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SkinnyG (Forum Supporter)
SkinnyG (Forum Supporter) UberDork
11/3/21 8:13 p.m.

High school shop teacher, 25 years.

I absolutely LOVE the teaching part.

There is a whole lot else I can't stand.

secretariata (Forum Supporter)
secretariata (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
11/3/21 8:13 p.m.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

No mas pantalones...

frenchyd
frenchyd UltimaDork
11/3/21 8:25 p.m.

In reply to hybridmomentspass :

I used to be aNational Major accounts manager for Caterpillar, then John Deere. And finally Ingersol Rand. 
 Then 2008 happened and along with 22  million other people I became surplus. 5 years later I finally found a job as a school bus driver 

Folgers
Folgers New Reader
11/3/21 8:34 p.m.

20 years as a mechanic. Mostly at independent shops three years at a Chevy  dealership. 

The seven years ago I started at a used car dealership owned by a guy that had a golf car dealership. They hired me for the used car lot they had.  Three years ago the used car guy wanted to move, I didn’t. 

The last three years I’ve been a golf car guy. Mainly fixing golf cars, but also servicing our fleet of Chevy diesel trucks, forklifts, man lifts, skidsteers, and trailers,  but sales are part of the job as well. 

We maintain our rental fleet of around 2500 golf cars. I am the service and parts department of our location. 

Shadeux
Shadeux Dork
11/3/21 8:34 p.m.

In reply to frenchyd :

Keep 'em safe. You're doing important work. yes

New York Nick
New York Nick HalfDork
11/3/21 9:00 p.m.

In reply to Folgers :

This explains a lot about why you know what you know about golf carts!

Scotty Con Queso
Scotty Con Queso SuperDork
11/3/21 9:04 p.m.
Shadeux said:

In reply to Scotty Con Queso :

I love you guys! How much clay and where are there sinkholes are my usual questions.

 

Appreciate it! I actually get a lot of work from architects. I thought that was weird when I first got into this business 15 or so years ago.  

Datsun310Guy
Datsun310Guy MegaDork
11/3/21 9:14 p.m.
DeadSkunk (Warren) said:

I'm two weeks away from having been retired for 13 years........I forget what I used to do.

My 85 year old father-in-law retired 33 years ago from GM's Fisher Body with his UAW retirement package.  He has vague memories of even having a job.  

gearheadmb
gearheadmb UltraDork
11/3/21 9:15 p.m.

I sell repair parts for stamping and punch presses. It's about as exciting as it sounds.

M2Pilot
M2Pilot Dork
11/3/21 10:13 p.m.

Retired Pharmacist. Aspiring to become a Jackleg of All Trades or Renaissance Man.

wearymicrobe
wearymicrobe PowerDork
11/3/21 10:50 p.m.
grafmiata said:

My day job is working for a small division of Kuka Robotics in Toledo, where we are an on-site supplier at the Jeep complex.  We assemble the BIW for the Gladiator pickup.

During race season, I crew for a couple of teams in SCCA.  In the off-season, I "intern" at my buddy's shop, learning about roll-cage and tube chassis fab.  This winter I will be trying to learn how to produce fiberglass body parts.

Small world I have been looking at the supplier that uses the KR3. 

bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter)
bearmtnmartin (Forum Supporter) UltraDork
11/3/21 11:30 p.m.

I am an importer for some Japanese companies. I own one company that distributes their products North America wide but mostly Texas and Louisiana, and another that distributes different products from the same company in Western Canada and Washington Oregon. Sounds busy but actually its just me and my laptop moving containers around the world. Since I have some time on my hands I also do site inspections and geo tech work for an engineer friend and I  drive dump trucks and excavators for a couple companies. Mostly I do fill sites and I like it because they give me a brand new Peterbilt to drive when I am trucking and a brand new John Deere 350 when I am bailing. I can actually run my business from the excavator so I am double dipping. I consider myself semi retired and I am really liking the way this decade is going, covid and all.  Oh, and I am also an almost full time RV engine swapper. 

Scott_H
Scott_H Reader
11/4/21 12:02 a.m.
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

JFW75
JFW75 New Reader
11/4/21 12:37 a.m.

Trailing spouse, or he who does the shopping and cooks dinner. Formerly engineer designing large industrial transmission, and then doing renewable energy project management and consulting work. 

Day job varies based on the location. In Austria, when shale gas killed my projects in the USA, I ended up catering for other folks around the US missions. 3-4 nights a month made decent scratch. Taught cooking lessons on the side.

Between Austria and Greece I volunteered at non-profit teaching troubled young people how to build wooden boats, and life/job skills. Also taught them how to shop for fresh food and how to cook one day a week.

Greece was harder. Local wages were low enough that being a caterer wasn't a great option. Instead I got my skippers license, built myself a Goat Island Skiff, and an apartment on Poros Island for the weekends. Endured 4 days of week of Greek lessons till I was fluent, then 2 a week to give me something to do. 

Now in Madagascar, still cooking and shopping and taking Malagasy lessons. French doesn't get you so far here. Been fixing other US mission folks personal vehicles, but it's 3-4 weeks between ordering parts and them arriving. This delay gave me some time to garden, build a greenhouse, and learn to make cheese (yes you miss some things from the US, and cheese is one of them). Been doing a project to develop a locally sourced pressure cooker, and it's starting to be produced now. Next step is doing some social media advertising for it in country, and building an oil fired foundry for the guy making them to switch away from charcoal. 

