Education level & occupation of ER

[Toejam]

Hello everyone:

I was just curious about the education level and pre-retirement occupation(s) of the ER or soon-to-be ER posting on this site. Also, whether you were self-employed, worked for a company, or were a public servant.

It would be interesting to see how diverse a group we are!

I will start: I have a Bachelor's degree in Business Administration. My occupation: Personnel work for a mid-size company.

Toejam

 

[John Galt]

Associate in Arts. 30+ years in manufacturing. President/CEO of 4 corporations.
Owned a small mfg. company until I shut it down
in 1993 when I semiretired.

John Galt

 

[Ted]

To get a really thorough response to this you can go to the "Introduce Yourself Here" discussion in this forum. Here's the fast way to get there: http://www.early-retirement.org/cgi-bin/yabb/YaBB.pl?board=intro_board

One thing that I find interesting is that there is a high rate of attrition of people who post comments. In some cases that was fine because it contributed to the rationality of the discussion. But others made interesting comments and then just disappeared into cyberspace. I can't help but wonder if they went back to work, died, or just found a more interesting way to spend their time.

 

[renferme]

BS Bus Admin, Finance Major, occupation: work in the Information Systems Dept. for a large multinational chemical/pharma corporation. expect to retire sometime in 2nd qtr this year.
Ray (bennevis)

 

[ats5g]

Hey Toejam,

I'm 28, and I have a BA in Economics. I got started on this whole "retirement" kick when I had a discussion about retirement w/ my dad (age 60) over a couple of beers. I find that these types of discussion forums are excellent research, as they provide many links, viewpoints, and references.

Occupation: I was an Actuarial Analyst (defined benefit pensions) until I was laid off two months ago. Nice X-mas present. : I tend to post in spurts b/c I get preoccupied with errands, boring academic type papers, personal retirement research and such, and my son (loves to take walks).

- Alec

 

[John Galt]

This is really for Ted. I too have pondered the fate
of those who post for a while and then disappear.
Expect I will be here a while as this is the only site I
visit regularly, and I find ER issues endlessly fascinating.
Hopefully, my absenses will be temporary.

John Galt

 

[yakers]

There are probably a lot of people like me who do not post much and I don't expect that will change. Its not an issue of being a lurker its just that the messages already provide interesting information. I would not measure the success of the site by how many posts as much as by how widely read the board is. A lot of people have one question and they find the answer in reading the board or from a single post. One reason there are more posts on some Motely Fool boards is that they get off topic a lot. That can be entertaining but I like the focus and readability of this site.

As to education: BA Philosophy, lots of grad courses in business but from 4 different grad schools as I moved around a lot with the Navy. Now have 20+ years as a logistics manager with NASA.

 

[wzd]

MS in EE/CS. Worked as programmer for telephony company for 25 years.

 

[Hiss]

B.S Chemical Engineering.

 

[wabmester]

MSCS. Software developer since I started college, getting sucked into a management vacuum along the way.

I distinctly remember thinking in my 20's that software development was a young-man's game (probably after an all-night codefest with various data structures and algorithms burnt into my brain). I never real considered retirement, but felt I'd be changing careers before I hit 40. Instead, I did the startup thing at 35. Sold out at 38. Hung around a public company as VP for a couple years, and finally decided at 40 that my next career would be doing absolutely nothing

 

[Michael]

I was a millwright. I had a group of industrial machines that I had to keep running. As long as they ran, management ingored me except to occasionally call me on the walkie talkie to tell me to adjust something to meet the changing demands of the plant. I have a bachelor's degree in 4 different fields. This was just a hobby degree that had nothing to do with my career. I just like learning.

 

[unclemick]

B.S.Chemistry- 29 yrs goo and stick - re- entry heat shields, insulation, adhesives, paint, composites.

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Barely scraped myself out of high school. I found core education curriculum so slow moving I could barely stay awake. No college, couldnt afford it.

