What's the best job you ever had, and why?

[Arielht500]

Did my apprenticeship in a bus overhaul shop then worked in various heavy vehicle shops. Enjoyed most of it even though some shops were a bit unionised. Went self employed in the early nineties and soon had my own shop repairing, servicing and modifying heavies which was very enjoyable but much more stressful. My best career move came when I retired two years ago, now I get to run my machines and make or modify whatever I like. Still do a few cash jobs for some of my old customers.

 

[aliva]

Retirement

 

[Just for fun]

I spent almost 40 years working in the telephone industry except for a few tasks I loved the job. The last 8 years I spent as a Transmission and Protection technician, I supported all groups and covered a lot of North Central Washinton, from the Yakama Valley to the Canadian border. I met a lot of people and seen a lot of beautiful area. That was all great, but I don't miss it. I love being retired!

 

[gjmontll]

What?! No way! Me too. Minus the dropping out of college part (I did that later, after the Navy). I was a FT too, served on the USS Oklahoma City (SSN723). Was it FTG back in your day? I can't really place when "your day" was, but based on the amount of stuff that came after the Navy I'm assuming you were out long before I joined.

I was in from '04-'08; only did a 4 year enlistment because I was Nuke Waste and they took my big bonus and 2 yr extension away and sent me to Groton where the instructors wanted me to sign a 1 yr extension with no bonus while everyone else in my class was getting between $5k and $15k. I said I would sign that when they put some dollars in the bonus box. They told me to take it up with legal so I went to legal where I watched 3 pregnant girls eat doritos all day. Told me to come back tomorrow. 3 days in a row. So on the 4th day I just went back to class and the subject never came up again. I got no bonus, and no extension paper was in my file.

My experience in the Submarine Force was not so great. That's where I learned one of my most deeply ingrained lessons that I am still struggling to unlearn: if you want something done right, do it yourself. My first class was only interested one thing: getting letters of recommendation and getting his CWO paperwork pushed through; he didn't lead, instruct, stand watch, anything. He was too busy rubbing elbows with department heads and qualifying officer watches. My chief was a short timer and didn't care about anything. We had (3) "2nd chance" 2nd classes that were all kicked off other boats and only one was qualified FTOW. As a 3rd class I was doing half the work of the entire division. Another 3rd class who was qualified LAN admin did the other half. I had to babysit a NUB as well as a 2nd class who wasn't qualified FTOW. I was the Work Center Supervisor and assigning PMs to sh**bag 2nd classes that just took them to the rack and returned them completed. When I would go check their work and find it undone, I didn't have the power to do anything about it except actually do the PM myself. A lot of the other divisions were in similar situations. The rank:responsibility ratio was all over place across the whole boat.

We had a weak XO and a bitter little-man captain who seemed to do whatever he could to undermine crew morale. Everyone was miserable, all the time. So much negativity everywhere. It was a toxic environment. We had 4 suicide attempts from 3 people during one 9-month deployment and one guy went AWOL during a port call in France, tried to fly home because his daughter was in the hospital with a life threatening illness and the captain wouldn't approve leave. He was a cook, and our worst one. The screw wouldn't have stopped turning without him. I probably would have reenlisted if I had a different first command.

One cool thing about that job though, after I qualified everything a FT is supposed to qualify, I qualified Periscope Operator. That meant I got racked out every time a JO was simply too tired to be roused when coming to PD (which was always), but it also meant I got to be the only person on the boat apart from the captain to make a periscope observation of an "enemy" submarine. The captain barged in the second I called out the Submarine observation and shoved me off the scope, took one look, and ordered 300ft. They hung the picture I took in the ML passageway and it had everyone amped for a few days, temporarily convinced that we were actually doing something cool. There was a round of stern talkings-to though; cool as it was, we were never supposed to get close enough to actually see the thing. I would have had a bigger share in the spankings had it not been for my higher-ranked understudy who's fire control solution had it several miles away. I mean, I can't be on the periscope and generating accurate solutions simultaneously.

The math I Iearned in the Navy, and the practical way I was made to apply it (Target Motion Analysis) on a daily basis made the learning of higher math much more intuitive. I think that close relationship with math served me most personally. Professionally though, the electronics experience that the position allowed me to list on my resume was my biggest takeaway. Truthfully I didn't learn the first thing about electronics in the Navy. I learned how to follow step-by-step procedures and swap out circuit boards. Big whoop. But future employers didn't know that, and those resume bullets got me in the door where "fake it til you make it" took over and I did eventually gather the electronics knowledge that someone in my position was expected to have, by studying on my own time.



