What field are you in?

[McC]

What do you like most about it?

What do you like least about it?

Was this your chosen field or did you just end up there by circumstance?

Anybody own a business?

I am a concrete contractor, three employees and me.  Four families depending on me.  This can get a little scary sometimes. I get any kind of a lull and I don't sleep at night.  This is the only real downside.  Well, that and the destruction to my body over thirty five years.  In a perfect world, I would have found my replacement five years ago. 

I guess the other down side is how hard it is to find help.  I swear, in ten years, there will be nobody to pour concrete left.  Young guys just don't want to work that hard.

Best part--Love the finished product, right there in front of you for all to see.  

This is far from my chosen field.  I have two degrees I have barely used.  But as the saying goes--Man plans, God laughs.

[*bfine32*]

I am a Human Resources Manager

What I like most about it is that I serve and work to develop Soldiers

What I like least about it is doing written evaluations for my employees

It was/is my chosen field as I still serve the Military and the youth of my Country. I simply used the College Benefits earned as an Active Duty Soldier to get the advanced education required to progress in the Civilian sector.

[CKwi88]

I am a court interpreter for Connecticut's Judicial Branch.

I like the variety, as I get to work on criminal, civil, and juvenile cases, and really learn a lot. I might transition and get a law degree sometime in the future.

Besides the benefits of being in public service, I like the fact that when I leave at five, work stays at work and doesn't follow me home.

I dislike the slow days where I don't interpret, but have to translate court forms. Much less interesting.

I got into the field because I spent the better part of my late teens and twenties living abroad, and when my wife and I decided to come back to the US, it seemed like a fun field to transition to. It's not my chosen field of teaching English as a second language, but the scene for ESL abroad is much different from stateside. 

[StoneTheCrow]

Water utility.

Best part about it is working mostly outside, never in an office,factory, etc. I also work on my own all day. I can hang out with me all day, easy.

What I like least about it is every other house in the hood has a pit bull. So pit bulls, and pit bull shit.

[HarleyDog]

Operations manager at a trucking company! I landed here because I settled. I was working for a multi-billion dollar company as a logistics director which required my attention 24/7 - 365. Holidays were un-existent. Family? Well, started forgetting who they were (not really but you get the drift). Spent 7 months of last year in Mississippi. Guy I used to work for approached me asking me if I would come back. I listened, he made an offer, I counter offered and here I am. I now walk out at 5pm and I leave it behind. Now I also have weekends with my family uninterrupted. Far cry from previous when I would have a noon conference call at noon on every single day including Thanksgiving and Christmas.

I just fell into this career. I make decent money, not rich, not poor. I have a modest savings account and don't have a beach front property. I worked my ass off and my family suffered in the process. If I had it all to do again at the age of 50? I would be a millennial. Although the shit they pull now would have left me and my family hungry 30yrs ago? Seems to work now. Not really, I would feel guilty as heck getting something for free. I take pride in working for it and earning food and housing for my family. It's what I do! Family is everything.

[SunsetBengal]

I'm a Crew Chief in the land surveying department of a small/mid-size engineering firm with strong ties to the NC DOT. The vast majority of our projects involve infrastructure and or commercial development.

What I like about the job is the variety of skills from various academic disciplines that it requires to be a well rounded professional. I enjoy working in the outdoors, as well as having some office time.

What I don't enjoy is being stuck out in the field the majority of the time, thus making it difficult to finish studying toward attaining my professional license. (Licensed Surveyors earn about the same as Engineers) I also really don't enjoy highway projects because, well, it's dangerous out there, and you have to keep one eye on the traffic and one eye on your work.

[*jason*]

I'm a self employed general contractor... McC... I feel your pain. The only difference is I subcontract a lot of work to guys who handle their own business. I only have to really feed my family. I do understand the anxiety around the lulls, but since I handle a lot of insurance claims, I often have more work than I can handle... I'm slammed at the moment. I haven't had the same experience with the young guys, as I often rely on dudes who are even older than I... I ended up here by circumstance. I'm a college dropout, who sorta drifted around for years trying to find myself... Sometimes I'm not certain that I have.

