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@john_drummer - [i]I've also been a Microfilm Operator*[/i]
What sort? My first job was photographing technical drawings onto 35mm microfilm!
Bike shop monkey 🙂
Ambulance technician, aspiring paramedic but change of policy (ie lack of finances) means my service doesnt really share my aspirations any more. Shifts are fairly brutal, jobs can be sometimes too. Pay isn't as much as you would think but love my job and glad I got out of my office job a few years ago just before things went proper t!ts up!
Architectural technologist - a love it and hate it job
My first job was photographing technical drawings onto 35mm microfilm!
pretty much the same. planning applications on A0 or A1 sheets placed face up on a flat bad thing, move the 35mm camera mounted on a stand above it up & down & play with the windows as needed. press footpedal. next. You would not believe how many technical drawings of a garage planning application I had to do.
We also did 16mm shots of parish records - you know, births deaths & marriages & the like. The oldest I remember doing dated back to the 16th century, cause of death "earthquake" IIRC. Much more interesting.
If you know Undercliffe Cemetery in Bradford (kind of our version of Highgate Cemetery), you'd be surprised who's buried there, and the quality of some of the tombs is astounding
when the processed films came back from the lab, cut them up, slip into suitable jackets & then copy onto diazo film. Go into any of Bradford's libraries & there's a chance any microfilm dating back to the mid 80s was my work, or one of my colleagues.
My friends though it was funny to call me a spy, because, as we all know, spies deal with microfilms...
Acupuncturist but before this 17 years engineering. I study Chinese martial arts and that's how I got into acupuncture.
Best move I ever made switching from being employed to being self employed doing something I love.
I get lots of spare time to bike if I choose and I see my sons grow up now. Used to work long hours engineering but I now realise it's not all about the money ??
Radiographer.
Bills paid
easy life
eats into bike time
pros/cons done
Mechanic,
Worked 5 years for subaru and isuzu and now working for BMW.
shit job but REALLY HAVE NO IDEA WHAT TO DO AND FEEL IM TOO LATE TO RETRAIN!!
AND IM ONLY 25
That's a right coincidence that John!
I used to enjoy doing the military stuff for companies like Thorn EMI. Blueprints for bombs and other weaponry.
Apart from that it was pretty tedious!
We moved onto to CAM-CAM (computerised version) but still printed out microfilm. A business of the past now eh?
Programmer. Looking for an out.
ciclista
I teach Bike Ability to school kids, teach adults to ride, lead leisure rides, teach cycle repair skills and work in a bike shop as a mechanic. I'm doing some cycle tour guiding this summer too. I have only twice been paid to go mountain biking so far.
By the way
what purple lines???You know the purple lines that get painted on the roads
I make sure that a very complicated website that buys and sells 'widgets' in multiple different ways works. It is bl**dy hard work. It's not really the job that gets me (although it's starting to) it is the d***heads on the A12 I have to endure for 300 miles a week getting there and back home again.
Stadium and Arena designer, specialising in the design of seating bowls and the specific technical requirements of sports and entertainment architecture. Fun but it takes years to see the fruits of your labours.
Test engineer for a hi-fi company. What I've ended up being from the starting point of musician with no talent 🙂 Nice company to work for, lots of people interested in music, one or two good perks 😉
FEEL IM TOO LATE TO RETRAIN
At 25, no way is it too late. But don't underestimate your skills - they could take you round the world working and playing. (Which is what I'd be doing if I was 25.)
Used to be RAF Survival Equipment/MRT member, but left to become a Paramedic. 9 years later, resigned from the Scottish Ambulance Service after being called a trouble maker*. Now sell outdoor clothing and look forward to the weekends.
* returned to work in May 2010, after 5 months off sick, following a road accident. On my first day back I discovered sterile equipment open, and drugs that had expired in Dec 2009 still in the ambulance. Apparently one of my colleagues, and the manager he emailed about my trouble making, saw nothing wrong with this. 😯
I design mobile phone / telecoms networks and really enjoy it - spend my time writing algorithms to automate more and more of it - basically trying to replace myself with a simple GUI - possibly a never ending task, as the more I learn, the more there is to automate....
Project Engineer, but since they've now appointed some project facilitator type chaps, its just mechanical design, calcs, FEA etc. Mostly fluid control systems.
I fix ATM's, spend all winter doing preventative maintenance so the rest of my year is quiet, and i work 4 days on, 4 days off. Almost feel guilty getting paid, i luuuuuurrve my job
portlyone -
Member
lookmanohands - MemberI'm a womble!
traffic officer?
