MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
Hmm.. In order- paper round, helping Dad in a shop taking washing machines and hoovers apart, McDonald's, student nurse for a year in Dundee/Perth. Back to Glasgow, care assistant, stock dept for Asda, another go at Nursing in Edinburgh this time, bar job, care assistant, broken leg put paid to it, job in a call centre, promoted to TL but contract cancelled not long after. Back to Glasgow, charity work, doorman, call taker for The Pru, claims handler then fraud dept. Managed 7 years with them, three changes of owners, under a lot of pressure towards the end, stressed etc..
Friend suggested the ambulance service, applied and got in. Found I quite enjoyed it, trying to get my arse in gear and get the para training done.
Have had ups and downs along the way, good times and bad. Happily married now with kids and a mortgage although hardly any time to ride my bike these days.. Oh well.
I'm now an engineering geologist and I love drilling holes.
I messed about at school, went to 6th form and messed about even more. I was clever but just couldn't be arsed with it as it was easy.
Got accepted into uni and did averagely.
Somehow got a job on my doorstep straight out of uni in 2007, working as a monitoring technician for a site investigation company. Turned out I was better at work than school, did everything I was asked and had my own brain to do things without being asked. I trained up there and matured as well, moved out of home properly too.
Someone I worked with moved to Australia, a year later he offered me a job with him, thought why not ill give it a go. 18 months later, still here.
Longer term I'd like to get into construction or deeper drilling works, but I don't really want to do more study...
Did my GCSEs and got the grades for a sponsorship from the RAF to be a pilot. Broke my back at 17 which messed that up so went into IT because it was good money easy.
10 years later I now work between the US and UK as a support/installation engineer for a web filtering company.
Love my job as its so varied and I meet/talk to different people everyday. It also keeps me mentally challenged as I work on so many different platforms I constantly have to learn on the fly.
Work on a Orthopeadic ward in the NHS. Left School after my A levels, became a Travel Agent didn't like that, a bar manager and Trained up as a Scaffolder. Then got a job in a Nursing home part time and did my Nurse training at Uni.
I enjoy it, stressful but every day is different. Would of loved to of gone to Med school, but i cant afford to pay the tuition fees.
Left school at 15 with nowt
got a job in a furniture shop in the warehouse .£5 per week £4.47 after stoppages but a pint of mild was .11p
then apprentice carpet fitter till 17 on £15
next plant driving at a quarry till 19 £ 50 is per week
Forklift truck driver in a factory 20 £25 per week
back to the quarry and £50 per week until 21 years old
went selfemployed on my 21 birthday in 1976 as a carpet fitter
been in that trade ever since and it is crap now with no one spending on their houses so would take a job if offered one.
I'm a part time warehouse bum.
Left school with crap grades.
Worked in the packing dept at a sandwich factory.
Got a job as a driver at 18.
Moved up to the purchasing dept.
Made redundant.
Worked at a Morrison's RDC in the stock control dept.
Went back to the driving out of necessity.
Got left holding the baby when my ex did a runner.
Went part time in the warehouse to fit in with school.
Not really decided what I want to do with life but at the moment I am just happy riding bikes and being a dad.
Project manager
Probably the best description but my role involves the sales, design and delivery process so it's a bit broad for a simple definition. I work for a contract audio visual company and in short we 'pimp' homes with lifestyle technology solutions;
Cinema
Multi-room music and video
Automated lighting, window treatment etc...
Data networks
Entry systems and CCTV
Custom control systems (control everything via iPad etc...)
You get the idea....
I left uni early as I couldn't see where it was going and went to work in a decent Hi-Fi store to 'buy some time' whilst I worked out what I was going to do... Never thought I'd find something I enjoyed so much and that suited my creative tendencies. Worked there for around ten years with a [brief] interlude to do a Ski season in the Three Valleys, then caught a break when introduced to my boss who was building a custom install company. In at the beginning and we're going great guns.
I design systems for some of the most beautiful homes in London and the surrounding counties, we also have projects in Europe (St Moritz, Geneva, Nice etc..) with, in some case, simply eye watering sums of money involved - really interesting clients. What's nice is we engage in projects across the price spectrum so it's not just the uber rich, but needless to say what we sell is not exactly cheap. Tech changes so fast it's a constant race to keep up and make sure we embrace the best solutions for our clients... I love my job... 😀
Business analyst /consultant etc
Was about to put pen to paper for REME when the careers lady said "how about trying this 3 week computer course?"
Well, that landed me 3 years on design - the most famous outcome of which was to have designed the "country choice foods" logo that adsorbed thier vehicle fleet from the early 90's for about 10 years and - get this - i designed, withiut actually knowing what it was, the training Sim for the laser cross hair system that you all saw pn the news at the first Gulf war. Seeing that on TV made me sit up.
