Note: This article is a reprint (with some edits and additions). Several readers have suggested that one way for Get Rich Slowly to retain my voice although I’m no longer a regular contributor is to re-publish old articles like this. I agree, especially for holiday weekends like this one! Get Rich Slowly will resume its regular schedule on Tuesday.
It’s Labor Day weekend in the United States, the holiday that traditionally marks the end of summer and the beginning of the new school year. Officially, it’s intended as “a day off for the working citizens”.
Because it’s Labor Day, I’ve been recalling all of the jobs I’ve had in my life. When I was young, I wanted to be a business executive or an astronaut or a writer. I’ve actually managed to become the latter, but it hasn’t been a very direct path.
My first paid work came in junior high. During the summer, my friends and I would pick beans and cucumbers and strawberries at nearby farms. This was piece work, though, and I didn’t make a lot of money. I spent most of it at the video arcade. My first job where I drew a paycheck was planting cauliflower.
High school
During the summer of 1984 (between my freshman and sophomore year of high school), my friend Torey and I worked for a local farmer. We earned $3.35/hour (minimum wage!) walking behind a big tractor, planting cauliflower. The work was hard, but it was fun. I spent the money on clothes and cassette tapes. (I remember buying Tears for Fears and U2.) My father encouraged me to save, but I didn’t listen.
Also during high school, I worked other typical teenage jobs:
- I flipped hamburgers at Burger King (tedious)
- I sheared Christmas trees (hard work, but paid well)
- I flipped hamburgers at McDonald’s (loved it because my managers and co-workers were smart, industrious, and funny as hell)
- I spent a summer as a camp counselor
Most notably, however, I worked in the family box factory. On 31 July 1985, his fortieth birthday, my father quit his job to start his own business. In a dilapidated old building on our property, he built his own machinery and the family began producing custom boxes. I hated it. I wanted to be out with my friends, but dad insisted I spend my evenings making boxes. To show my disdain, I would play angst-ridden teenage music (The Cure, New Order, etc.) at full volume and sulk while I worked. I swore that after high school, I would never work for dad again.
College
During college, I held a variety of work-study jobs:
- Creating posters to hang around campus.
- Hanging posters around campus.
- Delivering A/V equipment.
- Answering telephones.
- Working at the information desk.
- Editing the literary magazine.
These didn’t pay well, though. For real money, I had to find work off campus.
For a couple of years, I worked a hotel 45 minutes away. I’d drive up on Saturdays and Sundays to bus tables (and, later, to wait tables) in the coffee shop. I kept this same job for a couple summers. It was my first introduction to the Real World, really. Before, I’d been working with other kids my own age. At the Holiday Inn, I was working with 50-year-old waitresses and grumpy cooks who couldn’t find work anywhere else. Still, I had a lot of fun and earned a lot of money. (Which I promptly spent on computers and those new-fangled compact discs.)
During my junior and senior years of college, I took a job as a resident assistant to pay for room and board.
Post-collegiate
During the summer after college, I was aimless. I found work at a Japanese school managing the audio-visual equipment. I was paid in room and board.
For spending money, I waited tables at the new Red Robin in town. The interview for that job was memorable. The manager told me, “Remember: the best way to increase your tips is to sell more food. Ask your customers if they would like a drink from the bar. Encourage them to order appetizers or side orders. Offer them dessert.” This had never occurred to me before.
Soon after this, I took a job selling insurance door-to-door around rural Oregon. This was truly the worst job I ever had. I hated it. People would invite me into their homes, and we would have a pleasant chat, but I could not get anyone to buy anything. I maybe sold ten policies in ten weeks. At $40 a policy, I was going broke quickly!
I quit the job with no prospect of another. I had several thousand dollars in credit card debt, I owed on a new Geo Storm, and I was paying rent on two apartments. It was a nightmare. I took temporary work to staunch the bleeding, but ultimately I did something I’d sworn never to do: I returned to work for my father.
The box factory
In January 1992, dad hired me to be his box salesman. This was better than selling insurance, but I still didn’t like it. I stayed at it though, because he was paying me the amazing sum of $20,000 a year. With that money, I could pay off my debt in no time! Only I didn’t pay off my debt. I bought comic books. I bought a new computer. Kris and I bought a house. I got hooked on the income and allowed myself to succumb to lifestyle inflation. When I got a raise, I spent it.
During my 16 years selling boxes, I did a variety of things on the side:
- I spent a year as a part-time computer programmer (I always thought I’d love this, but I hated it)
- I started my own computer consulting firm
- I began blogging
That last item is most important, of course. Eventually, my web sites were generating enough revenue that I could quit my day job to write full time, something I’d always dreamed of doing. I always imagined I’d write science fiction novels, not articles about personal finance, but it turns out I simply love to write. I’m fortunate to be doing something I love.
Working for myself
In the four years since I first shared this article, I’ve experienced some big life changes. For example, I sold Get Rich Slowly and realized a large windfall. In theory, I could stop working for a period of time. In theory.
In reality, I’m driven to keep working, even if it’s not work in a traditional sense. Yes, I continue to work behind the scenes here (doing interviews, attending conferences, editing articles), but I’m also exploring other types of tasks. I’m learning Spanish. I’m meeting other bloggers, both big and small. I’m reading. I’m writing. There’s no doubt that this stuff is work, but it doesn’t actually produce any income. Who knows where it will lead?
Moving forward, I have plans to start another blog. Or two. Maybe even another blog about money. I feel called to write. Something moves me to do so, and for some reason people find they can relate to my voice. I can’t explain it, but it’s true. And so long as it remains true, I think I’m meant to keep writing, to continue sharing what I learn with people like you.