Same company, very different role. Basically recording the property that's been used to build the motorways.
Yep, **** job but i get loads of time off to ride. 8)
lift engineer by trade, now co own my own lift maintenance company and love it
By day I work as a call centre operator.
By night I'm a self employed pyrotechnician.
Computer game programmer. I've enjoyed coding games since I was a kid, so it's nice to get paid for it too 🙂
Advertising Account Manager.
It varies, from being dull and boring to more stressful than is healthy. Hours are long, gratitude is non-existent, job satisfaction fleeting, politics overbearing and pay is derisory. I don't enjoy it but don't know what I do want to do and have just bought a house so can't easily re-train.
Clinical Pharmacologist for large Pharma - I get to test new antibody drugs on humans. Think Northwick Park/Te Genero. I design the trials and set the doses to be given. Got a new molecule starting in the clinic tomorrow! Before discovering biology, I was a Theoretical Physicist.
Software engineer. Surprised it took until page 3 for anybody to admit to something like that - is everybody embarrassed by being one, pretending to be something else, or do all the IT types only use STW during working hours? Slightly disturbing that it also seems to be the profession where people seem to want to get out - add me to the list (possibly very seriously come May), but I've no idea what else a 41yo with family could get into which would pay the bills and still allow me time with the kids.
I work in my LBS, not always a good thing for the wallet...
I work for a community music charity mostly running music workshops, I have also just started doing freelance graphic design, photography and video production - got some work with another charity coming up.
Not paying a great deal at the mo but I do ok. I have plans to make more cash soon, and generally I really enjoy the work I do and feel like I'm doing something worthwhile.
Today: company director running a reasonably midsizeish IT security consultancy.
Friday: Partner in a Big5 having just sold ^ to them 🙂
Another 4 years then its the carriage clock and I'm outta here !
On the side - brewery and biomechanical clothing company.
Signalman (signaller to the pc brigade) for Network Rail, currently playing with the biggest train set in Wolverhampton! 😀
Architectural Technologist here, 14 years in the job so can't mind it too much!
Currently on a year out over in Vancouver but will be heading home soon, que grovelling letters to former employers at the ready...
Design Engineer working in vehicle conversions* so can cover anything although I mostly specialise in designing engine components
*not pimp my ride type conversions but utility companies etc
For the last six months I suppose I would have to say writer, but hopefully I will have a 'proper' job soon 🙂
Car tyre engineering manager, so I always find the topics about 'which tyre for my car' or 'should I bother with winter tyres' an interesting read 🙂
Used to do similar to JAG I think (principal engineer)...
What area of the vehicle engineering are you in? (I'm ex-Gaydon btw)
Accountant of sorts for a software company.
Pro: Get paid well, enjoy what I do
Con: Every penny is hard earned; the hours and pressure are ridiculous
Health, Safety, Security and Safeguarding Manager for a big FE college
Only gonna be here for another 2 years, will then be freelancing my skills back to the education sector for more money and less time.
UK Head of IT for a multinational.
I do computer stuff, looking to specialise more in the IT security field.
Was in industrial automation and control (electrical type stuff)......
......Hated it... then a mental breakdown put an end to me doing it anyway 🙂
Nearly finished a full time college course, and I'm off to university this September to study occupational therapy 🙂
So will be an OT in 3 and a bit years (hopefully).
another psych nurse here, acting manager for 3 private units in the community, 1X floating support, 1X 24 hour support and 1X 24 hour support for forensic clients from broadmoor and its equivalents.
stanley - MemberWas in industrial automation and control (electrical type stuff)......
Thats what our company specialises in - Siemens, Rockwell, etc
The Engineers work insane hours to complete projects!
IT Manager looking after telecoms for a FTSE100 company with a team of lightly trained gibbons
Xiphon,
Yep, Siemens, Mitsubishi, Rockwell, Telemecanique and a TON of pressure for not a lot of money!
I'm a professional Geek, just to bring the numbers up. Specifically, I'm a "Senior Engineer" allegedly.
You know when you come into work and no-one can get their emails, so you get Sheila on reception to ring the 'computer people,' then the helpdesk tells you that your call has been passed to an engineer, and then 15 minutes later it all starts working as if by magic and you think that it's a waste of time ringing the computer people because it's fixed itself? I'm that magic.
It's the sort of job that should pay really well, but it doesn't, leaving me cynical, bitter and twisted. I hate you all.
I'm a refrigeration engineer, work on anything from domestic fridges to industrial freezers. Not really that interesting I suppose but I get a company car out of it.