Transform huge failing neighbourhoods into [s]somewhere great[/s]. Ah - we didn't mostly finish this - economic crash, change of government, long-term projects, short term spending....blah.
So instead - smaller stuff. Quite proud of a nice 40unit over 55's housing project. Lots of shared gardens, residents looking out for each other, nice community feel and spacious energy efficient dwellings. Worked with the residents from day 1, evolved the scheme with them and delivered something they took immediate pride in.
Seeing the first promo and features I edited get played out on our tv channel for the first time. I love my job despite having no real interest in the channel I work for (its horse racing, despite working here for two years I'm still indifferent to it)! Oh and being told "we definitely made the right decision to promote you" in my review just after starting the editing job 🙂
This is nothing compared to what the others have done, but I've rescued a couple of dogs that have escaped gardens by stopping and alerting the owners.
Also it's amazing how many people leave keys in car doors and even car doors wide open. I always stop and knock on the nearest house.
The joys of driving round housing estates with learner drivers !!
Pullled. 8)
😉Also it's amazing how many people leave keys in car doors and even car doors wide open. I always have a rummae round see if there's anything worh nicking.
Two weeks into a new job I secured a contract for £140k
tagged 2 weekends in Rotorua onto a training course I was delivering.
The training side is generally quite rewarding especially with non IT types. Blowing some of the magic consulting smoke out of it all is quite fun.
After that probably stopping somebody from wasting a huge amount of money on the wrong solution/ego trip.
Kept an 11 year old boy alive when he'd collapsed in the street and was in cardiac arrest in january. The local GP and I gave him chest compressions and rescue breaths until the closest ambulance arrived which was closer than i'd been but then couldn't find the boy and his mum until i'd radioed through the exact location.
He survived then spent four months in Alder Hey learning to swallow, move his limbs, talk then eventually walk again. He's now back home and planning to go back to school in September.
My Sergeant and I were planning on how to investigate his death after the ambulance had left with him and his mum but thankfully we never had to :-).
Being a local bobby has its moments at present whilst there are big changes happening but this day sticks in the memory somewhat.
Used double sided tape to stick lingerie on models for photo shoots
A little play on words 'Bollards to bollards', that I inserted in a piece of work for the DfT whilst chuckling away to myself at the thought of my boss picking it up in the proof read. Well, it made itself through our proofing, the DfT proofing and got published in transport guidance - they obviously appreciated the jovial tone which wasn't entirely out of kilter with the gist of the contents.
My most rewarding thing was to sell my Business for a huge profit.
Theres a whole story behind that but thats the outcome.
The invoice I'll be submitting on Monday will be for six weeks, rather than the usual four. That'll be pretty rewarding 🙂
Taught some grown ups to ride a bike. Followed my hunch on a few cases that saved someone from abuse or exploitation. Seeing everyone at the start line at mayhem from the commentary box in blazing sun always feels good!
Well I work in IT, so I don't get to help people to the extent that some of you do, to my shame.
I spent four months every morning talking a girl in India through how to do my job, on which she was replacing me. She's now taken it over; pretty grateful and well set up for her career now, that's a good feeling as I'm not sure she'd have made it otherwise.
Last year I went to a customer, they'd had something implemented by a third party that was shite, and they were struggling to do their jobs. I went in, explained it all and reworked their system a bit, they were all visibly chuffed to bits - that was good.
Yesterday, talked to a customer where I happened to be doing something else - they were facing ludicrous deadlines. In a few hours in a meeting I'd throw in technical ideas that had hugely simplified the job and now we've got a great chance of success. The project is for the government, which will save a crapload of money for the public purse (not by replacing jobs, this time) so that's actually fairly significant I reckon.
3 flush dump.
I'm screwed...
Started in the Army having paid trips to sunnier climbs to show them democracy, then became a personal injury lawyer, now work for an insurance company, i'm going to hell......
Got some people sacked for browsing pron all day.
[i]I'm screwed...[/i]
no shame in the oldest profession.
Got to say nothing I've done is anything like as rewarding as you guys back there, credit to you. I've had a few deals that went well in my time, have helped folk start new careers and trained them to be what they might not have ever considered, but nothing like that real helping folk with serious issues stuff, that may not be that rewarding financially but there is more to life than money.
