I'm not a big fan of heat though.
Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
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EristheUnorganized
- Posts: 4
- Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2012 7:41 pm
I think freelance programming is fun. You get to solve a well-defined engineering problem, without any of the hassle of maintenance or meetings or tracking down bugs in other people's code.
The sales and invoicing part of freelancing is no fun though, but I'll probably always do small projects for people in my network. Building little iPhone apps, websites, etc.
The sales and invoicing part of freelancing is no fun though, but I'll probably always do small projects for people in my network. Building little iPhone apps, websites, etc.
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dot_com_vet
- Posts: 603
- Joined: Mon Jan 31, 2011 2:07 am
35 hour work weeks, inhouse chef, and lots of cool tech to learn.Science museum intern - fun, easy, diverse tasks
Tree nursery worker - good to be outside, physical
Crop chemical tester - in a lab all day, repetitive, better pay
Chaotic orbit dynamics student researcher - fun, but I felt I was in over my head
Campus events usher - easy, paid well, saw excellent performances and speeches
Educational dot-com developer - fun, but hard to keep focus all day
Physical oceanographer, defense contractor - paid well, mentally demanding and hard to stay on task
Masters student - paid okay, classes were fun, felt a bit directionless on the research
Rocket scientist - cool title, cool project, pays well, I like it
Tree nursery worker - good to be outside, physical
Crop chemical tester - in a lab all day, repetitive, better pay
Chaotic orbit dynamics student researcher - fun, but I felt I was in over my head
Campus events usher - easy, paid well, saw excellent performances and speeches
Educational dot-com developer - fun, but hard to keep focus all day
Physical oceanographer, defense contractor - paid well, mentally demanding and hard to stay on task
Masters student - paid okay, classes were fun, felt a bit directionless on the research
Rocket scientist - cool title, cool project, pays well, I like it
Video game tester - got paid 12.50 to play games for 8 hour shifts. Very laid back atmosphere and we were free to get up and talk to people when I got bored.
Boys and girls club - hung out with kids and played games with them for minimum wage
Assistant teacher esl adult class - helped with conversational English
Fund admin - a lot of down time to read and study.
Boys and girls club - hung out with kids and played games with them for minimum wage
Assistant teacher esl adult class - helped with conversational English
Fund admin - a lot of down time to read and study.
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secretwealth
- Posts: 1948
- Joined: Mon Jun 27, 2011 3:31 am
I would recommend being an adjunct professor but not a real professor. The level of interoffice politics in any university is ridiculous, but actually teaching and interacting with students about a topic you love is a priceless experience.
If there is a topic you know very well and you get a master's in it, you may be able to adjunct at a local community college. The experience can be really fun, and the pay is pretty good--some adjuncts can pull $15k/yr. working just 9 hours a week for 9 months out of the year.
If there is a topic you know very well and you get a master's in it, you may be able to adjunct at a local community college. The experience can be really fun, and the pay is pretty good--some adjuncts can pull $15k/yr. working just 9 hours a week for 9 months out of the year.
I teach at an FE College (kind of the UK equivalent of a Community College). I agree with secretwealth that the teaching is really enjoyable. You get paid to learn new things all the time, and get to work with keen, enthusiastic students some of whom don't have a lot of confidence or aptitude at the start but come on in leaps and bounds. I've got a few students like that this year and I am so proud of them when I look back to what they were like 2 years ago when they started. You do get a few students who have no interest and are just there because it beats signing on and you have to not take it personally or it gets emotionally draining.
I also used to teach at a University part-time and that was even better as it was a) better run, b) had better admin support and c) you got a greater proportion of bright and enthusiastic students.
I also used to teach at a University part-time and that was even better as it was a) better run, b) had better admin support and c) you got a greater proportion of bright and enthusiastic students.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
As one of millenials who has just recent crashed with job market I find this topic very amusing.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
Games maintenance at an amusement park. The park was not owned by a big corporation like Six Flags, just a group of owners who were at the park most days and were pretty cool overall. I had been working a lot in the arcades, making change and getting Canadian coins out of the coin slots, and they asked me if I wanted to do maintenance. No special skills or degree required but I was going to school as an EE at the time.
I had the freedom to go all around the park all day rather than being stuck in the arcade, fixing classic arcade games, Skee-Ball machines, changing lightbulbs, collecting all the quarters, and doing whatever other small tasks were needed. Sometimes I didn't know what I was doing but I had the freedom to just give it a try and learn since we weren't trained tradespeople, so the owners didn't pay us much but didn't expect us to be very skilled either. It was a very fun place to work with several after-hours parties throughout the summer. Lots of fun people from teenagers to their early 20s mostly, but also a few cool old folks working there as a "retirement job". Between that job in the summer and college the rest of the year, those were the peak years for friendships and socialization.
I had the freedom to go all around the park all day rather than being stuck in the arcade, fixing classic arcade games, Skee-Ball machines, changing lightbulbs, collecting all the quarters, and doing whatever other small tasks were needed. Sometimes I didn't know what I was doing but I had the freedom to just give it a try and learn since we weren't trained tradespeople, so the owners didn't pay us much but didn't expect us to be very skilled either. It was a very fun place to work with several after-hours parties throughout the summer. Lots of fun people from teenagers to their early 20s mostly, but also a few cool old folks working there as a "retirement job". Between that job in the summer and college the rest of the year, those were the peak years for friendships and socialization.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
Carpentry with a focus on home renovation. It was very satisfying to turn an old beaten-up house into a bright and cheery place people wanted to live in. Good money but its feast or famine when the economy takes a hit. This trade requires more thinking and math than most people give it credit for. Going home tired knowing you put in a good day's work and hitting all your construction milestones is deeply satisfying. And at the end of your project, the evidence of all your hard labor is right in front of you in the form of a beautiful home and a fat check in your wallet.
