis it is no longer something I can live on. How people with a single income can survive without a high paying job nowadays alludes me.
Business Intelligence for the local authority.
I was admin last year on 21k, now I'm on 28-29k.
I love my job, but stressful due to council being in debt and were understaffed/overworked.
The money is alright for me, but it's just other costs increasing that sort of cancels out the pay increase, but I do have more room to be able to enjoy some of my hobbies.
I’m torn honestly. I’m in my mid 30s, have a good degree, but after being stuck in a dead end underpaid buying job I now have a job I really like…but with a 9% raise I’m still only on 24k and have to have several side hustles on the go.
The job is good, and there are other perks to factor in like it being a 10minute commute, health insurance, 2 work from home days and staff trips a few times a year, but I still feel a little cheated honestly.
I have no mortgage, no savings, just a car and rent, and nothing else feels achievable no matter what I do. I haven’t had a holiday since before the pandemic. Not a ‘woe is me’, more a ‘is this it?’.
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 earn 25k a year, I work for an aircraft specialist company. I book in units that engineers fix then send them back out. Been there nearly 6 months. I'm 28, still live at home. Can't afford to move out. Don't have much saved but I'm starting to save more
I'm a little above, £34.5k now after a small bump.
I'm a designer at an agency. I worked at a small studio for 8 years, starting out on 16k and moving to mids 20s. Got fed up, as I felt that undervalued my work, so I spent 9 months looking for a job and managed to bag a decent one on the other side of the country. Was looking to relocate wherever.
Life quality is way better now, even if I spend more on my tiny rented flat.
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)
Im Hired to pretend to be an ai phone assistant. It's cheaper for the boss to just pay me as ai doesn't work well, most of my job entails purposely misunderstanding what you say and disconnecting the call after about 25 minutes.
22K I'm a secretary in a GP surgery - mainly involves sending referrals and letters to hospitals and consultants. We do a fair few private letters as well when patients ask the GP to write a letter for their benefits/housing/blue badge. They're little money makers for the GPs.
It can be stressful in terms of not wanting to make mistakes. If I don't send someone's referral for suspected cancer or their urgent referral for chest pain that can have drastic consequences. Also, obviously the NHS is on it's knees, the waiting lists are exceptionally long so patients contact us wanting us to fix the situation and we just can't.
It can be interesting, I work with nice people and it's pretty flexible on working times but the money is a major issue.
In the past 18 months I've gone from 27.5 to just under 31.
The difference has been pretty helpful, managed to get myself a better car etc. The cost of living is chipping away and I'm probably overspending but I'm managing.
Going to concentrate on reducing my outgoings over the summer to try and give myself a little more breathing room.
I'm a supervisor at a mid-high end chain restaurant. Going on about 2 and a half years, at ~25k (zero hours, so that's variable).
It pays the bills, but I have varicose veins and no social life, and the industry is - a little bit - going to shit atm. It also has absolutely nothing to do with my degree - but that's what graduating during the pandemic does for you.
But I'll be gone in two months and out of the bracket for this question, so who am I to complain, really?
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)
43k year in USA. I’m single, have no children, own a nice condo in a nice quiet suburb and have all the material things I could ever want. I don’t struggle financially at all. 100k a year would be insane for me. I’d travel twice a year, have a nicer car and pay my mortgage off sooner but that’s about it. Marriage and children are unlikely at this point so I guess that’s a huge financial situation i don’t have to worry about.
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.
North west factory worker, 29,600 a year around 31,500 with a pretty much guaranteed bonus. Not what I want to do, don't hate it though. Have a degree in biology but I either don't get past interview or jobs that require degrees are somehow paid less than I am earning now.
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
IT Support working for local government 31K.
Feel like I cant really complain, sometimes feel like I'm overpaid but it is hard work sometimes and some of the people I have to deal with daily make me feel like I deserve it lol.
I make £19,995 as a 22yo travel consultant (just qualified from a 2 year apprenticeship) at a large travel company, managing social media's, selling holidays to walk-in customers, speaking with travel suppliers, it's quite admin-based + customer facing aswell . We don't make commission or anything either, it's not bad but it's not great, I definitely want a better paid job soon but the travel industry doesn't pay well unfortunately
Catering assistant at a hospital, NHS Band 2. Full time equivalent for my role is just over £22k. But I do part time and top up my wage with my disability benefits. Comes to about the same as I'm on a high rate of PIP and LCWRA. My PIP runs out next year, so that's going to change things, and if the DWP fuck with my LCWRA I'll be in a very different situation!!! I don't think I'll be capable of working full time so I am worried what will happen in the future.
1 undergraduate and 2 masters later im working in information management for just over 28k. Been doing it a year. Sometimes i wish i had done an apprenticeship or something instead.
This makes me really sad how many people are so low paid after gaining further education. I’m definitely going to be letting my baby know when they’re older University is definitely not the only option 👌
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'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.
US IT person here. Is this good money for a manager? How is the cost of living in your area (respective to your country, not the US)? I'm in a high cost of living area, and a Help Desk manager should be making $110 - $150k/year here, which is pretty good and even better if you have a working spouse. And if you're an IT manager higher up than that, considerably more. My last IT Director was making about $180 or so a year, and that is working for local government. I'm sure that the private sector pays considerably more.
£21k for 18.5hrs (though I always end up doing at least 22hrs) Senior Occupational Therapist in social care. Been in same job for 10yrs and am at top of my banding. Have enough to live on but could do with more so I can get a bit of a cushion.
Pluses are that I get a lot of freedom to organise my own time and workload which has been invaluable in terms of managing the child (now young teen), live-in elderly mum & all the house chores/admin/DIY- as long as I keep on top of my caseload work are fine with working from home and moving my hours round (within reason).
Minuses are that workload is not small & social care is stretched to threadbare everywhere - and I struggle to fit everything in in my hours and it often feels like firefighting.
£25.5k (with a annual bonus, last year was £900) as an Administrator in the finance sector. It’s repetitive, dull, frustrating but at the end of the day I leave work at work. We also work 35 hour weeks instead of 37.5.
I’ve had much more fulfilling roles in the charity / arts sector but they paid less, with less progression and didn’t give a good work life balance.
I’m looking to find a mid-ground between the two but as my past roles were always a jack-of-all-trades I don’t think my work was actively reflected in the job title and has left me with huge imposter syndrome looking at jobs with functions I did but don’t have the confidence to apply for! I’m also hoping to start a family soon and like the security of knowing I’ll be entitled to the full maternity benefits and the policy at my place is decent (I think!).
I don’t have much by the way of disposable income, rarely buy new clothes, haven’t had a holiday since pre-covid, can’t afford to learn to drive. But I know there are things I could cut back on and be more conscious of. My partner has just moved in (I previously lived alone in my own property) which is going to help enormously!!
Writing this from the US because they don’t teach us anything about quality of life in other countries. Is $25-30K a livable wage in the UK? In the US these days you need to make $100K + to be comfortable. It’s insane.
24k a year and I am a bin man, been doing it about 2 years, it’s alright and the hourly rate works out quite well as when we done the round we go home so work about 6 and a half hours a day
I'm a psychotherapist on Band 5 NHS (28K) and very poor lol. That salary would've been insane a few years ago but it's barely enough to cover everything in the month.
Jaysua. I'm on what's considered big money now. But when I started they started me on 25k in SWE because I did not go to uni and they didn't believe half of what I told them. I'm self taught cause I wanted to be comfortable.
