What made you choose your vocation?

[Wilbur ★]

?

[sheep_herder ★]

Kind of oozed into it as I worked my way through college.

[Wilbur ★]

3 minutes ago, sheep_herder said:

Kind of oozed into it as I worked my way through college.

So, was it something you set out to do? 

[Further]

The best Christmas gift I ever got was a Handy Andy Tool Kit, I was maybe 6 or 7. I did a lot of damage with that tool kit, and have never stopped, I have more tools and can do more damage, occasionally some good, but the path was set with the Handy Andy Tool Kit.

[sheep_herder ★]

9 minutes ago, wilbur said:

So, was it something you set out to do? 

Yes, in a way.  Started out majoring in Wildlife Management, but due to lack of jobs moved on to Forest & Range Management.  Near the end of my program, I moved over to Range Management, as it allowed me to take several classes I would need in graduate school, as an undergraduate, and get credit for them. Though graduate school I emphasized work in range plant physiology and ecology, and more or less worked in those areas from 1966 to 2006.  I can give you more information if you are interested.

[Wilbur ★]

2 minutes ago, sheep_herder said:

Yes, in a way.  Started out majoring in Wildlife Management, but due to lack of jobs moved on to Forest & Range Management.  Near the end of my program, I moved over to Range Management, as it allowed me to take several classes I would need in graduate school, as an undergraduate, and get credit for them. Though graduate school I emphasized work in range plant physiology and ecology, and more or less worked in those areas from 1966 to 2006.  I can give you more information if you are interested.

I am always interested in how people ended up where they are and what paths or obstacles they faced.  Just out of curiosity though.   I find people interesting.  

[JerrySTL ★]

I grew up near Greater Cincinnati airport and would see aircraft such as the DC-3, DC-8, B707, Lockheed Electra, and the really cool Lockheed Constellation flying overhead. That made me want to be an aircraft mechanic so I joined the US Air Force out of high school. While in the USAF, I went on special duty to train aircraft mechanics. That's how I got into education. Next I started using computers on the job and found that I had some natural ability with databases. Money was good so I switched to that career.

My current job has me administering databases used by the military to contract aircraft to move people. I also have to train people on how to use the databases at times. So all three of my vocations are melded into one right now.

[shootingstar]

I finished my undergraduate degree in English Lit. During my studies in spare time, I did volunteer work at a resource centre (in conservative London, ON) that provided info. to Canadian teachers and foreign aid workers..on third world country history, socio-economic and current issues.  We did outreach work to the teachers (primary to high school) teaching history and geography.  Also for any lay person planning to travel /work overseas. This is before the Internet.

When a client wanted information on apartheid because he was going to work in South Africa....  I realized what my role could be to empower others:  with info. to help them in their jobs and improve their understanding in general.  After getting my master's in library and information sciences I ended up working:  medical libraries (geriatric medicine and gerontology, rehabilitation medicine for the spinal injured adults), fire protection, engineering and law.  Then switched to enterprise systems on corporate records, where it's corporate group training, business analysis, working with IT on application solutions and supporting clients on change management plans.

So my English lit...skills I see more in report /business case writing, presentations, etc. and how to tell snappy stories to grab client's /learner's attention.

It's been a great journey.. Jobs require logical, yet to think broadly/multi-disciplinary way for others that helps solve their problems.

[Tizeye]

While I grew up in construction, I knew I didn't want to do that - particularly putting roofs on during the Florida summers. Initial goal in college was architectural engineering.  Unfortunately, didn't have an advisor to guide me and loaded up 16 hours (Calculus, physics, drafting, German, a couple other  courses) which with labs was 24 physical hours while working a 3-11 shift at a hospital mental health clinic. Overwhelmed, and I liked what I was doing in mental health. Then just evolved from there after some adverse event redirected me to another field. For example, while a medical officer in the Air Force, when discharged coincided with budget cuts in the mental health field on the civilian side. Went to a Merrill Lynch cattle call presentation and one of 4 from an audience of 80 that they selected, etc.