Various redundancies then saw me as an software trainer for local and central government software. 20 years later and various aquisitions, management of teams / national and international projects and i seem to be somewhat of an industry expert in one if the top 3 companies.
At a bit if a ceiling currently, as I'm crap at politics I can't be trusted / don't have the experience at a directorial role, yet seem to be a capable lieutenant that everyone wants working for them. Nothing wrong with that I guess....
Failed most of my OLevels, redid them, did. Civil engineering course in the local college and then one in Leeds Polly but failed it, did it again. Got a job as a land surveyor on a motorway project for a couple of years, then moved into landfill installing boreholes and pipe work to extract methane.
Moved about a bit from one company to another, still in landfill and usually specialising in methane extraction (usually every 2 years), usually going up a rung or two each time ending up in a waste management company doing the corporate thing. The corporate thing just got tiresome after 8years so left that job to set myself up as a land surveyor 12 months ago as that was one job I really loved and with everyone recycling these days, landfill is pretty much on a massive downward trend.
Loving being my own boss. Financially it was a bit hard at times but now it looks like I have to get some help in due to workloads.
Drpooed out (before I was kicked out) of degree in Environmental Science. Trained as a nurse. Went to work for Halfords as a Biklehut Specialist and ended up in store management. Jumped ship to B&Q for a 50% pay rise. Hated the environment and the fact I never saw my wife.
Now site manager for an company mainly offering airsoft events but also cp training facilities. Have a nice fun side project working for a friend (on here) now and again which gets me to some unusual places.
Mental health nurse working in deliberate self harm. Been lucky to only have to be part time for the last decade doing 2/3 long shifts a week. Got involved in developing/ renting property with my brother and another friend and this will most likely be what i retire on. We also own a bar/ club type thing, and I'm a partner in a small micro brewery. I was looking at having a bit of a change and was going to head to NZ for a private health provider, but the brewery is doing great and we are looking at getting our first pub and this is proving great fun. I guess I'm a bit of a chancer really, who happens to be able to fall back on being a pretty decent nurse and who doesn't mind putting the hours in to make stuff work.
Im a clockmaker. been there for 2 years now.
spent 7 years in the Army REME as a welder/shipwright. I enjoy my job but i would love to do some thing else. I have applied for a few jobs in a completely different sector. I would love to be a police man or ambulance driver.
i think im lucky to have a job TBH and im going to be stuck at my company for a while yet.
Design Analyst.
left school at 15 with 4 GCSE's. dossed for 5 years, DJing very badly, on the dole, taking drugs daily.
got a job in a glue factory, filling bottles, promoted to machine setter. there for a year. got a job as a printers assistant in a place that printed rolls of labels for Tescos etc.
Left that job with nothing else to go to. got a job washing dishes in a cafe, then became a cook, supplemented that wage with a bit of casual drug dealing to friends.
Got another job as a cook, and became head chef at a restaurant, but was also doing a lot of cocaine. that became too much, so gave up cooking and got a job in record shop, age about 26.
Couple of years later decided I needed to do something, went back to college to do a HIgher Education Foundation Course, got the required grades to go to uni, so enrolled on a Computer studies degree. worked part time in the shop, and later Pizza Express, making pizzas.
Graduated with a 2:1, worked for a friend as a web dev. for 6 months, that did't work out, so joined my current company as a programmer. was never a great programmer, so applied for a job on the same project as a design analyst.
Been at my current employers 5 years last friday. It's been a funny old ride, but I wouldn't change any of it!
Structural Designer in energy industry.
Left school at 16 to be an electrician. Found out my colourblindness was worse than I had previously thought so couldn't get into the college course.
Went back to school to do higher and intermediate 2 courses.
Applied for HND Mechanical Engineering but the class was full.
Settled for HND Accounting but realised in the early briefing class I hated it. Quit that.
Phoned the college and explained it wasn't was I truly wanted to do, they put me on a waiting list for Mechanical Engineering.
Agreed with boss at the time (labourer at electrical contractors) to work full time for 1 year until next college intake. Got a phone call later that day with opportunity to join HND Mech Eng class. Turn up smartly dressed, rest of folk were minks so got in no bother.
It was the first time the graded HND was run so became first and only person with an A in both HNC and HND Mech Eng.
Applied for Trainee Structural Designer role at a few companies, got a few offers including from my top choice company.
Started night class BEng Mechanical and Offshore Engineering course after 1 year as trainee, whilst doing a SVQ Level 3.
Graduated 2 years later, passed my SVQ Lvl 3 and completed my structural design training 1 year early.
Have taken a year and half (so far) out of further education.
Start a part time MSc in Oil and Gas Structural Engineering this September.
Looking to move into Structural Engineer role and get chartered within next 5 years.
Going to be in local paper (Press & Journal) on Monday if anyone local would like a laugh at my prematurely balding head!
