What do you do for a living and why do you like it?

Marjorie Suddard wrote:

wheelsmithy wrote: Welding. The world just made more sense to me once I started welding.

That is the best description I have ever seen of what it feels like to do something you love. Margie

Aww shucks, Margie

I'm around 30 and I do all kinds of IT work: web development, software development, database administration, Linux administration including VoIP, even graphics, video and audio editing....AKA "DevOps," but I was doing it before it was cool

Only problems with this are that it can be mind-numbingly boring and the pay depends very much on location - and I'm in a really bad location in terms of pay.

Jumper K. Balls wrote: I wanted to be a chef as a kid. Worked my way up to head cook, hated it. Switched restaurants a few times and still hated it and it occurred to me that perhaps it was the industry and not the locations. Took my computer hobby and went straight from food to IT and ran a small computer shop from 93-99. I enjoyed the problem solving side and the constant service calls kept me entertained but after 6 years I was over it. The opportunity to drastically switch fields fell into my lap and I became and industrial mechanic which transitioned to machinist, millwright and fabricating. It was a real "office space" moment for me. Switching from business casual to dirty coveralls and really making things was a huge change in me. After 12 years the plant I kept running was closed down in a corporate buyout and I got an offer to be where I am now, which is in the restoration of vintage sports cars. I truly love it. The skills I developed at the last job transitioned right over. It is very laid back and relaxed and the focus is in doing the best work you can do, not just what is needed. I am looking forward to becoming a Luthier when I retire. I feel I have at least one more career in me.

All of this sounds awesome. I frequently complain to my wife that I just wanna make stuff. There's real satisfaction in having a physical representation of all the time you've spent on something.

I spent 20 years in army aviation and retired (at age 38) to start a 2nd career. In the army I was trained as a helicopter mechanic and spent 10 years as a flight crewmember and 10 years as a technical inspector. Now I'm an army civilian still around the helicopters I flew on supporting those serving now. My title is Logistics Management Specialist, reality is jack of all trades. If the troops need any kind of assistance in getting parts or how to fix something they call my office and we find out the answer. Sometimes we know the answer, sometimes we have to consult engineers and/or manufacturer. I also travel quite a bit visiting the army units to issue and train new equipment. It's still fun but sometimes frustrating dealing with bureaucracy. Only 8 more years to completely retire.

Oh yeah, I'm 58 now and got my degree in Management of Technology after I retired from the army using the GI Bill at age 45. I like working on mechanical things but don't bend wrenches on aircraft anymore so I have project cars that keeps my mind occupied. A long way away from the symphony and jazz musician I was as a teenager.

37 and I make shiny rocks. I don't particularly like it but it pays just enough to pay the bills.

Used to do foundation repair and waterproofing. I liked that a lot but being on the road more than home sucks and I found myself working for companies that just had a product to sell, not actually interested if it was the correct fix for the problem or not. That really sucked. It was compromising my integrity which takes a bit more of a toll than it would seem on the surface.

Healthcare management/program development. My advice - choose something you're interested in and something that expertise in is highly valued. Shoot for mastery of that subject whether it's welding, plumbing, engineering or robot repair.

Graphic Designer here for 25 years, give or take, mostly print/catalog related stuff. Current job is okay, but has sucked the fun and creativity out of design work. Looking into changing, just not sure what I want to do. Being 48 makes it a bit tougher to change up, but not impossible.

mtn wrote:

SVreX wrote:

NEALSMO wrote: I really wish the industry would change the pay standard. I think commission is an antiquated system that promotes bad and/or dishonest work just to make a buck.

Huh. I'd be interested in hearing more. As far as I am concerned , I would MUCH rather be paid via a commission structure (we call it "piece work" in construction). It rewards the people who develop exceptional skills or invest in better tools which make them more efficient and productive.

The other end of the argument is that it makes people take shortcuts to finish the job faster and get on to the next one at the expense of quality. (No dog in the fight here--I'll vote with my wallet by going to the person who fixes "it" right the first time at the best value--value being some combination of longevity of the fix, cost, and time. The way the person gets paid is of no consequence to me, at least on the surface level.)

I don't quite see that argument. I've seen PLENTY of pathetic work done by hourly employees.

Seems to me quality control is a completely different job- no one should be paid for inferior work, regardless of the pay standard.

My problem with hourly (or salaried) systems is that there is no reward for excellence, and consumers rarely buy based on worker's time. It doesn't matter whether I am buying sneakers, or medical care, or race parts, or construction services, I rarely care how much time it took the people to complete their job. I care about how good the product or service is that I am buying (and how much I can afford).

If I choose to buy WalMart sneakers because they are cheaper, I am assuming a lower quality product, not that it took the guy less time to make them.

I do Utility Mapping for a Natural Gas Utility.

I like it because it's low stress, low responsibility, good pay, and stable. I got into this because I was unemployed in my home state and found an under-the-radar job posting and was the only one qualified who applied. After working that job for two years I realized my skills were actually somewhat in demand throughout the industry, and most of my peers aren't as interested in moving across the country as what I was. I got offered a job in a way cool state with tons of adventures surrounding me, making more money, with even less stress than the previous job.

