Recollection of your career

[I was misinformed]

I came across this rather lovely early 19th century quote referring to the death of prominent British colonial administrator Lord Minto (1751-1814) just as he retired back to England: "Lord Minto was snatched away from the embraces of his friends and family, at the very moment he was to receive the only reward which in this world could recompense his past labours - a calm and placid recollection of the career he had run."

Of course, this is an example of a standard kind of story we see here sometimes at E-R.org of people who delay retirement so long that they have no chance to enjoy it. The quote also made me wonder how many of the retired folks here derive significant satisfaction from a calm and placid recollection of their career?

In my case I ER'd over 2 years ago but am still pretty involved in my previous career (academic scientific research) and I feel that I am still deriving satisfaction from the preparation and accomplishments of my work life. Somehow I feel that when I completely stop practicing science, my career will still be very important to me.

I rather think there may be a wide range of opinions and feelings on this among the E-R.org folks....

 

[marko]

My experience 11 years after RE has been a bit of a surprise for me. I never thought I'd end up where I did emotionally.

For 30+ years my career was (as we say in Boston) "a wicked blast". I really couldn't wait to go to work each day. It paid insanely well, I had tons of flexibility, boss left me alone and I traveled the world first class. Like every job there were aggravations but in my case, quite minor (jet lag was my biggest problem).

When I RE'd at 53 (company was sold...I was redundant) it took me a few years but by year 3 I had stopped "being my career" and slowly became "me".

Of course, maybe my description above is a "quiet recollection of my career" but I am no longer that guy.

For me, it's kind of like high school memories: fun while I was there but no intention of reliving it.

 

[Mdlerth]

The past is past

If I ever recollected my career, I would probably think, "You made a decent contribution to the world, helping to make useful products that helped make people's lives better. You cleaned up a few more messes than you made, and left the universe a smidgen better off." But I won't bother recollecting it.

When I FIRE, I will put my w*rk years behind me with as much vigor as I can muster. Perhaps people who enjoy their j*bs think differently. Mine is not even close to the worst j*b in the world, but there is no way I'd be here for a minute if it weren't to pay the grocery bill. I still require the steady paycheck, but there are only about a hundred things I'd rather do than go to w*rk. That last thing I'll be interested in is squandering precious retirement time thinking about my indenture.

 

[W2R]

I am proud of and satisfied with what I accomplished in my career. But really, I don't spend much time dwelling on it.

While retirement may seem like an ending point to those in the accumulation phase, it seems like a beginning point for me now that I am retired. I tend to think of the present and future more than my past career.

 

[Meadbh]

I had a great career, but I'm over it.

 

[Ronstar]

My career was ok, but I got dragged into a couple of consulting gigs that are souring my recollection of the good times. I don't spend time thinking about my past career, only present and future explorations.

 

[Danmar]

My experience 11 years after RE has been a bit of a surprise for me. I never thought I'd end up where I did emotionally.

For 30+ years my career was (as we say in Boston) "a wicked blast". I really couldn't wait to go to work each day. It paid insanely well, I had tons of flexibility, boss left me alone and I traveled the world first class. Like every job there were aggravations but in my case, quite minor (jet lag was my biggest problem).

When I RE'd at 53 (company was sold...I was redundant) it took me a few years but by year 3 I had stopped "being my career" and slowly became "me".

Of course, maybe my description above is a "quiet recollection of my career" but I am no longer that guy.

For me, it's kind of like high school memories: fun while I was there but no intention of reliving it.

This reflects my experience as well, at least until near the end of my career when it became "old". 3 year time frame to readjust as well. Adjustment period will certainly depend on how "invested" you were in your career as well as how much power/prestige/fun you derived from it.

"Quiet recollection of my career"? Maybe for a few years but it's been over 10 years now, and I have moved on. Most recollections are quiet I guess, unless you are Bill Clinton on the lecture circuit.

 

[RobbieB]

I enjoyed my various jobs (8 different Co's) over the years but I don't think of them much. That was my "old" life.

Now enjoying my new life and thinking about that.

