Quote Originally Posted by bharner View Post
In high school I worked anywhere that paid. I did the McD's thing for a few winters, worked at a bicycle shop selling bikes, worked at a summer camp for 7 summers in high school and college. Managed the on campus movie theater at college. I started ski patrolling in HS and volunteered for a few years. I've been a "Pro" for the last ten years. Can't beat getting paid to ski.

I majored in visual communications and got really in to photography. I manged a small eatery for a year right after college and then did electronics retail for just shy of two years. Then I started working for a major language learning software company as a photo assistant and worked my way up to assistant/photographer which meant that I not only did set design/lighting/grunt work for the other photographers but I did it for my own shoots as well. I even got to be the lead photographer for an endangered language project spending a couple weeks on a reservation in LA.
Then after three years of consistently meeting our deadlines they laid off 3/4 of the production staff as they had no work for us on the short term horizon.
So I did some freelance work here and there and skied my butt off. Took me from Jan-Sept of that year to find a full time job so I was a stay at home dad and whenever I could I snuck out and did some fly fishing. Had a lot of fun on little mountain streams chasing trout (well, anything that would take the fly).
I skied full time from Jan-March and in May I found a part time job working in a residential home with adults with intellectual disabilities. I did personal care and cooked dinner and that type of stuff.
In September of that year I put in for a management position in that agency and now manage two apartment buildings that are assisted living for adults with ID. I serve 13 adults who are on a pretty broad spectrum but they live relatively independently in two bedroom apartments just like any other adult (albeit with a staff around to pass medications and assist as needed). I do a lot of chauffeuring to work, appointments etc. The most exciting part, so far, is seeing one of the fellows through the process of getting married.
You have a very noble job, and I'm not talking about the fishing and skiing! I've gotta Google VA (is that Vancouver?)