Self-employed design consultant.
Self-employed design consultant.
I've been into cars forever. My mom and dad raced 240 & 260 Z's back in the day and had matching 67 & 69 Corvettes (all changed when I was born). Uncle (Roland Johnson, some of ya'll may know him) lives in San Diego and races Formula Ford and Vintage and owns a shop building, maintaining, and transporting race cars all over the country.
Me, on the other hand...
Never went to college, started work at 16 and haven't stopped. Started working in automotive at the Infiniti & Subaru dealer in Austin as a porter. Hung out with the crazy tech's and picked up some stuff. Started at Pep Boys as a tire guy and then landed a spot in Parts. Went on to varous independant repair facilities and then landed a job at Motion Dynamics in Austin/Leander. Worked there for 5 years as the sales, internet, phone, manager and shop manager. Learned a TON about performance in that time. My boss was Jim Whelan, an ex-Trans Am racer from the 60's and 70's. His stories were awesome!! Got out of automotive, got married, moved to Brownwood, and started in the mortgage and real estate market right as it was going belly up. Yay... Got back into automotive and am currently a Service Advisor for the local Ford dealership here in Brownwood, Tx.
I found you guys through a friend who subscribes to the magazine. He told me to check you guys out and when I did, I gasped... Where the hell have ya'll been all my life? My long lost family!!!
I went to college, graduated with a BS in Computer Science, minor in Theology. When I graduated, there was a hiring slump, so I took a part-time job work at my local parish. I suck as a catechist (and suck at rhetoric), but I loved the theology. So, I really wanted something where I could use my technical skills to support the Church.
Well, it didn't happen immediately. After that, I got hired to do desktop support (thankfully little time on the phone, lots behind computers) at a medical school for a few years. Loved it, but wasn't challenged at all. It was laid back, and always interesting to diagnose issues, software or hardware.
Then, I met this awesome woman who lived a thousand miles north and decided to move there. And we got hitched. Through her contacts I wound up getting my current job, where I alternate between being a database programmer, data analyst and application programmer. It wound up being for a company that sells church administration software.
Freelance graphic designer here. been doing graphic design for 7 years now and started my own business a year and a half ago. loving the freedom and being able to help small and medium size businesses take ideas and make them real. the pay ain't so hot but i'm hoping that will improve over time.
Luke wrote: When I was a kid, I wanted nothing more than to be a car designer. However, once I realised the chances of penning the next Miura or E-type in this day and age were slim to none, that idea faded fast.
i hear you loud and clear my friend. didn't stop me from throwing my hat into the Factory Five contest ring, but that's about as close as i'll ever get 
I've always enjoyed being creative and had a knack for artwork growing up, especially if it involved cars. was dead-set on enrolling in one of the design studios out there in Cali and doing transportation design until i found out how difficult it was to be successful in that line of work and the stress involved. at the same time i met my now-wife who was going to be staying in VA to go to college and decided i couldn't be apart from her, which was the best decision i ever made.
got an art degree and moved to Atlanta with my wife so she could go to grad school. i had no job prospects and attempted to get a job selling cars but ended up at an interior design company as a graphics guy. soldiered through a year there as a glorified furniture salesman and then worked 4 years at an HVAC components company just outside the city. it wasn't "sexy" design work but that was a great job with good people - i was essentially the entire art department for the company. could have stayed and had a fine career, but the corporate atmosphere was slowly killing my soul and i hated being so far from family all the time.
moved again to NC in 2010 after the wife got her PhD and she wanted to do her postdoc work here. decided i was young enough and didn't have a family yet so i might as well make the jump and go freelance. started my business as soon as we moved and its been slowly doing better. its a lot of "feast or famine" workload but very satisfying.
btw, i'm enjoying the hell out of everyone's stories. its amazing where life takes you. i can see why there is such a rich variety of responses to most threads now with the different experiences that everyone has.
In reply to jmc14:
My hat is off to you my good man.
Javelin wrote: In reply to jmc14: My hat is off to you my good man.
i second that. truly inspiring.
Im an analyst at a textiles production company. I am elbow deep in databases and Excel all day long. In high school I was into Punk rock and BMX, and didnt give a crap about anything.