Got pretty good GCSEs at school due to being fairly bright, but as a result didn't try hard enough at A levels and wasn't clever enough to get the appropriate grades for a place at Surrey University studying sound recording without trying,
Went to another uni up north and studied Music Tech instead, met soon to be MrsNinja and rediscovered a love for all things two wheeled and knobbly tyred up in the Lake District. Graduated with a first, and moved back down to London to make my way in the media industry.
Got a job as a runner at a large TV edit house, then a slightly better job in the library department of a now defunct film lab, then a job doing ops for a very small facility. Have just gone freelance as an editor/restoration artist/vfx artist/photographer in the hope of building up my career further and also doing smaller, more enjoyable media creation jobs for smaller clients than the big players that hang around in Soho. Pretty worried about the near future tbh, but I'm hoping that with enough effort it'll turn out ok.
Father was involved in development of BBC Micro, which got me into SW at age 10. Had games and applications published in magazines from about 13 onwards, did some summer jobs as contract programmer from 15. Then totally lost interest in SW and only got back into it in the last few years. Spent the inbetween 20 odd years working in Telecoms after BEng in Electronics. First 10 years were very varied, worked on MoD stuff, Powerline comms with Norweb, Satellite stuff for Intelsat, Mobile phone projects. Hold about 9 patents for various designs. Last 10 years have been spent designing bits of mobile phone networks all over the world, from China to Africa, Middle East to central London.
Reatil Designer
Degree in Furniture design and manufacture.
Worked for a shopfitter as a designer.
Then, in the project managment side for a little while.
Now working for an Architect doing multi million pound refits.
BA (Hons) Geography + MA Geography + PhD + year as research/teaching [s]dogsbody[/s] assistant = senior lecturer
Decided during A-levels to take geology degree at university. Failed all A-levels. This was no suprise as I insisted on going to a local 6th form college which had a bad dossy attitude but my choices were beyond me academically: maths and physics, and I was never good at writing essays so failed geography, and scraped an N in AS geology.
Anyway rather than re-take I decided to take the clearing offer of studying HND in Geological Technology at Luton. Cruised through that. Got to start at Sheffield Uni straight into the 2nd year. Handled that ok, depsite regretfully sometimes not understanding the difference a 2:2 and a 2:1 could make.
Applied to the nearest 'geological' companies to Sheffield and ended up describing soils for a site investigation company. Worked myself up during my 2 years there. Got lucky breaks with the projects I worked on so got some failry unique drilling experience. Went travelling, worked for a small backward consultancy, did MSc in Engineering Geology including a niche work placement in nuclear industry, met Mrs Mugsy, ended up working for a bigger global consultancy for 6 years doing slope stability and earthworks designs etc.
Mini mugsy born, time for Mrs Mugsy to move home back to France, moved to France,left company, signed them up as a client, worked from home for a year. Reivsited my practical hands on knowledge form my early days and now carved a nice niche working on overseas projects and working from home. Have a good list of contacts and chances to work for other clients on projects all over the world.
Love working overseas. Love big technical drilling (not tin pot 30m holes). Love being hands on. Don't like leaving Mrs Mugsy and the children, don't like the new company i.e. my new client that bought out my client, but this means many colleagues have left and aware of my skillset and contct me about beoming involved with their projects. Not made the jump yet, but prob will soonish.
Comapny director via the university of life and a Ba(hons). Generally motivated by not wanting to be like all the useless people I've had the pleasure of meeting in my life and being motivated by some top, top people.
Wunundred.
Small business owner and MTB guide.
Used to work in that London on the 2nd fit and reconfiguration of Banks. Began at 17 by lugging in the furniture, then moved onto designing the floor plate and then on to project management.
Moved to Spain in 2007 and set up All Mountain Venture in 2009. I'd been coming here biking and hiking for 20 odd years and have strong family connections down here; so it seemed a natural move after I'd had a gut-full of desk jobs and wanted to work outside.
Marketing Analyst
started out by not having a clue so took a degree that sounded interesting, Physics, to put off having to make a decision, spent too much time riding and taking all the interesting hard modules so came out with a crap degree. Temped for a steel processor as cannon fodder, eventually got a office job, admin, customer services, database design, then a CRM implimentation, after 12 years got made redundant when they moved the plant to chester. Did an MA for fun in Classics because it interested me.
Spent a couple of years temping, and discovered how lucky i had been to have worked previously with a decent group of people, even if i moaned at the time that it was $hit. Now working for a farm supplier on a CRM implementation, and general market analyst type stuff. money if ok, people are ok, so not to bad. plenty of time to ride and live.
Instructor/technician in Furniture/cabinetmaking in a College.
Too much skateboarding and too anti-authority at school so left with very little, drifted about and back to college for a while but still too preoccupied to do well despite being creative and clever.
Started work as a driver for a plastic conservatory company, lost my driving license so was allowed to work in the factory, did this for a few years before the blinding boredom got under my skin enough to do something about it, but still had no idea of direction.
