Careers Thread

[nando]

May have put this higher up in the thread, but what is your line of work? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I'm a structural designer. Basically I work with the engineers to make sure their ideas actually work. :p It's sort of a niche within the energy industry.



Actually I do way more beyond just 3D modeling and CAD. I do a lot of programming of tools and utilities that everyone uses (mostly in LISP and Perl), I set up and maintain all of our software, and I do training classes for the rest of the company.

It's fun because I wear so many hats and can use other skills/hobbies beyond my job title. We still have a lot of people who are basically just drafters, and that's fine - but I'd have left long ago if that's all I ever did. Also, those people are the most easily replaced by unskilled laborers in certain 3rd world countries.

I've also had opportunities to work on site, helping resolve field construction and fabrication issues (nothing cooler than seeing hundreds of workers building something you spent years designing). I was fortunate enough to work with an older (now retired) structural engineer, who not only did I understand "his head" if you know what I mean, he entrusted me to handle a lot of things an engineer would normally have done.

Basically I just got lucky and got in at the right time and place. I never even finished my 4 year degree, but that honestly would have been a waste of time and money in my case. Marine, Rail, commercial, industrial - I've done it all. Marine projects are my favorite, but those come along rarely - like once every 25 years or so.

[Sh3rpak!ng]

This is a very cool thread, nice idea! Already making mental notes of a couple of you guys I may PM in the near future

My profession is supply chain management, specifically procurement.

Started mowing lawns in the neighborhood at 11yrs old, did this every season until I went to college at 19. Still, to this day I wonder what could've happened if I skipped college or did college locally and grew this business. Took another summer job cleaning microscopes, and another working for a GC renovating houses during summer of later highschool years and college - wanted to learn more about building houses, be outside, and build some muscle (while getting paid) to impress the ladies - it worked During college I was a facilities manager and also interned with Airbus procurement dept.

Got a B.S. degree in supply chain management

Started real working life by moving to CA (because I could work on my car hobby all year round) and starting as a paid intern for a cement/construction company. Got dropped off at one of their cement plants in the Mojave desert with the mission to modernize their spare parts warehouse and stop the inventory bleeding of 40k write offs per month. Took a year but got it done. Then the company acquired another cement plant out in another desert and I did it again. Got tired of living out of hotels for months on end and was "promoted" to regional buyer overseeing procurement for a few batch plants in southern CA. This slowly sucked the life out of me as the central procurement organization deteriorated and I became a glorified AP trouble shooter. Then my boss/mentor left but hired me on to the company he moved to (a big infrastructure construction company) and we all got laid off 6 weeks later when that company decided that they didn't need centralized supply chain at all.

Sigh.

That sucked, but lead me to where I am now. Picked up a cool position as the purchasing manager for West Coast Customs which was a lot of fun but didn't pay well. Unfortunately a very poorly ran business with frequent cashflow problems. Stayed only for 8 months until I moved on to aerospace manufacturing as a procurement supervisor. Feels like my real career began here. This company makes a lot of money, but is very fast paced and high pressure. Publically owned (two layers deep) so it's all about the bottom line. Inside of the first six months the GM was fired, supply chain director quit, supply chain manager quit, procurement manager was hired and also quit, leaving me to keep it all together. I learned a lot fast because of it. Also learned that procurement as a strategic part of manufacturing is still mostly neglected - which is not necessarily a bad thing because there are loads of opportunities to cut cost and improve processes and not just here at this company but aerospace and manufacturing in general. Aerospace, as I understand, is also very strong right now and probably will be for a long time to come. The forecast is a doubling of air travelers over the next 20 years from 4b to 8b yearly. The aerospace manufacturing industry does not currently have the production capacity to support that. Next ten years will be interesting. I think I'll stay within aerospace for a while, or at least manufacturing. It keeps me on my toes. I'm now the manager of strategic sourcing with the whole procurement organization under me. My days zip by and are rarely boring. The facility houses something like 60 cnc lathes/mills inside of 4 buildings as well as their own forging shop. I work with loads of local machine shops and plating shops most of whom also have interests with cars, so they do me favors

[Staszek]

Just saw this thread, so my career has been pretty eclectic, and at the beginning I thought that I was a mess, not sure what I wanted to be when I grew up! Whoever is going through that and trying to do different things, its not a bad thing as long as you learn how to apply it later. I was a computer engineer by trade coming out of school, worked for Oracle, didn't like it, went over to finance for a huge fortune 100 after that. That wasn't my path either, went back to tech but in sales and an engineer for a startup. Super fun but not a ton of growth there, then I ended up where I am now, been here for 15 years.

I am currently at an executive level in a fortune 100, and the only reason I got there is that I took all those experiences and connected how to run an overall business vs just an individual skillset. If anything I would say no matter what you do, just continue to learn from experiences and be able to change and grow. My dad told me once, if you think you know it all and don't want to learn or evolve you should probably retire because you are useless at that point.

[majdomo]

I just hit my 12 year anniversary - wow, time flies. Needless to say, I like my job or I wouldn't have stayed so long. That, and there's really nothing comparable in my area that will pay anywhere nearly as much. Not having to clock in/out, flexible schedules, and pretty much being fully autonomous are huge benefits. And if I need to stay home with the kids, I can just log in and work remotely.

May have put this higher up in the thread, but what is your line of work? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[nando]

I just hit my 12 year anniversary - wow, time flies.

Needless to say, I like my job or I wouldn't have stayed so long. That, and there's really nothing comparable in my area that will pay anywhere nearly as much. Not having to clock in/out, flexible schedules, and pretty much being fully autonomous are huge benefits. And if I need to stay home with the kids, I can just log in and work remotely.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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?

[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]

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]

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]

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.

[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.

[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.