So you trained as but work as..........

[181ce]

Son you went to school didn't know what you wanted to be trained as a ............and ultimately ended up being a ...............

My own journey.

Technical college trained as electronic engineer.

School of Life dad a mechanic fond memories of doing his jobs when he was golfing,from about age 12

Spent years doing computer repairs in house and feild  service

Got fed up went to Germany for a holiday for 2 weeks came back 2 years later having been driving trucks

Got a lovely job as homer Simpson shift work  in a bluechip pharma plant

They shut

More truck driving

Even worse more trucks.......spannering

Currently homer Simpson again ,normal company,normal pay etc..all asperations evaporated..... I'm tired,hope to retire from here only another 15years

It's been something of a rollercoaster

Advice to my kids

I don't care just make sure to do something you like. ... LOL

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[S41NT]

Agreed, trying to get my eldest into cycling. Wish i'd done it as a kid, could have been half decent i reckon.

Trying to get her to do something she likes but there's a fine line. If i get too pushy i think she won't enjoy it.

Although myself, I left school in '97 to do an apprenticeship in Aberdeen as an Instrument Tech, been doing it ever since...

[roo]

With me I left school in '96 and did a city and guilds in car maintenance.

At the end of the college year I was offered a place with an independent back street garage, but the money was just YTS money, so I turned it down and did a full time NVQ level 2 in car maintenance.

I had had a Saturday job at a car dealer since I was 13, and did a placement at another dealer during my training, but there was no prospect of a full time job at either of them.

Because of this I applied for an apprenticeship with London Underground, which I got.

My first year was training in tool making, with the next two years going around different depots learning about the trains and their differences with some time spent with the engineers as well.

Before I started my 4th year in 2001, I got a train maintainers job at the depot I was posted at.

In 2015 I successfully applied for a promotion to advanced train maintainer on which is a fault finding engineering position at the same place but on the new S stock trains with run on 40% of the network. 

[KenONeill]

Trained as commercial systems analyst (things like payroll, stock control and ledger), but work as a technical data analyst (still programming, but for scientific work).

[Auric Goldfinger]

Left school early, hated school

Worked in a supermarket, shop floor

worked in the tyre industry for Kennings Tyre services

Went to live in Canada for almost a year

Returned home and got my job back with kennings

Went to work on the Railway, plate layer/ track maintance.

progressed to train guard/Conductor

Changed depot's to become a Train Driver at Skipton, managed to get back to my original depot, 34 years on the railway, 33 and a half years at one depot

 

Now retired.............BLISS

[lol-lol]

Trained as Merchant Navy Engineering Officer and ended up international logistics customs analyst.  Via HMRC and big 4 firm.

Not too far in forty years some might say.  

[mac11irl]

/\ you forgot promotional spokesman for Dacia Lolz jk

[Lady Elanore]

I trained as hard as I could and now work as little as I can get away with 

[181ce]

3 hours ago, Lady Elanore said:

I trained as hard as I could and now work as little as I can get away with 

As we all try too.

 

[lol-lol]

10 hours ago, mac11irl said:

/\ you forgot promotional spokesman for Dacia Lolz jk

 

As an early adopter of Skoda, I had a Felecia back in the mid 90s, about a dozen Skodas,many VRSs and L&Ks, visit to Prague to see them in their origin habitat, but my Fabia Mk2 VRS was the last Skoda I actually wanted.  Dacias are miles better value than anyything else out there and remind me of the ethics of Skoda before they became both bland and expensive.

In 2018 I might not actually by a new vehicle where as I normally buy at least 1, bike or car, BREXIT, the weakness in the pound and the lack of anything revolutionary on the market might means waiting for EVs to get a bit better ie Zoe estate version with DC charger as well as AC, here is hoping. 

Edited 30 December, 2017 by lol-lol

[ahenners]

Possibly a bit younger than most in this thread, but left School with GCSEs, went to College (6th form) to do A Levels, then went to Uni to drink do an IT degree. Worked in IT for over 6 years now and progressed a few rungs up the career ladder.

 

Definitely helps if you do something you enjoy. Makes it feel less of a chore to get out of bed in a morning!

[Auric Goldfinger]

2 hours ago, ahenners said:

Makes it feel less of a chore to get out of bed in a morning!

 

What is this " getting out of bed in a morning " malarkey      

[ahenners]

Just now, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

What is this " getting out of bed in a morning " malarkey      

 

Lucky you... only 40 years until I can say the same... 

