What form of Day job ya got or had ??

[J Hayes]

I know we all come from different fields of experience and training just wondered what others has done .

I started out farming growing up, then drove a coal bucket for a few years then into a tire factory for 16 years.
Went back to truck driving Fuel tanker, (sometimes pulled a box trailer for cased supplies for the warehouse) for 4 years then to a box truck for a M/H M/R facility till retirement .

No It wasn't all that exciting , But we all have different questions that may be answered by those that are experienced in fields such as law, electricians, plumbing problems, appliance repair, The list can go on and on. even possibly some may want to contact a clergyman for support either through a PM or Email.

I think it would be a good idea to post here even though all members have the info in their profile.

[ridgerunner97]

First and foremost i'm a student, I major in Criminal Justice. I plan on getting a job in the field ground pounding and investigating enivronmental crime, or dealing in fisheries/forestry (aka Game Commission, Fish and Boat, DCNR something along those lines). My dad was a chrysler technician for 30yrs and he taught me everything I know about all things mechanical. I currently work part time at a Stihl Saw Shop that is also a large Exmark/Toro/Snapper dealer, doing pick up and delivery as well as mechanical repairs from engine builds/teardowns to hydraulic work. In the summer's I work for Valleycrest Companies Golf Course Maintenance Division at Youghiogheny Country Club as an equipment operator. Wouldn't want to life it in that line of work but it's fun

[BigMike]

While still in high school I got a job in a small print shop so I did layout,darkroom,plate making,ran a duplicator and bindery work.Form there I got a job in a "color house" as a,drum roll please,four color process stripper(film image assembly)I also made color proofs and plates.After that type of job was taken over by computers I worked for a short time in a Carquest parts store as a counter guy until the business was sold.In 1993 I took a job in a family owned hardware store/lumberyard and stayed 13 yrs.Now I sell welding supplys and industrial gases.
I have also worked part time in a green house and a metal fab/custom shearing shop.I spent many many hours in a friends automotive machine shop/race car fab shop but that was gratis work....unless you consider all the meals they fed me

[vince_o]

I started out hoding mud, brick, and block in school. Quickly saw this was no way to make a living, and watched the guy on the back hoe just pulling levers. Joined the Seabees to learn how to run equipment, and after my time, I went to work in a quarry, then coal mine, running equipment and driving trucks. Moved from pa down here where I took a job hauling frieght for International Paper, left there went to hauling rental equipment for hertz, left there, went to work hauling equipment for Cat, they layed us all of went to work for Frank up here changing parts on mowers, is this really concidered a job, he had to lay me off then went back to hauling fok lifts then quit there to come back to work for Frank.


They must have fed MIke well!

[albie]

This is a great thread...ok here goes... I spent my high scholl years working on farms in the area then to bagging groceries in my senoir year in high school through 2 years of community college where I studied auto technology. After that I worked in a small independent auto repair shop for 2 1/2 years then on to a Dodge dealer for another 2 1/2 years and to where Iam now for the last 24 years working on Dodge trucks and Sprinter vans at a good dealer a couple miles from the house. In among all my years of working on cars and trucks I spent about 4-5 years hauling cars and driving a dump truck on a part time basis.

[EdWells]

I grew up on farm in Southern Illinois and took care of Dads farm and farmed some rented ground.After highschool and college.I worked for short time at Ford dealership in sales then moved to Louisville Ky area managing Charlois farm.I then got layed off and went to Sears in the auto shop part time and worked few days in plastic injection plant.I finally got full time at Sears and became service advisor and finally assistant auto center manager till job discontinued.I then got on at large Ford dealership as service advisor.I retired as of January 2011.I have been married to the same gal since 1970 and have 2 daughters.I now spend way too much time in the recliner and on computer but waiting for warm weather and hope to have some lawn equipment to work on to stay busy

[Cookieman]

