Quick question; what do you do (or did you do) for a career?

[Swedishchef]

Hey guys

I was just curious what everyone does/did for a living?

Since I asked the question I should be the one to answer: I am a police officer/investigator.

What about you?

Andrew

 

[CTguy9230]

heavy equipment operator/truck driver

Volunteer firefighter

 

[Swedishchef]

Nice CT! I always wished I would have done something in the construction industry... And a volunteer firefighter: i lift my hat to you!

 

[firefighterjake]

Current: Public Education Officer with Fire Department . . . CPR Instructor . . . and Secret Ninja.

Past: Typesetter for large print press, journalist for commercial fishing news journal (for about six months before realizing I knew next to nothing about commercial fishing and didn't care to know much), wood cutter (cut pulp for about a month in between the journalist job and typesetter job.)

 

[Pallet Pete]

USMC, Class A truck driver, Construction, Mechanical Maintenance, Manufacturing and currently Production Manager.

College in multiple fields Certified Nurse Aid, Heavy Equipment Operation, Professional Driving, some Unix Administration courses ( More of a hobby )

Edit) Before the military I worked at Burger King ICK , Akers Hall Dormitory as a Janitor, and Save-A-Lot food stores. Those all bring back good memories !

Pete

 

[ScotO]

I was a 'jack of all trades' over the course of my working life. I started out as a carpenter laborer, then worked with a guy that does renovation/window installs/etc., then became a diesel mechanic (which I enjoyed wholeheartedly), did that for quite a while and my job was abolished, so I moved for two years to Harrisburg, PA doing that job (which I hated living in the city so I quit), came back home and got into building maitenance, then became a certified TIG welder (stainless and aluminum tankers), finally ended up working as an electrician at one of the biggest railroad shops in the world (Juniata Locomotive Shop). I love my job now, but still enjoy doing carpentry, welding, etc.....I've been "off and on" restoring a 1949 Willys Overland 4x4 wagon (10" lift, old-school resto), it has a Ford 302 in it but I will be putting my diesel mechanic skills back to work when I find a Cummins 4BT for it down the road, and I'll be setting it up to run on bio-diesel.....

Yep, a jack of all trades, master of none....

 

[jeromehdmc]

Right now I am a mechanic at the Harley plant here in KC. The inspectors find quality issues and send the bikes to repair for us to fix. We build the Dyna, Sportster and V-Rod so if anyone has questions about their bikes I may be able to help.
Jobs I've had here at Harley are roll test/inspector, CNC machinist, and CMM operator/programmer for the Quality group.
In my past I worked at a steel foundry in the melting department and also as a machinist. Scotty the foundry I worked for makes the trucks for the locomotives, I've machined alot of them. It was Rockwell then it changed to Atchison Castings and now I don't know who owns them.
Before that it was road construction for a few years out of high school.

 

[Swedishchef]

USMC, Class A truck driver, Construction, Mechanical Maintenance, Manufacturing and currently Production Manager.

College in multiple fields Certified Nurse Aid, Heavy Equipment Operation, Professional Driving, some Unix Administration courses ( More of a hobby )

Edit) Before the military I worked at Burger King ICK , Akers Hall Dormitory as a Janitor, and Save-A-Lot food stores. Those all bring back good memories !

Pete

Seems like you have done just about everything under the sun! At least you guys are very diversified.

 

[Swedishchef]

I was a 'jack of all trades' over the course of my working life. I started out as a carpenter laborer, then worked with a guy that does renovation/window installs/etc., then became a diesel mechanic (which I enjoyed wholeheartedly), did that for quite a while and my job was abolished, so I moved for two years to Harrisburg, PA doing that job (which I hated living in the city so I quit), came back home and got into building maitenance, then became a certified TIG welder (stainless and aluminum tankers), finally ended up working as an electrician at one of the biggest railroad shops in the world (Juniata Locomotive Shop). I love my job now, but still enjoy doing carpentry, welding, etc.....I've been "off and on" restoring a 1949 Willys Overland 4x4 wagon (10" lift, old-school resto), it has a Ford 302 in it but I will be putting my diesel mechanic skills back to work when I find a Cummins 4BT for it down the road, and I'll be setting it up to run on bio-diesel.....

Yep, a jack of all trades, master of none....

Man oh man that is one heck of a diverse field! I wish I knew how to weld and knew more about carpentry (I am learning)....

