Where do you work, what do you do?

[patricke9]

Spent most of my life as a Bartender, got tired of working for someone else in 2004 & built & ran a Blues Club here in Seattle. My business partner & I sold our stake in 2006. Managed a bar for some friends for a while & got tired of the atmosphere (Bar was known for cheap drinks & nightly fights) & now I'm a help full Hardware Man @ an Ace Hardware store during the day which helps w/ shop supplies to support my nighttime wrenching.

 

[jay_kent]

Industrial Designer. I know, sounds like I design factories or the such. Spent 2 years designing displays for cosmetic companies, then another 2 years designing displays and store environments for everyone like pharmaPlus and Homedepot. My yard is filled with solar lights thanks to the display business. If you've been to Partsource there is a poster for Sylvania lighting, Parts of that were mine.

I now work for a company doing product design for electric fireplaces and watercoolers. Brought my commute from 4 hours a day to 30 minutes. .

Jay

 

[chrisf]

I work as a brand designer, creative marketer and technical marketer for a business telecom company. I do Flash animation, write whitepapers, go to meetings, design the brand, push people's buttons, manage projects, etc.

It's a boring job and I should really be working with my hands. I was close to leaving it all and starting a business with the infamous Mysta2, but it never materialized.

My wife has a good job, so I'm considering many different options.

Some advice to all you young kids out there: Never...ever...complicate your life by believing you need a fancy house in the suburbs, nice cars, a nice lifestyle or fancy clothes. Keep it simple--even if you have a family--so you can change directions whenever you feel the need. Sam will agree with me on that one.

--Chris
BS English Education; Minor in African American Lit; Minor in Early English Lit
BBA In Management Information Systems
MS in bull-shitting and stupid pride

 

[brewtown16]

the names Collin,
full time student here at UW-Milwaukee, trying to become a graphic designer. trying to get my foot in the door with an internship, but proving difficult. ill be a super senior this fall, grad in the spring. worked at trader joes for a while, did some voulenteer/ pay work with working with children in north milwaukee. and i went home every weekend to build a 29 ford T-bucket, paid for last years schooling. currently out of work due to having to leave joes. man, i need a job.

 

[anarki650]

Some advice to all you young kids out there: Never...ever...complicate your life by believing you need a fancy house in the suburbs, nice cars, a nice lifestyle or fancy clothes. Keep it simple--even if you have a family--so you can change directions whenever you feel the need. Sam will agree with me on that one.

Chris I couldn't agree with this more. I was 25 when I got lured away from college for a lucrative account management job that provided plenty of disposable income but little satisfaction. I'm an artist at heart and being sucked into the backstabbing corporate world sucked the life right out of me. The best thing that ever happened to me was getting cut in an upper management shake up. Seemed like the end of the world at the time, because I went from pulling serious coin to unemployed and not being able to get my foot in the door with any similar companies in my area, but after some deep soul searching I realized that it was just an opportunity to follow my dreams. Here I am almost 5 years later, getting ready to finish my second degree and move into the not so lucrative world of teaching, but I'm happy and I have been for these last few tough years. Follow your heart and never let yourself get sucked into something that doesn't make you happy. Those are my words of wisdom for everyone out there.

 

[Drewski]

Yes Noel, interesting thread!

Good advise Chrisf! There's certainly a lot of preasure to conform to the 'norms' of society! The fact that we're all part of this forum indicates we're 'swimming against the stream' to some extent! Good for us!

My advise is work at what pays the bills AND makes you happy if at all possible! Don't 'go for the money' just for money's sake! It won't make you really happy!

Sometimes there ARE sacrifices to be made for a period of time. I've done work that I hated just to pay bills. That usually only lasted for a little while though. For me, a mental picture of the 'reason' I was doing it (kids, etc.) helped me muscle through it.

I think people who love what they do, regardless of the pay scale, are the happiest!

Family is HUGE in my book! ;D Thanks for being part of my family! ;D

My 2 cents.

