What do you do as a career?

Career eh?

I've been a Body Piercer, Computer Tech (Just finished a Diploma in IT), Fully qualified Chef and Leathersmith.

Right now I'm just out of Uni and moving interstate to be with my sick grandfather.

I think I have enough 'play money' :crackup: as I recently sunk $2000 into 635 diodes.

I'm happy with what I have done because it means I can literally move anywhere in the world and pick up a job within a fortnight.

Lase

ShortyInCanada said:

Aaahh Dane'.
Those problematic 1d10t errors, eh ? Never done it. But have a friend who does and understand it.

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HA too funny! Not many people outside the IT field know 'one dee ten tee' errors (spells idiot, a nice way of explaining to someone 'this problem is your doing') when they dont understand. Back in my day this error was short lived though, eventually clients caught on & learned to laugh at themselves :beer:

grenadier said:

I need a career, and I feel the best way to gather some information would be to go directly to real people and ask.

So, this thread is a Q and A type thing:


What do you do as a career? How is the job on a daily basis?

How is the income in terms of dollar amounts? How much 'play money' do you end up having when all is through and through?

Are you happy with your choice? If not, what would you have picked?


Now these questions might be a bit personal, and if you don't feel like sharing online you can PM me --I won't tell.

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Are you mechanically inclined?
Can you weld?
Can you pickup 150lbs?
Can you work on hydraulics?
Are you afraid of heights?

I am a service technician, I cover 4 states and I work on loading dock equipment. Dock levelers, truck restraints, high speed doors, freezer doors and industrial doors (sometimes you are 50ft of the ground). I do work at factories, military facilities, Nuclear power plants and at mines(gold & copper) a few examples are Kennworth, Boeing, Dryers Ice cream, Nabisco, Kellogg's and a few other places

I like my job, I do not punch a time clock and I have a company truck equipped with a welder, crane, power tools and I furnish my own hand tools. I have days that I pack a 119lb door operator on my shoulder up a ladder. I usually work by myself. Today I drove 430 miles, some days i stay at a hotel when I am too far from home and usually work 50 to 60 hours a week. (Monday thru Friday) I very seldom work on weekends. Currently it is slow and I am lucky to get 40 hrs a week.

The company I work for is world wide, earlier this year we trained the new service techs from Australia and China.

There is a weight limit for service techs due to ladder restrictions, otherwise if you weigh over 250lbs you will not get this job since most ladders and areas we work in have a 300lb weight limit.

I have been working for this company for 9 1/2 years.

If you really want to know how much I make you will have to p.m. me.

EMT-B & Paramedic student.

I work 3x 24 hours shifts (friday at 8am to monday at 8am) in my hometown on the ambulance, and then do 2x 12 hour shifts (monday and thursday) at a nearby hospital's ER for my Paramedic clinicals. On Teusday or Wednesday (my only officcial days "off") I work PRN at American Paramedical Services Inc in another nearby town.

and when i'm not doing any of that, i'm doing this.

an EMT-B makes around 30k a year. a Paramedic will make around 50k a year.

The pay isn't the best but I have found a job that i absolutely love. I remember the days when I would wake up in the morning and dread the thought of going to work.
That has never happened to me in this field. I wake up and am excited to go to work and I miss my work on my days off.

I'll never been rich from this, or even be "well off" but i'm at a point in my life where I love my career, and i'm not living paycheck to paycheck. If i see something i really want, i can buy it.
To me, that's a pretty decent life and i'm enjoying it

Started out in the military. Pay sucked but loved every minute I served. I got to blow up a lot of stuff.

I then became a switching engineer and built class 5 telephone switching centers and commercial data centers. I was certified on the Nortel DMS250 and DMS500 for telephone and cisco network engineering and design as well as specific equipment such as the stratacom IPX/IGX packet switch among others. That paid six figures by the time I left the industry.

Now I sell laser systems (not pointers), protective equipment and support equipment. The income varies a bit but it's in the six figure range. Definetly, love what I do.

It's not exactly a career... but my current job is nightfill / warehouse stock operator.

Basically I stock shelves while customers are on the floor... then once the store closes I have to organize and facilitate an efficient management solution for high rising and stock management for the whole store.

