As a kid I always wanted to be a welder like my dad. After high school, I went into the Army as a MH-60 Blackhawk Crew Chief. During my army career I earned a Bachelors' Degree in Aeronautical Engineering from Embry Riddle University. I have worked in the Engineering Department and as a Aircraft Mechanic @ FedEx. I prefer the Line Maintenance job the best. Aside from my job at FedEx, I along with another person own a small Aircraft Maintenance facility servicing General Aviation Aircraft that I do on the side. I like what I do and it has always provided very well.

i was kind of upset to see that the poll didn't include a " my job is slowly deadening my soul and i hate every little aspect of it" option. I just got out of School with my bachelors about a year and a half ago and due to the market, i'm stuck doing what i'm doing.

the more i think about it, the more i think being an entrepreneur would be the way to go. making your own hours would be perfect. That sort of autonomy is what keeps you sane for the long haul.

Sure, yeah, all that...as long as you respect your elders. ;)

Oh, and pass out red envelopes now that you've got a job.

retired last Sept after 20 years in the Navy and 28 years with U. S. Customs...never figured I'd make a career out of the Navy, but getting married and having kids at a young age it made sense...fell into the customs inspector job, which was totally different from my Navy career as a weather observer/forecaster...

feel fortunate, and a little guilty, that I have a decent retirement when so many are hurting these days...

still don't know what I want to do with my life...

wanted to fly a military jet, eject out of it, burn shit up with a flame thrower, but............ hated school (catholic/sicko nuns), got had lousy grades, so, no fly no jet, eject or burn shit, but........... raced a ducati at Summit Point, rode a race prepped Norton Atlas for street/dirt racing, skiing, sky diving, and a lot of alcohol and drugs to keep things in proper perspective.
then, College under parental duress, but.......... ended up majoring in partying, wreaking havoc, and LSD.
worked in a family restaurant/bar, taught handicapped Montessori, Elem Ed certifi.,M.Ed Spec Ed. Quit education after 5 yrs. because it was smothering my needs to fix, change, improve a failed system that warehouses kids, gave two weeks notice and I was gonzo.
Bought a beat up 69 Freightliner and started hauling coal-----wife, four kids & family diagnosed me as off the deep end, but.........I loved it. 20 yrs., 2 million miles, took me all over US, some Mexico and Canada. Hauled my bike with me when I could---- to bakersfield(rode up rt 1 along coast to first Laguna Seca----to atlanta and rode to Datona for bike week a couple times.
sold truck when first granchild born autistic, so back into education for a few years and same old shit. So.....Bought an old house on credit cards(what a dumb shit, huh?) and spent 2 yrs. redoing everrrreeey thing in it til it was utterly amazing and credit cards were maxed out, but..........housing market went to hell and I ended up loosing my ass. Then, retired temporily with shit for income, watching some grandchildren now, but................ riding the big red pig during winter and the big red chicken during summer.
by now i must be about a 110yrs old I guess, so I better quit while I'm behind. I hope you enjoyed the story, but............. it's really pure fiction. i'm really only 22yrs and i didn't get a job yet/really, but.....................

I joined the military right out of high school with the intension of being a lifer. In fact, I had to have my parents sign consent on my behalf so I could go do basic training as I was still a minor. After basic, I went into the Armored Corps. where I became a gunner then eventually a crew commander on a tank.

Almost immediately after basic, barely 18, I found myself living in a hole clutching a gun in Somalia trying not to shit my pants. I spent the next few months wondering not only what all my friends were doing back home but contemplating if I had made the right career choice.

Ten years later, I was a “highly skilled” sergeant, had just completed my 5th tour of duty overseas (Rwanda) and was dating a stripper that wanted to get married and have kids…….it was time to retire. After getting out of the army, we moved in together to start our future. About 2 weeks later, I had honestly enough of her shit and quickly realized I could not stand her. The only reason things worked out with us prior was because I was gone 300 days out of the year with the army. Suddenly I found myself unemployed, completely confused about the “civilian” way of doing things and, to add insult to injury…..single. :mad:

The next few years were spent beating myself up as a bull rider on the semi-pro circuit while I put myself through college. One night at a cabaret after one of the rodeos I met my current wife and never looked back. Today, I quit rodeo, graduated as a Paramedic a few years back and work for the Shock Trauma Air Rescue Society. Best of all, I get to do dirty things to the hot Kindergarden Teacher!

water systems distributor. family's business. it seems to have more downs than ups. the industry is full od back stabbers and cut throats.

