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Paramedic, generally happy with work, especially when I feel I can make a difference when someone's having a bad day. Has its frustrations, unsocial and anti-family hours, but been doing it 11 years which is more than 3 times longer than I've done anything else for.
specalising particularly in high performance EV and hybrid system integration and calibration.
That interests me greatly. If I ever end up in your area I will ask you on a ride and try and get you to tell me all about developments in that area 🙂
Another teacher. Art, Photography, DT and sometimes Media Studies. Get to work with ideas and subjects I love every day. Kids are actually pretty good most of the time (even with a fairly deprived catchment like my school has). At my level of experience pay is pretty good and holidays are awesome!
However, as already mentioned above, all the stuff that doesn't directly involve being the classroom can be a little wearing at best and totally infuriating at worst.
Holy crap kilo huge respect, tragically had to dealings with such things and it really ****ed me up.
Too many abbreviations in many of these posts i can't fathom out.
I'm in the building trade, a few aches and pains now but still fairly fit, no arse crack showing, never read the sun, no wellies unless readymix day, no fags or vapours. I'm a posh one real coffee beans, a holiday to Pollensa not Magaluf and a Linn Sondek LP12 but i wish i'd done something else as i hate the cold, dark, wet, winters
I run a small sign and digital print business.
We employ 8 people, loads of work on, we're always busy.
It's a family business, started by my parents and my Grandfather. I feel a responsibility to keep it in good shape for the next generation, if they are interested.
I've been working there since I was 18 when I split the year, winters in the Alpes, summers working with Mum & Dad. They got busier and busier and it was the obvious thing to do.
It was great to work alongside my Grandfather. Many people say they would find it hard to work with their parents, it has had it's moments but we all still get on very well.
Anyone want a job? Thats the biggest problem I have, finding motivated and experienced staff.
+1 Kilo, Difficult work, shame we need your services but glad we do. Can we club together for some extra RAM?
Being a consultant really helps avoid any stress. I go to some really messed up clients, but all I have to do is tell them what I recommend and if they don't do it that's not my problem. Likewise if they don't give me what I need to do the job, I tell them, and if they continue not to give it to me then I can't do the job but they still pay us anyway 🙂
i wish i'd done something else as i hate the cold, dark, wet, winters
Move to a cold country. They down tools all winter cos the ground's frozen or it's snowing.
aye, lots of respect to kilo, i got put in the hat for a child sexual abuse case at jury duty last week, I was utterly terrified of getting picked for it, once I heard a few details of the case(I didn't). Lot of responsibility that, I'm glad other people are able to step up and do the job though.
@maxtorque What exactly did you do on p1 powertrain? Who were you working for?
Prison Officer. It's shit, especially when we have to deal with the shit Kilo gives us, day in day out.
Shit job, don't join.
Proper shit. The government are on about rehabilitation of prisoners again. They STILL don't realise you can't rehabilitate shit.
Offshore oil and gas.
Do my bit right to ensure Deepwater Horizon doesn't repeat itself.
Pays good, but fed up of the time away from home.
So looking for a change to more 'proper' engineering.
Regional technical manager for a construction materials and geotechnical laboratory. It's good when I get to actually do my job, rather than dealing with BS.
Environmental advisor. Nobody gives a shit no one will do anything and everybody wants to be your best friend when it's all gone to rat shit. Fell into it, currently swirling round the bowl and waiting to go round the bend. That said, at least I don't have to work for a living.
I teach people to race bikes, educate coaches, run races and lots of other stuff bike related, love it!
Respect to Kilo.
I'm self employed but work under contract to a couple of organisations building and auditing ISO Management systems (9001/14001/18001/27001/1090). It is what it is, plenty of time in a car but almost no office politics!
Tis not what I dreamed of but it keeps me in bikes and pancakes!
I can imagine you'd face some stiff opposition..
Depends where you stand when the matter's in hand.
Account Manager in the pharmaceutical industry. Been involved with lots of interesting new medicines over the years. Decent pay and benefits but not the easiest environment these days.
Senior NHS manager - I manage operating theatres mostly. I like it, its a tough job sometimes but I feel like I'm making a difference.
Done other things ranging from being a nurse, a resuscitation officer, lecturer, welder, education manager... I'm 46 so I suspect I'll do something else before I'm finished.
