Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

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7Wannabe5
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by 7Wannabe5 »

@Jason: lol-"holistic manner." Now I do begin to doubt your veracity.

Most fun job: Self-employed rare book scout or playing costumed role in children's cable tv show.
Least fun job: Bagger at large chain grocery store or doing computerized data collection cold calls for study on sudden infant death syndrome.

Jason

Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Jason »

Yeah, that was kind of a giveaway.

“So, on a scale of 1-10, how sudden would you describe your infant’s death.”

CS
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by CS »

This one was partially a job I had (it was my funnest), but more so, the job of one of the people I met there (and more likely to be something that anyone with the aptitude could do).

I had a summer internship at the Arecibo telescope in Puerto Rico. It was great - the women stayed on site in two large cabins, and the guys had a communal house off-site (some woman had been attacked/harassed a previous year - hence after that the women got to stay in the cabins up on the hill, behind the guards and the chain link fence). It was great to be around so many women scientists (or student scientists). There were certainly more than in my school back home. Plus they gave the group of us (12) three rental cars so we could explore all over the island on the weekends. We would just sleep in the cars rather than waste dollars on a hotel. Not that anything was all that expensive - you could buy ten ounce beers, with pull tabs no less, at roadside stands for 75 cents each.

One weekend we found a bay that had phosphorus marine life in it - both larger (but still little) creatures, and smaller glowing things so fine you couldn't see them individually. They had boat tours that you could take into the mangroves where this was and see them push paddles through the water to activate the green lights. We were so excited that when we got back to shore, we pooled our money and hired a boat to take just us students out again. We went swimming off the boats. I think there was a full moon that night. The green lights glowed the most around our hands and feet as we treaded water, and laughed, and splashed each other. It was one of the most amazing things I've gotten to do my life. I think we spent less than $10 each on hiring that private boat.

Memories like this make me wish I had kept a journal so I can remember the other students names, and other details.

My advisor down there had a small project and not a lot of work - things like fitting gaussian curves to the data. And I could work anytime - so I'd end up sleeping in, and then working later in the day and into the evening, when I had the work area nearly to myself. Plus I also liked the work, so tended to burn through it - which frustrated my advisor so much that one day he exclaimed to me "Done already? I have nothing else for you! Go the beach!"

He meant it. It was noon on a Tuesday, and he had said this in front of other students and astronomers. I was sort of embarrassed and proud all that the same time.

The person I am thinking of was the classic surf type dude - looks-wise - and wicked smart. He had come down there (internship? I'm not sure) the summer before he was going to start his PhD program, and then ended staying forever (or at least a dozen years, which is forever to a twenty year old) tending to the computers and equipment that ran the telescope. As far as I know he is still there. He was a funny one - always drooling over the beautiful local women, but not invested enough to play the game of actually buying decent shoes (clothing there was the currency of courtship. Flip-flops, his footwear of choice, was repellant to the opposite sex. This is what happens, I'm told, when a society is poor enough that it's not a given that you can afford decent shoes, much less any other necessity or luxury).

He would go and grab coconuts, as in climb the trees with a machete and cut them down, and toss them on the pool on campus. They would chill there all day, and then in the evening we would all have homemade Mai Tais by the pool, with Puerto Rican rum and cans of pineapple, using the endless amounts of perfect, tiny, cube ice from the onsite ice machine. The rum was sold in the grocery story, by the way, and I remember huge pyramids of it taking up vast floor space and make it hard to navigate the carts around the piles.

There was also the best, the absolute best, french bread bakery in town. When we drove in for groceries, every single one of us would buy a fresh loaf and eat it like a candy cane on the ride home. Forget knives, forget anything else, just chew on the end while it was still hot and soft. There was a red sign on the outside of the bakery that would light up to tell customers when a new batch had just come out of the oven.

Anyway, at the time, I thought the guy was crazy for not going back to his life, and to grad school. Now, I can appreciate what a smart and brave decision he had made.

mattimus
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by mattimus »

The only fun job I've ever had was as a video game tester. It was low pay and dead-end of course, but it was the only time in my life I've ever enjoyed going to work. I worked in a large bay with about 15 people, most of us in our mid-twenties, and since the job wasn't exactly rocket science we could talk and joke around while we worked. We had game tournaments on our breaks, occasional house parties on the weekend, and just a great vibe that felt like being in a childhood group of friends.

Every job since then has fallen somewhere between drudgery and outright hell. I'd go back to it except now I'd be the out-of-place old guy, my old department no longer exists (outsourced), and really the fun had as much to do with the time and place as it did with the actual job.