Long story short, I have absolutely no freaking idea how I got here
I was a naiive California kid with long hair and an old MG- got accepted to the Coast Guard Academy and joined when I was 18. I fought through my ME degree, seasickness, and made it. Spent two years shipboard including a diversion to the Arabian Gulf in a vehicle wholly unsuited for the task. Got married to an South African beauty after knowing her for only a few months, and got picked up for flight school. Didn't think that real people could do it. Nailed the school, spent 4 years in Sacramento and 4 in Hawaii flying C-130's around north and south America, the pacific, and living the dream. A short tour at DHS HQ, then to grad school (CG paid), then to Coast Guard HQ as a training manager/curriculum developer. My current job isn't my cup of tea- motivation is really difficult, but I get paid well, and I'm going to get back into aviation. Nothing like being away from something to find out how much you love it. We just lost another helicopter Tuesday.. that makes 5 helos and 2 C-130s in the last 5 years. As dangerous as the business is, I don't think I could do without it. Second career is either airline pilot or fireman if they'll take me. I've got 6 left before retirement eligible.
12 years later still married with two beautiful kids and a pretty damn good life. Sometimes I find myself waiting for the other shoe to drop... I've got nothing to complain about. Some of the stories here are really amazing.
Went to USC for a BS in Mechanical Engineer, but Vector Calculus whooped me down pretty good . . . even with a tutor.
I didn't want to change to CompSci as I hated programming and didn't want to go over to business for all the mgmt and finance classes. I fell into the old/new MIS program (light programming, heavy core IT and business focus). 15 years later (with a few of those serving as in US Army) after doing all sorts of IT work (digital janitor to Director of IT for a few companies), I've found my niche in IT/Business Process Mgmt (SixSigma, ITIL et. al) and still ended up doing some programming work with a Masters in IT Mgmt 
In reply to Teh E36 M3:
Well hello (sir), another Coastie! I commissioned an 87' CPB and sailed it through the ditch. i was in for 3 and was going to do 20+ but got injured on duty so they retired me.
Javelin wrote: In reply to Teh E36 M3: Well hello (sir), another Coastie! I commissioned an 87' CPB and sailed it through the ditch. i was in for 3 and was going to do 20+ but got injured on duty so they retired me.
I was in for the minimum, but found flying... couldn't live different now. Great to (virtually) meet you, and I'm sorry to hear about your injury, but I hope it led you to a good/better spot. The VA sounds like its taking care of you? After a massive paperwork exercise, I'm sure.
Chics dig me because i rarely wear underwear and when i do it s usually something unusual . Learned to tint in Miami fl as a kid in the shop at age 13 from mentor www.artofmurf.com . Moved to Citrus Co Fl late 70s Father now passed was a NY city Sanitation worker , Met Marie my wife in Cooking school at 16 yrs old . Opened btropical.com window tint in 1986 . Bought house 1988 , bought house across street 1989 . Kid I was renting to , his father < previous Salvage yard owner > got his ass whooped in Biker bar . Bought Salvage yard for $400 down . 1990 Added computerized Signs To window tint shop . Added Sheriffs impound to tint shop 1995 . Opened tearoffguys.com around 10 years ago My brother tinting 3 years longer than me runs the Northern division jamestint.com . Got taco Stand on my birthday 3 years ago jarritoburrito.com . Got new deal coming soon mgacoupe.com gonna sell odd ball used car parts .
fav movie stripes / hobby canoeing
ditchdigger wrote: This is an older version of the machines I fab. This one no longer exists, I have replaced/upgraded it 3 times by now.
Very similar to some of the equipment I used to build at the R&D plant.
That was the most fun job I've ever had, getting paid to design and build cool stuff. Every day was like a fun day out in the garage working on the race car - on somebody else's dime. I used to love it when the general manager would come out to the shop and say, I don't know if this is possible, but we need...
Karl La Follette wrote: Chics dig me because i rarely wear underwear and when i do it s usually something unusual
If that doesn't go in the magazine, I'm going to be extremely disappointed.
Karl La Follette wrote:
holy e36m3...its like a challenge builders heaven in that pic...BMW, Porsche, mazda, Mitsubishi... the list goes on and on...
I'm an armed security officer at a factory I will not disclose much information about. Since every one of you today will eat something that came out of this factory, its covered under the department of homeland security. Yes, that is fancy way of saying I took some notes one day. No, I don't have rights of citizens arrest, I can make any legitimate arrest I want. Will i? Prolly not.
I have a two year degree in criminal justice and am waiting for openings in any police department that will pay me while I go through the police academy.
In addition to my full time job I work at a military surplus and law enforcement equipment store. Its great foot networking.
http://www.starsandstripesoutfitters.com
Electrical designer for a engineering firm that does mostly pharmaceutical work. Cleanrooms. Process. Plus general office and warehouses. Came here from another firm that did supermarkets through a former coworker. Ended up there after a 10 week cad class to learn autocad. And to think I went to school for journalism...
paging SVreX, paging SVreX
Teh E36 M3 wrote:Javelin wrote: In reply to Teh E36 M3: Well hello (sir), another Coastie! I commissioned an 87' CPB and sailed it through the ditch. i was in for 3 and was going to do 20+ but got injured on duty so they retired me.I was in for the minimum, but found flying... couldn't live different now. Great to (virtually) meet you, and I'm sorry to hear about your injury, but I hope it led you to a good/better spot. The VA sounds like its taking care of you? After a massive paperwork exercise, I'm sure.