My first job was a bag boy, shelf stocker at the local Piggly Wiggly grocery store while still in high school. My first real job was at the concrete plant where my step dad worked, started out running parts in the shop then moved up to loading materials in the bins via conveyor belt and operating a front end loaded, moved up from there to the "batch house" actually loading trucks until the dispatcher and I had a falling out. Went to work at the local lumber yard. Worked in the yard loading customer trucks, driving a delivery truck and got promoted to Assistant Operation Manager. I had several miscellaneous jobs before starting up a concrete construction business with my step day (he was in the business years ago before the construction world fell flat on its face in '73) Worked with him off and on for 4-5 years but started wanting to drive a truck so I finally gave into a friend that had been bugging me about teaming with him. Left and went on the road to be a truck driver (I had helped a friend part time loading and unloading furniture on the weekends) We ran household goods (moving people) for a while and then I got tired of him and his drinking and threatened to quit and the boss put me in my own truck. I have driven trucks off and on for the last 20 years. I came off the road a couple of times and went back to work with my dad but would always wind up back in a truck. When I met my wife and decided to get married, it was time to hang up the long haul driving shoes. I parked my over the road truck the day I got married and took a local job hauling steel. That lasted a couple of years and I got on with Kraft Foods in one of their production facilities and worked there until the closed it down. I worked for CAT and Directv before getting back in with Kraft Foods & Nabisco and have been with Nabisco for the last 4 years as the receiving manager. SO........if you ever see me at a plow day event.......I usually have COOKIES with me..............lol

[Jlaws]

I grew up on a farm , helping my dad and two younger brothers , putting up hay , growing Burly tobacco , and taking care of our cattle while I was in high school .
My first full time paying job was right after high school bagging grocerys and stocking shelves at the local IGA . I don't want to say it was a long time ago but everything was bagged in paper bags . There was no paper or plastic .
I worked at Sears for a while part time while I was taking electronics at the local vocational tech school . After that I was a TV repairman for a couple of years until that market basically dried up . I then did 5 yrs.of factory work for Crouse- Hinds making breaker panels and buss duct for industrial use until they closed the factory . Then I went to work for Keco industries making heating and air conditioning units, mostly for the military . I started out wiring units and then moved to the test lab where we baked , froze , dropped unit and did endurance testing. Basically the miltary said we got this space and we designed our air conditioner to fit that space , sometime the space was shaped like a jigsaw puzzle piece . We made air conditioners for all branches of the military , NASA , Martin Marieta , Boeing etc . We made the air conditioners for the M1A1 Abrams tank , we also made the fuel conditioning / coolers units for the Nasa shuttle which were about the size of a four car garage . I worked for them when the shuttle challenger exploded and there was some tension at the factory until the facts were known . After working there sixteen years and being the leadman of my shift , I basically got burned out doing factory work and gave my two weeks notice the week before Christmas 1999 and my boss almost fell out of his chair ....LOL .
I then started railroad conductors school the first week of the new year 2000 and after school started working for CSX . I later became an engineer in 2002 and still work for them .
I plan on retiring in about another 7 or 8 years .

[billor57]

Started as a bag boy while in high school which I didn't finish,from there to a job with a small welding company, then to a bottling company.From there to a trade school to be a barber which I worked at for 6yrs. From there to the Canadian General Electric because off benefits and pensions etc. Worked for 20yrs. then went out with medical problems (with benefits) for the next 18yrs till I retired. Thank God for jobs with benefits,almost unheard of today.

[Scott C.]

Cool Thread!

I started out at 14 as a lawnmower mechanic at my buddies family shop.
At 16 I started running heavy equipment and drove truck.
Owned my own lawnmower shop (bought by previous employers inventory) at 18 instead of going to college and worked it along with running equipment till after I got married then turned the business over to my dad. Sold Snapper and Yardman.
Got married at 21 and hauled steel for a while then worked demolition.
Got a job in a millwork company, Shusters Building Components, as a driver in 88. After the housing market went south in the early 90's I switched to service and went to plumbing school. Worked service plumbing as an Apprentice and Journeyman then got a job at the community college in Pittsburgh as the lead being a Master Plumber.
From there Johnson Controls hired me as a tech for building automation systems and fire alarms systems till they moved me to WV and into sales.
Trane commercial hired me and moved me back to Pgh in 08 and 14 months later Johnson came to me and I went back to them.
I decided when I came back to PA that a job in the gas business was the place to be so I started looking and ended up as an engineering consultant for gas compression then to where I am now at Waukesha Pearce, Ind.

