Work/Jobs

[Nish]

What is your current line of work?

What keeps you at your current job?

Do you like it?

I'm a little lost and on the cusp of a career change I think.

[euangelion]

Civil Engineering, mostly focused on facade restorations in NYC.

Recently completed Masters in Environmental Engineering so looking to transition a little more into water/wastewater and green sustainability.

Current firm and job is laid back but a little inconsistent. Days are either feast or famine. Learned a lot over the last few years.

Like it because no two projects are the same and you can get a nice split between office and field work.

[XEMON]

I work in wastewater too from time to time, let me know if you have some uv/ozone questions (ozone is my primary specialty)

[XEMON]

Ok, let's start:

What is your current line of work?

Field service on ozone and UV systems used for water sanitization (for drinking water, bio lab and such ...)

What keeps you at your current job?

The work is interesting, I run my own work without a boss looking over my shoulder (I've never met him ...)
And they pay for my tuition (for now) so I'm staying there till I get my EE ... Will see from there ...

Do you like it?

I do, I like going to systems that doesn't work and make whatever is needed to make it work. I don't necessarily like my employer, but the work at the customer sites is rewarding to me.

I'm a little lost and on the cusp of a career change I think.

I was there about a year ago, they wanted me the stay so they agreed to she'll in some $ for my tuition and accommodate schedule.

What are you doing now and what are you looking at?

[Magmoormaster]

I'm currently an architectural drafter, at a small firm that mostly does spec homes for developers. We do the occasional custom as well. My office is laid back, and I fit in pretty well with everyone. They let me work from home and have been very flexible in allowing me to pursue a degree in architecture. My end goal is to work designing high end custom homes, so the job has helped me learn a lot of stuff that school hasn't. I enjoy many parts of my job, but ultimately the most important thing I've learned from my job is that I do not want to be a drafter for the rest of my life.

[fullofpaint]

I'm a line producer/Unit production manager for films, music videos and commercials. Basically I make sure the trains run on time and budget for productions.

I love it, every project is a new challenge and something different. No better feeling than getting to release some really cool footage you helped create.

The downside is it's all freelance work so the job security, especially after this past year, can be a little rough. I'm lucky enough to have my family's business to fall back on but it's also got me looking for a more permanent position with an agency or something. Actually in the process of applying to a dream job at a company that does super-high end branded automotive content. No chance I land it haha, but ya never know.

If that doesn't pan out, or a similar position this year, probably going to re-evaluate if I want to stay here and keep grinding or move home and take over the family business.

[Roger7pball]

What is your current line of work? Trackside Engineer for Team Penske on the 22 car.

What keeps you at your current job? Comfort, I know the systems quite well after all these years. The money too.

Do you like it? Yeah the travel is nice to some of the cities we race.

[Diomedes]

Okay that's f'ing awesome.

[Diesel imp]

my wifes newphew is an engineer over at the 48 team, was track side b4 the kong flu so he has limited his travel past season

[Nish]

What are you doing now and what are you looking at?

Currently working as a bouncer/bartender (pretty slow to almost nonexistent currently. I like the work but am getting a little old for the late nights.), running a martial arts school (Love it but I have never made a penny off it), and work for a college admissions office processing bulk mailings (not something I enjoy but it pays the bills and has benefits we have really needed)

But the world is starting to turn upside down as we gear up for a big move to a different part of the country. Probably within the year.

[XEMON]

Where are you moving?
There may be a localized industry that have a spot for you?

[Nish]

Looks like most likely the Western side of North or South Carolina

[RuleOfSines]

I'm a Lead Software Engineer.

At the immediate moment I have a project I'm working on I would like to see succeed, and the money funds my expensive hobbies.

I generally like the work, the longer I am in the field though the less my job becomes about actually writing software, and more about directing others to write it. I don't mind that so much, as dealing with team issues can be as much a problem to solve as the software requirements themselves.

[JonM]

What is your current line of work?
I work in IT for a major medical network in Central Pennsylvania. I'm responsible for most of the clinics in the Harrisburg area with the occasional jobs in a few hospitals in the area.