Flying is great, and I was a little sad that I never did it in the CG. Driving RHIB's was fun, though. I'm over the injury (except physically), accidents happen, life goes on. I truly miss having that career.
Unfortunately, the VA is about on par with having your head smashed with a claw hammer repeatedly. It took them over 2 years to set up my bennies, and that was with the CG taking 100% fault and medically retiring me. I had my 1 year Anniversary with my wife before they finally added her. I went without health care for 5 years. My wife and I have a running bet on how old our daughter will be before they acknowledge her existence.
I'm an architect. I knew I wanted to be an architect when I was in 7th grade, before I even knew what they really did. I'm just lucky I still liked being an architect after 7 years of college / grad school, and then again after I found out what the job is really like.
After starting a family early I worked my butt off in college to get a B.S. in Aerospace Engineering from SJSU. it took me 2x as long as everyone else but I was working and raising a family at the same time.
Thankfully during my last year at school I got an internship with the company I still work for (Major Defense contractor whose name starts with an "L") I started off in the propellant management group, eventually I shifted over to thermal and mechanical analysis of electronics packaging.
Karl La Follette wrote: Chics dig me because i rarely wear underwear and when i do it s usually something unusual . Learned to tint in Miami fl as a kid in the shop at age 13 from mentor www.artofmurf.com . Moved to Citrus Co Fl late 70s Father now passed was a NY city Sanitation worker , Met Marie my wife in Cooking school at 16 yrs old . Opened btropical.com window tint in 1986 . Bought house 1988 , bought house across street 1989 . Kid I was renting to , his father < previous Salvage yard owner > got his ass whooped in Biker bar . Bought Salvage yard for $400 down . 1990 Added computerized Signs To window tint shop . Added Sheriffs impound to tint shop 1995 . Opened tearoffguys.com around 10 years ago My brother tinting 3 years longer than me runs the Northern division jamestint.com . Got taco Stand on my birthday 3 years ago jarritoburrito.com . Got new deal coming soon mgacoupe.com gonna sell odd ball used car parts .
Does this post qualify as a canoe? 
Congrats on being your own boss!!
I'll jump in. Worked a grocery store in highschool and college. In college, went to Coca-Cola as a summer time employee driving truck (Class A, before CDL) After school, stayed on and left Coke 9 years later having been Sales Rep and District Sales Manager. My college territory included the summertime fun spot of the Islands of Lake Erie (Put-In-Bay, Kelley's Island, Catawba Island and the Marblehead Peninsula.) It was at this time I started doing a little sailboat racing in addition to my autocrossing.
Got in early with a newly formed company, Sprint PCS in '97. Have been in the telecommunications game since then or 14yrs working for Sprint, AT&T and Nextel. Launched a new brand in 2004, Boost Mobile and was responsible for company activities and growth for IN, OH, KY and Pittsburgh. Later added Virgin Mobile. It was the greatest job for 6 yrs. Did I mention I was there for 7 years?? Away from there now and off to a new venture that is not yet ready for prime time discussion, yet. It was during those 6 years that I took sailboat racing to the primary position and let autocrossing fall the wayside. From 2005 to 2010 I was blessed with ability to race sailboats on all 4 coasts of the US each year.
Married to a fine wife for 8 years. 45 yrs old. No kids. Overall, happy with my life! I am 2 miles from the lake and my house is on the 18th fairway. Embarrassed to admit I still live 60 miles from where I was born. Not my hand cannon. Photo taken at the Ohio Australian Embassy.
studied mechanical engineering because everyone told me i was too smart to be a mechanic. had no idea what to do with my life until Formula SAE opened my eyes. finished my BS in '91, floundered as a DoD civilian for 2 years, have been in Detroit since '93 doing vehicle-level ABS / TCS / ESC system development and validation. spent a few years doing engineering project management, hated it. now i'm back in the vehicle and love it as much as ever.
on the side i've invented a device for patient temperature management, for which we're seeking angel investors or venture capital. www.advancedcoolingtherapy.com
jrw1621 wrote: Embarrassed to admit I still live 60 miles from where I was born.
Why would you be embarrassed about that (says the guy who's living over 6000 miles away from where he was born)?
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