Thread: Useless trade skills AAAAARRGH!

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

If you are talking about James, you are correct, he's done two things, he's been an heir, and a beneficiary.

cheers,

P

yep just like his father so I guess he's follwed his dad's footsteps...... instead of running from them...when they weren't kicking his behind
where as old man Packer who once almost run me over (note another name drop) did much for himself.

Originally Posted by bitingmidge

If you are talking about James, you are correct, he's done two things, he's been an heir, and a beneficiary.

cheers,

P

But since his father died and he came in control of the family's fortune he has doubled it by selling parts of it and investing in new casinos.

Peter.

old man Packer who once almost run me over

My sister was run over by Vic Davies - radio announcer and does the voice overs for Funniest Home Videos.

She survived by the way.

Originally Posted by silentC

My sister was run over by Vic Davies - radio announcer and does the voice overs for Funniest Home Videos.

She survived by the way.

Did he make the Boing sound effect when he did it?

I don't know, I wasn't there

Like Biting midge, I'm of the view that no job is wasted if you take a skill or kowledge away from it. Of course, once you get stale or bored you really need to move on. I never aspired to be rich, I think it's a pretty low and unimaginative aspiration. I wanted never to feel trapped or bored in a job. There's been a few occasions when I have, but I've never allowed that to continue for more than a few months. My list of occupations:
Newspaper boy
Sign writer
Ditch digger
Daycare assistant
Farm hand
Fencing contractor (rural fencing)
Slasher operator
Pottery tutor
Art tutor at an alcohol rehab centre
Mechanic
Screen printer
Screen printing contractor
Manufacturer of screen printing plant
Graphic artist
Production manager, screen printing
Builder's labourer
Plumber's TA
Roofing contractor
Carpenter
Truck driver
Storeman
Forklift operator
Shipwright
Deckhand
Building contractor
Boat building supervisor
Movie extra
Entertainer
Skylight installer
Cabinetmaker
Production manager, cabinetmaking factory
Forensic accountant
Teacher's aide
Spray painter
Shop assistant
Market vendor
Bobcat operator
Vegetation contractor
Timber dealer
Market gardener/orchadist
Beekeeper's assistant

There might be a few I've missed. Most of my working time has been spent as a carpenter/joiner/cabinetmaker/shipwright. It's pretty hard to get bored or stale as the field is so wide so it's easy enough to move into a different area/aspect and stay fresh. I din't get into this area till I was 28 though, so I had about ten years of drifting around before that and a fair bit of time after that doing diferent stuff as well, sometimes concurrently with the building work.

Mick

I don't really have a "career" as of yet being a youngun and all, I'm only 22 although I have been accused of having the mentality of a forty year old. What can I say but whats wrong with that?

I grew up fast, started my first job when I was twelve or thirteen. I was a carpenter/handyman apprentice for a short while. I worked for a while at a small engine repair shop fixing lawn mowers, riders, pushers, chainsaws, etc. I was also working at a "farm" in the retail end of it, they had a store that they sold produce and dry goods in, I was a stocker and cashier, I worked there for almost three years. I then went to work at the local library where I've been almost five years now. I never really thought of myself as being library material although I have always been an avid reader and library user. I started as a shelver and am now a circulation assistant. It pays pretty well, its air conditioned, it is surprisingly varied and interesting.

We have a system of 25 libraries spread out across Tulsa county. We are the Tulsa City County Library system. You can check out items at any branch and return to any branch you wish. You can request items from other branches to be sent to the branch nearest you for you to pickup. We run delivery's weekdays, both to pickup items and to deliver items, turnaround is usually 1-2 days, depending on whether the item you requested was at a branch library or at the Central library. Items at branch libraries have to be picked up and sent to the Central library where all the items are sorted according to which branch they go to then they are delivered. As we only run deliveries, for the most part, once a day, it takes at least 2 days for items at branch libraries as they must be sent to central, sorted, then sent to the requesting branch. Items at the Central library can be sent directly to the requesting branch resulting in turnarounds as short as 1 day.

I love my job, mainly because of the people I work with and my supervisor, whom I have know and has known me for the last decade or so. They are all the best people. Some of the higher ups can be a bit trying, but luckily my boss is very good at buffering and trusts us to make judgment calls and backs us up when we do. We hold down a small branch on the outer limits which also helps as all the higher ups are at the Central library downtown far far away.

Our yearly circulation (items checked out) as a system, if I recall this years stats properly, is around four or five million items. Our branch does about 70-80,000 of that, we are the smallest branch though, with a staff of five.

I also ran my own lawn service for a while. I came to the point though where I was working two jobs and going to school and I really needed to either go for it or not and I decided lawn care just really wasn't the direction I needed to go and at the end of the season I quit. You can do pretty well at that though, it is seasonal, but there aren't many other jobs a kid in their teens can get and make 15-30 an hour at. It is hard work though.

Anyhow, as for my career, I'm still working on it. You know how it goes nowadays, you have to go to uni for 5/6/7 years and get a masters or doctorate before they decide you "know" enough to actually start working in your profession where you will actually learn what you need to know. Meanwhile for the most part they cram you full of BS silliness.

