If you had to do it over would you chose the same career?
- Thread starter PeoplesElbow
- Start date
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
I actually love engineering and the science behind it, I am also very good at it.
It is all the bullshit associated with it that I hate. I also hate the fact that half the engineers I meet shouldnt be trusted to build a summer camp shithouse.
It is all the bullshit associated with it that I hate. I also hate the fact that half the engineers I meet shouldnt be trusted to build a summer camp shithouse.
Bonehead
Well-Known Member
A lot of the engineers that I worked with were not of much use to an Operations person. You don't build a system with a valve that needs constant adjustment 12' in the air, especially if there is no way to build a ladder or platform.
black dog
Free America
Im guessing you have never done maintenance or repair in a manufacturing plant.
I've done a variety of clerical/finance jobs in my 40+ years of work. I've also done direct sales (home sales - Home Interiors & Gifts, Rainbow vacuums, Princess House crystal) I was very good in those jobs, but not as full time. 
They made me feel pressured and then I couldn't earn a living. (weird, I know) Except when I was marketing director for Rainbow - I was really good at that. Now I'm in customer service again, but for a small service oriented business, and I like it very much. It's interacting with people that I love. There's a lot psychology in sales, and customer service and that's a very big interest of mine. Why peeps do what they do, etc.
I never went to college, since I didn't "know what I wanted to be" - so I just did what I liked and here am I 40-some years later with very marketable skills.
If I had to pick a job that I would LOVE to do and get paid for? It would be a dedication type of Radio Show - much like what Delilah does. I WOULD LOVE THAT!!! Or ...possibly a Margarita and hotdog truck on the beach someplace down in FL. THAT would be a blast, too!
They made me feel pressured and then I couldn't earn a living. (weird, I know) Except when I was marketing director for Rainbow - I was really good at that. Now I'm in customer service again, but for a small service oriented business, and I like it very much. It's interacting with people that I love. There's a lot psychology in sales, and customer service and that's a very big interest of mine. Why peeps do what they do, etc. I never went to college, since I didn't "know what I wanted to be" - so I just did what I liked and here am I 40-some years later with very marketable skills.
If I had to pick a job that I would LOVE to do and get paid for? It would be a dedication type of Radio Show - much like what Delilah does. I WOULD LOVE THAT!!! Or ...possibly a Margarita and hotdog truck on the beach someplace down in FL. THAT would be a blast, too!
SPI could use a MOD or Blaze Pizza place, and it would kill down here. If some enterprising person wanted to do that they'd make a fortune year round.
I'm always thinking about what business or service a town could use and what would be very popular there. I also look at businesses and wonder how they survive. How can an independent coffee shop sell enough coffee and pastries to make their enormous rents, let alone pay their employees, insurance, keep the lights on, etc? Why are there so many t-shirt/souvenir shops in one location? Who buys all those toe rings that keep that specialty store in business? Who buys all the rocks and petrified wood in Holbrook, AZ?
I'm always thinking about what business or service a town could use and what would be very popular there. I also look at businesses and wonder how they survive. How can an independent coffee shop sell enough coffee and pastries to make their enormous rents, let alone pay their employees, insurance, keep the lights on, etc? Why are there so many t-shirt/souvenir shops in one location? Who buys all those toe rings that keep that specialty store in business? Who buys all the rocks and petrified wood in Holbrook, AZ?
My plan was to go back on active duty after getting my Associates degree. I did well enough that I decided to continue on to get my Bachelors. During that time I met my first wife. She already had two small children, and I didn't want to drag them all over the country. Instead I got a commission in the Reserves and she and the girls moved to SoMD after we got married.
SamSpade
Well-Known Member
Probably - the same way a used book store I used to frequent - for YEARS - stayed around.SPI could use a MOD or Blaze Pizza place, and it would kill down here. If some enterprising person wanted to do that they'd make a fortune year round.
I'm always thinking about what business or service a town could use and what would be very popular there. I also look at businesses and wonder how they survive. How can an independent coffee shop sell enough coffee and pastries to make their enormous rents, let alone pay their employees, insurance, keep the lights on, etc? Why are there so many t-shirt/souvenir shops in one location? Who buys all those toe rings that keep that specialty store in business? Who buys all the rocks and petrified wood in Holbrook, AZ?
