What do you do, and how did you end up there?

Epic thread!

I'm a NYC Licensed scaffold rigger/erector.

All through high school I knew I was going to go to college and be an aerodynamicist for an F1 team. Got burned out in my senior year and didn't want to get another A on another test. Ft.Lauderdale had been hit by three hurricanes and I still lived at home so decided to do volunteer relief work putting roofs on people's homes. Basically realized being good at school had made me an shiny happy person and decided it was important to keep volunteering.

While in school I had visited Speedsource and asked if I could work there one day. Sylvain Tremblay told me they were "always looking for good people." Basically sent him my life story at the end of high school, not expecting much. As the hurricane stuff was dying down he called me in and I got a part-time job. It was the best job I'll ever have but I realized that to be successful in motorsports you have to make huge sacrifices and I left when my family moved away.

Afterwards I took care of my grandparents, worked at a supermarket deli, made cabinets, did sprinkler repair/grounds maintenance and a few other things before moving to LA to work for Bulletproof Automotive/GT-RR. Lost the job unexpectedly after six months. Being on my own and unemployed was its own job title and was one of the most intense learning/growing experiences of my life. Then it was Census recruiter, fab shop helper, everything-er for a small car rental company, A/V installer and finally an architectural assistant.

I got an opportunity to volunteer full-time in Brooklyn and they trained me to be a scaffold rigger/erector. My department takes care of all the exterior work on six high-rise buildings and a few smaller ones. I love this job as every day is truly a new challenge. Motivation is simple as if you don't take your work seriously, you're going to die or be seriously injured. I have terrific views of the Manhattan skyline and even on hot/cold days, I'd still rather be outside.

My term here is ending soon and it's hard to say what's next. I think I'll basically continue in my regular roles as under-appreciated consultant to the world and recovering shiny happy person.

Great thread, I really enjoyed reading everyone's story!

My Dad worked for a large insurance company as a computer programmer. I went to work with him one day when I was about 10, and decided that job was the most boring thing on earth. I swore I would never do anything like it. I went off to college, majored in economics and management, and got my dream job working in NYC in Investment Banking. After a year and a half of 80-100 hour work-weeks, I decided that wasn't something I wanted to do long-term, so I quit in November of 2001. I had learned about Business Intelligence software while in NYC, and took a short-term consulting gig working with Business Objects. Well, that gig turned into a longer one, and long story short, I spent the next nine years as a Business Intelligence consultant at many different companies. Ironically, it was very similar to what my Dad did

One day a few years ago we had a major system outage at work and I stepped in and helped them resolve the issue. The next day, I was pulled from our Business Intelligence group and put in charge of our company's NA server operations. I spent two years managing the server and shared storage environment, supporting 4 major data centers, almost a thousand servers, and 60 branch offices (some in such friendly places as Beruit and Moscow). I loved the troubleshooting and the technical aspects of the job, but wasn't so thrilled with supporting a global organization around the clock Luckily, at about the same time I was looking for a change, my company started up a large SAP implementation project. I applied to be a part of the team created to support the project, and was chosen as the Project Manager for the data conversion effort. That'll keep me very busy for the next few years!

In terms of how I found GRM, I was always into cars as I kid, which I attribute to my parents. When my parents met, they were both driving Corvairs, and they've always loved Corvettes (they finally bought a '94 C4 LT1/6spd a few years back). My grandfather also gave me a Road & Track Porsche Buyer's Guide magazine when I was about 7, and I can't tell you how many times I read through that magazine (still have it). I've been a C&D subscriber since I was 8 years old, and stumbled upon GRM many years later. I've been hooked on the the GRM magazine and the forum for a while now, if I could have only one car magazine and forum, GRM would be it.

wbjones wrote: assembler in a factory ... making mostly small things for the aero-space industry .... actuators, resolvers, LVDT's RVDT's, tach, wiring harnesses, etc... + the LOS for the targeting gizmos for the M1A1 Abrams and the AAAV .....

amendment: RETIRED

wbjones wrote:

wbjones wrote: assembler in a factory ... making mostly small things for the aero-space industry .... actuators, resolvers, LVDT's RVDT's, tach, wiring harnesses, etc... + the LOS for the targeting gizmos for the M1A1 Abrams and the AAAV .....

amendment: RETIRED

Congrads!!

wbjones wrote:

wbjones wrote: assembler in a factory ... making mostly small things for the aero-space industry .... actuators, resolvers, LVDT's RVDT's, tach, wiring harnesses, etc... + the LOS for the targeting gizmos for the M1A1 Abrams and the AAAV .....

amendment: RETIRED

I was tired yesterday, I'm tired today. Does that make me retired.