What keeps you at your current job?
They pay pretty well and the benefits are decent. Job security in medicine is pretty solid too (especially these days). Luckily, my wife and I both work for the same company so neither of us has had to suffer the consequences of shutdowns, layoffs, or a reduction of work hours. We even got our COVID shots already. All in all, I'm thankful to be as fortunate as we've been through all this.

Do you like it?
Well enough, The occasional on-call weeks can sometimes get a bit rough since hospitals are a 24/7 operation and there's only ever one primary on duty. If it's your turn, hopefully you can go the week with at least a few full nights of uninterrupted sleep. It sure beats working directly with the public too. It's mostly a desk job, but with a fair bit of driving around when things can't be fixed remotely.

[SignOfZeta]

I studied to be an automotive technician and that’s what I do. I left shops and dealerships some time ago to work on automotive development, dyno testing engines usually. In SE Michigan there are a lot of these jobs and IMO ex-mechanics are the best people at it.

The issue I have is that to make money as a normal mechanic working on normal cars you either starve or you learn to rip people off. Unless you own your own shop these are the only choices and owning ones own shop isn’t easy because the entire industry is designed around ripping off mechanics or ripping off customers and you have to compete in that same sphere. Customers are too cheap to pay for work anymore so you have to steal the money, that seems to be the mentality that drives most successful shops and every dealership. Dealerships are the WORST.

Since I don’t like starving I work for engineering companies now. It’s occasionally fun and almost always much easier work than normal wrenching, providing you have a very technical mind and you maintain your knowledge of things. The issue is that new cars are for new car buyers and with rare exception only a complete fool would buy a new car. Therefore I am forced to engaged in the foolishness.

My old customers were either an individual saying, “Can you please fix my car for almost nothing? It’s either that or murder-suicide of my family, I’d really appreciate it.” or it was a Ted Knight looking dude telling me that if I don’t sell snake oil I’m fired.

My new customers are people who want a car to never be dangerous even if they can’t be bothered to look out the window. They want massive MPG and a massive vehicle at the same time. They want to never do any work on it and have it last forever. And everyone wants more and more performance every year as well as a bigger car/truck and fewer emissions. All of these these are stupid. Manufactured wants that nobody needs. Nobody where I work is excited about the dumb crap we are working on, even the really impressive stuff. Most of us here just want to drive decades old stuff at the race track or climb a dune in a buggy or something because three cylinder engines are even lamer when they make more power and you can’t put a confederate flag sticker on a cyber truck. The pointless drive to constantly make new dumb crap for an automobile buying public that doesn’t even actually want to drive the car anymore wears on a person. Slowly, but surely, it’s starts to drive you crazy. On the way home you see the eventual final version of what you spent two years on being driven by what seem to be the stupidest most suicidal idiots on Earth. Every day. Then you see it wrapped around a tree or rusted out and you wonder what the point of any of it was...if feel like I’m growing the best watermelons in the world just so that Gallagher can smash them on stage.

I’m staying where I am at the moment but I’d for sure like to do something else. I suppose that I could do product testing in a tangential industry. It’s very similar.

I’m a fan of building models and I’ve considered the possibility of maybe forcing myself to level up a bit and build a portfolio of sorts and maybe closer to retirement make models for museums and rich collector types. The idea of having all my work on one bench at home, having all the tools and no overlords, it’s very appealing. I just want to do a really good job of something and be paid for fairly for it. I can’t do nonsense stuff like sales or finance. No virtual values, only real ish. Vintage race car preparation is also a possibility since as a mechanic you eventually become an expert on old cars if you just live long enough and no matter how bad the economy gets there is always some rich guy who wants to go racing.

[kevdupuis]

I feel for you, people look at me funny when i say I'm in the design and manufacture for modern auto oe's but daily a 40 year old diesel Mercedes.

[WORR13]

well said. ive been in the god awful industry for like 20 years now. gets worse every year

[Axel]

I felt that

[Memornix]

What is your current line of work?Own a mainly entertainment automation and rigging business. You can see some of our stuff here: www.instagram.com/verendusindustries

What keeps you at your current job? I used to do this because of the opportunities to travel and see some really cool stuff (Rock tours back stage at Cirque and Broadway, etc.) but I kept doing it because every job is different in some way and so it is always interesting. I also always need a project of some sort and I can only build so many paintball markers so this lets me design and build big crazy things and get paid for it.

