Personally, I’ve always loved the process of taking things apart, understanding how they work and putting them back together. I turned that into a degree in mechanical engineering and eventually a career in power plant operations. Couldn’t be happier with my work than I currently am. Its WORK but I don’t hate it and I feel like I’m doing something important.
My career found me to be honest. My university study was a dead end (AI) and I needed money. My then-girlfriend had japplied for two jobs, one entry-level programming job and another one, not programming related. She had just been hired by the other company when the programming company contacted her for a second talk. Of course she declined, but they asked whether she knew anybody with a bit of programming experience who was looking for a job. The talk went well and within days I had an actual income.
Luck. Nobody dreams about being an auditor( unless you are an accountant) but I had just graduated and was looking for a job like crazy and saw and add for a trainee program in a big4 company. Manage to go in and that’s it. trainee programs in big comlanies can teach you a lot. 10/10 would recomend
Built my own CMS while trying to put together my art and design portfolio website. Applied for a graphic design job. In the first interview it came up in conversation that I designed and built the website from scratch. 2nd interview they were very interested to hear how I built the site. Got hired. Showed up on my first day and was introduced to the development team. I was very confused because I thought I was going to be doing design work. Became the lead web developer of their marketing department. Zero experience. Been a web developer for 15+ years now. I keep accidentally doing well at this and can’t get out now. I just wanted to draw.
I’m one of those useless management types. Basically got really good at managing processes and people and kept getting promoted. I landed my current job because of someone I used to work with. They needed a great operations manager for a new acquisition and gave me an offer he knew I couldn’t refuse. I LOVE the job and the field it’s in (the trades).
My last job was going out of business and one of my old coworkers recommended I go work at a slaughterhouse her son works at. Been there 4 months now and like it a lot more than my last job. Still a job though so only so much I can like it.
Analytical chemist.
Educated in Marine biology, started work on the dock that developed my ability to handle bizarre hours and self motivation, used the bizarre hours to get a harvest gig in wine making cellar work where I learned to grind, used my grind and bizarre hours to do some commercial electrical installation, then did some electric meter reading where I learned the importance of attention to detail, used all of the above skills to become a winery lab technician where I got experience working with high functioning lab equipment, wanted to get away from wine so now I’m a chemist.
Life is good. I’ve been more underpaid at every step of the way, but I feel that’s allowed me to function with less stress at every step of the path.
I had an arrow in the knee kinda situation when I turned 18 so I spent more time on computers
In 2008, I was fed up with a combination of wage slavery and freelancing, so I started looking around for a proper career. I found a job posting on monster.com for something called “seismic survey technician”. I was severely underqualified and I had no idea what it was, but it involved computery stuff with and emphasis on Linux and other unix systems, in addition to international travel which sounded interesting, so I sent in my application out of curiosity.
I ended up getting the job, and over the years since them I’ve carved out a pretty comfy niche in the industry.
Basically because of video games.
It first started with doing some admin work for a very early online StarCraft tournament. Keeping the roster/grid up-to-date and posting results … by literally editing the html file. Started out helping out more and eventually got into PHP code of this early tournament software and helped with that.
Then later it turned into writing scripts and addons for World of Warcraft, as well as just hosting the general infrastructure like forums, dkp systems and voice chat servers you need for a large guild. Even later external online tools for EvE Online (D-scan parsing, wormhole mapping).
Then I just got lucky and while telling someone all of these “qualifications” they basically just hired me. Even funnier, over a decade later an old WoW guildmate approached me with a programming issue … and after solving it he offered me a much better job. That’s were I work now.
This but it started with pirating video games.
I certainly remember the age of “key-gens” when you still had keys on the back of the CDs that you bought. But the internet wasn’t quite up for actually downloading entire games, yet (it would take weeks or months. Heck, mp3s took days back then).
Yeah, I’m kind of old.
I downloaded a ton of games from warez sites over 28.8 and 56 using a download agent
We used to build forts for fun. Then later, skate ramps. I realized I was pretty good at building shit so I got a job as a laborer. Then I got a job as a roofer on pretty nice houses. That turned into sort of helper/ apprentice thing. My dad and uncle had a construction/contracting company but I refused to work for them because I didn’t want to get a job because I was the owners kid. Later, my uncle blew out a knee or something and they asked me to come lend a hand for a bit. Turns out, they were really, really good and I stayed for about 20 years learning almost everything. Now I work as a project manager and finish carpenter on some pretty big, fancy houses.