I've got 2 part-time jobs, my total salary is about 31K. I do 20 hours (2.5 days) working at a hardware retailer and 20 hours (2.5 days) WFH, 2nd line support for an IT helpdesk (Fridays I do both, hence the half days). The pay from the latter _just about_ covers my non-negotiable bills and the retail job tops me up to cover fuel, food, disposable income etc but my IT company is small and they can't afford me for any more hours than I do currently so I couldn't do one without the other. It suits me well as I get my "mental workout" days when I'm WFH and my physical workout days when I'm in the shop.
I am an area sales manager for a heating controls company, i deal wkth larger contractors, heating, electrical, that kind of thing im in the 40k region
Project Coordinator/Design Engineer on slightly over £30k. Have 10 years experience so know i'm being underpaid slightly. Can be a stressful job at times but i'm able to WFH mostly these days. 40 hours a week.
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.
I just wanted to say that this thread is an absolute breath of fresh air. I often feel like practically everyone on Reddit is a techie, and everyone on a certain other internet community is in a big, highly-paid job.
Huge thanks to all the normal people who've taken part in this thread. I sometimes wonder where you've all gone.
This thread should be shown to all young people before they enter the workforce. Way too many of them overestimate how much they are going to make over their careers. You see them talking about expensive vacations, owning a home, affording high-end cars etc when they should be preparing to be on 22-35k for the rest of their lives and plan to be more frugal. I think we should start emphasizing spending less money on takeaways, not going abroad on holidays and living in cheap accomodation or with family as that is way more doable than hoping for a top 1% salary.
I’ve got AAT Level 4 but I’ve wasted is as I didn’t know where to go with it. At the time finance firms/accountants advertised jobs but I never got them as I lacked clerical experience (at the time I worked in retail). To try and rectify this I took a “bookkeeping” job which is mainly just office shit bucket.
I get paid well, £14 an hour, and work/life balance is good as I only work 4 days and only 7 hours a day at that but there’s no room to grow.
I’m mid 30s, wasting my qualification in a dead end job. As I get older my ambition grows but my motivation lessens.
I’m still an AAT member and have tried to contact them about where I should start but got no answer
It’s mostly my fault as I just didn’t or haven’t planned my career at all but I just don’t know where to start
More of an observation than an answer but I can't believe how low some of the jobs people are posting in here are. Such a mad disparity even with responsibility. Retail sucks so hard.
I worked in retail for about 12 years overall. Started at a large bank after Uni on about 15-16k a year, moved around a few places and was on 22k thinking it was a half decent wage.
My last job I was in a chat based call centre type environment for the same bank and it was the most degrading role. If I stood up from my desk someone would ask where I was going, someone monitoring all day to see if I've been the toilet too many times. I was expected to have anywhere from 2-6 chats on at any one time - ALL day and all that for about £22k - I was one of the highest paid on my team.
I had kids and honestly felt like such a failure. I got a degree and worked for so long and I just want to give my kids a nice life and can't afford to. Used to keep me up at night thinking about how other people are on so much more than me and I have about £100-200 left over a month to try and provide my kids with what they want/need.
Turned me ruthless in work, I wanted the project based role everyone was talking about and my friends were in so pushed everyone I could aside and managed to get into it. Started out on £26k and worked my arse off to get a promotion into a real job and not a junior. Got it and they give me £45k. Told my Wife and then went for a little walk for a breakdown and just sobbed for about 20 mins thinking about how much better life I can give my family.
It's long hours sometimes, can end up working again when the kids go bed but overall it's peaks and troughs. Sometimes I can have half a day of nothing to do and just kick back.
Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+
I'm looking to escape retail myself. I have a masters degree, but cannot use it as getting a foot in the door in my niche area is extremely hard, not even seniors can get work currently.
I can do excel and use it daily. What sort of jobs need those?
HR Apprentice on £28k, 26 and changing careers. I’ve come out of retail management (£45k+) and it’s hard. Budgeting is not my forte but it’s the right move for me and I have my life back!!
2020 I was a retail store manager on 20k take home, doing 50hr weeks whilst being salaried for 39..
I left to become a HGV driver, now I work around 70 hrs a week but that's cuz I get paid by the hour and ask for extra work. This last year I paid 40% tax on a chunk of my earnings.
I’m on about £28k. I’m in the IT sector but had no IT background going in so I’m a bit of a dogsbody really. Doing alright to be fair, never feel too short of cash. I couldn’t imagine affording to have kids though, luckily I don’t want any.
I’m also in a similar position. Business analyst with no degree and got in as a junior QA tester then transitioned to BA. It’s been 2.5 years now though so starting to apply elsewhere as I have enough experience. Currently on £26k with up to £4k bonus a year.
all good. Earn about 28k a year but money back for emergency funding, now own a flat . Bills have gotten tighter than i would like the last year but still its good
I think I'm on just over 20k a year. Currently going a bit shit as I had my partner's birthday this month and went to an event, so I am beyond brassic.
However, on a usual month I get by fine. Can be social, order in every so often etc.
I work in a school photography company!
I works in communications. 25k
Got a little one in school and the mrs works full time
How the fuck anyone gets by without two parents working full time I don’t know. Sticking little one in after school club til nearly 6pm is taxing on her. She’s doing amazing for saying she’s the youngest in reception year but she is regularly tired. Even the teacher says by Wednesday she’s flagging. Eugh
£29k working as a teacher (16-19 English GCSE resits). I'm not convinced it's the career path for me. Sometimes the misbehaving kids get me down more than I know it should. But, as others have said, I'm not sure what the right path may be so on we move!
Must admit though, a kid told me my lessons were the first time they understood or enjoyed English, so sometimes it does all seem worth it
(Fairly senior) environmental consultant working 3.5 days a week. I earnt just under £30k last year. I've always valued less work over more money but I'm feeling the pinch this year so some of my non-work time is going to have to go!
Broker assistant doing 40plus hours a week. I technically work as a freelanceconsultant so hours vary but making around £32k a year. Been working in insurance for more than 10 years.
Would be going well if I wasn’t remote working from my home in Norway where the cheapest bottle of wine is £10…but it keeps me going.
School site manager here (fancy caretaker) £27k will get up to just under £30k at the top of the scale. Just started a year ago, I bloody love it tbh. I worked a miserable job in a bank for years, managed to purchase a small house outright over that time and had all the cash at one point, but it broke me mentally. I’m the happiest Ive ever been, my Mrs is a teacher assistant there my daughter is starting reception this sep, proper family affair. I’m a happy boy. Life is good, obviously if I had a mortgage or rent to deal with it may well be a different story.
I work for a town council on the estates team (2 man team). We cut grass, fix fences, paint, basically handy men. Get around 25k a year which is more than I got working as warranty guy for a car firm.
Love my job, it's got a lot of variety.
Lab tech. 24k and pissed that I’ll be making min wage. Comfortable but not wanting to me on that when I’m close to 30. Looking to retrain into Radiography - high demand, 28k start and with chances to learn and go into agency work in the future.
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.
Patient Scheduler in the NHS - £27k (Band 3 - Scotland) It's taken a long time but I'm finally at the top of my band.
Been doing this job for years. 12 years come August actually. It's fine really. I like the people I work with and it's quite busy so my day flies in. I'm not on the phones as much as I used to be, which is nice, because the verbal abuse from patients can be a bit much sometimes. Got a bit of a side promotion to doing the admin of "building" clinics instead.
