What do/did you want to do when you start(ed) work....

[Webbo]

3 minutes ago, Izzy said:

When I was really young I wanted to be an astronaut like my Dad. 

He wanted to be an astronaut too 

I wanted to be a policeman and follow in my father's footsteps.

 

He was a burglar. 

[leicsmac]

Wanted to be a lawyer in high school, but then got much more interested in pursuing space science and wanted to be an astronaut/space scientist and took that into college and university.

 

It's taken me this long to realise that while one or the other are too complex and there are much better people at either, combining the two and being an advocate for space and other areas of science, communicating in as clear a manner as possible as to why it is such a critical thing going into the future, is where my proper strength lies. Currently getting things together to succeed to that end, late as it may be.

[Alf Bentley]

Started off as a clueless drifter and remained one.....

 

At 15, I told the school careers adviser that I'd like to be a journalist. He told me that I was far too shy (and he was right - I was an excruciatingly shy teenage fvck-up.....but it didn't last!).

Within 5 years, I was a nosy, drunken, opinionated loudmouth so would've been perfectly equipped to be a career journalist. But sadly I was a student dropout by then.

 

In my 20s, I had no interest in a career. I just wanted to earn enough money to travel, go to gigs/films, lead a wild social life and get massively drunk.....so ended up doing all sorts of jobs and succeeding in my sociocultural mission.

 

At 26, I did start thinking about a career with languages (due to years hitch-hiking around Europe picking grapes, more than studies). I was a civil service clerk then, so when I got promoted I applied to Customs.....unfortunately they stuck me straight into VAT for at least 3 years. I tolerated that for about 9 months (still hard to believe that I was briefly a VAT Inspector at 26), then quit and went off round the world for 15 months.

 

At 30, I finally got my act together, returned to uni and did a Languages degree, imagining a career as a manager with an international organisation or company......but at 34 nobody would offer me a career job.

Then my partner (now ex-wife) had a near-fatal accident so I became a self-employed translator working from home to look after her.....and haven't moved on from that in more than 20 years!

 

I made enough of a go of self-employment to be main breadwinner for our family, but never made a great income or achieved any great success.

Yet I have no regrets about any of those career decisions (possibly about the marriage - but without that I wouldn't have had my daughter so I can't really regret that either).

I do regret the isolated lifestyle, as I'm a sociable chap, but not the decisions taken or the flukes of fate that took me down that path.

 

One thing I do realise now at 58: just how massive an impact self-confidence or the lack of it has on career/life success.....I suppose that's a big part of what people often get from a private education.

Maybe if I'd had any self-confidence when young, I'd have had a glittering career (my cousin, same age, not as good at school but more balanced/self-confident ended up as a sports editor for the national press).

But je ne regrette rien ...... I ended up with self-confidence and a pretty interesting life. Hopefully plenty more adventures to come! 

[boots60]

I wanted to be a brain surgeon but i wasn't tall enough 

[Alf Bentley]

.

Edited 20 August 2020 by Alf Bentley

[Stuntman_Mike]

1 hour ago, Alf Bentley said:

.

I enjoyed your first post but even this beats my career story 

[UpTheLeagueFox]

7 hours ago, Izzy said:

I always wanted to be a sports presenter/journalist.

Bottom line is I should have been doing what @UpTheLeagueFox is doing but hey, some people get the breaks in life and some don't 

We must've discussed this a lot at school mate, being interested in the same profession.

Recently bumped into someone who was in our year (Nick Matthews) and apparently I'd told him in LGS library I wanted to be a journalist "but not because Scott in Neighbours is a journalist." No recollection of that whatsoever!! 

Anyway, how I've stolen a living without a proper job for 30 years remains a mystery but hey ho.

[ajthefox]

4 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

Started off as a clueless drifter and remained one.....

 

At 15, I told the school careers adviser that I'd like to be a journalist. He told me that I was far too shy (and he was right - I was an excruciatingly shy teenage fvck-up.....but it didn't last!).

Within 5 years, I was a nosy, drunken, opinionated loudmouth so would've been perfectly equipped to be a career journalist. But sadly I was a student dropout by then.

