I was at another board I go to and they had a question about the variety of jobs that the members had. As I responded to that thread, I realized I have basically had the same job for the last 25 years and my background wasn’t that varied.
Here is mine:
High School and College:
Janitor
Grocery Stock Clerk and Cashier
Construction Flagger
Oddest job was inserting ads into newspapers
Monitor Burglary alarms
Professional:
Architect for the last 25 years
Five more to go until I retire from my firm
then Retirement (which consists of doing Architecture on my terms on a much smaller scale and taking it easy).
12-ish to 15 or so: babysitting. We also used to sell the weekly newspaper; you could buy a stack of them for a nickel each and re-sell them for a dime.
age 14: clerk in an art supply store.
age 18-22: food service. I’ve waited tables at chain restaurants, mom-and-pop restaurants, bars, and a bowling alley. I’ve done catering and banquets (up to 500 people). I worked in a hamburger trailer at Indian Dunes (motocross dirt track). I’ve worked fast food such as Captain D’s and Wendy’s.
College: I worked in the Civil Engineering office as a work-study student, and I worked on a co-op project building a road. I worked with a research professor doing computer modeling for two years while I got my Masters’.
Post-graduation: I worked for a consulting engineering firm for 9 years. Then I worked for the City for four years. During that time I taught a couple of classes at the community college. After those four years I started my own consulting engineering business, which I’m still running today (I’m in my 8th year of operation).
That’s all I can remember. I like the fact that I’ve tried all four areas of engineering work: Research, teaching, government, and consulting.
Newspaper boy (NYC)
Supermarket cashier (NYC)
Doorman (on Park Avenue, NYC)
Elevator operator (NYC)
Porter (NYC)
Field assistant (California, Trinidad)
Teaching assistant (Colorado)
Botanical artist (Panama)
Data entry (Colorado)
Mover (Colorado)
Quality Control Inspector in a computer factory (Colorado)
Field technician for an environmental consulting firm (Colorado)
Field researcher with the New Zealand Wildlife Service (NZ)
Botanical artist (Madagascar)
Exhibition assistant (Washington DC)
Exhibition curator (Washington DC)
Liaison Officer (Washington DC)
Director of a research program on tropical forest science (Panama)
Ornithologist for biodiversity surveys in Panama, Peru, and Gabon
Science writer (Panama)
Book author (3 to date)
Curator of Exhibitions for a Museum of Biodiversity (Panama)
High school jane-of-all-trades: cleaning out lockers, reassigning locks, library inventory, textbook repair, whatnot.
Babysitter.
Caregiver.
Editor, tutor, proofreader.
Assistant in a medical office.
Grant writer and researcher.
Writing assessment specialist.
College professor.
Workshop instructor.
Writer.
EBay broker.
Amazon Mechanical Turker.
Store clerk
Medical assistant
OTB Parlor assistant manager
TV production
TV on-air talent
Assistant manager of a Spencer Gifts
Radio sales
Information and Referral Specialist
PR rep
Assistant editor for a newsletter
Assistant director for a Volunteer Center
Technical Writer for a software company
Freelance Technical Writer
Administrative assistant for a power plant project
Technical writer for GE
Writer/Computer graphics specialist.
Freelance technical writer
Desktop publisher for an investment firm
Supervisor investment analyst
User Services Specialist
Instructional Technologist
Since I am young and all my jobs suck I just wanna post my absolute hands-down fave…
Tour guide for my college. There are not enough words to describe how much I loved/had fun at that job.
High School
Target puller at a two-day rifle competition
Ski and binding technician
Adult
Census enumerator
Cashier at Kmart
Data entry and report delivery at Edwards AFB
B-1A, B-1B, and Space Shuttle data technician at EAFB
Data processor and computer operator for a defense contractor
CAD operator at Lockheed (drawing C-130 wiring diagrams)
Data processor and Easytrieve programmer
Automatic gate estimator and CAD artist
Videographer
Data processor and Easytrieve programmer again (currently)
Plus Script supervisor, lighting grip, and videographer on small independent film projects.
Shoe sales
Records clerk
Accounting clerk
Night manager for 7-Eleven
Private investigator
Deputy sheriff
Since 1977, I have worked in IT in some aspect or another of database administration and/or application development. I also have a second career teaching Taekwondo and have been doing that since 1994.
Potato picker - fall work for high school students in rural Maine. Slave labor essentially. I made $75 in three weeks.
Motel Front Desk Clerk
Paper Mill Laborer - summer work for college students. Great money, shitty work.
Line cook - college job.
Paniter - houses not portraits.
Asst Mgr of a Subshop.
Asst Mgt of a convenience store - I lived the Clerks lifestyle to its fullest.
Fork Lift operator
Shipping Clerk
Computer Operator
Y2K Coordinator - really just an added responsibility but had to be mentioned for its futility
Information Specialist - translation, office dork with no real responsibilities.