BlueNote
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by BlueNote »

So this isn't a job per se but more of an interesting application of certain skills in areas where those skills are rare and useful.

I work in an accounting/finance environment. The main skill in this environment is financial analysis and people skills. When I come along I bring these skill plus a strong technologist bent. For example one guy I took over for at my work was manually creating 50+ similar reports in excel and it would take him about a week or so to do all his reports. Everyone likes him including me, it's important to play well with others in my line of work. I made a program (excel macro utilizing our cube) to produce and send the reports in about 3 hours. The output was far more accurate and superior in almost every way (after the few months it took to take the bugs out) because computers don't really make mistakes. I'd sit around reading this forum, read whole books etc. for a week. I'd go for long walks and bike rides, my boss at the time didn't care as long as the work got done. I got to thinking that in the right situation I could have turned a job that took someone 4 weeks to do into something that took me about a week but never followed through to that extreme.

SavingWithBabies
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by SavingWithBabies »

I spent a summer as an apprentice to an IT team. My job was to test all their old DOS applications and make them work in Windows. They had lost the source code to most of them and could no longer recompile them. Many of the programs worked but some had interesting flaws like timing loops on startup. So how that would work is the program would do some computation and then they would use the time it took for that computation for another purpose. But the computation couldn't take too long because they didn't want to slow down the program from starting up. So flash forward 10-15 years and now the computers so fast that the computation time rounds off to 0. Well typically that time was used as a divisor in calculating another variable and when you divide by 0, the computer's processor throws an error. That crashes the program.

All you had to do if you had the source code was recompile. Well, maybe you would have to fix some things that were broken as nobody ever touched the code and the newer compiler was different... But in theory, it was a simple fix.

Without the source code, we had to resort to tricks from the video game world like in a batch file, starting a program that hogs nearly 100% of the processors time so that the program startup takes longer -- just long enough that the computation at startup takes longer than 0 time. Knowing what I know now, I would be tempted to try to patch the binaries. I knew it was an option at the time but not enough to figure out how to do it (the existing resources I found didn't work).

Yeah, it was boring in some ways. But it set me off on a career path with an overall vision. I saw all these ancient desktop programs and realized web apps were going to replace them all. But not the webapps we had back then nor most of the ones we have today (although that is changing) but good web apps. Plus it was satisfying to come up with solutions and let them eak couple more years out of those programs. It was also fun to see the mainframe guys vs the PC guys vs the renegade programmer guy in the factory.

Astra
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Astra »

What a great thread!
Seamstress / Custom Tailor: As a side hustle i designed and made custom fantasy dresses for my clients (think the Elves from LOTR). I also had some male clients, but it was mostly women. It was a very friendly atmosphere, meeting at first to dicuss design, make sketches and take mesaurements, pick out the fabrics and plan any decorations or embroideries. I had a few plus-sized ladies who were returning customers - they could not beleve how stunning they looked in clothes that were tailored to their shape (rather than the other way around). The hourly pay way not great for the effort, but it was very fun and I could fit in the sewing sessions when I had time. Met new clients at LARP events or by word of mouth advertisement.

Welder: I spent a summer welding broken farm equpment for a mechanic (stuff like plows and threshing machines, not on the tractor). So much fun! I love welding.

"Warner": Jobbed at our local 300m shooting range. My job was to operate the automatic target system, print the results and fill out the documentation for the shooters. When there was a tournament, lots of short shooters, huntsmen and older gentlemen would attend, and fill up the tip jar of their "lucky warner" (just be nice, wish them luck and congratulate the good shots). Most days I made more from tips than from the salary, and there was free lunch. There was also a small air rifle range in the basement, for us youngsters to shoot. Funny thing is, I don't remember how I got this job, I am not much into firearms and don't regularly associate with people who are.

PhD student: My current job :D There may be lots of aching and whining from other PhD students, but working in the lab and being paid to think and problem solve all day is hands down the best job ever for me. I have a real sense of freedom, self-reliance and responsability for my projects. It probably helps that my boss doesn't micromanage me, but lets me do whatever I want and report once monthly on my shenannigans. And to see that band or that number you've been waiting for is the best feeling: you know a little something about the world nobody else knows or has ever known. Awesome!

Farm_or
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Farm_or »

@Astra Impressive variety.

Never have I heard of a fashion seamstress who was also a weldor!

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Sclass
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Sclass »

Wow. I don’t think I ever enjoyed any of my jobs. I think that’s why I tried so hard to retire. I remember telling someone at my first job that I was going to make millions in the stock market and retire in a few years during my first year of real employment. Big faux pas. I later hoped he thought I was joking, stupid or crazy.

