What does everyone do? (or did, if retired)

[deverett]

When asked "What do you do for a living?" I usually reply that 'I travel in steel and dabble in oil'.

Translated that means I served for a few years in the British Merchant Navy as a cadet and junior navigating officer and then moved across to the Offshore Oil industry using my marine 'skills'.

I am writing this in a desert camp (on Abu Ali island) in Saudi Arabia as Saudi Aramco's (the national oil company) marine representative for a seismic survey operation run by the Tiddlies. (Tiddly Winks = Chinks = Chinese). I have no dealings with the survey side, just looking at their boats and make sure they stay afloat.

I get home in about a week's time and will take a well earned 6 weeks' leave. Next time out, I will be on a pipelaying/heavylift construction barge. The heavy lift crane can pick up 2450 tons.

Retirement will come in a couple of years' time, when hopfully I will be able to put into practice things I have learned on this great site, although if I manage to apply anything I have read, and not make too many parts twice, it will be a bonus.

Dave
The Emerald Isle (Sometimes)

 

[ksouers]

Not sure if i responded to the first post or not... so I will post in this one.

Currently, senior engineer in the IT field. The stuff I work with exists in cyberspace only. I am one of my company's VMware experts. It's interesting trying to describe what I do to someone who doesn't work in the IT segment. The servers I build/support and design are virtual...



But, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!

Eric

Eric,
I take it being a virtual admin means you pretend to work ;D

VM's are pretty neat stuff. I have 6 xen VMs running on my server here at home. It's nice to isolate jobs and I don't have to worry about crashing everything else while I'm tweaking an install.


Kevin

 

[two dogs]

I'm a machinist by trade, starting in 1974. Did the program/setup thing for a few years, then moved into full-time programming 10 years or so ago. Now I do that as well as order tools and material, schedule jobs as well as try and decipher what the design engineers really want and how to make it.
Hope to retire in 5 to 7 years if the economy cooperates

Mark

 

[lathe nut]

I was raised on a rice and cattle farm for some side line money I went to work in an old oil field close by where I lived doing workover jobs on the weekend, met a fellow that worked for a major service company he asked me if I wanted a better paying job with a good company, started there in 1976, I have been a sales Person for them since 1978, now a sales supervisor and going to work till they make me stop, its good to get home go in the shop and forget about the days work until tomorrow, not a big world for me, Lathe Nut

 

[Superfast]

After High School I enlisted in the USN as an Avionics Technician and served 4 years working mainly on FA-18 and F-14 aircraft systems. After that I stuck with Aviation electronics and went to work for Hawkins & Powers Aviation (Fire Bombers). I got to work on a lot of older aircraft, it was kind of a neat experience going from F-14's to PB4Y aircraft. From there I stayed in General Avaition for a number of years, mainly installing communication and navigation equipment, working for a bunch of smaller companies. Now I work for a major aviation equipment manufacturer in Olathe, Kansas, in the engineering department doing research and development. The job is great, I install flat screen display systems and autopilots. I mainly lean towards the mechanical side of the installations, as I like anything mechanical.

Scott

 

[bigal2749]

Worked two summers on my uncle's dairy farm in Vermont. The three of us (uncle-52, aunt-51, and me-10) did the complete summer hay harvesting besides the daily chores of a 50 milking cow herd. I know I was a big kid but when I think of a ten year old driving a Fordson tractor pulling a wagon of hay on the state roads---I thank my lucky stars that nothing happened.

From twelve till college I worked for my father in the summers and saturdays in his carpentry and remodeling business. He did quite well considering he quite school in the third grade. School was not that important in the outlying farming communities of Canada during the Depression.

Had a varity of jobs in the eight years of college and dental school but finally got out of the weather and had a family dental practice for 28 years until back issues forced me into retirement. Wife will tell you I did 40 years of dental work in 28 years.
In retrospect, treating patients 10 hours a day, 5 1/2 days a week with no other excersize was asking for it.