I only work 21 hours a week... which pays about 20k a year. I also study at university in the time between work. If I move up to a management position I'm looking at a min of 56k a year.

So if we do the maths 20k - (1 night a week partying) - (petrol for car) = 12.2k a year play money (which btw goes very quickly!)

Mohrenberg said:

i'm at a point in my life where I love my career, and i'm not living paycheck to paycheck.

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Sometimes thats worth more than money...

I Work at Paper Source , its a paper converter company , manufacturing high volumes of bathroom tissue, towels and facial tissue for re-distributors and distributors
we based in canada and 90% of our product is sale in the USA
Here is the promo video , take a look !
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJrBfvMk5jM

"I only work 21 hours a week... which pays about 20k a year."

I need to get a new job !
I'm working 45 hours a week. They only recognize and pay me for 37.5 hours.
(meaning that they owe me weekly for 2.5 hours of reg time pay and 5 hours of OT pay)
I'm bringing in about 25K a year. (That's $2100/mo.) The "free" work worth about $500/month take home pay.
And that is why I don't feel guilty about being here on-line during work hours.
After 3 years of 7.5 hrs/wk for free it is time to take some back !

Play money ? What's that ?
Never had or known of "play money" in my life. I can't even afford to eat 3 squares a day. I had to give up regular medical treatments (chiropractic) just to keep my son fed.
There is a good chance that I just might lose my home this coming year.

Anybody want to hire a broken down hard working devoted (till you screw me over) wise old man ?

Get thee to an employment counselor

There are many tests that will help you focus into what you would be "satisfied" doing

Job satisfaction (happiness) is a fundamental requirement for a good life in the world today (I am NOT devaluing other requirements, just focusing here)

If you are unhappy in your job, it doesn't mater how much money you have in your pocket. You are still unhappy. That feeling WILL permeate throughout the other aspects of your life

I was a construction supervisor for many years. I made SCADS of money, but HATED getting up in the morning. I went back to school and am now a professor. I wake up with a smile on my face almost every day.

Ask me which way is better

Peace,
dave

daguin said:

Job satisfaction (happiness) is a fundamental requirement for a good life in the world today (I am NOT devaluing other requirements, just focusing here)

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That's absolutely the truth. I've had a lot of shit jobs in my life, and there's a reason I've had so many: No job satisfaction to be found in any of them.

Nowadays my primary career is as head of the IT technical dept. for a hospital. Not a bad gig at all, I love what I do. It's a children's hospital that caters to low-income families so I get to see a lot of cool things happen to people that really need it. I actually accept less pay than most people in my position make, but it's still not bad money wise.. I have no problem not being paid top dollar since I love my job. I don't really want to work anywhere else.

I've also been involved in event production for years, primarily raves, concerts and large-scale nightclub events. I still do a lot in that regard today, but not as much as I used to. My primary focus is lighting and lasers these days.

"If you are unhappy in your job, it doesn't mater how much money you have in your pocket. You are still unhappy. That feeling WILL permeate throughout the other aspects of your life"

That rings sooo true !
Unfortunately, all options usually come back to needing $$$ to get going.
When you can't even afford to eat regularly there is no way to fund schooling.
Having never had any extra $$ I don't have any assets or anything as collateral for borrowing. (Been struggling to keep the first home since I got it.)
Having never had a good job or record of worthwhile employment prospective employers won't risk an unknown.
Not having $$ means not having a social group or connections to help. If you can't even travel to the places they meet you don't get to know anyone.
In the past as a young single male in the prime of my working life the government would only offer minimal "help" to getting back to work. Their position is to get you doing anything that you are qualified to do. So If you have had nothing but crap jobs they push you to keep getting those crap jobs. They need to keep their costs down. (Now if I was a recognized minority, the funding and options available are stunning ! Talk about reverse discrimination.)
So here I sit wasting away at a job that I can barely stand to do. (Actually I like the parts that I have to do that aren't my job more.) I do it better than most without any effort involved. I need more grey matter stimulation to go with the periodic physical exertions.

