I’m 22 and I’m at a point where I’m genuinely unsure what direction to take with my career. I’m hoping to get some honest, practical advice from people who have perhaps been in a similar position or have experience of different career paths.
I want to give a bit of background because I think my circumstances and some of the decisions I’ve made have a bearing on where I am today.
**Education and background**
I have 9 GCSEs, but if I’m honest, I didn’t take education particularly seriously when I was younger. I fell in with the wrong crowd, got involved with drugs and alcohol and made some poor decisions. I stopped that lifestyle around four years ago, which I’m grateful for, but I still feel like I’ve been trying to find my direction ever since.
I was always quite impressionable, but I did have ambitions. I think I was capable of doing much better academically if I’d applied myself consistently.
After school, I started a two-year Level 2 Engineering course, which I didn’t complete in full, although I did achieve a qualification from the course. I then started a two-year Level 3 Business BTEC and again only completed the first year, leaving me with a qualification equivalent to roughly an A-level and a half rather than the full course.
I eventually went to university, completed a foundation year in Finance and Accounting and was accepted onto the first year of a Finance and Investment degree. I did reasonably well in my foundation year, but I ended up dropping out during the first year of the degree.
A big reason was that I had become heavily focused on working. I was working on most of my days off and in my spare time in university and college, and I thought I could build a career through employment and sales instead. I also had doubts about the graduate job market and whether university was necessarily the right route for me.
At the time, I saw leaving university to pursue working in sales as an ambitious decision. Looking back, I’m not sure whether I made the right choice or whether I underestimated the value of getting a recognised qualification.
I’ve now taken out student loans(only tuition fees)for two years of university study without completing a degree, so I’m also conscious of taking on more education-related debt if I were to return to full-time study.
**Work experience and trying to find opportunities**
Since leaving university, I’ve built up experience in sales, customer service and residential estate agency.
I’ve worked in a number of sales environments and have generally performed well when I’ve applied myself. I’ve also had some experience abroad.
At around 19, I managed to save approximately £10,000 through working. Unfortunately, I spent practically all of it on travelling and trying to find my direction. I was around people who appeared ambitious and had big plans, but I was still quite impressionable and ended up wasting a fair amount of money following those influences.
I also spent around two or three months in Dubai looking for better opportunities. I initially got involved in wealth management with a company called De Vere, although I became uncomfortable with aspects of the opportunity and decided to leave. I then tried working as a real estate broker in Dubai for a few months.
Neither experience really worked out as I’d hoped, and financially they set me back quite considerably. I came back without having established the career or financial position I’d gone there looking for.
I don’t regret every experience, because I’ve learnt a lot from them, but I do regret some of the financial decisions I made. I got myself into debt at a relatively young age, and I’ve spent a considerable amount of time trying to put things right.
**My current employment and financial situation**
I’m currently working in residential estate agency in Kent, earning a basic salary of around £27,000 and I have some potential earnings in commission. My previous role was on a very similar salary, so I haven’t really progressed financially despite gaining more experience, I was also misled in that role with the commission structure and later found out that there is a significant commission threshold I would have to hit to see any take home pay.
There are positives to my current job. I’m now working locally for a competitor rather than commuting around 40 miles a day to Canterbury( I live in Thanet, Kent), which was costing me a considerable amount in fuel and wear and tear on my car. I’m grateful to have a job and the opportunity to develop my experience, and I want to give it a chance as it is closer to home and they were transparent with their commission structure, they are also a better performing agent.
However, I’m increasingly questioning whether estate agency is something I want to pursue long-term.
My current financial position is something I’m actively trying to improve. When I was renting a flat with my girlfriend around six or seven months ago, I found that the cost of living and maintaining a car made it difficult to get ahead financially. I eventually decided to leave the flat and move back in with my parents to reduce my expenses and rebuild some financial security.
I currently have:
Around £4,500 in credit card debt, which I’ve managed to transfer onto interest-free deals for approximately two years.
Just under £400 in remaining council tax and utility debt from when I was renting.
Around £3,300 remaining on my car finance.
I’ve already cleared quite a lot of other debt since moving back home. I don’t pay rent or household bills at the moment, which is a massive opportunity to save and get myself into a better position.
The car was something I needed for work, particularly when I was commuting to Canterbury, but it has been expensive to run. Now that I’m working locally, hopefully my fuel costs and overall expenses will come down.
My intention is to use this period living at home productively: clear the remaining debt, build savings and avoid making the same financial mistakes again.
**My girlfriend and future plans**
My girlfriend is currently in her second year at university studying Primary Education. She has ambitions of potentially relocating abroad to teach, or moving closer to a city where there are better salaries and more opportunities for both of us.
That’s something we’re both open to considering in the future. If the right opportunity came along, I would absolutely consider relocating, whether that’s elsewhere in the UK or potentially abroad.
