[Closed] What do you do for a living and do you enjoy it?

Same as binners, but I use crayons - not allowed pens yet 😉
I enjoy the process but our clients are dull as dishwater (yawn)

Community psych nurse. Recently left secure ward to cover a community nurse who was going on leave for 7 weeks working in the early episode psychosis team. That finished and they liked me so now with the assertive community treatment team looking after clients with severe and enduring mental health. Basically people with schizophrenia type illness who need lots of maintenance to keep them out of hospital and on their med. Very hard work, unpredictable clients with chaotic lifestyles, using drugs, vulnerable and high risk. Absolutely love it.

Been in a fair few scrapes on the ward. Methamphetamine is huge here in Oz and people become psychotic through using, lack of sleep etc and violence.

IT PM - enjoy it when its an interesting project but rarely happens, most are pretty much the same mix, stooped humans mixed with tech. yawn. it was interesting at first but is a bit meh. The stooped people make it more interesting plus its pretty well paid which helps with three daughters... but I am looking at doing something else just need to find the thing.

Work for a college as a schools liaison officer three days of the week and a careers advisor in the college for the other two days. Love the place I work and the people I work with but dont much like my work role currently, would much prefer the career section for the full week. Just had a restructure and redundancies so everything could either go horribly wrong or very well, waiting another 6 months to find out!

Title is Senior Engineering Tech. I get to run the maintenance dept. of a chocolate factory.

Originally trained as an old school Instrument Tech/Electrical Engineer and served an apprenticeship in a quarry full of antique machinery. I was heavily involved in projects to upgrade the site and got quite handy with the automation side of the job. Moved into the food industry with the promise of lots of automation work and not having to work in the freezing cold in winter, but now my office is a 30 year old portakabin with single glazing and a boss that turns the heaters off after I leave which equals 3 DegC when I arrive in the morning.

The role I do given the small team, means I have a full day every day with both office based tasks (procurement, admin etc...) and site based, especially given my specialisms seem to be quite rare (and either difficult to learn or I am a crap teacher) and in high demand. I'm also highly involved in Reliability, although we outsource our monitoring - so I'm more of a gateway between service provider and site.
All the while I seem to be stuck somewhere below a glass ceiling and having made myself indispensable in my current role.

I do keep looking at moving into a different field, but having been here for 8 years and being reasonably well remunerated it's tough to make a jump.

Hoover salesman.

I get to run the maintenance dept. of a chocolate factory.

You are an Oompah Loompah and I claim my five pounds.

Engineering geologist aka digging fancy holes and then writing about it. Bit of a love hate thing. Love working outdoors and its taken me half way around the world to Australia. Hate working away from home for long periods and it seems to be becoming less geology and more engineering these days which I dislike.

Always quite liked the idea of teaching so if I ever get up the nerve / finances to retrain thats probably what I would try.

I work for a firm of solicitors, my job is to trace clients / beneficiaries to return their long lost money.
it can be quite rewarding when you get a result and hand back someones long lost cash.

though in the main it is an office job where i'm sat on my arris and slowly rotting away so all in all, no i'd rather be up a tree.

Work in the Mobile industry, currently surveying for various 4g upgrade projects.
99% of the time I love it.

Winemaker.
It's not unpleasant.

Freelance journalist and moving into social media management.

I've always enjoyed the craft of journalism but don't always enjoy the subjects I get paid to cover and I'm tiring of the freelance life after seven years odd.

What do you do for a living

Police (CID)

do you enjoy it

Not any more

Solicitor in corporate finance - primarily dealing in complex debt restructuring and various forms of loan transfers. The job is feast or famine - I am either sat here face-showing surfing the internet or am being beasted and having to work all night.

Well paid but utterly morally bankrupt. Would happily do virtually anything else but my family benefit from the money so to give it up would affect the quality of life of my kids. Basically I made a mistake choosing law as a career when I was 21 - wtf did I know about anything to choose what I was to do for the rest of my working life then? I pity the poor trainees that turn up having made it through the ludicrously difficult academic process all for the privilege of a life of drudgery and a rolex.

Now would much rather have gone into the medical profession or the police force but no doubt they have their shortcomings too.

Air traffic controller. It's amazballs.

'Technology Project Lead' (basically project engineer) at a composite materials research centre.

Basically it's probably my ideal job - working on ways to make stuff from composite materials faster, better, cheaper etc using big robotic machines and developing new processes and bits of kit to do them.

Little did I know when I was 16 and DIY making carbon fibre undercarriages for my RC planes in the shed from bodged together balsa tooling, some bits of dry carbon fabric and some epoxy, where I would end up...

Technical Manger/Geochemist/remediation science bod for a contaminated land remediation contractor.

yeah I enjoy it, can be quite challenging at times and I get to think about geeky stuff all day 🙂

Quality Manufacture Director.
No idea, as I'll start next month.

