Careers Thread

[Vincent Brick]

Spent most of my life as a musician/DJ, working in shipping departments and the automotive aftermarket (managed a tuning shop, client services for turbo parts and Corvette parts manufactures, fabrication, EV conversion, 12v install, online parts sales, auto body apprentice). I was never able to find steady employment or make decent wages with any of those things, so jumped at the chance to get into the cannabis industry, was running an extraction/distillation lab for a year and it was amazing but then I got laid off 3 months ago. I am completely lost now, in my 40s, no confidence or jobs around I am qualified for, limited connections because I keep having to move cities seeking work (from MI now in CA). I have health problems and will likely never be able to retire, so trying to find something non-physical to get into that I can keep doing into old age. I really want to go to college, but not sure what for, and it is completely overwhelming with no support (and having not really gone to high school).

Probably about to move back to Los Angeles where the job market is better and I know more people, have an interview at a classic car shop up there next week and locked in a pit crew gig in December, but I know I am too old/broken to sustain that sort of work for long. Would really like to get back into cannabis extraction or become a project manager for a restoration shop (my knowledge of 50's-90s collector cars is expansive, domestic/European/Japanese), or I have toyed with the idea of doing mobile race/drift car electrical (and hidden audio in classic cars) but not sure how feasible that is.

[ThatOneEuroE30]

I fix broken BMW's all day. Used to be fun now I'm just a robot. It pays the bills though so I guess its okay.

[ST1G]

I fix broken BMW's all day. Used to be fun now I'm just a robot. It pays the bills though so I guess its okay.

I thought you posted on R3v for a living?

[CMBusch]

I'm 23 now, and I will be finishing my undergraduate degree in finance and risk management after this fall semester. I worked for as a service writer at a Pep Boys for 3 years and I started to work at State Farm this past spring as an agent and marketing associate. Oddly enough, I enjoyed working at Pep Boys more than State Farm. Not really sure where to go from here except keeping my eyes open for more interesting jobs that will still pay the bills. I know I have time, but I would hate to waste it coasting through life.

[Singulaarity]

Went to college at first for business + economics and sold life insurance and stocks/securities during the 08-09 recession..

Said screw that and went back to school for what was always a passion- Electrical Engineering.

Now I work for a small product development firm that does primarily medical device product development spending my time doing PCB layouts, hardware designs, and now struggling through more of a embedded programming and software role (all roles at the same time). Engineer life- working crazy hours trying to contribute to a project/product that goes big!

[z31maniac]

I'm 23 now, and I will be finishing my undergraduate degree in finance and risk management after this fall semester. I worked for as a service writer at a Pep Boys for 3 years and I started to work at State Farm this past spring as an agent and marketing associate. Oddly enough, I enjoyed working at Pep Boys more than State Farm. Not really sure where to go from here except keeping my eyes open for more interesting jobs that will still pay the bills. I know I have time, but I would hate to waste it coasting through life.

Agent and marketing associate? Does that mean you work for another agent, not that have your own agency?

I worked at State Farm my first job out of college years ago as a claim rep. Would have loved to go the agent route, but it's just not in my personality. I wish it wash, they make VERY good money.

[majdomo]

Insurance agents make bank but they have to hustle. I had one for term life insurance (dumb) and she was a total pain in the ass, but made some decent money off people she signed up for whole life policies.

Not that you should do that or that all insurance agents are bad. Just this one.

[CMBusch]

Agent and marketing associate? Does that mean you work for another agent, not that have your own agency?

I worked at State Farm my first job out of college years ago as a claim rep. Would have loved to go the agent route, but it's just not in my personality. I wish it wash, they make VERY good money.

Yes and No. I work for another agent, but I'm also licensed and can write policies. For some reason this qualifies me as an agent, even though it's not my office. I also handle the marketing for that particular office while writing policies. Yes, they can make a lot of money, but it really depends on the effort they put in. My boss is 26 and just started his agency in January and he hustles harder than anyone I've ever seen. The work does taper off after a while but he's already talking about opening another office. It seems like a really great opportunity and he seems like a great mentor, but I'm just not happy. Maybe I need to just stick it out for a little until I finish school and can work full time.

[z31maniac]

Yes and No. I work for another agent, but I'm also licensed and can write policies. For some reason this qualifies me as an agent, even though it's not my office. I also handle the marketing for that particular office while writing policies. Yes, they can make a lot of money, but it really depends on the effort they put in. My boss is 26 and just started his agency in January and he hustles harder than anyone I've ever seen. The work does taper off after a while but he's already talking about opening another office. It seems like a really great opportunity and he seems like a great mentor, but I'm just not happy. Maybe I need to just stick it out for a little until I finish school and can work full time.