Congrats!!

wb, you are a lucky dog.

Me? I threw papers in the afternoon from a bicycle then from my car in the AM while I was in high school. Did yard work etc. and some fast food stuff, mostly to pay for my motorcycle habit/addiction. My dad bought into a local speed shop in '73 or so, he expanded it to a 4 store operation and I went to work for him. Family and business do not always mix well, so it was eventually a tossup between whether he canned me or I quit. I had graduated from HS in 1976, had an idea I wanted to be an architect because I love designing and like to draw. So after I left his employ I started college down here to become an architect, did the usual part time fast food crap to buy gas and beer.

Two years in, my parents got divorced, it was ugly. The tuition money dried up QUICK and the atmosphere around the house was unbearable, so I applied for various jobs and was hired by the local Clark forklift dealer in parts. The parts manager and I did not see eye to eye, so I left and went to work for a great guy at the local Cat lift truck dealer. I stayed there for about 4 years, ended up as the parts manager (at 23, the youngest one in Cat's system at the time). The owner of the place inherited it from his dad so had never really needed to work. He steadily tried to put the whole place up his nose. Cat is a VERY conservative company, they finally told him he had to sell or else. The chain (there were 4 stores) got sold to a big chain out of Florida and they swept the place clean. Oh, well.

I bumped into a guy who owned a small Mom n' Pop auto parts store, really nice fellow who I will always have a lot of respect for. The store looked like nothin' but he had about all of the state and local government shops and a bunch of indie garages, so it stayed busy as hell and the money was decent for the parts business. I stayed there for a couple of years, then got a nice offer from a local chain: sizeable raise, insurance, etc. The guy I was working for was selling the place and retiring soon anyway so I figured it was as good a time as any to move on. I stayed at the next place for about 3-4 years, then the owner and his wife got divorced. The place fell apart, a bunch of us were out of work.

I went to work installing car electronics, fun job but no $. I got offered a service advisor position at the local Ford dealership and took it; the money was way more than I had been making and I really enjoyed the work. That was 1985; I've been doing that ever since, with a short side trip back into the parts business that convinced me to go back to the service side. Been flogging service ever since.

I had several girlfriends, met one in 1983 who I really fell for hard. She went to chiropractic college out of state in 1988; we tried the long distance thing but . In 1991, the Ford dealer I worked for had changed hands, the new management swept clean so Curmudgeon was out of a job. One of my brothers had moved to Charleston, I went to visit a couple of times and liked it so since I had nothing holding me I moved. I met a local girl who I ended up marrying in 1995, we had a daughter in 1997. It developed later that my now ex-wife had serious emotional and mental health issues which finally came to a head in 2009, we got divorced and I got custody of my daughter. We wound up moving back to Columbia in 2011, I got back into the service writing game up here and that brings us to the present.

Along the way, I raced motocross (started at age 12) with some local success till I discovered vans, girls and, er, mood altering substances. I started autocrossing with a Fiesta and an MGB with a German Ford 2000 engine I had swapped into it (when I signed that car up the first time I didn't know that threw me into Modified. Talk about a fish out of water. ). Raced R/C cars for a few years, now THAT is an expensive hobby! Got back into off road motorcycle racing around 1992, discovered natural terrain MX was all but dead and the Supercross jumps and I did not mix. So I rode a bunch of SETRA enduros and hare scrambles all over the Southeast. Around 2000-2001, a buddy handed me a copy of GRM, the one with the Ro Spit on the cover, and I was hooked.

Right out of highschool I started as a government apprentice in a shipyard. After i winter on the waterfront I knew it wasn't for me. Transfered my apprenticeship to a machinist making F14 and A6 parts. Inside is much better than outside. When the base closed I went to work making wind tunnel models. After getting laid off there I'm now at NASA working in a cryogenic wind tunnel.

