Career Path

[vinylgreek]

You know it's funny. I was under the impression that I'm the OG. Where you from, homey?

[vinylgreek]

I started there and wound up here with some stuff in between. A prosaic life punctuated by periodic moments of poetry.

[Mediocre]

I wasted a lot of amazing opportunities....and I still got lucky enough to get a job where my main hobby/interest helps me everyday

[M. Montaigne]

You know it's funny. I was under the impression that I'm the OG. Where you from, homey?

Aren't you some random guy?

[vinylgreek]

Suchlike has been rumored.

[timekeeper]

I started a lawn care and home repair business at 17 out of High School. A couple of years later I was offered a job as a supervisor of maintenance at an apartment complex. As a young single guy this was great as they paid for HVAC voc-tech school, free rent, many single women around and the flexibility to play music at nights for fun and a little extra dough. I did this for well over 10 years. I moved to be closer to family. Then worked for an A/C company a couple of years and the owner signed for my contractors license. I spent my nights studying again and acquired my license. At this time met my wife, had my son and started my heating and A/C business in 1998. In 2007 I took a BIG hit that cost my entire savings but, we are back in action and at 48 I am serious about building this business as much as possible while enjoying life. I still love my hobbies like dirt and street motorcycles, offshore fishing, music and of course watches, but, I love the stress and fruits of self employment.

[93EXCivic]

I started at university in 2007 for mechanical engineering and graduated in 2011 with a BS in Mechanical Engineering.

I went to work with a mining safety starting halfway thru my last semester in school and worked there until the middle of this year. The company decided to move to Pittsburgh and didn't want to take any of us with them. I managed to find a job at company which does magnetic research. It is a small company which has great technology which hopefully we can develop into a big name in magnetics.

[bajachild]

Graduated high school with the second lowest GPA in my class in 1988. Off to community college. Got it up enough to transfer to St Mary's in CA. 2 years of I don't remember and home I was. Took a couple years off to work with friends in the fishing gear industry. Friends were tools. Moved back home. My dad was a residential real estate appraiser. Did a lot of computer work for him. He over paid me. Switched majors from Business Administration to English. Reading and writing was my thing. Wanted to be an English teacher in high school.

Graduated from Cal State Los Angeles in 1999 with BA in English and minor in poetry. Friend called and wanted to know if I wanted a job teaching special education. I said sure. Moved around to several so cal school districts. Got my sped credential from APU and my autism certification. 15 years later, I've primarily taught high school English with special education students. But have done elementary and middle school kids.

Wife teaches kindergarten about 1/3 mile from home. All 3 kids go with her. Summers off. Travel to redwoods, Grand Canyon, San francisco, etc., all by my truck and travel trailer.

Would like to get out of special education. All the paperwork is crap. Sooo much more to do on top of teaching. We'll see. I'm only 44.

Mike

[tribe125]

The concept of a job for life with one company died with my parents generation, my father in law worked for Rolls Royce his entire working and is now retired with a final salary pension, sweet !

Pretty much my situation, actually, so I must be old enough to be your father.

For most of my working life (33 years) I worked for the National Health Service. As a 'mental health professional' I could retire at 55, assuming that I had thirty years' service. I retired at 57 (I'm now approaching sixty) with an index-linked final salary pension. My wife is in the same situation. But yes, we were in a fortunate generation, and in a few years there will be no more getting that deal.

A single qualification carried me through from start to finish. I actively avoided career development and further study, but most of my job titles included the words 'senior' and 'manager'. The bulk of my career was spent managing acute psychiatric units - not an entirely unsuitable preparation for moderating internet forums.

[M. Montaigne]

The bulk of my career was spent managing acute psychiatric units - not an entirely unsuitable preparation for moderating internet forums.

Yes, but you're now one of the inmates.