I have been a Quality Manufacturing Consultant for the last several years, here in China, which has been fun as it has taken me to lots of different factories, and dealing with lots of different problems.
Mainly dealing with Cultural Issues, Process Development and Lean Manufacturing.

Job title is a Technical Architect (IT not buildings) but mostly seems to be resourcing and dealing with project managers at the moment. Only really enjoy things when getting hands on setting up stuff but I'm not supposed to do that these days and rarely get the chance - I'm shit at drawing stuff in Visio so that doesn't help my enjoyment of things...

Run a gift shop with Mrs Zip . We sell nice things to nice people, so yes I like my job.
Compared to my previous job of painting cars it's not even really work!
My commute is 3 miles off road which can be extended to any length I like, so that's another bonus.

Weird STW has eaten my post and logged me out in the process....

Repeat:

Lead the commercial negotiations for the mobile division of a UK telco. Currently we're working on some major transformation projects, so super busy.

Used to be a lawyer, and switched to this last year. Would never go back - love the challenge.

(@ medders - feel your pain!)

A part-time minor ZM bureaucrat dealing with certain people ...

It's a job that keeps a roof over my head and I don't dislike it nor like it.

I rather earn my money running my business if I can.

IT related, not very hands on anymore due to the way the company is going but I mostly enjoy it.

It is varied, they pay me well, I have a reasonable work life balance and I work with some good people.

I am surprised at how many people dislike what they do for 40 hours a week.

CNC programmer/operator

I was getting a bit bored after 10+ years but last year we got full 5 axis machining centre and some CAD/CAM software to go with it. It's certainly been a learning curve but I'm really enjoying it. 😀

I operate the button that randomly logs people out of Singletr

Fire alarm designer.

I don't hate it, so think I'm pretty lucky. Also I have a pretty good work/life balance which I like.

fireman and still like the job. worked in engineering and aerospace before, so still remember my roots in the dirty, noisy factory.

family circumstances (kids grrrr) have unfortunately made the job a difficult lifestyle for me and mrs ex-punk, so id be willing to try something else for a better work/home balance, but at 50 its a bit late to switch careers now.

Self employed pest controller. I like the practical aspects of the job and helping people to solve problems. Would be nice for the money side of things to be more stable which has made me consider taking on another salaried position if the right one comes along; enjoying your work is no good if you can't make it pay. Being self employed also has the downside of work swallowing up all of your spare time including weekends. I can only just remember what my bike looks like...

Electrical Fitter, and changing to a different company after next week. The work is slack, and whatever work we have seems to require a plethora of supervisors/managers to dish it out, with no planning or consistency at every level.
I want to get myself involved with the programming and fault finding of automated machinery which could lead to a good variety of jobs, and get some higher education under my belt before the joys of a family and taking life seriously become reality 😯

City W4nker

Do I enjoy it? ... Not really ... two main reasons

1) City w4nkers

2) the job is like golf ... unless you hit 18 holes in one, which is impossible, you could have always done better.... so even when you make money on any given day (like I have the past two) you could have done better ??

Charity sector, international development - so spend a lot of time in various African countries. Enjoy the work, but can't help wondering if something outside, standing up and without a screen would be better.

Rope access technician, self employed.
Has its ups and downs....

His Boss 8)

General Manager - so I manage stuff, generally. Work for a large Arts Festival in a Capital City of the UK - bit of Facilities Management, bit of Capex/project stuff, bit of Hospitality and Events.

At other times I dream of having the kind of job where I could wear shorts 365.

Mental Health Nursing Assistant, get to be hands on, rather than tied to a desk doing endless amounts of paperwork like the nurses, i like that, 3x 14 hour shifts per week, meaning i get to see the kids more than a daily job

Rope access technician, self employed.
Has its ups and downs....

Have you considered a move into comedy?

Work for a large Arts Festival in a Capital City

I've [i]just[/i] finished writing a feature about arts festivals.

😆

Account manager / supply chain analyst

Hate it with a passion at the moment despite having great flexitime. It's become too easy/boring and I want a change, I just don't know what to do or how to change it.

I line em' all up and shoot em' all down.

I love it 😆

Actually I'm a Portfolio/Programme Manager in Corporate Banking. Specialising in Regulatory Change.

I'm clearly a very busy bouy.

Writer designer photographer
Used to have a studio in Soho, threw it in to be a windsurf magazine designer and sail tester for 20years then edited a kitesurf mag. Now I write features and design ads in the local newspaper industry and rework tech press releases and manuals for assorted clients. And for two years I 'moved' cigars between Cuba and Nassau.

Police officer.

I've had enough and am now looking for something else.