Mum put me on a career analysts day course that suggested a creative and practical vocation, one of which was furniture making.
Got on a two year course at my local college studying furniture making, then went on to a three year degree in furniture design and craftsmanship in High Wycombe.
Eventually moved down to Brighton with then girlfriend and worked as a postman for a while, then with an architectural joinery company where I learned pretty complex wood machining and did a few 'one-off'pieces.
Got very bored, left and worked self employed with an antique reproduction company where I basically had to make pieces of furniture from just photographs.
Girlfriend thought Brighton too expensive(I loved it there) and wanted to move back to the Midlands to take our lives forward, houses etc... We split up after a few months partly as I was so depressed being back.
Got into a job building narrowboats which I did for two years, then got a phone call from a furniture designer/maker who I'd been to see a few years before when firing out C.Vs.
Worked with him for two years making some amazing and complicated one-off furniture, coming up with ways to do things all the time, learned an awful lot.
Got a phone call from an old Uni friend who had been the technician on the furniture course that I started on originally and had now become course leader about teaching some leisure evening classes.
Did that for a year before sacking off the furniture making as it had become restrictive and boring and went full time and very much full circle at the college.
Been here about 5 years now. Good conditions and holiday and I get a whole workshop at my disposal to make my own designs... 🙂
I ride bikes and sail stuff, I found this place via Boards Forum.. 😆
Manufacturing engineer for the F1 team who will win the 2014 FIA constructors championship 😉
After 26 yrs in the trade and lots of bloody hard work it was a chance encounter and a little bit of luck that helped me get the job I had always dreamed of,
proof indeed that it's not what you know but who you know in this game.
Offshore Inspection-NDT tech / Rope Access.
Started out bombing all my exams so left school at 16 and started an apprenticeship as a Fab / Welder in a Glasgow Shipyard. First year at college was good but decided the nanosecond i was in the yard that the life was not for me. BUT i finished the apprenticeship and promptly joined the Royal Marines. Did that for a good 12 years which started out an absolute blast with yearly trips to Norway and Belize amongst others. Then promptly got very serious when Iraq and Afghanistan kicked off.
In 12 years i did 3 tours of Afghanistan, 1 in Iraq, 1 in NI, and 1 In Kosovo so i defo did my bit.
But as with everything you have to grow up eventually so made the move offshore and have not looked back.
Spent the first 18 months working worldwide from far-east, middle east and Gulf of Mexico but was sick of not being at home and being on a very short lead when i was so made the move to the North sea.
Work can be good at times but very monotonous the rest. But i work 2 weeks on and 3 off so i never ever ever complain 🙂
Currently doing an HNC in Mechanical Engineering and i am really wishing i had paid more attention to maths at school.
Left school with nothing never wanted to be three, Royal Navy recruitment turned up at school and I thought that looks ok so passed entry to be an Air Engineering Mechanic as a boy sailor 16 years old. Too much discipline for me so left after 6 months longest time i could have left it without giving 18 months notice or getting thrown out. Worked as a sheet metal worker went to night school qualified as a sheet metal worker. Always good practically so worked as a mechanic for a bit and making bespoke light fittings for another firm. Been making Jiffy Catering Trucks for the past 20 years now but less and less metal work now installing transport refrigeration, diesel fired heating, 240/12 volt elecrical systems, LPG fired catering equipment, basically whatever the customer wants I get asked to make it work on a vehicle and deal with the customer with any issues in the future. My title is development manager for what its worth. I also too my class 1 licence at 21 so get to deliver the customers new vehicles too. Most recently built myself a campervan so the company decided it would be a good idea to diversify because times have been tough and I get to build, sell, quote, order parts, basically everything for this side of the business for nothing extra. I want a new challenge but not sure where my skills fit in with other companies. Being ground down about your abilities for 20 years takes its toll
bikebouy - MemberI ride bikes and sail stuff, I found this place via Boards Forum..
Not the Contributor In Chief? Shirley not?
By way of apology for the OT previous post.
I repair scanners in hospitals. Been doing this for the last ten years. Fell into this by accident when a mate rang me up and asked me if I wanted a job.
There are worse things to have to do for money.
RAF for four years till a broken back stopped that before Telic 1.
12yrs abroad doing numerous very high level rigging works that no one else would attempt.
Now the owner of 3 companies operating in the high level access sector, operating, training and equipment supply.
Have clients from general construction, through Government, Police and the Military.
Not a job most fancy - have a search for any of the vids posted on here of the "insane riggers" or "head for heights"...
That's a normal day - you should see some of the other stuff we do........
Carpenter
Been in the same trade since i left school. I was always told to get a trade , did'nt fancy anything techy so chose carpentry and joinery. I have been doing the same job for 26 years now.