[SWBoy]

7 minutes ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

 

What is this " getting out of bed in a morning " malarkey      

+1

 

Started designing & building electronics (etched my own PCBs to my own designs) in the late 1960's, got into programming in the early 1970's (ALGOL-68R and FORTRAN), then went to university to study electronics. Spent next nearly 40 years writing embedded firmware (C and Assembler) and designing "impossible" electronics for everything from covert tracking devices to mobile phones before deciding to retire in 2016 when I got fed up of younger managers ignoring my experience based advice and making all the same mistakes I had made 20-30 years earlier (and wasting time & money in doing so).

 

It's great this retired "job" - if it's frosty or snow outside I just have another cup of tea in bed!

[mac11irl]

2 hours ago, ahenners said:

 

Lucky you... only 40 years until I can say the same... 

 

Assuming retirement age doesnt get pushed up another few years in the meantime..

[ahenners]

Just now, mac11irl said:

 

Assuming retirement age doesnt get pushed up another few years in the meantime..

 

Yeah there is that. Though I'm hoping I won't be relying on state pension (it may not even exist by then!) And have been paying into a pension for years already.

[lol-lol]

 

Not always wise to leave retiring too long as many pension investments are growing slower than inflation ie many people may well get less out than they put in and one wants to enjoy ones retirement of course so be active enough to do so.

 

Took part of my pension earlier this year, why not when one can tap thousands of pounds tax free, even though I still work fully time or even more than full time if that makes sense. 

[Auric Goldfinger]

On the Pension theme.  When the Rail Industry went private my works pension remained with British Rail. Any one joining the Industry after it all went private had a pention with the Company running the franchise. It was then transfered to the company who took over. My Pension was a Final Salary pension

 

 

Edited 30 December, 2017 by Auric Goldfinger

[lol-lol]

1 hour ago, Auric Goldfinger said:

On the Pension theme.  When the Rail Industry went private my works pension remained with British Rail. Any one joining the Industry after it all went private had a pention with the Company running the franchise. It was then transfered to the company who took over. My Pension was a Final Salary pension

 

Glad to say my partial HMRC pension is Final Salary and index linked, now to CPI rather then RPI of course, but as CPI has ripped ahead in the last year due to the fine stewardship (cough) of the current UK government and it is paid at 60 and it has a lump sum element to it too, happy days.

 

Going to make it less financial attractive to do a full time job after 60, unless the company adjust my salary upwards to make up the fact I will have little to no tax free pay with them so the choice will be work less days, not always works well as there is always more than enough work to do and it needs to be done, or argue it out or go consultant and companies can pay the consultancy rate if they want the expertise.   

 

Not counting on the State pension that much as, at present rate of the UK falling further in to national debt, the UK government will have to continue to up the starting age to 70 and beyond and eventually the Triple Lock will become un-affordable.   

[JohnRS]

I studied engineering at uni but I'm now re-training to be an an accountant for a large government organisation. However when I was young I wanted to be a barrister. 

[KenONeill]

44 minutes ago, JohnRS said:

I studied engineering at uni but I'm now re-training to be an accountant for a large government organisation.  

Why does this sound like DSTL, formerly DERA (Dedicated Engineers Retraining as Accountants)?

[mac11irl]

23 minutes ago, KenONeill said:

Why does this sound like DSTL, formerly DERA (Dedicated Engineers Retraining as Accountants)?

 

A guy i was in school with did Electronic and computer engineering at universtity, including a masters.

Then said he never wanted to deal with computer code or hardware again and went and did accountancy exams

[181ce]

On 30/12/2017 at 02:48, Lady Elanore said:

 

Edited 31 December, 2017 by 181ce

[181ce]

9 minutes ago, mac11irl said:

 

A guy i was in school with did Electronic and computer engineering at universtity, including a masters.

Then said he never wanted to deal with computer code or hardware again and went and did accountancy exams

 

2 minutes ago, 181ce said:

I can relate

 

[roo]

On 30/12/2017 at 14:59, Auric Goldfinger said:

On the Pension theme.  When the Rail Industry went private my works pension remained with British Rail. Any one joining the Industry after it all went private had a pention with the Company running the franchise. It was then transfered to the company who took over. My Pension was a Final Salary pension

 

 

We had guys in the same boat.   LU have a final salary pension.  When the engineering side was privatised 15 years ago, all new starters went into a private pension where all of us that joined before the take over were in the LU pension fund and kept our travel benifits.  When the privatisation went tits up a few years later, the two thirds with metronet were brought back under LU due to metronet going into administration and they entered the LU pension fund and gained the travel pass.  Those with Tube lines were brought out by Transport for London a year or so later, but they have been kept as a technically separate company with different pension arrangements which is only really being sorted now as their contracts are different.

Saying that, those on a Metronet contract are slightly better off than those on the LU contract, mainly down to 4 weeks full pay paternity leave, which if timed right can give you 5 weeks off.  LU contract staff (so those that joined after metronet went bust, and those that have had promotion since) get the standard 2 weeks.