What was/is your Job/Career?

Southweststokie posted:

CEng,M.I.Mech.E. Mechanical engineer in the power generation industry, both UK and overseas. The last 24 years nuclear related. Now happily retired but miss the people and sometimes the buzz.

Buzz of the people I hope, not the radiation ????

Mike Sullivan posted:

Southweststokie posted:

CEng,M.I.Mech.E. Mechanical engineer in the power generation industry, both UK and overseas. The last 24 years nuclear related. Now happily retired but miss the people and sometimes the buzz.

Buzz of the people I hope, not the radiation ????

Mike,

Radiation was commonly called Fizz (as in fission) not Buzz 

Southweststokie posted:

Mike Sullivan posted:

Southweststokie posted:

CEng,M.I.Mech.E. Mechanical engineer in the power generation industry, both UK and overseas. The last 24 years nuclear related. Now happily retired but miss the people and sometimes the buzz.

Buzz of the people I hope, not the radiation ????

Mike,

Radiation was commonly called Fizz (as in fission) not Buzz 

Now, in my youth we used to have a Pub drinking game called Fizz Buzz, but that's a different discussion point ????

Not much you can do with a degree in fine art painting.

After a few attempts with an office job I realised it wasn't for me. Walking past an Italian restaurant and being interested by all the lovely smells wafting out, I just walked in and asked if they had any kitchen vacancies. This was high summer time and it was rammed and they obviously needed help with a porter.

So did that for a few weeks, then moved up to salads, then making the pizzas and then the mains.  Not long after the team lost the manager for the floor and everything fell apart with most leaving for something else.

Now having some experience I took up a few other short term places in restaurants until I found the place where I work today - nearly twenty years later !!

Its a sort of part time set up with just me and another chef, me on a couple of days and him on a couple of days and with a long weekend every other.

But it is right that when there's a good team of staff everything is better and flows smoothly.

Also gives me a lot of time to do what I want and after converting the garage into a studio of sorts there has been lots of painting activity with a few exhibited.

Great journey there Tobyjug.

Retail

Journalism

Copywriting

PR

Ghost writing

Record company mogul

Still do all of them - except retail and PR - simultaneously.

CEng, FICE, FCIWEM, MAPM. Chartered Civil Engineer and Environmental Engineer in the water industry in the UK. Also done some ministry of defence work and some tall building work in the Middle East.

I pretty much sacrificed everything in pursuit of "making it" in the band I played guitar and sang in, including my education. When the knicker-throwing stopped and the record company dropped us I found myself on the dole in my early twenties at the height of unemployment in Thatcher's Britain and my prospects were dismal at best.

So what does someone with zero qualifications and work experience do? They go into Sales of course and in my case, IT Sales which is what I've been doing in one form or another for the last 30 years. 

IFA. Not exciting, but pays the bills and I learned how to invest effectively early enough so that I will be able to do something more interesting soonish.

I am a Quality Engineer in manufacturing, specialising in process and management system audit.  I originally trained as an aircraft engineer as an apprentice.  Times change though and, with the ups and downs of the airline industry, I decided a more stable career was to be had within manufacturing and it has been that which has given me a sense of stability and financial security although I did work for nearly twenty years out of the past forty within the certification sector.

Now at 56, I am looking forward to my retirement which I have planned for sixty years of age.  In February there will be the fortieth anniversary of the beginning of my apprenticeship and we are all having a reunion at Heathrow to celebrate.  I shall be flying down (naturally) and I am very much looking forward to it.

My retirement is likely to be spent in the voluntary sector and I would like to retrain as a counsellor, possibly, or to do some voluntary work in the NHS.

Dave

I am 59 and started out as a GP in 1985. 

I initially felt rather anxious having to deal with the sum total of human dis-ease whether it was physical, psychological or spiritual. I felt unequipped to deal with it all, espiecially with relatively little life experience myself.

With time and experience, ie mistakes, with diagnosis and saying dumb things to my patients, I had a few edges knocked off me and I learned and am still learning how ignorant I am. Self knowledge is a good thing.

150,000 consultations later nothing surprises me. I am more accepting and less judgemental. My demeanor is  more relaxed and I am more open to those I try to help. With age and gravitas the patients seem to respect me and we talk freely, I listen. And I have never enjoyed my job more.

In 5 years I will retire, I guess I’ll listen to more music, and hopefully remain active with my cycling , and Jen and I hope to travel more.

Thanks  for reading.

Jonners posted:

I pretty much sacrificed everything in pursuit of "making it" in the band I played guitar and sang in, including my education. When the knicker-throwing stopped and the record company dropped us I found myself on the dole in my early twenties at the height of unemployment in Thatcher's Britain and my prospects were dismal at best.

So what does someone with zero qualifications and work experience do? They go into Sales of course and in my case, IT Sales which is what I've been doing in one form or another for the last 30 years. 

