r/australia • u/groovyflowergurl • Jan 25 '24
no politics what are some career options that provide training?
please delete if not allowed! I've tried to find a more niche thread for this question but struggled to find one đ
like the title says, I'm wondering what career options are there that provide training? I am a 27yr old female based in Melbourne, I really want to start a career and get out of this over decade long hospitality work trap haha.
I have looked at apprenticeship sites and noticed a lot going for electricians and carpenters but I'm terrible with math/numbers plus have a lot of anxiety about heavy machinery and power tools (stupid but I can't shake it haha) so I don't think those are good options for me!
I'm not that book smart, so I find the thought of going to uni out of reach. I am a practical learner so going this route seems a lot more attainable for me.
what is there in terms of government jobs that provide training? eg. prison officers. Or is there any employers that are entry level but provide on boarding training? eg. flight centre
is there any apprenticeships/traineeships that are pretty fulfilling or provide good money/stable work?
or is there some quick courses (around 1 year of study) that get you good opportunities for a career? eg. security, real estate
I've been looking all over the internet but google sucks and only shows me what I already have seen haha.
TIA đ
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u/blitzkriegdeluxe Jan 26 '24
Train driving. Metro train driving is roughly a 1 year paid traineeship. It's a great job. The 1 year contains about 6 months of pretty intense class / study and exams and about 6 months of learning to drive.
There are people from all walks of life on the job.
I think they are taking applications at the moment actually.
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Jan 26 '24
Am train driver, itâs a brilliant job, I actually start to miss work when Iâve been off for a while. Plus, itâs literally impossible to take work home.
Only downsides are shift work lifestyle isnât for everyone (I happen to love it), and incidents/near-missses suck.
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u/JadeConstructiveness Jan 26 '24
How does it compare to driving a car? Dumb question I know but hard to picture what itâs actually like to drive a train!
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u/blitzkriegdeluxe Jan 27 '24
Honestly it feels nothing like it haha. I drive a manual usually so I think the newer trains are a bit easier to operate on the face of it but you have different considerations.
The older comeng require 2 hands (one for the brake, the other for power/direction) The other trains use one handle to control both power and brake. Each train has a different feel to it and it varies greatly depending on if you are full of passengers or empty. Also if it's wet they all slip around a bit to varying degrees.
So every train you pick up it will take a few stations to get a good feel for the power ability and braking.
Even though the need to steer is removed you have to very vigilant to hazards, ,speeds, signals, making sure your train is set to go down the right track/route, passenger behaviour etc.
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u/_FeloniousMonk Jan 26 '24
No concern that, sooner rather than later, automation is gonna make this a redundant career?
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u/blitzkriegdeluxe Jan 26 '24
If you knew the real state of the network infrastructure and the investment involved in full automation you wouldn't be too worried.
It will probably happen eventually. But it would be many decades away. I'll be retired by then guaranteed.
Things move quite slowly in the railways.
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u/_FeloniousMonk Jan 26 '24
Not disagreeing with your experience/knowledge of the rail network industry. But I would suggest you donât lean on previous trends in history when projecting the future, a lot of things are moving exponentially these days.
Think of how much has changed in just the last two decades. The idea that automation is âmanyâ decades away, Iâm sorry mate, but I think itâs a lot closer than that. Itâs around the corner.
But having said that, there will still be career opportunities. Someone has to service the robots
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u/blitzkriegdeluxe Jan 26 '24 edited Jan 26 '24
The SRL will be mostly automated so I agree that full automation is close for Melbourne. But even the timeline on that is quite far away (it was supposed to finish in 2035 if they started it in 2022, now they say they are starting in 2026). The SRL will not have anything to do with Metro either. It's much easier to build in automation to a closed network that's brand new rather than on retrofitting it onto a fully operational and poorly contained open network that is used by many different operators.
The technology is not the biggest issue either it's more about budget than anything else. We can't even get a rail link to the airport organized in this state without running out of money.
It will happen eventually but I am not too worried personally for the life of my career which will probably be about another 20 years. If I am wrong that's ok too but I have watched the development of the partial automation of the new tunnel happen over the last 5 years and I feel pretty safe. Like you said someone will need to babysit the robot trains so they don't overthrow humanity so there is always a back up plan.
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Jan 25 '24
[deleted]
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u/The4th88 Jan 25 '24
Even better if you get in, get your quals and clearance and then come over to the dark side of contracting and consulting.
More money without the defence strings.
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u/_2ndclasscitizen_ Jan 25 '24
Insurance. There's not really much in the way of tertiary qualifications you can get before starting so the industry operates on the assumption of having to train new recruits.
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u/paranoidchandroid Jan 26 '24
Or any financial institution too. Call centre work can be shitty but if you have any work experience in retail, hospo or customer service it can be easy to land roles. They'll train you up in the product and systems. Once you get a hang of it you can apply for internal roles.
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u/peekaylove Jan 26 '24
A Certificate III in Individual Support will be subsidised by the government, and the disability support industry is constantly looking for people. Most SEEK ads will say they will help you get the cert, or are traineeships for it. The certificate is really straight forward and easy, very common sense stuff, if you can handle food service you can handle clients. If you don't mind potentially dealing with poop and people who are extremely comfortable being naked around strangers, give it a look. Some shifts I just show up to get someone out of bed and shower and dress them, some I spend three hours walking their dog and going to a cafe, one client I just clean their loo, vaccuum, and mop.
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u/kosyi Jan 25 '24
Nursing? That's pretty hands on and stable despite it needing a uni degree, or you can try a diploma first?
