Banavie signal box peajay?
Yup, Banavie, FortWilliam Junction and Annat, mostly Banavie but in Annat today.
Estimator / qs / buyer / contracts manager (depending what hat I am wearing) for a small construction company.
It was great till about 18 months ago when the whole industry went tits up. Everyday saw a new challenge and a new set of problems to solve. It is now just soul destroying. Life is one big argument, with employees, sub contractors and clients who will do anything not to pay you for a fair job.
I have seen hundreds of colleagues kicked out of jobs, and thousands of tradesman out on the scrap heap. Our company, which I have helped build up since we started in 92 is now teetering on the edge of going under, simply because 2 big clients will go to any means imaginable to avoid paying us for work we carried out.
Mortgage to pay and kids to feed so cant afford to be out of work to retrain. Reasonable salary and said commitments always prevented me from doing what I always wanted to do and be a paramedic.
Life is proper shit at the moment.
Aero technician.
I get to play with giant airfixes all day!! graet fun. And i retrained from a fire alarm engineer at 45......I know how lucky i am.
Architect/QS/dogs body, same as Lowey really, spent years training and working for the big developers and used to love this job but after 3 redundancies in 18 months it really is soul destroying. Pretty ****ing bleak.
I love mine, although i think i may be classed as sad for it,
machine shop manager for specialist and very small engineering company(fully skilled cnc machinist 25yrs to boot..wow!!!)
currently making first of three NEW front ends for DLS in chilton to go on the synchrotron particle accelarator, also working for Orion at AWE aldermarston and bnfl sellafield on various dubeous projects...
13 yrs here now, Ride the 14 miles everyday ( a life long wish to ride daily granted)plenty of other MTB riders here,
Interesting days at work and piles of pay ....perfect
only problem is I may be helping with bringing on the destruction of the world, oh well, never mind, every cloud and all that.
Glenn... you got my sympathy mate.
IT Recruiter - the esteem from my fellow humans is nice 😕 but not much joy in the job at the mo, lots of people I have known for years who need jobs but nothing around to offer them & too much time scratching around trying to find things to do when I would rather be busy
I manage the digital diagnostic image archive for a mid-sized NHS Trust - that's like the electronic version of x-rays, ct scans and stuff. All very interesting, although turning up in theatres in mid hip replacement or brain op is a bit unsettling, and theatre greens are just so unflattering. But it's interesting. Some very cool technology, keeping my inner geek happy and fed. But not as interesting as it was when we went filmless and engaged in doing away with all that expensive and envoironmentally unsound blue plastic film. That was some major stress, and now it's over, it all seems a bit quiet.
And being management in the NHS means that it's all my fault, whatever it is.
Oh look, it's raining, bl00dy overpaid underworked overpensioned NHS management.
Yes love my job - Scott sports are an excellent company to work for 😀
bumley - it wasn't you you that thought "ADDICT" was a good idea was it?
Hate mine to the extent that it's making my family misewrable a well. If I could find an alternative I would be gone in a hearbeat.
Escorted half a dozen paying customers on a cycling trip round Corsica earlier this year, didn't get paid but all expenses were covered & got tipped 500 euros! Just got a find a way of doing that for the other 51 weeks of the year....
I love my job, been doing it for 8 years now. I've got my own tree surgery business, i rarely work more than 3 days a week, start at half 9 and like to be home by 3. Got a couple of mates who work for me so have a good laugh at work. If its raining or it looks like it might rain i stay in bed!
I love heights & swinging around on ropes, its just nice being outdoors so much, i could never go back to office based work & I get an endless supply of logs so no winter heating bills for me.
bumley - it wasn't you you that thought "ADDICT" was a good idea was it?
Not guilty!
Tree feller, no climbing, they make a bigger bang when taken from the ankles and we have big machines too, what more could I want. Get to work a lot of remote tricky sites. Employed with no pressures. Like dropping big oaks and chestnuts, dream of douglas fir with their height and minimal snedding, quite enjoy the carnage of clearfell.
Love my work.
me, computing.
Luckily I started in 1977, Computer Science (Uni open day: Physics - boring, Accountancy - considerable more boring, Computing (of which I knew nothing) - blokes in jeans and t shirts running about enthusiastically.
Anyway, still here after 3 redundancies and several skillset evolutions. I enjoy using my brain, you do get people interaction (*tip - don't do backroom/techie head down computing unless you're truly brilliant at it - get a job that involves being there/considerable user/budget holder inmteraction, it will help come the outsourcing phase).
Had to relearn my skillset several times over, so fresh challenges.
Pros - can get good money, easy on body (*makes a difference as you get older), keeps the mind active, travel etc opportunities if you want/pick the right field.
Cons - geek reputation, can be boring, serious potential for shipping to a cheaper location.
My one regret in life is that I didn't have a clear idea of what I wanted to do as a job.
