How do you earn your living?

[Gavo]

working in my day job as a printing machinist in Melbourne in 1966


I was born then

[Whizz]

That was a year before I joined the RAF!, and I thought I was old!!!

[Gavo]

i think you could be

[Whizz]

You're right... I am!!

  
  

[Couch]

Good on ya Gavo.............I started work in 1954 at 14 years of age........I guess that makes me a really old bugger, hey!!

working in my day job as a printing machinist in Melbourne in 1966


I was born then

[royst1100]

first one was a paperboy still in primery school

next chemist medisine delivery plus panphlets

left school and dad said no to profesional dole bludger, damit

telegram boy (most of us would remember what they where)

1st appentaceship letterpress opperater (pay less than $30 a week and young and silly )quit! huge and 1st big mistake! 

uncle said work for me as an appentace floor mechanice ??? you ask???, well  aVIC apprentaecship, to the NSW apprentaceship board, managed by the ACT board. oh yeh !!! hard vinyl layer to us simpletonns

next was a term as a trainee carpetlayer   

33years in floors saw domestic carpets and vinyls to floors, walls and sometimes ceilings and commercial clients. inbetween turned to timber flooring as well. parquetry- mossaic and block, solid timber, clip flooring and floating floors. ive done parquetry floors in parlement house qld, brisbane and goldcoast casinos, RSL clubs allover, basket ball courts. dance floors in numerus schools and clubs.
 last 14 years mainly comical ehhh i mean commercial doing uplifts floor repairs grinding filling and new and replacement coverings for small shops, buisneses, offices, high rises, hospitals, supermarkets, usually big hours (what does an 8 hour day mean), 7 days a week and or night work

very heavy and demanding on ones now broken body and the inabilaty to put up with some socalled profesional "people"     (that was hard to not say what i would liked to have said and then get smitted ) so about 4 years ago i quit and i now wonder around a chicken futher procesing plant trying to keep the outside areas clean. will be there till retirement or is it am retired    hmmm ahh thats right till retirement

so thats me very boreing ,no life till the discovery of our  ,ullysses and now ozstoc

[Shiney]

I started working at 14 at a fruit store then:
KFC - cooking chicken
Wormaway Worm Farm – sales
Adapt Fitness (Gym) – odd jobs
Kmart – Trolley boy
Dominos Pizza  - delivery driver
Cloes – stocking shelves
Then I got into Security – 
          static guard,
          mobile patrols,
          gatehouse,
          bouncer
          Corporate Security
And now I do surveillance for the Council and Police throughout the Brisbane CBD and Fortitude Valley areas

[saaz]

I have led a most boring life it seems 

Grew up on a dairy farm in western Victoria, stayed in the same house until I left for university in Canberra.  Usual farm work to do, 7 days a week, early until late out in all weather.  Farm life is not that romantic for me 

Four years in uni, then joined Commonwealth Treasury department in 1981. Still, but maybe not for much longer (like in the next few months) as early early retirement becons  .  I have worked on lot of different things over the years, currently in international taxation.  I have worked too close to governments over the years    so politics is something that does not surprise me in any way.  Would I prefer to cart bales of hay for weeks on end in 30c plus heat or have to deal with the politics of trying to think up and implement policy   

Much better to  which solves the problem   

[IanB]

Hey Saaz, which part of Western Victoria.
Spent years learning how to drink and drive at Terang.
Job wise - spent a few years after high school doing odd jobs as we hitched up and down east coast.
Began as journalist in Camperdown, Vic then just went to other papers cause it was the only way to get promoted. Did Warrnambool, Melb, Albury, Cairns.
Somewhere in there swapped to being press photographer and did that as a commercial job for a few years after leaving papers.
Worked as land saleman in Cairns, came to Bris to work for Lendlease as an admin person and after getting bored with the paperwork left to retire for a while. Bored stupid so become a traffic controller.
Now sit in my ute and annoy motorists by putting up signs in the middle of the road in the middle of the night.
Awesome standing there with the little stop sign and a night wand hoping that fully loaded B double sees you.
Don't do daytime there's to many motorists abt

[saaz]

Beatup, come from a place called Carpendeit.  Near Camperdown and Colac, went through Terang a lot as my parents originally came from around Penshurst and Coleraine.  The Great Ocean road and all the hinterland roads were my home learning to ride, but moved away before using them a lot    Most of my family is around Colac, Gellibrand, Swan Marsh, Geelong and Bendigo

[Bikebear]

Starting from the earliest money earning job:

Paperboy, milko, butchers boy, apprentice Radio Mechanic with Comalco in Weipa (4 years), Telecommunications Technician with Telecom/Telstra in the NT (12 1/2 years), Communications Technician/Communications Inspector with the ACA/ACMA in Cairns (11 3/4 years) and currently Regional Communications Technician with Emergency Management Queensland in Cairns.

