What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Simple living, extreme early retirement, becoming and being wealthy, wisdom, praxis, personal growth,...
Stahlmann
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Joined: Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:05 pm

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Stahlmann »

<interested in stories involved career changes>

2Birds1Stone
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Joined: Thu Nov 19, 2015 11:20 am
Location: Earth

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by 2Birds1Stone »

2Birds1Stone wrote:
Mon May 16, 2016 8:46 pm
I hope to be retired by 35.
Getting close on this one ;)

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conwy
Posts: 194
Joined: Sat Sep 23, 2017 2:06 pm
Location: Australia

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by conwy »

12-15 - Lawn mowing, cleaning, I.T. tutoring / daycare
15-18 - Warehouse, Supermarket shelving, KFC cook, light admin / data-entry, part-time software development
19-20 - Customer service, marketing / data management at a motorcycle tyre wholesaler, basic programming and web development
21-28 - Web application development, Software development, Software engineering
29-36 (now) - Senior-level software engineering and technical leading
37+ (future) - Retired / volunteering / startups / hobbies / travel? Still thinking it over...

The transitions were pretty smooth. At 15-18 I was doing both data-entry and software development for the same company. At 19-20 I was starting to be put in charge of more complex software projects whilst still doing warehouse work. It was pretty natural to then move to more advanced web development and software engineering at 21. Ever since then I kind of vacillated between software development and technical leading, depending on the requirements of the employer. I don't see myself moving into management - not even low-level management. I'd prefer to stay technical and make a horizontal move. I'm a tinkerer/inventor/creator at heart, I can't stand being responsible for people!

bostonimproper
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Joined: Sun Jul 01, 2018 11:45 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by bostonimproper »

8-15 coin sorting, babysitting, mom’s assistant (real estate agent)
15-16 kid playhouse attendant, receptionist assistant (“business intern”)
17-20 tutor, computer lab teaching assistant, biochem research intern, tech consulting intern
20-26 tech consultant in niche field
26-30 product manager with machine learning focus

I’ve only had one big career pivot in my adult working life, going from a niche area of tech consulting to being a product manager. I had worked with a professor whose old advisor was hiring for his growth phase startup and wanted someone with my niche area experience. I took a pretty big pay cut to take the job (on the order of 30%), but I got my foot in the door and now I’m making about twice what I would have in my old tech consulting job.

Jiimmy
Posts: 137
Joined: Sun Jan 03, 2021 12:28 pm
Location: Nevada

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Jiimmy »

10-18 lawn mowing, farm helper, poker
18-19 plastic factory, steel factory
19-24 accounting
24-29 poker, work break
29-33 gov analyst, gov accountant
33+ work break now

Hristo Botev
Posts: 1734
Joined: Tue Jul 17, 2018 3:42 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Hristo Botev »

ETA: Just realized folks were putting their ages; not the years--oops.

Fun!

11-16: Newspaper delivery; lawn mowing
15-22: Pizza delivery; "cart boy" at a golf course (not to be confused with the "cart girls" who drove around selling beer and made all the money); valet; ice delivery; fish cleaner at a retail seafood market; bus boy; bakery employee at a WalMart Supercenter; light construction
22-24: Peace Corps (best government job there is)
24-27: TEFL teacher; general office administrator/development guy at a non-profit
28: retail liquor/wine store employee (should have stuck with that job; seriously)
28-31: (back in school) more pizza (this time as a slinger/cook); summer law firm clerkships
31: judicial clerkship
31-39: BigLaw lawyer
39-43: SmallLaw lawyer

"Dream job": small scale profitable farmer with a small, country law practice; paid mostly in grain, seeds, vegetables, preserves, hay, and various other farming and homestead inputs.
Last edited by Hristo Botev on Mon Mar 07, 2022 3:58 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Seppia
Posts: 2016
Joined: Tue Aug 30, 2016 9:34 am
Location: South Florida

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Seppia »

Interesting that so many here worked young.
I think it played a big part in making me a frugal person.

14-21 worked at a restaurant, started peeling potatoes and waiting tables, finished in the kitchen as sous chef
19-23 different kinds of part time jobs to get pocket money while in college. Cleaning, painting, moving, clerk at shows etc
23-onwards typical corporate career in sales

theanimal
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Joined: Fri Jan 25, 2013 10:05 pm
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Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by theanimal »

14-18 Golf caddy. Driving Range attendant
20-21 Started and operated Hawaiian shaved ice store. Manager at uni student center
21-22 General construction labor
22-23 Tour guide (river floats, northern lights tours, scenic mountain and cultural)
24-25 Mostly no work, first attempt at undertaking subsistence lifestyle. Sporadic volunteer as wildlife biology field technician capturing and studying lynx, great horned owls and snowshoe hares
25-27 Forest Inventory & Analysis. 3 months working as geology technician at a mine. 3 months working as guide again doing tours to the Arctic Circle
27+- Glorified financial data entry for auto insurance company

take2
Posts: 317
Joined: Wed Jan 09, 2019 8:32 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by take2 »

12-16: (Summers/weekends) Odd jobs at family steel fabrication shop. Mainly scrubbing toilets, washing walls, general office cleaning. Later learned CAD and did some detailing

16-17: (Part time after school) Law clerk at a small real estate attorney. Taught me I never wanted to be a lawyer

18-19: (Summers only) Steel fabrication shop, mainly punching plates, grinding, tagging along to erect job sites and doing what was asked. No knowledge or real skill work

19-21: (Summers only) Intern at a large multinational construction company. Mainly admin tasks, some data entry but got to tag along to some client meetings and see the work in the field.

