Upgrade - you need $$$$$. She wanted to change lines and was keen on taking a course but 99.99% of the job ads say - At least 2 years working experience required. So she gave up.
Upgrade in a sense she don't have to leave her job, but learn more things out of her scope which may or may not be useful for her job development.
Main thing is does she like her job? If she want to change line, is she ready for the pay cut?
To me, everywhere we go, we will meet people who hold different views from us, or in a crude way, people we don't like (based on personal view or judgement).
So if she like the job and salary, she may just have to take up the new project to prove her worth.
If not, frankly, a bit tough if she has a lot of commitments like family, cars and condo etc.
But can keep trying man.
Nowadays, things pretty much work differently.
If you don't mind, i share my story with you.
I was working with my senior engineer in a project which no one dare to take up and even management has no confidence about it.
Oh, we are mechanical engineers who make equipment for production.
But in order to get business, we have to bang the wall and try (sorry, management not involved)
So basically, we have to do more things out of our scope like doing SALES presentation on top of the design, purchase, analysis, assembly, debug, shipment and installation.
Ya, during the 6 months, we were really squeeze dry dry till our morale were damn low.
Then during installation, more things happen and no one can help us.
During the intense period, my senior engineer told me, "Just do what the managment and me tell you."
My reply was, "Show me if you so call senior and experience guys can do it or not first. If not, don't tell me what to do."
So he took over full responsibility.
And up till now, the machines were never accepted.
But then, the senior engineer did prove his worth by improving on the request, though the targets were not met.
I apologize to him and he did so too.
So moral of the story is, when you are senior, you need to prove your worth by your experience and values for the young ones to respect you. Especially when it is a new project that no one has done.
However, the younger ones, like me, should also not overlook the ability of the older ones. They do have priceless values no matter how fast the world change.