Not a huge number of jobs but a couple were quite long term. I have been made redundant twice, once from Telecom/Telstra and once from the ACA/ACMA.

I am really enjoying my present job as the work I do is directly related to groups who serve the public in times of emergency - SES and Rural Fires.  I'm also an SES member so I get to do all the fun things sometimes, like driving floodboats, being an observer in airsearches, chopping things up with chainsaws and oh joy, oh joy.. filling sandbags.. ::) .

[Marcus]

I began in work aged 14 in the printing industry in Melbourne and was apprenticed as a letterpress machinest. After completing a 5 year apprenticeship I continued working in the industry as a colour printer, at the same time completing advanced courses in Photo Lithography, Camera Operation, Plate Making etc.....I am just sooooooooo pleased to be out of it now!! 

I started My working life as an Apprentice Graphic Reproducer at one of the largest book printers in Australia, doing all aspects, Plate Making, Camera Operator (running the largest box brownie you've ever seen). compositing and combining etc. 4 years later I moved up to night shift manager looking after the transition from Bench work to digital pre press.

The closest I could find to show what sort of camera it was... the one I work on you could stand up inside the bellows


8 Years later, I get a phone call to come work for, what I thought was a small typesetting business in town. Turns out it's the largest typesetting company in Australia, whose clients range from people self-publishing memoirs. To the biggest Publishers in the world. Fastforward 5 years and now part owner in the business. fastforward another 6-7 years and here we are.

(state of the industry is not looking good, which mean I'm at a crossroads, Do I stick it out and go down with the ship possibly in around 2-5 years? But will that make me too old, for another job? all big life decisions)

Anyway....that's me

[Biggles]

Sell while the biz is worth something and buy a Bikers' Coffee Shoppe.
And give discounts to STOwners and freebies to Pensioner STOwners.   

[Marcus]

Sell while the biz is worth something and buy a Bikers' Coffee Shoppe.
And give discounts to STOwners and freebies to Pensioner STOwners.   

I see like where you're going with that

[jf3000]

Wow so many people with lots of different jobs, makes me look small. I work for a communications company as a software programmer in .NET, pretty much help out writing the software for all the little stores they look after, everything from sending an sms via your pc to remote assistance to a satellite. Keeps me sane, then I come home and get on the computer again then get into my gaming and hopefully soon release my first Steam game.

[Marcus]

.

[jf3000]

Currently its a WIP (Work in Progress) and the steam view will probably be submitted within about 4 months after I move to Hervey Bay. With Steam there is no guarantee you get into steam, its all based on whether or not people think its interesting and vote on it, if most of the votes are a no then you dont get it, its the way of life. Right now its a simple shoot em up, single player, across a harsh landscape, not much happening at the moment as I am trying to add multiplayer and many other facets to the game as well. But its a hobby and I love tinkering with code. You can see my process here

Code: [Select]

https://trello.com/b/leVeljwc/bl2

[HunterTodd]

I have had a variety of occupations but the one I absolutely loved  was being  an Equine dentist.

 I trained a worked a few years built up a nice practice then Equine Influena hit NSW and wiped out my business overnight. They locked every horse down for nearly twelve months and I had to get other work. Got a good job doing what I did before dentistry and family imperatives meant I never went back.

[Totgas]

Started off at 16 driving Semi's for a produce company. I had been driving since I was 12 as I grew up on a farm in Tamworth (UK) and then (NSW)
Joined the NSW Ambulance after leaving high school (because I wanted to drive fast and not have to stop at red lights) I became one of the first paramedics in Australia. Posted to Illawarra HQ. I was 21, the highest paid Officer in the station, had the best vehicle, highest clinical rank, supervised other officers twice my age and only did Cas calls (accidents, etc) Moved to Sydney undertook qualifications in Psychiatry, became a Midwife, delivered a heap of babies, undertook further qualifications in Emergency Management, opened the Westmaed Hospital as the ED Manager. Moved to the Northern Territory to take up the position of Director of Nursing for the Katherine region. This position also put me in charge of AeroMedical service (fixed wing and rescue helicopters). Not the RFDS, which at that time was only in Alice Springs yet received the credit for everything we did.
Moved back to Tamworth NSW - took up the managers position of the Emergency Department. In my spare time ran a small but profitable computer business, had three children, bought a farm - Got divorced!
Moved to Sydney took up state-wide manager of IT applications for Emergency Departments.  Moved to QLD into the same position in as in NSW. Got married, adopted another two children. Took on Intensive Care Units as well ED, and that is where I am today.