And back on topic :
So be warned of your career choice(s).
Pay attention to the limiting factors. Unless picking a position that you can transfer across to another company easily, check out the possible future growth potential for your position.

ShortyInCanada said:

"If you are unhappy in your job, it doesn't mater how much money you have in your pocket. You are still unhappy. That feeling WILL permeate throughout the other aspects of your life"

That rings sooo true !
Unfortunately, all options usually come back to needing $$$ to get going.
When you can't even afford to eat regularly there is no way to fund schooling.

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I have no idea how the education system runs in Canada. Down here one can go to a community/Junior college for less than $50 a unit. Here in California, it is ~$35 a unit. The counseling class I am speaking of is usually a one or two unit class. That equates to less than $100 to learn how you can be happier for your entire life :san:

Heck, low-income students usually qualify for something like our "Board of Governor's Grant" which pays tuition. You still have to buy your book and get to class, but tuition is a non-issue

Peace,
dave

I completely agree with the job satisfaction theory.

That's why I've had so many careers.

Started during school as a automotive mechanic/diesel fitter apprentice (great money in the end) but I hated it.

Loved Body Piercing and met some amazing people (which netted me free tattoos today ^_^) But quickly found out that once I was out of that business, my appearance killed most of my career opportunities. Only now is the Workforce catching on that piercings and tattoos don't make a person.

Loved cooking till I became a qualified Chef. The hours killed me and I never wanted to cook for myself.

Did Leather smithing as a side project for many years. Love it still.

Always loved working with computers so a degree in IT suits me. I'm now very happy with my job and have the money to explore this new hobby of mine.

Lase

All post secondary education of any/all types is expensive money up front business here.
No government assistance unless you qualify under a lot of regulations and can wait for YEARS or more on a waiting list...and no guarantees that a newly elected government doesn't just axe the program after you have been on one for 8 years. (Trying to become certified electrician)
Just the local "interest" programs held nights in schools for people to learn more for their hobbies or to explore new things run from $25-$95 a session/night.
They are non-transferrable and non-credit courses that have nothing to do with the educational system.
The educational accredited programs run in the hundreds for a single course over several months and are located in one of the many college or university campuses around the whole lower mainland area. Unfortunately, they don't usually run the same course in more than one location at any one given time so the course you want may only be held in the campus of a college 1.5 hours driving away. That commute will add more to the costs.
As these classes happen on weeknights you also have trouble making it there in time after getting off work. (I get off work after 5:30 PM. A class that starts at 6 located an hour away just can't be attended. And that doesn't take rush-hour traffic into consideration.)
For some these things won't be an issue. For a lot of us it is a major determination in getting post secondary education. No $$$ means you don't get a chance to do better.

BTW. I have managed to get into several "Career exploration" courses over the years and all the professionals ended up with the same result for me. (And it helps me feel better about myself to some extent.) They never know or have anything solid to suggest/offer as a career choice.
My aptitudes and abilities, knowledge and wisdom, experiences and determination leave them confused and puzzled. They figured that I would be great at just about anything and everything.
Haven't found anyone advertising a job for that though.
Few jobs incorporate it too. Most have an "anything" but few have the "everything". I am a "whole/part" personality. I need to know the big picture before mastering all the pieces. And I will not stop until I have mastered them all.
My current job is the closest I've ever come to one with all the extras that I have to do, even if they aren't recognized as part of my job.(And therefore I am not paid for it.) It offers some variety and new experiences on occasion.
But it isn't fulfilling in the least and is usually quite tedious and boring.

daguin said:

Get thee to an employment counselor

There are many tests that will help you focus into what you would be "satisfied" doing

Job satisfaction (happiness) is a fundamental requirement for a good life in the world today (I am NOT devaluing other requirements, just focusing here)

If you are unhappy in your job, it doesn't mater how much money you have in your pocket. You are still unhappy. That feeling WILL permeate throughout the other aspects of your life

I was a construction supervisor for many years. I made SCADS of money, but HATED getting up in the morning. I went back to school and am now a professor. I wake up with a smile on my face almost every day.

Ask me which way is better

Peace,
dave

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Don't forget the other perks you mentioned a ways back. Getting the summers off and getting to gawk at teenage girls