Business Analyst. I enjoyed auditing payments and contracts in order to resolve financial disputes and enforce contract compliance. The "hunting" for discrepancies was very exciting. And getting paid to create financial spreadsheets was a surreal moment for me - I couldn't believe I was getting paid good money to type, click, and create graphs of my analysis.
Logistics: A stressful job but that can hit all the right buttons if you operate on a high level. Purchasing and delivering medical supplies at the lowest possible cost in the most efficient and timely manner requires a lot of analytic engagement which I found enjoyable. The stress comes in when a bulk of your suppliers' manufacturing facilities are wiped out in a 100 year flood after they all relocated to the same place in Central America. Special Note - there was a reason the land was cheap to acquire - it was in a flood plain - someone didn't do their homework.
Computer Systems Administration. It requires a lot of analysis and constant learning which I find enjoyable. I also have a great boss who lets me work independently and my colleagues are all fun and highly motivated men and women.
Business Analyst. I enjoyed auditing payments and contracts in order to resolve financial disputes and enforce contract compliance. The "hunting" for discrepancies was very exciting. And getting paid to create financial spreadsheets was a surreal moment for me - I couldn't believe I was getting paid good money to type, click, and create graphs of my analysis.
Logistics: A stressful job but that can hit all the right buttons if you operate on a high level. Purchasing and delivering medical supplies at the lowest possible cost in the most efficient and timely manner requires a lot of analytic engagement which I found enjoyable. The stress comes in when a bulk of your suppliers' manufacturing facilities are wiped out in a 100 year flood after they all relocated to the same place in Central America. Special Note - there was a reason the land was cheap to acquire - it was in a flood plain - someone didn't do their homework.
Computer Systems Administration. It requires a lot of analysis and constant learning which I find enjoyable. I also have a great boss who lets me work independently and my colleagues are all fun and highly motivated men and women.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
In large scale semiconductor manufacturing, there exists a myriad of critical, specialized machines. Normally, most of the documentation is proprietary and maintenance and repair is handled by the manufacturer via field service.
Field service is expensive and sometimes slow. In a manufacturing environment where hours can be calculated in millions of dollars, there was some opportunities for employing full time employees to specialize in specialized machines. That was my enjoyable dream job.
Unfortunately, the demanding aspects grew faster than they were managed. At first, it was difficult but manageable, but it got worse. They kept sprawling the campus and adding machines to the list. When we complained to management, they thought we had to be exaggerating. Most of my peers moved on before me, I loved it so much that I suffered as long as I possibly could, but eventually the pace and demand put an end to my favorite job...
Field service is expensive and sometimes slow. In a manufacturing environment where hours can be calculated in millions of dollars, there was some opportunities for employing full time employees to specialize in specialized machines. That was my enjoyable dream job.
Unfortunately, the demanding aspects grew faster than they were managed. At first, it was difficult but manageable, but it got worse. They kept sprawling the campus and adding machines to the list. When we complained to management, they thought we had to be exaggerating. Most of my peers moved on before me, I loved it so much that I suffered as long as I possibly could, but eventually the pace and demand put an end to my favorite job...
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Jason
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
Ice Cream Scooper:
I think this has to do with it being the happiest time of my life: summer college job away from home, constantly stoned surrounded by home made ice cream, great obnoxious friends and the most treasured and winsome members of the opposite sex. Young women like forest creatures that I not only respected, admired and adored but treated with the utmost chivalry and honor. They were like angels, descended from on high, magnificent in both appearance and character, without the faintest vestiges of corruption. They could do no wrong and their constitution and behavior was such that I could not help but view and treat them in the most chaste and holistic manner. I can attest that never once did I view or think or refer to them in any way but the most virtuous and respectful terms. It was like their minds, emotions and souls were integrated into perfect harmony, the force of which compelled me to treat them accordingly.
I actually shared a house with three cellists. The only bad memory I have was when I took "break" in the parking lot and returned to find my co-workers beyond excited out of their minds. It was in the Boston area and a local bartender had been shot. Aerosmith was making a surprise tribute visit and came in for ice cream. They were my childhood heroes. Everyone forgot to get me. I started to cry uncontrollably and was so disconsolate that the manager sent me home.
I think this has to do with it being the happiest time of my life: summer college job away from home, constantly stoned surrounded by home made ice cream, great obnoxious friends and the most treasured and winsome members of the opposite sex. Young women like forest creatures that I not only respected, admired and adored but treated with the utmost chivalry and honor. They were like angels, descended from on high, magnificent in both appearance and character, without the faintest vestiges of corruption. They could do no wrong and their constitution and behavior was such that I could not help but view and treat them in the most chaste and holistic manner. I can attest that never once did I view or think or refer to them in any way but the most virtuous and respectful terms. It was like their minds, emotions and souls were integrated into perfect harmony, the force of which compelled me to treat them accordingly.
I actually shared a house with three cellists. The only bad memory I have was when I took "break" in the parking lot and returned to find my co-workers beyond excited out of their minds. It was in the Boston area and a local bartender had been shot. Aerosmith was making a surprise tribute visit and came in for ice cream. They were my childhood heroes. Everyone forgot to get me. I started to cry uncontrollably and was so disconsolate that the manager sent me home.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
@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.
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.
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Jason
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
Yeah, that was kind of a giveaway.
“So, on a scale of 1-10, how sudden would you describe your infant’s death.”
“So, on a scale of 1-10, how sudden would you describe your infant’s death.”
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
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.
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.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
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.
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.
Re: Poll: Fun or Enjoyable Jobs you've had
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.
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.