Is 35 too old to start a career as a tree surgeon?

[Khriss]

49 minutes ago, Pete Mctree said:

You really need to understand the industry a little more before taking the plunge at your age. It has very little resemblance to anything you will see or learn on any training course & the standard you will trained too is far short of what you need to achieve.

You will probably need to work a couple of years at or slightly above minimum wage and work hard to earn it. Try it for a good few months before investing serious capital in my opinion.

 

Like Matty, I have been in the industry many years and have seen many older trainees come and go, without a good word to say about the industry & a bag of regrets.

.... And thats the ones who didnt work for Glendales!   ? K

[Billhook]

One line in the Pink Floyd song haunts me   "And then one day you find ten years have got behind you"

Don't miss the starting gun!!

 

 

[Pathfinder]

3 hours ago, Pete Mctree said:

You really need to understand the industry a little more before taking the plunge at your age. It has very little resemblance to anything you will see or learn on any training course & the standard you will trained too is far short of what you need to achieve.

You will probably need to work a couple of years at or slightly above minimum wage and work hard to earn it. Try it for a good few months before investing serious capital in my opinion.

 

Like Matty, I have been in the industry many years and have seen many older trainees come and go, without a good word to say about the industry & a bag of regrets.

 

Would you suggest going straight for the degree after the Level 3 and then pushing into more of a management role and specialising in something other than the climbing and surgery aspect?  I'm not inflexible and while I do see myself pursuing something along those lines eventually, I was hoping to do a bit of the practical side for a few years prior to embarking down the degree route and into something more advanced within the industry.

 

In the next two years I have to undertake between 300 and 630 hours of work placement / professional development.  I was rather hoping by the end of that I would have some idea of whether pursuing the climber end of things would be for me.  Or maybe working towards a career as a ground worker could be a better choice.  Similarly would a career in Forestry be a better choice than pursuing Arb.  I'm open to all possibilities.  But until I have some experience I won't know what will work for me.

 

All being well my course ends in a couple of years and I will be doing something in the industry after that.  As long as what I do is challenging I will thrive.

Edited October 17, 2020 by Pathfinder

[John Shutler]

8 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

 

Would you suggest going straight for the degree after the Level 3 and then pushing into more of a management role and specialising in something other than the climbing and surgery aspect?  I'm not inflexible and while I do see myself pursuing something along those lines eventually, I was hoping to do a bit of the practical side for a few years prior to embarking down the degree route and into something more advanced within the industry.

 

In the next two years I have to undertake between 300 and 630 hours of work placement / professional development.  I was rather hoping by the end of that I would have some idea of whether pursuing the climber end of things would be for me.  Or maybe working towards a career as a ground worker could be a better choice.  Similarly would a career in Forestry be a better choice than pursuing Arb.  I'm open to all possibilities.  But until I have some experience I won't know what will work for me.

 

All being well my course ends in a couple of years and I will be doing something in the industry after that.  As long as what I do is challenging I will thrive.

why do you want to get into the tree industry?

[Khriss]

1 hour ago, John Shutler said:

why do you want to get into the tree industry?

For the romance, clean living and fat wage packet you fool. K

[Khriss]

9 hours ago, Pathfinder said:

 

Would you suggest going straight for the degree after the Level 3 and then pushing into more of a management role and specialising in something other than the climbing and surgery aspect?  I'm not inflexible and while I do see myself pursuing something along those lines eventually, I was hoping to do a bit of the practical side for a few years prior to embarking down the degree route and into something more advanced within the industry.

 

In the next two years I have to undertake between 300 and 630 hours of work placement / professional development.  I was rather hoping by the end of that I would have some idea of whether pursuing the climber end of things would be for me.  Or maybe working towards a career as a ground worker could be a better choice.  Similarly would a career in Forestry be a better choice than pursuing Arb.  I'm open to all possibilities.  But until I have some experience I won't know what will work for me.

 

All being well my course ends in a couple of years and I will be doing something in the industry after that.  As long as what I do is challenging I will thrive.

Absolutely go for it. There are many bitter and twisted remarks on this thread  ( some from me) however you will discover a world of nature or satisfaction you wont get from  any other profession. I can still smell the resin off my first Sitka fells in SW Scotland.  What ever you decide to do, make it yr own choice as there is a wide variety of skills in use in Arb n For.  K

[Steve Bullman]

On 16/10/2020 at 23:08, Pathfinder said:

 

 

I'm of the belief that you should push yourself until your body says no.  When you reach that point, find something else to do.

 

Yep that’s what I did! Gave up 3 years ago and still in constant pain every day throughout my whole body. Even my toes hurt. 
 

[John Shutler]

21 minutes ago, Khriss said:

For the romance, clean living and fat wage packet you fool. K

oh yeah, i forgot about all those perks ?

[lux]

 
Would you suggest going straight for the degree after the Level 3 and then pushing into more of a management role and specialising in something other than the climbing and surgery aspect?  I'm not inflexible and while I do see myself pursuing something along those lines eventually, I was hoping to do a bit of the practical side for a few years prior to embarking down the degree route and into something more advanced within the industry.
 
In the next two years I have to undertake between 300 and 630 hours of work placement / professional development.  I was rather hoping by the end of that I would have some idea of whether pursuing the climber end of things would be for me.  Or maybe working towards a career as a ground worker could be a better choice.  Similarly would a career in Forestry be a better choice than pursuing Arb.  I'm open to all possibilities.  But until I have some experience I won't know what will work for me.
 
All being well my course ends in a couple of years and I will be doing something in the industry after that.  As long as what I do is challenging I will thrive.

I did similar to you. I left my career 5 years ago to pursue arb full time. I used to work shifts and had blocks of days off so I worked a lot of those days for a good 10 years prior to that for a friends arb company and some private jobs. I was torn about what to do when I was younger so it was great to be able to do it part time at least. When I was your age I took a career break and never went back. Business is good and I love what I do now. I went back to college to get more tickets and worked for other companies for a while on crap money but getting experience before I ventured into my own company. I don’t regret it at all. Still love climbing etc.
It’s unlikely you will be climbing monster sized trees on a daily basis so don’t worry about being knackered all the time. Quite frankly trimming huge hedges 15 ft across off the top of stepladders with the telescopic hedge trimmer held horizontally all day is more knackering than most climbs.
A lot of climbs will be routine average sized stuff not 90+ft trees everyday. If you are in the south east you are welcome to come and have some experience with us to test the water and see someone who has done the same
Starting a business is hard graft for sure but if you are highly motivated and have some good common sense which it seems you do then you yourself are your only limitation. What you want to achieve is entirely possible , yes it will be hard hard work but nothing’s easy is it. I’m more than happy to pass on my experiences with it if it’s of any help. All the best.

[Khriss]

56 minutes ago, Steve Bullman said:

Yep that’s what I did! Gave up 3 years ago and still in constant pain every day throughout my whole body. Even my toes hurt. 
 

..... I found wearing boots helped a lot with the toez problem.  K