That’s enough reminiscing for one day. How about you? How many jobs have you worked in your life? Which was your favorite and why? What do you hope to be doing ten years from now?
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In my 12 years of working life I have changed 3 companies and 3 countries. But, the nature of my job always has been the same, IT, first a coder, then designer and now a manager.
Have a nice week end all.
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Thanks J.D. for this article. I appreciate you sharing the details of your work life, it’s interesting.
I did a lot of babysitting in my pre-teen years and my first offical job was as a swimming instructor (at age 17) for $6.71/hr. in 1971. Other jobs included camp counseling, pool maintenance, coaching a swim team, library page and working on an assembly line in a frozen food factory. At age 22, my new husband and I started the first of four businesses we would operate together during our thirty-year marriage.
After divorcing, I returned to school to get my BA. mainly because it was unfinished business and for my personal satisfaction. I thorougly enjoyed school.
Shortly after remarrying, my husband and I started two businesses that we still operate. I work part-time at the businesses and also write.
My real passion is writing and my goal is to disengage myself from the operation of our businesses to pursue writing full-time.
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JD,
No disrespect to the other writers that you have brought on board, but the quality of your writing is so much higher. There’s a pleasantness and warmth to your style. I always enjoy reading the articles written by you.
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I agree. There’s a simplicity to J.D.’s writing that I like, and I certainly don’t mean that noun in a pejorative way. On the contrary, I think that oftentimes big sentences and lots of extraneous words are a weakness instead of a strength when it comes to writing. I know not everyone will agree with me on this. I think if an idea or a story has power, a writer shouldn’t need too many words to express it.
I was oftentimes criticized in academia for being too concise. For a while the criticisms got to me, but I decide ultimately to take it as a compliment. I could get my point across quickly.
Also, I think J.D.’s posts have more gravitas, because they tell personal stories without over-sharing. This is a difficult balance to achieve.
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I miss JD’s voice too, and my attachment to this blog has changed a lot. I was thinking that JD should be better at marketing his current writing to us, because I would seek it out, but now it sounds like writing isn’t currently happening? Maybe it’s a time of recharging which will hopefully have future payoff. Ah well, the nature of the world is change, right?
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I started out with a paper route in 7th grade. Next I caddied (golf) at a local country club between 8th grade and high school, then changed to a different country club throughout the rest of high school, because that’s where my high school friends caddied. During one Christmas break, I worked for a classmate’s father’s moving company for a couple days. When I went to college, I found a job at another country club, picking up the practice range and looking after their golf carts. During one school year, I worked at a bar, cleaning in the mornings before it opened. I also worked at a Subway, delivering sandwiches. I worked at another Subway in a different city later.
My first real job was when I joined the US Air Force. I suppose one could consider that one job, but my duties were quite different at each location and as my rank increased over the years. I worked at least 16 different jobs/locations/units during my Air Force career (22 years).
When I retired from the Air Force, I took a job teaching people how to use software and did that for one year. This was probably my least favorite job. I did not enjoy teaching and I think I was underpaid based on my experience. I spent two and a half months unemployed after retiring from the Air Force. My retirement as an enlisted Senior NCO was not enough to support myself and my family, and I was getting further into debt.
In January of this year, I started a job with another company as a Defense contractor. In this job, I am in an advisory position, mostly helping software engineers understand what the customers are really asking for. I spent 22 years as the “customer”, so I am uniquely qualified to understand where they are coming from.
My best job was probably when I was in the Air Force and stationed in Hawaii. I spent three years there doing challenging and rewarding work. I worked swing and mid shifts (I am not much of a morning person). I played golf pretty much every day for about two years with one of my co-workers. We were able to play after work during mids, and before work during swings. He got out of the Air Force when I had about one year left in Hawaii and I lost my golfing buddy.
In ten years, I hope to be working the same job I am working today. I am tired of moving all over the world and I like it where I am now. The company I work for is awesome and I hope they are willing to keep me until I reach retirement age.
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Ah, retail! While all my friends were working at the local burger place, I ended up at the mall. I had a knack for customer service and an eye for detail. I ended up doing that type of work for many years, ending up in the upper echelon of management. What helped the most? A mentor I worked for early in my career who made me feel as if I worked ‘with’ him and not ‘for’ him. Combined with all the other lessons I learned, it was enough to build a lucrative career that actually paid more than what I would earn with a college degree—and, no, I am not advocating skipping college. I’m just saying make good use of the lessons you find all around you.
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I started with helping on my grandparents farm. Fast food. Receptionist. But my favorite job was newborn photography at local hospitals.
I got pregnant while working that job and had to quit due to complications and have stayed at home raising our growing family for the past 5 years.
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Yikes – how many jobs? I’m not sure – somewhere between 50 and 100? Comes from a lot of temp work when I was younger and contract work later in life. The two most enjoyable were as a dishwasher on campus in college with my BFF’s and financial reporting (consolidations and writing quarterly + annual reports) with another group of BFF’s.
I can’t project what I’ll be doing 10 years out or even a year out. The gods laugh when I make plans. The only sure thing is that there will be change and that I’ll have to be agile and adapt.
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I started out babysitting in high school, which I absolutely hated. Once I got to college, I worked at a daycare center (hated), and an art gallery (loved). Then during the summers in college I was a summer camp counselor, a “bedmaker,” and I worked in the university archives. After college I taught for a year, managed a coffee shop for four years, and I’m now a bookkeeper working on becoming a CPA (2 sections passed, 2 to go). Whew.