Caught on with a large high tech company as a programmer at 18, stayed with them for 5 years working my way from systems programming to sales technical support to a sales role. Worked with a lot of great people. That in a sense was my college education. Did a couple of startups after that and then job hopped through a handful of midsize companies mostly in field sales and corporate marketing roles, then stayed with a fortune 500 company in IT and marketing roles for 9 years until I retired at 39.

 

[RedOscar]

OK Toejam,

Bachelors of Electrical Engineering; worked for the same electric utility company my entire career; retired at age 48 when the company made me eligible to begin receiving my pension (and I was ready and financially able to leave).

I love every minute of this retirement business and do not regret one bit my decision to leave.

Red

 

[wabmester]

This is good stuff. We have a couple of CEOs, CFOs, HR, marketing, training, and a bunch of engineers. All we need is a product and we can start a virtual company.

 

[Ted]

  All we need is a product and we can start a virtual company.

I have a BS and MS in civil engineering and specialized in wastewater treatment. I'm working on a device that would extract dental floss and condoms from sewage for recycling. Anyone interested?

 

[TheFIREman]

MASc in EE. Startup after graduation then went on to work for investment banks for the last decade. Slowing heading for the door...

 

[Peter]

We have a couple of CEOs, CFOs, HR, marketing, training, and a bunch of engineers.

Add my name to the list of engineers! MSEE, specializing in RF and wireless. Last 10 years doing independent consulting, now down to a few hours per week, doing only the projects I find interesting.

Great site - I check it often, but haven't posted much.

Peter

 

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I'm working on a device that would extract dental floss and condoms from sewage for recycling. Anyone interested?

Just please tell me you arent recycling one into the other and I'll be fine.

 

[panhead]

Interesting Thread.....

All right, let's see.... I have a BS in Business Administration and a BS in Electrical Engineering. I'm 33 (almost 34) and am not yet retired. Hard to say when I will retire, It's feasible in a couple of years though. Might hang on a bit longer to make it more comfortable, or if I get laid off (not all uncommon these days !!) I may work part time in my own business to make up the difference in $$.

 

[fire5soon]

BA in Management here. Worked for major brokerage firm and got my Series 7 & 63 brokerage licenses. I found out quickly I didn't like how this industry was run. Luckily became a mortgage counselor at the right time to take advantage of low mortgage rates... business was good last year.

Now I'm considering going to law school. Law does interest me but I would like to get into a profession which offers the potential of a high salary. That way I can earn as much as I can over the next 20 years and still retire pretty young.

Good topic!

-Jay

 

[Brat]

BS Mathematics - one of few women in the Department, did it in 3 years.

USDOL 26 years employment law, 3 years employee relations for a high profile firm. "Retired" to help my parents through major change of life challange.

Keep myself involved in HR with projects from time to time.

 

[Paul]

I have a BSEE, MSCS and MBA, doing mostly hardware and software development for disc driver controller, avionics, telecomunications equpment and medical devices. I have failed to get into management.

I am 50. Recently, I have been contemplating about going to law school to become a patent lawyer. It might take a while to break even since I have to quit working and pay for the tuition (about $80K). I am not sure if any firm would hire an "old" person with no experience in intellectual property law. I will have sufficient funding to retire in about 3 years.

 

[Hiss]

I started out in supervision out of college and "worked my way up" to mid level management within the chemical industry. I had worked my entire career in a supervisory or managerial capacity until about 4 years ago. It was then I volunteered to go on a special software implementation project. Since then I have worked in engineering and have never looked back. I have no desire to ever manage or supervise again. I realized after I got out of it there is a much better, less stressful world out there. I now have my week-ends to myself and sleep much better at night.
Be thankful you "failed" to get into management. This is just my experience and I am sure others coped with it better than I did.
(this was in response to Paul's comment. I still don't understand how to highlight a quote after having hit the "quote" button. Even though I said I implemented a software program for a couple years, I didn't say I was any good at it! :-/)

 

[Cut-Throat]

Hiss,

If you look at the toolbar, when you are keying in your reply, on the bottom 2nd from the right, there is a page with a blue arrow. If you click it, a quote will appear on your text page. Just Ctrl C and Ctrl X  your desired test inside the quotes and you will have it.