I potter about in a small but well equipped workshop all day. Occasionally someone gives me a lot of money to build them a bicycle.

It's not really a job, more a hobby that pays its way. Love it. Which is just as well, as I'm probably pretty much unemployable.

Interesting, one of the few threads I've really read every post of for a while.

I'm a Director of an engineering recruitment company, supplying engineers to most industries including defence, aviation, and the rail industry.

I used to love it, but have recently handed in my notice to pursue something on my own.

Design engineer for a metrology company. Its a great job in terms of sensible hours, interesting work, not too much pressure and 15 minute commute ... But I'm soooo tempted to rent out my house and become a Alps bum 🙂

Offshore oil and gas sub-sea construction, enjoy it, meh sometimes, $40 a barrel has killed it for now and the foreseeable, could be jotters after this project comes to an end.

Builder, love it.

I have read all the posts, some of your jobs sound far to important and stressful to me.
I am so glad I didn't aspire to much... 😀

Quantity Surveyor - Hate it with a passion. When you boil it down to it's barest essence it's fundamentally arguing with people about money.

I'm a building services engineer but seem to spend very little time actually designing and very much more time doing the above, one of our directors even sold our services as a QS which means me basically trying to nail down small local contractors at the behest of a very large global firm with a dubious track record on corporate ethics, can't say it motivates me to try very hard 😳

Buuuut... my one attempt to move sideways into a more rewarding role would have resulted in a 20% paycut with a wedding on the horizon and a deposit to save for, so I'll sit it out and keep my eyes open, saw a role as a sprinkler design engineer being advertised but would require a huge amount more commuting than present which kinda put me off.

Criminal lawyer . " I enjoy it?" Very hard to say success depends on managing any number of random people with disparate agendas while remaining true to some very demanding ethics . I can be brilliant and still get the " wrong " result or be rubbish and have a client loudly proclaiming me the best brief ever . The pay and method of payment is also rubbish and soul destroying .

Feel for you Scotsman. My little bro works as a project engineer for Foster Wheeler. They've had massive staff cuts. He told me last week though that they are starting to be asked to start looking at new projects. He thinks it may be about to start slowly winding up to speed again.

Criminal lawyer .

The pay and method of payment is also rubbish and soul destroying

Well that's my image of Lawyers shattered then.

technical author - basically i research stuff and write it up for our clients enjoyment, almost like being back at uni. very laid back office and well paid. really enjoy it & learn new stuff constantly 😀

Currently work in a corner of the civil service. As recent posts bare testament,I hate it.

But I have a second interview lined up for a transfer, the day I get back from holiday. Hope springs eternal!

Town planning and environmental impact consultant in a big multi-d consultancy.

I do generally enjoy it but am getting pulled more and more onto managing numbers with less technical involvement, which is tedious.

I work in a police station as a mild mannered janitor. Pays the bills and keeps me in noodles.

Recently made redundant from teaching carpentry and construction at FE college. Now back on the tools and doing the childcare once the kids go back to school. Enjoying being a carpenter again and looking forward to spending lots more time with my 2 children.

The redundancy announcements are pretty unbelievable, stuff like Technip paying off 10.000, Subsea 7 reducing workforce by 6000, Saipem introducing cost cutting measures of $916.000.000 over the next two years, it's not been this bad for a while!

Media Planning for BBC Worldwide.

Yes I mostly enjoy it.

Self employed general builder.....it's great being your own boss......I get to choose what I want to do...take days off when ever I like......down sides are when it's quiet ......like near Xmas ...so it's just a matter of getting the money in while the going is good ...and of course getting the tax rebate ........is great too !!..lol

gazc - Member
technical author - basically i research stuff and write it up for our clients enjoyment, almost like being back at uni. very laid back office and well paid. really enjoy it & learn new stuff constantly

Interesting, how did you get into that? It's something I've wondered about in the past (technical background but enjoy writing).

CDT teacher in Scottish Borders. Enjoy it almost all the time. Kids are great ...the "new initiatives" are not.
Too much bix ticking and pole climbers for my liking.

Previously a 'town planner' which bored me shitless. Now drive a black cab two nights a week which I really enjoy. No particular desire for a career ever again. I like my free time too much. Only chance I'll go to a 'proper' job again is if the wife wants me to. But she's quite happy me doing what I'm doing for the foreseeable.

Today I've been out on bike this morning and now loafing on couch playing portal 2. Might have a nap soon. Yes, the wife and kids are away for a couple of days..

No interest in being wealthy or successful. Just happy to get by. I love the fact that I can spend so much time with my kids and I don't have to go to work the way most people do, deadlines, restrictions, bosses, appraisals, back to work interviews etc etc.

