What do you do for a living?

Locomotive Engineer for Norfolk Southern.

When I was a kid, that's what I wanted to do when I grew up. I became an engineer of a different sort - a QA Engineer for computer equipment.

As I near 40, I'm still trying to figure out my career. The only truly important work I do is in raising my two kids.

I got my PhD in chemistry and did post-doctoral research before deciding to abandon academia. I worked as a patent agent for five years at a large law firm which was the most soul-crushing and least gratifying experience of my life. I now work in a university setting helping researchers commercialize their research outputs. It's a decent gig for now.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I started a career in EMS 11 years ago, the first 5 as an EMT and these past 6 as a Paramedic. For even longer than that (13 yrs) I have been a marching percussion instructor... no real money in it, i just do it because I love working with youth. 2 years ago I went back to school and am pursuing a degree in Youth Ministry.

By any chance did you march drum corp?
I taught marching percussion for a number of years as well.

Good to have another drummer on here ; )

I sure did... I marched with Pacific Crest in 2002 and in 2003 for their inaugural appearance in Championships weekend. I chose not to march my age out year despite having a pretty solid shot at marching Vanguard (interesting story) because PC burnt me out pretty bad. I also marched with Riverside Community College in WGI Championships in 2003.

That is awesome! We have a lot in common then.  

Dating myself here, but . . . I marched one year.  1994 Nite Express (Div II) under Mike McIntosh.  Decided to not march my age out year either. Had to make a decision between school and drum corp.  I also taught Music City Mystique in 2000 & 2001.

Ya know, there's a really good chance we know a lot of the same people ; )

We'll need to get a percussion thread going in the Lounge section - I'm not a drummer but my son studied piano and classical percussion for a number of years. I was his drum tech and bankroll. He's at university now studying mining engineering and playing basketball. I'm probably the only father on earth whose disappointed that his kid is studying engineering and not music. He is so talented - gets it from his mom who sang opera and led the altos in the church choir for 26 years. Good times.

---

This is a great thread, I'm impressed with the diversity represented on this forum.

I was an in-house oil and gas lawyer and I was recently "retired" (aka laid off) from a major Canadian oil and gas company thanks in part to the efforts of OPEC and the Saudis.  The company focused on oil sands development (don't go there).  I've spent 24 years in the industry through good times and bad and right now its as bad as I've seen it and the last couple of years have crushed the soul right out of me.  Adversity reveals character and I've worked with some pretty awful characters over the years but none as bad as the last group.  I've also had some great experiences and met some great folks - the Hibernia offshore project (east coast Canada) was the highlight of my career.  Motivated people working together towards a common goal.  What a blast.

Prior to becoming a lawyer I was a journeyman carpenter and I built stuff.  I'm thinking I'd like to build stuff again so we'll see where the next chapter leads - i'm 55 and not ready for the pasture.

I'm married with 2 kids at university and 1 dog still at home.
Mark

Trained as an Electrical Engineer that originally started in machine control and moved to prower distribution used once the power enters the building. Now I work as a project manager but miss the engineering challenge of electrical design.

Flipped houses/ handyman for about 12 years and now I'm in the Navy doing network security

Flipped houses/ handyman for about 12 years and now I'm in the Navy doing network security

that's certainly quite the career change!

Flipped houses/ handyman for about 12 years and now I'm in the Navy doing network security

that's certainly quite the career change!

It definitely was I asked my self what do I want to do in 10 years and as much as I enjoyed the job it wasn't it. So I figured that the best way to get money for school was military. Now, for what it's worth, I'm going to make it a career and pass on my gi bill to my kid so she can go and do what ever she wants.

Flipped houses/ handyman for about 12 years and now I'm in the Navy doing network security

that's certainly quite the career change!

It definitely was I asked my self what do I want to do in 10 years and as much as I enjoyed the job it wasn't it. So I figured that the best way to get money for school was military. Now, for what it's worth, I'm going to make it a career and pass on my gi bill to my kid so she can go and do what ever she wants.

Were you always involved with computers and networking even when you were involved in carpentry?

that's certainly quite the career change!

It definitely was I asked my self what do I want to do in 10 years and as much as I enjoyed the job it wasn't it.  So I figured that the best way to get money for school was military. Now, for what it's worth, I'm going to make it a career and pass on my gi bill to my kid so she can go and do what ever she wants.

Were you always involved with computers and networking even when you were involved in carpentry?

Somewhat, my father introduced me to computers early and of course I grew up playing video games. I took some programming classes in high school for electives because it sounded interesting and I wanted to get into game programming.
While I was doing construction I got my AS in programming but I was making really good money doing other things so I really haven't used it since.
When ever I could though I would do any data recovery, laptop repair and anything comp related that I came across.
When I joined the navy I wanted to get into the IT field to get some on the job experience, what I never heard of is what I'm doing now (CTN) while there is a lot of stuff to learn all the time, its really interesting to me

For now I'm a Sr. Systems Administrator...but hope to change that with David James Shaving Supply Co.