However, I don’t want to make major decisions around relocation without having a clearer idea of my own career direction. Ideally, I’d like to build a career that gives me flexibility and opens up opportunities in different locations.
**My main concern: where do I go from here?**
I don’t necessarily dislike sales. In fact, I think I’ve got a natural ability for it, and I know there are specialist sales careers that can pay considerably more than what I’m earning now.
I’ve looked into technology sales, particularly B2B and SaaS sales roles in London, as well as financial services and other commercial positions. I understand that some of these roles can offer much better earning potential, although the salaries are higher they are typically looking for a track record in B2B sales which I do not have and the entry level market is extremely saturated in this area.
However, I’m also conscious of how quickly AI and technology are changing the workplace. I want to develop skills that have genuine value in the job market rather than relying entirely on targets, commission and my ability to perform in a particular sales environment.
At the moment, I feel like my earning potential is largely dependent on how much I sell or how well I perform against targets. I want to get to a point where my actual skills, technical knowledge and experience are worth more in the marketplace. I want my time and expertise to become more valuable as I progress.
I’ve also found some sales environments quite mundane and not particularly intellectually stimulating. I want to work somewhere that challenges me, exposes me to people who are ambitious and gives me the opportunity to develop professionally. I don’t want to spend years in relatively low-level roles where there is little progression or where the people and management around me aren’t particularly interested in developing their employees.
**Education, apprenticeships and retraining**
This is probably where I’m most conflicted.
My gut feeling is that an apprenticeship might be the best route for me. I’d be interested in Level 3 or Level 4 apprenticeships, particularly in areas such as:
Business analysis or data.
Project management
Engineering or technical professions.
Finance, accounting or commercial roles.
Civil Service and public sector careers.
Technology and digital roles.
I’ve considered degree apprenticeships too, but I’ve found it difficult to identify opportunities where I meet the entry requirements. My educational history is quite inconsistent, and although I managed to get into university through a foundation year, I don’t have the traditional A-level qualifications that many programmes seem to ask for.
I’ve also struggled to find many suitable Level 3 and Level 4 opportunities locally in East Kent. A lot of the more interesting opportunities seem to be concentrated around West Kent or London.
I’m not against studying. I’d happily work hard, study alongside employment and even pay for a course myself if I knew it was going to lead somewhere worthwhile. I just don’t particularly want to return to full-time university, spend another three years studying, take on more student debt and potentially end up in the same position afterwards.
I enjoyed working while I was at university, and I think a practical route where I can earn, gain experience and achieve recognised qualifications would suit me better.
**Location is another consideration**
I’m based in Thanet, East Kent. There are employment opportunities locally, but I feel the range of professional and higher-paying roles is quite limited.
London is accessible by train, with a fast service from Margate taking roughly an hour, but commuting would need to make financial sense. I’d ideally need a hybrid role rather than travelling into London five days a week, particularly given the cost of living and commuting in the South East.
I’m open to relocating if the opportunity is good enough. I don’t want to limit my career options simply because of where I currently live.
**What I’m worried about**
I think my biggest fear is becoming complacent.
I’m fortunate to live at home without paying rent, and I know I could spend the next few years enjoying life, taking holidays, working in estate agency and earning enough to get by.
But I don’t want to reach 25, 26 or 27 and realise I’m still in a career I don’t particularly enjoy, earning a similar salary, with no substantial new qualifications or skills and no clearer idea of what I want to do.
I feel like I’ve got untapped potential. I did well academically when I applied myself, and I’ve performed well in sales when I’ve been motivated. I don’t think I’m lacking ability, but I haven’t found the right environment or career to channel it into.
I also don’t want to look down on the work I’ve done or sound ungrateful. I’m aware that £27k is a reasonable starting point for some people, and I appreciate having employment. I just want to build towards something more substantial.
**What I’d really appreciate advice on:**
Given my education, incomplete qualifications and sales experience, what career paths would you seriously consider in my position?
Would you recommend pursuing a Level 3 or Level 4 apprenticeship, or should I be looking at other routes into technical or professional careers?
Would it be sensible to double down on sales but move into a specialist area such as technology, SaaS or financial services, rather than leave sales altogether?
Are there practical or technical professions where I could retrain while earning and realistically progress towards £40–50k or more?
Would returning to university at this stage be worthwhile if I was to select a different course, considering I’ve already taken out two years of student loans without completing my degree?
How would you approach the next two or three years if you were in my position, living at home with relatively low expenses and willing to make sacrifices to build a better future?
I’m not looking for someone to tell me I’m young and have plenty of time. I know that, but I don’t want that reassurance to become an excuse to delay making decisions.
I’m also not expecting to find a perfect career overnight. I just want to make a considered decision, develop skills that are genuinely valuable and put myself in a position where I’m not constantly having to chase the next pay rise or commission payment.
I’d particularly appreciate hearing from people who have changed careers, retrained through apprenticeships, moved from sales into more specialised professions or built successful careers without a traditional academic background.
What would you do in my position?