Have a good week everybody... Enjoy your Sunday, and the empty, hollow victory the Bengals are about to bring home from Denver.

[Fan_in_Kettering]

Physics.

[BmorePat87]

High School Teacher.

The best part is work is generally fun and you meet some interesting kids. Also, I teach at the school I went to, so I like giving back to the community.

The worst part is dealing with paperwork and asshole kids.

I wanted to be a park ranger but they weren't hiring so I got a job in the schools. Still time to make the change after I put in 25 years with the schools.

[Belsnickel]

I work in student financial services in a public university. I oversee a group of people that handles the accounting for all of the financial aid the university processes as well as manage the general ledger accounts our entire office flows money through.

Pros, the university schedule is nice. I have this entire week off and will have two weeks off for Christmas. I also get to take classes for free, and so I can supplement my accounting degree with public admin/policy which will allow me to take my career in a different direction.

Cons, people. Don't get me wrong, I love public service and enjoy using my talents to improve the lives of other people. If I could do that without having to directly interact with other people, though, that would be great. In my office we are all expected to handle customer service duties and while I am probably the least social of the people in the office, I pick up more slack on that front than anyone else and it is exhausting for me as an introvert.

I had the intention of working in either the government or non-profit sectors after I got my accounting degree. My previous job is what fell into my lap, as a corporate tax accountant. 3.5 years at that and I fell prey to layoffs as the company underperformed. After about a month-and-a-half I ended up with a choice between a position as a tax auditor for the state employment commission, or in student financial services at the local university. I decided to stay local instead of traveling around the state. Now I am kind of hoping to work for the APA in the future, or JLARC, but I do enjoy higher education and so would not be sad to stay in it.

[Goalpost]

I've had two careers. For the first 16 years I worked in the retail industry, in various depts. at the store level. I was in MANAGEMENT and got to do some buying. From children's clothing to some hard line buying...rugs, curtains, toasters, etc. I also did scheduling and reviews, merchandising, stockwork, signage, markdowns and occasional register needs. That company was very successful but got sold. One year after the sale , the new company restructured from within and I was out of a job.

That was the end of my management life. For the past 18 years I've been in SALES for another large company, entirely different field. I was a bit uncertain to go into sales because of the salary plus commission structure. But it was a growth industry and things worked out. and I enjoy working, almost entirely. away from the office setting.

[Benton]

Journalist/Editor/Writer

I like writing, but having written is way better than the process. I enjoy getting to hear other people's stories and trying to bring that to life.

People. God, they're horrible. Awesome, but still so horrible. And, the business side of things pretty much controls everything.

I ended up in it by accident. I was an art major, but there's an amazingly narrow choice of paying jobs for guys who do inks and charcoals. My plan was to be a sports writer, which I probably would've stuck with over editorial work, but it's hard to make a living as a sports reporter.

I own rental property, which has been an unexpected family tradition. My grandparents always had rentals when I was a kid. Spent most of my summers fixing them, which taught me a lot... including not to get into real estate. But here I am, doing just that.

I hear you on the workers. That's the biggest complaint I get from businesses — finding people willing to work who are able to work who don't have some sort of issue.

[XenoMorph]

(11-18-2017, 03:05 PM)McC Wrote: What do you like most about it?

What do you like least about it?

Was this your chosen field or did you just end up there by circumstance?

Anybody own a business?

I am a concrete contractor, three employees and me.  Four families depending on me.  This can get a little scary sometimes. I get any kind of a lull and I don't sleep at night.  This is the only real downside.  Well, that and the destruction to my body over thirty five years.  In a perfect world, I would have found my replacement five years ago. 

I guess the other down side is how hard it is to find help.  I swear, in ten years, there will be nobody to pour concrete left.  Young guys just don't want to work that hard.

Best part--Love the finished product, right there in front of you for all to see.  

This is far from my chosen field.  I have two degrees I have barely used.  But as the saying goes--Man plans, God laughs.

First do you do small jobs... I got a friend saving up to get his driveway redone....   



