What do you do for a job?

Nick Comstock said:

I'll echo what I wrote in the old what do you do for a living thread that would pop up occasionally every couple years with,  "non of your damned business" but I'll follow that up with maintenance technician at a poly-iso foam board manufacturing facility. 

Given that polyiso currently has anywhere from 6 to 18 months back order, I'd say your job security is probably solid for the foreseeable future.

In reply to Duke :

Yeah,  they've been running wide open for the past year and a half.  Unfortunately for me that means they've been kicking the proverbial can down the road on a lot of maintenence since then as well.  We can't get techs and a lot of manager turnover means it's still a stressful situation.  I've been out recovering from shoulder surgery since August and I'm not looking forward to going back.  My plan of hitting the lottery has thus far failed to bear fruit. 

I am a political philosopher. I teach in small social science department, theory stuff in sociology, political theory, I do a lot environmental and economic theory across academic disciplines. My workdays involve talking with young people about political, social, economic, environmental issues. I am not nearly as cynical about the future as one gets looking at the news. It seems like I might be a bit of an outlier here as far as my job goes.

My new "gig-setup" is pretty sweet. 

So, I'm a mid-level manager in charge of a team of 4 project managers. I'm "the conductor of product development", making sure projects stay on pace and that everyone knows what to do and when to do it. Some days it's fantastic and other days, I'm a well paid kindergarden teacher. 

What makes it so sweet (except for my team being great and I like my colleagues) is that my team is spread out across northern Europe. So it doesn't matter where I am placed, since my interaction with them in 99% thru web-meetings. So, I sit at home, essentially living on the Swedish countryside without a commute. My office is on the top floor of my house, my dogs spend the days sleeping under my desk and my lunch restaurant is my kitchen. I take a 2-3 days trip once per month but apart from that, I work from home. My sons daycare is a 10min walk down the street. I sometimes wrench on my lunch-break. 

Financially, this also makes a difference, since my car pretty much doesn't move during normal weeks. Diesel just hit 19.4sek/liter here - that is $9.8/gallon - so... yup.

Skilled trades, machine repairer. My company builds shelving and tool boxes. For those that like to grind themselves into dirt daily I highly recommend this career path.

In 1969 I was working part time installing exhaust systems for an EMPI dealer (yes Virginia in 1969 there were actually EMPI dealers with storefronts).

In 1970 I took a job while in college working Midnight to 8am as a computer operator.  The machine had a wooping 64K of memory and took up 3000 square feet of space.   That started a career in what was then 'data processing' and morphed into IT.   COBOL programmer, systems analyst, etc etc.  Moved into a new field of data communications in 1976.  Started installing networks about 1989.    Then large Oracle data bases.   Ended a 35 year career in '05 as a guy  wise enough to hire kids smarter than I and get out of their way while giving them all the tools they needed.

All along I was working on cars and building houses.  In '05 retired with a plan to build 2 homes per year.  Had a fairly good old fashioned retirement, and had invested 10% my whole adult life.  Building spec homes became hard to get loans during the recession.   Didn't care to play golf 5 days a week, and had a expensive hobby racing formula cars to support.   Sort of fell into home remodels and building for others.  It supported the racing addiction.

At 72, still working more than full time.  Have been slammed all through the pandemic.  Mostly fun 60 hour weeks.  Phone constantly ringing as folks search for skilled craftsmen that do everything from tile, plumbing, electric, framing, custom woodwork etc.   Love the work.   Easy to get up and get going every morning.  Get to be very creative, stay busy, make folks happy, and earn enough to play and vacation well.  For example, today built a elevated hunting blind for a 89 year old out in the woods of Southwest Georgia.  Yesterday wiring a two post lift and welder for a guy in his new shop in coastal Florida.  Last week building an elevator shaft in an existing home for a couple...   Life is good.

I’m a nurse on a busy cardiac surgery icu. I also teach chemistry to pre-health professionals (think prenursing, premed, pre pharmacy, etc.) at community college. I’m finishing my masters at the end of the year and, if all goes according to plan, will be applying to neuroscience PhD programs next year. My career is ever evolving, but I love having one foot in the classroom and one foot in the clinic.

Side note: folks, if you haven’t gotten vaccinated, please do so. I’ve  had too many patients die because they didn’t  follow CDC guidelines (end psa).  

RaabTheSaab said:

Side note: folks, if you haven’t gotten vaccinated, please do so. I’ve  had too many patients die because they didn’t  follow CDC guidelines (end psa).  

I'm just going to piggyback on that and say our hospital is at absolute capacity, about a quarter of them admitted for covid, and about 75-80% of those are unvaccinated. The nurses and docs are dropping like flies, we can't do this forever. Please please please get vaccinated if you have not. 

At 72, still working more than full time.  Have been slammed all through the pandemic.  Mostly fun 60 hour weeks.  Phone constantly ringing as folks search for skilled craftsmen that do everything from tile, plumbing, electric, framing, custom woodwork etc.   Love the work.   Easy to get up and get going every morning.  Get to be very creative, stay busy, make folks happy, and earn enough to play and vacation well.  For example, today built a elevated hunting blind for a 89 year old out in the woods of Southwest Georgia.  Yesterday wiring a two post lift and welder for a guy in his new shop in coastal Florida.  Last week building an elevator shaft in an existing home for a couple...   Life is good.