A.

[Brock]

  

So look, I have this pain in my brain, what should I do about it..   (Ive done work place first aid, and applied a bandaid once...)

[ST2UP]

 

So look, I have this pain in my brain, what should I do about it..   (Ive done work place first aid, and applied a bandaid once...)

Loosen the bandaid......should fix your your brain pain, don't worry about the service fee......will bulk bill you 

[saaz]

Brain?  You are not supposed to have one of them, causes too many problems.  I think it is more a matter of Brock..SMASH (attribution to the Avengers movie) 

 

So look, I have this pain in my brain, what should I do about it..   (Ive done work place first aid, and applied a bandaid once...)

[Gadget]

Some interesting stuff indeed.  We each have our role to play.

I grew up on several Dairy Farms in Northern NSW.  Dad and Mum were a share farmers raising 6 kids.

Learnt to drive the tractor at age 8 because Dad had an accident with two buckets of boiling hot Caustic Soda which filled both his gum boots.  I drove the Tractor while Mum loaded and unloaded irrigation pipes.  I slashed and ploughed paddocks.  One farm had an Ag Bike and that's when I got the bug.

Rode a push bike 20 km into town to play soccer on Saturdays and mow my Grandmothers Lawn for 20 cents.  that grew a little into weeding and lawn mowing for several elderly ladies in town.  One school holidays a the age of 16 I milked cows and ran the farm while a family went on holidays for a couple of weeks.

In the last 2 years at High School we moved into town and on Saturdays I went to the local Sports goods store and helped the Swiss owner (who did his Cheese making apprenticeship in France).  I helped repair push bikes, assembled wheels from hubs spokes and rims.

At the end of year 11 in 1980 I was Corp enlisted to do Electronics (Radio Mechanic).  I had postings to Bandianna Vic (Radio Mechanic), Enoggera Qld (Radio Mechanic with only 6 radios to look after, so I learnt a lot from the mechanics and fitters and Recovery Mechanics), Coopers Plains Qld (including 5.5 Months Base Centre Calibration Technician course with the RAAF at Richmond), Moorebank NSW (Calibration Centre including Mobile), A 22 month Secondment to RAAF Base Richmond Calibration Centre, then the last posting was Sydney Workshops Company at Banksmeadow setting up a new Calibration Laboratory.

In 1994 I left the Army because my son had started school and I didn't want to drag him from school to school.

I joined what was then the Civil Aviation Authority which later changed its name to Airservices Australia to work in the Electronics Calibration Laboratory.  After 6 years there I was offered a Voluntary redundancy and took it and paid off the mortgage.

After a whole frustrating 5 weeks of unemployment, I was offered a job with Australian Calibrating Services (A'sia) Pty Ltd (ACS) calibrating and repairing Concrete Testing Machines, Tensile and Compression force measuring machines, Torque testers, Metal Hardness Testers (Vickers, Rockwell, Brinell, Charpy, Izod) Dial Indicators and dial Gauges, Surface blocks, pressure Gauges, Ovens, furnaces and fridges for spatial temperature variations, Mechanical and electronic balances, steel rules and measuring microscopes..  I serviced all of Qld and had a couple of work trips to Darwin and a one to each of Fiji, New Zealand and Solomon Islands.

After 5 years with ACS, I was approached by Airservices to come back and continue automating the procedures I had started when I was last there.  A pay rise of 50% was too hard to knock back.

When I'm not calibrating power meters and sensors or signal generators, I write automation programs in VEE (with a bit of .Net thrown in) I also use some IVI drivers and some ActiveX,  Fluke Met/CAL and VBA in Excel and Word. 

I learnt the basics of HP Basic on the Calibration course and from there I self taught in fluke Basic, Quick Basic, Turbo Basic, VEE and Met/CAL.

I'd love to know more about .Net but work keeps getting in the way.

[RockyRural]

Well I've had a fairly mundane existence started work in '69 and had a career as
Banker
Soldier (infantry Signals)
Systems Analyst/Call Centre Systems Manager (was instrumental in putting the first phone answering system in front of the Call centre operators, something I now regret.. "press 1 for an operator") and for the last 14 years working in Local Government as a .NET developer writing Software applications for the Local Shire Council and DBA (SQL server).
oh and I also write apps for Android devices and Web services.

[Gerard & Sandra]

I am a Finance Broker and Sandra is a Registerted Nurse.

Regards
Gerard Beard