Jas
To me self-employed is the best job you can have regardless of the job you do.
Driving instructor mainly, I'm also a Bikeability instructor but that's quiet at the moment.
The driving instruction is the longest job I've done, coming upto 9 years now, and I still enjoy it. It's hard work mentally thinking about how capable the student is, are they having a bad day, but the hardest thing is the other idiots on the road. Very satisfying when a student passes but it's a lonely job as the students are not like having colleagues who you can moan to.....
I'm cutting my hours back a bit to get that work / life balance but it's difficult to say no when someone rings up for lessons as it's literally recommendations as it's not something you do twice so there are no repeat customers.
Love the Bikeability as seeing the kids " get " riding a bike is fantastic.
I'm a mental health rehab nurse, with a sideline in ECT.
It's pretty good as jobs go.
Town planning and environmental consultant in a big multi-d company. Currently helping deliver a prominent new railway project.
I do generally enjoy the work but consultancy is a grind and after 30 years I can't see me hacking another 10+ years full time.
bamboo
@maxtorque What exactly did you do on p1 powertrain? Who were you working for?
I helped to develop and integrate the Emachine, inverter and control software for the p1. I was consulting to the small specalist company that won the job to develop those parts from MAL.
Catering Manager in a special need school .
Loving it , very rewarding . money is ok and get all school holidays off .
But finishing on friday after nearly 2 years .
Moving back home to France . Not sure what I will do there .
Engineering Dept of a large aquaculture company. Basically a traveling mechanic that works on all sorts of machinery. No 2 days are the same & it's challenging.
It's rather enjoyable.
Chocolatier, sort of fell into it 9 odd years ago when I could no longer work as a mtb guide/skills coach, minimum wage though and I work as much as I physically can before my legs stop working (spinal injury) which for the past few years has been 20hrs max week, the only upside to working is I can go in to work when I want and finish when I want whilst wearing my headphones all day to drown out out the inane shite that the girls I work with listen to.
I'm a teacher. It's tough but I love it.
Machine shop manager, like the job but not as much as I used to.
Other people who have little or zero skills taking all the profit and doing very little or nothing in return sort of demoralises your efforts.
I guess most other jobs have similar issues.
I said before I work for stresco, as a dept manager, just survived the last cull of managers possibly a reprieve until Dave Lewis wants to save more pennies. Hate the job but have no idea what I want to do when I grow up, 40 next year and I have 24 years service, all from a part time job!
I worry about when / if I get made redundant, bumped into an old work colleague today, years ago he used to be my boss, then both on the same level, he lost his job in November he is a broken man, no swagger or confidence all gone, I don't want that.
You work @ inhouse somafunk? Sampled some on Sat, nice 😀
Me? Served my time as a motor mech in the '70s. Quite a few 'firsts'. First apprentice to attend a Rover training school(auto gearbox) PDI and drove first Range Rover in town+factory course on engine/gearboxes. Moved to a Ford garage and attended the launch of the first Fiesta
then moved on to become a factory fitter(ICI), still there 38yrs later 😯
Job title has changed to 'technician' and may be changing again! The job has been varied over the years, there used to be 5 plants and over a thousand workers, now less than 3 hundred and only 2 plants.
Interesting times ahead with possible mergers in the offing or a possible sale.
Never a dull moment......
Worked shifts for many years which allowed me to do lots of stuff at kids primary school, pa, school board, start a swimming club, train as a swimming teacher and RLSS tutor. Helped out with special needs swimming classes. Founder member of local special needs swimming club.
MBLA.
Bikability trainer.
Founding member of local Go-Ride club
Had a wee bit of input into D&G Stanes along with others 😀
I work in a bank which makes me a banker! It's alright.
Yeah, I work upstairs so to speak handmaking all the products (they are far better when made fresh and eaten within 24hrs as chocolate starts to oxidise rather quickly). I was Claire's first employee when she started the business in her kitchen/shed and I seem to still be here 9 years later in the fancy new factory...dunno quite how that happened as I only went to help out with her first commercial order but sort of fell into it. The pay is poor but to be honest it's prob the only job/employment I could do locally as I can work for as little or as much as I can dependant on how I feel that day and if I want/need a day or week off then it's no problem so I can't really complain.