My favorite things to do so far have been my bedmaker job and the accounting stuff. As a bedmaker, three other girls and I were basically the hotel staff for all of the conferences that happen over the summer at my university. The work itself was physically challenging and could be considered drudgery by some, but we all got along so well that it was a wonderful summer. It really taught me the importance of working with good people.
I enjoy doing accounting because of the work itself. I have three part time bookkeeping gigs, and could support myself fairly well on that, but my aim is public accounting. What I’m really hoping for is to work in an office with good people– that way I get to do work I like with people I like.
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Over the years I did a lot making my way through school.
Before Highschool graduation
I Detasseled corn and walked beans for 2 summers
I did it all at Little Ceasar’s Pizza
Stocked shelves at a retail store that was just opening in my town
Walmart Cashier
College career
Super saver (grocery) cashier
CD store at the mall
Lingerie department in a large department store. I think this became my dream job. Someday I hope to open a boutique.
manufacturing job two summers in college (kept repeating the mantra “This is why you go to college”)
Grad school
I finally interned as an architect. My field of study. I’ve since worked at 5 firms in 4 cities and really enjoy what I do.
Working such customer service related jobs taught me that people have no clue what is going on in anyone else’s life and we need to be kinder to one another.
Working manual labor feels good. Its hard work. Ultimately I prefer my office job.
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Ah, detasseling corn, every Iowa girl’s favorite first job! Never did walk beans, or get to ride a machine like some did.
My part-time job throughout college was working at the performing arts/sports complex on campus, ushering, bartending, leading orientation tours, etc. Loved this job, super fun, with concerts, plays, sports events, and we all went out to the bar after work! Mostly, it saved me from having to work in food service.
After graduating college I spent many years in the housing field, in both a public agency and mortgage banking. It was definitely not a good long-term fit, though I enjoyed several of my jobs. I was so much a square peg/round hole with all that paperwork.
I’ve wandered around a lot since then, and am now looking forward to taking a certificate program in communications and public relations, starting in January. I like the topic focus, and am more interested in working with people than paper. I’m a little nervous being back in the classroom, but I love learning.
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Ah! detassling corn – every Iowa kid’s first job! I had so many older siblings that did that, that I got “wise” and opted for the “youth conservation corp”! OMG – we were sweating our guts out by 5:00 am every morning, 1/2 hour for lunch – don’t remember any breaks other than for a drink of water or to run to the bathroom and didn’t quit until 4:30 pm. I have never been so exhausted and filthy dirty as I was doing that job – and you know what? I absolutely LOVED that job.
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Detasseling Corn! Not so common for Iowa kids nowdays and Mommys and Daddys dont want Little One to have to work so hard. So now migrant workers pick up much of the slack. Jr High, High School jobs were- mowing lawns, shovel snow, pick up down ear corn, detasseling, pitch sh#t,(Cow/pig/horse) bale, walk beans, wash dishes at resturant, work at service station, wash semi-trucks, pour concrete, work at cannery, farm work in general. Walking beans has almost completely vanished because of modern chemical practices. Did all those jobs plus out for football and track in H.S. Feel sorry for kids now in rural towns now because many of the jobs we had in the past arent there anymore.
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I started out babysitting for several families. 20 years ago in my little town I got paid a whopping $1 per hour. The family with 3 kids paid me $2 per hour.
At age 16 I began waiting tables at a little diner. I got $2.25/hr plus tips. Most people were idiots and stiffed the servers so we didn’t get much for tips. I worked there for about a year then I quit and got a job cashiering at the local grocery store, making $4.75 per hour (minimum wage). I worked there until I went to college.
At college, I found a workstudy job in the biological sciences department. I was a biology major, so this was great. I earned $6.75 to $8.25 per hour throughout my 4 years, getting a small increase each year. During the summer after freshman year, I went home and worked in the grocery store. The summer after sophomore year, I stayed in my college town and managed the front office of a social service agency. I was basically a secretary, doing mailings, sending and receiving faxes, backing up computer tapes and greeting clients. Summer after junior year I TA’d the lab portion of a high school biology class where they’d get college credit for course completion. It was hell. I quit after 3 weeks and spent the rest of the summer at my workstudy job and participating in paid psych experiments.
After college graduation, I got a job working for the university as a research technician in a mouse lab. I worked there for 15 months until I quit to go to graduate school.
In graduate school, I got a part time job working in a lab on toxic chemicals that cause cancer. It was hell because everyone refused to speak English, they would only speak in Hindi. Not so good for me. I quit after about 10 weeks. Then I got a fellowship that paid my tuition and gave me a stipend.
I also began a paid internship at the state health department. Upon earning my masters degree, I got a fulltime position at the state health department in my field of expertise.
I was promoted up two levels during my 8 years there but not into management, just more advanced work within my line of work.
3.5 years ago I began freelance and ghost writing to earn side income.
I quit my fulltime job 1 year ago to be a SAHM. I still do freelance writing. I don’t earn a lot, but it’s enough that I can fully fund my Roth IRA this year and pay for swimming lessons for my kids and yarn for me, even after taxes and my small amount of business expenses (printer, toner, paper, pens, portion of internet access).
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I wonder why people pay pennies to babysitters in small towns…grr
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I started babysitting for my neighbor kids’ when I was 12 yrs old. I got paid $60 per week to babysit 3 kids. Pennies..sucked.
I babysat other kids ever since for extra money.