Good on you....I wanna grow up to be just like you....wink

I retired in 2014, but here’s what I did as a working stiff:

Machinist/toolmaker/fabricator

Manufacturing Engineer/Manager

Product Manager

Marketing Manager

Technical Sales Project Manager

That spanned 45 years in machining/fabricating as well as with machine tool and Coordinate Measuring Machine builders. From a personal satisfaction and creativity point of view, my job as a machinist/toolmaker/fabricator in a machine shop in the early seventies was really enjoyable. It required a lot of skill, and gave me a good foundation for the work I did after I got an Engineering degree in ‘74. It just didn’t pay as much as the other stuff, especially working on the commercial side of the business. I did travel a lot, domestic and international, and worked on projects with car and aerospace manufacturers, and other industries.

I am a Detective with the local Sheriff's Office.  I work in our homeland security division doing forfeitures for our narcotics unit.  I am also a hostage negotiator as a secondary role.

In reply to pimpm3 (Forum Supporter) :

stop being cooler than we are 

But seriously, much respect for what you do.

In reply to Curtis73 (Forum Supporter) :

I second that. You should have gone first. 

I design infrared and visible lasers for use on Special Operations and infantry weapons, and for installation in targeting pods on fixed wing and rotary aircraft. "Helping good guys shoot bad guys in the face in the dead of night". 

My "official" job title is, Platinum Elite Certified Technician, but I'm a mechanic. I blame it on my Grandfather who lived with us when I was growing up. When I was 4 or 5, he had a 1950 Buick that he like to work on. Maybe he didn't like it but he did a lot. Anyway he was working on it one time and I was trying to help. I'm sure I was a lot of help, so he clamped a pair of vise grips to the front bumper and told me to hold them real tight until he was finished. Not sure how long I did, but I have been messing with cars ever since.  Was an automotive mechanic from 1980 until 2007 when a guy talked me into working on fork lifts. He said it was easier. He lied. But the money is good and I don't have to work weekends. 

Many of you know what I do.  If I repeat it, I may get thrown out of here.

ShawnG said:

Wealth redistribution engineer: https://www.vintagerodshop.com/

 

I suppose I should up date this.

I'm a farmer now:

https://www.instagram.com/happyherdacres/

https://www.facebook.com/happyherdacres

I'm a stay at home dad and inventor.

I had two jobs in 34 years, and now I'm on my third in the last three. And if I didn't have an apprentice I really like, it would be four in the last three.

Not that I don't like this job, but at this point I don't really like any job. And I figured something out. As long as you're not completely useless, you have at least six months to a year where very little is really expected of you.

And that seems to fit my program about now.

I'm a licensed Millwright and Machinist.

In reply to ShawnG :

How's that going? There's a pecan farm for sale in North Texas. I am tempted to give it a try once I retire in 2027.

yupididit said:

I do Talent Management Innovation for the Air Force in a giant 5 sided office building, basically a consultant that is underpaid by at least 3x.

Before this I did automation bots and stuff using Robotic process automation and machine learning. I mostly told people what could be automated and how, sometimes I did development. 

Update:

I'm back in S.O. doing innovation work at the tip of the spear. Super busy but rewarding. 

Dusterbd13-michael said:

I do mental health housing subsidies and case management as well as crisis intervention. 

Its pretty wild sometimes. 

As of three weeks ago, i switched to selling electric motors, electric motor repair,and related services and parts for industrial applications. I see some really neat plants, and meet interesting maintenance guys. Was in a plant today, head of maintenance used to race dirt cars against my "cousin " ollie in Pennsylvania in the late 80s....

But then theres the chicken plants. 

I'm still doing the same thing, just more so. 

My business partner retired the first of the year and I bought him out. As the sole proprietor, I'm doing his job as well as my job and I'm doing his job better than he did. I'm no longer in the field every day, instead, I'm glued to a desk. It's not my favorite place to be. 

The good and bad news is we are insanely busy. Another local hospital called a week ago and asked if we would take over as their preferred vendor for door repairs. That's another 657-bed hospital system full of doors to take care of. I'm still unsure how I feel about that. While the business is nice, there just aren't enough hours in the day to get everything done. 

Much like the Fed, I keep easing up on the prices to try and regulate things but people are so excited to have someone actually answer a phone and provide pricing I'm landing just about everything I quote. We are 3-4 days behind on service work and 2 weeks behind on installs. I need to add another tech or two but there aren't any to hire and a warm body that doesn't know the work won't help. I also have an uneasy feeling that things are going to come to a screeching halt in the not-to-distant future. I would hate to lay off someone right after I hired them.

The icing on the cake? My admin is in Iceland for vacation. That leaves me 3 hats to wear this week. You always wonder what your admin does all day until she goes on vacation and it all lands on your desk. She might need a raise before long. 

Some days I feel like this:

It's certainly better than the alternative but I'm starting to miss my 30-hour weeks. 

Went to school for marine bio, but didn't have the funds to move out of the area to actually get a job in the field that paid well.  Went to work for the casinos here in AC where I am currently a Lighting Tech in one of the bigger and more profitable casinos in NJ.  The good thing about working in the Entertainment field of a big corp,  we are the most anti-corp department of the place.  Nobody really knows what we do, how we do it, or even when we get it done.  It's magic and they know better than to screw too badly with it.

I'm a financial advisor...I help people with their money until non is left - Woody Allen