What do you do for a living

36 years in Energy - Natural gas and Electricity production & distribution.
37 years in Martial Arts - 17 years as an owner & operator of a Taekwondo school.

 

Almost forgot! 43+ years of building hot rods and going strong.

 

Went to work as a cabinetmaker's apprentice 3 days after graduating from high school. Spent the first 2 years with a palm sander duct-taped to my hand and fixed other people's mistakes. Had my own bench by year 3 and built custom cabinets and furniture in a 4 man shop. Did side jobs learning basic plumbing, electrical, framing, drywall and general carpentry. After 4 years, met a girl that was heading off to college. Got tired of the low pay and inept management and enrolled in college myself. Graduated in 3 years into the 1991 recession and couldn't find a job. Worked maintenance at a nursing home for a while, then followed the girl from CT to OK and got a job in Consumer Finance (think Legal Loan Sharking). Had an opportunity to open a branch in Billings, MT but instead took a banking job in MO. Have spent the past 25 years in banking, now working for Farm Credit financing Food, Fiber and Fuel and serving Rural America. Best job, ever. Live in a 112 year old house, so I still use all of the skills I learned when I was younger, and still build furniture. Married that girl and we have been together 34 years. No regrets.

 

Agriculture

 

You won the prize for the SHORTEST job description post.

 

"Nothing"

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Been wrenching and restoring and creating designing and building real cars& trucks since 12 and models since 8 and drawing dragsters since 6 when I had glow in the monster rod wallpaper on my bedroom walls so now I build cars at people's homes and businesses . I have also maintained private and family collections . I can and do most work from ground up and see some of my work from 42 years ago rolling down the road and saw one today from 38 years ago still on the road . I was taught well just ask Bored & Stroked . It's a wonderful career and I'm still learning because technology is just off the hook and possibilities are neverending .

Enjoy and kiss your

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42 years as an equipment mechanic, my last 30 has been at a county run water/sewer company. Retiring this summer....at last! Plan on "chasin' momma around" and messing with the cars.

 

Does anybody actually enjoy what they do for a living is that even possible. Work is the last thing I want to think about and if I do think about it I think how much longer until I can retire. I dream every day of striking it rich so I don’t have to go into work anymore all the being on call 24-7 and 100 hour work weeks will be over and I can actually be normal and have a normal schedule spend time with my kids and Cars I’m only 38 and I’m a Heavy Mechanic my body is starting to hurt already and I still have a long time until retirement hopefully I can make it. Some one will probably find me dead humped over a piece of machinery and the only thing anybody will ever remember of me is that I was a good worker.


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I feel your pain, Brother. I’m 47 and a heavy duty truck mechanic and am the same way.


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Yeah, I enjoy my job enough. I'd still quit if I won the lotto, but I don't hate it.

I feel you though. After being an inboard mechanic for years I thought to myself "I think I'm going to go to college....", and I did. If I were still doing physical work, I probably wouldn't be able. Much better lifting with the mind than the back!

 

OK, my asshole self is gonna pop up here, BUT, you need to reexamine your life. I'm 66, had two bad scares, each was luck that kept me alive, death is just around the corner, whether you're 38 or 66, nobody is gonna stand at your coffin and brag about how many hours you put in, even if you run your own show. Get your shit together, make your kids and old lady happier by spending your life with them, make less, spend less, do what you have to, stop wasting your time here on earth, work to live, not live to work. My buddies are gonna laugh and toast my stupidity, poke fun of me, brag about my skills, remember long lost stories, and most of all, they'll miss me when I go. Do the same.