Marketing. When I was growing up I had never heard of a product manager. Sort of fell into it. Went to school for Environmental engineering - Figured I would be designing water tratment plants. Senior year I co-op'd for a water treatment chemical company. Turned out it was my job to sit in a paper mill boiler plant and feed this guy called the "Steam Checker" dounuts, fetch whatever he needed, AND tell the chemical sales guy if another sales man came sniffing around.
Turned out I met a sales engineer who was selling steam traps and he owned his own rep agency. He hired me out of college and I became his "Application Engineer", and technical inside sales guy.
Few years later one of the manufactures of our valves offered me a job as an Application Engineer and then that later turned into Product manager. Now working for another company, but still as a Product manager. The pay is great, the work is light and get to travel about a half dozen times a year through out the country and once a year or so to Europe.
If I were to offer anyone in college advice it would be to get an engineering based education and then work your way into marketing.

wow. that is an unexpected turn for a thread

enjoy it while you can! oh did you write unexpected turn? i thought I read "unexpected fun":confused::D.

that's one hell of a first post, HUH?

I think we've been spammed.
:spam:

Dragssora, you are the weakest link.:spam::threadjack:

You should try writing a book if your imagination is this vivid all the time.

this is actually my life summary in a nutshell, so far! If my imagination was that good, I probably would have been a writer.

thanks, nathan

If that's what Dragssora does for a living he's a cocksucker.

Growing up I wanted to be a forest ranger......no clue as to why! Had jobs mowing lawns, working on family farm....as soon as I could do about anything. Dug graves and ground work at a cemetery....sign fabrication and repair, 20 years in sonar with the Navy, now I'm am electrician at a ship yard building DDG's. Currently in a 10 week school for VLS missle systems.

Did you ever eat any pizza from Pernicano's? they are some of my long lost relatives. I think the original owner still owns part of the Chargers. A little guy with a huge handlebar mustache.
last time I was out there I hauled a 45,000lb press out of the Navy yard back east somewhere.

nice weather out there!

thanks, nathan

Cool thread.

Im still a youngster, and this thread has been somewhat beneficial to my career path as i am a senior in highschool. My thoughts on my future have been law school or a criminial justice degree ( to become a police officer for a short time while i make my way up, not to sound too ridiculous but possibly to the FBI). but there are certainly a lot of electricians/engineers/mechanics on this site, very cool.

i just lost the game...



:mad:

I'm glad to hear that you appreciated the thread. It started off as a way to figure some shit out for myself.. then turned towards MY kids... I'm glad it may have helped someone else, too..

yeah, especially now soon starting college everyone is asking all these questions about what im doing, or plan on doing. Thank Goodness i have the Hawk to get away from it all every now and then :P

Like a lot of others here, I'm a sparky. I work on this states High voltage transmission system, doing maintenance and a bit of construction on circuit breakers and transformers etc up to 500kV.

Dunno how I ended up here as my first job was in a bank. Pretty happy now though as I love solving problems and fixing things and guess what 95% of my job is?

Another plus is that give me a whole truck full of tools and stuff that I can take home to use on the storm.

Well I wanted to be a porn star, but missed my window by 20 years and 2". Ended up doing a mechanical engineering degree in the UK,flunked out at the end of my third year.Since then did a lot of traveling and various things from construction to waiting tables,ended up settling in the USA (got family here) and wanted to see this country,so..... trucking seemed to be the answer. Well that was 25 years ago and I'm still driving.Been independent for almost 20 years and reckon I'll be buried in this Peterbilt !!

would you rather lose the game, or.......... not even know you were playing the game!