I have worked for a non profit as an administrative assistant. It was fun, paid $10/hr. I worked during my senior yr of high school and the summer after my freshman year of college.
Worked as unpaid intern, worked at start up, unpaid.
Finally, landed a job with a company after grad school. It pays well.
Sometimes I dream of doing something else, but I don’t know what it is yet.
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In my case, the job title remains the same, but, the responsibilities change over time.
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I have to agree with ShackleMeNot: I love your voice and I love how you tell a complete story with beginning, middle and end in your posts. In fact, if you decide to try SF, I’d be interested in reading it because I think your voice is similar to JC Hines’.
I had nine jobs in five countries. At first, they were all related to IT because I started programming at 10 and I get computers and they get me. (Sad, I know.) Five years ago, I needed a change and switched to accounting because I like numbers (even sadder) and have been doing a mix of IT and accounting ever since. That combination’s been good to me and I have enough of a cushion now that I can semi-retire at 32, i.e. work at McDonald’s and still survive, or fully retire at 45.
All the while, I’ve been writing fiction. I never made enough to consider quitting the Clark Kent job, which is fine because I actually enjoy the Clark Kent job…until this year. But I’m not going to make the leap anytime soon. I plan to bank the Clark Kent salary and live off of writing royalties until the royalties meets my salary. It could take a few years, but I can wait.
Of course, other writers tell me that’s insane because only writing full-time will I hit six-figures since I write at a snail’s pace and haven’t turned in a new book in two years. (Crazily enough, you need to write more books to sell more books.) They may be right, but I have a family to support and can’t afford to take that big a risk.
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I started babysitting when I was 12, and then in high school worked at a wedding dress store for 2 years, as a camp counselor for a summer, and as a bartender for a summer.
During university, I didn’t work while attending school, but in the summers, I worked as a banquet server at a resort, in a women’s clothing store, doing food prep at a specialty grocery store, and as a server in a cafe.
After graduating, I spent 2 years as a live-in caregiver for people with intellectual disabilities, then 8 months doing research on a violence prevention project at a women’s centre, and then 10 months at a shelter for women who are homeless. Then I went back to do my MA, and had a position as a teaching assistant. My TA position ended in the spring of my one year program, and so in the summer I worked in a computer lab helping youth who had dropped out of high school but were working towards their equivalency. After graduating from my MA program, I began the position I have now, working for an organization for people with intellectual disabilities doing advocacy and support work.
Someone else mentioned it above, but the people I’ve worked with have had such a huge impact on my enjoyment of any one particular job. I’ve also begun to really narrow in on what it is that I want out of my career. I like working in the not-for-profit world, particularly doing front-line work with people where I can see tangible results from the care and support I’m offering. I’m thinking about going back to school for social work in order to increase available opportunities in this area, but if I’m able to find a position that feels like a really good fit before that time comes, I’d stick with the job rather than school.
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Thanks for your work as a caregiver/advocate. My youngest sister just graduated and was hired to do similar work. She describes it as challenging, but really satisfying. I wish society valued it more and paid better for it!
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Not counting baby sitting, my first job when I was 15 was selling Arthur Murray Dance lessons over the phone. We called people and told them they had won a free lesson.
In two months I never got ONE person to come in for their free lesson. I think I quit seconds before I was fired.
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Started my first fast food job at 17. In college did another fast food job then moved up to temp admin jobs. (In college I also briefly did a sales/telemarketing gig for a non-profit–yee gads it was horrible.) After college got re-hired directly by one of my temp assignments. That business folded and I went to the non-profit sector. Moved from that area to the govt and have been doing that since. Currently getting up the gumption to apply for a part time job with pizza.
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As an immigrant who has very limited English, my first job was waiting tables at my aunt’s Chinese restaurant. I saved quite a bit of money (approx $6,000) for 14 years old. After she sold her restaurant, I ended up in retail clothing store as a cashier and worked there throughout high school. When I started college, I ended up again in restaurant business at a Japanese stake house as a waitress and soon became a bartender. I supported myself throughout college with the income from bartending job.
My first professional job right out of college was a staff accountant/book keeper position at a small IT company. I was getting paid only $30K. However, I thought I was making a lot compare to my prior income. I worked there for 3 years and moved to an insurance company as a senior staff accountant. I worked there for 2 years and found a job cost accountant position with a construction company. I just took another position (Treasury Analyst) within the same company. I can’t complain much about my career. I have been pretty bless with a job in this economy when some of my friends are struggling to find jobs.
Sam
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My first job was picking strawberries. That meant crawling around on hands and knees picking berries and filling a little wheelbarrow with about a dozen pints in it. I was paid by the “flat” and I didn’t make a lot of money, because I probably ate more berries than got into my flat. But it was a fun job, and taught me responsibility, too.
Next job was scooping ice cream – loved that job, although sometimes I’d wake up in the morning after a late shift, and have sticky ice cream dregs up to my elbows.
In high school, I worked for a department store, and I absolutely loved that job. Loved the job, loved my boss, loved helping my boss with her paperwork (on my own time, from home, even!). I just loved working. That job made me want to be a buyer for a department store, but my parents didn’t want to pay for me to go to the Fashion Institute of Technology, so instead I went to college and studied finance and accounting.
Dropped out of college full-time after 2 years, and spent one very challenging year as a nanny. Then worked various administrative jobs while I went to school at night. Thought I’d figure out what to be when I grew up after I finished my degree. But what really happened is that I joined a mergers and acquisitions firm as an admin, went to school at night, and slowly moved up within the firm to representing clients, even before I finished that degree. And now here I am, 25 years later, still selling businesses for people, and having gotten both a BS and and MBA at night while doing so.
