I have done a lot of odd jobs since I was a teenager. I am currently working in the security field transitioning to the police field. My dream would be to do work that could get myself and the rest of humanity into space.
What do you do for a living?
- Thread starter supitza
- Start date
Since @supitza and others are either looking into a career change or are still searching for their "calling", I figured I'd share my opinion on the matter.
[$0.02]
As I mentioned I have worked a ton of different jobs in a pile of different fields. It looks like many of you have as well. In all that jumping around out of boredom, dislike, or lack of pay, I learned one major thing. I would always rather be doing something else. No matter the job, even if it was something I really enjoyed, it still was a job. Some were entertaining. Some were fun. Some were very rewarding, but they were all less fun than my off time.
For instance, I love cooking. Experimenting with different cooking styles and flavors is very entertaining to me. Being a cook or chef as a profession though, sucks. What tastes amazing to one person, tastes disgusting to another. Then there's the time issue. Some of the most amazing things just take longer to cook than people are willing to wait. It's something I love doing, but hate doing professionally. It also pays pretty shit too...
So I started looking at things backwards. Instead of my job defining me, I looked at my job as a way of financing me. I needed corporate sponsorship for my life. From that point, it became an equation to solve. It needed to pay decent but without the need to invest much outside a 40hr per week investment. That is how I ultimately ended up where I am (for now). It pays well enough to provide for my family and still have enough left over for me to entertain my interests. At the same time, it is very flexible and low stress/frustration. So the quality of my time off is very high. I can also usually get the work done in around 35-45hrs per week. So I have enough free time left to enjoy.
My main point is, don't get lost in trying to find a perfect dream job. I wasted a ton of time trying to find one. When I was growing up everyone filled me with a nonsense story. They told me that if I just got the right degree, or worked hard enough, I would find some amazing job and I would enjoy it so much it wouldn't feel like work. I believed that story for far too long. In the process, I wasted a good chunk of my life in re-education, certification, and acquiring skills that I neither wanted or needed. Some of you may have had a different experience, but this was mine.
If I had just concentrated on the equation from the beginning, I would have had so much more time to enjoy the things I really wanted to do. My advice is to find something you can tolerate but pays well, work your ass off doing it, and enjoy the shit out of your time off.
[/$0.02]
[$0.02]
As I mentioned I have worked a ton of different jobs in a pile of different fields. It looks like many of you have as well. In all that jumping around out of boredom, dislike, or lack of pay, I learned one major thing. I would always rather be doing something else. No matter the job, even if it was something I really enjoyed, it still was a job. Some were entertaining. Some were fun. Some were very rewarding, but they were all less fun than my off time.
For instance, I love cooking. Experimenting with different cooking styles and flavors is very entertaining to me. Being a cook or chef as a profession though, sucks. What tastes amazing to one person, tastes disgusting to another. Then there's the time issue. Some of the most amazing things just take longer to cook than people are willing to wait. It's something I love doing, but hate doing professionally. It also pays pretty shit too...
So I started looking at things backwards. Instead of my job defining me, I looked at my job as a way of financing me. I needed corporate sponsorship for my life. From that point, it became an equation to solve. It needed to pay decent but without the need to invest much outside a 40hr per week investment. That is how I ultimately ended up where I am (for now). It pays well enough to provide for my family and still have enough left over for me to entertain my interests. At the same time, it is very flexible and low stress/frustration. So the quality of my time off is very high. I can also usually get the work done in around 35-45hrs per week. So I have enough free time left to enjoy.
My main point is, don't get lost in trying to find a perfect dream job. I wasted a ton of time trying to find one. When I was growing up everyone filled me with a nonsense story. They told me that if I just got the right degree, or worked hard enough, I would find some amazing job and I would enjoy it so much it wouldn't feel like work. I believed that story for far too long. In the process, I wasted a good chunk of my life in re-education, certification, and acquiring skills that I neither wanted or needed. Some of you may have had a different experience, but this was mine.
If I had just concentrated on the equation from the beginning, I would have had so much more time to enjoy the things I really wanted to do. My advice is to find something you can tolerate but pays well, work your ass off doing it, and enjoy the shit out of your time off.
[/$0.02]
GrumpyCat
Space Marshal
Well thats the other half of my job, explaining best practices. Don't let servers talk out, funnel their request through another server. Dont use external DNS. Create alerting based on file transfer protocols. Create alerting based on successful authentication external from the US. Create alerting based on improbable geographic access from a user (signs in from one state, then another 3 states over in a few minutes).