Oh and I get to eat/take home as much as I like, which to be honest is none at all for myself but handy for birthdays/Xmas presents.
😀
Currently doing bike hire; booking, handing over, cleaning and maintaining the bikes (after every hire so that's a lot of cleaning - no wonder my own bikes get neglected). Answering folks queries about potential routes and tours - some one day, some multi-day.
And taxi/bike transport; mainly to/from Inverness and John o'Groats but covering much of the Highlands from Oban to Durness and occasionally further afield.
Love it. Folk are mostly relaxed and on holiday, get a good bit of chat on the way to JoG as folk are very excited but almost none on the return trip as folk are either knackered or in a post-climactic slump. I get to drive around the Highlands, enjoying the scenery and passing on stuff I know/answering questions. All in all, I'm really happy with it. I didn't think 10, or even 5, years ago I'd be a Velotech qualified bike mechanic and a licensed taxi driver. Just goes to show the surprises that life can throw up.
Nurse. NHS.
Hate it.
Can't see a way out without huge pay drop. Got family to support.
Currently lying awake with anxiety knowing I've got 12 hours in the hole tomorrow.
Worked in Subcontract Engineering for 30 yrs. started off doing project work and automation for the supply companies for Nissan. Robot weld cells etc. Loved it great bunch of lads great times. Long hours etc. On call for breakdowns 24hrs. Then shifted to oil and gas. More money but very boring production work. Now estimating jobs for the Aerospace industry. Quite interesting but equally frustrating. Looking like most people to get a better work life balance. (Ps. Very frustrated by the quality of training for apprentices and the ability of them when they leave college.)
I tell people I do IT support as it sounds cleverer but really I do customer service wearing a slightly more complicated hat than, say, a waiter or bar tender. Speaking to random folk and helping them out, making at least a slight positive difference to their day is great, but I'm well over the misguided management - it's frustrating, some genuinely genius ideas, but also some real ducks. At the minute, the bright spark idea is to set targets for time spent on the phone - so, what's the number for the speaking clock, again...?
Looking around, if anyone's in need of a customer service bloke - and I don't sit listening to the speaking clock all day, BTW.
Build missile guidance systems, also bits for drones and satellites and at the other end of the scale life support systems for subs, tanks and planes.
I am a Caretaker/Odd Job man in a small business unit. 6-2 Mon to Fri. Money's not great but it's the best/most laid-back job I've ever had and I can cycle here in 7 mins. I suppose I'm lucky that I've always had jobs that I've enjoyed. Used to test PVC compounds for an extrusion company and before that, tested construction materials for motorway builds - that was a good job for a single man.
I'm happy...
I'm guessing that Kilo works with/for CEOP. Very, very difficult and completely essential job. During my safeguarding time I've been involved with horrible cases of abuse that have stayed with me ever since. Doing that on a daily basis must be very, very challenging. Big respect and thanks.
Engineering technician in a university with niches in materials and testing.
On paper, a good job but the reality is not so nice. Lack of career advancement opportunities, teams cut so lean that we just about manage basic, mundane, functionality instead of all the interesting work we could be doing and some colleagues/internal clients who are really awkward sods have me seeking opportunities elsewhere.
Rope access technician/ops manager for a small rope access company. Probably a 70-30 split between office work and hanging from a rope but there's enough of the latter to keep it interesting & enough of the former for me to not be out there with the lads when the weather turns!
Currently expanding my role into H&S, will most likely mean dropping some of the time I spend on the ropes but tbh turning 40 this year it's quite nice not to have to be doing hard physical work all the time.
I enjoy it, certainly not what I ever thought I'd do & the management side can be frustrating sometimes but overall it's pretty rewarding, get paid pretty well & can be fairly flexible with my working hours/days. Boss is a mountain biker too so understands if I need to slope off for a few hours on a sunny afternoon for a 'meeting'...
Tyre manufacturer.
Manager of the manager managers.
Engineer by study, generally disrespected by Salespeople until the point where I bit the bullet and became one. Now I just set strategy, chase up folks and protect my team from more senior folks who know very little about what we do except the sales KPI's.
Not feeling very inspired by it......