 

In my 20s, I had no interest in a career. I just wanted to earn enough money to travel, go to gigs/films, lead a wild social life and get massively drunk.....so ended up doing all sorts of jobs and succeeding in my sociocultural mission.

 

At 26, I did start thinking about a career with languages (due to years hitch-hiking around Europe picking grapes, more than studies). I was a civil service clerk then, so when I got promoted I applied to Customs.....unfortunately they stuck me straight into VAT for at least 3 years. I tolerated that for about 9 months (still hard to believe that I was briefly a VAT Inspector at 26), then quit and went off round the world for 15 months.

 

At 30, I finally got my act together, returned to uni and did a Languages degree, imagining a career as a manager with an international organisation or company......but at 34 nobody would offer me a career job.

Then my partner (now ex-wife) had a near-fatal accident so I became a self-employed translator working from home to look after her.....and haven't moved on from that in more than 20 years!

 

I made enough of a go of self-employment to be main breadwinner for our family, but never made a great income or achieved any great success.

Yet I have no regrets about any of those career decisions (possibly about the marriage - but without that I wouldn't have had my daughter so I can't really regret that either).

I do regret the isolated lifestyle, as I'm a sociable chap, but not the decisions taken or the flukes of fate that took me down that path.

 

One thing I do realise now at 58: just how massive an impact self-confidence or the lack of it has on career/life success.....I suppose that's a big part of what people often get from a private education.

Maybe if I'd had any self-confidence when young, I'd have had a glittering career (my cousin, same age, not as good at school but more balanced/self-confident ended up as a sports editor for the national press).

But je ne regrette rien ...... I ended up with self-confidence and a pretty interesting life. Hopefully plenty more adventures to come! 

I'd have never guessed you were a sociable chap from the lengths of your posts Alf... 

 

I jest but it's an interesting story and I always enjoy your stories - I feel like nowadays a lot of people don't get the experience of lots of different jobs, which can be really rewarding.

 

I first wanted to become an Architect at the age of about 13/14, and after a lot of training became one just before I turned 28. Whilst that has been a pretty straight career path, I have also been a cleaner, a nightclub photographer, a touring festival worker, a barman (at Welford Road and Anfield) and a retail worker in my student days. Most of them weren't great work but I had a laugh doing all of them and am a wiser and better person for those experiences. I think doing lots of different jobs (and service jobs in particular) helps you be more empathetic and to some extent humble too, it definitely has for me.

Edited 20 August 2020 by ajthefox

[simFox]

Apprentice engineer at LETG.

 

Army, Royal Engineers.

 

Uni, post grad while working in manufacturing, BEng, MPhil. 

 

USA for a year, then got a job at an oil and gas factory in the UK.

 

Now work on oil projects around the world. Some long time away from the family, but the money is pretty good and it gives my family a good life. Though I do need to start thinking about getting home more.

 

3 young girls and im missing out.

Edited 20 August 2020 by simFox

[davieG]

1 minute ago, ajthefox said:

I feel like nowadays a lot of people don't get the experience of lots of different jobs

I'm not sure that's the case people used to work for the same company for life, Where I did my apprenticeship they had guys that had worked there before the war who's job was still there for them when they returned. there were regular presentations for 30, 40 and 50 years service having started at 14. Jobs for life was a well used phrase and not just for the Civil Service/Local Government Service.

 

Since the late 70s when industry started to fail and new owners where constantly taking over businesses people were being made redundant regularly. Where i worked we had 5 different owners in about 8 years and redundancies every time.

[davieG]

2 minutes ago, simFox said:

Apprentice engineer at LETG

Was that on Putney Road? I went to LETG when it was in Thurmaston later on I became an Assessor for NVQs

[Parafox]

3 hours ago, boots60 said:

I wanted to be a brain surgeon but i wasn't tall enough 

So you became a breast surgeon instead?

[ajthefox]

1 minute ago, davieG said:

I'm not sure that's the case people used to work for the same company for life, Where I did my apprenticeship they had guys that had worked there before the war who's job was still there for them when they returned. there were regular presentations for 30, 40 and 50 years service having started at 14. Jobs for life was a well used phrase and not just for the Civil Service/Local Government Service.

