What do you do for a living?

[Texan]

Many times, our experiences define our attitudes and qualify our opinions. I'm also curious about Aussie culture and the jobs available to you as a random sample of the Australian public. What do you do for a living and if you are retired, what did you do to provide for your family?

I've done all kinds of jobs as a teenager and working my way through college. I mowed yards, worked in clothing stores, did carpentry, dug ditches for sprinkler systems, cashier in a grocery store, and even did telemarketing for 2 weeks. (I hated that one.) I dropped out of college and went into the US Air Force. I fixed aircraft electronics on F-111s for several years and finished my Bachelors Degree in Electronics during that time. It was a fun job, but it didn't pay well and deployments were always a possibility. Mrs Texan didn't want to raise our boys by herself, so I got out of the military and used my degree.

Since 1994, I've worked on Uninterruptible Power Supplies. They are solid state power converters that use large battery systems to keep critical loads from losing power. Systems are from 2 KVA to 6000 KVA. I am dispatched from my house to work on the equipment on site. We do a lot of periodic maintenance, repairs, battery replacements, and load bank testing. I usually work alone, unless the job is big. Then we may have 3-4 of us. I rarely work the same site 2 days in a row and I'm paid for travel time and furnished a work vehicle, phone, computer, tech support, parts, etc....... I am on call 24/7 and my hours vary wildly. I mostly work in data centers, but I have been in 33 states, work in manufacturing environments and gone off shore to mining and drilling platforms. I've worked in top secret government locations for every Federal agency I can think of. I have the option of traveling the world and working at US military bases all over the world, but I leave most of the traveling to the young guys now. It's been a fun job and I intend to do it until I retire.

[Nicole]

Hey Tex,

Good thread topic

My first job was in a dine in / take away food shop in my home town. I worked the counter / took out the meals / did the dishes. I had to wear a yellow T-shirt with a pink pig on it that said, “Goodies. Fine, fast take away food”. My friends used to come in and pay the shit out of me at every opportunity. It wasn’t a bad job but the mum and dad owners were arseholes. They’d go through the orders vs what was run up on the till, and if I neglected to charge someone for egg on their hamburgerI’d get 30 cents deducted from my wage for the cost of the egg. I worked in a shoe store at uni for awhile too.

Then I landed a job in a fledgling travel company when I was 19. It was a sales job and paid extremely well and to my surprise, I was good at it. I always had more money than my friends who were also at uni.

I didn’t know what I wanted to do in terms of career. I was in my second year of law at uni and I hated it big time. The owner of the travel company wanted to set it up in Melbourne. He offered me the opportunity to do exactly that so after my second year of law I figured I would, while I figured out exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I moved to Melbourne and lived there for nearly 2 years. It nearly killed me but that’s another story

Then the owner merged the Adelaide and Melbourne businesses with the head office being in Adelaide. He offered me a job as the sales and marketing manager and I took it. It paid very well, and as I grew older I worked my way to the top. It let me have a son and be a single mother and flexibility. I stayed at this job for 20 years.

Then I became increasingly depressed. I realised that the sole meaning to my job was to make the director money. I left - probably 5 years later than I should have - and did a Masters of Social Work. I got a job working for the Department for Child Protection. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done. I only lasted at that for 2 years.

Now I work in a similar field but for an NGO and coming at child protection from a different angle. I absolutely love it. Turns out my mid life crisis worked out and I landed on my feet, lol.

Cheers,
Nic

[Texan]

It sounds like you did whatever it takes to be successful and have a fulfilling career. Thanks for the reply.

Then I became increasingly depressed. I realised that the sole meaning to my job was to make the director money. I left - probably 5 years later than I should have - and did a Masters of Social Work.

That's the way of capitalism. On the flip side, they take the financial risks and are responsible for keeping good employees. If you keep your skills relevant and work hard, your boss will have to reward you or lose you to his/her competition. My boss has always taken good care of his employees. About 1/4 - 1/3 of his employees are making 6 figure incomes. In the relatively cheap cost of living US, that's pretty good money in most areas. I think the average household income in the US is around $56k.

[brian ross]

Tex, an interesting thread.

I worked at a factory after I left school. I absolutely hated it. The process work was boring as batshit. Worse, the manager's son was on the factory floor and he used to watch was happening and report to his father when he saw something wrong. I left and joined the Army. I served for 10 years first as an infantryman and then, later I transferred to Ordnance Corps and worked as a Storeman Tech, a Clerk Tech and finally as a Storeman General. I rose to the rank of Sergeant before I resigned in disgust at a wanker of a WO who decided to have a real go at me over a trivial matter. I got revenge though, when I presented my letter of resignation to my OC, he asked why I was resigning and I explained. He took it out on the WO concerned and made his life hell. While I was in the Army, off my own bat I studied for a Ba and then for a Ma. Both were in Politics and History.

After I left the Army, I worked first at the state Health Administration and then later at the Australian National University as a Programmer. From there, I moved into desktop support and from there to being a SysAdmin and from there to being a Systems Engineer, which is what I still do, today. I really enjoy computing. I have a lot of responsibility and a lot of freedom. I enjoy solving problems. I worked in Universities for about 15 years and then went into the private sector where I have flourished.

[Texan]

I was invited here. I usually agreed with your politics, but your history of trolling and trying to embarrass people over their personal lives is still documented. You looked up pictures of one guys wife and started fat shaming her. You couldn’t do that to me so you started insulting my wife without merit. You’re a shit stain and I think people here will see it.

[Black Orchid]

I invited Texan here.

[Texan]

Tex, an interesting thread.

I worked at a factory after I left school. I absolutely hated it. The process work was boring as batshit. Worse, the manager's son was on the factory floor and he used to watch was happening and report to his father when he saw something wrong. I left and joined the Army. I served for 10 years first as an infantryman and then, later I transferred to Ordnance Corps and worked as a Storeman Tech, a Clerk Tech and finally as a Storeman General. I rose to the rank of Sergeant before I resigned in disgust at a wanker of a WO who decided to have a real go at me over a trivial matter. I got revenge though, when I presented my letter of resignation to my OC, he asked why I was resigning and I explained. He took it out on the WO concerned and made his life hell. While I was in the Army, off my own bat I studied for a Ba and then for a Ma. Both were in Politics and History.

After I left the Army, I worked first at the state Health Administration and then later at the Australian National University as a Programmer. From there, I moved into desktop support and from there to being a SysAdmin and from there to being a Systems Engineer, which is what I still do, today. I really enjoy computing. I have a lot of responsibility and a lot of freedom. I enjoy solving problems. I worked in Universities for about 15 years and then went into the private sector where I have flourished.

My son worked at a plastics factory for a brief time. He hated it with a passion. 12 hour shifts in a hot environment and having to constantly manage a couple of machines to keep the factory going. It was brutal. He is in the USAF and repairs aerospace ground equipment. (generators, lifts, stands, light carts, heaters, etc.....) I tried to steer him towards a better job, but kids don't listen until they make a mistake. I tried to get him to do avionics, space systems facilities maintenance, or PMEL.

I forgot to mention that I used to unload trucks at UPS. They required that we unload 1300 boxes/hour. I did it part time for a year. It was a good work out, but part time only.

[FLEKTARN]

I work in real estate with Russians, I also do copywriting but rarely lately, just for friends and old customers, and I also work for an international company from Almaty, Kazakhstan.