Honestly, that's what I would do. Going to school and working is a PITA. See what you think once you can focus on just working.

[CMBusch]

Agreed. Thanks for the input! I'll be done my UG degree after the fall. The real question is whether I want to get my MBA now, later, or continue doing both school and work after graduating. Yeah It seems like I need to give it more time and play it by ear. I've always been afraid that procrastinating and putting things off will lead to never accomplishing something. I've started scheduling decision dates in the future for things that I currently don't have enough information on like this. Hopefully I'll know by this time next year.

[z31maniac]

Agreed. Thanks for the input! I'll be done my UG degree after the fall. The real question is whether I want to get my MBA now, later, or continue doing both school and work after graduating. Yeah It seems like I need to give it more time and play it by ear. I've always been afraid that procrastinating and putting things off will lead to never accomplishing something. I've started scheduling decision dates in the future for things that I currently don't have enough information on like this. Hopefully I'll know by this time next year.

Unless you want to go work for someone else, I don't think an MBA is going to help you that much.

[CMBusch]

Yeah, I really don't think I'll be at the same job in 2 years time. Who knows... Anyone on here a mechanical engineer?

[ForcedFirebird]

1992-1996 Commission sales - mostly newspaper subscriptions (ran a door-to-door cold sales company)
1996-2003 Concrete shell construction contractor, tinkered every night on vehicles
2003-2007 general contractor by day, precision CNC machinist 4-5hrs at night (started my career in cars/engines making parts on the side)
2007-2009 general contractor by day, bought a lift, rented a shop to fulfill income while real estate crashed
2009-2011 GC business failing due to economy, opened a garage, then expanded said garage from 900sf to 2500sf
2011-current garage is primary income, 80-90% of work is related to e30's, rest is filled up by 20+yr old BMW's. Have 3 stalls (lifts) plus most of the equip to machine in-house

Plan on staying "stagnant" until 2025 when the last of the kids graduate, then moving to N.FL, or S.GA and turning the high overhead of city life into smaller rural mortgage with a home and pole barn or hanger in the back yard and continuing the path of manufacturing and building cars.

[z31maniac]

Yeah, I really don't think I'll be at the same job in 2 years time. Who knows... Anyone on here a mechanical engineer?

I know, and have worked with plenty of them. I also know with a Journalism degree and similar number of years experience, they make about what I do. :)

Software engineering is where it's at.

[Nick_S]

First Job: detailing and prepping cars at my small towns local Chevy dealership, think I made $5.75/hr. Was there for a year
2nd: Managed a small Skateshop a friend of mine owned, 2 years
3rd: First bike shop, did assembly and minor service 1 year
4rd: Second Bike shop. Did sales and service. Off and on for 3 years
5th: RedBull, I set up all the local events and made sure all the bars had the appropriate RedBull swag. Was off and on for a few while also at the bike shop as it wasn't consistent.
6th: Body Shop, detailed cars for customers after repair

My 7th job is where I was started on my current path, I was 24 at the time and got an offer to run the warehouse for a BMX distribution company. I should also note I have ridden BMX since I was 9 years and at the time my entire life revolved around everything BMX so this was a literal DREAM job. I worked here for 5 years, built the warehouse and shipping department. Learned a ton about how business actually works and the ins and outs of the industry. I was sadly laid off once the BMX industry took a nose dive but have remained good friends with these dudes to this day.

8th: Moved out to LA and worked for another bicycle company. Built another warehouse for them, set up relationships with FedEx which are both still in use today even though I was there for 1.2 year. Previous employer actually bought me a flight out to LA to interview for this job!

9th. Moved to Colorado and briefly worked at a high end Mountain Bike shop. Being I had zero experience with high end mountain and the owner and I didn't always get along, my stay was brief.

10th and current; I work for another bicycle company. A bit different from the previous few as we do almost all our sales on Amazon. Technically speaking I'm the Operations Manager but since we're small we all wear many hats. My primary roles are to manage our inventory levels at Amazon and make sure we function on a day to day basis. I handle all PO invoicing and receiving, inventory, sales forecasting, make sure we don't run out of supplies, work with our owner who does all the purchasing from our overseas factories. It gets boring but I have a TON of freedom here, make decent money and have unlimited time off so I can't complain. Plus it's allowing me to learn a different side to the industry and will help moving forward with so much of what we buy being from Amazon or other online retailers.