 

[Swedishchef]

Right now I am a mechanic at the Harley plant here in KC. The inspectors find quality issues and send the bikes to repair for us to fix. We build the Dyna, Sportster and V-Rod so if anyone has questions about their bikes I may be able to help.
Jobs I've had here at Harley are roll test/inspector, CNC machinist, and CMM operator/programmer for the Quality group.
In my past I worked at a steel foundry in the melting department and also as a machinist. Scotty the foundry I worked for makes the trucks for the locomotives, I've machined alot of them. It was Rockwell then it changed to Atchison Castings and now I don't know who owns them.
Before that it was road construction for a few years out of high school.

You work at a HD plant? Sweet chicken. Some day I will get one.....*dreams*

 

[jeromehdmc]

I love the bikes and do what I can to make sure we put out a quality product.
Someday I'll make a bike ride to Canada. I rode up Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border but didn't cross because I didn't have a passport.

 

[DAKSY]

United States Army (Vietnam Era) after High School (low draft #)... Gi Bill to get an education so I wouldn't have to work in a factory (not), AAS degree in knowledge. Got a job in the Nation's Cannon Factory (Watervliet Arsenal) as an Apprentice Machinist -graduated to .Journeyman Machinist. AAS Industrial Management then Production Controller/CNC Machine Tool Programmer, Early out 2000 with 25 years. One week retirement & into the Hearth Industry as a service technician, Worked up to NFI Certified Lead Installer. Fell from a roof & went to Hearth & Patio Specialist (Sales)...Economy crashed & stuck it out for another year or two til I got offered a job as a Technical Manager/AutoCad Chromeplate Tool Designer for a worldwide company based in Switzerland. Will stay here til 2017 when I turn 65, then I'm done.

EDIT: I should have mentioned that my new career has me working BACK at Watervliet Arsenal. The Swiss company bought the Chrome plate Facility from the US Government & we still chrome the big 120mm & 155mm cannon tubes...

 

[ScotO]

United States Army (Vietnam Era) after High School (low draft #)... Gi Bill to get an education so I wouldn't have to work in a factory (not), AAS degree in knowledge. Got a job in the Nation's Cannon Factory (Watervliet Arsenal) as an Apprentice Machinist -graduated to .Journeyman Machinist. AAS Industrial Management then Production Controller/CNC Machine Tool Programmer, Early out 2000 with 25 years. One week retirement & into the Hearth Industry as a service technician, Worked up to NFI Certified Lead Installer. Fell from a roof & went to Hearth & Patio Specialist (Sales)...Economy crashed & stuck it out for another year or two til I got offered a job as a Technical Manager/AutoCad Chromeplate Tool Designer for a worldwide company based in Switzerland. Will stay here til 2017 when I turn 65, then I'm done.

God Bless ya brother for your service......quite a decorated career there, friend!

 

[Swedishchef]

I love the bikes and do what I can to make sure we put out a quality product.
Someday I'll make a bike ride to Canada. I rode up Lake Superior from Duluth to the Canadian border but didn't cross because I didn't have a passport.

If you wait 10 years, our dollar will bottom out and you'll get more bang for your $ It is a nice country. It's the country with the 2nd largest surface area in the world yet it's the 35th most populated. Hence, you can still buy oceanfront property for $10K. lol

 

[Swedishchef]

United States Army (Vietnam Era) after High School (low draft #)... Gi Bill to get an education so I wouldn't have to work in a factory (not), AAS degree in knowledge. Got a job in the Nation's Cannon Factory (Watervliet Arsenal) as an Apprentice Machinist -graduated to .Journeyman Machinist. AAS Industrial Management then Production Controller/CNC Machine Tool Programmer, Early out 2000 with 25 years. One week retirement & into the Hearth Industry as a service technician, Worked up to NFI Certified Lead Installer. Fell from a roof & went to Hearth & Patio Specialist (Sales)...Economy crashed & stuck it out for another year or two til I got offered a job as a Technical Manager/AutoCad Chromeplate Tool Designer for a worldwide company based in Switzerland. Will stay here til 2017 when I turn 65, then I'm done.

HOly crap. I worked at a corner store in highschool, computer technician while in University and joined our National police force. You are certainly an overwhelmingly knowledgeable person Daksy!

 

[fossil]

30 years in a US Navy uniform. E-1 to O-6. 3 degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Lots of time out in the middle of the ocean.