So on so forth. This way they go from being blind, to seeing these types of issues immediately.
Your whole post was awesome, but this bit that I quoted struck a cord with me. I never thought about it like that: the more stressful your job is, the less you can actually enjoy your time off. And that's a problem I've had for years.
Thank you for this.
Shadow Reaper
Space Marshal
I had a similar experience. Not only did I pursue a PhD because my ex wanted me to teach at university, but I changed careers twice, so now I have three undergraduate majors, a minor and I work in a seemingly unrelated field.
My friends give me grief pretty often for all the hours I work, but I do love it. What I do requires a jack-of-all-trades and master of none, and that kind of background does not pay well unless you find a way to pay yourself.
So I am not disagreeing, but saying too that sometimes the answer is to make your own answer.
Radegast74
Space Marshal
Yeah, getting a Ph.D. isn't for everybody (my joke is, "you have to be smart enough to be able to do it, and dumb enough to want to do it") but it has given me a level of independence I couldn't get otherwise. Basically, I can either work for somebody else, work for myself, or, some combo of the two. And even if my "job" isn't interesting, I have skills that either a) can make it interesting, or b) help me land another job somewhere else.
My other advice: when you make a job decision based purely on money, you likely aren't going to be happy, sooner or later. You have to enjoy some aspect of what you do, otherwise, you will be forever just staring at the clock.
I tried the inventor path for a while in my off time. You're right. It does require a jack of all trades. It's also amazingly fun for the right kind of person. I just couldn't find a way to sufficiently monetize it. Every idea that I had either turned out to be too small, or after searching, someone already held the patent. That's awesome that you were able to turn it into a job though. For me, I turned it into a hobby. I mainly just make stuff for the sake of making them now. It doesn't stop me from being envious though.
One thing it did lead me to, was putting way too much money into my home shop. I lose track of time out there. I may or may not have gotten an angry text from my wife because I fired up my milling machine at 2am... oops...
Trained as an aircraft mechanic, working as a heavy diesel/semi mechanic, used to work at a bowling alley and build computers.
Pro tip for others though, don't pigeon-hole yourself into one place, and college isn't for everyone, and tradespeople are always needed.
Pro tip for others though, don't pigeon-hole yourself into one place, and college isn't for everyone, and tradespeople are always needed.
I get to invent new ways of doing things, and the answer to the other question is YES. My job became a hobby, then in 2005 my hobby became by career.... there I said it properly that time.
I've been a stay at home dad with our high functioning autistic son for 2 years after my job was shipped down South ... Kinda worked out, though I'd love to get back to work ... doing anything frankly. Just hard to trust people these days, especially with kids who require more patience. He's shown tremendous improvements though and absolutely loves pre-school. So hopefully in a year or two when he enters full-time school, I can get back out there.
Last edited:
Currently an engineering Supervisor for Test and validation in a top automotive safety component supplier (short and long range radar, camera, lidar, advanced digital control units)
Chip Hazzard
Space Marshal
I was in the Army for 8 years, Royal Signals, and Para trained and team medic.
A motorcycle stuntman (top of the pyramid on bikes, jumping through fire, riding backwards etc.).
Worked in the docks, loading containers onto lorries for a couple of years.
Am now a Web Designer (for about 9 years)...But wish I was still working outside!
A motorcycle stuntman (top of the pyramid on bikes, jumping through fire, riding backwards etc.).
Worked in the docks, loading containers onto lorries for a couple of years.
Am now a Web Designer (for about 9 years)...But wish I was still working outside!
Darth_Razor
Admiral
I am contractor for a company that builds Fiber Optics Networks, I am one of a group of engineering designers responsible for planning how to bring fiber optics to commercial and residential buildings. It is a great job, cn't complain.
I worked at McDonalds as a swing manager for 5 years, then went into plastics were I did several jobs starting as a tech, worked in maintenance, team leader, parts room supervisor, mold shop supervisor, to currently unemployed for awhile now. I love building my own computers and was going to college for computer information systems before I lost my daughter and got divorced shortly there after. Not sure what my future work will be :-(!
My hat's off man. I have an autistic nephew, he's 3 years old now and has started half day programs. His Grandmother takes care of him at home. His parents... don't really understand why he doesn't respond to chatty instructions, so Grandma (Na to him) is his refuge in a lot of ways.
Jesus. That's bloody awesome Reaper. Kudos to you.
This. His is what I've found with the Canadian military. After years of grinding my life away in the oil field for many dollars, I decided to walk away and don the uniform. I have never been happier. The family life is amazing.