What was/is your occupation?

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

I think I did this before, but...
Babysitter.
Mower of lawns
McDonalds
Painter's helper
US Army EM (3 years--I was a draft dodger; I enlisted))
College jobs:
Cleaning dormitories.
Sorted mail for the Post Office at Christmas (double shifts until they caught me).
Handyman in a small electroplating shop.
Summer engineer in the smallest paper mill on the west coast.
Millwright's helper in the largest paper mill on the west coast.
Bottle washer extraordinaire.
TV repairman.
Having established that I was unsuited for honest labor, I became a chemical engineer for 36 years and counting. Most of it has been interesting if not fun. Found an old classmate on this forum. Have worked for too many jerks. Eagerly anticipating being independent, but can only afford to retire 5 years after I am dead.

 

[kyounge1956]

kyounge,

Does Seattle still have wooden water pipes in the old downtown?

ed

A colleague of mine came across a bit of 6" wood stave pipe on a job site just a few months ago, but I forget what part of town it was in. That particular main had been abandoned for a long time, and I don't know if any of them are still in use, but there are almost certainly some sections of wood water main still in the ground.

Here's a photo of a piece of wood stave pipe, for those who wonder what it looks like. If I've done this google maps link correctly, you'll see a street view of the front of the Water Department Operations center, which has on display a section of the old Cedar River pipeline (the large supply line that brings water down out of the watershed into town), a wood stave pipe about seven feet in diameter. I believe that has all been replaced with metal pipe now.

 

[heyduke]

hmmmm... what all did I do....
first job mopping floors
newspaper boy
grass mower
pots and pans washer
dish washer
clipper operator (clipper is a large dish washing machine)
construction grunt
rough framer
fork lift operator
roofer
US Air Force - Missile Systems
college student
Wildlife Biologist
Environmental Consultant
college student - round 2
Teaching assistant - taught BASIC and COBOL
Undergraduate adviser
Management analyst
Database Programmer
Novell Network Admin
IAATO Observer
Systems Administrator
Senior IT Manager
soon to be retired full timer in an RV...

 

[bbbamI]

Holy smokes...no wonder you want to retire...

 

[Tesaje]

This is an exercise in memory...
babysitting
house cleaning
medical lab assistant - mostly washing dishes, autoclaving, dumping the dissected body parts (ick), but they eventually let me set up and do some tests under supervision.
Calculus/statistics tutor
Chem lab assistant
computer assistant back in the days when we punched cards
computer programmer
meteorologist
operational test guru for most of my career - technically physical scientist
and now ...
loafer
but soon to get back into carpenter for my house remodeling, mason for my brick laying project, and gardner. But not for pay.

 

[heyduke]

Holy smokes...no wonder you want to retire...

...you ain't just whistling Dixie bbbamI...

 

[MasterBlaster]

Well I wanted to be an adult film star, but I couldn't find an opening.

So I went to school to become a circumsizologist. It didn't pay well but the tips were big.

 

[bbbamI]

Instant Rimshot

 

[bbbamI]

Any changes...anything new...does anyone have a j*b?

 

[Dawg52]

Any changes...anything new...does anyone have a j*b?

No.

 

[rescueme]

I wo*k 7x24, 52 weeks a year being "successfully retired".

Don't have no time for no stinkin j*b ...

 

[bbbamI]

No.

I wo*k 7x24, 52 weeks a year being "successfully retired".

Don't have no time for no stinkin j*b ...

Well I never......slackers the both of you!

 

[Rustic23]

paper boy
soda sales at Rice Stadium
day camp counselor
life guard
Air Force pilot
residential real estate appraiser
commercial real estate appraiser
bank manager commercial appraisal department
independent database programer
Computer department manager
RETIRED

I saved the best for last!

 

[Nodak]

Mowed lawns
paperboy
theater projectionist (12 years old when I started this)
Delivery truck driver
Measured land for Agriculture Stabilization and Conservation Service
Physics lab assistant in college
Computer Operator
Computer System programmer/analyst
Software Engineer
Retired 1 Feb 07.

 

[kumquat]

Any changes...anything new...does anyone have a j*b?

Yes and no.

I seem to have a job rebuilding DD's house. It doesn't pay very well though. I guess I should have stayed with mega-corp, they gave me stock options.

 

[KM]

Hmmm - let me think.....

Babysitter
Lifeguard
Convenience store clerk
Two summers at some factory putting pieces in some machine that went in a circle....all day (this was ongoing motivation to stay in college....)