It’s funny how sometimes life has its own plan for you, that you could never imagine as you’re growing up.
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I babysat through middle and high school, until I began a two year stint in retail prior to heading off to college. I remember spending every penny of my first paycheck from that job on a pair of tennis shoes.
I worked on campus during college, as a switchboard operator, then moved on to a substitute teaching position at a local daycare, and finally, upon graduation, I landed a job as a personal assistant to a private art collector. I spent the next year or so tending to the collection of paintings in various ways, and dropping of clothes at the dry cleaners or picking up meat at the deli (cow tongue, usually!).
I made the move to East Asia to teach English for a period of time, making pretty decent money for a 22 year old, and eventually came back to the States to start grad school. While back in school, I worked in the university’s donor relations office and worked for a fresh cut flower company. Having an unlimited supply of fresh-cut flowers sure did make writing papers a more pleasant experience!
Post graduation, I worked in non-profit positions throughout the U.S. and abroad. Glorious times and many, many hard lessons learned during that period. Just a couple of years back now, I realized that savings was something I needed to get serious about, and I made the move to the for-profit world. The wisdom of that move is something I still question; I miss my low-paying but fulfilling NGO world in a million ways, but I appreciate the newly-found financial security of my current position. Perhaps the next chapter of my career will involve a merging of these two parallel tracks, fulfilling work and financial security.
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I too have had many, many jobs over the years starting with babysitting, farm-stand, and Cinema before I was even out of High School. I’ve been unemployed now for just over a year and this has been an interesting time. I’ve enjoyed the pause, and done a lot of reading and self-reflection along with all the job-search activities. I walk every day and volunteer regularly. I’m ready now to get back to work, and hopefully one of my recent interviews will come to fruition. Reminiscing, I recall the kind Manager at that Cinema job oh so long ago. He always said “thank you” as we said “good night” at the end of a shift. While I thought it was odd to be thanked for working (after all, I was getting paid), it’s a practice that I adopted later in my career when I became a Manager. I think it’s made me a better manager to be appreciative of those working with and for me.
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My first job was as a file clerk at my dad’s brokerage firm. It was acquired and they had to re-do the entire file system. I was, I think, fifteen.
After that, it was waiting tables at Pizza Hut, slinging sundaes at Dairy Queen, and on-campus jobs. I lived at home till my senior year of college and had a full scholarship, so my expenses were very low.
After college, I moved to the big city for graduate school. Took a variety of temp jobs, from renting dorm-room refrigerators to general office work (got a commendation for showing up at a job on the day of an ice storm). Worked for a while as a search assistant at a rare-and-collectible bookstore, then moved to an outlet book store as an assistant manager and finally manager. From there (all this in grad school) jumped to a law office, where I could make more as a file clerk than I did managing the bookstore.
I’ve worked in legal support ever since, moving across the country and changing jobs several times (there’s a lot of mobility in my branch of the industry).
I’m fortunate to have fallen into a line of work that not only suits my talents, but is generally congenial and very well-paid.
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First job, painting classrooms in my former high school. Talk about cushy – 8a to 1p, Dunkin’ Donuts runs at least once daily, boss didn’t care what we did, basically unlimited access to the paint supply store down the street… those were the days! Alongside that and after, I worked in the business department for the schools, doing filing, data entry, whatever they needed me to do. Didn’t work during college except summers (oops) until junior year, when I had a work-study in the law school. I pretty much sat around and did my homework while babysitting the office in the evenings. Occasionally I would have to make a photo collage for one of the administrators. A few months after graduating, someone in my temp organization saw that I had “legal experience” (heavy on the sarcasm!) from that stint babysitting the ofice, and I ended up in a corporate legal department helping prepare for an audit. They hired me full-time shortly after, and I’ve been here ever since (end 2008).
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Whoa, forgot to include my awesome part-time work at the mall! I started just before the assignment at my current job because I didn’t think it would last, and have also been there ever since. I love it there – the customers can be difficult at times, but the management team is great, and I really feel valued. It’s pretty rewarding for me, since I can make a direct connection between my behavior and the store’s performance.
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I honestly can’t remember how many jobs I’ve had but Ill try starting with the age I started working:
14-16: I worked for a day care after school and during the summers taking care of infants and toddlers.
16-17: Restaurant job as a hostess
17-18: Starbucks
18: Department of Health – admin assistant
19: Small law office – legal secretary
19-20: Large law firm – legal secretary. I hated it and they hated me. I was too young for that type of job, I think.
20-21: Fortune 500 (more like Fortune 50) tech company.
21-22: Small dot com companies as a contractors (ended during the crash).
22: Smaller tech company (laid off after 3 months)
22-24: National Laboratory
24-28: Several financial services firms sometimes as a contractor and as an employee.
29-30: Architecture firm
This was before I got sick and moved to Oregon from California when I was 30. Now at 33 I contact part-time for a web design company.
As you can see, I had very little direction. Believe it or not, that’s not all of the jobs I’ve had.
In terms of what I see myself doing in 10 years, I would be happy if I can still work part-time. I’ve always had plans and goals, but they were either unrealistic (and I fell flat on my face) or I didn’t know how to go about accomplishing them.
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“I used to be a hot tar roofer… Yeah, I remember that day!” RIP Mitch Hedberg
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In high school and college I was a lifeguard. Which I loved, taught me how to respond in emergencies, management and how to deal with tons of different people.
In college, I was an RA and worked in the on campus pub during the school year.