Photographer for advertising/design/editorial clients. wouldn’t swap it for anything.
i get to play with bling, go to interesting places, meet interesting people and hardly ever get bored.
i dont really think of it as a job.
Plus points are i dont have to deal with the general public, no line manager/management bullcrap and it’s well paid.

tl:dr: more fun than I.T.

I work for a large charity in the fundraising area. Though these days I tell people I'm an estate agent, investment banker or drug dealer as that seems to incite fewer daily mail type responses.

3D CAD designer, love it.

Have worked in most areas of engineering.

I'm fortunate enough to say I look forward to going to work.

Subsea Engineer, it's ok sometimes

Move into oil and gas 18 months ago just as it all went tits up. Used to work in MoD research designing surveillance equipment for UKSF and CT operation and seriously thinking about returning to defense as a consultant.

I do student recruitment for a university- kind of a degree salesman 😆 Fairly low level position tbh, I career changed into it almost by mistake, wasn't a long term thing but I've ended up staying... When it's good, it's awesome tbh, you can do so much good for people sometimes and some of the kids are ridiculously inspiring... Great people I work with, it's not a sector that really attracts dickheads. And it's a good organisation to work for, plus even the little dude can make a difference . I studied here too so it's a big part of me and nice to be back. But it's often pretty boring too, and sometimes just depressing.

Wish it paid better! Wish I could spend more time on the good bits and less on the grunt work, but there'll always be grunt work to do. But by and large I like what I do and I like doing it.

Head of an international school, sounds glamorous, but its not really.

Do i like it? not sure to be honest, pays the bills though, and they give me a bonus so things must be ok.

I have read all the posts, [s]some[/s] [i]most[/i] of your jobs sound far to [s]important and stressful[/s] [i]incredibly dull[/i] to me.

Never a truer example of one man's meat etc...

I'm an Architect as well (thanks Mikey74). We don't have any technicians in the firm either, although I was going to advertise for one next week - maybe not now.
I mostly specialise in transport infrastructure design and work a lot with tunnelling, civils/ structural, mech/ electrical/ public health, comms, fire, etc engineers. It can be fun, but one thing is that I never expected to have to be an Excel driver when I was at school of architecture.

I'm a charge nurse (male equivalent of a ward sister).

My days consist of trying to run a ward and give good care whilst being constantly bugged at to meet targets and free up beds. Its all about targets and saving money in the NHS. The care aspect goes out the window. The whole thing is run on a shoe string with limited supplies and the below recommended staffing levels, morale is the lowest I've known and complaints come in thick and fast but its OK because we are saving money and meeting targets!

I [u]deeply[/u] regret my career decision. if I could afford to re train as something else I would but currently I've a young family, mortgage and debts to pay and I'm the main breadwinner so it looks like I'm staying.

I [u]hate[/u] it.

Investment management for private clients. Enjoy it - yes, it's varied and I get to speak to some interesting people. Can be massively frustrating when the world conspires against you though!

[i]Head of an international school, sounds glamorous[/i]

No it doesn't 🙂

Mechanical design engineer.

I enjoy the design & tinkering side of things. But, I am yet to work anywhere where things aren't always a mad panic rush so you just have to get things done, rather than do them 'properly'.
I enjoy my work when things are ticking along, but always seem to end up being fairly quiet for a while & then three jobs become mega-urgent must get them done & it becomes a bit panicky & stressy.
The older I get, the more I realise that I don't handle stressful work situations well (some people really seem to strive on the stress).

I'd love to re-train and do something like physiotherapy but that seems to require a full time degree & there's no way I can stop working & go back to uni for 4 years.

I remember the days, when on nights out with the lads...

We where either dolphin trainers or biscuit designers... 😆

It used to work !!

Ok, maybe I was a little harsh. I just think I'm done with architecture, certainly domestic architecture.

Waste consultant specialising in infrastructure procurement. Its not always fun but I get paid to be pedantic and argumentative so it plays to my strengths.

And I get to spend vast quantities of other people's money buying big machines. 😀

mrhoppy - Member

Waste consultant

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Plastics manufacturing. Currently injection moulding pop bottles. But I've done lots of different processes, lots of different products and applications. R&D, process engineering, new products, plant installation and commissioning.

Do I like it? It's OK ATM.

It can be interesting developing new products and new builds, setting up systems, etc. I'm now in the "just continue to make lots" so it gets tedious quickly. I did a secondment last year as a trainer, which I really enjoyed, which opened my eyes to other directions. But, not trying to sound like a ****, I'm really good at what I do and I have a reputation within a certain group within the industry. I just wish I could do the interesting bit with the security of the dull bit.

Piano player in a brothel

Edit : well not really, but its good to have aspirations

Self employed web monkey/developer.

Love it still after five years and am pretty sure I'm also unemployable now even if I did want a change.