Thread: What Do You Do/What Did You Do?

I realise there was a thread on this. but it seems a bit old. I also realise the existing thread is in 'General Shaving Related Discussions'. However I'm 'piggy backing' on the 'How Old Are You' thread in this sub forum. But I've wondered lately what the present active members do or did for a living, etc. I've been intrigued by some of the SOTD posters, who appear to have very interesting (and mobile) lives. So...

After leaving school I spent 8 years in a rut as a shop assistant in a sports store; surfing, lifting weights, driving my 'hotted up' Ford TC Cortina and smoking dope.

Second job was ten years in the Australian Army; two spent as a Recruit Instructor, most of the time spent working on Surface to Air Missile Systems; the last three years as a Sergeant in Charge of a missile system.

Third job was teaching computing at 'TAFE' a sort of higher education college system we have in Australia. That led into my current role as an Prison Education Coordinator, currently in a Women's Prison.

So, what do you do and what DID you do?

(PS, if mods think this is on the wrong spot or it's a repeat of the previous thread, of course feel free to delete/move it)...

This thread sounds pretty interesting.

I put myself through university (the first time) swinging a sledgehammer and a welding torch for the railroad every summer. That was a great way to stay in shape and forget about exams.

After university I decided I didn't want to work in my field so I trained as a chef, got my college papers and my journeyman's papers, and moved around for a bit working in some not so great and some great places. I did that for just shy of a decade.

Then I realized that one of the things I liked most about cooking was teaching the apprentices. So I went back to school again, this time to get my teaching degree. I had every intention of teaching high school culinary courses. The only snag was that I got into an elementary education program. No problem, I told myself...I'll change my credentials when I get out. My placement classrooms were Gr5, Gr3, and K-2 gym and Music. I loved them all. I haven't set foot in a high school since actually attending high school.

Now, I teach grade 1, and I love every minute of it.

I am a Chemist and check out bottled water, water filters and dietary supplements. I also officiate wrestling at the high school and middle school level. I also teach a boot camp for new dads to be. I am currently schooling for ordination in the Church of the Nazarene. I coached wrestling for 12 years, worked lawn irrigation, lawn-care and landscaping, plowed snow, delivered laundry, worked at Arby's, worked at Ford, and worked at an outdoor 3D archery range...

I attempted to attend Virginia Tech, but I found it to be a bar with a rather expensive cover.

Since then, I wound up doing payroll for a large national corporation, and earned various certifications in that discipline. I'm now ventured into Human Resource Information Systems, (analytics and data integrity), and loving it

I spent 20 years in the tobacco industry during which time I finished my degree in Biology from Indiana University. After leaving the tobacco industry, I took classes to learn the computer industry and am now an Ambulatory Services Engineer. I do security and training of physicians in a local hospital. I love this job, as it gives me an opportunity to work closely with physicians, as my father practiced medicine for 56 years.

Left school and spent a year assembling car batteries and helping with general maintenance to earn some money for study.
Trained as a physiotherapist (physical therapist to you in the US) and spent my holidays back at the battery factory.
11 yrs as a physio doing mainly musculoskeletal work and a little acupuncture.
Been a full time paramedic for 8 yrs now and loving the variety - though I'm constantly amazed at some of the things people will call an ambulance for. Common sense is a very uncommon thing these days.

When I was younger I was pretty good with computers and tinkered with them as a hobby. However, I had always been fascinated with flying and aviation in general. In my early twenties I earned my ratings for Single and Multi-engine land and instrument airplane and getting an Associates degree in Commercial Flight and Air Traffic Control. but I ended up losing my medical. This took the winds out of my sails and my twenties are what I term a lost decade, filled with odd, dead end jobs.

When I turned thirty some light bulb turned on and I started working more professional jobs. I had lots of accounting in school (only community colleges) and used that to my advantage. I eventually received work in an IT department for a large corporation, got married, and decided I needed to get my four year degree. When that corporation closed the plant I was working at, I continued on my degree while working odd IT contracting jobs to stay afloat. I'm glad I stuck with it. After some time, I finally landed a permanent developer position.

When my mother-in-law became ill we left SoCal for Indiana and I found a job as a developer supporting various customers; my largest is supporting a financial system for an Army command. I recently received my Certified Government Financial Manager certification, which marries my IT skills nicely with customer needs. I plan on starting my MBA in August and I do disaster action team support for the Red Cross, providing support for small disasters such as house fires.

I'd like to get back into flying again one day. One of my buddies flies a time-share aircraft for high-end customers, but he doesn't seem to like it now. They always told us in college that a vocation in flying can mean living the life of a trucker, always gone from home and tough on marriages; and my friend says that's just how it is. I had always wanted to be a crop-duster myself.

I'm happy and so is my wife. Life is good.

I studied music in university, worked in the music industry for about a year until I realized all the horror stories were true, then started running independent/foreign film cinemas, then ran a couple international film festivals and am currently spending a year in my hometown dealing with family illness stuff and working a particularly soul crushing HR job for a huge corporation.

From 1970 to 85 i was a barber and then started with the Gas Utility in New Orleans. While there I started as a dispatcher then went to the Cathodic Protection dept.,[ we kept a small amount of DC current on the steel main and services to prevent corrosion], Then leak survey [patroled city with infrared to detect methane gases] and back to C|P. All these jobs were fairly easy but after Katrina everyone had to work. In New Orleans most of the gas meters are under the house and all had to be shut off to empty the water out of the gas mains and services. You can imagine after 2 weeks how rusted the shutoff valves would be.
So I retired.
Long winded, but that's what I did.

This is a great thread!! First THANK YOU to all of you who have and continue to serve our country. Whatever your view on the past wars is/have been we can all agree to support you and be greatfull for the service you have/are giving!! (wow a lot of / there) now for what I do.....

After graduating from Syracuse University with a BFA in Theatre and getting into Sound Design and Audio Engineering I got a job a Steppenwolf theatre worked there for a year the freelance sound designed in theatre and film, worked in a bicycle shop for about a year to supplement my income which was a lot of fun and bought a bunch of highend bikes. After hopping around different theatres around the country for a few years I joined the Stagehands Union the International Alliance of Stage Employes (not a spelling error) and have been mixing sound for large scale musicals I'm Chicago Local 2 for 5 years 2 freelancing and 4 for the Local!!