Stay in dead-end job or emigrate?

galwayguy85

Hi Guys

In a dilemma here…

Am currently in full time employment that pays a relatively respectable wage, despite this, feel like I'm in total dead-end there. I am currently on disciplinary looking at my second written warning coming up.

I also have a girlfriend who lives overseas whom I met after completing the Mizen to Malin head cycle during the summer. We met in the North. The relationship has been long distance since August, with us meeting for a few days every month.

Since meeting her, I've definitely become restless at my work - as though I've completed (in my mind) something pretty signifigant and was rewarded rightly so for it… then for it be kinda taken away again.

I can also speak some German (to about Junior Cert Hounors level) despite not studying it in school/college. I also have a Masters degree in a technical field which gets little or no acknowledgement despite my job being pretty technical to start with.

Should I pack in my job and move over to Germany to be with her? I have about 3 years of savings from work behind me. It's something we've discussed a bit and she said she would be delighted for me to move in while I study/find work etc.

Or could I be taking a massive risk with possibly having to come back home with my tail between my legs?

fillefatale

Honestly, it seems like the pros outweigh the cons, it'll be an adventure at the very least, in your shoes I'd say go for it.

Emme

Emigrate. Check out your options in Germany first and be prepared to take a job that isn't as well paid as the one you have here. Even if you have to struggle for a bit I think the move would be worth it. There is no point in staying in a dead-end job, particularly if you have options elsewhere.

Technical qualifications are well regarded in Germany but they like you to be able to speak the language. Could you do a language course in the Goethe Institut here before you go to improve on the German you have?

galwayguy85

Hi Emme

I have the A2 cert already and took on the B1 cert last June as an external candidate at the Goethe Inst. Passed everything bar the written section.

Would likely study there on full/part time course, but not easy as I live down the south of the country.

Tokyo

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Should I pack in my job and move over to Germany to be with her?

No.

Go to Germany if you want a change from your current job, and if you are genuinely interested in living in another country. Seeing as you guys only met during the summer, it's not an overly long time to be with someone, and I can assume that you haven't lived together yet. And living under her roof, in a country where you don't speak the language well, and unemployed until you find something, will be a strain. I hope it all goes well for you both, but there's a chance that it may not, and you could find yourself on your own there.

By all means go if it's what you want, but don't go *just* for somebody else.

Emme

mike_ie wrote: »

No.
By all means go if it's what you want, but don't go *just* for somebody else.

I agree with this and forgot to say that earlier. However I think the OP genuinely wants a change and that whatever the outcome with the girl he met, the move will do him good. He says he isn't using his degree and he has some language skills. In Germany he can build on his language skills and eventually he may get a chance to use his degree.

Emme

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Hi Emme

I have the A2 cert already and took on the B1 cert last June as an external candidate at the Goethe Inst. Passed everything bar the written section.

Would likely study there on full/part time course, but not easy as I live down the south of the country.

Is it possible to study online? There's an app called busuu.com which is a good way of learning languages and it isn't that expensive.

galwayguy85

Thanks for the feedback Guys. I decided to do the whole foreign language thing to try and broaden my horizons when I started back work at my current place of employment about 3 years ago... long story short is that I graduated from the MSc and spent a while on the dole.. eventually got back my job at the place I quit to do the MSc in the first place... yes, things are a bit stale!

No plans to leave my homeland purely to please somebody else, but rather try to get ahead.

Tokyo

galwayguy85 wrote: »

No plans to leave my homeland purely to please somebody else, but rather try to get ahead.

Then go for it! I was in the same position seven years ago - hardest part was hitting "send" on my letter of resignation. Haven't looked back since.

Spunge

I think you answered your own question in the title

Emme

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback Guys. I decided to do the whole foreign language thing to try and broaden my horizons when I started back work at my current place of employment about 3 years ago... long story short is that I graduated from the MSc and spent a while on the dole.. eventually got back my job at the place I quit to do the MSc in the first place... yes, things are a bit stale!

No plans to leave my homeland purely to please somebody else, but rather try to get ahead.

You've put in the effort with your studies but it hasn't borne fruit here. That wouldn't be an unusual story.

Emigrate.

fillefatale

galwayguy85 wrote: »

Thanks for the feedback Guys. I decided to do the whole foreign language thing to try and broaden my horizons when I started back work at my current place of employment about 3 years ago... long story short is that I graduated from the MSc and spent a while on the dole.. eventually got back my job at the place I quit to do the MSc in the first place... yes, things are a bit stale!

No plans to leave my homeland purely to please somebody else, but rather try to get ahead.

I should have been more clear in my original post, yes I think it'd be really good for you to move but be prepared that your current relationship might not last, so be prepared for that and set yourself in good stead once there so you can settle in independently lest your relationship unexpectedly end once you've moved. Again, if I was in your shoes I'd go.

Emme

Maybe the potential relationship is the "push" the OP needs but I think he should emigrate for his career first and foremost. He can improve his language skills abroad and hopefully put his qualifications to better use than here. Anything else, including a relationship, is a bonus.

The Corinthian

A few things...

Moving in, romantically, with someone already 'on the ground' is a double-edged sword. On one side you have immediate support and someone with an inside track on how everything works, and if your girlfriend's German, also access to her network of contacts, friends and family. On the other side this can trap you in a relationship that you may not want, in the longer term; even once you become economically independent over there, once you move in with someone, it becomes a complicated affair to extricate yourself again, because people avoid the hassle, cost and the drama of breaking up with someone they're living with.

Secondly, an A2 level in German isn't going to get you anywhere, unless the business language of the company you apply to is English. Bare minimum, to realistically be seen as functional in a German-speaking work environment, is B2. As such, get your B1 before you leave, then go on an intensive German course and get the B2 certificate there.

Speaking of certificates; collect and scan them. And your degrees. And go back to your past employers and ask for written references. If you can, ask them to write them a certain way (the Germans write their references in 'code' - your girlfriend will know what I mean). And get a professional photo done you can put on your CV.

Thirdly, you're going to have to prepare for a culture shock, and not everyone can hack that. On the plus side you'll find that things work; at least much better than Ireland, but that the Germans are hyper efficient, is a bit of a myth.

At the same time, they're not great at thinking out of the box, and they'll have expect people to behave in a way that sometimes makes no sense at all (such as when you first apply for a job, even before a phone interview, you send not only your CV, but copies of all your aforementioned degrees and diplomas and written references).

Attitudes vary hugely from region to region though, as well as from individual to individual. Where would you be moving to there? What area do you work in?

The key to being happy in the long run, is how adaptable you are to another way of life. If you feel you are, then I'd recommend it - in fact, I'm not sure why anyone still lives in Ireland given the taxation (in return for which you get Third World level services), poor salaries, Mickey Mouse quality of housing and an increasingly Anglo-Saxon nanny state, telling you how to live your life - so be sure to switch off the lights on your way out.