[groupw]

When we closed the record store, I decided it was time to get a "grown-up" job! I went to work as an insurance administrator. Hated the work. Loved my coworkers. When they started the transition from dumb-terminals to PCs, I saw an opportunity. I had a PC and one of my best friends was IT admin for the local power plant. He said I was good at it. I asked the IT coordinator at our office what classes she would recommend if I wanted to pursue a postion within the company. No reply. I followed up a few weeks later. Nothing. I sent 1 last message. She replied for me to come to her office. 

I walked in and she handed me a manual, "Can you teach this?" I panicked for a moment then flipped through and saw it was basically teaching people who had never touched a PC how to use Windows 3.1. I told her I could. I was assigned the task of teaching 450 people how to use PCs. They saw I had an aptitude, gave me on-the-job training and paid for other training. I eventually was promoted to the corporate server team. The pay was great! The hours were horrendous! I was ready to leave the company for my health, but the money was better than I could get anywhere else in town. I was average at best at my position, but I was kept on because I could communicate with non-technical people up to and including the CEO. 

When the company went public, they slashed the IT area. Common because they don't generate revenue. I was affected. I took a couple years off working at a home improvement store. The owner of a local computer company saw me and asked me to work for him. Not the Fortune 500 pay, but not the pressure, either. I have been there for over 14 years. Not getting rich, but doing OK. 

[ChrisL]

It kinda found me.  

After leaving the PD I needed a night job so I could go back to school so took a night security job.  It segued into all sorts of cool assignments leading into management and into my current job where I lead the security for a fortune 100 company.

[Road Runner]

I was extremely into it and I was very good at it.    

[MoseySusan]

I chose English teacher because I love conversations about text. 

[Longjohn ★]

I liked that my dad was around when I was growing up. He had time to enjoy his family. He worked either 7am to 3pm or 11pm to 7am. I applied to work in the factory where my dad worked when I turned 18. I didn’t get hired right away so I took a job at a new Chevy dealership as a parts manager. That job was interesting but didn’t pay as well as the factory work so when they called I left the dealership and went to work in the factory.

Nine years later the factory started to faze out and I was laid off. That started a progression of careers to put food on the table that included driving the big trucks. It was ok but they wanted too much of my time. I did that for a total of nine years also. In the middle of that nine years I took a job as the maintenance supervisor at a large church camp and retreat center. That was a great job but only lasted three years. I worked as the head lifeguard/maintenance repairman/staff supervisor for a motel until I could get back into driving truck.

i still wanted to get back to regular hours but couldn’t seem to get hired while on the road driving truck. I quit the truck driving job to be around when a mill job or factory job became available. In the mean time I did landscaping at a new clinic that was replacing one that burned down. I worked off a blueprint drawn up by a landscape architect. The doctor liked the way it turned out and hired me to do the landscaping at the country home he had just purchased. I worked on a lot of projects for that doctor and his friends that year until I heard the Forge was hiring. I applied and was hired the same day. I worked there for 28 years until I retired. It was hard, dirty work but I liked it.

[maddmaxx ★]

I didn't choose it.  It chose me.

In high school I was pushed by guidance counselors, parents and teachers to go to some sort of scientific/engineering college because of test scores, grades etc.  I liked doing things with my hands but succumbed to the pressure and went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in NY as a physics major.  (wanted to attend General Motors Institute)  Hated it. Abandoned it.  Flunked out from it.  Joined the Navy.  Due to a rather odd career I learned to do many things both with my hands and with organizational skills that I didn't know I had.  Went back to college after the Navy as a business major (another recommendation).  Hated it.   Became employed at Pratt and Whitney Aircraft as an electronics apprentice with 3 years of formal schooling involving everything from sheet metal work to computer programming.  Ended up in the jet engine test cell complex working in a department that did everything from mechanical repair and calibration to computer software and the design and construction of the facility.  Loved it.  It was the complex environment where the melding of many experiences and skills worked well for me and for them. Finally got my 4 year degree, (2 actually) based heavily on life experience credits and a bunch of night school.   Major layoffs there led me eventually to the laser design and research business where the same mixed skill set suited the business and me well.