After college, I worked for a start up sustainable consulting firm, then moved on to Adaptu.
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Like JD, I began my work experience under parental supervision in my dad’s oil & gas delivery business. I prepared price sheets, answered phone calls, and helped him “computerize” his customer base (this was in the mid 90′s). After this, I went to work in a medical office where I handled tasks like filing, simple coding, and insurance claims.
Then I moved on to the retail sector, working for a very popular lingerie store whose initials begin with VS. This was probably my least favorite job because of the evening hours, working on my feet, and dealings with the general public. I nearly lost my job when I had to take time off to attend my senior prom! In college, I worked a few shifts per week as a bartender/waitress to generate extra spending money, and after college I worked full time waiting tables while I looked for a “real” job.
After about 6 months, I was hired by a 3PL company and relocated to the city of my dreams! Even though I wasn’t making much money, I was happy to be on my own. I enrolled in an evening MBA program while working full time and then I got married. I stayed with the 3PL for seven years until I was recruited by a vendor to manage the same sales territory. I have been in that job for a year now and it is the best job I have ever had!
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My first job was working for my father, loading boxes at the airport for his shipping business(talk about a crappy job, I would get up at 3:45AM during the summer to go into a oven-like open air warehouse, in Phx AZ, and sort/load boxes onto trucks). I did that until I graduated college, but because I graduated in the middle of a recession, I wandered aimlessly for a few years doing all sorts of random things. Telemarketing, temporary office work, setting up computer and A/V equipment for a university, data entry… Eventually I landed a tech support job that I hated more than anything else Ive ever done in my life. I despised my boss, I dealt with angry people all day, and my co-workers were less than reliable.
Thankfully, I landed a job with a start-up company doing software development, almost completely on blind luck(one of the people working there was the roommate of a friend of a friend from college, and there was just enough of a connection that he reccommended me).
After that, I’ve worked for 4 different companies, all in IT. I have also done tons of side work. Some freelance writing, both fiction and non-fiction, as well as some development work.
The article about the worst job JD ever had is still my favorite one, here. It might be the best blog post on the entire internet. Its the article that first hooked me on GRS. Its very relateable. For me, the worst job I ever had was what really motivated me to work hard and better myself. It was a turning point in my life, where I finally started to take control rather than just drift purposelessly.
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My first few job years were your typical babysit/fast food stuff. When I was in college I only worked in the summers but I had to hustle to save my share of my college expenses!
I graduated college maybe a year after JD did, and got my first job as a teller in a bank. Then through the power of (accidental!) networking I got a totally different job working in the communications/marketing department of a rehab hospital. After a couple years I quit my job and moved to Oregon and got a bad job managing an office. Finally in 1997 I got a job in software, back when they were in ‘butts in chairs’ mode and hired anyone with a pulse.
Software was a good fit and I spent 4 years doing various things (training, QA, project management, business analyst). After being laid off two years in a row (good thing I had minimal expenses!), I went to library school and worked in libraries a while, and now I work for a library-related software company.
So the first probably 10 years of working was total floundering, but from 1997-present there is a kind of pleasing pattern though I admit a lot of it was accidental. My job is now evolving and I’m going to be a remote employee for my current employer, which is going to be a whole new kind of challenge, I think. I hope I like it! My fear is that I may get a little lonely and weird.
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I like reading everyone’s lists, so here’s mine:
Helping at Dad’s law firm (6-15 yrs old)
Jasper’s Giant Hamburgers cashier/cook (15-16 yrs)
Golfland/Sunsplash cashier (17 yrs)
College Years:
Yogurt Delite Employee (17 yrs old)
Yogurt Delite Manager (18 yrs)
Various college jobs– tutoring, peer advising, TAing, disability resource work (18-21 yrs)
Post College
Returned to Dad’s law firm. How depressing. (21 yrs old)
Coffee Shop barista (22 yrs)
Coffee Shop manager (23 yrs)
Stupid drunken accident leaves me on disability for a year
Legal trouble
Here’s where employment turns around!
Temp worker at my old University (24 yrs old)
Adviser at my old University (24 yrs)
Sr Adviser at my University (25-30 yrs [present])
I thought that I was supposed to go into food service, because that was most of my work experience. I’ve come to realize that generally I do not like food service. I like OFFICE WORK! (Maybe all the time at my Dad’s law firm molded me?)
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This is an interesting question. I feel like I’ve been in my job a lifetime, but that makes sense looking back. Until I graduated from college, I did lots of job hopping/working multiple jobs. After graduation, not so much:
Before college: Tons of babysitting, ice-cream parlor, K-mart cashier, copy girl (yes, I was paid to make photocopies), bank teller.
During college: Janitor, sandwich maker, cashier, resident adviser, resident hall desk clerk, on campus mail delivery, bank teller, receptionist.
After college: Technical writer (12 years and counting)
Ten years from now – I don’t know. I’d like to be doing something else. I would like to figure out a way to transition my career rather than completely start over, but haven’t come up with any solid plans yet. It’s a work in progress.
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What’s interesting to me about this article is that through following a dream, JD found his passion – that being writing. I wonder how many other people find their passion by accident, so to speak. I know this was true for me as well…
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I enjoyed rereading this article for a variety of reasons, but perhaps especially it made me want to track down my Tears for Fears CDs. What a great band!
Let’s see…I have worked for a newspaper, as a server, as a tutor, teacher, academic advisor, freelance writer, and standardized test writer. More, I’m sure, but that’s what I’ve got off the top of my head.
