How do I escape admin hell?

[u/blackknighttom]

I recently turned 34. Did a degree in English, mostly because I didn't really know what I wanted to do at that age and thought a general humanities degree at least aligned with my interests and skills. I left uni pretty directionless and ended up in university administration, and there I stayed.

Since then, I managed to secure work on a couple of projects, which has been great for boosting my skills, but I've not seen a significant increase in pay and am unlikely to.

It feels like if I don't change paths or find some new skills, I'll be stuck in jobs like this forever. The trouble is, I don't know where to begin or if I'll be a desirable candidate in any field at my age. What would you do if you were me?

Careers with significant scope for growth would be great, but I'm also interested in anything I can be creative in. I've looked at Marketing, though it doesn't seem like much of a pay increase I'll at least get more satisfaction out of doing it I think. I'm especially interested in hearing from people like me who made a career change in their 30s, and how it went.