Laid-Off Media Professional Retrains As A Plumber And Much Prefers The Lifestyle
There's more than one path to finding success.
Monkey Business Images / Shutterstock There are unexpected moments in life that force us to change, whether we want to or not. Facing those sudden changes is undoubtedly challenging, but they can provide us with a new path to walk down that we never considered before.
That includes work.
R.J. Fenton told her story of professional and personal triumph to Business Insider, highlighting how changing careers and turning to blue-collar work gave her freedom, confidence, and financial stability.
A laid-off media professional who retrained as a plumber shared how much she prefers her new lifestyle.
In August 2020, Fenton was laid off from her job as the head of development at a TV production company, forcing her to rethink her 18-year career in media.
Two days after losing her job, Fenton’s husband left, but those weren’t the only major changes in store.
“To add to the shock, I found out weeks later that I was pregnant,” Fenton said. “We'd been trying for children for a few years and had unfortunately suffered two miscarriages in our fertility journey, so finding out I was pregnant was a piece of joy amid a very trying time.”
She approached her new position as a single parent with hope. She decided to live off savings and take statutory maternity pay over the course of her pregnancy and her baby’s first year of life.
Statutory maternity pay is provided to new parents by the English government for up to 39 weeks. For the first six weeks, parents collect 90% of their average weekly earnings. Afterward, they receive 90% of their weekly earnings or £184.03, (around $238), whichever amount is lower.
Fenton had access to a financial support network offered by the federal government, something Americans don’t have.
Still, she faced the challenges of being a single mom without a lot of family support. In 2022, when her daughter was 18 months old, she registered with a job center, a decision that would shift the direction of her life.
The former media professional started a training program where she was paid a stipend to learn a skilled trade.
Fenton was the only woman in the week-long plumbing accreditation course, but she didn’t let her lack of experience stop her from getting ahead.
“Learning a new practical skill allowed me to engage a new side of my brain, and I couldn't get enough,” she explained.
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She pursued her new trade even further, taking another course to get a Level 2 plumbing diploma.
The hands-on work challenged the sleep-deprived single mom yet let her walk through doors that wouldn’t have been open to her otherwise.
“I was getting three to five hours of broken sleep each night with my daughter, then having super intensive days where I'd be heavy lifting and using a threading machine on heavy-duty steel pipes,” Fenton said.
She acknowledged that being a new parent altered how she saw herself, saying, “I didn't have a partner or a full-time job to give myself a sense of continuity, so achieving something I'd never even imagined doing gave me a lot of pride.”
Fenton kicked off her plumbing career by doing jobs for people in her apartment building. She works one day a week doing plumbing, which supplements her main source of income, being a media consultant.
Not only does she get a sense of satisfaction from the work, but she also makes what she calls “a decent wage.”
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Fenton also views having a skilled trade as a way to 'futureproof' herself against AI, which could change the way the media industry operates, a mindset that many people share.
As college becomes more expensive, many parents in the U.S. are urging their kids to go to trade school instead.
Learning a skilled trade sets young adults up for a future where they can find consistent work and have little to no student debt.
Although adopting a trade has historically been a male-dominated decision, the times are changing almost as quickly as the economy. According to a 2023 article in the Wall Street Journal, there's been a 25% increase in women choosing blue-collar professions — and it's not just for the pay. Jobs like plumber, truck driver, and construction worker usually offer more flexible hours and better benefits than traditional office jobs, and for moms like Fenton, those are vital perks.
Young people are facing a far less stable economic future than past generations had. The paths forged by boomers don’t exist as they once did, forcing Gen Z to reimagine what their world might look like.
Going into debt for a college degree doesn't actually guarantee anyone a job while learning a high-demand skill can offer security and a solid paycheck.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.