Inquisitive, enthusiastic, did well at school, went to uni, didn't do quite so well and just fell into(admittedly reasonably paying) job(s) that I didn't enjoy. 10 years on and I've not found my niche at all.
One day I'm hoping to wake up with the answer in my mind....
I enjoy all the trappings of being my own boss, and none of the negatives, like poor-ish earnings, unpaid hollidays and sickness. All in all - I think I do!
me= www.peterflynnclassiccars.com
Aristotle - your story sounds familiar.
Mech eng turned project manager. Not happy. Wish I thought more about the sort of thing I liked doing rather than the - "I'm ok at maths and physics so will do eng degree and see where that takes me"
Thing is I'm now mid-ish 30's and I still don't know what I want to do. Prefer to be outdoors and dealing with people who are enjoying themselves. Also want a "making a difference" element to my job.
Fed up of pestering people who are over-worked to do more just to make sure someone in another country can tell their boss that they have done some arbitrary number of sales they said they would 12 months ago.
I work as a computer artist in the video game industry, mostly doing character modelling work. Great job, sometimes has lots of overtime but the actual work and environment is great.
Mech eng turned project manager. Not happy. Wish I thought more about the sort of thing I liked doing rather than the - "I'm ok at maths and physics so will do eng degree and see where that takes me"
That is what I did and do...
Thing is I'm now mid-ish 30's and I still don't know what I want to do. Prefer to be outdoors and dealing with people who are enjoying themselves. Also want a "making a difference" element to my job.
That is also my situation and [b]exactly[/b] what I think
Aristotle - your story sounds familiar.
Separated at birth?!!? 😉
Yeah I can relate to that too - Aristotle and supersession, but totally different field so no birth confusion...! 😉 I think time was that it was easy to trundle through the education system, cause it was kind of expected of you, but I have no recollection of ever having any good advice - or ideas of my own for that matter, as to what occupation might actually hold my long term interest once you'd got over the earning a wage thing. I've been chewing this one over pretty much all the way through my 30s and am still looking... getting ideas is actually quite easy once you get in the mindset, it's having the courage to put those dreams into action that is still thwarting me.... 😐
There is a lot you can do within the 'engineering' field, and I agree that some of it is pretty rubbish.
I work in the food and drink industry, currently building a new Chocolate factory in Poland, which is pretty cool.
Woodsman, your business looks good.
Are you a coach-builder [i]by trade[/i]?
I'm a fluffer by trade. But at weekends I really get going. I punch holes in pikelets.
By some strange co-incidence I am also a project manager but from an IT background, very similar to the last couple of postsfrom engineers, did well at school, uni (law degree...) no idea what I wanted to do, still don't. Managed to drift into a pretty well paid job but feel wholly unsatisified or challenged. Just hit 31 and having the whole 'is this it then' type thoughts....
As some one said coming up with ideas is one thing, coming up with ones that don't involve taking a massive financial loss or risk is another...
This post is food for thought!
Capitalist Pig otherwise known as IT Security business owner.
Upsides: we can do what we want, good bunch of guys working for me,ummm can't think of many more which is worrying.
Downsides: Lots of stress and pressure when its your knackers on the line, too much work and not enough trustworthy and good people, always concerned about keeping the funnel full, people saying "It must be great to skive off when you want" which I'm sure it is but I have very little recent practical experience of it, can't see an end to this one (sold the last one), cashflow always interesting on a month by month basis, probably take it too seriously
I need to lighten up I think.
I am a structural analyst for a large aerospace company - the job is great - very interesting, always learning and developing new methodologies, testing stuff until it breaks, influencing designs etc. There is only 2 of us as well, which means there is a lot of work.
I have been doing it for 7 years now and can't imaging doing anything else or working anywhere else as the level of responsibility and the other guys I work with are great.
Also - the buck kind of stops with us on just about any component we design - so I get to feel all important which is good for the ego! Telling someone their design is a load of pish can be difficult when a deadline is 1 day away. However, as a specialist we are quite well respected - although the pay in this particular company is mediocre. I could earn 25% more elsewhere.
Wow what a mixed bunch we are.
I run a small B2B pr firm, we work in the events industry so it can be great fun mixed with bouts of chaos - fortunately if we cock up no-one dies unlike some of you on here, but we try not to cock up if we can.
Hats of to you all who have "serious" jobs, esp those in the medical world. I am married to a community midwife so have had 15 years second hand experience of just how hard you work for such little reward and thanks - as we have used you a LOT - a huge thanks from me.
Right, anyone want to be on the front page of tomorrow's News of the World?
I develope, license in and sell new technology for a small UK biotech firm. Our areas of development are tests for mental retardation in children and screening for genetic abnormalities in IVF cases. Great job, always fast moving, meet lots of interesting people (science hasn't too many b******ds) and go to plenty of different places. Very fortunate to also have off the scale growth too, bucking the UK trends. Finally work from home about 50% of the time, so plenty of riding.
A&E doc.
Mostly fun, occasionally shit, very rewarding....