Processed in a pink floyd way at school, went to do a pharmacy degree. Hated it and left. Main ambition never to do another exam. Did a variety of jobs, picking rubbish off margate beach, despatch riding, then started work as a technician in the local college. Found out I was quite good at teaching...now a Headteacher. I love it...most of the time
Senior Research Scientist.
From school always wanted to work as a countryside ranger. Did work experience and a bit of volunteering with North West Water. I knew the position would take a degree (as pretty much any job did by then) so went to uni and did environmental science. It seems I got rather way-laid with science, and ended up doing a PhD. Then a couple of postdoc positions down the line, I get offered a job in Oz. Think I'll do it for a couple of years whilst the UK economy sorts its life out, then end up winning grants and getting a promotion. Looks like I might be here a while...
Was an agricultural engineer for 16 years and now a solicitor. Wish i'd stayed up the shitty end of a combine tbh but the money is a little better.
Great thread.
I'm a professor of organic chemistry. Pathway is very much on rails compared to some of the more interesting stories - start chemistry degree at 18 - PhD - postdoc - lecturer etc.
Moved at each stage - in hindsight got lucky with choice of laboratories. PhD was an average project but an inspirational and supportive supervisor. Postdoc was also a good supervisor but a world class project. Combination of the two got me my start.
Left school and went straight to work as a plumber with my dad, few rows etc later went off to work for other people till the collapse a few years ago. A wrecked knee from racing moto x meant I've done all sorts of shite factory jobs to pay the bills. Second new arrival int the family and finally getting my knee sorted has lead me back into plumbing. Loving it more than ever after doing loads of other things made me realise how much I missed it. Never thought I'd think that way
I'm a lawyer.
I took the direct route of straight to uni to study law but whilst there realised I didn't really want to be a lawyer! I left uni and did other things for a few years but after my first child was born I took the plunge and got qualified.
Regretting it ever since!
Sales Engineer for a big Telco.
Left school, did Business Studies HND at a Poly, worked as a minicomputer operator for a couple of years (HP3000). Back when that was an actual job.
Got bored, became a nurse (RGN). Worked in oncology, gave lots of very sick people chemo for 10 years.
Found it all too harrowing one day (personal circs weren't helping) and managed to blag my way into an IT Helpdesk contracting role, starting again at the very bottom. All the FT guys left, and bit by bit I assimilated their roles.
Discovered I really enjoyed the networking bits the best, what was this 'subnet' thing they spoke of?
Went off and did all the exams and got all the experience I could in all things networky (LANs, WANs, firewalling, etc, etc, etc) and up until a couple of years back happily built solutions on our core MPLS infrastructure, before getting lured away into Pre-Sales.
Very enjoyable job, if i may say, so, if not a little stressful at times. I act as a brake on the more fevered imaginings of sales people, while striving to get customers solutions that'll do the job for 'em.
Accountant, on some cool projects though
Seems I went to the same sixth form as Chiefgrooveguru, joined the army at 15, got a degree in Electronic Systems Engineering but didn't make it thru Sandhurst due to chronic lower leg injuries. Absolutely gutted at the time but with hindsight a lucky escape, and apart from having to avoid running even now, I wouldn't change a thing.
Panicked at the time as I knew I would make a terrible engineer in the real world (good at passing exams, not so good at developing practical engineering solutions) and ended up looking at grad schemes with the opportunity to gain a professional qualification in a new field. So ended up joining a large British defence manufacturing business, getting CIMA qualified and I now look after the finances of a load of capability development contracts on some planes that the RAF use.
Despite thinking that accountancy in general is dull, my job is really interesting, probably as now I've progressed a bit I spend most of my time talking to other people/functions and not manipulating data in spreadsheets all day.
Great thread btw.
Hospital Doctor, GCSE then a levels, did a degree in Environmental science, worked as a consultant for a year did a masters in Hydrogeology. Worked in research for a year, opportunity came up and managed to get a place on a post graduate medical degree (which was what I initially wanted to do, but my school said I wasn't clever enough and I believed them). Have been a doctor for last two years, have an interview next week to get onto the anaesthetic training scheme, so hopefully will end up a gas man!
QHSE Manager in the oil & gas industry. Ended up in the QHSE field by accident as i have an HND in Mechanical Engineering and always wanted to pursue a career in that. Started working as an inspector for a drilling tools rental company both on and offshore and worked my way up to supervisor, and then was moved into the quality control department. It was here that i started to learn about QA & HSE and just progressed in this field. My boss was given a promotion to a global position and i was basically told that if i didn't take the managers position then they would find somebody that would. I wasn't ready for the post at the time but here i am 5 years later and still the manager. Never saw myself doing this type of work but it's funny how things turn out.
Firefighter.... got here via labourer, machine shop, timber mill, stud welding machine assembly... bet someone i could get a law degree, did that, became a lawyer for 10 years, hated it, got a job as a mountain guide for a while, moved to Canada, split with ex, came back and worked in a sh1t awful bike shop for a wee while until started on the fire.