DukeOfUndersteer wrote: From Atlanta Georgia to Medina Ohio. Went from a crew member on Kinetic Motorsports to Porsche Parts Specialist at ECS Tuning. Can thank Brad for this move. From California (my original stomping grounds) to Georgia, was because of my dad. He went from Tiger Racing (the team that recently won the World Challenge GTS Title) to Service Manager at Ferrari of Atlanta. With my prior Ferrari experience (working on the Tiger Racing Ferrari 355 team as well as historic Ferrari's and Maserati's), I went to Lamborghini of Atlanta, only because I couldn't get a job at Ferrari of Atlanta (conflict of interest). Additionally, I have been on numerous race teams. Now, I'm a "key banger"

Crazy how things change in 9 months. No longer in Ohio, back in Georgia. Now in Ferrari Parts sales, helping locate almost impossible parts for outrageous prices. Have been the center of interest in being Team Manager for Wheels America SCCA Pro Trans Am Team. We will see what happens...

As of last Friday, I did work for a company that manufactured outdoor products that are sold in the two big box home improvement stores. I was a field service rep for them and basically a jack of all trades and master of none. A shift in client business needs led to staff reduction and I am looking for something new now. Before that I worked for a service group stocking lumber building products in big box stores. I also worked freelance in the marketing and promotional industries before that. If anybody knows of any customer service, sales, marketing, field service representative jobs in the Southeastern Pennsylvania area, please email me at JosephUmbrell at gmail dot com.

I garduated high school with the intent of being an astronomer. I love space. I hated school. I worked at a Budget Rent A Car for 6 years washing cars and servicing and even decalling the moving trucks. While there, my Dad went back to off road racing which he had done in the 70s. Ran that and loved it( except the clean up, swore off dirt racing right then). In the mean time my grandfather, who was part owner of a small sewer and water construction company, asked me to work there. Got a raise from $6 to $8, thought I was rich. Started in the shop as a mechanics helper. Track jobs, engine changes, even paint jobs on everything from cutoff saws and trash pumps to excavators. Got the opertunity to show them I could run the equipment and have been running a backhoe for the last 24 years. Hoping some day to join you guys on the race track. The itch is bad. Have got to send my 2 kids to college first and they are only 14 and 16. By the way, working for Budget allowed me to drive my bosses cool cars. Audi Quattro, RX7, 300zx, even the first MR2, but the one I want to own someday and I fell inlove with was his 944. That car gave me chills when he let me take it out after a rain. Never drove a car like that before( I know its not a 911 or anything but when you are 19, what do you know?) Thanks for letting me live through all of your great car stories

My background (for simplicity this will read like a resume, haha):

Dad - Music Teacher turned Electrical Engineer.

Mom - Music Teacher turned stay at home mom for 4 boys.

Brothers - Military, Law school turned web developer, and another web developer

Me - multi instrumentalist graduated college with classical saxophone performance degree. Went back to start Electrical Engineering, switched into Masters program for Music Education, decided it wasn't for me. I always dabbled with model airplanes, model cars, computers, some sports.

Work experience:

Taco Bell

Music Store

Car dealership internet sales department

Circuit City

Tech support Call Center (got job with help of Circuit City friends)

Systems Administrator for not-for-profit medical research institute (got job with help of local Subaru club friend)

bluej wrote:

BoostedBrandon wrote: *paging SVreX, paging SVreX*

hahahah! this whole time, i've been waiting for this wall of text with his name at the top and bottom. need to go to bed but will be glad to share tomorrow. best thread idea so far this year.

I'll pass.

In reply to mguar:

Outstanding! Get those wind gennies spinnin'!

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. This was the first one that was all me. By that I mean every bend, weld and cut was me. All the machining and aluminum welding. Everything but the rollers, which are farmed out because they are laser etched and have to be within 0.001" true.

I'm not worthy!

Missed this thread the first time around and I've got an odd overlap with ditchdigger. I do R&D developing adhesives, so I summarize by telling people that I sniff glue for a living. The problem with living in a B2B world is that many times your products go into something else and you never really know where they end up. One thing that I have made a lot of is adhesive for tear tapes. If you've ever had an Orville Redenbacher popcorn bag/bowl, you've enjoyed the end result of about three years worth of product development. Take the bag apart and you'll find a tear strip lurking in there acting as an edge guide. Working on a project now that my customer succesfully rolled out on "Shark Tank" earlier this year.

