Has anybody got a good idea?

[QBottin]

 I wonder if any one out there has an idea I haven't allready thought of and tried.

I am a 45 year old divorcee male with my 14 year old daughter living with me (this happened just recently after a lengthy court battle) my job as a Robotics engineer has taken me all around the world, which I enjoy greatly, but now I have my daughter with me (whom is much more important than my current job) I can't travel, my company has no vacancies within for any other position than my current one and has told me so. I therefore need to look for something else.

My problem is, what? I need to be able to take her to her special school which is 7 miles away and would like to be able to pick her up after school, and have some of the holidays off with her, as she needs a lot of support at the moment with all she has been through. I don't mind working from home, or leaving work to pick her up and then continuing work at home, I have racked my brains to think of something but can't come up with any feasible ideas, can any one help? 

[Clanad]

Most people in your position, at least in my experience, tend to look for jobs in fields with which they are not familiar, simply because you view your background as so specialized.  This, in my opinion, is a mistake.  I've been an airline pilot most of my adult life, but I find that, although very specialized, there are aspects of that experience that are very adaptable to other fields.  As an example, your background as an engineer has obviously brought you into contact with companies needing advice... consulting, if you will.  You may have a non-compete clause with your present company, but you may well be in an excellent position to start your own consulting company.  I find that consulting can be done, in large part, without the neccesity of travelling to that client.  If travel is required, you have much more control over when and where... just a thought.  At the very least, I find it helpful to inventory your skills and what makes you marketable... set it to paper (engineers are great at that) and I think you may be pleasantly surprised at all the things you know that people are willing to pay good money for... Best of Luck!

[QBottin]

Thanks for your idea, but there already rather a lot of people out there that do this and its a very small industry. I am a fully qualified aircraft engine engineer (ex RAF time served)  but nobody wants you when you have a daughter to look after.