A summary of your career. (license, IT job, employment, highest)

[branh0913]

I was just interested to know if anyone would give a summary of their career. How did you get started? What were the hardest years of your life? What was your biggest gaps? What were those great transition years? When did things grow in your career, and when did they decline?


I'll start.

I currently work as a Production Support Engineer at a telecom company. I don't really have a set salary, but I normally pull in about 5600 a month. I'm currently working a 3 year contract in the Seattle area.


First IT job was Hewlett Packard as a temp at a company called Spherion Technology. I worked as a Tape Librarian, and I made about $11 an hour. I started this job in 1999 after dropping out of college due to frustrations with a boring CS curriculum, lack of money, and not actually working in my field.

I got my first job after calling every company in the Yellow Pages that had the word "technology" in the title. After a month Iterim Technology decided to staff me at Hewlett Packard as a tape librarian, where I picked up some light Unix and learned about vaulting, and storage.

I worked contract jobs doing computer operations/tape operations up until 2004. In 2004 I got a job as a computer operator at the city of Atlanta, where I made $11.50 an hour (what a come up). They outsource their old mainframe to IBM Global Services, and our data center became a open systems data center. I picked up a lot of Solaris Administration skills, and learned how to be a Weblogic Administrator.

After many contract renewls I went up to $14 an hour working as a pretty solid Solaris admin at the City. However after many people quit, they decided to hire new staff, many with Solaris Admin experience. I made friends with a guy there who told me he made $25 an hour, and most people who came in were making about that. I called my staffing agency and demanded more money, but they decided i wasn't worth it, and said "no".

I eventually looked and found a job as an Application Support Analyst at a company that will remain anonymous. I started out at $27 an hour supporting eviromental builds, and I also did some scripting. I got a chance to learn how configure Java JVM args, and also how to administer Websphere.


BUST! 2008, terrible time. I was laid off in April 2008 and started working again in September 2009.

Since then I've been a contractor tuning up my Application Support/Production Support skills. I recently landed a job after turning down two previous contracts. I noticed a good bulk of my contracts were being offered out of state. Already somewhat bored with Atlanta, and wanting to see the West Coast, I decided to finally accept a job in Seattle for a 3 year contract (up for renewal a year at time). So far I'm loving it.

I realize that I make nearly 5 times my initial salary from 1999 when I first started.

[jeffpv]

Interesting topic.

After undergraduate degree (English!):

Mortgage company (~3 months) = Horrible (for me), but was young and needed to start making some dough out of college; $18K/year;

Editor (~2 years) = Fabulous job, low pay; $22-24K/year;

Worked in English language education abroad (~11 years - Ukraine, Mexico, Argentina, India, then Russia) = Best time of my life so far. Started to make "real" money around the eight-year mark; pay ranged from $350/month (in Ukraine) to about $45K/year (School Director in Russia) -- this last position is when my career really "grew";

Completed Masters degree;

Director of English Language Center (back in the US for last seven months) = Nice job, less-than-perfect location. Can't complain.

I make roughly 3.5 times what I made starting out in 1998.

[andywire]

Started at automotive supplier in HS in 2004. Got the job through my HS vocational machining classes. Served 2 years for machinist apprenticeship until economy started to take a dump. Basically was making $16/hr at the end. Went to college for awhile, worked in medical office, did homecare and worked for the county while in school, which included a year and a half of nursing school. Ended up realizing I hated it and went back to the trade.

Worked in a fab shop and another machine shop in Michigan, but layoffs were very common. Got sick of Michigan and moved to Chicago. Worked in an agricultural supply shop in around 2011 for a little north of $20/hr with tons of OT. 6 days a week minimum working on swiss CNC lathes. Did that for a year but got bored working on one machine all day. Work now in a small die/mold/small quantity shop. The work varies, and I'm always doing something different, which keeps the brain working in good order. Pay is 45K straight time, and I get some OT when I want it. Not really interested in bankrolling the OT anymore though.

Hardest years were when I thought my trade was finished. Glad the skills are still worth something, and it's nice to see the U.S. manufacturing base continue to thrive in it's own right. Wish I was able to get more experience when I was younger instead of being derailed by a recession, but things seem to have worked out.

[Ron.]

1-Finance degree
2-Corporate Finance for many years
3-Downsized from a BIG BANK--(away from finance for 2 years managing a homeless shelter)
4-Fired from shelter for defending myself against one of the nut jobs
5-Finally found another Finance position as Senior Officer(supervisor)
6-Promoted To Finance Manager( manager of supervisors/Senior Officer) after 1 year as Senior Finance Officer
7-Current: Promoted to Director of Finance after 6 months as Finance Manager

Next year, resign and start my own consulting firm working on Mergers and Acquisitions and in the process of consulting look for and buy businesses for myself.