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All the replys are a great look at growing up middle class in America.
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Teaching pottery at a kid’s summer camp
Retail position at a plant nursery
Parimutuel teller (taking bets on horse races)
Landscaper at botanical gardens
Deficiencies manager at office furniture distributor
Landscape architect (and still am)
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Lets see…
Age 14 – Dishwasher at a local Dennys-wannabe for the summer.
Age 15 – Sole employee for a local computer software “company” run by a guy who didn’t know what he was doing. I ended up doing pretty much all of the work that didn’t require someone over 18 to sign for things.
Age 16 – Telemarketer selling credit cards
Age 17 – Misc tasks on a fruit/vegetable farm. Some lab work.
College (ish):
2 years – Managed a college computer lab
2.5 years – Managed the network, servers and helpdesk for the Biochem department at my university.
After college:
2 years – Network Security for an Insurance Company
5 years – Working for a small game developer. Did online community management, copy-writing, game testing, software packaging, partner relations, and a bunch of other lesser things
Now – Digital distribution manager for a very large game retailer (1.5 years into the job).
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LMAO!!!! Love these replies! Reminded me of several jobs I did that I had forgotten about – who got a “work permit” at the age of 14 so you could be gainfully employed after school – the job you rode your bike to and from (in the dark – with no lights on your bike)? It’s so good to read these ’cause we are now a boomerang family with a kid who gradutated from college, travelled abroad, studied abroad and got his pilot’s license – ALL at his parents’ expense. Oh am I ever going to show him these replies. I think he’ll be delivering newspapers and pizzas by tomorrow afternoon. Thanks everyone!!!!!!!
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Junior high to high school: Babysitting (including one summer as a nanny) and scorekeeping for girls softball
College:
Summer after freshman year – Waitress
During soph year: staff at University Welcome center (I lovingly refer to this as the job where I got to make brides cry.)
Summer after soph year – Lab intern at Chemical company
Summer after junior year – Production unit intern at difference Chemical Company
Summer after senior year – receptionist at solicitor’s office in London
Since then – 10 years with same oil/chem company, roughly 6 different positions.
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Wow, I have had quite a few jobs in my time. I wonder if I can remember them all.
First job age 13 – summer day-camp counselor
High School – babysitting, clerk at a convenience store
College – convenience store clerk, note taker for a deaf student, college dorm front desk receptionist, telephone survey interviewer, sleep-away summer camp counselor
Post-College – convenience store clerk, waitress, radio disc jockey/producer/promotions assistant/traffic manager, actress for touring children’s theatre company, actress for murder mystery dinner theatre, Christmas Elf at Macy’s Herald Square, receptionist for temp employment agency, telephone survey interviewer, accounting clerk/operations assistant for brand marketing/design firm, executive assistant to CEO of media licensing/trademark company
Grad School – waitress, pre-literacy tutor for pre-school, pretend patient for medical school, soft-ware tester for voice-recognition program, research assistant for simulated language lab, therapeutic support staff, summer camp counselor center for autism
Post-Grad School – Speech Language Pathologist (SLP)
So, I am finally down to one profession and am finally making decent money. I am glad that I did not pursue my current profession right out of college. I would have been much better off financially but my life would not have been nearly as colorful. I also believe that I am a more effective clinician due to all of my past experiences. In addition, I would not have so many great stories to tell!
Happy Labor Day!
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From reading through the posts, I’ve noticed several things –
– JD doesn’t just have readers, he has a fan club (count me in!)
– GRS readers tend to have started working early. Most of these posts mention jobs in high school or earlier. I wonder if that’s common to all GRS readers.
Is working in high school still part of growing up? It seems that volunteering is considered more important now as a CV booster. But, I think kids are missing out if they don’t have a chance to work, for money, even if the family has money.
My partial list of jobs, just because –
- grade school – graded papers for my mom, a high school teacher (I was a smart kid…) – no pay, though! (unless you count room and board)
- babysat starting at 11
- yardwork at 13 – found that a traditionally boy’s job paid better than babysitting, a traditionally girl’s job. Learned THAT lesson early!
- first job with paycheck – fast food. Three months, and by the end I was the senior employee. Never again!
- typing papers for the richer college students (this, of course, was before PCs…)
- pushed people in wheelchairs
- ward clerk at a hospital – that’s when I decided I didn’t want to be a doctor.
- pin setter in a bowling alley. most places already had machines to do what I did.
- research lab – killed rats, mice and unborn chicks and harvested their cells. worthwhile research, but definitely not for me, either.
– peace corps! the toughest job i ever loved!
– and since then, international health work in a ton of countries. Also all jobs I love/d.
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I, too, wonder what the norm is for American kids today. My parents divorced and we moved after my sophomore year, and I don’t remember any friends having official jobs before that, even in the summer.
After we moved I was friendless for the rest of high school (I don’t think I spoke to anyone my entire junior year…dang, adolescence was brutal). ETA: I should clarify that I meant that without friends junior and senior year, I had no window into how many kids in my school were working at that time. I got my job during the summer between junior and senior year and I seem to remember hearing that my friends back in my hometown were working summer jobs by then (although at least one of them didn’t start working until she was in college). I don’t remember anyone doing volunteer work either, but this was back in the day when just getting a bachelor’s degree in ‘whatever’ meant you had a good chance at a decent job, so the pressure on the kids was less.
I don’t have kids, and most of my local friends don’t either, and most of my peer group friends’ kids are still too young. I’d be interested in hearing from the parents on this board…
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It’s fun to try to remember all of the jobs!
