Besides being a full-time lurker and very, very occasional poster here, I’m the editor of a daily newspaper in a smallish town and the editor of our corporate sister weekly paper in a nearby even smaller town.
I’ve been with the same company for just over 23 years, starting out as a reporter at the daily straight out of college. I’ve seen a ton of changes in our business but we’re also proof that print isn’t really dead in these small communities where people depend on us as the only real source for news about the area. I’m very proud of my little team and what we do every day.
Hmmm. Am I seeing another job-shopper? [waves]. I spent quite a few years as a “hobo with a degree” (contract engineer). Worked at General Dynamics, Boeing, Sperry, Halliburton, McD, Honeywell, UPS, Lockheed, Brown & Root, ITT/Continental, etc/etc. Finally picked one and became a captive (what we used to call full-time employees). Retired five years ago and am now a practicing RDOS*.
Like you I had several Major Careers: Freight/truck-driving, Oil rigs, EMS, and finally became an itinerant programmer.
*Retired Drain On Society 
I’m a consultant for a specific type of organization seeking money through a specific strategy.
If I gave some details you would be able to figure out what area I work in, and possibly who I am exactly.
Oh, I like that!
I’m an administrative assistant for a medical laboratory. In other words, a secretary. What I do most of the time is purchase supplies for various locations. I also pay bills, arrange travel, set up meetings, etc.
My husband used to work here also, but retired on the 31st. Now I’m the person who’s been here the longest, over twenty years.
I’m a subject matter expert, quasi-product owner, turned accidental IT business analyst and application tester for a state agency. I turn vague ideas into firm requirements, and then test to see how the developer has me failed me.
I repeat what people say.
I have spent the last 35 years (with three interruptions for grad school) in the intersection of Accounting/Finance/IT/Data Science/Industrial Engineering for mostly retailers or consulting firms whose clients are retailers. Though I started my career in Telecoms.
After high school and 1.5 years at U. of Evansville (IN), I worked for 34 years at a factory making taillights and bumpers for Chevies and Cadillacs. Retired in 2003, when I declared, “I was born for this kind of work.”
Currently an RDOS. Before that I was a medical librarian for 41 years.
15 years in architecture/civil engineering/construction, then when microcomputers arrived I drifted into software and hardware development for another 15 years, then 5 years as a massage therapist (awesome), then 15 years teaching high school and middle school math.
I’m going to give retirement 15 years, then I’ll probably move on again.
That’s awesome! I’m a council member in a small city that lost its weekly print paper a few years ago and it sucks. People tell us all the time they have no idea what’s going on in the city even though we now have a dedicated communications director who keeps up our web site and posts regularly to every social media platform. Our council meetings are live streamed and archived on YouTube. But people still can’t seem to follow along without the news being summarized and delivered to their front door. You are definitely doing very important work!!
Council is only my very part-time job. I have been a Web developer since I was in college in 1999, with my own small firm made up of me and my partner. We only have a handful of clients. Previously our clients were a performance car parts manufacturer and a plastics & polymer producer. Now our main clients are an industrial machinery re-seller and a local power equipment (lawn mowers etc) retailer.
I was an integration and test engineer for a defense contractor working on various programs for about 20 years before I got disillusioned and tired of the work. So I quit just before COVID hit to become a stay-at-home Dad. Which has been much more fulfilling, if a bit monotonous.
That might be my next act, if I can convince myself it won’t be a bureaucratic hellhole full of anger parents and disillusioned teenagers.
Or maybe that…
For many years I (and my spouse) owned 3 furniture stores that employed 40 people. We sold those 15 years ago and now own a significantly smaller (1 full-timer, 6 part-timers + us) retail (not furniture) store in a state closer to our families.
So do I! I stole it shamelessly, of course…
“We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.”
― Konstantin Josef Jireček
In reality, I’m in charge of all the admin activity for two departments in a large University. I manage everything that goes on, and also have minions to manage. I do odd jobs and project work for other people in the dept, and at the moment I’m also doing quite a bit of training and support for new staff since I’ve been here such a long time
I spent most of my working life working in horse boarding/training/lesson barns doing everything from basic grunt work to sole management. Now I’m Store Manager for a horse-centric retail company.
I write whatever software is needed for whoever pays me, actually working for a ginormous corporation but in internal related things that don’t necessarily have to do with their business side.
Username checks out.
…
I am an attorney.
When I first got out of law school, I was a transactional lawyer who did real estate title work, which I found dreadfully boring.
Then, when then the Great Recession hit, I switched to real estate litigation, and eventually moved on to other civil litigation, which I found dreadfully tedious.
Then, in 2016, I moved to Colorado from Florida, and by sheer luck ended up working for the most prominent criminal defense attorney in the state. As a result, I did cases ranging from traffic tickets to murder.
That was never boring, usually crazy, and definitely interesting.
I’m back in Florida now. I’m an associate for a firm that has about 10 attorneys (including the 3 partners). But I’m the only one in 2 satellite offices, which cover two counties, so I have a lot of freedom to do what I want, as long as I am bringing in business.
Yesterday, I secured the raise I’ve been wanting, so I’m feeling pretty good about the job right now. I’m not making any kind of huge salary (my father, who ran a hotel, did far better back in the 90s), but I now have an agreement for performance bonuses that could really be impactful down the road.
My plan is do to this for about another 20 years (I turn 47 in March), then hopefully teach law school for my remaining days. I just don’t see myself retiring.
an indifferent attorney during the week and an international man of leisure on my off days
Bridge Engineer. Started out in bridge design for ten years then moved up into other things, spent last 27 years of my state career in bridge asset management. Didn’t plan on it, just went where the opening was. Since retiring from state job, have spent last six years working for a consultant helping public agencies implement their bridge asset management software.
Thanks to the OP for starting this thread-- I had been kicking around starting a thread asking this as well, since I’m constantly amazed at the width and depth of knowledge among the members here, and I was curious about this as well.
My career path has been kind of winding. I started out as a graphic designer, then became a manager of the graphic design dept. of a smallish company. From there to sysadmin since I was good with computers. As a sysadmin of a small company I wore a lot of hats, so I got into web design and dev, building the company’s first website, and found I liked it a lot.
Now I’m a front-end web dev for a large multinational corporation. My niche is being a bridge between the web designers and the back-end devs, making sure the site looks like the designers want it to, and works like the owners want it to.
I agree! I went to college with a guy whose dad owned an exhibit building company, and I always found the work they did really cool. I also, as a freelance job, built a website for another exhibit building company that does really nice work.