Your career paths

[Eric 26]

@12poundbass although I liked your comment I’m going to respectfully disagree as here in Illinois we had and will have in the summer radio commercials for the trades targeting the younger demographics which it seems kids these days aren’t willing to look into. 

[Eric 26]

@TnRiver46 I wish you the best of luck. Although I don’t know about your state other than it’s beautiful from the brief time my family and I spent there, it seems there is a shortage in every blue collar field which truck driving falls into and if you’re able to find a local job that gets you home every night it’s actually quite fun and at least up here pretty much everyone is offering benefits including health insurance. 

[Smirak]

Never come on this board!!!

 

started as a bagger at a grocery chain in HS. Drank my way out of college, joined the army, went back to college, grad school, Iraq, and finally home. During that time frame, when I was working civilian life, I was in supply chain. The last job I held was as director of supply chain for a major spacecraft supplier. I recently “retired” from work and draw 100% disability through the VA and disability through SS. I now fish, umpire baseball and woodwork…

[12poundbass]

@Eric 26 it’s all about location location location. There’s another variable in there too that we won’t get into. There’s a changing tide in my area that’s heading towards the trade. Parents are trying to teach their kids to learn from their mistakes. I’m not against college one bit. Like with my son, whatever he decides to do, you have to be strategic in the path you choose.

[TnRiver46]

@Eric 26, thanks buddy that’s good to know, I’d rather stay off the roads as much as I can. The stuff I saw just driving a regular pickup truck all day was quite shocking 

[Eric 26]

@12poundbass Although I know politics and religion are forbidden on this site I do wish we could all sign a form that allows us to talk about it willingly and separately as there are quite a few posts with the “other” factors we can’t get into. I will say I’m not opposed to the trades at all and I wish your son a long prosperous career in the trades👍🏻@TnRiver46 I’ll agree with you that there are some 🤔Dufesses on all the roads nowadays but I’m still going to say driving through Tennessee was heavenly compared to here😉 Again I wish nothing but the best for you as you sound like a hard worker who just fell into a tough situation and as far as climbing ladders being on roofs all day and being in crappy situations that’s not a sustainable career for just about anyone.

[slonezp]

Drove a truck for 10 years after high school and then got into the trades. I'm a crippled pipefitter. Got a career ending injury in 2012. I manage a hvac supply house  

11 minutes ago, Eric 26 said:

@12poundbass Although I know politics and religion are forbidden on this site I do wish we could all sign a form that allows us to talk about it willingly and separately as there are quite a few posts with the “other” factors we can’t get into. I will say I’m not opposed to the trades at all and I wish your son a long prosperous career in the trades👍🏻@TnRiver46 I’ll agree with you that there are some 🤔Dufesses on all the roads nowadays but I’m still going to say driving through Tennessee was heavenly compared to here😉 Again I wish nothing but the best for you as you sound like a hard worker who just fell into a tough situation and as far as climbing ladders being on roofs all day and being in crappy situations that’s not a sustainable career for just about anyone.

PM's

[cheezyridr]

i come from a big family, so i learned early on that if i wanted something, i had to find a way to earn the money. my folks would have given it to me if they could, but there were just too many of us. starting at about 10, i sold bait, trapped muskrats, sold pheasants and turtles, had a paper route. at 12 i took a job in a liquor warehouse, sweeping the floor, then i got a job doing janitor work. 

at 17 i was torn between 2 career paths. electrician, or rock star. i got a job in a lighting store so i could buy guitars and related gear. my band got pretty popular, and we were offered a touring contract supporting some big names.  before we could sign, the singer and the lead player got jumped and ended up in the hospital. we lost the contract. God did me a huge favor.  i never would have survived that. 

while working at the lighting store, i met a girl. we got pretty serious, and her dad got me hired at a mechanical contractor.  they told me the electrical shop was full, but i could work in the sheet metal shop until there was an opening.  when a spot opened up a year later, i had already gotten a raise, and had bought tools, and was doing pretty good, so i decided to stay in sheet metal. that was 39 years and 3 months ago. since then i have worked in almost every aspect of my trade, across 12 states plus canada. 

 

one thing i will say about kids today getting into the trades. back in the late 90's/early 2000's  most of the new hires weren't worth a darn. these days, many of the apprentices i see are great kids who work hard, learn fast, and show up every day. 