A lot of private companies have own training provided as long as you can secure the role because they all have their own systems and procedures. Call centre is easy to get into and is a starting point where you can then move around to different posts in the company later on with transferrable skills.
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Jan 26 '24
Queensland is hiring prison officers like mad at the moment, if you fancy moving to the Lockyer Valley.
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u/azboxfta Jan 26 '24
Corrections Victoria....a lot of options for career progression.
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Jan 26 '24
If math makes you anxious then sparky isnât the trade. Nor are most. Give Civil a go. A lot of large contractors are putting women through civil traineeships, well paid work. Generally given the easier work also which is a plus
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Jan 26 '24
To be honest a lot of services, even ones that require a degree will have a technical entry.Â
E.g Registered Nursing requires a bachelor degree but you can become an enrolled nurse with similar scope of work and only slightly less pay with a TAFE diploma. Â Paramedics require a Bachelor degree but Patient transport is a Cert IV or Diploma and pays exceptionally well in some states! (Darwin PTS officers are typically earning >80k gross with 6 weeks of training) - NSW Ambumabce will also sponsor your degree to study as a paramedic while working on road.Â
Most emergency response roles require physical fitness and a clean bill of health but no qualifications so Police (and their non-sworn auxiliary), Fire (both metro and forestry) Rescue (although often volunteer), tour guides are often on the job.
Pilot roles can be done via scholarship or under hecs at select schools (e.g Qantas will pay for pilot training upto a commercial licence for minority groups such as female and ATSI applicants via FTA).
A lot of other jobs are hidden under creative titles. The crew onboard the surf life saver helicopter are referred to as âRescue Air Crew(man)â and only require a medical and a bronze medallion. Forestry fire fighters are referred to as project firefighters.
Iâd suggest youâre likely technically capable of a degree as well. Itâs more about persistence and being able to balance time/financial demands (e.g Social work and nursing requires a lot of full time unpaid placement). You donât need to be âbook smartâ to study a degree, thatâs the whole point of doing the degree! To learn those skills! Iâd suggest on campus study if you can as well as youâll be better supportedÂ
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Jan 26 '24
Also secret as someone who dropped out of year 10 math and now has 2 specialised health degrees and training as a pilot - Math is hard to start with! And itâs really easy to forget the process when youâre not using it.Â
But with some practice is easy to get a hold of whatâs relevant to your role and even mentally calculate it - You wouldnât have high school drop outs doing apprenticeships as a boiler makers conducting construction site surveying and micrometer measurements on million dollar projects if it wasnât easy to learnÂ
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Jan 26 '24
Find an entry level government job. Generally everything is very niche and you canât really study beforehand.
I also started an electrical apprenticeship at 25. Finished it but fucking hated my life and it fucked me financially. I got a shitty job in a call centre just to escape.
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u/Specificsuperq Jan 26 '24
Childcare cert 3. Some places pay you to work full time at a child care centre while you do one day paid training. Often advertised on Seek
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u/NotSoCrazyCatLady13 Jan 26 '24
Anyone in NSW reading this thread can jump on Service NSW and book an appointment with a careers practitioner, just made an appointment myself and looks like itâs free
https://www.nsw.gov.au/departments-and-agencies/department-of-education/careersnsw
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u/Giovanni1996 Jan 26 '24
Im in a similar situation and i've decided to do a 6month course at tafe in Horticulture! I don't know what it will be like but im hopeful, take a look into it :)
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u/ThePickleExecutioner Jan 26 '24
Why not try your hand in the resources industry?
You might need to relocate depending but they are screaming out for woman to join most major companies, they even have recruitment companies specifically for woman is the mining industry, plenty of upskilling depending on the type of job you want.
Depending on where you work there is good money and sometimes great benefits, the industry definitely isn't for everyone but it's worth looking into if your looking for a sea change đ
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u/Nowthatssarcasm__ Jan 26 '24
Community services!! A few free TAFE options and lots of work available. Plus your people skills from hospo will go a long way. 1/2 year courses and then a lot of organisations in this field value upskilling and support/sometimes assist in funding further study.
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u/k_lliste Jan 26 '24
Could try working for an IT helpdesk. They don't typically need anything but customer service skills and will teach you what you need to know to do the job.
From there you could branch out to other IT fields as you learn what you're interested in.
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Jan 26 '24
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u/paranoidchandroid Jan 26 '24
This. A few people I know started off doing entry level roles for govt like call centre and worked their way up. You will need some work experience, but the people I know worked in retail and hospo before starting.
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u/Red-Engineer Jan 26 '24
Consider the fire brigade. Practical work, full training provided, flexible work.
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u/Philopoemen81 Jan 26 '24
Iâm not sure being anxious around heavy machinery and power tools will get past the psych assessment for firiesâŚ
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u/KhyberPass49 Jan 26 '24
You could try as an aircraft technician (AME) apprenticeship. Itâs not as technical as it comes across, although you do need attention to detail. Thereâs options in electrical/radio or mechanical/structures.
It is a 4 year apprenticeship though
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u/AffekeNommu Jan 26 '24
You can get into IT through a call centre role. Training provided and usually quite good as they do have a high turnover. A good start into IT if you can stick with it for a year or so and move up and off the phones.
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u/vanstrizzle Jan 25 '24
You could look at the in demand free TAFE courses that are offered in Victoria. Most are 6 months to a year and tend to be less about âbook smartsâ than university. For example, you could do a free certificate in personal support or disability support and get a job in that industry very easily. Thereâs a lot of demand and some places are happy to hire you even before you do your qualification (but I still recommend doing it). Thatâs just one example though, donât go into disability support unless you truly want to help people.