Downsides? Nobody know what a GIS Analyst actually does. People, regardless of industry; value "Engineer" in the job title, especially when mixed with "manager" or "director". All but a handful of people within the industry, and especially within my company really know what it is I do, and I get very little initial respect because of that. Once they meet me and see that I not only understand how they do their job, but pretty much everybody else's job (except for our programmer, accounting, and our sales folks), I get a little bit more respect. For both my position and my own personality, I need to know where I fit into a larger system in order to be satisfied by job.

Advice: Find something that both pays well but is available anywhere and that you can do without needing to speak the local language. Education and job title keywords like "Engineer, Plumber, Mason, Nurse, Doctor, Welder" are universal. The trades and healthcare are where that's at. You can be a plumber or nurse in a town of 1,000 in the mountains of Idaho or in Los Angeles. You can employ trade or nursing skills on an island in the Caribbean or with a non-profit in Thailand. I wish I had a skill that I could employ globally, or that would pay me to work globally. I don't wish to travel or live out of hotels constantly, but it'd be nice to be free from the office or company's region. I'm looking very hard a Arizona State University Professional Science Master's program for Solar Engineering that doesn't require an engineering degree. It would be an easy way into getting "Engineering" in my education resume.

EDIT: I now see your background is in hospitality, which isn't a bad place to be. Most towns have hotels, and I've heard of a lot of expats getting work all over the world managing hotels or bed&breakfast joints. If it were more available I'd definitely look into a Master's in Facility Management, Facility Engineering or Property Maintenance and Management.

Currently retired and loving it! When I did earn a living I worked for 24 years for a major oil American oil company which was absorbed by another oil company. I did various things over those years, all working in an office, mostly of a logistical nature involving trucks delivering product. Later I did similar things for a few independent trucking companies until the recession of 2008 caused me to become unemployed. The trucking industry took a hit for a couple of years so by the time it recovered I didn't need to work anymore so I called myself "retired".

It's snowing as I write this and if I was working I would have to drive home through it but being retired I can look out the window and say " That's pretty" and go on writing this posting.

In reply to pheller:

I used to want to do urban planning and learn GIS. But, it seems like I wouldnt be able to find a job doing it once I retire from the Air Force. They all seem to require a Masters and Interning while in college.

I do my little part keeping our water system safe and the EPA happy. The wastewater field is good. You don't really need college for the most part. Get in and study for your EPA operator license. Work up to a superintendent or get a lab/desk job like me. It's safe (I think), boring and no stress. Oh, and I am making more than what I was being stressed out in the private sector. The pay is all over the place though. It all depends. You won't get rich, but people will always be flushing toilets!

37 (E36 M3 how did I get this old!?!) and do Business Development for a relatively big, and growing, company.

If I had one tidbit of advice to give, it's not where you start that matters. Its how you apply yourself, how hard and how smart you work along the way. There's a lot to be said for the people that try and pick up every skill, trick, tip and really strive to learn, grow and do better every day. I am not doing what I did two years ago, five years ago, ten years ago or fifteen years ago. The only thing that's a common thread is continuous learning and improvement. Some of that was realizing what I wasn't good at, couldn't get paid for or didn't like. Constantly evolving and being flexible is very leverageable over a career.

49, and I've been a product development engineer at Ford for 25 years next month.

More specifically, I'm a vehicle calibrator- which is the engineer that tweaks how the control system works so that the car's entire powertrain runs correctly. While my schooling is as a Mechanical Engineer, calibrators are more systems people- in addition to all things ME's do- power, heat, flow, etc. I also have to do CE work in the exhaust, CS work with how the code is written and how it works, some EE work with various interactions, etc.

And even more specifically than a calibrator, over the last almost 20 years, my focus has been on emissions- mostly gaseous, and some particulate. The emissions work has been quite interesting, and something I'm very enthusiastic about.

A lot of enthusiests tell you that working for a car company is a good way to burn out with cars- but I never really saw that. My burn out with cars happened because of loading that I was doing when I was doing car stuff- too many projects, too much stuff for club events, not enough enjoyment. One of these days, I'll start on the restoration of my Miata. But not working on it is more about general exhaustion, not automotive specific exhaustion. There's almost no cross over of work and hobby- the exception is when I do after market ECU work.

yupididit wrote: In reply to pheller: I used to want to do urban planning and learn GIS. But, it seems like I wouldnt be able to find a job doing it once I retire from the Air Force. They all seem to require a Masters and Interning while in college.

Yes and no. You've got a big benefactor in being ex-military. That'll get you into government jobs like flint. You're not aiming to be a supervisor or a manager, just get in the door as Technician or Analyst. Get some database background, dabble in Python, VBA or .Net, and apply in the private industry (utilities, engineering, etc) to gain some experience. Also, don't apply for jobs in California, as the job market is too competitive there, at least in GIS fields.