Now glad i have a job that doesnt require an explanation of what it involves when people ask what you do for a living. 😉
Manage an office estate post room in Wapping. Got here by a series of events completely out of my control that started when I was about four years old.
Painter and Decorator.
Left school. Went to Uni got a BA Hons in the arts(not very useful)
Became a roadie and stage builder. Then packed that in.
Spent 10 years travelling and working my way round world.
Then got a job on a dive boat for 3 years.
Moved back to home town. Worked for Home Office and hated it. Went back to college to become a decorator. Works bit erratic at the moment but hey-ho.
Fancy working abroad again, now-any offers ?
Always worked in and around sport. The technology side, worked my way up. Now work at the Elite end.
There's a lot of acronyms being used (and a few words) that mean absolutely nothing to people outside your area of work. I know it's STW but I.T isn't everyone's first language. 
Retail Manager one of the big supermarkets.
Left school good set of gcse, did btec hnc at college, Aston Uni computer science degree.
While at Uni i progressed from playing with trollies up to a management position at the local supermarket. After i finished my degree decided to stay doing what i was doing as jobs where ether less pay or far too many people applying for them.
16 years later ive done senior positions in my job but stepped back to a line manager role, started doing a MCSE a few years back but didn't have the heart for it.
Currently updating my CV and looking for a proper job, generally fed up with current job and expectations are just above anything ive had before. Unsure what to do at 35!!
Paramedic.
Left school at 16, got a job hitting big trucks with big hammers, got NVQ's and HND's which were pretty easy.
Moved to another dealers but got made redundant. Got myself a job hitting ambulances with hammers as a stop-gap. Got bored after a year of this then someone suggested doing an ambulance technician course. Sounded like it would be a bit of a laugh, nothing to lose.
8 years later, qualified and loving every minute of the job. Currently getting paid to ride about on a bike and attend to so-called emergencies 😀
Some intresting and inspireing careers on here.
I feel totally unworthy of posting my existence.......
Pot washer in a local pub earns me £50 a week to spend on bikes, off to do Geography at Uni in Wales in September.
Got a trade and a profession.
Loads of O levels,then 3 months of a business studies college course....ditched that coz it was crap.
>Apprentice Bricklayer (mid 80s)
>Bricklayer (self employed and/or employed depending on job/year)
>BMX inflicted wrist destruction 10 years ago
>Training co-ordinator for brickie apprentices
>Bricklaying Instructor (practical only)
>Teacher training
>Lecturer of Brickwork and Construction
Some intresting and inspireing careers on here.
I feel totally unworthy of posting my existence.......
Come on project, it's all good
Not http://guruaudio.com/ by any chance?
No, but they look pretty nice! This: http://www.barefacedbass.com
Went through A levels, a degree in civil engineering and then worked up to being a chartered engineer. Didn't plan on being an engineer really, I just fell into it. My job now is project managing road construction schemes. However after 15 years I fancy a bit of a new challenge/change so will look at whats around over the next 12 months or so. Ideally would like to work for myself but we'll see.
Firefighter, left school, at 16 with below average GCSE results and got an apprenticeship as a butcher, didn't see that going anywhere long term after 3 years so i got myself fit and joined the army. Did that for 6 years and decided to leave whilst i was still young enough to start another career and joined the fire service where i've been for the last 12 years.
Final year sport and exercise science undergrad at one of the top two unis for my subject (picked some easy A levels so got good grades). Along the way I picked up 12 months experience as a sports scientist in Vancouver (did some biking and skiing out there too). Currently scouring STW as well as other sites for a job.
Any openings in applied exercise physiology that don't require a masters (definitely ready to leave education) would be welcome, preferably in Canada...
Paper rounds
School GCSE's
A-levels
Carer in place for people with epilepsy
Assessment specialist for people with epilepsy (spotting non epileptic seizures)
Merchandiser for Coca-cola
Sales rep for Coca-Cola
Business Development Manager for Coca-Cola
Recruitment Consultant (sorry)
Residential Care Officer (kids home)
Phase Manager (social work MIS System)
Project Manager (IT)
Service Development Manger (designing new ways of looking after older people)
Pretty random huh?
Trainee Tax Inspector.
Graduated from Uni with a Cell Biology Degree and couldn't see myself working in a lab for the rest of my life. Moved in with my girlfriend after uni and needed a job ASAP. Applied to work for HMRC and ended up working in one of the contact centres for 3 years! Just as I was getting to the end of my tether I applied for the fast track scheme and managed to get through.
Can't say I grew up wanting to work as a tax inspector, however my
unit is about as interesting as it gets, as we deal with wealthy internationally mobile individuals.
Who knows where I will be in 5 years time.