21-28: Engineer at the same construction company. Various jobs sites up and down east coast, mainly in NYC area. Every aspect of construction (estimating, field engineering, site mgmt, cost control, etc)

28-30: Project manager for a large construction company, focussed on infrastructure development

30-33: Investment banker for a large multinational bank, focussed on infrastructure investments

33+: maybe a SAHP. Let’s see.

shaz
Posts: 420
Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2021 7:05 pm
Location: Colorado, US

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by shaz »

10 - 16 babysitter, farm work, housesitter, petsitter, newspaper copyeditor and stringer
17 - 22 horse farm, creator of confections, professional athlete (aka the glory days)
23 - 25 therapist in a correctional facility (the dark days)
26 - 29 physiology researcher, grad assistant, therapist for developmentally disabled emotionally disturbed children, editorial assistant/assistant editor (rediscovering myself)
30 - 37 web developer, journal editor/editor-in-chief, grant writer, communications director
38 - 46 development director, government relations, journal editor, marketing director
46+ online publishing, content strategy, director of operations

WFJ
Posts: 416
Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2021 11:32 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by WFJ »

1995-2003 Financial Sales (Several fields, several firms. self-employed)
1997-2002 Investment Services (Several fields, several firms, 10+ licenses, technical arbitration)
2002-2005 Travel, odd jobs, ERE, obtained another degree
2005-2006 Education
2006 Travel, odd jobs, ERE
2007-2011 Semi ERE, Education, obtained another degree
2011-2022 Applied Research (Several Firms)
2023 Planned ERE, but will take odd jobs and maybe research that is challenging
20+ fields and 20+ firms.

IlliniDave
Posts: 3845
Joined: Wed Apr 02, 2014 7:46 pm

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by IlliniDave »

Well, from the beginning ...

8-13 I mowed grass and shoveled snow for neighbors, mainly on an occasional basis.


14 -janitor at my HS

15-16 -sporting goods retail

-17-18 general help at a local nursery

In college

18-22 worked part-time in one of the university's research centers

20 -one summer in local township assessor's office

21-one summer half as an electrical maintenance worker, half as an engineering intern.

23-57 professional employment, all with one employer*

- first third various gigs in hardware design/integration/evaluation

- second two-thirds less 5 years mostly modeling/simulation/analysis

- last 5 years software integration/test

*mainly worked on things that fly, both inside and outside the atmosphere, or things that support their missions.

57-? Retired.

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fiby41
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Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by fiby41 »

11: Magician: magic show for the family and neighbours
15: Digital (Affiliate) Marketer
22: Interpretor/Translator
24: Was offered Software Engineer, Network Engineer and Software Test Engineer. Accepted Technical Developer.

More proud of the things I do for free though.
Currently I am transcribing recorded lectures on spiritual topics (Bhāgavataṁ.)
Cold approaching people at train station to distribute/sell spiritual books (Bhagavad-gītā.)
Learnt a lot of varied skills from all these experiences including facing constant rejectection.

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Lemur
Posts: 1612
Joined: Sun Jun 12, 2016 1:40 am
Location: USA

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Lemur »

Fun...

15 - Fast Food Worker (I still remember my pay of $6.25 an hour :)
16/17- Fast Food Worker / Gas Station
18-25 - Enlisted Military - Construction
25 - Left military...government job internship / Home Depot
26 - Consulting Job 1 Small Biz Finance/Accounting
27 - Consulting Job 2 Small Biz Finance / Accounting
28/31 - Consulting Job 3 Big 4 Accounting firm Finance/Data/Accounting/Product Development
31 - Government Employee GS Finance Analyst / Data Analyst

M
Posts: 423
Joined: Wed Sep 29, 2010 7:34 pm

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by M »

16 - 17 - fast food worker
18 - delivered newspapers
19 - factory worker
20 - 36 software engineer for various companies and industries

Software development was really the only job I was happy in. Coincidentally it also paid the best.

Suki
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Apr 16, 2022 6:37 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Suki »

16 - 23 library assistant
23 - 33 dentist

I need to try other things!

Frugalchicos
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Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by Frugalchicos »

14-18? - worked occasionally in restaurants and helping my father in the construction business in the summers
18-25 - worked for a large airline doing check in, boarding and finally moved up to flight coordinator
26-32 - hotel management for some of the largest companies in the world. Worked in Europe, Asia and US. Interesting career where I got to visit a lot of cool parts of the world but got pretty burnt out. Very physical and mental demanding career that also requires to move every 2-3 years in order to keep moving up in the ladder.
32-present - international commerce/logistics. Currently working in management at one of the biggest logistics companies. Best job I’ve ever had so far, too bad I’ll have to quit in a couple of years to retire and do whatever I want 😊

horsewoman
Posts: 659
Joined: Fri Jun 07, 2019 4:11 am

Re: What kind of work/job do/did you guys all do?

Post by horsewoman »

During teenage/early 20s - kiosk/fast food, retail, tailor shop, waitress, barkeep, adult student, cleaner, DJ, office admin trainee
Mid 20s to 30s - office admin, musician, horse farmer & trainer
Now - part time office admin

Bottom line, I can do mostly everything for a few hours a week and enjoy it! Full-time work in one job burns (bores?) me out quickly so I avoid it when possible. ENTP, in case it wasn't obvious 🤣

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