What was/is your occupation?

[M Paquette]

Software Engineer, specializing in design and implementation of window systems for the last 20 years or so. Yeah, sort of specialized...

Priors:
System Software for graphics, writing tools for the graphics folks, including a couple of compilers and specialized computer languages.
Kernel hacker for early '80s UNIX systems.
Instructor, teaching programming.
Nuclear propulsion systems specialist (Hi, Nords!), along with the usual bag of submarine collateral duties.
Nuclear propulsion prototype plant instructor

College student and slacker...

 

[rkser]

- Intern, Epidemiologist, Research Assistant, Intern, Resident, Fellow, Medical Practice

 

[Kronk]

Weekend milker (starting at the age of 10)
tractor driver
farmhand
electrical engineering intern
temp manual labor worker
temp office worker
car salesman (3 weeks)
software tester
computer programmer


Strangely, I've never had a job I liked. I think I need to retire...

 

[citrine]

Cashier at Roy Rogers
Retail clothing store
Babysitting
Cashier at Bradlees
Photographer at Kinderphoto
Massage Therapist
Laundromat Assistant
Bill Collector at the Cable Company
Data Operations at a bank
Bartender
English tutor
Assistant Purchasing Agent
Customer Service
Export Customer Service
Project Coordinator
Executive Assistant

Whew.....I am ready to retire!

Update:

Spa Coordinator
Babysitter
Spa receptionist

Now just a student waiting to graduate so I can be a FT Massage Therapist and in a few years phase into private business as a Holistic Practitioner.

 

[freebird5825]

Sidewalk snow shoveler with brothers doing heavy w*rk
Newspaper folder with brothers
Babysitter
General house and yard helper to elderly next door neighbors (free)
Mother's helper and housecleaner, 3 years, HS
Jack-in-the-Box taco girl, 2 months, HS
State food service at live-in large scale institution, 1 year, HS
Physics Lab Assistant, College W*rkStudy Program, 3 years
Vacuum cleaner/lawnmower/automotive mechanic, 3 summers
Gas station pumper and full service, 1 summer
Book warehouse flunkie and sorter/packer - worse j*b I ever had
Small engine mechanic
Part time all dept cashier for department store
Substitute teacher, off and on for 1 year
Clerk, hardware/paint, 1 year
Computer programmer, scientific apps, 3 years
VAX System manager, R&D lab data acquisition, 5 years
Engineer (1/2 lab rat, 1/2 contracts manager), 18 years
Full-time goof off, 2 years

 

[two4theroad]

New car dealership go-fer 1/2 year
Metal building construction 1/2 year
Refinery Construction 2 years
Marina operations/management 1 year
High rise building construction timekeeper/expediter 1 year
Refinery Powerhouse Operations 25 years
Retired 2.5 years

2fer

 

[brewer12345]

Uh, let's see if I can remember it all:

kitchen prep worker
lawn mower
dining hall drone
catering helper
industrial research writer
conference director
industrial intelligence snoop
insurance industry researcher
life insurance credit analyst
buy-side distressed debt/credit analyst
currently, mysteries abound...

And my real name is "Daddy."

 

[bbbamI]

And my real name is "Daddy."

New sig perhaps?

 

[Dawg52]

And my real name is "Daddy."

Well at least it's not 'Big Daddy'.

 

[REWahoo]

"Hoosier Daddy"?

 

[brewer12345]

Well at least it's not 'Big Daddy'.

Oh, I don't know about that. Backing away from my recent high of 195#, but not that far down from it just yet.

 

[Moemg]

Kool aid stand owner
Life guard at the kiddie pool
Life guard at the big pool
Taught swimming
Babysitter
Worked at Kohr's custard stands at the Jersey Shore
Nurse's aide
Operating Room RN
Interventional Radiology RN
Endoscopy RN
Pre & Post Op Surgery RN
Ebay Seller
Retiree

 

[bbbamI]

Kool aid stand owner....now that's cute.

For some reason or other it's strange to think about all of us being kids and having that type of job. Lordy, it's been a looooooonnnnng time since I was a kid....

 

[freebird5825]

Kool aid stand owner....now that's cute.

