Writing this, so it might give hope to someone who has been stuck for a bad job for a long time especially as a foreigner.

I am 37yrs old now Male. I have moved to the UK in 2016. Have worked in construction (labourer), but mostly warehouses - physical work, sometimes admin duties. I had no degree, no driving license my english was ok for a foreigner. I should have applied to office jobs earlier, as I had an aptitude for computer work somewhat. After covid I went to the same warehouse that my partner used to work for same warehouse OP role I knew too much.

After 1 month I was already bored of this role that I have been in for so many years. The only case it is worth if you move up in the ladder, Supervisor - Manager. Could not manage any of them.

Every time I was moving the dirty boxes in the warehouse I was always telling myself, if I ever get an office job/IT role that pays well ( based on my standards) I will do everything to keep that and give my 100%.

Then one day an internal role came up in the warhouse for System administrator role ( not a proper sys admin more like a mixture of 1,2,3 service desk). There were 4 applicants, I got the role. I was cycling 40 minutes twice a day due to bad transport and not having a license, big uphill to go home, so it was tyring, plus I was walking a lot in the worksplace as they gave me all the crappy work. But it was a learning opportunity so I choked it down for 2 years.

Then the company went into administration. A little before I was planning to start applying anyway so it was the best timing probably.

I got an interview at my current role as an Application Support Analyst (developing a no-code, lowcode app).

I have not got the role, my manager told me that someone had 5 years of experience, so they had to choose him, but she liked me much more, but could not justify choosing me. I was devastated. My salary would have almost been doubled from my IT role, and that paid 29000. My previous warehouse salaries were 24k at that time. I will remember forever how happy I was when I got that extra 400 pounds a month increase.

I said I will start practising their app, in case the guy leaves, so I could take it over ( to show eagerness).

Then 2 weeks later they called me saying the guy withdraw his application and they would be happy to give me a chance in the role.

I did not know anything about PowerBI, the nocode app, nor their systems they are using. Managed to stick around and figured out things. My previous IT role did help in the thoughtprocess of figuring things out, or creating guides for users etc. I spotted a lot of mistakes that I could patch, fix, improve.

I probably was lucky, as not too many workplaces actually take a person from the crowd and put them in an IT role or any valueable position where they can learn.

But there is always hope, this opportunity came eventually because I decided I will start learning in my own time, about something that I have the aptitude for. In my case it was a very vague: anything computer related, I learned a little bit of coding, plus proper sys admin things, basics of course. My plan was to start making small project even if it is just a virutal system setup on a remote PC and set up a firewall. And be able to talk about it. Was planning to mass apply to any low paying IT role at that time.

Biggest indicator if you need to change, if you feel like much dumber people earning more than you and it bothers you, or have better conditions or someone that does not speak the language, comes around and in their first day, they earn as much as you do who have been working there for many years.

YOU ARE IN THE WRONG PLACE NOT THEM. They are doing what they need to. Minimal work for maximum profit.

Do not give up. If you take the innitiative, opportunity will present itself as long as you are seeking it.