Age 11-wrapping fruitcakes for my mom’s boss
and typing labels
Age 12-16-babysitting
Age 13-16 corn de-tasseling in the summers
Age 16-18 waitressing at at mom and pop local restaurant
Age 18-21 summer work at a factory (night shift-yuck)
Age 18-21 worked at college office, university rec center (so much fun!)and hostessed at a local restaurant and a small job cleaning a man’s home
Age 22-first post college job at large credit reporting firm
Age 24-worked at a bank in mortgage credit center and worked part time cleaning offices
Age 26-worked as a loan officer at a mortgage company and worked part time at a dentist’s office
Age 28-worked as a customer service supervisor at a small mortgage company
Age 30-worked as a manager at a large corporation going from supervisor to mid level manager
Age 45-went back to school
Age 49-work as Special Education teacher (love it!)
I feel very blessed. Other than the night shift and the hostessing, all of the jobs (and most of the co-workers) were great and I learned a lot from each one.
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That selling insurance job sounds like it was awful. Good thing you don’t have to do that anymore!
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I started out charging 50 cents per hour for babysitting-no matter how many kids. Parents always gave me more, though. And this was in the suburbs!
I also was a waitress/food server for a cafeteria and counter (grill area). I was a substitute teacher (with good days and awful days), a computer order entry clerk for a steel distributor, a hospital patient accounts rep., a clerk for the Federal Govt. answering requests for veterans’ personnel and medical records, and finally a 5th grade, 2nd grade, and language arts teacher. I’m now retired.
My kids detasseled corn, too, in Northern MO and southern Iowa when they were in high school. What a tough job!
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I was a babysitter as a kid. I did the retail thing (was horrible at it but was known for my comic relief so they were always happy to have me around) during summers when I was in college and when I taught. I worked for my dad. (He was a professional golfer and was running for a position in the Professional Golfer’s Association. I helped him with his campaign. He passed away right before the election so that is probably the job that I cherish the most. I learned so much about him.) I now do personnel for a University. What I enjoy most about my job is that I believe in our “product”.
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What did your dad think when you quit working for him? You had been with the company for a long time. Just curious.
I have worked too many jobs to count (most of them crappy), but I would say 20 to 30. The bad jobs always made me anxious to go back to college so I could get a better job, which I did.
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My 1st job was flight attendant when I was 18 and fresh out of high school.It lasted for 4 years when I decide to quit to have a family.
Worked for a diamond shop for about 5 years when I realized that I missed flying.
Started working for another airline 4 years ago after 4 kids and couldn’t be happier.:)
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I have a track record of being hired by failing businesses for a month or 2 before they close down, and so I’ve worked for free a couple of times. I worked for a cookshop when studying for my A levels, that shut down because of poor management, and then earlier this year I worked at a pub that had poor management and a terrible location and that shut down too. Both times I got stiffed out of wages and couldn’t even get hold of my boss to get paid.
But my worst job by far had to be the waitress/service staff gig at Royal Ascot. You get told by the catering agency that you’re going to be waitressing in a private box and get a bunch of tips. In reality you’re standing up for 12 hours, getting constantly wet and cold from dishwater up to your elbows (had to wear a long sleeve shirt!), and getting shouted at by horrible chefs who are preparing disgusting frozen meals.
Worst smelling job? Data entry in a Pathology lab at the hospital. The general lab wasn’t too bad, but the chlamydia room smelt so bad. There’s a way to encourage safe sex, just bus teenagers in to smell that gross gross room.
Best job? Probably this summer’s. I’m working for a bar and restaurant guide so I’ve learnt the location of loads of amazing little hideaways and foodie paradises in London, plus the staff keep giving me FREE COOKBOOKS. It’s awesome!
As a little ad-hoc gig I transcribe interviews for a design journalist and that’s fascinating. I love jobs where you learn about a world that most people barely know of.
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Jobs:
Babysitting,which I hated. As soon as I turned 16 I got a job at a combination ice cream/hamburger joint. The people there were a bad influence on me and I loved working with them.
Lunch waitress in a restaurant/bar. Better pay and helped me realize I did not want to end up in a dead end job like that.
Worked for my Dad on his farm. Hard but fun.
Room and Board and College paid for.
Parts runner for a small airfield/Piper maintenance base. I drove an old pickup with 3 speed on the column and no air conditioning picking up propellers and such. In my non driving time they had me cross referencing ADs that had piled up for the last 10 years.
(those are Administrative Directives or technical bulletins) I learned I was not going to be a pilot and that I liked doing detail work.
TA in a biology lab & chemistry tutor.
Rowing Coach. All in University. All unpaid
Research lab at University Medical Center. I liked this job and the people were great but the pay was terrible. I started taking computer classes at night and I ended up taking accounting classes also.
Accounting jobs. CPA firm. Business Journals.
Now with a small business for the last 25 years.
I am pretty sure in 10 years time I will be retired but who knows.
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I’ve worn many hats. I came to this country with $20 in my pocket with the dream to earn a Master’s degree in Engineering. But, soon after receiving my degree, I felt passion for business.
With merely $28K in savings, I purchased my first hotel. And, in the last 12 years I’ve bought and sold over $12 million worth of commercial real estate.
I think you can achieve any realistic goal as long as you are passionate about it and work hard for it.
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I’ve been a fruit picker, a babysitter, a kitchen hand, an accounts clerk, Santa Claus’ photographer, a careers adviser, a business analyst, a research assistant and … finally … an editor. I LOVE being an editor and hope it takes me through to the end of my working life.
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