 

[DAKSY]

30 years in a US Navy uniform. E-1 to O-6. 3 degrees in Mechanical Engineering. Lots of time out in the middle of the ocean.

"How long can you tread water?"

 

[jharkin]

Great thread, reminds me of the "blue collar white collar striped collar" discussion last year. I'll bite - went to engineering school, got my BS of ME and then right out of school got hired by one of the big software companies that make software for engineering design and design data management.

15 years later I'm still working at that company. Most of my time there has been spent in software quality assurance, and later as a manager of software QA teams everywhere from Boston to the midwest to India and China. Now I still do a bit of the managing and work on the R&D side consulting to help developers (programmers) take more of the responsibility for the quality of their own code.

 

[Swedishchef]

Fossil, didn't you work on a nuclear powered sub? By the way, I am reading SuperFuel: Thorium, the Green Energy Source for the Future. Great book! O-6 means the 6th rank as an officer I presume?

Jharkin: I wish I had done Chem Eng. I have a degree in Chemistry with my specialization in Organometallic chemistry and Pharmacokinetics (interaction of drugs with receptor sites). I now see that an applied science would have been more interesting to me than natural science. Either way, now I am a cop who is a detachment commander. Meh.

 

[jharkin]

Swedish... There are times I wish I went into mechanical design engineering, but I'm too far to switch back now. When I graduated I had interviews at the jet engine division of Pratt& Whitney, Ford, and at General Dynamics weapons systems in VT. Any of them would have involved some amount of hands on work on the production floor but none of them worked out. I always was better at the hands on than the theoretical side.


DAKSY ... That's quite a history. I went to the museum at Watervliet once when I was in school. Cool place.

 

[DAKSY]

DAKSY ... That's quite a history. I went to the museum at Watervliet once when I was in school. Cool place.

When I started @ WVA in the mid 70s, they were putting a complete 105mm M68 Cannon Assembly (Tube, Breech Mech & Bore Chamber Evacuator) out the door every 44 minutes & they were also manufacturing 8', 175mm, 165mm, 155mm, 76mm & 40mm tubes along with 4.2", 81mm & 60mm Mortar Systems. Nearly 5000 worked. Now? Less than (10) 120mm & 155mm cannons a MONTH with less than 500 workers...Sad...

 

[Beer Belly]

20+ Years Volvo Master Tech, Nissan Senior Specialist....gave it up to be a Custodian for a Local School system....also AFSCME Local President....at the moment....elections next month

 

[Hearth Mistress]

Jeesh, I really feel like a slacker compared to you guys! I started college but never finished, mom was hit by a drunk driver my junior year so my sister and I both came home to take care of her (many years of recovery but she's ok now)

I was an advertising design major so worked in printing for most if my career as a manager at OfficeMax overseeing all of the copy centers in the district then held a similar position with Kinko's. Once FedEx bought them, it went to hell for management, they only wanted retail outlets to ship packages IMHO and didn't care about the printing business (they went from FedEx Kinko's to FedEx Office now, Kinko's is a distant memory)

Now, I work from home for Pitney Bowes, in the managed service division. For almost 3 years now, I'm a National Operations Manager managing the mailroom operations/reception services in all of the Ally/GMAC offices in the USA -4 managers and almost 100 hourly employees report to me. I travel a few days at a time each month, mostly to Detroit where Ally's corporate offices are at the RenCen but also get out to Waterloo IA, Dallas Texas, Charlotte NC and a few others.

 

[samdweezel05]

I currently work on a good size dairy farm (1400 milking and 3800 acres) as a heavy equipment mechanic and welder. That's my official job title but my years as a commercial and residential plumbing foreman and my experience with heating systems, pneumatics, hydraulics, electrical, including 3 phase power, a slight background in building, and my general mechanical knowledge from growing up with a certified diesel mechanic as a father had lead me to be a jack of all trades. I also drive truck and run equipment when needed. I got my BS in BS at an early age. Welding and metal fabrication are my passions. My hobbies are so spread out that my wife gets dizzy watching me go from one to the next. One minute I am building a firearm, the next I am casting bullets for it, the next I am loading rounds for it, the next I am shooting it and the next I am off to go fly one of the many R/C helicopters. Then I am on the ATV trying to get it stuck then I am in the truck trying to outrun something or going to cut wood. And don't get me started on the chainsaws.

 

[BrotherBart]

Male escort.