 

[athena53]

I'll always be grateful I fell into the actuarial field. (It was the only offer I had.) With a BA in Math from a respectable state university (and hard-won actuarial credentials), I got to places I never thought I'd see on business (went to London for 4 different employers), worked with smart people and did interesting work most of the time. I also made enough money to support the household (divorced deadbeat first husband after he'd been unemployed for 5 years) and give my son the education he deserved, with no student loans, travel to wonderful places with second husband, and retire at 61 with no real financial worries.

I still keep up with the business- insurance is pretty interesting. I've even booked a trip to Toronto for a meeting of my professional society in a few months. I love Toronto and haven't been there for years, and meeting registration, including breakfasts and happy hours, is free for retired members. This will be the first since my retirement.

I've found plenty to keep me happy and occupied since walking away from my career, but I still look back with gratitude on all the good things it did for my life and that of my family.

 

[Danmar]

I'll always be grateful ....... I still look back with gratitude on all the good things it did for my life and that of my family.

Yes, I agree. My family has benefitted greatly as well. We sometimes forget about this aspect of a good career.

 

[brett]

I was one of the fortunate ones. Most of my career was spent with a great organization. Treated well, personal and professional growth opportunities were there for the taking.

My spouse and I enjoyed numerous international reward trips. The renumeration and benefits were in the top range of the industry. Pay for performance was not just a slogan.......it enhanced my final years as well as my pension payout. Any time it felt stale I simply moved on to other interesting opportunities in the organization. My part was working hard, working smart, taking care of customers and team members & and meeting the quarterly sales and P/L goals.

Looking back, I would not have changed a thing.

 

[Tom52]

When people ask me what I did in my working career I normally answer, "gee, I've been retired so long I don't remember". I don't live in the past or really have much need to recollect my working career.

 

[MBAustin]

I enjoyed most of my 31+ year career. In particular, the opportunity for DH and I to work in the Frankfurt, Germany, area for 4 years in the 1990s was wonderful in ways we didn't realize at the time - DH developed MS while we were there and so all of the travels and experiences we had back then take the place of what we thought we would be doing in retirement (it progressed quickly to the point that by 2008 he could no longer walk). Interestingly, I ran into my former boss who nominated us for the move a couple of years ago at a church stewardship conference. We had a chance to visit a bit and I got very choked up thanking him for that opportunity 20 years ago.

The other interesting part is when I use skills that I developed over my management career in totally different ways as a volunteer.

What I try not to think about too much is the last few years when there was way too much drama and way too little support to do what needed to be done.

 

[Texas Proud]

I was just a cog in a wheel.... easily replaceable.... I did a great job all the time and almost always my replacement could not match me, but in the end nobody really cared either way.... a big non-event...

And to tell the truth, about 99.9% of the people on this board are the same no matter how much good you might think you made.... IMO, if you are not remembered by anybody but your family a generation after you die you are a cog...

 

[razztazz]

I was just a cog in a wheel.... easily replaceable.... I did a great job all the time and almost always my replacement could not match me, but in the end nobody really cared either way.... a big non-event...

And to tell the truth, about 99.9% of the people on this board are the same no matter how much good you might think you made.... IMO, if you are not remembered by anybody but your family a generation after you die you are a cog...

Amen!

When I think of my "career" or anything in life it's really just something I did when I was younger because I had to. That's the situation I was in. Or maybe it was something I ahd the opportunity to choose but that just means I avoided doing an infinite number of other things. It had it's good points and bad points but so does everything. The end

People have a tendency to romanticize their lives and their own personal value but the reality is the world would still be here without George Washington, Napoleon, Julius Caesar, Isaac Newton, Plato et al. And perhaps even be better off.

 

[Luck_Club]

During my early career days I always thought why ever stop. This is great, mostly set my own schedule, work on great projects, making buckets of cash, etc. At a certain point the worry and stress of walking a tightrope (sales field) all the time began to take its toll. Started gaining weight, having panic attacks etc.

Now I've reached the point of picking a date and have set 2021 as the year it is over. I am phoning it in until then.

Still need to work in the mean time, but no longer feeling defined by my career anymore.

 

[Luck_Club]

I was just a cog in a wheel.... easily replaceable.... I did a great job all the time and almost always my replacement could not match me, but in the end nobody really cared either way.... a big non-event...