Now I'm looking for things to do and after watching this forum for the last couple of months, I've picked up a mini-lathe and anxiously awaiting my first casting kit.

 

[mogogear]

Hey Al- How are you? Mr Dentist!

My first career in life was as a mechanic- GM trained and ( old school) NAISE certified worked at a Cadillac house back in the 70's for 5 years right out of high school...THEN went to college...geology.... oil business died in the early 80's enough to make me never use it

Entered restaurant business during college...ran kitchens, tended bar, managed for a national chain, owned three with some buddies, got tired of 80+ hour weeks.. went into food sales to restaurants....

Been in the sales the food trade for 17 years--- I had my own ultralight back packing gear company for 5 years ( just closed it...it was called ... mo-go-gear ;D )

BTW-Designed and manufactured Trangia -like alcohol stoves that weighed in at 5 gm

I also collect and rebuild old lever -style espresso machines and am up to my neck in steam engines and the boats they propel... that leads me to learning how to use a lathe.... I dabble in home distilling single malt scotch too! Cause I am bored... or my 6 year old makes me tired at middle age.. one of the two :

 

[Kludge]

Had a varity of jobs in the eight years of college and dental school but finally got out of the weather and had a family dental practice for 28 years until back issues forced me into retirement. Wife will tell you I did 40 years of dental work in 28 years.

Hmmm ... dental burrs are truly wonderful tools for model making, you know. They can handle those pesky little problems that crop up now and then that nothing else seems to quite solve.

BEst regards,

Kludge

 

[NickG]

I'm a Senior Design Engineer for Direct Fire Ammunition working for BAE Systems.

I did Maths & Physics 'A' Levels (Chemistry was far too difficult so dropped that!) then a Mechanical Engineering Degree before starting at BAE on their graduate scheme. Been there 7 years now which have flown by, still a lot to learn though!

Nick

 

[Paula]

I'm a Senior Design Engineer for Direct Fire Ammunition working for BAE Systems.

Interesting... I just recently designed some robotic weld fixturing for BAE. Some kind of heavy vehicle window frames.

Small world. ;D

Paula

 

[NickG]

It is a very small world! ;D We're currently investing in robot technology but we are the Munitions business unit, your fixtures were probably for Weapons and Vehicles (ex Alvis Vickers) up the road at Newcastle.

 

[Kermit]

This is what we build where I am working. Test stands and all the other test equipment needed to test jet engines.

No pressure, but people can get killed if we get it wrong,
Kermit

 

[dwentz]

Like most of the rest of you I have had many jobs.

First job I worked in a TV shop, then worked in 3 shops at the same time.
Worked in a computer store repairing and selling Apple II and Commodore equipment.
Worked for a software company writing software for the C64
Working in another computer store, mostly did inventory and repair
Managed Tandy Business Products computer center for 5 years (Radio Shack)
Worked in a gas station for a bit after the computer store closed.
Worked as a plumber for a few years.
Worked on my own for 2 years writing software
Worked as a programmer and systems administrator for a hospital.
For the past 12 years, I have been working as a contractor at various companies, where I have worked on secure systems, Designed a satellite communications network monitoring system for the DOD, and develop and maintain systems mostly for the AF.
I also have a small graphics business on the side, 1 aviation company I write software for on the side, have raised 2 kids, and as of last year got re married, and now have 5 kids in total to keep me busy.
On the hobby side, I am a ham radio operator KB9JJA, enjoy electronics, flying RC planes, and very much like working in my machine shop.

Dale

 

[Kludge]

No pressure, but people can get killed if we get it wrong,

That's kind of the same thing as pilots of commercial airliners etc deal with on a daily basis. One oops can result in a rather large number of people's days going terribly wrong. Just make the job more interesting.