Age:38

[jade408]

Let's see:
Pre-Degree:
In high school and college I did the following:

• McDonald's
• retail (book store)
• event planning
• administration for conference planning

Post college, I got a liberal arts BA
Early career 2000-2005ish:

• High tech public relations intern/account manager
• [crappy job during dot-com bust] retail clerk and vendor relations (I did manage to take on some worthwhile resume building projects during this 18 months of a crappy job)
• Manufacturer's Rep (in a Big Box store): this job was actually fun and really well paid
• [crappy job, I was really underpaid] inside sales rep/account manager for high tech company

Middle Career 2005 to 2010ish:

• high tech marketing manager: (still underpaid but catching up the pay here was equal to my manufacturer's rep pay) I had a boss who didn't like to give direction, so I made up a ton of resume building projects to do for myself to make up for my lack of experience. The most rewarding thing? My direct reports from this period are doing great in their careers. Lots of promotions and awards, and they still say I am their favorite manager ever!
• IT consultant: (30% pay increase, almost 100% caught up to my peers) All of my side projects paid off, I lucked my way into a trendy area of IT consulting

Right now:

• marketing consultant: (20% pay increase, now I am not too far behind the newly minted MBAs) holding steady at my current level, there is good opportunity, but I need to work a little bit harder, and decide which direction to head into. More project management, more people management or more software consulting.

I make around 3.3x what I did after my first non-intern job, even though I took a few detours in under-employment. Negotiate, negotiate, negotiate. And make sure you are not underpaid compared to your coworkers.

I had one job where the person who referred me in, as I later found out, was making $20k a year less than I was even though she had more experience.

I need to make some decisions, and decide what my next move is. I want to start my own business.

My tip to everyone, is to make the most of every job. And come up with resume building projects, even if you are in a low level job. They can pay off in spades.

**And networking too...... keep in touch with those old co-workers....

[Teckeeee]

Wow this is going to be a long sorted on

Graduated in early 90's with sociology degree.

1. 2 weeks working with violent, mentally, disabled adults for $6 hour and no benefits
2. Waited tables at family restaurant to save money for my Europe trip for 4 months, min wage plus tips, low pay
3. 11 months supervising juvenile offenders in group home, $6 hour and no benefits
4. Broke ankle snow boarding laid up for 5 months, time to think do I want high stress for little $$$ anymore no!
5. Summer of 95 worked at Enterprise Rent a Car ( figured I had no biz exp have to start somewhere and they teach you how to run the branch), first in rental branches for 1 year and then as call center agent for 1 year, made about 24k per year
6. Loans are hot so in 97 mortgage broker for 2 months. Made decent money but couldn't stand sitting at desk all day, back then grab phone book smile and dial at dinner time, not too much fun calling people at dinner.
7. Started my first outside sales job at a staffing placement firm. Worked there for a year made about 32k, looked around all others in sales in dot com were making 50k or more so I quit.
8. Found first outside sales telecom job in 99'. I hit the jackpot. Made over 80k first year, went to President's club. I worked at that company for 5 years and never made less than 90k, best year 120k.
9. Transferred with #8 from CA to CO. Quickly realized bad transfer quit and went to work for direct competition, got a bump in base by 12k but made only 67k that year so I quit, too much work for too little $$$.
10. Was recruited by my friend whom became my boss to help him run a small investment fund. Stayed there several years and made 80-90k every year, markets got crazy and fund was shut down
11. Back to outside telecom. Busted my ass and made 62k, company lied about everything in the interview process, took me 1 week to realize that. Desperately trying to find new job the entire time but time ran out and I was laid off a few months ago.

Conclusion don't go back to telecom if avoidable, all price driven now, no value add to sell.

[Hemlock140]

You people are making me feel old. OK, so I guess I am, late 50s.

I started working at a small restaurant in CA peeling potatoes for $0.75/hour at age 14. Eventually over the next few years became the head fry cook. When I went off to college I worked full time plus a lot of overtime as cashier then assistant manager at a liquor store
for $3/hour, and no overtime though I worked as many as 60 hours a week. After graduate school I took a temporary office job at a public agency, then tested for a permanent position and got it, at $650/month in 1974. There I was promoted 6 times, and when I left after 17 years was a management analyst. We moved here and I bought a business that I operated for 16 years. I gave it up when I started at my current employer, in a job similar to what I did in CA at a public agency in Seattle. I have been there 3 years and was promoted to manager after a year and a half. Never had any employment gaps, in over 40 years working. (I bought the business before moving here) The hardest times were the last couple of years in the business, 2007-2008 when many of the business I worked with were closing up or just not spending any money. Currently still in 5 figures but could go above that with the next raise or two, and great benefits. Highest income was from the business during the 1990s when things were booming. I expect to stay at this job another 10 years before retiring.

[chris123678]

I'm currently 23 years old.
I work part time at a clinic.

My Main Job is for Septa

I got my license when I was 16.
Got hired when I was 20.
I started driving bus routes and occasionally am scheduled for subway surface light rail routes.