Set up aggegate recycling plants that mean 4 highways contracts we have are near as is possible self sufficient for stone. Diverting over 100,000 T of waste from landfill and reducing demand for quarried stone by the same.
This week it was negotiate myself out of a job I hate a month early which has raised my mood and made me a better person to be around for my family.
Bit selfish compared to above but a big difference in my tiny world.
It's quite depressing that at 33 I can't think of a serious answer to this question
Various major first aid incidents spring to mind. And helping some clients while I was a guide in les gets get down some pretty serious terrain. Remembering their reluctance to do any of it while reminiscing over a beer in the evening having successfully completed everything that was thrown at them was a good feeling. Not exactly life saving stuff but it made me feel proud.
This is a really good question, and it's got me thinking.
"Not enough" is my answer. Not because I'm comparing against those who do life-saving jobs, or work in education, but because what I do (lawyer*) is generally only about making or saving money for people.
*For the next fortnight only - catch me while you can!
Just seeing someone enjoy a bottle of wine I've made.
Made quite a few things that a lot of people find very useful. All you smartphone users can thank me if you are ever using a function where a satellite is involved as I made the bits to make it possible (and over two dozen companies failed to do so before coming to me). 8)
Had a thalidomide victim come in to get some custom golf clubs made for him, which was good, he was well chuffed (he had almost perfectly formed hands, just hardly any arms, the clubs were about six foot long).
Most rewarding thing I've done is simply helping a new disabled customer at work. She was so overwhelmed with the level of service she received that she wrote me a letter in a thank you card.
That card sits on my desk infront of me now, and has helped me get through some very dark times.
A colleague thanked me, for giving them the confidence to speak english with a native speaker. That was a good day (i finally had someone to talk to!). Building up people's confidence is a wonderful thing.
I briefly worked with 12 month+ unemployed, the forerunner to the Work Programme. I had one customer who amazed me, he had been a teacher for many years and quit. All the jobs centre and other agencies wanted him to do was go back into teaching. He was collecting his £65/wk while trying to find a job, yet in the evenings he went out and helped the homeless - worked in soup kitchens etc. He was one rung up the ladder from the people he was helping. I racked my brains and got him a work placement (work for free) with a homeless shelter. Within the week they were on the phone asking if they could hire him. As I was leaving the job and handing over my clients to the new lady, he walked in. "Oh no" said the lady, "he's not one of yours is he?" "he won't go back into teaching and I couldn't do anything with him at the other agency". With a big smile I told her "he's signing off, he's got a job doing what he's passionate about"
The big grin on his face still makes me smile.
Update:
To paraphrase sbob who has set my mind into a guilty sort of turmoil...
'Most rewarding thing I've done is simply being there. She was so overwhelmed with the support she received that she wrote me a letter in a thank you card.
That letter sits on my desk infront of me now, and has helped me get through some very dark times.'
'know that you made a difference and know that you saved a life'
The Lesotho Exchange is still pretty cool though. And today I polished off my Year 11 Science classes admin. I'm looking at a 95% A*- C rate for my two classes- I'm pretty chuffed to be honest. A Chinese takeaway and a couple of bottles of local beer are deserved I think.
Setting up my own company has been very rewarding and it allows us to pay the mortgage whilst my wife does much more important and rewarding things as a social worker for fostering services.
At my uncle's funeral this week a 'autobiography' of his life was read - he'd been ill for some time - and I was taken back by the pride and reward he had in bringing through apprentices in his business. Inspiring stuff and something I hope I can do someday.
I used to be an engineer on SAR flight at HMS Gannet (819 NAS in my day)Thats rewarding enough for me
Helped save numerous lives whilst earning a pittance
Latest were a family of 6 who thought they had flu but it was carbon monoxide poisoning
Thanks I get is my wages not paid right.
Yes I'm some what pee'd off, I'd get paid more stacking shelves (yes I have been looking!)
In the early year of my employment I smashed up my boss' cake without him knowing because he insisted on visiting a client after 5.30pm. FFS! The traffic jam took another 2 hours, so in a fit of anger I destroyed his cake which he was saving up for his desert later on that evening. 😆 I could have roughed him up a bit but then I would be told off by the police or lose my job.