Yeah that lathe in the engine room was pretty cool, especially the way it folded up into the wall. I've thought about doing something similar in my shop to free up room. I didn't know what I was looking at back then, never got to touch it. I wish I could go back now and see what kind of lathe it was. One of our Nuke MMs used it to make some points for poseidon's trident for certain ceremony we're not supposed to talk about. But I never saw or heard of it being used other than that.

Hi Strantor, Merry Christmas and thanks for your interesting comments. Indeed, I was an FTG1(SS). Served on the Haddock (SSN-621) for four years, based at Pearl Harbor. Also went TAD for three months to the Permit (SSN-594) for a very interesting patrol shortly before getting out in '74. So I served aboard both the first and last boats of the Permit class. Four years ago, at a Haddock reunion here in San Diego, I toured a LA-class, the USS Alexandria, somewhat familiar yet so very different.

Yes, being a "periscope operator" is cool, but no special qualifications involved. Back then, that was an intrinsic part of being FTOW. Four of us would take turns, the OOD, JOOD, FTOW(me), and the QMOW, going 'round and 'round until our eyes gave out. You mentioned spotting subs, that reminds me of my reporting, "Bearing - mark. Hotel on the surface...." Yeah, the OOD quickly grabbed the scope from me and I moved to the FC plot.

With our "old" analog electromechanical gear, we would usually do component level troubleshooting and repair. Very different from working on digital electronics. The fire control for the SUBROC missiles was unique, requiring special test gear and precision adjustments of analog amplifiers. I suppose the modern missiles are all digital.

 

[strantor]

Hi Strantor, Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!

So I served aboard both the first and last boats of the Permit class.

very cool!

Yes, being a "periscope operator" is cool, but no special qualifications involved. Back then, that was an intrinsic part of being FTOW. Four of us would take turns, the OOD, JOOD, FTOW(me), and the QMOW, going 'round and 'round until our eyes gave out.

There were several Submarine collisions between your time and mine and I suspect the Navy responded with policy changes. But it could have just been the policy on my boat, I don't know; only ever served on the one. On my boat, Periscope Operator was JO gig. There was absolutely a qual card for it and to my recollection no enlisted rates were required to qualify it. I stayed awake for every surface transit for a whole deployment taking turns manning the 2nd scope to qualify it. It seems wild to me that there was no qual for it back then. The guy on the periscope is the only person who can actually see what's going on. That comes with a lot of responsibility. Like a billion dollars and 150 lives worth of it.

With our "old" analog electromechanical gear, we would usually do component level troubleshooting and repair. Very different from working on digital electronics. The fire control for the SUBROC missiles was unique, requiring special test gear and precision adjustments of analog amplifiers. I suppose the modern missiles are all digital.

Well I guess they felt it necessary to take all the fun out of it by the time I came around. We had Tomahawks, and while I wouldn't call then "modern," yes, all digital as far as I can remember. Torpedoes were analog though. I'm not sure what they have for missiles now, but I wouldn't be surprised if they have Artificial Intelligence like a Tesla. There were analog components to my fire control system, as it had originally been all analog but was retrofitted piecemeal over the years.

 

[westerner]

Retirement is surely the best paycheck I have ever pulled.

That said, I did have a real good time working with Grouchy Old Man as we built aluminum pontoon boats from scratch. Went to the big city and bought a truckload of sheet, square tube, angle and strap. All aluminum.
He had an interesting design for the 'toon, and it would actually plane. We built and sold 3 boats. I learned about breaking sheet, mig and tig, furniture and upholstery, mechanical and electrical, etc.
We went back and forth to the lake dozens of times for 'test drives'.

 

[extropic]

I've enjoyed reading all the replies. Very interesting thread.

My 'career' lasted almost 29 years, essentially in the same major aerospace systems company. In the late '70s I was working on a program subcontracted to us by BAE for the British Ministry of Defense. We were to design a system and build some prototypes and preproduction units.
BAE would follow, performing the production program in the UK. In 1980 I was sent to England for 6 months as a member of a 'transition to production' team. Our function was to help convert our US based specifications to UK equivalents as required. BAE created their own data package based on ours.

I was an expert at my specialty. They asked question, I worked out responses. Zero responsibilities for schedule, budget, performance of anyone else. If BAE did as I recommended, fine. If not, It's their program.