 

Industrial electrician

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The older I get, the more I can appreciate the song "The Cat's In The Cradle"

 

Well, I'm sorry for you, but being happy is a choice, your situation isn't gonna make it happen. Easy for me to say I guess, I'm mentally very strong, I've never let life get the best of me, and like everybody, there have been times, but I lifted my head, put my nose in the wind and ploughed forward, I'm a my way or the hiway guy, a get out of my way guy, I know a hard life, I got myself here, financially and morally, and yes, at times it was a struggle, I grew up poor, no help, my dad died young, my mom needed me bad, she became a dependent, I married a woman with kids, I worked construction, times of making good money, then periods of no money, still I forged on.
Life is to be lived, regardless of the circumstances, find pleasure where you can, work is to pay for your life, the only life you get. If that life needs changing, jump into the deep end and change it, I worked a lot of jobs I hated, or I hated the boss, but I took time to learn from all of it, I became one of the best at my craft, I'm an equipment operator, or....I was till recently, I'm retired now.
You get one kick at the can, boy, don't waste it.

 

Although delivered from a cannon , that is very wise advice. Too many times we forget that it is our own hand on the tiller, and that we all have the power to point our life in the direction we choose. The hard part is having the courage. Never base your life on the perceptions of others as to what you should do. I heard these very words one day out of the mouth of my then teenaged daughter, and learned a valuable lesson. She simply said "You do you, and I'll do me." Wise girl..........must take after her mother............

By the way, Glazier and metal Fabricator.

 

Yeah, agreed. My mom said to me when I was tired of being a mechanic: "you'll be 35 in 4 years. You can he 35 with a degree, or 35 without one."

So I went back to college. I felt like Billy Madison, lmao, everyone else in my classes were 18 years old. But I finished, got a job, worked my way up. Now I'm 45, makin bank with my brain. Thank God I did so. It wasn't easy. I worked and went to school full time four years, and slept 6 hours a night if I was lucky for all four, but I did it!

 

I was in power generation as an electrician then foreman 28 years. After a forced retirement at 52 I sat for a few years then helped a contracting group for winter outages. At 59 I went back to work full time in the same power plant I had worked as an apprentice and journeyman this time with a different owner. We were expected to do what needed to be done without someone telling you and under their thumb.

I was in heaven as a journeyman from day 1. I worked 10 more years. I could fix anything, buy what was needed without the layers of management that I was once a part of. The extra money helped get my son and I into the Bonneville 200 MPH Club. Even though I was an electrician, the machine and weld shops were open to me and I was allowed to make the parts I needed and use the tools. Everyone seemed to work together and the in-fighting, backstabbing, etc I saw for years didn’t exist.

I left at 69 with an addition to my 401k because they had no specific retirement, you made your own if you wanted with a small contribution from them you controlled. This also added to our SS and I’m way better off then I could have been by not doing anything but sitting on my rear. I’m ready to turn 77 and playing with cars more than ever. I’ve slowed down and can live with it. My real fun helping my son with now his race car, being his pit crew and helping him and our daughter anyway I can. My wife of 56 years and I sneak off when we want and continue to enjoy the West on the road in a crew cab pickup.

Can you be happy at work. HELL YES. If your not, it’s in your head. Find away to get over it......

 

I have a few buddies who are union electritions, and they love it, and make good bank. I think even as a first year apprentice you start out pretty good.

Anyway, it's never too late to switch man. If you're not happy, you can be I'd wager.

 

I appreciate the advice just going through a hard time I haven’t been the same since my Dad died. I’ll figure it out I’ll keep moving forward.


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I'm always curious to read this thread I think I posted on it long ago. I am a Snap-on franchisee. I love my work but it is not perfect. I've excepted that, nothing is everything has a trade off. I would love to work less hours and spend more time with my family. I am encouraging my 20 year old son not to follow in my footsteps and finish college, get a career with more regular hours . Even if only just to be able to spend more time on hobbies like hot rods that we enjoy working on in the limited time I have.

That being said I was an auto tech for 11 years prior so I know the ups and downs of that business as well. In all honesty I've seen several guys who are heavy duty techs on here complaining and this inspired me to contribute my 02 cents. Of all the techs I've dealt with in almost 15 years and in 5 different routes (so it's been thousands of guys) I'd say the HD techs are the least happy. The happiest of those particular guys seem work in independent truck shops so maybe that's something you could explore if you are not. Secondly maye try working on cars instead. It's not that different , I had no experience with trucks prior to owning some and I've done most of the work on ours myself. I've owned 10 now over the time as many as 5 at once so they keep me busy. The auto shops are in dire need of techs (so are the HD shops) at least in Georgia all the shop owners and service mangers are struggling to find good techs and I'm sure if your skilled making the transition could help your outlook.

