Hefferzzzz Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Ok, a bit ranty and confused but just writing it as it runs through my head. So, now that Teresa May has decided that police officer will start on £19k (from £23k) it makes the decision even harder. Currently you have a relatively easy and well paid, quite unchallenging 9-5 mon-fri job but you have wanted to join the police for 10 years or so and after a couple of setbacks the opportunity has arisen. Trouble is, you now earn twice what you will if you decide to join the police and will take you 5 years to get to a point where you are earning enough to comfortable again. Your wife is also concerned about before school childcare and the increase in costs if this needs to be changed. You wont be able to take your son to football every Sunday or training every Wednesday and the wife has made it clear she has no interest in doing this at all. Would you make yourself considerably poorer and cause huge upheaval to your home life just to do the job that YOU want to do OR do you stay in your current job, make more money and buy yourself things to try and compensate for makeing the conscious decision to ignore the top step of Maslows Hierachy?
aerospacemango Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Hmmmm....Interesting problem. I believe that tax credits are there for this type of problem. Could you claim this? That could be one way to go after your dream. Worth looking into further?????
Hefferzzzz Posted May 17, 2013 Author Posted May 17, 2013 (edited) TBH, I hadnt looked into the tax credits side of it. Thanks for the reminder! Just ran through the tax credit calculator and its come out with a big fat zero. Edited May 17, 2013 by Hefferzzzz tried the tax credti calc
aerospacemango Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 TBH, I hadnt looked into the tax credits side of it. Thanks for the reminder! Just ran through the tax credit calculator and its come out with a big fat zero. Oh bu**er... Sorry about that....but it is worth investigating ALL avenues, if you really feel that you might miss your life's ambition. Good luck
witch Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Could you become a "special" to get some idea of what modern policing is really all about? Just to make sure it really is what you want?
bossman Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 @Hefferzzzz: I have a friend who joined the police force when he came out of the RAF and if you were to ask him today if he thinks he made the right choice he would probably say no, reason why is that the police force has changed so dramatically in the last 10 years. He cannot plan anything as his shifts are so all over the place, going away with us on a weekend is such a bind as we have to work around him and his shift pattern. He really doesn't like the way it is heading (Privatisation) which is already performance related and the paperwork is more than ever before. The decision I would say is yours and your OH will also have a say I would think as it will impact on her, Good Luck in your decision
FN-GM Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 To be honest they can't pay me enough to join the police...
Netwacky87 Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Easy decision, yes 100% I would, im in the last stages to become a special and I cannot wait to start!
dany2010 Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Would feel forced to stay in the current job but for me if a Traffic Police (don't boo) or a police dog handler (only gets offered to existing police from what ive read) job then I would say I'm going. Depends on how bad your current job really is.
3s-gtech Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 I went the other way, coming from the police to IT. I wouldn't go back for double what I'm on, it was so stressful it mentally broke me. I'm not a good fit for the job though, and I know it fits many people like a glove.
edutech4schools Posted May 17, 2013 Posted May 17, 2013 Money is not everything. I quit a very well paid job in London and sold my house to go traveling knowing I probably would not get a job like that again or have as much money but everything has worked out for the best and I will always have those memories. You only live once.
truebluesteve Posted May 18, 2013 Posted May 18, 2013 Well I have the best of both worlds. I love my job in IT but I have been a Special for the last 3.5 years and I love that too. However I wouldn't want to be a full time Police officer - the pay, shifts and paperwork just aren't worth it!
featured_spectre Posted May 18, 2013 Posted May 18, 2013 Whilst not police, I am former military, and I was on a decent wage within the military for my rank and specialism. I came out with a medical injury, tried to join the police but a few weeks into the training I realised it wasnt for me. Not everyone fits the police (or military) and it is a huge step. I know several officers (my neighbour a few doors down is one) and her shift pattern is so erratic it is quite literally insane. She will work several different times in a month (earlies (4am-12pm), daytime (12pm-8pm) and nights (8pm-4am)) and she will work them in varying patterns, one week it could be 3 nights, 2 earlies, week after it could be 3 earlies, 2 days etc, she only finds out the month before. Also the days off are never the same each week in order to give everyone a fair share of days off. Things to consider.
superatticman Posted May 18, 2013 Posted May 18, 2013 I'd always had the Police as a possible option as a career. However, I don't think I'd ever consider it nowadays. Not in this country anyway.
dhicks Posted May 19, 2013 Posted May 19, 2013 Currently you have a relatively easy and well paid, quite unchallenging 9-5 mon-fri job but you have wanted to join the police for 10 years or so and after a couple of setbacks the opportunity has arisen. As this is a forum for IT support people, we can assume you have reasonable skills / qualifications in various IT-related fields - if you're considering joining the police because you want to catch bad people, would working for a company that makes forensics software or similar be a good option?
