what do you do for a living?

[PandaBear]

firmware / device driver engineer, hopping between different companies and industries writing software for chips and controllers. It is a lot of fun building robots, hard drives, flash memory cards, smart phones, sensors, etc, and the pay is not bad.

The stress is high, missing your deadline can be as expensive as $10000 per minutes or $600k per day, and you do get sick of eating pizza very very quickly.

Unlike other industry, this kind of jobs do use every single thing you learn back in college and more, and people who interview you expect you to remember every little detail from your homework assignment.

 

[ddrumman2004]

I'm a bum. Retired from general plant maintenance, welding..etc...

Jack of all trades, master of none.

In all honesty, right now I play drums in a band for spending money.

 

[mpvue]

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Originally Posted By: Drew99GT
Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Now my mornings are spent doing QA work, and the afternoons are spent berating people for eating fast food on a motor oil website.


Fixed that for ya.


I guess we know who's skin is a bit on the thin side. How mature of you.

I think a lot of us find it funny, nothing thin skinned about it, you're just predictable.

 

[saberz]

Data Analyst for a marketing company. I deal with the AMA and ADA databases to market CME and other products to physicians. I used to be a Tier 2 Tech Analyst, but glad I'm out of that horrendous role.

 

[dja4260]

Athletic Director/Physical Education teacher.

I think I might go for a career change. The pay is terrible for the hours I put in.

 

[Tom NJ]

Happily retired after 38 years in testing, manufacturing, designing, formulating, and selling synthetic esters base oils and ester based lubricants.

Work hard, take initiative, care about what you do, take risk, play hard.

Just played 18 holes and am now sipping some French Burgundy.

Tom NJ

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: JHZR2

You seem to misunderstand how it works. The degree you have has everything to do with what field you can apply for a job in.

Many places wont let you in the door without a 4 year degree. Without it, you may not be viewed as much better than a HS graduate.

Most of the highest paying jobs require a four year degree, and the thing is that the better ones require you to be in a track that either requires you to go to grad school or be heavily engaged in the schooling from freshman year - something you cant do being two years in unless you transfer a few credits and do it all over.

If you want to just go be a wage slave somewhere, then I dont see the benefit of even a two year degree.

If youre interested in being entrepreneurial, then it may matter less, but you still need to learn from a mentor somehow or else have high chance of failing the first few times at least.

So it very much does matter.


This.

If I were you I'd join the military.

Me? I cash SS checks for a living.

Originally Posted By: Pop_Rivit
Now my mornings are spent doing QA work, and the afternoons are spent berating people for eating fast food on a motor oil website.


LOL

 

[Jeepster_nut]

Originally Posted By: exranger06
I'm an engineer for an electric utility. I just graduated from college 6 months ago with a B. S. in electrical engineering and I basically had the job before I even graduated. It started out as an internship. I told them I was looking for a permanent position upon graduation, and long story short, I got one! I'm already making a lot of money, have fantastic benefits, and I just started a 401k. This is, I'm hoping a "cradle to grave" job. I don't ever intend on leaving, this is what I went to college for, and it's a fun, fairly easy job.

There are tons of available jobs in the electric utilities. Most of them require either a bachelors degree, or if you do the blue collar jobs (lineman, troubleman, etc) you only really need a high school diploma. The company will pay you for training. The pay and benefits are fantastic. My father was a lineman for the same company I'm at for over 20 years and we have always lived very comfortably.


This wouldn't happen to be the ever popular CL&P? Those guys got beat up pretty bad over the power outages of late.

 

[Al]

Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut

This wouldn't happen to be the ever popular CL&P? Those guys got beat up pretty bad over the power outages of late.

Yea..its comical. The same politicians that allowed de-regulation...which forced utilities to cut back (mostly on their line department) are now irate that they don't have enough trucks and men to respond to a disaster.

Back to the original thread....

 

[Quattro Pete]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I recently graduated college and looking for some ideas on what kind of job to get. So I wanted you guys to post up what you do for a job so I can get some ideas. Thanks!

Umm... shouldn't you have asked that question before you went to college?

 

[morris]

experimental trencher mechanic Davis/Case 9 years, air craft machinist 30 years, boeing. retired 7 years iam best at this job.

 

[tom slick]

I'm currently a R&D engineer for a company that specializes in agricultural equipment. I generally design/build prototype projects that either save water or eliminate farm labor.

Previously:
Carpenter/electrician/plumber
Engineering Planner
Facility/maintenance engineer (building mechanic)
CNC machine operator
Jet and Turbine engine mechanic in the USAF.

 

[CivicFan]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Originally Posted By: JHZR2
Ummmm, what was your degree in? What you studied in school should guide what job you get in the end. Most of the better jobs would require fairly stringent, dedicated training which would make you know where youre going.


It's a 2 year degree from a community college. Associate of Arts degree. Seems like there isn't much I can get with this. Maybe I could work for snap on or something like that. Some kind of manufacturing job. The degree I have is beside the point. The purpose of this post is for me to get some ideas on what field I could apply for a job in.


Associate of Arts degree is the first step in getting a degree. I would shoot for a bachelor's degree. Figure out what you enjoy doing and then research to see what will have the highest payoff. You will need to balance your resources (how much money can you spend or how much time can you devote to education). It all depends what you want to do in life.

 

[hattaresguy]

I invest in real estate. Right now mostly I speculate in land, new construction, and I'm getting into rentals. Looking to get into commercial and super high end stuff but I'm going to wait a bit and take my time.

Brutal business, don't recommend it unless you love it. I work 12 hours a day 6-7 days a week and look forward to Mondays, I love my job.


OTOH I make a lot of money doing it, but I can lose a lot of money too.

Ever see that show hoarders? Those are the kind of properties I love. My favorite kind of real estate is a [censored] hole, or has horrible legal and title problems attached to it. I love problem parcels that's where the money is.

I have a 4 year college degree too in business management, IMHO it was worth getting.

 

[Pablo]

Get off my lawn.

Oh sorry, wrong thread.

I live off the land. I mean I WISH I lived off the land.

 

[doitmyself]

Originally Posted By: Pablo
Get off my lawn.

Oh sorry, wrong thread.

I live off the land. I mean I WISH I lived off the land.


Sorry, but you missed the "Back to the Land" fad by several decades....it started in the early '70's. I tried it, but getting up at 2am every morning to stoke the wood stove wasn't quite as glamorous as imagined.

I have some vintage Mother Earth News magazines cheap. Maybe I'll toss in some John Denver on vinyl.

 

[Pablo]

Them people were wimps!!

 

[Dave Hess]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
I recently graduated college and looking for some ideas on what kind of job to get. So I wanted you guys to post up what you do for a job so I can get some ideas. Thanks!

Are you currently working?
What field would you like to go into?

Not all 2 year Associate degrees will have you working as a wage slave.

 

[exranger06]

Originally Posted By: Jeepster_nut

This wouldn't happen to be the ever popular CL&P? Those guys got beat up pretty bad over the power outages of late.

Nope, not CL&P. I work for United Illuminating.

 

[PandaBear]

I don't think 2 year associate degree is considered a full degree these days. If I were you I'd try to transfer the credit to a state university and continue on a 4 year degree that's more specialized and get you higher income. Many students do this to get into a school they couldn't get into initially in high school, or to save money.