So you might say I just stumbled along till the right job fell on me that matched the skill sets I had developed.  There were many opportunities in between where the formal organization never allowed me to move outside of some rigid job parameters. Luck played a large part.  I could just as well have been miserable selling Major Appliances.  

Oh, it was not a career path I would recommend to those graduating from high school today.  You can make a great deal more money in the rigid job parameter organizations if you keep your head down and put your time in.

[12string]

My vocation?  Seeing the way my parents loved each other and raised a family, I knew I needed to do that, too.

 

Had to edit, that did come off a little condescending.  It's just the way I think.  I enjoy my job, but it's something that pays the bills my life collects.

 

[Wilbur ★]

8 minutes ago, 12string said:

Had to edit, that did come off a little condescending. 

Don't make us question your parents efforts!   

[Guest]

I worked construction for 10 years after high school fully knowing it wasn’t what I wanted to do all of my life. Money was good but required constant travel. Decided to go to forestry school as a means of getting me out west to go to school for wildlife management. Ended up really liking forestry so stayed in that program. It’s been a great career.

[12string]

17 minutes ago, wilbur said:

Don't make us question your parents efforts!   

give 'em credit for success with 5 outta 6 kids.

[Ralphie ★]

Non-icky. 

[BR46]

Too dumb for college 

As long as I can remember I was always taking things apart just to see how they worked. For years I bounced from job to job and one day I found myself working at the spring factory. After a year and a half I finally convinced them to give me a shot at one of the maintenance /setup jobs and I stuck around for 37 years. I had a nack for trouble shooting machines. 

The pay was decent benefits were extremely good.

[Dirtyhip]

Decent pay, good benefits, and one of my best options for my education level.

[ChrisL]

Any of you guys turn down positions due to life or family commitments? @12stringpost got me to thinking...  

Part of the reason I didn’t make a career out of the Army was I didn’t want to subject my future wife & family to that life.  When my kids were young I also turned down positions that would have paid more but would have had me on travel several months of the year.  I didn’t want to be an absent dad so turned them down.  

The work life balance has been a struggle at times but all in all it worked out OK.

[maddmaxx ★]

1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

Any of you guys turn down positions due to life or family commitments? @12stringpost got me to thinking...  

Part of the reason I didn’t make a career out of the Army was I didn’t want to subject my future wife & family to that life.  When my kids were young I also turned down positions that would have paid more but would have had me on travel several months of the year.  I didn’t want to be an absent dad so turned them down.  

The work life balance has been a struggle at times but all in all it worked out OK.

Similar here so after turning down travel jobs ended up working nights at P&W for a few years and still became an absent dad.  Bummer.

[Guest]

2 hours ago, Dirtyhip said:

Decent pay, good benefits, and one of my best options for my education level.

You forgot Mr. Mooseknuckle?

[BuffJim]

In 2004 I was an accounting manager, and heard my boss’s boss telling people he was going to eliminate my department and merge it with another. 
So I said to my boss - well I still need a job. And he’s like- Well, we have something for you. I thought it was going to be Sarbanes Oxley, but it turned out to be Export/Import Compliance. 
 

Been doing that for 15 years. 

[Wilbur ★]

5 minutes ago, BuffJim said:

Sarbanes Oxley

"Sox compliance".  I never wanted to hear that again. When I managed a department for a Pharma company, good old Sarbanes Oxley kept me in continuous battles with some in Sr. Management including the then CEO.  I need a drink..   

[Longjohn ★]

11 hours ago, ChrisL said:

Any of you guys turn down positions due to life or family commitments? @12stringpost got me to thinking...  

Part of the reason I didn’t make a career out of the Army was I didn’t want to subject my future wife & family to that life.  When my kids were young I also turned down positions that would have paid more but would have had me on travel several months of the year.  I didn’t want to be an absent dad so turned them down.  

The work life balance has been a struggle at times but all in all it worked out OK.