I'll jump in this because I find this topic to be fascinating: By title, I am an Internet Business Analyst. What I actually do is a combination of project management, IT planning/support, and translator between regular people and programmers. My degree is in economics. Just this year I realized that I in fact use my degree every hour of every day at work. I work in the employment industry.

My high school career tests suggested I'd be an engineer or a wine maker. As hobbies, I have a race car and make beer.

If I woke up tomorrow without a job I'd get the hell out of "IT management" and become a machinist, welder or a mechanic.

Ok, guess I can jump in here. I'll skip to the end by saying I now carry a job description which I consistently laughed at as a "made up" job until I had to do it. My official title is Sr Systems Engineer but I am an IT process engineer.

HS was a mix of jobs, I'd do anything for the chance to try it and earn some money. I apprenticed for an electrician for the summer (primarily digging trenches)

Started out as the night janitor for a florist and ended up being the shipping and distribution guy from their main greenhouse to their satellite shops as well as designing an arrangement or 2 in my day. Side note: when your HS uses that florist to provide the valentines day flowers for the fundraiser deal (pay $1 send a flower to someone's homeroom) and you control the order so you can make sure the girl you like gets roses which were not on the plan....big points!

Parents moved so I took a job flipping burgers and ended up as the night manager of the local McDonalds my senior year...played hell with my grades but good life experience.

Half of a set of twins, folks couldn't afford college for 2 and I had no direction. Tried to go to Lincoln Tech but mom pitched a fit that I should do more with my life so I joined the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic (I fail to see the difference but somehow she was appeased)

Did interior configurations on C-141s for a few years then got an admin role for awhile, still using typewriters at the time (Im not that old, the AF was just painfully behind in tech) and when the first computers started flowing in I started converting forms to digital to speed up my job. Got assigned as the NCOIC of vehicle control for our squadron and got to play with vehicles for a few years, then a job as the squadron training manager for another year, finally the technology was outpacing the job structure and they had no real career field for networking and desktop support so I was pulled to help build the network on base and ended up as the NCOIC of Logistics networking and support. After 12 years in the AF and 5 doing the computers thing they finally had people with actual job codes for computers and tried to send me back to working on planes. I put in my papers and made for the door.

Took a job as a help desk manager for a dot com. Hated the software they were using for call tracking so they offered to pay for me to get some training in it to better configure it. Ended up getting fully certified in the package making me one of very few people at the time with that cert. Was headhunted by a consulting company specializing in the software for a project which has previously been deemed impossible by other firms. Liking a challenge I joined their team and helped build the first ever telephony provisioning application from this software for Adelphia Cable.

Contract with Adelphia ended abruptly when the CIO at Adelphia was discovered to be cooking the books and overcharging consulting fees to pocket the extra. We were laid off with no notice. In one of the most fortunate occurrences of my career I reached out to our sales rep for the software package. Layoff notice Friday at 10:00am, sent resume to Sales rep at 11:00am, telephone interview with Comcast cable by 2:00pm started work the following monday.

Spent 5 years at Comcast building a customer support system (largest in the world at the time) and once it was done and stable spent 6 months playing solitare at my desk waiting for something new to do. Saw the writing on the wall and floated my resume out there.

Recruiter from a pharma company got me a good gig reverse engineering their system which had been poorly built to try and salvage the good bits. Spent 2 years cleaning up and documenting their system when they decided to start outsourcing IT. Same recruiter, now working for a different pharma company contacted my boss to say they needed someone with my skills but he didnt want to burn bridges. My boss gave me the job posting for the competing company, saw the writing on the wall.

Inteviewed with new company for software engineer position but during the interview started talking about ITIL methodology (process design), suddenly I was interviewing with more people higher up the food chain. The story, told to me in retrospect, is they brought me in to interview for the software position. They were also looking to fill the process engineer position which was a higher position. When the first interviewers realized my potential they had me interview with the managers of the 2nd position and suddenly combined the 2. Saved them a headcount and got me a bit better pay scale.

I'm still here, went from being the guy that did software development for one local system to doing the IT process engineering, running 8 local systems, 6 built on my software platform and 2 other out of box things. Our Danish corporate office found out about me and put me on a global project to consolidate to a single set of processes and software for all affiliates worldwide as the technical SME. That project went live last summer so now I'm back to a more local focus while consulting on the global system.