Research Assistant.
And then my current job (where I’ve been for the last 6 years) which has grown from Temporary Data Entry Clerk to Information Analyst (which is like a database analyst with a bigger paycheck). This all went down after California kicked my ass and I came dragging back to Maine with nothing but a suitcase full of clothes and a dog.
Pre-University:
Door-to-door bread salesman (p/t)
Babysitter (p/t)
Translator (German to Swedish) (p/t)
Ran booze (p/t)
Ran a “speakeasy” (p/t)
Bouncer (summer job)
Fish-factory worker (summer job)
Gas station attendant (summer job)
Gardener at a convent (summer job)
University:
Bank clerk (p/t)
Consultant (p/t)
Bouncer (p/t)
Night club worker (p/t)
Waiter (summer job)
Factory worker (summer job)
After university:
Warehouse Management Trainee
Purchaser/SCM
Paperboy
Supermarket - stock to warehouse, restocking shelves, manning tills
Petrol station attendant
Post University
4 years - Consultant at software house RPG400, then EDI
8 years & counting - Analyst for Manufacturing company using SAP. EDI, then ABAP, then Sales Distribution, now Materials Management.
Before college:
Paper boy
General factotum at a candy store
*** vvv whoring myself out to pay for college below this line ***
*Phone sales: Playboy Club at Lake Geneva, WI
Lawn Maintenence Engineer
Vacuum cleaner supply mail room
College:
Short order cook
**Telephone operator (old switchboard thingy)
Data analysis: Voyager II High Energy Physics Expt
Assistant welder
Wire wrapper for game console prototype boards
Electronic technician at a marine biology lab
Geology grunt (lugging stadia rods around in the desert)
**Library attendant
**Art Gallery attendant
*** ^^^ Whoring myself out to pay for college above this line ***
Weirdest job (cold-calling people to give away “free day” to entice people to drive up there and eat food, ogle waitresses. Worked there for exactly as much time as it took to buy a TI 59 programmable calculator (three weeks))
** Could do homework on the job
Since college:
SW developer, embedded radar systems. (Interesting, boring, challenging, sometimes a bit terrifying. Slow, boring march to fairly nice salary. Stay in school, kids!)
Companies or jobs? I’ve only worked for two companies in my life, but I’ve held various jobs within them.
Company one (11.5 years): Data Control Clerk, Computer Operator
Company two (11.5 years): Helpdesk, Tech Support, Tech Operations, Tech Operations Lead, Tech Operations Supervisor.
That adds up to 23 years of IT. ::sigh:: And another 22 years, minimum, to retirement…
Babysitting
Boy Scout summer camp staff (swimming, rowing and canoeing)
Farm crew worker (clearing trails, mowing, digging fenceposts, etc.)
Dukakis campaign national field staff
City hall beat reporter/editorial writer, small-town newspaper
Summer law clerk, U.S. Attorney’s Office
Summer law clerk, U.S. District Court
Lawyer, small-town firm
Staff lawyer, Legal Aid Society
Assistant county prosecutor - started out in child support, then assigned to juvenile court, then felony trial division
Muni court magistrate
Sticking 2 pence pieces on cigarette boxes for vending machines
Chamber maid at ski resort
Jewelery distributor - trade shows etc
Cucumber packer - oh the laughs we had
Orange picker
Ground handler in the tourism industry
Managed a fleet of 20 little inflatable boats
Telex relay station operator
Phototypesetter
Administration for electrical company
Tour rep
Co ordinator local TV commercials
Window cleaning
Folding surgical gowns at a laundry
Bandage factory worker
Punt rental vendor
Barmaid
Restaurant manager
Clothing design & manufacture
Cook, deckhand on private yachts
There’s more but that’s what comes off the top of my head.
Parking lot attendant
Janitor
Radio on-air host
Freelance voice-for-hire (voiceovers, commercials)
Property tax assessor
Calligrapher
Retail sales
Warehouseman
Forklift operator
Truck driver (18-wheelers)
Karaoke host
Casino cashier
Movie extra
Factory worker
Full-time/career:
PR writer
Technical writer (both as employee and as freelancer)
Technical trainer
Ghost writer-for-hire (textbooks, magazine articles, etc.)
Writing instructor (college level)
Lawyer
There may be one or two that I’ve forgotten. I should point out that for the most part, I was a technical writer; followed closely by “some sort of writer.” Many of the p-t/summer/temp jobs I listed were ones I took between writing assignments/clients–they were easy to get into and easy to get out of, and they kept me busy during slack times. Becoming a lawyer represents a recent career change. Naturally, it required me to take a few years out of my life to go back to school for another degree, and I think I’ll be doing this for a while without having to resort to other jobs. Should it be necessary, however, I think I can still remember how to write and speak, operate certain machines and vehicles, and make change.