Heavy plant operator/mechanic
Started as a labourer at 17, turned 18 and started operating 30ton dumptrucks,then moved on to bulldozers and excavators,I have also managed to get dragged in to the plant fitter side of things and often end up twirling a spanner, Tried other things but love this job so much.
At 24 I joined the TA Royal Signals and trained as generator technician, now im aiming to get mtb instructor qualifications through the army and see what comes from that in the future.
Like a few of the scientists here that have posted. Degree -> PhD (in genetics) -> postdocs.
Did two postdocs and decided that although I liked academia, I wasn't going to make it to team leader/prof. So moved out to Biotech. Worked for a basket case biotech (3yrs) and a good company (18months). Then moved to a biotech start up 7yrs ago, in which I started up some new businesses that went very well and it got aquired in Sept for a serious amount.
Now running a small lab group with labs in 7 countries / 4 continents. Lots of challenges but lots of fun. Still a science nerd!
First year to do GCSEs, someone screwed up and I didn't get any science grades for ages. Got bumped from A levels to OND engineering because of this.
Chose Telecoms engineering for degree because it had a nice picture in the brochure.
Started in support, moved to training, training management, pre-sales, product management, then marketing. Well worn path...
Now European Marketing Manager for a Telecoms/IT company.
Law enforcement.
Was brightish but lazy hated school and had no desire to go to Uni which was pretty much all my school cared about. Left school after a levels and about six months later got a job as clerical bod in the DHSS, good laugh lots of similar aged people working there. Got promoted and transferred to HMCE and became a gentleman of the excise, a job only slightly more taxing than being in a coma. Three years of that and joined the HMCE Investigation Division, loved it!! Within a year had done my HMCE equivalent of the CID course, advanced driving and surveillance course, spent the next six years doing op's (lots and lots of surveillance and long hours ) work on high level fraudsters. Great fun when you're young; "We want you to spend 30 hrs in an empty office waiting for a lorry to drive past you then give us a call when it does" "Cool, that sounds great, who needs sleep" good team, working away or overseas, lots of nights on the booze and managed to get my advanced motorcyclist ticket for surveillance as well as a few technical surveillance courses. After about six years of that off to a heroin branch, even more surveillance but now with kebabs in north London, good quality targets and got to run some very long term op's, with reasonably massive drugs and cash seizures(my personal bests being; 120kgs of coke, or for the scabbier crowd 85 kgs of heroin packed with 100 kgs of weed or for the financial classes £126,000 in cash being handed over in a carrier bag in the street). Eventually after about 16 years I got really, really bored of the surveillance side, so have now drifted over to being an intelligence manager (sort of like a D.S / Field Intel Officer) developing jobs for teams, got some interesting stuff on the go, work with some good quality resources, am still learning things and I still get out on the ground when I fancy it.
Did an engineering apprenticeship, metalwork ,woodwork, plastics and foundry work,got made redundant,
Worked on a market as a self employed trader,
worked as an instructor in a large mental health hospital, and mental disability hospital, OT depts, working with mentally ill, physical disabilities, and mental handicap,
worked for a charity, realised there was fiddling going on, tried to raise it and got told to leave, same day as i resigned strangely,
Drove a van for an NHS DEPT, doing multiple drop deliveries to GP, surgers,
Worked self employed, doing maintenance work on care homes,and making radiator cabinets,
self employed as a joiner, working in customers homes and work places.
Looking for a new challenge, and a new job.
Project manager building and refurbishing pubs! Did can degree in psychology, thinking I wanted to be a clinical psychologist, did a summer job in a secure hospital as a nurse and hated it!
Bummed about with various jobs for a couple of years, recruitment, teaching rugby, barman, then noticed the pub company I was working for had a grad scheme. Figured I could do a better job of designing pubs than I'd seen so applied for the building department.
8 years later, I've done a post grad in construction management, i'm a chartered builder, and I've just started managing the contract and supply chain for the department.
Retired at 51, now 54.
Wasn't particularly bright at school but left with some 'O' levels and CSE's and joined the British Railways HQ Finance team. Liked running / orienteering and didn't want a job where I would have to work weekends!
Didn't try hard enough at ICMA (now CIMA) accountancy quals (preferred running) and only passed first 3 years but eventually got AAT qualification. Moved around a bit Derby/Nottingham/London/York/Newcastle and managed to survive privatisation and interminable re-organisations. Was going to retire after 34 years in early 2010 but before I could get my letter in they made me redundant. Massive result as I have final salary pension and managed to buy a buy-to-let property some years ago. Not rich,but I don't have to work.
I buggered up my A levels courtesy of John smiths at a pound a pint one lunchtime followed by A level exams a couple hours later.
That put paid to going to Uni to train as a teacher.
Worked in retail for a bit then got a job in a call centre made redundant 5 years later went to work in pubs then went back to a similar call centre to the one I had been made redundant from.
Left that job and went to college with the aim of going to Uni to train as a social worker decided it wasn't for me so tried to find some care work but it was all with the older people unless I had experience.which I didn't.