Gas business and big honkin' engines, that's what I'm talking about!!
http://www.wpi.com/

[Dave C]

well i delieverd newspapers by bike route, door to door delivery somewhere around 13 to 16 and at 18 1 month after i graduated got thrust into the family business doing Telephone, Data and fiber optic networks and the such its been around 14 yrs now.... so far i have the shortest post!

[l palma]

Let's see,my first job was a junior janitor at the school I was attending,worked during the summer also scraping old gum I problaby put under the desk,those janitors are a creepy bunch,Worked only a year.Then the meat Dept at the local Foodtown,helped on Saturdays packing chickens and unloading the sides of beef.The feeling of being in a room,35°,with a bunch of guys with knives was very creepy.Did that for 2 yrs.Then I moved up to the big time,got a job with ShopRite,started in the dairy Dept,worked my way up to assistant mgr,that was a ten year stint,managed to get vested an will get some kind of pension,Quit that after they put me on the nite crew,what a bunch of creepy guys,but the food for lunch was free.Then went to trade school in New York City to learn the printing trade.The school would give ex cons and the like a trade to move on with their lives,I fit in well...you had to or you would have been who no's what,did plate making camera work and became an offset stripper when I graduated,seemed like every printing company I worked at went out of business,last place I worked I was hired as was assistant to the foreman in the dept,I really like this trade and was very good at it,started learning Mac.computers,then they went out of business...
So I went to work with my friend from high school starting out as a masons laborer,moved up to carpentry,started operating backhoes,mini excavators, and bobcats,been doing this for 20 yrs now and this is what I do now.

[SWilliams]

A few odd jobs during school years, also raced go-karts, dirt bikes and dirt cars for a few years in there as well. Learned mechanics while working on those and other vehicles. Spent a couple years bobbing around on big boats then went to work in a powder coating shop. Spent some years there and then went out on the road driving OTR. Came back to drive local for a while. While all this was going On I got hitched, joined the local FD and opened my own shop. Ran that for a while, then semi-retired due to some health problems that screwed up my heart and hearing. Now I work on tractors, try to keep up with the younger FF and help out with whatever is needed.

[Farmallgray]

Currently I'm a counterman at a NAPA auto parts store. I have about 17 yrs in total but I had left and came back twice.
I started out in high school at my family's IH/Cub Cadet dealership. I have worked at 3 other Cub Cadet dealerships in the parts and service deparments. I also worked at a hydraulic shop for a short period. I rebuilt and repaired jacks, hydraulic cylinders, garage equipment and installed and serviced lifts. I hated that job. My moonlighing job is as a writer/photagrapher for Red Power Magazine. I write the Cub Cadet column and other IH related articles.

My grandfather was a machinist, welder, and all around mechanic as is my dad. Grandad could fix about anything that came in the shop. I have learned a lot from them and have tried to train myself in the same disciplins. I try not to shy away from any repair/rebuild/fabrication job (mostly on my own machines) and take pride in doing most if not all the work myself. I also do a little garden tractor repair work on the side but usually try to only work on Cubs.

[Farmallgray]

.... so far i have the shortest post!

Dave.... I was going to make a short joke but nahhhh

[wham]

I grew up on a farm. Worked construction while I was in college. Then went to work for a company named Steelcase ( where I learned to speak Michigan ) worked there 26 years starting out as a production worker and worked my way into a job in SAP Software as a poweruser and also trouble shooting along with being a B/U supervisor for almost 10 of those years. Now I work for a Government contractor teaching SAP and Forklift Safety Training and Certification.

Tim H.

[Cookieman]

Tim.........I use SAP in my job but have never really used it as much as I could. Dont really care for it but that is basically from lack of use.(And if I knew more, they would want me to do more with it. lol) I also do the forklift certification from my facility and the sister facility about 75 miles away.