Its always been an adventure, and I'm starting to feel the need to take a new path and start a new adventure, probably still a little bit away now, but I'm ready to get out of the northeast and maybe do something different for awhile....never know where life will lead ;) Wife and I are currently starting up a business which will have some appeal around here, it won't enable me to quit my job, but it will let me have some fun.

SVreX wrote:

bluej wrote:

BoostedBrandon wrote: *paging SVreX, paging SVreX*

hahahah! this whole time, i've been waiting for this wall of text with his name at the top and bottom. need to go to bed but will be glad to share tomorrow. best thread idea so far this year.

I'll pass.

We can't have waited this long only for you to say that... Very dissappoint...

I remember this thread from last year but decided to read the whole thing again anyway. Great stuff! No wonder this place is such a brain trust.

My story:

Grew up surfing, boating, fishing and doing things people do in South Florida. I needed money to pay for gas to get to the beach so I got a job at Taco Bell. I did that for a solid 4 hours before walking across the street and getting a job as a busboy at a high-end restaurant and quickly becoming a waiter. Buying and selling on eBay/garage sales/forums etc was always a side job for me and I was pretty good at it.

I was also always was a tinkerer and builder. In highschool I dismantled almost every single part in my Mustang and rebuilt it with the help of my Dad, a Haynes manual and the internet. I wanted to design/build something, probably boats. In high school I was kicked out of shop class and placed into a marketing class. I think this was the tipping point where the business side of me started to outweigh the engineering side of me. Not sure if that was a good thing or not.

I went to school, working side jobs the whole time, and decided on business. After further consideration, I realized Accounting was the only meaningful business degree, and I was halfway decent at it. After talking myself into a professional business society I shouldn't have been allowed in, I became an officer of that organization and met the people I needed to know to get a job out of school.

2.5 years later I am a CPA doing public accounting / Tax work for some pretty awesome clients. The issue is you work on these engagements for a few weeks, see the inner workings of a company/person and their billions of dollars in assets, and then it is gone until next year. I don't get that satisfaction of building a material object except maybe the partner's bank accounts.

I've always wanted to create and build so I am currently trying to get my ducks in a row to start a small practice preparing individual returns. I figure this would bridge the gap between accounting and building something (small tax practice) and let me get out of this dreary office and little work/life balance. I have a good amount of savings and the goal is to throw that at certain ideas until one sticks and can make money. Hopefully I can make some side money, go part time at my current firm and then once the side money becomes relevant, do that full time. Who knows what that'll be.

I am a warehouse manager for an industrial supply company, dealing with abrasives, carbide, etc. I am lucky to even be here, as this company bought out my previous employer and initially I wasn't going to be offered a place with the new company. Evidentally my work ethic is what ended up getting me this job. I'm paid as well as I ever have been, have insurance and other benefits I've never had, and I have a pretty free schedule. Before that, I had worked in corrections and disc jockeying.

Im in manufacturing analysis for a small mfg outfit in Cincinnati. I taught myself Excel and Visual Basic at my last job. That last job also went through some pretty serious growing pains when upgrading from a bubblegum and paperclips hackjob to a full fledged warehouse management system. I helped ease those pains in my role there. Between my experience in "major operational systems upgrades" and a deep background in analytics/operational support, I ended up here when the last place closed up shop.

I never thought in a million years this is what Id be doing. I was pretty certain Id end up either a sponsored BMX factory rider, or in BMX journalism. But, reality set in somewhere in my mid twenties that if it hadnt happened yet, it wasnt going to. I got a decent gig at a local assembly and distribution place, and worked my way up. Now, about 9 years and several promotions later, Im managing a process, and a team. Its a far cry from BMX freestyle, but it pays the bills, my boss is cool, the company has been experiencing steady growth for some time, and is projected to continue to grow. Things could be very very much worse. I consider myself lucky, and thank my deity of choice whenever I can.

edit...DOH - didnt notice that this thread mustve been zombified by a now sunk watercraft...

4cylndrfury wrote: edit...DOH - didnt notice that this thread mustve been zombified by a now sunk watercraft...