It's always a new thing, and totally a make your own adventure. "Whatever I want" is my reply when people ask me what my job is. 

JesseWolfe
JesseWolfe Reader
11/4/21 6:14 a.m.

I've been railcar electrician/mechanic at a large public transportation/subway corporation in the D.C. area for nearly 10 years, I'm sure a few GRM people know who that is.  I work in safety and maintenance inspection on a 60-90 day cycle per car.  It's like working in the automotive industry ( which I did prior to this for 11 years as a mechanic in a body shop ), but you fix and repair every defect you find, and the diagnostic manuals and wiring diagrams you have to read and memorize are as voluminous as an Encyclopedia Britannia set.

obsolete
obsolete Reader
11/4/21 8:56 a.m.

Engineer at a company that makes digital storage devices. I work on electronics for the old-fashioned spinny kind, not those newfangled ones without any moving parts.

The one in your laptop isn't one of mine, and the one in your desktop (if you still have one of those) probably isn't either, but the ones in your NAS might be, and the ones in the servers that host websites you visit every day (maybe even this one) definitely are.

obsolete
obsolete Reader
11/4/21 8:57 a.m.
Scott_H said:
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

... but do they pay you for it? wink

Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter)
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) MegaDork
11/4/21 9:06 a.m.
obsolete said:
Scott_H said:
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

... but do they pay you for it? wink

I was wondering if they actually heed the advice, but anecdotally I'm presuming the answer is "no".

Crxpilot
Crxpilot Reader
11/4/21 9:22 a.m.

Wide format printer technician.   When you held house plans or big posters, my machines generated those.

I trained as a Ford mechanic at a UTI campus but really enjoy this quite a bit more.  

 

calteg
calteg Dork
11/4/21 9:59 a.m.
Scott_H said:
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

Interesting, I just checked our internal contact list, I don't think we work at the same company. Be interesting to compare notes.

 

rob_lewis said:

Software development manager for a hosting company.  I have almost zero coding knowledge (which can hurt when searching for a new gig), but am great at managing developers.  They're a unique bunch to work with and I've learned how they tick over the years.  My day to day is sitting in meetings to plan and removing barriers for my devs to get their work done.  Basically, telling people to leave them the hell alone.  I also have a deep QA background, so the entire QA staff reports to me and I've been able to get our testing in much better shape with standards and automation while also raising the value of the team as more than 2nd rate citizens in the development world. 

It's funny, I tried to be more of an individual contributor over the years and every job I've started in doing that, I end up being the manager within six months.  Still haven't figured out if it's because I'm really good at being a manager or if it's because I'm stupid and they don't want me touching anything..... laugh

-Rob

Curious about how you got into that role. I've been looking for a product owner/project manager role in the automotive space. I've got 16 years of management experience across two Fortune 500 auto companies, but zero coding knowledge. I feel like I'd be a slam dunk product owner at the right company, but most of the interviewers have focused on my lack of software experience. 

calteg
calteg Dork
11/4/21 10:02 a.m.
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:
obsolete said:
Scott_H said:
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

... but do they pay you for it? wink

I was wondering if they actually heed the advice, but anecdotally I'm presuming the answer is "no".

There's a bit of selection bias. At least at my company, I only get paid if the dealers actually show up to meetings, the ones who show up tend to want to improve. I've done it long enough that I can suss out who genuinely wants to be there vs "the GM told me I had to be on this meeting"

Entropyman
Entropyman Reader
11/4/21 10:07 a.m.

Industrial Hygienist.  I run the hearing loss prevention, respiratory protection, ergonomics, confined space, and indoor air quality programs for a very large government facility in my area.  That's what the job description sounds like on paper.  In reality, I spend most of my time getting audited and figuring out who pays for stuff.

APEowner
APEowner SuperDork
11/4/21 10:08 a.m.

I'm an engineer.  I've worked in the paper industry, the automotive industry and as a consultant in a variety of industries.  I'm currently working at a national laboratory on, um, stuff I can't talk about.  I miss the automotive industry and, if the right opportunity comes along I'll take it.

NBraun
NBraun Reader
11/4/21 10:54 a.m.

Ag research for a local college.

 

I basically farm on a very very small scale.

Scott_H
Scott_H Reader
11/4/21 12:20 p.m.
calteg said:
Pete Gossett (Forum Supporter) said:
obsolete said:
Scott_H said:
calteg said:

Dealerships pay me to tell them why they suck and how they can improve

Hey, I do this too.  

... but do they pay you for it? wink

I was wondering if they actually heed the advice, but anecdotally I'm presuming the answer is "no".

There's a bit of selection bias. At least at my company, I only get paid if the dealers actually show up to meetings, the ones who show up tend to want to improve. I've done it long enough that I can suss out who genuinely wants to be there vs "the GM told me I had to be on this meeting"

calteg, I sent you a PM.

Well, I get paid smiley.   We do the consulting as part of a long term relationship deal.  Do they listen?  Sometimes yes, sometimes no.  The better ones almost beg me to come in as they want to get even better.  And, they usually do get better.

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