What do you do for a living?

Business Manager at the local vocational-technical school. However, my recently deceased Dad taught me that saving a few $$ regardless of the work is always a good thing. As a result, I'm hooked on burning the little black beauties. I wish my Dad had stuck around long enough to see my coal delivery setup and stove in operation, man do i ever miss that guy.

Electrical design engineer / Programmer, I design and program automated control systems for machines and process controls. I program PLC's, HMI's and SCADA. Mostly Square D equipment now, but I've done a fair amount of Alen Bradly also.

Self employed network engineer / IT consultant / programmer as the primary job

Misc income? Auto/truck/marine mechanic and electrical troubleshooting specialist, custom EFI conversions & tuning. Several local shop have me "on call" when they can't find the gremlins. Residential/light commercial HVAC and electrical. Small engine/tool repair for local contractors. My father taught me how to stick weld, picked up MIG and TIG on my own - not always pretty but the welds never break! Dad also taught me turning on a WW2 South Bend lathe he had on loan from a friend - now owning a well-worn 6" Atlas makes me wish he never gave it back. Snow plowing puts some ca$h in the pocket too.

Best job I ever had was running a small salvage yard 2 college summers. Learned how to run a big forklift, end loader, and a car crusher. Would do automotive full time but I love cars too much - old timer at the yard told me "When your hobby is your job and your job is your hobby you hate both".

If I can put my hands on it I can probably do it. Except automotive bodywork - a spray gun in my hand is a waste of perfectly good paint.

DOUG wrote:I'm a Pennsylvania State Certified School Bus Driving Instructor. It's not exactly what I graduated a four year college for, but I'm having a blast and it's the only job I ever had that I don't mind getting up to go to work for. Somebody has to do it, why not someone that thoroughly enjoys it. I also modify wood and coal furnaces part time with my buddy. Finding the job you enjoy is a great blessing!

Doug, I have a friend/neighbor who is a NYS certified school bus driving instructor and he said the exact same thing you did: He truly loves the job and felt it was a great blessing to have found it. Perhaps it should be added to the short list of truly uplifting careers.

lowfog01 wrote:In my spare time I drive a school bus but my real job is mom to my 3 kids, a set of non-twins which are what we call our girls born 3 years to the minute apart and a 14 year old son. The girls are both in college and on their own. I was able to home school each of the girls from K-12 and they are doing very well in college, thank you very much. My son is also home schooled and will be starting his high school work next year. He is a work in progress. I am a “right wing wacko who clings to my guns and my religion” I work hard to pass those values on to my kids. I pray for the president and our country. Lisa

Home schooling is a tough job. I give you a lot of credit. There aren't many who do it well.

Did the school bus driving influence your decision to home school?

mikeandgerry wrote:

lowfog01 wrote:In my spare time I drive a school bus but my real job is mom to my 3 kids, a set of non-twins which are what we call our girls born 3 years to the minute apart and a 14 year old son. The girls are both in college and on their own. I was able to home school each of the girls from K-12 and they are doing very well in college, thank you very much. My son is also home schooled and will be starting his high school work next year. He is a work in progress. I am a “right wing wacko who clings to my guns and my religion” I work hard to pass those values on to my kids. I pray for the president and our country. Lisa

Home schooling is a tough job. I give you a lot of credit. There aren't many who do it well.

Did the school bus driving influence your decision to home school?

No, as my older kids became independent learners in high school I found I had time on my hands while they virtually taught themselves everything from advanced math to world history. I became a mentor of sorts providing materials and advise. They knew what it would take to get into the college of their choice and they made sure it happened. I was looking for a part-time job to ease my way back in to the work force after 12 years. Driving a school bus just fit. Believe it or not, at least in my county, driving a bus has a lot of upward mobility potential. The hours of a bus driver were perfect and before I had kids I was a Transportation/Logistics Officer in the Army moving people and equipment around. In my area we work a split shift so I’ve worked ½ my day before my 14 year old even gets ups in the morning and then I have a long break mid-day to work with him on his school before heading back for my afternoon shift. He does his “home work” then.

I’ve been driving for a couple of years now and you wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen and heard. School bus drivers are invisible to teenage kids and that provides an opportunity to make a difference in their lives if you are willing. I pray that I am able to make a difference each day with my attitude or just by listening. I’m often the first adult some kids see each day and I can make a difference in how they approach their day. I really love driving a school bus. Lisa

lowfog01 wrote:I’ve been driving for a couple of years now and you wouldn’t believe some of the things I’ve seen and heard. School bus drivers are invisible to teenage kids and that provides an opportunity to make a difference in their lives if you are willing. I pray that I am able to make a difference each day with my attitude or just by listening. I’m often the first adult some kids see each day and I can make a difference in how they approach their day. I really love driving a school bus. Lisa

You have a wonderful attitude. I try to make a difference in the lives of my younger employees. They seem to need so much guidance and have gotten so little. Some might think that the bus driver is just another fixture but you make the job 'human" by caring and being positive. The attitude of adults does affect the attitude of children nearby. Children learn by first parroting the adults in their lives and then, through cognizance and reasoning, that is, if the adults in their lives have been diligent and interactive.