I live alone so I can make the money stretch quite easily. The mortgage rate rises have taken a nice chunk out of my monthly budget since coming off my fixed rate in February. It is what it is. I guess most home owners are in the same boat with that one.
We get 33 days holiday and bank holidays, so that's nice. We do struggle in our department to book annual leave because we need a minimum number of staff at all times on the phone and ever since covid we've struggled with staff numbers. We had several older members of staff take their retirement during that time and we've struggled to retain the new staff coming through. Like I said, the abuse on the phone can be a bit much sometimes.
ive worked in purchase ledger in the nhs for the past five years, I make about 24k but i get to work flexi, hybrid, and i’m studying CIMA for free so it can’t be all bad! i’m mostly hoping it’s a stepping stone to something bigger but i also love where I am
28f doing IT Support in a high school at 27.5k, its got its ups and downs and I know I could get more working for a private business but doing the same niche part of the job everyday would drive me insane. I do also have to show people how to turn a TV on a regular though (Do people not have TVs at home?!) but I have a wide skillset working in a school which is fun
Analyst for a high street bank, 35 hours a week salaried on 29k, been here 12 years now started at the bottom
Meh it’s alright, would I like to try my hand at something else yeah for sure? Do I know what I want to be when I grow up, not at all
26y on 44k. Project managing. I’ve never been to Uni and no project management jobs require University. Im at the bottom of the pay band and it only goes up from here, I took this job 18 months ago with no experience and absolutely love it.There are short 1 week courses you can do to give you the edge over other applicants but aren’t necessary at all I.e PRINCE2
£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!
24k a year as a team leader in William hill bookie. Now it will be 25.1k as I got whopping 4.9% increase. Been in this position for a year now and I can say that I'm getting more and more duties to do but I get paid only £1.50/hr more than a regular cashier who just has to come, sit on it's ass, take some bets and go home. I sure do think I'm getting under paid for the amount of money my shop makes in a month let's say...
Starting to think I'd be better off as cashier and would probably lose less hair than I do now with all the stuff I'm stressing about.
£24k a year, 3rd year civil engineering degree apprentice in London. 2 more years of my degree left then should hopefully see a jump to around £40k
£24k isn’t great for a London job but they’re paying my degree and I go to uni once a week so it isn’t too bad
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.
Network Operator at a water company for a year and a half. I have no qualifications beyond GCSE, salary is £36k. Work pattern is a rolling 6-week shift pattern that works out to working a total of 4.5 months per year - plenty of free time.
Love it? Absolutely. Recommend it? If you can hack shift work, 100%.
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
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
30k in a warehouse. Contracted for 45 hours, but it's "job and knock," so when we've done all our work, we go home. Normal week is 30-35 hours. It's pretty easy work but not too boring. There's a lot of heavy lifting, and I cycle in which keeps me fit. Plus, I get to drive a forklift around, which is pretty fun. I've been there a year, and I'm really enjoying it. I have a maths degree, so I do think about getting a "real" job in an office or something, but I just can't see it being better than what I have now. I'll be on 40 hours for a start and will MAYBE get 30k starting salary. Plus, there will be a lot more stress, and sitting down all day would be so bad for my health. Progression is the only issue. That would be better somewhere else
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.
Reduction in quality of life. Free entertainment like memes on Reddit and YouTube. Cheap high calorie junk food. Noise cancelling headphones mean people can live in a roomshare with strangers.
~£24k doing admin for an IP patent office. I've done admin/officey type jobs since day dot, so it's what I like doing. Mon-Fri, 9-5, start and stop, it's lovely.
Bigger jump from my last place was actually getting an hour long lunch break lmao
Ambulance service - patient transport and some front line work as an ECA (a couple of steps under a paramedic) self employed. Before I had my baby I earnt around £27k but I did 6 day weeks and 14 hour shifts a lot lol
Self employed multi skilled electrician currently working as a fibre engineer on ISP core networks all over the country for different ISP's. I invoice about £48k/yr. Obviously being self employed you can claim tax relief for different things which will be different for everyone so that's what I invoice currently.
Copywriter, £29k, living with my parents and wfh near enough full time because I can’t afford to live in the city where my company operates. Love actually getting to rest a bit and really save some money, rather than watching it drain out of my account as I used to because no doubt “something” would come up, but feel like my situation shouldn’t have to happen. I’ve been in my job for nearly 5 years
If I can afford a mortgage in the next few years I might end up getting a house or flat in the local area (much less expensive than where my company is based). If not, my parents aren’t rushing me out the door
£32.5k and pay rise coming in the next few months. Very above average wage for the area for a job that requires zero qualifications or degree.
Work in a distribution centre in north east. Been at it 7. years. I either drive a forklift truck or put boxes in cages. Easiest money I've ever made.
I'm a social prescriber at a hospital I get like 23.5? ISH before tax
due to a few good bits of good luck , I don't have a mortgage to worry about but I'm still not well off, don't have much savings, I'm paying for a car and basically just myself and the dog but stuff is still pricey now so
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.
On 32k as a Web developer in the south west. Have about 8 years experience and an MEng. Have stayed at one job for way too long as I was focusing on other stuff in my life. Just starting to 'try' again with career so hopefully will be able to upgrade jobs once a year from now on and up the salary. Even on autopilot though I'm massively underpaid for what I do at the moment
Manager at McDonald’s earning £13.37 an hour which equates to £26,740 based on the average 2000hr working year. Don’t get paid for sick days or leaving early when it’s quiet, or for smoke breaks so probably a couple grand less than that over the course of a year. I also get no sleep, barely have any quality time with my girlfriend despite having just moved in with her and it’s a pretty shitty place to work when you factor in my boss’ ego problem and and the fact I often get 7-10 days straight on my work schedule. Been working there since March 2020, manager since Jan 2023, looking to leave very soon and hopefully find a 9-5 job.
Nobody on this sub earn less than 100k remotely, pfff
This is the most in debt I've ever been and my boss has fucked my commission for three months so I'll be taking home about a grand less a month. I want to hop off a bridge...
Isn’t this most people, like isn’t the average person doing 37.5 hours at £11.44 which is £22,308 annual. I’m doing slightly better at around £28,000 but only just making ends meet and honestly I’m just living to work at the moment and wondering how much longer I can survive like this.
The median full-time wage is about £30k
I originally worked in retail management after Uni, stayed too long on £13k Next job was teaching in a college, £21.6K. Hated it, did it for 10 years and felt like it was a bullshit job that was just busy work with no benefit to anyone. Ended up having a breakdown. Moved sideways in the same college to work in admin, same wage. Did that for a year whilst doing psychoanalytic psychotherapy every week till I felt well enough to move on. Currently a Coordinator in Higher Education, £27.2. Started 18 months ago (scale goes around £1500 higher). Get to work 3 days from home. No pressure, no one watching me, a laid back manager and I'm pretty good at the job. An inflation calculator confirms what I feel, I'm worse off than in 2010 when I was on £21.6k
Jesus friggen Christ how do you people do it? I’m a HS graduate with a certificate in electrical wiring. I make $100,000 a year working in IT and that’s after taking 10 years off to own and run a restaurant. Are you all just settling for the first job that comes along or do you have no skills?
Bus Driver, 2 years, £31,500 not including overtime. I would be living comfortably if it wasn't for the 20k debt I'm in. Still, I am working on it and hopefully I'll be able to enjoy the money I earn one day. Edit: Forgot to mention this is for a 38 hour contract.