He didn’t make ANY money. I asked him one day. He was long retired. He did it for fun. He had enough income. He just liked meeting people and talking about books.
Rommey
Well-Known Member
Like a few others have said, I didn't choose a career, a career chose me. Like a lot of guys just getting out of high school, I had no idea what direction I wanted to go. I enrolled in college because "that's what you're supposed to do" and was bored from the get go and dropped out. My younger sister was doing all the things necessary to get into the AF Academy and I went with her one day to a recruiter and since I was in a rudder-less condition, it made some sense to let the military give me some direction. Of course I was convinced it was going to be "four years and out", but that wasn't the case.
The AF tried to make me think about getting out when they decided to send this young kid from Southern California to the armpit of Oklahoma for 3 years. I learned a lot, but like many young airmen, a lot of the jobs were tedious and mundane and didn't require a lot of thought, but were jobs that needed to be done. I got stationed to Andrews and the job was vastly different and very satisfying compared to Oklahoma. I fell in love with the career and have been here since 1983 (retired from AF in 2002 and went to work as contractor on base and am looking at finally retiring in a year or so).
So yeah, the career found me and I wouldn't have it any other way (even time in the armpit gave me a different outlook on my chosen path).
The AF tried to make me think about getting out when they decided to send this young kid from Southern California to the armpit of Oklahoma for 3 years. I learned a lot, but like many young airmen, a lot of the jobs were tedious and mundane and didn't require a lot of thought, but were jobs that needed to be done. I got stationed to Andrews and the job was vastly different and very satisfying compared to Oklahoma. I fell in love with the career and have been here since 1983 (retired from AF in 2002 and went to work as contractor on base and am looking at finally retiring in a year or so).
So yeah, the career found me and I wouldn't have it any other way (even time in the armpit gave me a different outlook on my chosen path).
PeoplesElbow
Well-Known Member
Tinkert?
or Altus or Vance.
Rommey
Well-Known Member
Altus...working C-5s and C-141s.
SandieGarry
Active Member
I'd do it again. I was 20 yrs old, dead end job, no future. Coming home from work one day, my step-dad asked me a profound question. He said" What is it that you enjoy doing?" He suggested that I think about it and see if I could make it a career. Well, I've always enjoyed building things, working with my hands. So, I found an ad in the Washington Post (this was 1985) for a cabinetmaker/exhibit technician. I called and made an appointment for an interview. Did ok on the interview and was hired that day. Some 35 years later, I've had a great career. I was able to travel all over the US, including Alaska. I met the LOML on a jobsite in Pa. I've got a lifetime of interesting stories. It's nice to be able to stand back, look at your days work and say "yeah, I made that"
You my friend are one of the truly lucky ones , for far too many the daily grind is exactly that. Yo momma must have good taste in men.
I've never "permanently" regretted choosing engineering as a career; only regretted it for short periods here and there. I was having some serious second thoughts a few years in but then got out of civil service and in to a private company and have to say its been a great ride...although quite bumpy at times. 36 years since I got my ME degree...
On the plus side, the marine engineering I do has taken me all over the world many times over. I've long since stopped counting how many countries I've worked in and how many of my passports had to have the extra insert added to allow more stamps. But that same thing had a minus side when it came to family and marital relations.
Yeah, I'd do it all over again.
On the plus side, the marine engineering I do has taken me all over the world many times over. I've long since stopped counting how many countries I've worked in and how many of my passports had to have the extra insert added to allow more stamps. But that same thing had a minus side when it came to family and marital relations.
Yeah, I'd do it all over again.
Absolutely! The military was my first choice which I dreamt of since I was in the 8th grade. I didn't follow the original plan. The AFA rejected me because of my eyesight. Went enlisted anyways. It opened up the door to so many other things. I have had some great experiences, awesome and some not so awesome memories. And even though that has nothing to do with my newest career focus, I wouldn't throw anything out.