 

[miss alliekat]

At the moment i am a community psychiatric nurse in Brighton uk. Have had loads of jobs, tried to make a living as an artist ( people dont pay for art though)
In the past i have managed a fetish/ sex shop in Soho London and when i got fed up with that i was despatch rider in London ( dangerous job) so went to university and did my nurse training, getting fed up with that now so need to do somthing new.
;D still looking for somthing but dont know what , (generation x i suppose)

 

[maksuttt]

I work at Messier-Dowty (aircraft landing gears) as repair and overhaul technician. Got that job two months ago. Used to work as a pneumatic cell technician at another aircraft components repair station. I like it so far. Will try to apply my engenering skills in that industry : Max

 

[Bobdot]

Industrial Designer. Right now I work at a sign shop in south Jersey and commute from philly. Basically design signs graphically and physically for buildings, casinos and the such as well as run/program/manage the CNC machines. Looking to get back into product design and actually use the skills I learned in school. 28,000 sq ft full metal fab shop does have its perks tho.

bob.

 

[Mortikan]

any one else noticing a design theme here!
I always know I am the odd man out being a funeral director but come on guys

 

[904cafe]

still working my way through school but also working full time at an Acura dealership in the parts department.

 

[stevendefense]

I work as an auto repair tech is a small family owned shop. I love where I work (boss doesn't care if I stay late to work on my bike). Sometimes working on old junk gets old, but the cool cars we get to work on makes up for it. We have a Ferrari 308 GTS motor on a stand being rebuilt right now, and I got to install upgraded suspension parts on an old MGB last week. The times when you can to make a quality repair on a cool vehicle is just awesome.

I am an Office Manager and Marketing Manager for BG Lubri-Care Distributors Inc. We market, sell and distribute chemistry to auto dealers and repair facilities and to the general auto industry such as fleets. The products we offer extend the life of a wide range of vehicles. They also reduce emissions, increase performance and make vehicles more fuel efficient while reducing the need for costly future vehicle repairs. And the stuff really works! I basically manage a small crew of about 10 and I direct the branding and market presence for the company. I design a lot of the marketing materials as well. Our territory and market covers the state of Connecticut. I am very happy with my job - for once.

I use BG products everyday. Great stuff.

 

[Will McD]

Im currently going to university full time, studying Industrial Design. Its cool that there are industrial designers on this forum, I guess it makes sense though, modifying motorcycles is pretty 'industrial design-ish'

 

[chrisf]

mysta2 does ID work too

 

[moonie527]

I find it humorous that many of the guys with desk jobs want to work with their hands while those of us that work with our hands want the desk jobs. Maybe there should be a trading places day, you know, just like the old Eddy Murphy movie.

 

[guitargeek]

I build and repair electric guitars and tube-powered amplifiers.

 

[Tim]

Cool stuff! I haven't played guitar in years. Need to dig out my old electric and find a small amp. A friend of mine at work is an avid player. Do you have a website or anything? Would love to pass your info along to him.

 

[rudy]

I find it humorous that many of the guys with desk jobs want to work with their hands while those of us that work with our hands want the desk jobs. Maybe there should be a trading places day, you know, just like the old Eddy Murphy movie.

Does that mean that I have the best of both worlds? I do office work for a bit (REAL nice on a monday morning), do up a few quotes, design some stuff for projects, talk to customers about upcoming projects, man the order desk for a bit, and when I get sick of all that I stroll out to the shop and start wrenching on and wiring a drive panel, or do a repair on an 800HP drive. Kinda fun really. The thing that I reserve for those special friday afternoons is destroying old junk and sorting it for scrap metal. It's fun to just throw stuff around for a while. ;D

 

[guitargeek]

Cool stuff!

Thanks!

I haven't played guitar in years.

Haha, I hardly ever play anymore, either! Basically, I play a guitar or amp after I finish it to make sure it works like it should.

Need to dig out my old electric and find a small amp. A friend of mine at work is an avid player. Do you have a website or anything? Would love to pass your info along to him.

No, but he can email me at justinbelshe at yahoo dot com and I'd be happy to discuss things with him.

 

[MBS]

I too wanted to be an ID major - its such a cool career designing everything in the modern world. I had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Niels Diffrient at a family function here in CT. He is the god father and originator of ergonomics and a leader in ID. You can google him if you want to know more. Any way a lot of my friends and family are designers in all fields. I wanted to pursue ID but the only good school on the east coast UB lost their accreditation, so I went for Graphic design instead at a different school. It does not surprise me that most people into this hobby are creative people, some great bikes are the result. I love my job as a designer, it helps when your rolling out of bed in the morning.