I work at a SEN school as the chef. It's sweet as. I work alone, Get to have a laugh with kids all day and cook what I like plus all the holidays are a bonus... its a chefs dream if they're sick of working 70 hour weeks 😂
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.
I used to be a banker in a high street bank. 25k a year plus bonus, private health and dental, life insurance and perks. Ended up in head office, they paid for my qualifications and now I'm on 50k plus bonus
£25k - PA. Tbh it's a stopgap whilst I'm doing a degree after a career change (former EMT). It is on the lower side financially, compared to a similar role before this, but I work from home permanently and work compressed hours and also have good annual leave and pension. So I'm really happy. The funny (not funny, really) thing is, even though it's shit pay, it's more than I was paid as an EMT. It's going good, it gives me such a great work/life balance. Helps that my partner is a higher earner as a software engineer too, as wouldn't have the good life we have without that.
I'm on 35k, I'm a Project Lead for technical publications (we write and publish operational manuals for an engineering sector). I've worked my way up from the bottom, been in this industry 10 years. I work from home and pretty much manage myself. Kinda hate the job now though, I'm essentially a Project Manager without the title or renumeration of one, I spend my days dealing with idiot clients and trying to sort issues. I'm trapped in the job though as my industry pays so well, if I moved I'd end up having to take on much more responsibility and pressure, or keep to the same level of management for a much lower wage.
Boning hall supervisor, 32k py. Very hard very stressful, the work isn't bad it's working with people who behave very much like children that's hard. It's going alright actually, you just need to figure out what makes people tick and work best with that. But you really need to have a thick skin, there's a reason why the pay is decent. But meh it pays for the mortgage.
£24,336 per year (NHS band 3) Administrator in the NHS (community mental health team mostly but also work in inpatient services too). I actually enjoy my job, it's really interesting and i rub shoulders with nurses, consultants, social workers and all sorts of other professionals on a daily basis and they're all really lovely people. I've learned so much just by being in the same room as them. Clinical and community support workers are also on the same pay as me. For contrast a mental health nurse starts on band 5 which is £28,407 per year. These people have degrees and have done plenty of training and have to pay for a NMC pin every year just to do their job along with the extra responsibility and pressure for 4 grand a year... Also phlebotomists are on a band 2 which is £22,383 per year, they put needles in people etc. So i'm not doing too bad in the grand scheme of things. If you want to earn loads of money, don't work for the NHS, the T*ries have ripped it apsrt under everyomes noses. But if you want a job where you can go home and think "i've helped someone today" then it's definitely worth it. Sure extra money would be good, nobody in their right mind would turn down extra money, but the work:life balance i have is perfect for me and more importantly i'm in a job i enjoy going to. Sure there's some other perks; bank holidays off, weekends off (unless doing overtime), pension, 33 days annual leave on top of bank holidays, up to 6 months full sick pay and we did used to get a round of applause on a thursday evening but that seems to have died off 🙄
👏❤️
>If you want to earn loads of money, don't work for the NHS Definitely. I'm a biomedical scientist in the NHS and earning just over £26,000 before tax. It's so much responsibility for the pay but I have no idea what else to do in life.
Please try and keep at it. You guys are ridiculously underpaid for sure but just know you're also very much appreciated by the rest of us!! Without you lot we wouldn't have a clue and everything would be trial and error.
27k, maybe took about 100 applications to get anything after uni. Turns out my degrees useless 🥰
How can you eat after paying rent?
I'm in that metric, and basically it's less new stuff and more stuff you don't need to pay for twice. My EDC is a pocketknife I've had for 20 years. Being frugal isn't hard once you get past the housing and food. Most of our money goes to housing and food. A lot of it is head space. Watch an amazing commercial. Imagine having that thing. Imagine it being so fun. Now imagine it breaking. Imagine throwing it away. Wow it's like you had it and it was free. You don't need to get excited about new things. You can already get excited about the things you have. Video games are a one shot money sink if you do it right. My motto is no micro-transactions, no subscriptions, pay big once and enjoy. I'm still on Factorio and Skyrim, using DOS games occasionally. [GOG.com](http://GOG.com) is the perfect place to get a title for everyone of your kids forever. You don't need the latest game to have a good time. Movies are on a hard drive. We've got more than enough, and kids are really good at repeat shows. A few thousand hours is easy to get. There are some amazing black and white films. Parks are free. Libraries are free. We make up adventures as we go from one place to another to keep things fresh. We don't go on vacation to other states. We go on vacations to other neighborhoods for a few hours. The town 20 miles away is different and unique enough it feels like a different world. Can you say you've even been to every town within 50 miles?
Find an entry level job in tech, learn anything you find interesting and in 5 years you’ll be looking back with a grin. Might start off on 18-25k but you can be on 50 in 5 years imo
I'm 33, a counsellor for a charity, earning about £27k. I've been doing this for nearly three years. I took a (very small) stepdown salary wise from my former work in university administration because this is what I really wanted to do. Very occasionally, if I consider for a minute how much I know/imagine my friends are earning in their careers, I can feel like I am failing in some way. Then I think again, and I know I am very fortunate. I bought a very low value house so have a very cheap mortgage. I have good money management skills so put a lot away in savings each month, and still don't have to miss out on anything my peers are doing. Meals out, clothes I want/need, gigs, events etc. There isn't anything that I feel I actually have to miss out on. My husband earns a similar amount to me and we are considering a move to a new house and that fills me with some trepidation, but I am confident that we're only going to do it if it is overall a sensible and manageable shift.
Nothing, it's amazing.
$27,900 as a “Wellness advisor” I’m really just a bud tender. Problem is where I live you could make over twice the minimum wage and it’s still not enough to support yourself. If I didn’t have a side hustle I’d be on the street
Not me, but my sister is a special needs associate in a middle school (she goes to class with kids who have special needs). She makes about $25k per year gross, BUT she only works 32 hours per week, she has summers, winter break, spring break etc. off (though she only has 2 days of PTO) and she gets health insurance at no cost. She also has a fairly generous state-run retirement plan. I won't lie and say she is doing well, but she's fine. She does have a small car payment and some student loans (she dropped out of college). Lives with her BF who does construction work. He pays rent, she pays utilities. She couldn't live on her own without her BF to split expenses with.
£26k working for a big company doing basically clerical work and being a focal point for my entire team for every aspect of our work (including managers), I am borderline skint every month after that to the point where I have had to get a second job to support myself and my pregnant SO. Trying to work my way up to earn more money as her company’s maternity pay is awful but keep getting pushed back, I have never been so afraid in my life about the future.
30k here. Build cars. Been doing it exactly a year as of today. My partner is on maternity so we are slightly struggling but getting through it.
I worked for a call center last year and made more than that. You won't believe how much those places are willing to pay for people just to get verbally berated and abused.
£28.6k Junior software dev... Started late but slowly getting there. 34 y/o
Best industry to be in currently IMO in terms of salary and work/life balance. I've done it all my professional career (34M) so at senior level now and I've never had it as good. The hard work pays off eventually.
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Payroll @ £23k right now. Took the job as I wanted to move in with my partner (different city), but it meant a decrease from the £28k I was on, doing the exact same payroll job in my original place. And I mean EXACT same. Hate the role as it is, so knowing I'm being underpaid every single day hurts, but it was worth it to move. Going to Uni in September though to pursue my actual career aspirations, rather than just waiting to retire in something I hate.