Hefferzzzz Posted May 20, 2013 Author Posted May 20, 2013 Ok a bit more info. I am already a special and I do enjoy it, my concern is that the shifts, leave getting cancelled, impact on OH and children would make me resent the job. I know that I will look back if I dont do it and think 'what if' I also think that it would probably take 3- 4 years to get back to where I am now if the police didnt work out. The continued removal of areas that I had dreamed of joining are all being cut - horses, motorcycle, traffic. On the other hand, in 3 years time it would open up the possibility to emmigrate to Canada and work as a police officer over there which would be amazing.
happymeal Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 If your looking at doing something else life-changing, what about joining the TA (Or Army Reserve as it'll be called soon)? I signed up in 2006 after hitting a bit of a funk and wanted to do something more challenging and to change up my life a bit, and to be honest I haven't looked back. I need to parade once a week, spend a weekend away per month on exercise, get to do a 2 week annual camp, as well as learn new skill sets in IT, telecommunications, electrician work, whatever you choose to do. Plus at the end of the tax year (providing you pass your "tests" for that year) you get a tax free bonus. Plus, you get to shoot stuff For yourself, you might want to join the TA RMP (Royal Military Police). For example, I signed up to the TA Royal Signals and lost a lot of weight training for it. Once I passed, I then did my Trade Training (I opted to work for the Royal Signals which is the IT/Telecommunications branch) where I was taught a bit more about IT but also about telecommunications (ie radio and antenna propagation, satellite comms, etc). After that I did my DITS which shows you how to teach so that you can then build up your knowledge and deliver training to junior soldiers. Shortly after that in 2009 I went away to Cyprus for a 6 week exercise with the Regulars (Which was a nice break from the office), and returned back to work a little bit more. I'm now working towards my advancement and currently training for another exercise back out in Cyprus for 2 weeks. It gives you a nice balance between work and doing something you might enjoy - deployments pay quite well too, and come around every 6 months so if you fancy going to the Falkland on Penguin Watch... I've managed to change my life from being bored to being paid to be fit, learn, wear the uniform and serve, and made some excellent friends and I'm at a point where I can't imagine life without the TA. 2
Hefferzzzz Posted May 20, 2013 Author Posted May 20, 2013 I was in the TA at Uni - Royal Electrical Mechanical Engineers. Absolutely fantastic time and would have loved to go to stay or even go to Sandhurst after Uni. However, kids & wife change how you view things and with what was kicking off at that time -Iraq, Afghanistan - I had to leave. I guess that I just want/need something that means I am doing something useful, purposeful with my life. The song 'Little Boxes' drives me mad at the moment becuase I am terrified of being one of those sorts of people. There must be more to life!?
happymeal Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 What do you do outside of work as a hobby? I currently work with a youth group (Blackburn Sea Cadets) teaching them watersports, the Royal Navy and the work they do, and developing them from being brand new to being able to confidently teach new cadets, take charge of them, etc. It's pretty rewarding and if you're after doing something "useful" (depends how you look at it), developing young people and giving them the skills, knowledge and confidence to make their own mark is worthwhile.
Hefferzzzz Posted May 20, 2013 Author Posted May 20, 2013 What do you do outside of work as a hobby? I currently work with a youth group (Blackburn Sea Cadets) teaching them watersports, the Royal Navy and the work they do, and developing them from being brand new to being able to confidently teach new cadets, take charge of them, etc. It's pretty rewarding and if you're after doing something "useful" (depends how you look at it), developing young people and giving them the skills, knowledge and confidence to make their own mark is worthwhile. Other than specials, I have nothing outside of work..I always feel guilty for going off and doing things, leaving the wife with the kids as her job means she is stupid busy every evening and most weekends too.
happymeal Posted May 20, 2013 Posted May 20, 2013 What about you and your eldest join somewhere - that way they get to try something new, you get to see if it's what your after? It'll give your OH a bit of a break with only one at home, and then overtime sign your youngest up to complete the set 1
Hefferzzzz Posted May 20, 2013 Author Posted May 20, 2013 What about you and your eldest join somewhere - that way they get to try something new, you get to see if it's what your after? It'll give your OH a bit of a break with only one at home, and then overtime sign your youngest up to complete the set That does sound like a decent plan. You are indeed very wise.
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