 

Since the late 70s when industry started to fail and new owners where constantly taking over businesses people were being made redundant regularly. Where i worked we had 5 different owners in about 8 years and redundancies every time.

Fair point Davie and I agree to some extent, my dad worked for the same company for 42 years and that was certainly more common.

 

I was referring more to doing completely different jobs in different industries, which I think in some ways is harder now because you have to be more qualified (read educated) to do a lot of things that you could've just walked into after school at the age of 16, 30 or 40 years ago. At least that's my anecdotal experience from talking to some older folk in my family who did one job for a few years and then decided to do something completely different. 

[davieG]

2 minutes ago, ajthefox said:

Fair point Davie and I agree to some extent, my dad worked for the same company for 42 years and that was certainly more common.

 

I was referring more to doing completely different jobs in different industries, which I think in some ways is harder now because you have to be more qualified (read educated) to do a lot of things that you could've just walked into after school at the age of 16, 30 or 40 years ago. At least that's my anecdotal experience from talking to some older folk in my family who did one job for a few years and then decided to do something completely different. 

Yes people did move but they were performing pretty much the same role, I doubt those in Hosiery, shoe-making, engineering  moved from one trade to another.

 

Yeah many jobs are now more technical but even that's changing as more becomes semi automated and your down to loading and pressing a button.

 

We seem to have gone from people making something from scratch to people just doing a single simple operation over and over with little skill required, back to more of a full build as part of a team and now we're moving to the semi-automated world where you need very little skills again.

 

I can only really talk about manufacturing but i suspect it's gone through a similar pattern on office type roles.

[simFox]

20 minutes ago, davieG said:

Was that on Putney Road? I went to LETG when it was in Thurmaston later on I became an Assessor for NVQs

Freeman's common, used to go day release to Charles Keene college, spent a fair bit of that time in the old pack horse though! Happy days!

 

Was with SPS technologies at the time, then they laid me off before I finished.

Edited 20 August 2020 by simFox

[adam]

When I was at school i wanted to be a vet. Then I realised I was a bit too thick for that. So became an it technician. Then a submariner in the navy and now a fitter working on tamping machines on the railway which to be fair is a great little job. All quite far from being a vet anyway! 

Edited 20 August 2020 by adam

[winteriscoming]

Like a lot on here I wanted to go into sports journalism. Probably realised from a young age I was never gonna make it as a professional sportsman. 😂 Had work experience at a local paper but never did anything after that. Then years past bye and found the allure of alcohol. He’s been my best friend and worst enemy in equal measure..........

[Wolfox]

7 hours ago, Alf Bentley said:

 

 

One thing I do realise now at 58: just how massive an impact self-confidence or the lack of it has on career/life success.....I suppose that's a big part of what people often get from a private education.

Maybe if I'd had any self-confidence when young, I'd have had a glittering career (my cousin, same age, not as good at school but more balanced/self-confident ended up as a sports editor for the national press).

But je ne regrette rien ...... I ended up with self-confidence and a pretty interesting life. Hopefully plenty more adventures to come! 

A great story…. I’ve always wanted to collect stories to tell the grandchildren….  I’m doing pretty well so far and it sounds like you’ve excelled yourself!

 

I know a number of people who went to independent schools and it can send you one of two ways…. It can either crush you or give you an unflappable self belief…. Imagine being that bullet proof?  No small wonder a good proportion are successful in life!

 

There is no way I’d choose independent school as  option for my kids (a) because I’m a tightwad and (b) because education is simply about grades and an invincibility cloak, it’s a social education and you don’t develop empathy and understanding unless you are open to more than a few other ruddy faced poshers!

[Costock_Fox]

3 hours ago, adam said:

When I was at school i wanted to be a vet. Then I realised I was a bit too thick for that. So became an it technician. Then a submariner in the navy and now a fitter working on tamping machines on the railway which to be fair is a great little job. All quite far from being a vet anyway! 