Apart from that I have done all my jobs by giving my best and sometimes people thanked me sometimes not but so long as everyone is happy that's good enough for me. I don't feel ... unless I am running my own business or company ... 
Having spent too long in IT I packed it in and have worked in the domestic violence field for the past 4 years, both with perpetrators and victims. 95% grim but the rewarding bits are priceless.
Today may well have been my best ever day at work. A patient said the following to me "A couple of weeks ago I thought that I didn't have long to live and was waiting to die. You have taken me from that and got me back on my feet and able to walk - Thank You" I am truly gutted that I wont get to keep him on as a patient as I'm moving to a different job on monday.
I can piss the highest in the workshop shithouse 🙂
I teach Physics in a college and I do get alot of good day by day satisfaction teaching stuff
Few high points were:
Last years uppers were amazing and they got 13A* out of 53 students. Good by any standards but we are the main A-level provider to an area perhaps best described as mixed, so in that context I still can't believe it
A few years back I was involved in a consultation on how we decide what to do with Britain's Nuclear Waste. My students were brilliant gathering opinions and analyzing them. A real bright spark student and I analysed the data in quiet a clever way. When we met up with the nuclear physicists at a conference they were impressed by our stats. That student is now a Thermal Engineer on satellites. But the best bit was the small group debates. I just remember the look of angst on this 15 year old girls face while she tried to decide if it was morally OK to bury waste knowing that in 100,000 years time it could come to the surface and kill people. Every student there got how huge the questions they were answering were
Oh and living for a week in a cottage with no mains electricity or running water with my first tutor group was amazing to...
While working as a video editor I walked into my edit suite one day to find the coked up Extreme! Sports! video director who had been driving me mad for months crouching under my desk looking for tapes.
I sat on his back and released a giant & grotesque fart up his back.
He went mental and stormed out shouting.
That was rewarding.
Although our working relationship was a little frosty after that.
Finger bashed the receptionist.
I got sacked for writing an email to a friend of mine about one of my colleagues. I threatened to defecate his cup and call it coffee. Although I didn't know it at the time being sacked was the best thing that happened to me. It was a terrible job, I had nothing to do for weeks at a time and I used to look out of the window into the field and bet which quadrant of the field the lonely cos would take a dump in.
With the shoe on the other foot, and as a couple of others have mentioned teaching, I bumped into my old English teacher recently.
He was one of the few good teachers I had and it was a pleasure to tell him that, as well as pointing out that I have friends with kids that he teaches and they all rave about him as well.
He was suitably embarrassed but I'm sure he felt pretty chuffed that evening over dinner (eating the lamb loin I recommended 😆 ).
I put a gate into a fence a few weeks back so an autistic kid could access the local park from his back garden rather than risk walking out onto the main road and around the block. Parish council permission, local round table funded and me doing the woodwork.
Didn't think much about it till the mum gave me a massive hug in tears when I handed her the keys to the padlock. It's going to make their life a lot richer and give him a bit more freedom to be a 3yo in the body of a teenager.
Nice moment.
Tim
Blimey. I wish I had a useful job. My wife works in the health service and really enjoys it. Doing good quality work, diagnosing problems and being generally a brilliant people person.
I fly a spreadsheet most of the time. I am pretty good at it too, but rewarding? Really?
So, for me, it's got to be the trip I make every Friday to trap 2. As a direct result of our mandatory weekly lunchtime trip to the burger/kebab van on the corner. Rewarding, certainly, but not something I would put on my CV.
I design and build small hydro-electric power stations - our company has 15, 30-750kW under way at the moment.
Pretty satisfying when they start generating.
I've locked up some very bad people. But I love locking up burgling bastards and drink drivers. They have no idea how much misery they cause.
A particularly satisfying job was when I attended a suspicious incident involving a severe MS sufferer. She had some odd bruises that had been explained away by her carer as being from where she gets lifted up after falling over.
My spider senses tingled and after a bit of digging around I found that her carer had been gradually isolating her from all of her friends, relatives and other agencies (cancelling appointments etc). and was now physically abusing her.
He got locked up for the offences, which I was very pleased about. Less pleasing was that he submitted a formal complaint for wrongful arrest (??), which took about 9 months to resolve.