There are 24 replies in this Thread which was already clicked 359 times. The last Post () by GlasgowJohn.

What kind of jobs have you done in your lives?

    So many for me that it would take several pages to write about, but in the late 70s I was lucky to find a job in container shipping as a sales exec. First in Birmingham and later in their London office. I really loved that job.

    Does anyone recognise this container?


    Several jobs later I ended up with this company and some of you may recognise the shipping lines I represented. However, it was more of a PR job involving long, boozy lunches and very little work. That was the 80s for you after all.

    My first job ever was car washer. I was about 18 years old and I started on a summer break and kept working there on Saturdays when school resumed. I eventually left when I started the University.

    When I was in my last year of University, I started translating. Curiously, my first paid job was the translation of an article on a young Messi (2006) and I had to look up Argentina on the map as I wasn't sure if it was above or under Brazil.

    Once I graduated I started working also as an engineer in a power plant, a job that I enjoyed a lot.

    However, it wasn't bound to last. We moved to Argentina and the rest is history.

    High school jobs:

    Shelved books in the public library.

    Tutored in math, English and Latin.


    Summer jobs in College/University:

    Library work in a multinational metals company.

    Analytical chemist, same corporation.

    Laboratory assistant, IBM at NASA Space Center.


    Post-University graduate school:

    Taught weekly labs to university students.


    “Grownup” jobs:

    College administration / PR / traveling to give speeches / organizing annual reunions and regional clubs for former students.


    Editing /proofreading / magazine publishing


    Promotional director for ski resort.


    Advertising account executive.


    Physician recruiting and placement.


    There has clearly no pattern, no rhyme or reason.

    Favorite summer job was the one at IBM, where I etched circuit boards for the Saturn rocket and tested inventions such as a silicon hand coating designed to protect skin even when hands were plunged into a sulfuric acid bath. I volunteered. It worked.

    Bloody hell! We have a space scientist in our midst.

    That's an impressive CV.

    My summer holiday job between the sixth form at school and higher education was to pack loose biscuits into cellophane packets for sale in International Stores.


    The previous summer holiday I had worked at the Ilford Photographic (now Harman) factory. Ah that sounds more interesting. Don't you believe it. I had to watch the machines making plastic photographic slides. While the machine operators did the trickier job of moulding the slides I had to keep them lubricated and top up the hoppers with plastic granules. Woe betide me if I let a machine run out of plastic - the operators were on a bonus scheme based on their production.


    The most exciting thing that happened to me there occurred after someone had tripped over a trailing lead plugged into an electrical wall socket. The incident had ripped the wires out of the 13A plug which was still in the wall. Sensing the opportunity to do something different I called out "I can deal with that, I know how to wire up a plug."

    "Don't you dare!" came back the reply. "If you touch that wire all the factory electricians will go out on strike!"


    My first summer holiday job was with the company that was developing and manufacturing the weather radar system for the Concorde aircraft and I was working in their radar research lab. I'm fairly proud to say that I designed and built one of the pieces of equipment that was used to test that radar system. I'm perhaps a little less proud to say that it wasn't electronic but barometric. Still, not too bad for a sixteen-year-old schoolboy and it worked and it did the job.

    Quote from Splinter

    Does anyone recognise this container?

    I suspect my brother does. He was a Captain with Maersk.


    I worked for 35 years before moving here....by luck I timed it right for getting the full state pension. :thumbup:My line of work was mostly in horticulture. Crap pay but a really enjoyable environment. The last 25-30 years was as a trainer. I also did some freelance assessing work for City and Guilds. Visiting training centres delivering horticulture qualifications. That was really interesting, especially when it involved visiting maximum security prisons and meeting the inmates.

    Newspaper boy,

    Shop assistant in a supermarket,

    Electronic assembler

    Tv/VHS/DVD/microwave/Hi-fi repairer

    Courier (I really hated the job)

    I prefer to keep my current job a secret for personal reasons


    Repairing microwave ovens and TV was a dangerous job because of the high voltages I had to deal with. If you didn’t discharge either in the correct way and touched certain points when replacing components, you’d be embedded in the wall of the room that I was working in

    Quote from SpaceNut

    Repairing microwave ovens and TV was a dangerous job because of the high voltages I had to deal with. If you didn’t discharge either in the correct way and touched certain points when replacing components, you’d be embedded in the wall of the room that I was working in

    Good grief! I had no idea.