I had no direction for a long time, luckily you have a great deal of basic classes you have to get out of the way. I've taken all those plus a few. Some were career exploration type ones such as Intro to Engineering (interesting class, glad I took it, but not something I want to do, I do not like math and would never make it though all the required math for engineering)

Along the way I met a wise old man who gave me this advise. You have your whole life to decide what you want to do. In the meanwhile, pick something and go for it. You will at least be able to support yourself and family while you figure out what you life's work is going to be and what you really want to do. So I followed his advice and simply picked something and went after it. It works quite well actually, you might as well be productive while you figure out what you want to be.

Truthfully, (are we being truthful here? ) what I wanted to be was a Park/Forest Ranger, Biologist, Game Warden, possibly Highway patrol/Sheriff, but mostly the Park/Forest ranger. However park/forest ranger is not very practical, positions are highly sought after, pay, (last time I checked) was something like ten to thirty thousand a year with most being in the middle, who can survive on twenty/twentyfive thousand a year? I could yes, probably not "comfortably", but I could survive. Throw a family in there though, now can you survive? As for game warden/highway patrol/sheriff, well I have this little hang up, I don't believe is killing people, so a job where I have to carry a gun and be prepared to do so if the circumstance warranted, well, I might as well not put myself in the position.

Personally, mainly due to personal hang ups I do not wish to have a family and inflict upon them myself. However I recognize that people often fall in "love" and do irrational things while under the influence of "love" and I recognize I will probably eventually fall in "love" myself and get married.

So to prepare for this eventuality I need to prepare myself in a manner that will bring in a comfortable living income capable of sustaining a family and quite likely my parents as they grow older as well. This means picking a job that is in demand, is not likely to decrease in demand, a job that you can find almost anywhere you go, and that pays at least fairly decent.

I (at least used to) want to help people. Quite truthfully, the more I work with the public, the less helpful I feel, but at the time still wanted to help people so I decided on the medical field. I picked and I'm going for it. Does it pay fairly well? Yes. Are there lots of jobs out there? Yes. Can you get a job almost anywhere in the country? Yes. Is it really what I want to do? Probably not, but truthfully I have no idea what I really want to do.

I've got another four and a half to five years to go before I'll have my doctorate. Thats when I start making the big bucks right? Then I can buy the really expensive pen kits.

Money does not make you happy though, the others are right. I may not be rich but I know this for a fact. Its a bit of a conundrum though as not having money does not make you happy either.

Learning to be happy with what you have makes you happy. Thats not to say we shouldn't all try our best and constantly try to improve ourselves and our lives though.

For me knowing how to do things myself and not having to rely on others makes me happy. I'm kind of a jack of all trades. I fix my own cars, engines, transmissions, body, paint, I build my own fences, I reroofed my house, I fix my plumbing, septic system too? you bet, I trim my horses hooves (I hate that), worm them, give them shots (I really hate that) if I don't know how to do something I read a book then dive in and do it.

My motto's are "If you want something done right you have to do it yourself", "If it happens to you its your fault", and "It could be worse". I find these are statements to live by, lol.

My backup trade is autowork. I took "automotive technology" at vo-tech in high school. I'm a ASE certified tech. I never planned on it being a career though, but I find the skills I learned invaluable for fixing my own vehicles as well as friends and family's vehicles. IMO, its always good to have a backup trade in addition to a career.

I believe in backup everything though.

I've only ever had two jobs in my life, and never been unemployed, not even for a week. Followed my father and became an auto electrician worked in the trade for 15 years. After my father died joined the Queensland Ambulance service and I've been a paramedic for 17 years and still love the job. Most money I've been paid for the least amount of work.

Originally Posted by speedy

Followed my father and became an auto electrician worked in the trade for 15 years. After my father died joined the Queensland Ambulance service and I've been a paramedic for 17 years and still love the job.

... and still get to do "jump starts"

Short list, only had 4 jobs.
Apprentice/tradesman typesetter/platemaker 8.0 years
Clearance Diver in RAN 55 days
Film Combiner 8.5 years
Pre press supervisor 10.5 years and still going

Would like to try something else, just not sure what it is yet

Nats
I sympathise with you but if you dont enjoy it dont do it! Lifes about the journey not destination. Dont know your vinatge but i left school yr 10 had no qualis for anything and spent my life up to age 38 doing waht ever was available. At 38 went to UNi (waste time) did 3 different degrees (Business, GIS, Education) and since then have spent 2 years working in surveying industry, 3 years teaching primary kids and am about to have a stint at teaching manual Arts in high school ( desperate shortage of man arts teachers in QLD). Istill dont know what Im going to be when I grow up! Find out what your passion is and align your job as close as you can to that, there is always a way. good luck

Well all I can say if it wasn't for my trade skills and the experience from the diverse industries I have worked in putting those skills to good use I wouldnt have the job I have now.
I started out as an apprentice Fitter and Turner ,
added hydraulic courses ,advanced machining and welding certificates.
I worked in a number of companies down south moved to NT in 1980, worked in a Uranium mine for 9 years , then power generation where I spent most of my time rebuilding and commissioning diesel generator sets, and working out bush maintaining remote power stations.
Then 4 years on gas turbine engines .
Gave up the tools and dirty work and now I work behind a desk for the Federal Govt ,still in Engineering .
I'm hoping to semi-retire in the next couple of years and just earn enough to keep the wolves from the door until I can claim my Super.
I never regretted doing my trade and I still use my skills on weekends at home, and I havent regretted getting off tools so far.

Kev