Your military experience has made you diciplined about life and it shows.

Thank you for your service to this country, not just as a soldier, but as a whole citizen.

mikeandgerry wrote "You have a wonderful attitude."

Attitude is everything! I remember my first assignment in the Army was at the Military Ocean Terminal, Bayonne, NJ; a scary place for someone from rural North Georgia. That’s right across the harbor from NYC. I learned that I can handle most anything because I’ve spent 3 years in Bayonne. LOL In all honesty, I’ve gotten back more than I’ve ever given through the military. It really was a great place to start. Sadly, I don’t know if you can say that anymore. My husband went on and recently retired after 26 years. He was mobilized twice after 9/11 for 12 months each time. He still works for the Dept of the Navy as a civilian.

Anyway thanks for the nice words. Lisa

Union carpenter local 1406 hobart In. when I'm working. Laid off now, hope I go back to work soon! Right now trying to beat the local energy provider by feeding my fisher stove. Because unemployment doesn't cut it.

I just had my ten year anniversary for an electric motor repair shop here in central NY. I started as a winder for 6 years but for the last 4 Ive been in the machine shop. No fancy cnc machines or anything here its all manual lathes and mills. Balancing rotors and armatures as well as some oddball things are all part of the machine shop. My favorite part is when one of our truck drivers drop a brand new motor off the truck and they bring me the pieces to weld back together(they have to look like new). I flip flop between winding and machining, I go werever the work is more plentiful and before the economy crapped out I had all the overtime I ever wanted.

My favorite job was 15 years ago when I was 18 I started the day after graduation as a clerk at the local hardware store(no big box stores in my hometown). I was the youngest one that worked the floor and loved it. The other guys taught me so much about DIY home stuff and repairs. That only lasted 1 1/2 years before I was outdrinking my paycheck and had to move on but I tell my wife if we ever win the lotto I want to run my own hardware store in some small town upstate or maybe Vermont.

Jim

IBEW Local 5 Electrician

Naval architect, hull structures engineer in shipyards in Baltimore and Chester PA (back when we had shipyards), law school, admiralty lawyer, special master (fed judge by assignment) in maritime contract case, commercial litigation attorney.

Motorcycle sport-tourer, boater, fisherman, road-racing fan (Le Mans, Sebring, ALMS), skier. Been a Democrat since Kent State; got active in Democratic party politics doing voter rights work during the 2004 election and have stayed involved since.

Now using my grandfather's Kiski coal shovel -- again.

Math teacher... going on my 5th year! I did high school till about 2 weeks ago, loved it! It is a blessing, truly, to get up to go to work and look forward to working! I made the switch to middle school about two weeks ago - and I love it as well! I know... something not quite screwed on right, but I love the high energy of the kids... so many of them live in 'cesspools', the math went from something that was fun to teach, to brainless... but that's okay - I'll find a way to relate it to industry and real life... just scrambling right now to keep things interesting. I spent more than two years developing hundreds of presentations and unique methods to present abstract ideas to concrete kids... for Algebra 1 and 2 courses... feeling a bit of loss there. But I have the challenge of making math relevant to about 134 hormone crazed awkward feeling preteens. I truly love my job... and don't understand why more folks don't go into teaching!

My newest hobby is burning coal and reading/commenting on this forum... what a great place to spend some time... ehh?

Pret

Nice thread, some very interesting jobs out there

Spent the first 20 years being a corporate slug, working my way up from inventory management to systems design and administration. Changed jobs to do systems analysis but I guess I was doing too good when they laid me off because they weren't going to support the technical customer service stuff I did.

After being laid off for almost a year to the day I took a position as Homeland Security Program Coordinator for a volunteer organization. Been a volunteer / call firefighter since I was a junior in High School and got involved in emergency management and EMS after getting out of collage which got me the H/S job.

I am currently the Director of RSVP Worcester Area Volunteers and although the pay working for a non-profit leaves a lot to be desired I love my job and the impact it has in the community. If you are 55+ and have skills, talent and time please contact your local office. e-mail me and I will give you the link

I have also accepted a position leading a Critical Incident Stress Team that uses K9 (totally volunteer position) that serves public safety organizations, like Lisa you would not believe some of the stuff I've heard when these folks start unloading, the details that never makes the paper.

My grandfather and great grandfather were master craftsman working with wood, my dad has the talent and does a lot in his retirement which I think where I get a natural curiosity for how things work. There isn't any machine ever made that I can't take apart. The problem I have is getting them back together