I

[mangomadness]

My Timeline

** Fascinated with computers and beautiful properties as a child. I could be on a computer or look at homes all day.
** First job was as a junior in high school. Worked for a major ticket sales company as a phone sales rep in order to make money for my prom dress. Father said that school was my job and didn't let me work there too long, but it was fun. I got free wrestling and Janet Jackson concert tickets.
** Real Estate seemed archaic compared to the world of computers, so I decided to focus on engineering for college.
** During College I was a Faculty assistant for 3 semesters.
** Bachelor's degree - offered job at a major telecommunications company as an RF technician
** After 2 years, went to work for a rival telecommunications company as an RF optimization engineer traveling for wireless network deployment in various US cities
** Moved into Post-Deployment Support as a technical liaison for a little less travel (same company)
** Moved into IT because of development of new software to help customers better monitor their wireless networks and the development group needed an RF engineer on the team to help collaborate with a third party vendor and existing customers -- and because I hated my Post-Deployment manager (same company)
** Decided to take all of my new found IT knowledge and skillz (Oracle DBA/Sun Sys Admin) to another company to get a 25% pay raise as a Pre-Sales Systems Consultant. A little more travel then before, but a lot of fun. I was never in one place for longer than a week.
** Not sure why now, but Left the job to help a friend grow her salon/spa business and my first taste as an entrepreneur.
** Worked at a day spa briefly to learn about running a salon/spa... a very interesting experience, where I learned that business simply wasn't for me.
** A bit of a crossroad, where I thought about where I wanted to go next. The corporate world simply no longer appealed to me, but I needed to make some money.... I suddenly remember how much I enjoyed homes and properties and decide to research what's going on in the real estate industry. Woot, its 2002 and there's money to be made!
** Get my RE license, work for a broker who is supposedly building homes on vacant lots, but he never built a home all while I was there.
** Went to work for a forward thinking real estate company using the internet as a tool for leads.... $$$$ and became a top 5% producer in the city.
** Worked myself way too hard although I enjoyed it. Became ill and with some other personal happenings decided to take time off for almost a year to get better and deal with other issues... only to watch the bubble burst and the market crash. No going back at that time.
** Came across a great opportunity to open my own online retail business from home and ran it successfully before Google decided to switch their SEO algorithms. Still was doing well, but not as well. The timing of my son entering college again meant I needed to make more money then what the online store was doing.
** Was thinking of doing pre-sales consulting or project management, but found those fields were absolutely saturated and I was too far gone from either. I admittedly was thinking like pre-economic meltdown and thought I could be hired and trained to catch up on anything I rusty on -- LOL, reality check -- too many qualified candidates to choose from now.
** Thought some more about what I could do that kept me close to real estate where I didn't need to schlep people around in my nonexistent car.... okay, maybe mortgages? But I remember the mortgage industry was wild when I was a Realtor. Did I really want to do that? Research tells me a lot of new rules and regs went into place since 2008 and not only did the industry clean up a lot, many loan officers left the business. Its even paying a small salary plus commission now... say what??
** I send my resume to 3 companies looking to train people and bring them into the mortgage industry. I was contacted by 2 and received offers from both. I accepted one. I took it because its a laid back environment that still gives me autonomy even though I'm paid a very small salary. (The real money is in the commissions as it should be).
** I have been non-stop studying and taking exams since I started. Passed the National on my first attempt (its a HARD test) and my first state test. Even though I'm familiar from a real estate perspective, mortgages are more similar to finance, and its a challenging profession, which I don't mind at all.
** My plan is basically whatever money I make will be invested and re-invested. I was approached by a business broker during my hunt and may do some work with him in the future. I taught myself about the forex market back when I was sick and will look at that, options, and other investments, depending on what's looking good for the long term. Definitely going to look at either purchasing property or even REITs.

If I didn't learn anything about myself in all these years, I learned that I don't want to work for someone else forever, and I don't want to HAVE to work forever either. If entrepreneurship had been an option in college at the time, it probably would have been my major.

Just turned 39.

[Yeledaf]

Wow. Interesting thread.

Started work at 14 in the summer (textile mill percher). Picked blueberries, tomatoes, cut corn and cabbage. Euthanized puppies for a veterinarian. Summer job at state home for developmentally disabled. Off to college: Ivy League liberal arts degree (worked year-round in school -- parking lot attendant, sold magazine subscriptions, dining hall waiter -- hey, it was the Ivy League!). Drafted. Vietnam infantry. Some years of drugs and near-insanity. Somehow stayed out of prison. Worked as street-sweeper, factory hand, stock picker and long-haul freight stripper. A few lucky breaks with people and circumstances. Volunteer tutor with CETA Title I programs serving poor single moms, later hired as actual teacher. Grad school. English / applied linguistics prof in the US and many places overseas. Kicked upstairs to educational administration: Deanship, etc. (no big whoop). Years flew by. Tapering off now. Out of the ratrace next Spring. I hope.