;)

Yeah, it's tough trying to figure it all out. There are as many options as you imagination will permit. Depends what you're looking for.

early on, I tried to simplify the choices and break it down into two categories: working with people or working with things. Since I perceived myself as a people person, it seemed an easy choice, teaching kids/handicapped or the like. This lasted for about 6 years or so. But something kept telling me I was a "driver"(I always loved driving cars and then motorcycles}. Sounds stupid huh? that's what i thought too.
So, I changed occupations. I had never been in a semi, but yet i knew I was a driver, hmm. I gave quit notice, bought an old beat-up Freightliner cabover with no money down (probably the first sub-prime loan), that the owner told me he would teach me to drive. the joke was on me!!! He took me on a 4 hour run and told me to watch what he did, then took the bank's 9 grand and cut me loose with the truck. Long story short, I had to go to the library and get a book to find out how to shift that dam thirteen speed. Learned the trial and error method(no CDL), and this is the proverbial school of hard knocks(read:guaranteed to cause pre-mature aging).
That said, going across I-80 one day I remember well, 10 degrees outside and 20 degrees inside(no heater, snow mobile suit, mittons and ski hat. You could look down and see the road thru the cracks between the doghouse and floor, CB dancing on the dash, noise loud enough to warrant earplugs(had none), and stupid me had a smile on my face a mile long, feeling that this had to be the greatest job in the world. Twenty years and 3 trucks later, i was still loving it, Stretched out A-Car, 48' trailer, tracking narrow bermless two lane roads, coast to coast and up and down, everywhere, any weather. Just like the bike riding feeling! Not good money, long, sleepless days, multiple licenses and fines, rebuilt engines, changing out parts in the winter outside in the snow in my driveway, often after dark. Definitely lots of work to keep an old Autocar with 1 1/2 million miles on it, and athe spead-axle dropdeck on the road. To late to look back, no choice, i chose it, and wife and 4 kids depending on it. Shut up and just keep on gettin it>

long term assessment:

1) Just as I thought, I was really a driver.
2) However, 2 decades in a truck changed my perceptions of self and hence my preferences relative to working with people or things. I now undoubtedly prefer to work with things more than working with people, with the possible exception of kids.

Relative to your aspirations, in PA, being a state cop is a gravy gig--will allow you to retire in 20 years with 2/3's of your end salary and full benefits for life. unbelievable? that means that you could be making $40,000 plus AND benefits for life, retired @ 42-45 yrs. of age, and then do whatever you want with the rest of your life. Contrast 20 years to 45 years plus for many who end up with less for more. The FBI's pretty much the same deal. And......... these occupations are less dangerous than riding your superhawk on the roads everyday.

hope that helps you.

nathan

:draggin:

Hey Nathan,

I got a couple of laughs out of your story ( especially when you bought your truck and were learning to get acquainted with a 13 speed) thats good stuff. But those are some veyr interesting and enticing statistics on cops. PA s right around the corner from Ohio so hopefully Ohio is the same way. I actually had lunch with the police chief last week and he also had a lot of encouraging things to say. Anywho, thanks for the advice and good luck on the road!

hey you're welcome gtrain! I donated more money to the Ohio State Police than any other state in the country. Fortunately, they didn't have reciprocity with PA or my trucking career would have been severely and abrubtly shortened. They really want truckers' money, definitely not related to safety. I got several tickets for under 5 mph over the limit(one for 56 in a 55) while four wheelers flew by at 80mph unmolested. Ohio pike was the worst. I got so many lame-ass tickets that I flipped and got to the point of making it a personal challenge to get across the state as fast as i could rather than creeping along watching the speedodometer and still getting busted for 2 or 3 over. Between the CB, radar detector, personal experience, brass balls, and a specifically adopted "I don't giva shit attitude", I put the hammer down, jake brake on, and flogged it all the way across. Cop coming, slow til past him, and immediately flog it like a man possessed. I always planned to stop at the last service plaza to eat and get some coffee to allow my toll ticket time to catch up since I was doing such a good job. It turned utter boredom into envigorating bonzai runs which actually resulted a serious dimunition of inequitable donations to the Buckeye revenue collectors.

All the cops in the Buckeye do not suck revenue off truckers, but the ones working the pike definitely are.

If you do become a cop, you can do a good job without becoming a braindead revenue collector in a copsuit.

thanks, nathan

Hey I wanted to be a forest ranger to when I was growing up. If I were to get a job it would be a pharmasist - for obvious reasons. ;)