[chzuck]

I was born and raised on a dairy farm. At the age of 19 I went to work for an aluminum rolling mill as a Maintenance Mechanic. In March I will complete 44 years at that site while working for 3 different companies who owned that plant. The first company, Howmet, was like family. From there it went to varying degrees of corporate greed to the current owner, Alcoa, one of the leaders in corporate greed! Hopefully, next year I will retire from there at the age of 64.

[wham]

Tim.........I use SAP in my job but have never really used it as much as I could. Dont really care for it but that is basically from lack of use.(And if I knew more, they would want me to do more with it. lol) I also do the forklift certification from my facility and the sister facility about 75 miles away.

Hey Robert, good to see another Alabama guy on here !

[Cookieman]

Wham.............you need to plan on coming to Arab for the Fall Plow Day with Drew Gardner and Stewart Mann...........I always enjoy meeting guys from the forums.........that is how I met that CRAZY dude in SC...........lol

[CubbinCal]

Definately a diverse group of collectors here! Way back in high school I worked for a new car dealer ( not a blue oval dealer ) changing oil and other light jobs. After high school that was my first full time job but I never did like it so I found a Heating and Air company that needed help and I learned to install furnaces and a/c's, that lasted for a little over ten years. In November of 1989 I joined the Middletown, Ohio Fire Department. I am now in my 23rd year of service, less than three years to being eligible for retirement. I have also held a few part time jobs along the way too. Before the fulltime FD gig I was a member of the Trenton Volunteer FD, which led to a part time stint as a police dispatcher for Trenton also. After being hired in Middletown and successfully completing EMT and Paramedic school ( which took almost two years ) I found myself with some spare time on my hands with my 24 on 48 off work schedule. So I have worked a few part time jobs to include driving a home delivery propane truck, build pole barns, laborer for the public works in Trenton, help out a buddy in his home remodeling business, and drive a school bus. Still driving the school bus. I'm also on Trenton City Council. Never a dull moment.

[Racenitro]

Day Job:

What day of the week is it?

Actually, I have been working in the family Land Surveying business since it opened o 1960. Grew up on the farm after moving there from the Left Coast (Calif). While working in the business, had a lot of side interests, Trucking Company, Blue Print Business, Computer Company, NHRA Tech Official and Announcer, College Teacher and Construction Equipment Company. Had to use the Degree in Math and Physics some how....and the Masters in Education....
Actually now supposed to be retired after selling the Land Surveying Company but there is too much money to be made buying and selling Skid Steers, Backhoes and similar equipment.
Before the communist county wiped out my cub collecting business, I had nearly a 100 cubs. Now down to less than 12. Was planning on working with the cubs when I retired but that is only now a passing memory.

Still have a ton of parts to unload and then I can see it all in my rear view mirror.

[jim h]

Hey gang,
Its been a long time since i posted.
I went to a voc-tech program for carpentry in high school. I was hired while still in school by a carpet installer. I did that for 8 years full time while doing carpentry on the side nights and weekends. All the while I was a volunteer fireman since i was 14.
I was hired as a firefighter in another town in 2000 and have been working ther since. I still do carpentry and floor covering on the side.
Jim

[lonnyb]

Summer farm jobs during high school, graduated spring 1984, help out on family farm until Jan. 1985 when I got my 1st job(custodian) 28 years later still working same job Mon-Fri. 2-19-11 picked up job #2, janitor at a conveince store/resturaunt Sat & Sundays. 3-7-12 have interview for job #3.

[KennyW]

Newspaper boy from 4th to 10th grade, shoveled poop for a travelling zoo (Mother Nature's Menagerie) every spring and fall in my teens, washed dishes at Woolworths when 16, stocked grocery shelves from 17 through college, Engineering Technician, Mechanical Engineer, Design Engineer, Mechnical Engineering Manager, Mfg Estimator, Service Engineer, now a Manufacturing Supervisor for Sikorsky Aircraft making Main Rotor and Tail Blades for the UH60M Blackhawk and S/H92 Helicopters. Definitely a cool gig. Oh, and the most important jobs of all, Husband and Daddy.