I quit my truck driving job because it kept me away from my family too much. I wasn’t able to line up a permenant job to go into before I quit, all I had was an offer of six weeks of landscaping. It was a scary move, if it didn’t work out I could go back to truck driving but starting out as a new driver. I gave up my seniority when I quit. It took me a year of doing whatever work I could find before I got hired at the Forge.

[Prophet Zacharia]

I was pretty lost in career planning after my father died suddenly when I had just turned 16. No idea what I wanted to do after the shock wore off. But I was good at school and test taking. So I kept going. When I had gone as far as school permitted, I took a job in the area that was most appealing to me based on my studies. That was 22 years ago, and I still find it interesting, so everything turned out ok.

[Kzoo]

I was a good student with great grades in HS but I hated school.  I attended a technical school for my last 3 years and got a got start as a draftsman/mechanical designer.  When I graduated I got a job as a draftsman in a fairly large department for Sunbeam, then I got hired at places like GE and Teledyne and Singer.  At each stop I learned new technical and mechanical skills and promotions to new and more interesting projects.  I enrolled in college and took some courses leading to an engineering degree but again hated it.  Fortunately, at Singer I was given the title of Application Engineer and got to work with engineers at lots of interesting places (AT&T, Dow Chemical, Tenn Valley Auth., Hobart, Bausch & Lomb, West Bend, Conrail....)  From there I was hired to run a small R&D lab at a competitor in Michigan. 

In the early 80's lots of mid-sized companies were computerizing their operation and ours did the same.  They tagged me one day to head that effort so without warning I went from the lab to IT Manager and implemented a very popular IBM ERP system.  After three years of that I went to another company in Battle Creek as their IT Manager and did the same.  I left there to work for a consulting firm directing a project for International Paper to write a large custom ERP software system for a dozen plants across the country.  As that project wound down, the company I worked for got into financial trouble (anyone remember the Savings and Loan debacle of '90?).  With some prodding from contacts at International Paper I started my IT business in 1991 and as they say, the rest is history.

[Airehead]

I did not want to work on a spinach packing line for the rest of my life.  It was an awful job even as a summer job.

Everyone I knew- teachers, parents, family, wanted me to be a teacher.  They said I was a natural.  I bulked.  I got an undergraduate degree in Psychology with a back up major in special education.  Graduated college and took a job at the National Institute of Health in DC.  I hated living in the city and tried commuting from Harper's Ferry, WVA.  Went in to work one day and realized that I hated bird feet.  (I was doing learning research with pigeons.  Nice birds but terrible job.)  I went home that night, met some friends at the bar near the train station and heard about a teaching job. Applied for my permit in WVA and in two months was in the job.  (Really thought it was a stop over.)  Moved home and took a teaching job, then a coordinator of teachers job, then a behavior therapist job-- but all with the same district.  Decided to make a life with Mr. Aire and had to move to Rochester.  Tried being a stay at home mom--- I about lost my mind.  Got a job with my current school as a teacher, then a teacher mentor, then a teacher recruiter, then a principal, then a director, now the superintendent.  Picked up a few more initials after my name along the way.  I loved being a teacher mentor.  My current job is a result of "put up or shut up".  I hated all the candidates and did not want to work for any of them.  Decided at the last minute that I could do better than they would do so I applied.  Told the Board and interview committee that I wanted them to hire the best person that had both strategic thinking abilities and actual experience running educational programs.  Said I really wanted them to hire the best candidate and if it wasn't me, I would work for the new person that had both skill sets.  They hired me.

[Dottleshead ★]

I literally had to declare a degree on the last possible day.  And then I had so much debt that I decided I better put it to use.  It was a good move. But now I just want to sell trinkets on the beach.

[TrentonMakes]

I think I'm the only person on earth who was actually helped by a guidance counselor.  As a kid I was always fascinated by traffic lights and traffic signs.  I told her this and she said "I think you should enter civil engineering, and work toward a career as a traffic engineer".  Which I did.

I enjoy the work - still find this stuff interesting but of course it's more involved than just looking out the window at them.