I read that a few times as fitting tampon machines on the railway, was wondering how you went from the Navy to that.

[Leicester_Loyal]

3 hours ago, simFox said:

Now work on oil projects around the world. Some long time away from the family, but the money is pretty good and it gives my family a good life. Though I do need to start thinking about getting home more.

That sounds fantastic! Bit of a shame that you've got to work away, but like you, the money is good. The only problem with it is that you and your family get used to the money, so when you want to return and work to the UK you have to make certain cut backs.

[fuchsntf]

4 hours ago, davieG said:

Yes people did move but they were performing pretty much the same role, I doubt those in Hosiery, shoe-making, engineering  moved from one trade to another.

 

Yeah many jobs are now more technical but even that's changing as more becomes semi automated and your down to loading and pressing a button.

 

We seem to have gone from people making something from scratch to people just doing a single simple operation over and over with little skill required, back to more of a full build as part of a team and now we're moving to the semi-automated world where you need very little skills again.

 

I can only really talk about manufacturing but i suspect it's gone through a similar pattern on office type roles.

I did...First Engineering M/c & toolmaker.

Then the Gastronomy learnt the pub & old cellar,then Sommelier...Events & Banquets..

Back to Engineering ..

Then finished in IT-Networks...

Travelled the world, learnt a smidgen of Languages....

Majority of working life,some Type of Troubleshooting or instructor basis

Only street wise &  College education...

Biggest hobbies, Anthropology ,travelling to or through far & lost corners ,Away from the maddening crowd, lost Wild roads ,cities,civilisations..

Health (my pegs) then Big C slowly started to put breaks on me slashing through jungles or high Mountain trails...bugger.!!

 

Wanted to be either high performing Amateur or Profi Sportsman..started well,then Two Major injuries,several attempts at slow Comebacks, finished before I reached 21-22.

 

Wanted desperately from school, to start in Forestry & gamekeeping...but pay was then shown to be low even After 10 years, so Advisors,Family and mates,

encourage me to Take the engineering path.....5 years apprenticeship.!!   

Two & half years, Inside apprenticeship..looked again at Forestry....wages had shot up,expected qualifications gone up,far more difficult entry Test/exam.

Though I would of still been ok....but kept to what I had...

Had a thought of Being a Signals-radio Officer in the N.Zealand Merchant navy....Took The first tests got accepted...but again I took Another route...

My work, my Hobbies opened the world up for me...No initial  O or A levels...

 

I just Dont know if Youngsters today,could spread their Working life's spectrum so wide today...I Hope they can..!!

I Hope they dont shy away from the Challenges

or twists & turns in life and are strong enough to Jump into those Rivers of unknowns....

 

Regrets..!!!   I Bloody Hope so,or my lives Learning process didnt take me to the limit....!!

 

When a girl asks,  "do you like travel "   then Tells you     " then f**k off". !!

Be thankfull tip your hat and head straight around  that corner & path  you have never been along..!!

 

[Jattdogg]

Worked in IT (systems analyst/BSA etc) for the last 18 or so years (degree is in mathematical/computer science). I like my job (not love) but i find management colleagues can be soul destroyers. 

 

I'm now 40 and want to do something different  as I cannot see myself doing this for another 25 years. Perhaps if they give me a director role and i can ball out I would stick around. Having said that outside of IT i have no bloody idea what I would want to do. Stay at home dad sounds great. Drop kids off at school, clean house, bang the fit stay at home mom neighbour

[st albans fox]

Did anyone on here do pools checking at zetters on bath lane in their mid teens ???

[theessexfox]

I just graduated from uni, I’m going to be a business strategy consultant for two years but I plan to leave and convert to law and become a solicitor. Or maybe I’ll do a Master’s in Politics & Quantitative Methods and go into public policy. Or, more likely, a lot will change in two years and none of those things happen!

[Ollie93]

Graduated from uni in Civil Engineering, worked as a site engineer for numerous firms, now find myself as a project engineer for a local authority. Has its perks and don't hate it.

 

Life is just one big adventure and have to take the opportunities when they present themselves.