[Jar11591]

On 3/7/2024 at 7:52 PM, gimruis said:

Good for you @Jar11591. That takes a lot of will power and motivation to go back to college at 32.

Thanks. It certainly was a big decision. So far seems to be the right one. 

[throttleplate]

On 3/8/2024 at 3:20 PM, detroit1 said:

I've been a Chippendale for the last 43 years.  

 

How many sock puppets did you go through?

[whitwolf]

I was going to farm. I worked in Tobacco fields growing up and I knew from early on that a farm was in my future. At 17 two older farmers sat me down and laid out my future; it was not pretty. lol

 

I went to college and taught for two years. It was awesome but living paycheck to paycheck was concerning. 

 

One of my cousins had a furniture component manufacturing facility and offered me an entry level management position for considerably more money. I quickly realized if I was going to lead people I needed to know everything about the various products and put in the time required to make sure I knew EVERYTHING involved.  There was never going to be a situation that I couldn't lead by example. 

 

I worked there for 38 years.  I was a plant manager for several of those years, did some engineering, and the last four were sample building and R&D. I had a stroke and essentially retired.  I went back to help out for a short time; it was terrible.

 

I officially retired ( this month)  and from here on out I will live on my terms. Fish, travel some, fish, enjoy the grandchildren, fish. Life is great!

[VolFan]

On 3/6/2024 at 11:33 PM, TnRiver46 said:

I got a feeling we might have worked at the same spot 😂 

Small world right? We missed each other by just a few years

[gim]

On 3/8/2024 at 10:30 PM, slonezp said:

Drove a truck for 10 years after high school

There is always an enormous demand for a class A truck driver. It’s nearly bullet proof job security. You just have to be willing to spend time on the road.

[Woody B]

12 minutes ago, gimruis said:

There is always an enormous demand for a class A truck driver. It’s nearly bullet proof job security. You just have to be willing to spend time on the road.

Quite a few companies are paying for people to attend truck driving school now with a contract upon graduation.  Driving a big truck is a big responsibility, but the trucks are easier to drive than ever.   

[Bankbeater]

Back in HS I worked at a grocery store, washed cars, cut grass, and worked at a restaurant. 

 

Right after HS, I didn't know what I wanted to do, so I worked as a laborer at a construction company owned by my Mom's cousin. 

 

I did that for a year then started college majoring in business admin. with an emphasis on finance and marketing.  While in college I worked at another grocery store. 

 

After numerous interviews with multiple finance and marketing companies, one of my dad's friends hired me on at a aerospace / defense contractor company as a CAD operator working on second shift.  During the day I was still working at the grocery store.  It eventually closed about a year and half after I graduated.

 

I switched departments after I got married, and was finally hired on as a full time employee, starting my career in Facilities.  Over the past 37 years I have worked myself up to a project / construction manager running every type of job from ordering a new chair, to gutting an entire structure, and then building it back out.

 

 

 

 

[slonezp]

4 hours ago, gimruis said:

There is always an enormous demand for a class A truck driver. It’s nearly bullet proof job security. You just have to be willing to spend time on the road.

I drove local to Chicago. My brother drives OTR and is an owner operator. He's been driving almost 40 years and has the luxury to pick and choose his loads. He's got a reefer trailer and gets a premium for hauling medical equipment, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals. Runs a lot of the west coast. 

[T-Billy]

On 3/8/2024 at 9:53 PM, Eric 26 said:

blue collar field which truck driving falls into and if you’re able to find a local job that gets you home every night it’s actually quite fun and at least up here pretty much everyone is offering benefits including health insurance. 

Absolutely. Best career move I ever made was getting my class a. Lots of good paying local work out there. Gotta take what you can get that first year, but then lots more opportunities open up. Two years experience with a clean MVR, opens up a LOT of opportunities.

The oil and gas industry exploded in my area in 2014. I got my CDL in 16, hauled water for a year, then was blessed to get in with with a large refiner in 2017 hauling crude. Currently gross right at 100k working 184 days a year, with the company contributing another 16% into my retirement, between the pension and 401k. I sleep in my own bed every night. Two more years will get me another week vacation. Then I'll have more days off than work days. Definitely looking forward to that.

I feel like I pretty much have the best driving gig around for me, but I was recently looking around just out of curiosity, and there were lots of good paying local listings. A local snack food maker was offering $32 an hour to haul corn from the rail yard to the plant with full benefits. 

There's a lot of worse ways to make a lot less money than driving a truck.