I eventually moved up the ladder and entered a management role, which had me spending more time on the marketing and administrative stuff, and overseeing younger staff.  But after a lot of soul searching (and apparently too much complaining) I realized I was unhappy enough to make a change.  It took too much time away from my family.  I'm taking a new job which will get me more back into doing the technical analysis, and report writing (which is maybe my biggest strength).

[groupw]

I did turn down some offers that would have moved kids at bad times in their school lives. I missed a lot in the 5 years I was on the server team and the 2 years at Home Depot. 

I’m not far from just wanting to sell trinkets! There is a lot I like about my job, but people don’t call when things are great. They call when they need help. The levels of panic are wearing on me a bit. 

[Parsnip Totin Jack ★]

In high school I was a dishwasher, bus boy and bellhop in successive summers. After high school I took drawing classes at the local community college and worked retail cause I didn’t know what I wanted to do and I liked art. A drawing teacher asked me what I was going to do with my degree. I didn’t have a real answer so he provided one. You’re good but you’ll never make money at it. He was honest and spoke from his own experience. I appreciated that and quit school; still didn’t answer the question what do I want to do. In 1980 I applied for a job with the local credit union, Navy Federal. Figured I’d work a few years to see what direction I wanted to go. Thirty one years later I retired from there with a good pension; it’s like getting paid to wake up in the morning. When my son was born in 1993, I went back to college at night. I was 34 with 13 years at the credit union so I chose accounting. Switched to business when I couldn’t pass cost accounting. Earned enough credits for a minor in accounting and a bachelors in business. I worked 20 years in Internal Audit there. Managed the IA function at GE credit union in Cincinnati for four miserable years. Run the enterprise risk and vendor management program at Apple FCU for the past 2.5 years. Retire again in 4.75 years at age 65. My career just happened. It’s good because most of the time nobody knows what I do. I plan on moving south into VA’s blue ridge with a few acres and a covered porch view of the mountains. Rivers, lakes, gravel roads and the Appalachian Trail for activities. 

[Square Wheels]

I chose to drink my way through college.

I got average grades because I almost never studied.

I graduated with a 3.3.

Took my MCATs, scored in the 50% percentile.

I was too stupid for med school, so I landed where I am.

[Wilbur ★]

1 hour ago, Square Wheels said:

I chose to drink my way through college.

I got average grades because I almost never studied.

I graduated with a 3.3.

Took my MCATs, scored in the 50% percentile.

I was too stupid for med school, so I landed where I am.

Yet look where you are.  Maybe not a 1%er but I am sure at least a 5%er.  Well done for a college slacker.  BTW,  a multi billionaire I worked for had a 12th grade education.  School is good but it doesn't always predict outcome.  

[maddmaxx ★]

10 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

I chose to drink my way through college.

I got average grades because I almost never studied.

I graduated with a 3.3.

Took my MCATs, scored in the 50% percentile.

I was too stupid for med school, so I landed where I am.

Sounds like my college career, except that I didn't have the fortitude to stay.

Thanks navy for saving me.

[Prophet Zacharia]

10 hours ago, Square Wheels said:

 

I chose to drink my way through college.

I got average grades because I almost never studied.

I graduated with a 3.3.

 

I guess it depends on the school and the courses, but I wouldn’t consider a 3.3 GPA as “average”.  I earned “University Honors” with a 3.4 at a university not known to sugar coat anything.

Most of my friends were on Academic Probation at one point during their time there. Many of them had been boarding school kids who knew the ropes of partying before they got there.

[Parr8hed]

I went to college on a musical scholarship.  That worked out so well for me that I ended up in the Navy.  Since I had been a lifeguard I decided to be a medic in the Navy, because lifeguard and medic are basically the same, right?

While I was in the Navy I met two cats that were nurses.  They were dudes.   They were not gay.  They seemed to like their job.  I did all of their work and they just signed a their name and made more money than me.  Seemed like the thing to do. 

Got out and went to nursing school mainly because to those two guys and the fact that you can wear pajamas to work. 