A few years after that I got assigned to playing video games on an Xbox. Halo 2 if I recall right. I’m not a gamer so it was not fun. I was making $70 an hour to play Xbox all day. Management forced me to do it. I got sea sick.

I’d been working on a sensor for a vision tracking system with potential applications in video games. My boss suggested I get an Xbox to get a feel for the target users. I played a few hours and got sea sick. Not with our controller, just a standard off the shelf Xbox. At the time I found a fatal flaw in our sensors. I explained the simple physics to the boss (it was so bad it only took high school physics to show that the unit would never be marketable). The boss feigned calmness and sent me back to the Xbox testing lab. I complained because it was really boring and I’d get sea sick. “Sclass go to the lab and keep evaluating Xbox! Now!” “What are you doing Sclass, aren’t you supposed to be playing Halo?” It was also embarrassing when people in the company would ask, “hey Sclass haven’t seen you much, what have you been up to?” Then they’d bust up laughing when I said I’m playing Xbox. I didn’t really know why.

I was afraid my boss cubed would find out and lay me off even though my boss reassured me that Halo 2 was my work.

The project imploded a few months later while I was sitting in this dark room playing Halo. The boss was basically hiding me so the team could hang on to our budget amid doubts of the tech. I had already told friends how hopeless our device was. I was really depressed about it because I knew there was no amount of signal processing that could make it good enough to sell. The fraud finally was discovered and it started raining crap on me and the entire department. I eventually was offered a bunch of options that included a voluntary severance. During my exit interview my boss said he’d keep me after the reorganization if I wanted to stay “even after sabotaging the sensor program.” I just wanted out. Ahh youth.

Thought this was funny because several folks mentioned video game testing.

Fish
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Fish »

Great post Astra! Though I'm suspecting your positive attitude is the primary reason you found the jobs fun or enjoyable. (Nothing wrong with that!) Have you ever had a job that you didn't like?
Astra wrote:
Thu Dec 21, 2017 4:57 pm
PhD student: My current job :D There may be lots of aching and whining from other PhD students, but working in the lab and being paid to think and problem solve all day is hands down the best job ever for me. I have a real sense of freedom, self-reliance and responsability for my projects. It probably helps that my boss doesn't micromanage me, but lets me do whatever I want and report once monthly on my shenannigans. And to see that band or that number you've been waiting for is the best feeling: you know a little something about the world nobody else knows or has ever known. Awesome!
Creative freedom and monthly meetings. I might have remained in grad school with that kind of autonomy. Impressive!

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Seppia
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Seppia »

Cook
Between age 14 and 22 I worked the weekends in a local Italian trattoria (trattoria is a type of restaurant that usually has a short menu, serves only local food and tends to be fairly priced).
The owners were the parents of a schoolmate of mine, and all the family was in the business, so it felt great.
Very long hours (the dad sang northern Italian folk songs with a 3 men band on the weekends, so we usually went to bed at 3am), but the pay was good, food was free and excellent, and there were a couple of waitresses that were extremely pretty.
I also learned how to cook so it was a total win.

Teacher
My last year of college I started teaching after school math classes to younger kids (in high school).
I was extremely lucky because my first customer was a VERY smart kid who just never studied, so all I really had to do was to have him focused for an hour or so a day and he went from terrible to very good in a matter of three months.
I also started teaching English and history, and his mum was so grateful she started singing praises of me to all her friends, so I was quickly "fully employed", with a rotating cast of 6 spoiled kids from the upper middle class.
The months after I got my college degree I was basically working 8 hour days, making more money at 22 than any other point in time before I turned 28.
That's when I discovered how much I love teaching, I could almost do that shit for free.
One of my goals after I've reached a comfortable FI is to help disadvantaged kids succeed at school.

Astra
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Astra »

Fish wrote:
Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:41 pm
Though I'm suspecting your positive attitude is the primary reason you found the jobs fun or enjoyable. (Nothing wrong with that!) Have you ever had a job that you didn't like?
I've had plenty of jobs too that I did not enjoy, in part because the tasks were less fun and also because of negative work environments. This poll focusing on the enjoyable jobs selected for the ones that were 1. revolving around engaging activities that a person finds fun inherently, and 2. associated with lots of freedom and self-reliance. 3. done with pleasant colleagues or customers.

Reading through all the answers these three really seem to crystallize out.