Music was a difficult business in those days. Mind you the amount of chart hyping we did at the time think most of us would have now spent time at the pleasure of one of Her Majestys Prisons. Some of the so called biggest selling records weren't that big we were just creative in how we recorded sales. Oh the memories.

Was thrown out of school age 15 and left home at 16 and did not do much of anything except partying until my mid twenties and so went into the only industry open to someone like me that paid a reasonable wage then met my life partner and knuckled down.

After many years of self employment in the building industry I returned to working for someone else 18 months ago and am very happy I did,  as when I clock off I clock off.

At the moment I'm working for a large Northern Irish company as a remedial Bricklayer which is a posh name for finding and repairing other Bricklayers f*** ups so I see things in the course of a days work that would make your hair stand on end but the varied and solo nature of the work makes it tolerable as laying brick after brick can be a sole destroying task especially when listening to the exploits of the sexually fantastic, pugilistic and Keith Moonesque drug and drinking  exploits of my fellow workers.

While at senior school I had 2 jobs,delivering milk on the morning and a paper round on the night to help fund my junior motorcross hobby.I  left school aged 15 with only 2 qualifications,metalwork and woodwork.From been very young i was always hands on and not academic at all.I started work as a printing apprentice 2 weeks before my 16th birthday.I am now 50 and still work for the same company.

Bob the Builder posted:

Was thrown out of school age 15 and left home at 16 and did not do much of anything except partying until my mid twenties and so went into the only industry open to someone like me that paid a reasonable wage then met my life partner and knuckled down.

After many years of self employment in the building industry I returned to working for someone else 18 months ago and am very happy I did,  as when I clock off I clock off.

At the moment I'm working for a large Northern Irish company as a remedial Bricklayer which is a posh name for finding and repairing other Bricklayers f*** ups so I see things in the course of a days work that would make your hair stand on end but the varied and solo nature of the work makes it tolerable as laying brick after brick can be a sole destroying task especially when listening to the exploits of the sexually fantastic, pugilistic and Keith Moonesque drug and drinking  exploits of my fellow workers.

Hey Bob,

Having worked in the City for 35 years, I decided once I retired, I’d do a bricklaying course. After all it was one of Winston Churchill’s favourite hobbies.

What a rewarding time it was and I take my hat off to you, it is a work of art and skill. Now whenever I pass a building and look at the brickwork I am blown away by the beauty and craftsmanship.

Andy

I'm the Company Secretary & General Manager for the Operational Research Society - effectively the professional membership body for people working in Operational Research (OR). OR is essentially the application of (often) mathematically-based techniques to business problems - how do you do things most efficiently etc. (optimisation). Just in case anyone's interested in finding out more, there's a great video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0oMVVx81kCs

OR Started in the war when the government got a group of scientists together to investigate (research) how to make military operations more efficient. Our ORigins story is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ILWbaWrjgU4

I started out in OR after a maths degree working for British Coal, then moved into consultancy and finally turned game keeper in my current role just over 12 years ago. Hopefully three or so more before I can retire early!

Patent attorney.

Graduated with a physics degree and PhD in Semiconductor physics. Spent a number of years in silicon chip fabrication research.

More recently working for the inventors of polymer OLEDs. Now working for a university spin-out company making solar cells.

ChrisR_EPL posted:

Concord pilot, astronaut, porn star.

Simultaneously ? 

GP.

Prior to this - toilet-cleaner packer, selling jeans, secondhand record shop, farmer, obstetrician and gynaecologist.

Alley Cat posted:

ChrisR_EPL posted:

Concord pilot, astronaut, porn star.

Simultaneously ? 

Total dick was missed from the list. 

hungryhalibut posted:

Alley Cat posted:

ChrisR_EPL posted:

Concord pilot, astronaut, porn star.

Simultaneously ? 

Total dick was missed from the list. 

You’ve seen the films too?

G

ChrisR_EPL posted:

Concord pilot, astronaut, porn star.

There’s always one who thinks he’s funny! ????

Yeah, but the rest of us knew he was taking the p1ss.

Suzy Wong posted:

Yeah, but the rest of us knew he was taking the p1ss.

I can’t say I didn’t notice that! ????

I've worked as a pharmacist for the past 30 years in various scenarios, working in a psychiatric hospital pharmacy, working in various community pharmacies, running my own community pharmacy for a number of years and now working in a centre for people with an intellectual disability.

Currently quite satisfied with work as there is a huge element of multidisciplinary cooperation involved with psychiatry, OT, physio, nursing and SLT. Pharmacy can be quite an isolated job and certainly working more with others has helped me understand what I bring (and what I don't bring) to the party. it can be very satisfying when one makes a difference but very difficult when bureaucracy and budget restrictions curtail the lives of people who have already been dealt such a poor hand.

I'm 53 and would hope all going well do wind down at 60.

.sjb