For some reason or other it's strange to think about all of us being kids and having that type of job. Lordy, it's been a looooooonnnnng time since I was a kid....

no, NO, NOOOOOOOOOOOOO
It was just yesterday that you were a kid. Be a kid every day.

 

[bbbamI]

Well...I am at heart.....

 

[Moemg]

I also ran a lending library ,lending out by copies of my Mickey Mouse magazine .

 

[Radiophilejapan]

bbbamI, great initiative reviving the thread over. This one should be permanent.
- outgoing QC at 12 (neighbor had a stamping machine in garage and would hire the kids around to check and count the clothing tags he made for shirt manufacturers)
- typewriter of college class notes for heliographic stencils (a colleague printed and sold them, paying me by typed page.
- Math instructor at adult education school
- QC trainee at a Radio and TV mfg plant
- Telecom engineer - field surveys were a great way to getting to know inhospitable areas
- Sales & Mktg in the electronic industry
- owned a SB in electronics for 10 years
- WW sales and mktg for megacorp
- set up Japan subsidiary for megacorp
- RE wannabe

 

[shoe]

Chief Empathic Officer

 

[vicente solano]

legal advisor and later Human Resources Manager in a shipyard dealing with labour and personnel issues. Good riddance...

 

[mf15]

Interesting topic.
paper boy-
lawn mowing
steak sandwich cook.
This is how I gauge inflation, a steak sandwich in 1966 was $0.65.
chemical plant worker
US Army- Two wonderfull years
fire extinguishing chemist
industrial speciality chemist
laser particle size instrument development
The last 31 years as a Aluminum lubricant
chemist/group leader.
Everytime you drink a can of beer or fly in a plane
take comfort, Old Mike had a hand in the making.
My current job is the best, FIRED and new grandpop.
If I get bored I can always sharpen shovels at my sons landscape business.
Old Mike

 

[LoftyNotions]

Sold Seattle PI door to door
Box Boy/Stocker
Receiving Clerk for a department store
Gas Station Attendant
Radiologic Technologist
Nuclear Medicine Technologist
Transmission Shop Owner
Field Service Engineer... various types of medical imaging devices

 

[bbbamI]

It's been a few months...so here we go.... Any changes? Any new members want to share?

 

[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!"

 

[kyounge1956]

It's been a few months...so here we go.... Any changes? Any new members want to share?

I've been here nearly a year and a half but I'd never seen this thread. I'm not going to put down all the jobs I've ever worked on. I'm not sure I could remember them all anyway.

My college degree is in Landscape Architecture and I worked in that field for several years after college, and eventually got my license in California. Then came the recession of the early 80's and I couldn't find a job in that profession for several years, during which time I worked clerical temporary assignments and various odd jobs. I still remember those temporary assignments: I was taking home about $600 a month and paying $250 for rent and $117 on a car payment.

Eventually I got hired by the City Engineering Department as a surveyor's assistant and worked on land survey crew for 17 years, during which I was promoted to instrument person and later, crew chief. That latter is a job I should have known better than to apply for. I hated being a supervisor, and I wasn't able to buy the piece of land I wanted to pay for with the raise—the seller wanted cash and I didn't have it. Eventually I was able to do a lateral transfer to another job in the survey section, as a plan reviewer, which meant a significant pay cut, but the reduction in stress made it well worth the financial cost. I have since then done another lateral transfer and am now a civil engineering technician, still with the City. About halfway through, the Engineering Department merged with parts of the Water Department and City Light (Seattle owns its own electric generating system) to form Seattle Public Utilities, and I still work for that department.

I have two half-jobs. One is related to issuing land use and building permits. I'm the person who looks up to see if there is water available at the project site and issues the certificate verifying that it is there, or if not, what the developer will have to do to get it there. The number of certificates has fallen off greatly the last year and a half due to the recession, so I am also working on a project that collects data on the sewer and drainage system with the eventual product of a system model that can be used to determine how to prevent sewage overflows into local water bodies.

In a week, I will have worked for the City for 25 years. I'm grateful for the good pay, good benefits and good working conditions and particularly for my pension, without which I would never be able to retire at all (my own fault, I'm 54 and only started serious retirement savings in 2008). But even so, I don't want to be working for the City for much longer. I'm planning and hoping to be able to retire before my 30th anniversary of employment.

 

[Ed_The_Gypsy]

kyounge,

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

ed