I am a system Admin... (so IT field)  I use SQL and Visual Basic and a few other language codes to automate creating reports.

so basically they tell me they want a report and daily and I teach my CPU to do that haha.

I went to school for programming so I guess this is my field.  Would prefer to make video games but live in the wrong state for those companies.

[BmorePat87]

(11-20-2017, 04:06 PM)XenoMorph Wrote: Would prefer to make video games but live in the wrong state for those companies.

Maryland is a great place to live. 

[XenoMorph]

(11-20-2017, 04:25 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Maryland is a great place to live. 

Bethesda would be my top choice of who I worked for if I had a say

[McC]

(11-20-2017, 04:25 PM)BmorePat87 Wrote: Maryland is a great place to live. 

Does all of Maryland have DC cost of living?

[GMDino]

Sales in the construction/mining industry.

I like the place where I work.  I have a lot of fringe benefits like working very close to home and working 8-5 Monday thru Friday.  The employees are good and the boss is good.  Like any sales job it gets stressful and I have another boss that can be a royal pain in the neck (all the bosses are in sales too...very small company).

This was not my chosen profession.  And I insist that it is not a career but a job...but I've been there 19 years which is WAY longer than any other job I ever had.  I seemed to switch every three years or so.  Always to move up.

I've made three careers out of one skill:  I can talk.

I was a Radio DJ. Working boards and then afternoons and then morning drive.  Always in small towns.  I had no desire to move.

When the gigs stopped paying I started moving furniture and worked my way up in three years to managing my own store for the company.  We took that store from 49th to top 10 in three months.  But that company went from a private ownership to publicly traded and I saw the handwriting on the wall.

I pretty much fell into my current job through a friend of the family.  I had no experience but the owner was a wonderful man who worked for everything he had.  He took me in and taught me all he could.  The family friend got fired three years in to my working there.  The owner passed away tragically a couple years later.  But the family kept the business open and its been 13 years since then and we are still operating.

I doubt I'll retire from there.  Probably find something back in radio or media once I reach closer to retirement age.  At least that is what I want to do if everything else works out.

I also did a lot of wedding and event videography and my old radio partner and I ran a trivia night show at a couple local bars for awhile.  I do video editing and whatever else comes down the pike to make a buck here and there.

My heart will always be in radio though.

[BmorePat87]

(11-20-2017, 09:36 PM)McC Wrote: Does all of Maryland have DC cost of living?

No, most of Maryland doesn't have DC cost of living, but most of Maryland has general Maryland cost of living. In exchange you get Maryland wages. 

[basballguy]

I like this thread. It's interesting seeing what people do.

I'm a mid-level manager in product development (for now). We re-org every 9 months or so. I work a major telcom on B2B products.

There's very few things i dislike about my job. I'd say it's probably all the mandatory training we have to do.....and having to support code releases in the middle of the night...grrrr

I honestly had no career plan. I stumbled into this line of work/industry by impressing the right people. I was working a help desk job for another telcom and decided to create an XLS with a bunch of VBA that automated a bunch of reporting. It was just enough to get me referred to a Business Analyst position when my company had to let all their contractors go....fast forward 12 years to now and here I am.

[XenoMorph]

(12-08-2017, 02:32 PM)basballguy Wrote: I like this thread.  It's interesting seeing what people do.

I'm a mid-level manager in product development (for now).  We re-org every 9 months or so.  I work a major telcom on B2B products.

There's very few things i dislike about my job.  I'd say it's probably all the mandatory training we have to do.....and having to support code releases in the middle of the night...grrrr

I honestly had no career plan.  I stumbled into this line of work/industry by impressing the right people.  I was working a help desk job for another telcom and decided to create an XLS with a bunch of VBA that automated a bunch of reporting.  It was just enough to get me referred to a Business Analyst position when my company had to let all their contractors go....fast forward 12 years to now and here I am.

Pretty much how I moved up...  Find a process that took way to much manual time and automate it....     Fix 10,000 accounts in 30 minutes instead of days.  They company loves it...

They wont give you a bonus for time saved but the love it lol