 

[12poundbass]

Sounds like a pretty sweet gig @T-Billy! 

[T-Billy]

3 hours ago, 12poundbass said:

Sounds like a pretty sweet gig @T-Billy! 

I think so. It can get pretty sketchy when the snow flies, but 90% + of the time it's easy money. Lots of responsibility comes with the job, but it's really not that stressful most of the time, and definitely not back breaking work.

[Eric 26]

@T-Billy Couldn’t have said it better. I know it’s nowhere near as back breaking as carpentry. Not quite the same pay but I’m happy with the trade off.

Edited March 11, 2024 by Eric 26
Content

[deaknh03]

On 3/10/2024 at 10:13 PM, slonezp said:

I drove local to Chicago. My brother drives OTR and is an owner operator. He's been driving almost 40 years and has the luxury to pick and choose his loads. He's got a reefer trailer and gets a premium for hauling medical equipment, medical supplies, and pharmaceuticals. Runs a lot of the west coast. 

So you drove a truck and you were a lot lizard, very diverse.

[slonezp]

3 hours ago, deaknh03 said:

So you drove a truck and you were a lot lizard, very diverse.

Clever for someone who plays with his wood all day. 

[Chowderhead]

Come from a family of farmers, construction workers, and truck drivers. Did rather poorly in high school with my grades, so my early jobs were retail sales (clothing and shoes), fast food deli, and roofing (not ideal job when living in Southwest Arizona). Further education was not in the mix for me.

 

Made some personal life changes and a mentor gave me a chance and helped initially fund me to attend college. Took a while and I was a non-traditional college student (married, 3 children) when I graduated with my undergrad (history major, poli-sci minor) degree. Moved out of state to attend law school (now with 5 children at graduation), passed the state bar exam, and have been with my employer going on 17 years.

 

Looking back, I clearly "outkicked my coverage", but am incredibly thankful for how things have turned out. If I can make it another 10-13 years, the pension, retirement benefits for my industry, and the overall compensation perks from my employer should hopefully set my wife and I up to be able to enjoy our latter-years and still provide for our children's inheritance. 

[Bluebasser86]

Started working at 13 for a private lake clubhouse, mowing, weedeating, painting, doing whatever basic repairs or gopher jobs needed done. Did that until I was 16 and started working at Cabela's. I worked there until I was 21. Started working construction full time at 18 (while also working at Cabela's 20+ hours a week), and did that until I was 21. When I was 21 I got hired on as a Correction's Officer at my first department. At 23, I moved to a bigger department and became a LEO and have been doing that ever since, I'll be 38 next month. Planning to go to 51 and retire with 30 years of service. 

[Motoboss]

Interesting stuff in this thread!

 

Parents divorced when I was young and I spent my early life on the streets. Quit school at 16 and joined the Army at 17, was released on a medical discharge and went back to the streets, hitchhiking from coast to coast, in and out of trouble and aimless.

 

Finally managed to work my way into college (Ball State) where at 23 I met the Love of My Life, best friend  and the woman who saved my life, she was 18 and now married 47 years. I went to work for an underground utilities company, deciding that becoming a teacher wasn’t for me and worked my way to District Manager of several operations in three States in short order with my Wife working along my side as Office Manager.

 

We got tired of the constant moving at contracts end, quit and moved to California where I started a paint and wallpaper business and she took a office job at Walmart as a business manager. After a few years we grew tired of the left coast and longed for the change of seasons and moved to Tennessee where I continued working for myself and she as an Office Manager for a well known truck equipment company. Ironically the company opened an operation in Indiana, where we are from, and offered her the Operations Manager position so we moved back home. After twenty years the equipment company was sold and she found a new career as the Sales Manager at a Harley-Davidson dealership, where after twenty plus years she is the store business manager and runs things for a absentee owner. All the while I continued to work for myself and built a small six man operation providing paint and mostly commercial wallpaper installation for commercial operations; hotels, motels, nursing homes and office parks.

 

In 2020 I suddenly underwent quadruple bypass (CABG 4) and after 35 years of self employment retired from working. The Wife continues to work today at the HD Dealership, for how long we don’t know.
Just this week she was diagnosed with Cancer.

 

To sit here and put near 70 years of life history in a few paragraphs seems trivial but it’s been a life well lived and a great ride. We have tried to live with no fear or regrets and can only go boldly into our future smiling.

 

Would we change anything? Only the time we have with the ones we love.