They don't have to apply all at the same time either: for example I had very little interest in my job at the shooting range, there were actually very strict rules and protocols to follow (for safety reasons), yet the people provided a friendly atmosphere. You could really feel that everyone was just excited to be there, and enjoying themselves. Even the younger teen boys behaved civil and responsibly (might have something to do with being given a rifle?). This atmosphere really elevated the job as a whole (and of course, the tips didn't hurt).

TopHatFox
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by TopHatFox »

None

OTCW
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by OTCW »

Test proctoring is enjoyable. Not necessarily fun.

Loner
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Loner »

Extra/"Actor"
From about 13 to 23 y.o., I played a couple of minor parts in movies, ads, and tv series. One line here, one line there, silent part at another moment. Nine times out of ten, I was just an extra. It started when I was 13. My dad was in TV, so he had me as an extra, just for fun, once. A couple of weeks after, I received my first work check: 120 $ for two hours of work. It is at that time that I understood the word productivity. Straight then, I made up a resume that I inflated with “Theatre” classes in highschool and similar bs, and I sent that to a casting/extra agency. I never wanted to do acting as a career, but being paid 60 $/hour beat McDonalds and rock-picking out of fields (I lived in a rural town) out of the water.

I remember the cheer joy after doing an ad. They had called me and told me that it would be quick, a small thing for a real estate agency. I didn’t even ask what it was and said yes, what time what place? Got there, we did a couple of takes (I only had to walk with stuff in my hands), ate some muffins from the craft, and went in the office to sign the contract. My eyes bulged when I saw the salary: 770 $. Driving back on my way home, I started philosophizing about money, and value, and luck. How the hell am I paid more than 300 $ an hour for doing something anybody could do? I nearly hit a truck parked on the side of the road.

It was not a very intellectually stimulating job (if you exclude the 90 % down time where I could just read books while eating production-provided food), but people were always very nice and easy going.

One thing that marked me was how acting is just exactly like any other job in the world, contrary to how it is portrayed. You heard people talk about certain actors that nobody would hire because they had no social skills and it was unpleasant to work with them, or because they came late, or because whatever. Some extras even got to be hated, and not called again, because they didn’t follow simple instructions such as “When this guy says “And that’s why I bought that new powerdrill!”, just walk across the hospital waiting room.”

Bikeshop helper
I worked in a bikeshop for a year of two. I did some mechanics and learned how to fix bikes. Of course, I got to go fetch the obligatory “bucket of steam” and water hammer. We could keep the unsold magazines at the end of the month. I could also buy parts at cost (usually 50 % of the sticker price). It was very good because I was mountain biking a lot at that time and I kept breaking parts. I literally broke everything on a bike at least two or three times: 3-4 frames, tens of wheels, couple of forks. That was pre-ere :lol: . I break much less stuff now, both because parts are more solid and because I am more skillful. Skills really prevent consumerism. I also did everything else nobody wanted to do: move bike boxes (kept me in shape), some building maintenance such a light painting and weed removal (I spent some time under the sun), and toilet-cleaning (character-building – ok, maybe I’m really just trying to frame this one positively).

Those were student jobs. My current work is also very enjoyable, but much less of a good source of stories.

kalfatring
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by kalfatring »

Summarizing: Interesting to observe that mostly low paid jobs are the most fulfilling :-)

Farm_or
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by Farm_or »

kalfatring wrote:
Tue Dec 26, 2017 7:51 am
Summarizing: Interesting to observe that mostly low paid jobs are the most fulfilling :-)
That really shouldn't come as a surprise. If work was always fun, nobody would pay anybody to do it. Supply supercedes demand.

The jobs that pay better are difficult or unattractive. There's less competition.

BlueNote
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by BlueNote »

@kalfatring

All of my lowest paid jobs were, by far , the worst jobs. However I only had them between the ages of 12 and 21. Dish washer, line cook, helping clear bush (cutting down and removing tree material), shovelling driveways, yard work, delivering newspapers, other unskilled manual labour. All of that work basically sucked and I was often paid peanuts to do it. The parts that were most enjoyable usually involved making friends and romances with the people I worked with. Other than that it was character building and helped motivate me to get better educated so that I could do more enjoyable work. I hated high-school because it mostly involved sitting around and doing busy work. I also had a lot of 'bad' friends who also hated high school and we all skipped class regularly enough where we were all on some sort of probation. I barely made it out of high school and that was mostly because I knew how much it would have sucked doing the menial low level jobs that awaited a high school drop out.

ether
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by ether »

Oil depot guard. Just relaxed in my truck & listened to podcasts.

EdithKeeler
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Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had

Post by EdithKeeler »

I liked working as a caterer. It was pretty easy and fun, people contact, and I got to take home a lot of leftovers! Tending bar was fun, too,

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