The job was 40hrs a week and zero sweat.

I loved sight seeing on evenings and the weekends. I joined a gym and worked out religiously 3 evenings a week. I was single and that worked out just fine. I lived in a nice hotel with a sauna, pool, message center, safe and (most importantly) plenty of parking (under cover). The parking situation, in the real world, there was awful. There was a restaurant in the hotel, but I only used it once. The prices were CRAZY. LOL

Best six months of my career. No question. If I could have stayed there, with the same financial arrangements, I would have.

 

[Deleted member 69715]

Wow, what a group you guys are!
Worked in high school at a body shop. Went into the Army afterwards. Shipped to Viet Nam for 18 months. Got out. Should have stayed 20 years; I had made Sgt and ran the motor pool. Think Sgt. Bilko.
Worked in new car dealerships for about 6 years. Dealerships were changing at the time. Didn't like the change, so I left. Walked into a small gov't. plant and got hired. They were giving me a choice between working production or quality control. I'd watched out a window of how production operated. Slick looking dude was wandering around yelling at high school kids. Just an abusive little weenie. I chose the job in quality control. At that time the weenie would return rejections to to us and bully the other guys into accepting sub-standard stuff. I refused to play his game and chased him out of the department. The quality manager was impressed. and decided I might be worth keeping. He did for 12 years, and taught me a lot about Q.C. I stayed in that field for 40 years or so, until I retired. I loved it, still miss it. Motorcycles had been a big part of my life since high school. Still work on them some and ride whenever I can.

 

[strantor]

Well we're on page 5 so I guess it's time I contribute my own best job.

I have enjoyed all the jobs I had except working the KFC drive-thru in high school and perhaps the Navy (conflicted about it).I did really dig my job in the Navy but as I mentioned my first and only boat was cesspit of negativity and I was ready for a change of scenery.

After the Navy I was a Controls Technician working overseas in shipyards, commissioning the drill floor equipment on new-build drill ships (Top drive, pipe racking system, Driller's cabin, Draw Works, etc.) and that was awesome. I learned a lot in a short time. The work was interesting, my coworkers... also interesting, and I Made six figures at $15/hr. Great gig for a single guy. So I got married.

Then I was a Maintenance Electrical Technician in a Wire & Cable plant. Pay was decent, atmosphere was relaxed, Employer was awesome, gave me more freedom than I could have reasonably expected. I asked, and they started letting me retrofit old machines on the night shift, replacing aged DC motors and drives with AC motors and VFDs, gutting old cabinets full of relays and installing/programming PLCs. After a while they stopped assigning me PMs and this became my whole purpose. I loved it. I did that for a year it occurred to me "this is technically Engineering" so I asked for an Engineering role. They said "not without a degree" so I gave two months notice. I said "I'll be back in 4 years with a degree," left on good terms.

Moved my wife and 2 kids into a spare bedroom at my mother's house and went to college full time on the Post-911 GI bill. To get the full benefit of the GI bill you have to go to school full time, hence why I quit my job. I had been led to believe that full time college would be so demanding of my time that I wouldn't be able to maintain a full time job. This piece of canned advice is something that I can only assume is meant for consumption by kids fresh out of high school who haven't experienced real life, because school only took 30-40hrs/week and I was used to putting in 60-80hrs/week (and no stranger to 100+ hour weeks). I got bored after a couple of months. So I started my first LLC so that I could go back and do work for my previous employer as a vendor while in school, since they wouldn't let me come back on a part-time basis; full time or no time. Ended up picking up other clients too. After 1 year in college my LLC was making me more money than an Engineering degree would have, so I quit the college I was attending for free, moved out of my mom's place, and went full time self employed.

That lasted about a year (a glorious, empowering year) and then work dried up over night, so I took a job with a much larger competitor. They presented me with a non-compete agreement which I naively (stupidly) signed, which restricted me for a period of 2 years from time of separation, from working in the same state in the same role (Field Service & Field Engineering, Industrial Controls) and from speaking to any of their clients. I spent almost 2 years there and it was fun while it lasted but then they stole my personal property (long story) so I quit on the spot and was immediately hired as a Controls Engineer by a prior client who had left the company in which he had been my client, and was working for a subsea technology startup. My attorney said it was safe, not in conflict with the non-compete. Pay was excellent, I already knew some people there, atmosphere was relaxed, whe had good team, everything was cool except for the fact we all eventually realized that we were working for a vaporware company run by a Norwegian con man, and none of the awesome stuff we were designing would ever move past prototype. He would not allow any of the tools to actually go offshore and do work, finding reasons to squash every job that our sales guy found. He just wanted to dangle impressive-looking products in front of investors and get funding which he ferrerted away overseas.