After college

• Group home counselor for teenage boys (this was tough at times, but actually a lot of fun too)
• Some strange job that I really hated - still am not sure what I did there, but I left after a few months.
• Social Worker - investigating child abuse and neglect (this was the toughest, most emotionally draining thing I ever did. I made some great friends, but I dont know how people do it for their entire careers)
• Programmer, and all following titles as you move up the corporate ladder (I was very fortunate to find a company that was looking for people who knew nothing about computers, so they could train them. It wasn't hard to convince them I was FULLY qualified. ) -
• IT Manager

Of course this was back in the day when no one cared what your degree was in - they only cared you had one. I have neither a social work nor a computer science degree - not even close. I think it would be a lot harded to follow this career path today.....

 

[Orchidflower]

KM, you were smart AND you were lucky. You an Oprah have alot in common! I would have done the exact same IF I had any tech in me at all, which I don't. Unfortunately. What can we say but bravo!

 

[KM]

KM, you were smart AND you were lucky. You an Oprah have alot in common! I would have done the exact same IF I had any tech in me at all, which I don't. Unfortunately. What can we say but bravo!

Yes, I was very lucky.

 

[Major Tom]

Graduated from University with a Bachelors in Electronics and promptly became...........a DJ (go figure).

Then followed 25 years of radio DJ, voice-over and production gigs, mainly in Los Angeles, before the work dried up a year or so ago.

Now unemployed and wondering what to do next.

 

[NW Landlady]

Housecleaner, garbage sorter
Nurses Aide
Waitress
Insurance Underwriter/Exec
Landlady (housecleaner, garbage sorter)

 

[traineeinvestor]

1. sorting spare parts for a car dealer
2. accounts clerk
3. babysitter
4. tutor
5. sales for a finance company (writing hire purchase loans on cars, boats etc)
6. collections agent for the same finance company (sending debt collectors after defaulters)
7. money market dealer
8. lawyer

Hoping my next (and final) career move will be to something more productive - like full time retirement

 

[Ronnieboy]

Then followed 25 years of radio DJ, voice-over and production gigs, mainly in Los Angeles, before the work dried up a year or so ago.

Now unemployed and wondering what to do next.

Sorry to hear that Major Tom, I was wondering what was going to happen to DJ's with all these DJ-less radio stations coming on air.

 

[Ronnieboy]

1) Baby sitter
2) Paperboy
3) Firework stand owner/operator
4) Shave ice stand owner/operator
5) Dishwasher (I turned 16 and thought I should get rid of the paper route)
6) Production operator for integrated circuit manufacturer - 4" wafers were the big ones back then.
7) Pharmacy Technician
8) College of Pharmacy student - this was a job I had the privilege to pay to do.
9) Pharmacy Intern
10) Graduate pharmacy Intern
11) Pharmacist

Next step:

12) Part Time Pharmacist

 

[leedawson79]

1. Farm machinery operator
2. Farm machinery owner / operator
3. LNG Plant Operator
4. Pipeline Construction Inspector

Lots of years left doing some job or another.

 

[scrabbler1]

I was an actuarial and computer programming supervisor for most of the 23 years (1985-2008) I worked for a property and casualty insurance company trade group. I liked the work for some of the years but the commute was so intolerable it made me dislike the work near the end, too.

I don't miss any part of it one bit, especailly the commute. I can point the trains and laugh as they go by. When I see a news report about how the trains are screwed up that day or about how the fares are going to rise or services are going to be cut, I say to myself (again), "I am sooooo glad I don't have to deal with that garbage any more!"

Once I saw many of you listing all the jobs you had, not just what you might have done after college, I thought I should list the jobs I had, too.

For nearly 2 years, I worked at my public library while I was in high school.

In college, I worked as an usher at a Broadway theater for about a year. The show was "Oh! Calcutta!", the nudie show. I also did some tutoring in my dorm and was the attendant at the dorm's game room and quiet/study room for a few months. One day, I got paid for hours worked at all 3 places.

Later in college, I worked at the school's library. It was the NYU Bobst Library, one of the largest libraries around. It was a 10-story building although I worked on only one floor.

The summer jobs I had were working as a day camp counselor for two summers (the root cause of my being childfree BTW). I was a driver/messenger for a graphics copying company, the best and best-paying summer job I had. I delivered special copies of blueprints for construction and engineering companies during the big construction boom of the 1980s. For about 10 days I worked in the kitchen of the cafeteria and catering hall of my local golf course clubhouse. That was the worst job I ever had.