In reply to SVreX:

My current month is a great example of why the system sucks. Last pay period I only flagged 48 hours for an 80 hour pay period. Granted I was sick one day, so at best it could have been a 56 hour pay period. Why? Because there just wasn't any work. Has nothing to do with my ability to work efficiently. This pay period? I'm at 138 hours and it doesn't end for another few hours. Sure I get a great paycheck this period, enough even to compensate for last period. Unfortunately it does always work that way and mortgage companies don't base your payments on how much you happened to make each month.

I've run across a lot of bad work and have seen lots of hacks move through the system. They don't last long at my shop because we have high standards of ethics and productivity, but there is always a shop willing to hire them. How many times do we hear the stories of Lube-N-tune shops selling parts and fluids that aren't needed? Why? Because they are based on commission. It works if everybody has high morals and standards, but reality doesn't work that way.

I'm 68 and I retired three years ago. I like being retired because I had a sound financial plan for 40 years and adhered to it. So now I don't have to work and I'm quite "secure." Consequently I'm very happy. I liked what I did to a certain degree when I was a working stiff, stress notwithstanding. But in my opinion "loving what you do" isn't as important as earning the best salary you can (if for no other reason, you owe it to your spouse and kids), and then diligently planning for retirement. That would be my advice based on my own experience.

You might also want to peruse this thread from a few years ago:

What do you do?

41, stay at home dad for the last 15 years. If you can find a type A sugar mamma and be OK checkimg your ego to help her to achieve everything she ever wanted out of life, it's a good gig.

pheller wrote:

yupididit wrote: In reply to pheller: I used to want to do urban planning and learn GIS. But, it seems like I wouldnt be able to find a job doing it once I retire from the Air Force. They all seem to require a Masters and Interning while in college.

Yes and no. You've got a big benefactor in being ex-military. That'll get you into government jobs like flint. You're not aiming to be a supervisor or a manager, just get in the door as Technician or Analyst. Get some database background, dabble in Python, VBA or .Net, and apply in the private industry (utilities, engineering, etc) to gain some experience. Also, don't apply for jobs in California, as the job market is too competitive there, at least in GIS fields.

Awesome thanks. I still have about 10 years left before I'm eligable to retire from the military. Are there any forums I can leach off of to learn to use GIS systems? I currently spend my days working in Global Command and Control Systems

The best way to learn GIS is to do it, and use the software to solve problems. The only way you can solve problems is by having data, which you either need to gather or create.

QGIS is a free GIS software suite that can read many popular formats. I enjoy making maps of my neighborhood, proposed places to camp and bike, that type of thing.

You will probably need at least a really good Associates in GIS or Bachelors in Geography with concentration in Geospatial Data Analytics (or similar techy sounding) in order to get a good background prior to employment. I have a Bachelors, and I do plan on getting a Masters in this field, unless I can find a program that is highly development (programming/coding/DBA) or drone specific.

I'm the Operations Compliance Manager working for a dietary supplement company. Education started with a degree in Mechanical Engineer, then added an MBA.

Been in manufacturing my entire career. Worked for a bearing manufacturer, then Tampax (I know more jokes than you!), automotive carpet manufacturer (got to work with Toyota to learn the Toyota Production System), contract machine shop, a parachute and flotation collar manufacturer for the military, and a medical device company (packaging validations and sterilization validations).

Engineering is a wide open field. There are engineers designing and building things today that were never dreamed about just a few years ago.

My current job is unique in that I need my engineering background and my regulatory background to benefit and protect the company and our customers. I could be shopping for a ball valve one day, then dusting off statistics to figure out if two sets of data are comparable, then installing and qualifying new equipment, or giving a plant tour. Always seems to be something new!

Life at work

I'm 53 and a Supply Chain Manager. I graduated with a degree in commercial art, and spent the better part of my 20's owning a photography studio. A friend offered me a job in TV production so I closed shop and moved on. I then spent the next 15 years writing and producing TV shows, commercials and commercial projects for government contractors.

After the collapse of 2008 where all of our business dried up overnight, I took a job at an energy company producing brochures and revamping their website. A year later the company was sold and one day someone walked into my office, dumped a big white book on my desk, and informed me of my new job managing vendors. So here I am still doing this 7 years later.

I wouldn't say I loved it, but it pays a TON better than TV work. It is also fairly stressful which isn't always fun.

We use maps in the BattleSpace Management side of my career field. Maybe I can get with those guys and see how they make the maps and what programs they use. I know there's a lot of geospatial data and intelligence gathered that we have to utilize but it comes from many sources. Thanks for letting me pick your brain Pheller!

racerdave600 wrote: I'm 53 and a Supply Chain Manager. I took a job at an energy company and my job is managing vendors. So here I am still doing this 7 years later. I wouldn't say I loved it, but it pays a TON better than TV work. It is also fairly stressful which isn't always fun.

When you say energy company, as in production, or do you work for a transmission company?

I've found the utility industry is pretty laid back, with exception to what I call the "classical" work environment. We've got a pretty set schedule, pretty rigid vacation structure (that doesn't increase much) and nothing too progressive in other aspects of daily office life.

I don't experience much stress, but that could just be my job.

yupididit wrote: BattleSpace Management

Everything about this sounds awesome. Well, except the war part, but it still sounds cool.