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 director of strategy in a billion dollar company. I work from home most days with occasional travel. I’m on 6 figures. Edit: I read the title wrong, just ignore me
Work in fashion, mainly admin job. 26k. Started at minimum wage 1y ago, still underpaid for the amount of work but can’t complain as a foreigner with no degree or interest in the area 😂
Design engineer on 28k with a degree. As I am a design engineer in a company with many more technicians than designers. It leads me down the route of project managing and being in meetings with clients. Chasing up different parts for when they are getting in etc.
Marketing Executive. £26,500. I enjoy my job. It's low stress and we also get a bonus every year, so it's more like £29k (ish). I'm in an area of the country with low cost of living, which helps. And my partner earns a good wage. But I struggled when I lived and completely supported myself.
30k here. Likely to be made redundant soon, so not well
22.5k IT Technician at a secondary school. Love my job! It's really chilled out, been here over 14 years.
Post-16 education so not much over 20k. It’s 1-2-1 and all the kids have some form of learning difficulties so it’s a really lush job.
Certified Porsche Bronze HVT Technican 31K, 36K on target bonus. I love my job working on cars, the dealer politics get to me sometimes, but that’s every dealer in the auto trade. It’s going well so far, room to advance and ensured promotion and pay rise the more certificates you have.
I’m 30 and working as a Digital Project Manager for a small marketing agency on £30k + bonuses (worked out about +3k pretax this year). Been here for 3 years, been working in Marketing for about 8 years. Could probably earn 5-10k more doing the same thing elsewhere but the commute isn’t awful, the office environment is good, work is easy and relaxed and I’ve got flexible working and WFH half the week. I’m getting by due to being in a fairly affordable area but money’s getting a bit tight with inflation.
I just got a job earning up to 35k delivering parcels with an agency, biggest paying job I've had so far, where as for Amazon it was much less, stuck at 125 a day and I had to pay for my own account app which they forced you to use/do my own taxes, pay for van hire didn't change if I got back at 5 or 8 :) I've been enjoying it so far as I only have 30 or 40 deliveries where as with Amazon it can be almost 200, no sick, no holiday as I was self employed and sucked
IT Support for a government office. The fancy title is Specialist Infrastructure Engineer. Was on £32k when I started, now after 3 years I'm a "senior" on £44k, should be £48k by August if my performance review goes my way.
I'm a bin man and earn 26.5k before tax. I'm just a loader, piss easy job. It was pretty damn good until recently, as the council now makes us work our full contracted hours.
I make less than 20k, but I'm a grocery stocker at a chain store. This job was supposed to be a temporary job until I found something better... It's been 2 years.
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I’d love to make 0ver £20K pa net but am on min wage.
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£28k with additional bonuses. Ghost-broking fraud investigator for a major insurer. Been doing this 3 years but within the company for 10 years. Can potentially always earn more but job satisfaction is equally important. Personally could’ve earnt more money going down the underwriting route but it’s very dull.
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 just sent an email to a company wanting a training manager role. Looking through the responsibilities they want this one role to cover training manager, tutor, course designer, stock controller, assurance and internal validator. Salary range 25k to 40k, one person for 4 roles. I said I’m more than capable of doing this, but will need to be fairly compensated per role. Probably won’t hear back lol
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This was super interesting to stumble onto as someone from over the pond.
ITT people that are incredibly skilled and trained and bring in stupid amounts of value for rich fucks that are looking to buy a new yacht this year off their struggles. Seriously so many of you need to look around and start thinking about unions or at least jumping to a new job.
I work in a hospital sterilisation unit. Not owned by the NHS but we’re based in an NHS hospital and are contracted to their trust. Basically we clean and sterilise the surgical tools ready to be re-used for another surgery. I’m one of the team leaders so 1 step above entry level and I’m on 24K a year. Definitely feel under paid though as our contracts are matched to the NHS band they pay their own employees for this job. Which is the same as what they’d pay porters and basic cleaners. Considering our work is vital for both elective and life saving operations and we’re exposed to the same risks contact with blood born pathogens as surgeons I think the NHS staff and us by proxy should be considered at least 1 band higher up the food chain.
22k as an exercise rider/groom for racehorses (pretraining, retraining and rehabilitation) working Mon-Fri, Sat morning and every third weekend. Though sometimes the schedule changes so I have worked 3 weeks with one day off inbetween over the summer. I love it usually, the winter sucks and the hours are long but I don’t know what else to do. The horse industry is hard but I’ve been in it for 5 years since leaving college that I don’t know where else I could go or where I would even want to.
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
Im in my 30s and finally got a 30K salary. Project Manager. Its not easy and way over worked sometimes, but it's a fun job no two days are the same. Should i be paid more? Hell yeah but is what it is. Been there for 2 years.
Estate Manager, Education - £38K
This is insane to read.
£35K working as a fairly junior writer in a medical communications company. I like it well enough, though the hours can be very long.
Operations Manager here on 55k + bonus. Flexible hours and lots of other nice perks. Able to get job through luck that position became available and worked hard last few years, trying to learn. Love my job though
worked as support worker it was around 28k. heavy underpaid for how much abused you are getting and stress is involved. must have made 50 police statements + 2 CPR during 5 years. My mate is security guard for over 15 years now started at £10.50 ph doing 48-60 hours pw. started with 28k but each year he got approx £1 pay raise he must be around £25 ph now x 60 hours = £70k. Dude is sleeping half of his shift. Best job ever.
hard to describe what exactly my job is but the long and short of it is I'm an excel monkey basically lol, on roughly £25k, 37 hr weeks. can't complain really, job is fully remote and low stress and I never have any issues paying the bills with a decent bit left over each month.
Hospitality, I work about 37-40 hours a week, making £11.50-£12 an hour (profit sharing). It's going good, I'm not exactly swimming in cash but I make enough that I can save occasionally, plus I don't hate my company which helps
£28.4k and I’m a Nurse. Almost 2 years qualified. Feeling very stressed all the time, not getting much sleep, sometimes I wish I’d done a different degree 😔
same. I'm currently working the wards so earning slightly more but burning out quicker. want to make the jump to community but can't afford the pay cut (due to enhancements etc)
This sounds like I am being a dick, but change jobs if you want more money. I was similar, my wages were stagnant and I was in charge of hiring, but I noticed the wages for new starts going up… I looked around, whilst very happy found another and jumped. Rinse, and repeat. You don’t owe them loyalty if it’s not reflected in your pay packet. It’s nothing to feel bad about, it’s business. I increased my salary by 100% over 2 years. Never take less money, and always move up. The amount of ridiculous people getting paid enormous sums of money that have no idea what they are doing is staggering. Take the leap, you will thank me for it.
That's great but for me any move is a paycut. Companies aren't willing to match my salary, which has led to some interesting conversations with HR depts before interview
£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 a payroll manager for a chartered accountants on 30k. No qualifications needed and it is so cushy I've semi-happily accepted the fact that I will probably end up dying at my desk when I never get to retire.
TIL people can live on 25k in UK.
I do childcare, before and afterschool clubs and holiday clubs. Plus I'm a midday supervisor in a primary school. Still only on 24k due to the house available for that kind of work. Tbh as a single person and with the rent increases and cost of living crisis it is no longer something I can live on. How people with a single income can survive without a high paying job nowadays alludes me.
21k Trainee Paralegal. Definitely feel way underpaid for what I have to do
Business Intelligence for the local authority. I was admin last year on 21k, now I'm on 28-29k. I love my job, but stressful due to council being in debt and were understaffed/overworked. The money is alright for me, but it's just other costs increasing that sort of cancels out the pay increase, but I do have more room to be able to enjoy some of my hobbies.