I stayed there long enough to ride out the non-compete and then started another LLC. I've maintained that LLC for the past 5 years. The first 3 years were amazing. I was working for my self, in control of my own destiny, making more money than I ever dreamed I would, and feeling like a king. I paid off all my debts (except the mortgage) and started saving up. Then once again business dried up over night and I went 6 months with no work, burned up every dollar I had saved, and started going back into debt.

I was once again getting desperate enough to take a "real job" so I reached out to one of my clients for whom I had started a large project but that they had paused. I told them "now would be a good time to un-pause this project because if you wait any longer I'll be working for someone else and I won't be able to finish this for you." They said "well why don't you just come to work for us?" I said "ok." They hired me with the same Controls Engineer title that my last employer bestowed.

I only intended to work there temporarily. The operation was not at all interesting to me (logistics company, packaging and shipping plastic pellets) and I expected to be depressingly bored within the first month. But that never happened. I'm still with that company 3 years later and I have to say this is my favorite job. I am left to my own devices, free to exercise my creativity. My office (usually vacant) is at a different facility from my boss and I only see him 2 to 4 times per month. I work from home most days unless maintenance has a troubleshooting endeavor that's over their heads and calls me in to fulfill my collateral duty, or if I'm onsite to commission a new project. I am given exciting challenges and allowed to solve them by whatever means I desire. Nobody asks questions about my purchases. Nobody asks what I'm spending my time on. Nobody asks me why I did a thing this way and not that way. The results I deliver are sufficient evidence for those who matter, that my paycheck is justified. People ask for my input and (usually) act on my suggestions. I feel like a respected and valued member of a very efficient team. The salary isn't the highest I've ever had, but it's more than sufficient considering the above and the following:

When I hired on I made it clear that I would not sign any non-compete or any other document by another name which restricts my ability to maintain my LLC and/or continue working on the side. They didn't have a problem with that as long as I didn't give any of their trade secrets or IP to their competitors, and I never had any other clients in this industry, so I had no qualms about signing an NDA related to that. Other than that I've had total freedom.

I have been working on the side this whole time, after hours and on weekends. I have gained new clients, more work, and at times enough work that juggling the two endeavors borders on unmanageable. Funny thing, it seems to come in waves; I will go for days with no calls and then the phone starts ringing off the hook just around the time I start a big project at the day job. One week I'll put in 40 hours and the next I'll put in a combined 120hrs.

A lot of my work is emergency call-outs. Clients might be losing thousands of dollars per hour with a production line down. They want someone onsite ASAP and when I have to tell them "sorry, I won't be able to get out there until after 5PM" (because I'm at my "real job") they will naturally call a competitor, and next time they need service, they will probably call whoever came out last time. I'm losing out on a lot more than my my hourly rate by turning down these calls, and every time I have to do it, it's very stressful.

After the last big wave of work, I approached my boss about returning to our previous client-vendor relationship. I explained the problem juast as I did above and expressed how much I do love my job here, but that a little piece of me dies every time I can't respond to these emergency call-outs. I said explained that from my perspective, returning to our previous relationship was the only way I could set priorities and still deliver what he is paying for. He declined my proposal. His response was that as long as I continue to deliver the level of work that he has come to expect from me, and that emergency situations at my day job take precedence over anything else, he doesn't care how I spend my time. I'm salary so there is no real "on the clock." I can do my "day job" at night if that's what it takes. He assured me that there is no conflict in me being somewhere else during normal business hours as long as there is no decline in my performance. He even doesn't care if I leave the state for a week to commission new equipment for one of my European OEM clients (as long as I'm available to offer tech support to our maintenance team, and fly back immediately if it can't be resolved over the phone).

This is more freedom than I feel I have any right to expect. I even feel a little guilty availing myself of it. But, the man said I can, so... this is just awesome. I couldn't ask for more. I've never asked for a raise and probably never will as long as this arrangement is maintained. The freedom is worth so much more than money to me.

And that's my story about my best job. I do love money, but I value the freedom even more.

 

[Firstram]

I even feel a little guilty availing myself of it. But, the man said I can, so...

Sounds like you've earned it, good for you!