And to tell the truth, about 99.9% of the people on this board are the same no matter how much good you might think you made.... IMO, if you are not remembered by anybody but your family a generation after you die you are a cog...

+1

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I enjoyed my various jobs (8 different Co's) over the years but I don't think of them much. That was my "old" life.

Now enjoying my new life and thinking about that.

This is pretty much my line of thinking after a little over 2 years of being retired.

I enjoyed my career a lot of the time, but the actual "fun" (flying big airplanes around and doing cool test flight stuff) was very limited in the last few years. Just today as I was out and about, I saw my former "office" (The C-5 Galaxy) flying overhead most likely coming back from a test flight. For about 2 seconds, I though of how great it would have been to be up there looking down on all the "peons" of the world...but then I thought about the countless hours, meetings, arguments and "pounding the tarmac" that over the last month that went into what might have been a 4 or 5 hour flight...and I realized that I am very happy to be down on the ground as a "peon".

 

[MRG]

The years in logging and mills were OK. I loved the woods, but it was dangerous. One cutter thought it was funny to fell trees on my machine as I was skidding them out. The mills at first were OK, when I became a buyer in a dysfunctional organization, that stunk.

It forced me to go into IT. The first 24 years were a Blast! I has fun w*rking with several world class teams. We were developing technology that's still in use, major industry's still depend on it. Traveled the world and truly enjoyed those years. The last five years stunk.

I've no interest in technology today. A former teammate asked for a recommendation and told me about what he'd been doing. Completely different from anything I'd done and for thirty seconds I thought "that sounds like fun". After the thought passed I was sane again.

 

[Danmar]

I was just a cog in a wheel.... easily replaceable.... I did a great job all the time and almost always my replacement could not match me, but in the end nobody really cared either way.... a big non-event...

And to tell the truth, about 99.9% of the people on this board are the same no matter how much good you might think you made.... IMO, if you are not remembered by anybody but your family a generation after you die you are a cog...

Pretty depressing view, even if it is true. I never thought of myself as a "cog" and was never treated that way. Dont feel that way now either. Each person can decide their own status of course in this regard. Also, I guess most people think they did a great job.

 

[marko]

Pretty depressing view, even if it is true. I never thought of myself as a "cog" and was never treated that way. Dont feel that way now either. I guess most people think they did a great job.

I used to say: "If you call this a rut, let's keep digging!"

 

[Walt34]

I've been out for 14 years so I don't think much about it much anymore. Parts were fun, parts were boring, in hindsight in more than a few instances things got real scary but I didn't realize it at the time. And as someone else said I cleaned up more messes than I made and the world is a smidgen better off because of what I did.

It was just what I did when I was at work and it gave me a steady paycheck and a comfy but not luxurious retirement.

 

[Souschef]

My career

I was asked for an electronics society to sum up my 50 year career. I have attached it if anyone is interested.
I have been retired now for 7 years am thoroughly enjoying it

 

[Danmar]

I used to say: "If you call this a rut, let's keep digging!"

I often say "it's sometimes difficult to tell if you are in a rut or in the groove".

 

[Texas Proud]

Pretty depressing view, even if it is true. I never thought of myself as a "cog" and was never treated that way. Dont feel that way now either. Each person can decide their own status of course in this regard. Also, I guess most people think they did a great job.

Was the job you were doing made specifically for you

Did someone take your place when you left

Are they doing basically the same job

Does anybody in management say 'why do we not have Danmar here anymore?'


So my observation is that you took a job from someone else.... after a few years their name faded away and YOU were the go to guy...

When you left, someone else took your job.... after a few years your name faded away and THEY were the go to guy...


Is there some record book or history book where you are talked about for the great stuff you did during your life... probably not...

That makes you a cog...


I do not look at it as depressing.... just that we seem to think that we are so much more special than others... I read about a survey where almost 2/3rds of the people thought they were great drivers... if you put that the avg driver is 50%, there is no way 2/3rd can be great...


I am not trying to diminish what someone's life was... you can have an excellent life and still be a cog... you can also do a great job at everything you did.... I know that I did a great job almost every place I worked... because I was asked to do more and I was always at the top of reviews... but I have been gone from my mega for 7 years and most of the people there do not know who I was...