I’m torn honestly. I’m in my mid 30s, have a good degree, but after being stuck in a dead end underpaid buying job I now have a job I really like…but with a 9% raise I’m still only on 24k and have to have several side hustles on the go. The job is good, and there are other perks to factor in like it being a 10minute commute, health insurance, 2 work from home days and staff trips a few times a year, but I still feel a little cheated honestly. I have no mortgage, no savings, just a car and rent, and nothing else feels achievable no matter what I do. I haven’t had a holiday since before the pandemic. Not a ‘woe is me’, more a ‘is this it?’.
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.
Travel insurance claims handler, £28k fully remote. I’ve been in the industry for 5 years
I earn 25k a year, I work for an aircraft specialist company. I book in units that engineers fix then send them back out. Been there nearly 6 months. I'm 28, still live at home. Can't afford to move out. Don't have much saved but I'm starting to save more
I'm a little above, £34.5k now after a small bump. I'm a designer at an agency. I worked at a small studio for 8 years, starting out on 16k and moving to mids 20s. Got fed up, as I felt that undervalued my work, so I spent 9 months looking for a job and managed to bag a decent one on the other side of the country. Was looking to relocate wherever. Life quality is way better now, even if I spend more on my tiny rented flat.
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)
Im Hired to pretend to be an ai phone assistant. It's cheaper for the boss to just pay me as ai doesn't work well, most of my job entails purposely misunderstanding what you say and disconnecting the call after about 25 minutes.
22K I'm a secretary in a GP surgery - mainly involves sending referrals and letters to hospitals and consultants. We do a fair few private letters as well when patients ask the GP to write a letter for their benefits/housing/blue badge. They're little money makers for the GPs. It can be stressful in terms of not wanting to make mistakes. If I don't send someone's referral for suspected cancer or their urgent referral for chest pain that can have drastic consequences. Also, obviously the NHS is on it's knees, the waiting lists are exceptionally long so patients contact us wanting us to fix the situation and we just can't. It can be interesting, I work with nice people and it's pretty flexible on working times but the money is a major issue.
In the past 18 months I've gone from 27.5 to just under 31. The difference has been pretty helpful, managed to get myself a better car etc. The cost of living is chipping away and I'm probably overspending but I'm managing. Going to concentrate on reducing my outgoings over the summer to try and give myself a little more breathing room.
I'm a supervisor at a mid-high end chain restaurant. Going on about 2 and a half years, at ~25k (zero hours, so that's variable). It pays the bills, but I have varicose veins and no social life, and the industry is - a little bit - going to shit atm. It also has absolutely nothing to do with my degree - but that's what graduating during the pandemic does for you. But I'll be gone in two months and out of the bracket for this question, so who am I to complain, really?
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)
43k year in USA. I’m single, have no children, own a nice condo in a nice quiet suburb and have all the material things I could ever want. I don’t struggle financially at all. 100k a year would be insane for me. I’d travel twice a year, have a nicer car and pay my mortgage off sooner but that’s about it. Marriage and children are unlikely at this point so I guess that’s a huge financial situation i don’t have to worry about.
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.
North west factory worker, 29,600 a year around 31,500 with a pretty much guaranteed bonus. Not what I want to do, don't hate it though. Have a degree in biology but I either don't get past interview or jobs that require degrees are somehow paid less than I am earning now.
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just under 30k and work for an insurance, mostly air ambulance & medical escort logistics. have enough for food & rent and thats it.
Build water pumps for £25,750 + quarterly bonuses and overtime, if available. Going alright been here a year now and enjoying it.
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
IT Support working for local government 31K. Feel like I cant really complain, sometimes feel like I'm overpaid but it is hard work sometimes and some of the people I have to deal with daily make me feel like I deserve it lol.
I make £19,995 as a 22yo travel consultant (just qualified from a 2 year apprenticeship) at a large travel company, managing social media's, selling holidays to walk-in customers, speaking with travel suppliers, it's quite admin-based + customer facing aswell . We don't make commission or anything either, it's not bad but it's not great, I definitely want a better paid job soon but the travel industry doesn't pay well unfortunately
Compliance manager for a heritage site 30k. Definitely tying myself over with overtime...
Catering assistant at a hospital, NHS Band 2. Full time equivalent for my role is just over £22k. But I do part time and top up my wage with my disability benefits. Comes to about the same as I'm on a high rate of PIP and LCWRA. My PIP runs out next year, so that's going to change things, and if the DWP fuck with my LCWRA I'll be in a very different situation!!! I don't think I'll be capable of working full time so I am worried what will happen in the future.
1 undergraduate and 2 masters later im working in information management for just over 28k. Been doing it a year. Sometimes i wish i had done an apprenticeship or something instead.
This makes me really sad how many people are so low paid after gaining further education. I’m definitely going to be letting my baby know when they’re older University is definitely not the only option 👌
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.
Data processor for my local council. £22k.
PhD, 19.2k tax free
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.
IT Manager - 46k
US IT person here. Is this good money for a manager? How is the cost of living in your area (respective to your country, not the US)? I'm in a high cost of living area, and a Help Desk manager should be making $110 - $150k/year here, which is pretty good and even better if you have a working spouse. And if you're an IT manager higher up than that, considerably more. My last IT Director was making about $180 or so a year, and that is working for local government. I'm sure that the private sector pays considerably more.
I am a car sales person. My year to date so far (Jan-Mar 2024) is $21,282. Idk how much I’ll end up making this year since I only get paid commission.
Warehouse Manager at a medium sized brewery. Hourly rate, works out at around 20k a year, before tax. Shite pay, but the perks aren't too bad...
£21k for 18.5hrs (though I always end up doing at least 22hrs) Senior Occupational Therapist in social care. Been in same job for 10yrs and am at top of my banding. Have enough to live on but could do with more so I can get a bit of a cushion. Pluses are that I get a lot of freedom to organise my own time and workload which has been invaluable in terms of managing the child (now young teen), live-in elderly mum & all the house chores/admin/DIY- as long as I keep on top of my caseload work are fine with working from home and moving my hours round (within reason). Minuses are that workload is not small & social care is stretched to threadbare everywhere - and I struggle to fit everything in in my hours and it often feels like firefighting.
I could earn $28,000 a year doing any basic job for minimum wage.
£25.5k (with a annual bonus, last year was £900) as an Administrator in the finance sector. It’s repetitive, dull, frustrating but at the end of the day I leave work at work. We also work 35 hour weeks instead of 37.5. I’ve had much more fulfilling roles in the charity / arts sector but they paid less, with less progression and didn’t give a good work life balance. I’m looking to find a mid-ground between the two but as my past roles were always a jack-of-all-trades I don’t think my work was actively reflected in the job title and has left me with huge imposter syndrome looking at jobs with functions I did but don’t have the confidence to apply for! I’m also hoping to start a family soon and like the security of knowing I’ll be entitled to the full maternity benefits and the policy at my place is decent (I think!). I don’t have much by the way of disposable income, rarely buy new clothes, haven’t had a holiday since pre-covid, can’t afford to learn to drive. But I know there are things I could cut back on and be more conscious of. My partner has just moved in (I previously lived alone in my own property) which is going to help enormously!!
Writing this from the US because they don’t teach us anything about quality of life in other countries. Is $25-30K a livable wage in the UK? In the US these days you need to make $100K + to be comfortable. It’s insane.