You weren't the first zombie response and it's a good one to bring back to the top and update now and then.

I'm Jesus'ing this thread.

Kinda starts with my dad. He grew up in rural Nebraska(Columbus). Graduated and joined the Navy. Got stationed in San Diego. Met my mom at a wedding(she's from east LA homezzz). Sister was born in SD. Dad got out of the Navy and got a job in Nebraska with a utility. Brother was born in Auburn, NE. Dad got offered a job at Rancho Seco in Sacramento, CA. That's where I come into the picture.

It was 1986. Torrental downpours threatened flooding. I was born. The rain stopped. Since then, my family calls me either "Golden Child" or my traditional native name "Stops the rain." Yes, if you lived in Sacramento in 1986, you can thank my birth for saving your sweet ass.

Anywho... Rancho Seco was shut down in 1989/1990, and my pops got picked up by Detroit Edison to work at Fermi 2. He didn't like the Detroit or Monroe area, so he bought a house in Sylvania, a suburb of Toledo, OH. Grew up there with people making fun of the way I talked(spent my summers in NE at my grandparents and never could shake my CA accent) and my messikan skin, so I hated it. Graduated with a 2.0 and aced nearly every standardized test known to man. Bounced around from crap job to crap job after highschool, delayed going to college, met mistake #1, got a job offer in Phoenix at age 19, decided to stick around for mistake #1, got dumped a year later by mistake #1, job dried up, car got repo'd. Decided to finally packed my crap up and moved to Phoenix a month before my 21st. Decided I wanted to join the Air Force. 99%tile on the ASVAB. I could do anything.... bad credit kept me from entering immediately. Stayed in Phoenix for 6 months before I decided it was too damn hot, jumped in a truck with my Uncle and got a job working at the Four Seasons. In Jackson. Wyoming.

Stayed in Jackson for about 2 years or so, with a short stint staying with my parents back in Toledo during the summer of 2008 because I'm an idiot, got E36 M3facedwasted and rolled a REALLY nice Jeep I had just bought off of my newly preggers sister who was still in Phoenix(from where I drove it back to WY, best road trip ever) three months earlier. Broken back= no more Air Force dreams. Decided Jackson wasn't for me, although where I lived was insane during the winter, 200ft from the lift in town, worked 500ft from the lift at Jackson Hole and would snowboard almost daily since I worked overnight. Made good money, too. Just too far from everything. Decided to get a job working for said uncle running the overnight cleaning at the Four Seasons in Carlsbad. California. A week after I signed a new lease in Jackson. berkeley it, I thought, I'm young.

Moved to San Diego. Hated it for the entire year or so I lived there. Uncle told me about a new contract with new Four Seasons in Denver and Vail, asked me to take over both accounts with tons of promises for more pay etc. Too good to be true, so I took that job.

Moved to Denver, met another mistake, moved in with said mistake, got a dog, new furniture, the whole nine yards, almost buying a house/ring. Quit a job making $50K a year and honestly couldn't be happier. Got a crap job to cover the bills and started back in school. Culinary school. Fast forward to last spring, mistake says she doesn't want any of it, dumps my ass, keeps the dog+everything, and I move back to Ohio with my tail between my legs in July '12. With pretty much nothing to show for it. Moved in with my parents. Dad got me an entry level job at Detroit Edison being a cubicle jockey. Continued with school locally, even though now I'm 27 and have no effing clue what I'm doing with my life. Switched to an engineering major. I like cars, and taking stuff apart/fixing things, but that's about it.

About a year later, I'm glad to be back. I live on my own now, am making decent money, getting 'meh' grades(I'd be acing everything if I knew which path to take for a degree), and just enjoying being single, young(ish), and without kids.

That's me in a nutshell.

Teacher, 10th grade modern world history.

Got my edumacation, worked as a sub for a while and kissed plenty of butt.

Update:

Associates in Business, Bachelors in Geography, worked multiple jobs trying to get those degrees, a paid internship in municipal government, a paid internship doing trail/recreation planning, moved to Erie, PA worked in county land use planning, got laid off, moved home, got lucky and landed a job working for a Gas Utility company, hoping to work here for a few years, maybe go back to school for civil engineering or forestry and get a job in a utility company out west.

Utilities, for being an "old industry" actually have a lot of change in them.