What would your career choice be now?

[Zeke's Garage]

I just read through No Regretz's thread about what all the members around here do for a living, and it got me thinking... a little more than usual..

As tough as the industry and market is right now, I really want to open my own shop, where I fix, repair, modify, restore, mock, belittle, junk or destroy cars, trucks, motorcycles and the odd riding lawnmower. I love working on stuff... and I want to be rewarded for NEVER completing any project. I'm still working on the business plan, as you must imagine it's a tough sell.

Anyway after bashing my way through life trying to raise children, provide a home for my family and truly trying to understand what I want out of life... I now have an idea of how I want to move forward and get out of the computer field, and also what I could have done at a much earlier age if I had any sense at all. Here's what SHOULD have happened:

1. Shut off my libido... girls are a known cause of trouble.. I know.. I kept most of the receipts.
2. Join the military, scared straight program or local scouting troop... get some self discipline learn how to tell myself 'No'.
3. Find a way through magic, or sorcery or a good German restaurant to procure an attention to detail, this will come in handy later in the list...
4. Go to work for a body shop, learn how to sand, fill, weld, paint and finish while being able to afford to live on 18k per year. <- apply #3 here.
5. Go to work for a machine shop, learn EVERYTHING you can and avoid eye injuries. Again, apply more #3.
6. Actually pay attention and show respect to the mean, grumpy, 'difficult' old guys that you encounter during life... they are the ones with ALL the knowledge and experience. The more cantankerous and dismissive they are the better they tend to be at their craft... and the more they appreciate #3.
7. Figure out how to make fore-sight as accurate as hind-sight so you aren't making asinine lists at age 41 about what you should have done so you can play with cars and trucks for a living.
8. ??????
9. Profit.

So, now that I've bared my soul and accentuated my double-digit IQ... Anyone have any thoughts about how you would or should have pointed your lives in a bit of a different direction?

And remember this is truly a hypothetical exercise... I'm fully aware it's through my aimless wandering and burbling that I was able to fully understand what I now want, and wouldn't trade my experiences or children for anything... especially if they happen to read this...

[Alex Hayley]

Funny!!!

My career choice would be retired pro skier and now a ski bum.

[magwakeenercew2jh]

Good list. For me, I'd probably have a few "adds". Some of 'em you don't want to read. And most I don't even want to think about.

But one that keeps whacking me on the back of the head is what an older guy told me when I was 15 (...almost 50 years ago! Yetch!):

"Anything worth doin's, worth doin' right".

That advice (actually, it was a *directive* at the time he hit me with it) usually comes back to me when I've done something half-assed.
And, when I'm finally doing it correctly. Often for the third time!

[jamieg]

Originally Posted by Zeke's Garage

I just read through No Regretz's thread about what all the members around here do for a living, and it got me thinking... a little more than usual..

As tough as the industry and market is right now, I really want to open my own shop, where I fix, repair, modify, restore, mock, belittle, junk or destroy cars, trucks, motorcycles and the odd riding lawnmower. I love working on stuff... and I want to be rewarded for NEVER completing any project. I'm still working on the business plan, as you must imagine it's a tough sell.

If your looking for a buisnes partner let me know, we share a common intrest

[panhandler62]

If I had "just said no" at 13 instead of waiting till I was 30 I would likely have aquired a degree in mechanical engineering....

I would have more money, a career where my creativity would be as respected as my skill and none of the people I have in my life now (well, outside mom, sis and her kids, or course.)

I think I'll take the people and not regret the misspent youth that posponed my adulthood 12 years.


Mind you... if I win a lottery I am *so* opening a custom fab shop as a post retirement business!

[fastwillie 696969]

american gigolo

[Zeke's Garage]

To the Mods, thanks for moving this... I got excited and picked the wrong board...


Shawn

[big_al_71]

I would have the same exact career I chosed however the one thing I would had done different is I would have had kids at earlier age rather than waiting like I did.....

[Hottrucks]

Proctoligist since I deal with alot of.....well you know...

I'm in constuction and heavy equipment..I love my work the pay sucks and with the economy the way it is its going to get much better...the up side is that there are no new kids getting into it ( athough average age of con workers in the US is like 58 or something high like that) so it may come around while I still have soomething left of my body....

Hine sight would be more schooling while having a side biz that deals in cash.....

[PanelDeland]

Lottery winner!! That's all I want to be.Then I wont really care if I if I'm rewarded for not finishing something and no one will yell at me for it either since I would only do work for myself.

[tcb-1]

a drunk, hold on there already.

[Restrorob]

Well, I'm with big al.....

I wouldn't change careers, I've enjoyed spinning wrenches over 35 years and have made a pretty good living doing it. I'd be like a fish out of water doing anything else !

But.... I do like the "lottery winner" idea.

[xs-style]

Physical therapy assistant, or computer programmer. Anything other than than dockworker lol Oh well. It pays the bills and it seems Im stuck with it for the foreseeable future, so just smile and be glad to work at all.

[slomotion]

I would do the same thing over. Service right out of high school, give Uncle Sam twenty years, retire at 38 with a trade, a pension, and (God willing) time left for two more pension bearing careers. It's hard to believe, but I've been drawing the military pension for ten years longer then my entire career. Thinking about collecting from Uncle Sam for another ten or twenty years.

[rwolf9653]

Something where I can work from home. Commuting several hours a day tends to take the fun out of driving.
In reality, I have a somewhat stable job with benefits and an income that could be better but I have had worse. So I am happy for what I have.

[MrDude_1]

retired at age 27.

[jitteryguy]

I kick my self all the time for pass'n up a job at the fire dept when I was 20 yrs old. all though for the most part I have have always had a mechanic job that I really enjoy'd, I love the job I have now (SOCOM mechanic) . my biggest regret in life is not find'n better Moma's for my boy's (4 boys 2 momas) . may stay here 5 or 6 yrs and retire when I get home !