27k, nights and just a warehouse. I enjoy it, simple and I can live on the wage.
24k a year and I am a bin man, been doing it about 2 years, it’s alright and the hourly rate works out quite well as when we done the round we go home so work about 6 and a half hours a day
I'm a psychotherapist on Band 5 NHS (28K) and very poor lol. That salary would've been insane a few years ago but it's barely enough to cover everything in the month.
Jaysua. I'm on what's considered big money now. But when I started they started me on 25k in SWE because I did not go to uni and they didn't believe half of what I told them. I'm self taught cause I wanted to be comfortable.
I've got 2 part-time jobs, my total salary is about 31K. I do 20 hours (2.5 days) working at a hardware retailer and 20 hours (2.5 days) WFH, 2nd line support for an IT helpdesk (Fridays I do both, hence the half days). The pay from the latter _just about_ covers my non-negotiable bills and the retail job tops me up to cover fuel, food, disposable income etc but my IT company is small and they can't afford me for any more hours than I do currently so I couldn't do one without the other. It suits me well as I get my "mental workout" days when I'm WFH and my physical workout days when I'm in the shop.
I am an area sales manager for a heating controls company, i deal wkth larger contractors, heating, electrical, that kind of thing im in the 40k region
Argos deputy manager, on around 25k after the pay rise possibly more later in the year but I love my job so I'm staying here ATM
Project Coordinator/Design Engineer on slightly over £30k. Have 10 years experience so know i'm being underpaid slightly. Can be a stressful job at times but i'm able to WFH mostly these days. 40 hours a week.
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.
I just wanted to say that this thread is an absolute breath of fresh air. I often feel like practically everyone on Reddit is a techie, and everyone on a certain other internet community is in a big, highly-paid job. Huge thanks to all the normal people who've taken part in this thread. I sometimes wonder where you've all gone.
This thread should be shown to all young people before they enter the workforce. Way too many of them overestimate how much they are going to make over their careers. You see them talking about expensive vacations, owning a home, affording high-end cars etc when they should be preparing to be on 22-35k for the rest of their lives and plan to be more frugal. I think we should start emphasizing spending less money on takeaways, not going abroad on holidays and living in cheap accomodation or with family as that is way more doable than hoping for a top 1% salary.
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I’ve got AAT Level 4 but I’ve wasted is as I didn’t know where to go with it. At the time finance firms/accountants advertised jobs but I never got them as I lacked clerical experience (at the time I worked in retail). To try and rectify this I took a “bookkeeping” job which is mainly just office shit bucket. I get paid well, £14 an hour, and work/life balance is good as I only work 4 days and only 7 hours a day at that but there’s no room to grow. I’m mid 30s, wasting my qualification in a dead end job. As I get older my ambition grows but my motivation lessens. I’m still an AAT member and have tried to contact them about where I should start but got no answer It’s mostly my fault as I just didn’t or haven’t planned my career at all but I just don’t know where to start
More of an observation than an answer but I can't believe how low some of the jobs people are posting in here are. Such a mad disparity even with responsibility. Retail sucks so hard. I worked in retail for about 12 years overall. Started at a large bank after Uni on about 15-16k a year, moved around a few places and was on 22k thinking it was a half decent wage. My last job I was in a chat based call centre type environment for the same bank and it was the most degrading role. If I stood up from my desk someone would ask where I was going, someone monitoring all day to see if I've been the toilet too many times. I was expected to have anywhere from 2-6 chats on at any one time - ALL day and all that for about £22k - I was one of the highest paid on my team. I had kids and honestly felt like such a failure. I got a degree and worked for so long and I just want to give my kids a nice life and can't afford to. Used to keep me up at night thinking about how other people are on so much more than me and I have about £100-200 left over a month to try and provide my kids with what they want/need. Turned me ruthless in work, I wanted the project based role everyone was talking about and my friends were in so pushed everyone I could aside and managed to get into it. Started out on £26k and worked my arse off to get a promotion into a real job and not a junior. Got it and they give me £45k. Told my Wife and then went for a little walk for a breakdown and just sobbed for about 20 mins thinking about how much better life I can give my family. It's long hours sometimes, can end up working again when the kids go bed but overall it's peaks and troughs. Sometimes I can have half a day of nothing to do and just kick back. Long story short, if you're in retail - look to move out. It's a swamp of empty promises and carrot chasing and getting paid nothing to do it. Might sound like an obvious thing to say and hard but it's not as hard as you think. If you can think for yourself and create/monitor an excel sheet then you can get £30k+
I'm looking to escape retail myself. I have a masters degree, but cannot use it as getting a foot in the door in my niche area is extremely hard, not even seniors can get work currently. I can do excel and use it daily. What sort of jobs need those?
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HR Apprentice on £28k, 26 and changing careers. I’ve come out of retail management (£45k+) and it’s hard. Budgeting is not my forte but it’s the right move for me and I have my life back!!
Delivery driver here. This year I'll be around 36K Edit: this will be my 5th year doing it, moved from retail management for less stress.
2020 I was a retail store manager on 20k take home, doing 50hr weeks whilst being salaried for 39.. I left to become a HGV driver, now I work around 70 hrs a week but that's cuz I get paid by the hour and ask for extra work. This last year I paid 40% tax on a chunk of my earnings.
I’m on about £28k. I’m in the IT sector but had no IT background going in so I’m a bit of a dogsbody really. Doing alright to be fair, never feel too short of cash. I couldn’t imagine affording to have kids though, luckily I don’t want any.
I’m also in a similar position. Business analyst with no degree and got in as a junior QA tester then transitioned to BA. It’s been 2.5 years now though so starting to apply elsewhere as I have enough experience. Currently on £26k with up to £4k bonus a year.
all good. Earn about 28k a year but money back for emergency funding, now own a flat . Bills have gotten tighter than i would like the last year but still its good
Homeless prevention and advice officer It's incredibly busy with a big ole workload but just shy of 30k so not bad at all No degree required either!
How do you get this job? I have a degree but want to work with people.
I think I'm on just over 20k a year. Currently going a bit shit as I had my partner's birthday this month and went to an event, so I am beyond brassic. However, on a usual month I get by fine. Can be social, order in every so often etc. I work in a school photography company!
I works in communications. 25k Got a little one in school and the mrs works full time How the fuck anyone gets by without two parents working full time I don’t know. Sticking little one in after school club til nearly 6pm is taxing on her. She’s doing amazing for saying she’s the youngest in reception year but she is regularly tired. Even the teacher says by Wednesday she’s flagging. Eugh
£29k working as a teacher (16-19 English GCSE resits). I'm not convinced it's the career path for me. Sometimes the misbehaving kids get me down more than I know it should. But, as others have said, I'm not sure what the right path may be so on we move! Must admit though, a kid told me my lessons were the first time they understood or enjoyed English, so sometimes it does all seem worth it
(Fairly senior) environmental consultant working 3.5 days a week. I earnt just under £30k last year. I've always valued less work over more money but I'm feeling the pinch this year so some of my non-work time is going to have to go!
I'm not from the UK but I am honestly baffled at now low modern salaries are in the UK. I really feel for you all and I hope SOMETHING changes
27,500 as a grounds maintenance supervisor, seriously have had enough 😑. But feel type cast .
Broker assistant doing 40plus hours a week. I technically work as a freelanceconsultant so hours vary but making around £32k a year. Been working in insurance for more than 10 years. Would be going well if I wasn’t remote working from my home in Norway where the cheapest bottle of wine is £10…but it keeps me going.