[Zealot]

When I graduated high school, I had an academic scholarship for biology. At that time, I was thinking field study in one of the zoology fields, forestry or park service. I was also one of two students in my school who was chosen for a scholarship awards program to the Art Institute of Pittsburgh. I would also have loved to pursue that, but did not think a career in art would have ‘paid the bills’, so to speak. The Biology scholarship wasn’t full tuition, at least not as I understood it at the time. I didn’t truly understand the process and assumed I needed to come up with the money for my dorm, books, etc…  I came from a very poor family and one in which higher education wasn’t something that was normal, expected or planned for. Many didn’t graduate high school.  I called the college admissions, asked if I could delay for a year to work and make some extra money. They agreed. In that year, I was very much in love with my future wife, wanted to get married and totaled my car. Feeling desperate and as if my dreams were shattering, I enlisted in the military. My PSAT, ACT and ASVAB scores were very high and the Air Force wanted me.. So, I picked a trade in the Air Force (HVAC/R) that I knew would be a good transferrable skill to civilian life. After I enlisted, I received a letter from the college admissions, that my tuition had been paid in full and that they would see me in the fall. 

I only planned on doing 4 years in the AF.  Decided I would get my school, get out and start my ‘real’ life. 12 years later, I had racked up some great schooling and a pretty amazing skillset. I learned that I am mechanically gifted. My wife swears that if I want to, I can fix anything. And, I pretty much can and do.  I was a ‘fast burner’. In a couple years, I was the senior NCOIC of my outfit, running a shop of 20 airmen and 8 civilians. Our base went through a command change and I was chosen for a project management position within our civil engineering squadron. I learned a lot about general construction. A year or so later, I was hand picked by a General to help start up an Intel squadron. Both of those positions provided some great networking opportunities with DOD contractors and that opened up a civilian career in construction project management first within DOD and then later in the private sector.  And I’ve been doing it since.  I’ve been offered some lucrative positions and I have turned down several promotions.  I am good at what I do. But I try very hard not to ‘live’ what I do.

None of this is anything I would have every thought I would be doing. Science and Art were my first loves. And those are things I could have ‘lived’.  I often think about what my life would have been like at this point had I not enlisted...

 

[MickinMD ★]

Cowboys quarterback Don Meredith was part of it.

I was twelve years old (1962 or 63) and announced to my parents, "I want to be a chemist."

At the time, the toxic downside of chemicals wasn't a big thing and I was inspired by all I heard about chemistry.

At the time, there were many commercials for Dupont that always ended with their motto, "Better things for better living: through chemistry."

Don Meredith did commercials for Shell Oil where he'd say things like, "It used to take an entire day to grease railroad cars until Shell chemists developed a solid, lubricating film that reduced the time to two hours."

At the time, I was from a very poor family and had no clue how I'd ever go to college.  Neither did my parents or relatives.

So it was a surprise to them all, a decade later, when I became the first member of my large, extended family to graduate from college and the degree was in chemistry.

After working my way to that bachelor's degree at UMBC, I was thrilled to win a scholarship and teaching assistantship to IIT.  I had never dreamed I'd ever be able to live in a college dorm or join a fraternity and am eternally grateful for the chance to experience those things - and to earn significantly more money due to the grad. degree.  I had two careers: the first as an industrial research chemist and the second as a lead gifted teacher in chemistry and physics at Maryland's largest high school.

Even today, 13 years into retirement, the largest thing on my TV room wall is a Periodic Table of the Elements. I still see the world through energy and elements and refer to it from time to time.

[12string]

I didn't go to college, but I drank my way through my friends' colleges.

I did have a colleague approach me years ago, he had a position to fill and he wanted me to take it.  Offered a substantial raise.  I hesitated, he started throwing more money in salary, signing bonus.  My car wasn't up to the travel - fine here's more bonus money.  I would have worked 2-3 days a week in the summer, plenty of vacation.  But I pretty much wouldn't be home from September to January.  And again most of the spring.   REALLY tempting, but I just couldn't do that to my family.