Good on you for making your own start. There are many nepos in construction who know fuck all about anything but think they’re qualified to run crews.
Truly, I think it shows real character to achieve what you have.
Thanks. Really, I got lucky with mentor types early on.
There was a dude in highschool in the theater group that did the tech stuff. Lights and sound, sets were another group. He was super rad. He taught us that figuring out how to do stuff was at least as fun as doing stuff. He also taught us a weird kind of loyalty. If we skipped class or whatever, we could come and work in the theater as long as we kept quiet about it and just worked. He wouldn’t lie or cover for us but if we were there to learn or do, mum was the word.
My roofing boss took me aside one day and asked why I was trying to work so fast. I told him everyone else was cruising. He said “I dont pay you to do it fast. I pay you to do it right. Speed will come later”. He also taught me it was crucial to know where the good lunch places were and to make the most of that break.
And between my dad and my uncle, I’ve learned that just because you’re good at something doesn’t mean you’re a better person than someone, work ends at the end of the day, that if you’re being paid to do something it means you’re a professional and you should act like one, and to take pride in my work even if its for an asshole client.
I’ve worked for some shitty people too. They taught me that if I ever think I know it all, I should quit because thinking there’s no more to learn just means I’ve given up trying. They also taught me that hazing is stupid and the only thing that achieves is getting the new guy to piss in your thermos (thats right Dave, you fuck. that was me that fucked up your coffee. Think about that next time you tell someone to move a pile of lumber back and forth 3 times).
I failed upward to the level of my own incompetence.
How’s it going, Peter?
No, this is Patrick!
Was recommended to me by my previous employer. Was the resident computer geek on my nursing unit. Not looking for a new job or anything. Out of the blue, my boss says IT is looking for computer geeks with clinical experience. Fast forward a few months, I am now an Application Analyst.
As a kid I sat in front of a computer, so I got a job sitting in front of a computer. I do evening courses so I can get a different job sitting in front of a computer.
Manufacturing quality assurance. I don’t have a ton of mech engineering in my area, so I broadened my search by just using “engineer”. I had to sift through a lot of software/dev/etc engineering listings. I noticed there was a consistent stream of quality engineer, quality system type roles. Applied, and now it’s my career trajectory.
It’s a bit niche, the “real” engineers want nothing to do with it, and I get to dabble at various levels into all the products and processes. It comes with a good amount of documentation, auditing, pondering the true intent of accreditation requirements, and other mundane tasks, which is why so many people hate it. But maintaining the quality system maintains the business, so I have a job.
It’s not ISO 9001, but it’s similar. It has a ton added that’s specific to the industry, so it’s tangibly useful. Personally, I think ISO:9001 is a pyramid scheme. Under 9k1, you have to vet your vendors… Unless they’re also 9k1 certified! Regardless, I’m surrounded by 9k1, so I have some local mobility as well as national mobility for the specific industry.
I was stuck working in restaurants in my late 20s recovering from alcoholism. Managed to get set up at trade school with a friend who gave me rides till I got my license back. Studied industrial electricity and got a job as a helper shortly after, I’ve been a licensed electrician for a few years now and work for myself.
I love my trade. It kicks my ass some days but most of the time its not bad, I make good money, and I can feel good about the work. I do a lot of residential service calls these days, I love fixing homes.
I asked my eldest child what he wanted to do when he was older.
He said “I want to be one of those people that put cables into people’s houses”.
Absolute lad. Electricians are fucking voodoo workers. I don’t think he’ll ever be short of work either!
edit: that said, if I had to change career tomorrow, I think I’d go into either data networking at the physical layer, or work for a telecoms firm dropping fibre and sorting telephony dramas and whatnot.
Aww bless! It’s a great trade with a lot of directions he can take it for sure. It always feels so nice to be able to show up and fix a problem in an hour or two that was driving the homeowner nuts, most people are very grateful. I love being a house surgeon ;)