Of course going a different direction altogether like buying or working for a tool franchise can be a great option as well. It's my 3rd career but I'll be doing it until I retire, plan is currently 7.5 years to go.

Just offering a little advice from a guy who's Had multiple careers and remembers not taking advice himself in his younger years. I know it's hard to do, but I believe very much in the philosophy of making your own breaks and getting out of something what you put into it.

 

In reply to a post on previous page. I’m somewhat happy at my job. Fleet mechanic at Orlando suburb city garage, over 13 years.
Got cut from a top tier Porsche team, and needed a solid job to buy a house.
Racing was a dream job, but very volatile. Extreme highs and lows. Summertime is brutal traveling all over the country
Luckily at this place I don’t have to do the heavy stuff like fire trucks
Other half of the shop handles those.
I fix police cars, pickup trucks and all the golf course equipment
Pay and benefits good. 7-3:30 5 days a week. When I leave I’ve got s as almost nothing to worry about.
In the last 27 years I’ve had my own shop, turned wrenches at inner city body shop/towing company, fought with cement trucks, done multiple dealerships and then professional Motorsports.
Overall this job is pretty damn good and we have a cool boss. Plus wife sick all the time so need the medical coverage
“Find a job you love and you’ll never work another day in your life”


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There is a reason they have trouble finding tech. Body shop wages haven’t doubled in 40 + years and mechanics are doing a little better. They have pushed flat rate hours to clock hours the job costs the insurance co. the same $ in 2021 as it did in 1980 just decided up differently. They can find better paying jobs.

 

What do you think your Dad would want for you right now?

And here's another reason...................

 

My son, 53, was a lineman, Troubleman, and moving into management as he is worn out. He has made unbelievable money but paid for it in time and his body. His son is a 5th step apprentice IBEW lineman and a E5 Reserve Marine at 24 yrs old and just bought a condo in Orange County SoCal. Lineman is not for everyone and it's tough work. Snowflakes today have no idea how earn 1 to 200,000 a year and couldn't do it with phone in one hand.

 

I would love to do that I actually enjoy doing electrical work and I’m damn good at troubleshooting electrical problems. I’ve actually looked into being a lineman and signed up for the IBEW when I got out of Highschool but I’m colorblind and I have a super hard time telling the difference between colors which makes me slow at it and I have to get people to tell me what color is what but if I could find a company who would be willing to deal with that it would be my dream job. I do electrical work every now and then and I’ve never made a mistake because I’m super cautious about it I even take pictures and send them to my wife so she can tell me if the colors are right. I really love doing Electrical work and you stay pretty clean that’s a plus. My Dad was actually a line man for the telephone company which is kind of ironic I would go to work with him and I loved every minute of it watching him climb up the pole with spikes on I thought it was the coolest thing ever.


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Nice. One of my sons just did 6 years in the USMC, and decided to go to lineman school. He is in his 1st month of school down in Florida currently. He’s no snowflake, and was looking for a physically challenging job that paid well. He’s a bull, and can’t stand working indoors, or behind a desk.

 

Our grandson went to lineman’s school in Northern Ca. While a reservist. He joined the Marines when he was a junior in HS. Went to basic 2 weeks after graduation. He just signed up for another 6 as a reservist. His older 1/2 brother was in for 4 and served in Afghanistan, 6 months from his Electrical Engineer Degree at A S U on the GI bill. Went in right after HS and was in ROTC in HS. Their dad, our son, was in Desert Storm and a reservist for 12 years.

Today, I don’t think any utility or contract lineman company will hire you without the schooling ands class A drivers license. The electrician trade have been great for out family. I have a nephew and his son all holding union IBEW cards too..

 

Oh yeah. He got his CDL while still in the Marines. I forgot about that. He mentioned he needed it to be a lineman.
How does he like being a lineman?