Best regards,

Kludge

 

[Cliff]

I started learning machine while working in a machine/welding shop in 1971 worked there till 1984 when I went to work for a wire manufacturing business as a machinist/maintenance man and also did some machine designing worked there till they decided to go out of business 1987. relocated and went to work for Goodrich Corp in 1988 as a maintenance mechanic worked there almost eleven years decided to start my own business where along with my wife we sold and repaired clock's we ran it till about a year and a half ago when my wife's health started going down hill until she passed away back in May and my health caused me to go on disability. Finding this web site has helped me to a great extent get over the passing of my wife and has given me a intrest to try to build a engine come spring. Cliff

 

[BillH]

I started learning machine while working in a machine/welding shop in 1971 worked there till 1984 when I went to work for a wire manufacturing business as a machinist/maintenance man and also did some machine designing worked there till they decided to go out of business 1987. relocated and went to work for Goodrich Corp in 1988 as a maintenance mechanic worked there almost eleven years decided to start my own business where along with my wife we sold and repaired clock's we ran it till about a year and a half ago when my wife's health started going down hill until she passed away back in May and my health caused me to go on disability. Finding this web site has helped me to a great extent get over the passing of my wife and has given me a intrest to try to build a engine come spring. Cliff

Cliff, by any chance was that wire company Gilbert and Bennet in Georgetown, CT?

 

[dparker]

Hello All: Started out working at 14 in the family business doing whatever was needed. Assembled and installed irrigation systems, ran backhoe digging trenches for buried irrigation mainlines, run canning machinery in cannery, mechanic on snowmobiles, operated custom mixing pelletted feterlizer plant, lift truck operator in ware-house. One summer as Lifeguard at a pool.

After College I worked in Idaho 5 years as a Nuclear Reactor Engineer where I operated and rebuilt reactors for testing Navy fuel.

Moved to Oregon and ran the Hydraulic Test Lab for a pump company for 32 years. I performed R/D on new designs and ran certified tests on pumps for customers from all over the world to prove that the pumps would do what they had ordered.

In 2005 my health caught up with me by way of cancer and bad heart valve, got the valve fixed but still fighting the other. I have been on disability since September 2005 and doing a few things in the shop. I fix some things SWMBO finds at estate sales and hope she can resell them for more than she paid for them.

I have restored a few small gas engines, (Briggs and Stratton) rebuilt 2 vehicle engines, (Stupidbaker and Pinto) and made a few IC model engines. I do like to make small tooling and fairly quickly built air engines. Not much into long projects and happy that I have a warm shop to play in.

Daughter and Son are home For Christmas so I am thankful for my family and the ability to read all the great posts and see the fantastic model engines on this forum.

Thank You All------don

 

[pabird]

Nothing glamorous, during my senior year in high school (1972) i worked 3-11 shift fabbing truck trailers and boxes for City Welding. After graduation i married my high school sweetheart and we moved to Florida and i worked for an outfit called Stromberg-Carlson installing telephone switching gear. They had a habit of letting you get settled into an area and then transfering you to another time zone. Not good if you wanted to start a family. So in the mid 70's we moved back home to western Pa. and i've been working for an electric utility ever since, almost 34 yrs. Told you no glamour! Very steady though. Smitty

 

[Cliff]

BillH
No the wire company was located in a small farming town in southeastern Colo. the town is Rocky Ford the name of the company is Nagel Wire Company but there out of Texas they have other plants in Texas where they make clothes hangers. They used the experience from the people to build a plant in Texas and when they couldn't use the one in Rocky Ford as a tax right off cause we made a profit they closed it. Cliff

 

[Metal Mickey]

Spent nearly 30 years in the British Fire Service. Serving first in Devon, then the West Midlands (mainly Birmingham, Smethwick, and short journeys to Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Was seconded to the Home Office for 3 years and went to Kuwait to investigate the effects of hostilities on tank farms and lessons that could be learnt.

Then went to South Glamorgan (Cardiff) for a few years and onto Bedfordshire where I retired as the Chief Fire Officer.

Now retired to a bungalow in Brixham, Devon.