Do you like it? See above, I wouldn't have started my own business if I didn't.


With all of the above being said, entertainment is a really tough business to be in right now with covid and it is probably also a hard business to get into later in life since the pay for a new technician is pretty crappy. I started in high school and have been doing this a really long time now.

[XEMON]

The programing must be hella fun ...

[Memornix]

We do mechanical/electrical/software design and manufacturing and it is really nice to be able to switch from one to the other in any given minute.

As for the programing part, we are always developing our control software with the idea that a user can do all the programming they need to do from the front end without ever seeing the back end code. Makes for an interesting challenge thinking of all the ways a user will need something to move then writing a backend flexible enough to do the job

[kevdupuis]

Design and manufacture of automotive lighting systems, been at it for 25+ years and too close to retiring to bother going for something different

[SETHZILLA!]

Security Supervisor for Nuclear Power Plant

Pay and benefits. 10 more years and i retire at 55.

Not really, the admin side of being a Sup. blows. I was an Airborne Ranger when i was in the Army, this is like sitting and waiting for the bad guys to come to you 24/7/365. Yawn.

The pay is great out here but the cost of living in California is stupid. Keep looking for jobs other than here man.

[BrickHaus]

I did a job at PG&E out there and the employee payscales started easily 20 an hour more than mine. Then their janitor makes a killing. We were crunching numbers on a lunch break and it honestly came out with in a few bucks an hour after Cali living expenses were figured in.

[waffles2]

I used to do tons of engineering work for Diablo Canyon and SONGS (back when it was operational).

[BrickHaus]

1. Im an Electrical technician for a robotics/ engineering/ automation company.

2. Interesting work, and good payscale

3. I honestly LOVE it. I get to collaborate with engineers, my ideas get implemented onto million dollar equipment, I never do the same thing twice, and I get access to a ton of cool tech.

It gives me purpose, and makes me excited to go to work daily.

I went to school to be al electrician for reference. Gradyated in 09 when there wasnt ne work, and ended up in automation as a filler/ temp job.

Been getting pay raises ever since and now Id be taking a hit to go pull wire.

[martix_agent]

I'm a service technician on wind turbines, Mostly i troubleshoot mechanical and electrical issues , control systems in 24v,230v400v etc. Would this skillset translate to what you do? I'l always on the lookout for what sort of job i can get once i quit climbing

[Roger7pball]

My minor is in robotics. Worked lots with fanuc, kuka, nachi, mitsubishi, and probably more I can’t think of. Some work with allen bradley PLC’s & HMI’s. I’ve been out of the automation industry since 2012 but do miss it. Really cool field.

[Grendel]

I am currently a Field Performance Data Analyst, I work for a generally good company and have done so for over 16 years (longest place I've been). I currently enjoy my job overall and I can do it fully from home. Relatively recently my bosses have said they do not care where I live as long as I have true broadband Internet, live reasonably close to an international airport and keep up with the work. This is allowing me to move back to SC to be near my daughter and her family. I look forward to seeing my granddaughter growing up.

I sort of fell into this position. By background I have been doing technical Failure Analysis of systems and products for pretty much my whole career. As part of that job with my current company I was troubleshooting and doing failure analysis in support of manufacturing, then I went to run a corporate Failure Analysis Lab with several technicians reporting to me. One of the gaps in our "tools" was insight into raw data from both manufacturing and the field in which to better inform our analysis output. So I took upon myself to become a subject matter expert in our various processes and learn where all the data resided. Then I went about learning how to access and make use of this data to support our failure analysis efforts in the lab. Nothing happens without some level of punishment and from there I became the go to person for getting data in support of Lean Six Sigma activates and many a PDCA project. This got me noticed by the director of global quality as my name was all over emails and I was present at several VSMs he had sponsored. We started working in collaboration on several projects and eventually when they closed the manufacturing location I was working out of he created and offered me a position as an Business Process analyst. Since then I have gone back and forth between failure analysis and data analysis as the company has needed me to do but now I am pretty sure I will stay associated with data analysis for the rest of my time. I enjoy the work and the people I work for and with.

[Siress]

Interesting work. I'm happy for your move to be closer to your family! Enjoy the family and weather. Maybe we'll still get to catch a game together someday.