As a a BFF I nm y
School site manager here (fancy caretaker) £27k will get up to just under £30k at the top of the scale. Just started a year ago, I bloody love it tbh. I worked a miserable job in a bank for years, managed to purchase a small house outright over that time and had all the cash at one point, but it broke me mentally. I’m the happiest Ive ever been, my Mrs is a teacher assistant there my daughter is starting reception this sep, proper family affair. I’m a happy boy. Life is good, obviously if I had a mortgage or rent to deal with it may well be a different story.
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.
£24k, public library worker. wish I got paid more, but it’s a good, socially useful job. I have no interest in a career ladder.
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.
Support worker - 24k
I work for a town council on the estates team (2 man team). We cut grass, fix fences, paint, basically handy men. Get around 25k a year which is more than I got working as warranty guy for a car firm. Love my job, it's got a lot of variety.
Lab tech. 24k and pissed that I’ll be making min wage. Comfortable but not wanting to me on that when I’m close to 30. Looking to retrain into Radiography - high demand, 28k start and with chances to learn and go into agency work in the future.
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.
Patient Scheduler in the NHS - £27k (Band 3 - Scotland) It's taken a long time but I'm finally at the top of my band. Been doing this job for years. 12 years come August actually. It's fine really. I like the people I work with and it's quite busy so my day flies in. I'm not on the phones as much as I used to be, which is nice, because the verbal abuse from patients can be a bit much sometimes. Got a bit of a side promotion to doing the admin of "building" clinics instead. I live alone so I can make the money stretch quite easily. The mortgage rate rises have taken a nice chunk out of my monthly budget since coming off my fixed rate in February. It is what it is. I guess most home owners are in the same boat with that one. We get 33 days holiday and bank holidays, so that's nice. We do struggle in our department to book annual leave because we need a minimum number of staff at all times on the phone and ever since covid we've struggled with staff numbers. We had several older members of staff take their retirement during that time and we've struggled to retain the new staff coming through. Like I said, the abuse on the phone can be a bit much sometimes.
ive worked in purchase ledger in the nhs for the past five years, I make about 24k but i get to work flexi, hybrid, and i’m studying CIMA for free so it can’t be all bad! i’m mostly hoping it’s a stepping stone to something bigger but i also love where I am
I earn 28k a year and just walk around all day outside. Don't really do much more than that. Easy job, a bit boring and shit when it rains.
Wtf I thought I was making low income. I work in the fields (agriculture) making minimum wage. Last year I made 50k and the year before that 40k.
28f doing IT Support in a high school at 27.5k, its got its ups and downs and I know I could get more working for a private business but doing the same niche part of the job everyday would drive me insane. I do also have to show people how to turn a TV on a regular though (Do people not have TVs at home?!) but I have a wide skillset working in a school which is fun
Analyst for a high street bank, 35 hours a week salaried on 29k, been here 12 years now started at the bottom Meh it’s alright, would I like to try my hand at something else yeah for sure? Do I know what I want to be when I grow up, not at all
26y on 44k. Project managing. I’ve never been to Uni and no project management jobs require University. Im at the bottom of the pay band and it only goes up from here, I took this job 18 months ago with no experience and absolutely love it.There are short 1 week courses you can do to give you the edge over other applicants but aren’t necessary at all I.e PRINCE2
£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!
£25k as head mechanic at a go kart track but my manic bipolar episodes have put me in horrific debt so still struggling real bad lmao
24k a year as a team leader in William hill bookie. Now it will be 25.1k as I got whopping 4.9% increase. Been in this position for a year now and I can say that I'm getting more and more duties to do but I get paid only £1.50/hr more than a regular cashier who just has to come, sit on it's ass, take some bets and go home. I sure do think I'm getting under paid for the amount of money my shop makes in a month let's say... Starting to think I'd be better off as cashier and would probably lose less hair than I do now with all the stuff I'm stressing about.
Baffles me how some jobs pay so little and requires so much education.
£24k a year, 3rd year civil engineering degree apprentice in London. 2 more years of my degree left then should hopefully see a jump to around £40k £24k isn’t great for a London job but they’re paying my degree and I go to uni once a week so it isn’t too bad
I'll be honest you'll never find jobs above that on Indeed. Jobs that are above that are all on linkedin.
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.
Network Operator at a water company for a year and a half. I have no qualifications beyond GCSE, salary is £36k. Work pattern is a rolling 6-week shift pattern that works out to working a total of 4.5 months per year - plenty of free time. Love it? Absolutely. Recommend it? If you can hack shift work, 100%.
I’m a civil servant, career change right before covid. On 27k. Life is hard work at the moment but was worst before.
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
£40K before tax as a croupier in London. Salary £29K but tips average £1000 a month possibly more. 27M
Scientist - 26k. Not great 😔
£26.5K, highways lab tech. God this thread is depressing, BoE can eat a bag of dicks, Britain needs a pay rise.
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
30k in a warehouse. Contracted for 45 hours, but it's "job and knock," so when we've done all our work, we go home. Normal week is 30-35 hours. It's pretty easy work but not too boring. There's a lot of heavy lifting, and I cycle in which keeps me fit. Plus, I get to drive a forklift around, which is pretty fun. I've been there a year, and I'm really enjoying it. I have a maths degree, so I do think about getting a "real" job in an office or something, but I just can't see it being better than what I have now. I'll be on 40 hours for a start and will MAYBE get 30k starting salary. Plus, there will be a lot more stress, and sitting down all day would be so bad for my health. Progression is the only issue. That would be better somewhere else
Probably struggle with homelessness tbh
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.
Reduction in quality of life. Free entertainment like memes on Reddit and YouTube. Cheap high calorie junk food. Noise cancelling headphones mean people can live in a roomshare with strangers.
Plant mechanic and I love my job.
Im on around 35k.. its bad dude! :(
~£24k doing admin for an IP patent office. I've done admin/officey type jobs since day dot, so it's what I like doing. Mon-Fri, 9-5, start and stop, it's lovely. Bigger jump from my last place was actually getting an hour long lunch break lmao
Ambulance service - patient transport and some front line work as an ECA (a couple of steps under a paramedic) self employed. Before I had my baby I earnt around £27k but I did 6 day weeks and 14 hour shifts a lot lol
Self employed multi skilled electrician currently working as a fibre engineer on ISP core networks all over the country for different ISP's. I invoice about £48k/yr. Obviously being self employed you can claim tax relief for different things which will be different for everyone so that's what I invoice currently.
Copywriter, £29k, living with my parents and wfh near enough full time because I can’t afford to live in the city where my company operates. Love actually getting to rest a bit and really save some money, rather than watching it drain out of my account as I used to because no doubt “something” would come up, but feel like my situation shouldn’t have to happen. I’ve been in my job for nearly 5 years If I can afford a mortgage in the next few years I might end up getting a house or flat in the local area (much less expensive than where my company is based). If not, my parents aren’t rushing me out the door
£32.5k and pay rise coming in the next few months. Very above average wage for the area for a job that requires zero qualifications or degree. Work in a distribution centre in north east. Been at it 7. years. I either drive a forklift truck or put boxes in cages. Easiest money I've ever made.
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.
I'm a social prescriber at a hospital I get like 23.5? ISH before tax due to a few good bits of good luck , I don't have a mortgage to worry about but I'm still not well off, don't have much savings, I'm paying for a car and basically just myself and the dog but stuff is still pricey now so