So ended up being out of work and education so when the kids went back to school after the summer I found another job in a call centre who count the company I used to work for as a client which makes things interesting, now have more responsibility and scope and have already gained promotion the company are also a new start up so it's good to be building something.
Goes something like this
Psychologist for BT in their Human Factors department (user centred design and evaluation)
Business development manager at BT Cellnet responsible for smart phones (pre-wap so was involved in developing those standards)
Head of Music and Games at Genie Internet (mobile portal owned by BT Cellnet)
Business development manager at a small mobile games company
Gap year aged 34
Internet casino manager for William Hill (inc. 2 years in Gibraltar)
MSc in Holistic Science (economics, ecology and complexity theory)
Since graduating in 2010 I have not been in employment, but just doing a little freelance work while developing contacts in Brazil. I now have a work visa so things are beginning to look up this year. I generally say I am a teacher and consultant in chaos and complexity theory, sustainability and creativity. My blog is doing quite well too which I started writing on in 2010.
Company director for biomass boiler distributor....
So, gcses, a levels, started degree in mech eng, switched to automotive design which I passed fine but found it impossible to get job, learnt web design, got job in that. 3 years later was a bit sick and went off to china to teach English.
Came back and managed to get job as multi media guy in a school, enjoyed that but started doing my own stuff on the side, helping to run club nights, doing graphics etc, set up a business with a mate and few years later had got to the level where we were touring the world doing big audio visual gigs (10k audiences), big building projections etc. was great for about 4 years then the travelling, late nights, drinking and everything took its toll.
Was looking for new challenge, got speaking to some people about renewables and ended up taking on a company doing biomass boilers, it's been a bloody tough year but starting to get everything in place now. First little one on the way in may so have to get it all working by then
I sometimes wonder how the hell I got where I did, but probably wonder more about what's next!
spaceship engineer (no, really)
Worked with aircraft electronics while at uni, then ship electronics afterwards (for a bit), turned down an offer to design TV SFX electronics (T+C were worse than ****, actually no, worse than that!), then ended up testing then operating spacecraft (which is what I actually did at uni in the first place).
I work advising on sustainable forest plantations for a big paper company.
Left school with 2 A levels - a D and an E - went to farming college for a year - spent another year faffing.....walked out of 2 good college courses and then did gardening, bar and farm work.
Got a place on a Environmental Studies degree course at a local tech college. In my final year got a job on an American summer camp and only came back to UK when my visa ran out, went back to working in the bar, and had decided i would go back to the States for another season and then head to central america.....
Got offered a 12 week part time countryside rangering job with the local council, which became 6 months full time and then a year. Then went to work for Welsh Water as a ranger and got involved in forestry.
After 3.5 years went to work for a private forestry management company as a "graduate trainee"..... worked hard and got involved with the early days of Llandegla.... after 7 years moved to Scotland and started working in compliance and environmental management for the same firm.... after 4 years of that i needed a complete change and would have done anything !!
Was offered current job but told i could be based anywhere in the world - said ok - 2 years later i dont think i have ever slept for more than 2 weeks in the same bed. Love it - been to India, West Africa, Korea and South America lots and go to Finland most months.... private life is a disaster but i'm living the dream - well the forester's dream 😀
COO of a domains/SaaS company.
Went to Uni to do computer science. In the 16 years since I left I've had 6 other jobs, all in technology (but a variety of sectors) getting more senior as I went along. So really just fairly traditional in terms of career growth in technology with "promotions" coming from moving jobs rather than within the job.
Was working in electronic trading for various financial institutions. Had various roles around the City and originally got into this though business analysis and picked it up pretty quickly from there.
Self-employed web designer. Currently really a paid hobby as clients almost non-existent. Basically waiting until April 2014 to get pension.
Degree in zoology and geology, MSc in Rock Mechanics and Engineering Geology. First job for copper mining company in Zambia as Rock Mechanics Engineer (3 years). Returned to UK, job in Construction industry as Engineering geologist for a contractor. Eventually estimating and tendering for geotechnical contracts. After 13 years for one company moved to a small contractor as Contracts Manager then director. Company closed and made redundant. Self employed as site contracts engineer for a couple of years, then senior geotech. engineer for another contractor. Made redundant at 51 during downturn in construction industry.
Decided had had enough of construction industry. Decided to try web design but also worked as trail leader for long distance horse trails in Wales and Scotland. Still did a bit of freelance estimating.
Met wife on a trail ride. Took 5 months for round the world trip and decided to move to Scotland where we could afford property with land to keep a couple of horses. Wife could only get a job as home carer and web design not really working so finances stretched. Began fostering, which wife had always wanted to do, providing small income. Wife's work down-graded in restructuring so income falling.
Currently struggling along, waiting for April 2014 when I get my pension which hopefully will make things more comfortable.