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Professor Snugglesworth
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
That pretty much says it, doesn't it? I tried to think up a witty quote, but I must confess that I've never seen Clerks. Sorry.
In this thread, I'd like all participants to list your current employment, how you got there, and what you'd like to do next, if applicable.
My highest education as of now is an Associates in Arts degree at community college, and I currently work at a major credit card company (hint: seinfeld starred in their commercials) as a customer service rep who also sells ticket information for exclusive events.
The job is a fulltime position that offers a modest salary and several perks, including paid vacaction, health insurance, and even tuition reimbursment. It's a far cry from any previous job I've ever had, and I'm very thankful I was given the oppurtunity.
There's just one problem: I'm growing very sick of the job. It's only been six months but all I can think of is doing something else. This has nothing to do with the work environment (it's very nice and everyone is nice), or the long hours (I'm sitting in front of a PC, not much different from what I do at home): I'm just sick of working with customers.
Some days, I hardly get any calls at all, so it's nice and quiet. Other days, the majority of customers are kind old gents who thank you for the assistance and rate you accordingly (those ratings go toward a monthly bonus that increases or decreases as such).
But other days, the calls are nonstop and the customers as a majority are a bunch of angry, middle american ungrateful shits. I've gotten pretty tired of buttering up these assholes that call up and tell me to fuck off when I can't comply with their ludicrious demands, or when they're told of the very obvious consequences of not being able to manage a card that they were too stupid to use in the first place.
Bottom line, I hate customer service. I hate having to jump hoops to get some stranger's approval and sit there and let him bitch endlessly into my ear. I feel that I'm too old and too intelligent to make this a permanent career. My collegues are all a bunch of great folks, but I can tell that they come from a poorer upbringing and don't have the same education I do.
I feel I can do better. I want to do better. But the biggest factor that prevents me from doing so is that I just can't decide what I want to enroll in, either for a bachelor's degree or a certification. I'm currently researching some courses I could take online (since this job has me working until night), but it could still take a while until I decide on what I want to do.
Until then, I have no idea if I could find a non-customer related job with the same perks and benefits as my current job. I have an AA degree, and I was hoping that could qualify me for something higher profile, but I went through hell and half a year trying to find a job until I walked right into this company's job fair one weekend. But I do know that customer service isn't for me, and I'll continue to stick with this job until I find something better despite the stress of dealing with these assholes.
But hopefully I can get some ideas what to do with my life when I see what jobs you guys are doing, or what you plan to do in the future.
In this thread, I'd like all participants to list your current employment, how you got there, and what you'd like to do next, if applicable.
My highest education as of now is an Associates in Arts degree at community college, and I currently work at a major credit card company (hint: seinfeld starred in their commercials) as a customer service rep who also sells ticket information for exclusive events.
The job is a fulltime position that offers a modest salary and several perks, including paid vacaction, health insurance, and even tuition reimbursment. It's a far cry from any previous job I've ever had, and I'm very thankful I was given the oppurtunity.
There's just one problem: I'm growing very sick of the job. It's only been six months but all I can think of is doing something else. This has nothing to do with the work environment (it's very nice and everyone is nice), or the long hours (I'm sitting in front of a PC, not much different from what I do at home): I'm just sick of working with customers.
Some days, I hardly get any calls at all, so it's nice and quiet. Other days, the majority of customers are kind old gents who thank you for the assistance and rate you accordingly (those ratings go toward a monthly bonus that increases or decreases as such).
But other days, the calls are nonstop and the customers as a majority are a bunch of angry, middle american ungrateful shits. I've gotten pretty tired of buttering up these assholes that call up and tell me to fuck off when I can't comply with their ludicrious demands, or when they're told of the very obvious consequences of not being able to manage a card that they were too stupid to use in the first place.
Bottom line, I hate customer service. I hate having to jump hoops to get some stranger's approval and sit there and let him bitch endlessly into my ear. I feel that I'm too old and too intelligent to make this a permanent career. My collegues are all a bunch of great folks, but I can tell that they come from a poorer upbringing and don't have the same education I do.
I feel I can do better. I want to do better. But the biggest factor that prevents me from doing so is that I just can't decide what I want to enroll in, either for a bachelor's degree or a certification. I'm currently researching some courses I could take online (since this job has me working until night), but it could still take a while until I decide on what I want to do.
Until then, I have no idea if I could find a non-customer related job with the same perks and benefits as my current job. I have an AA degree, and I was hoping that could qualify me for something higher profile, but I went through hell and half a year trying to find a job until I walked right into this company's job fair one weekend. But I do know that customer service isn't for me, and I'll continue to stick with this job until I find something better despite the stress of dealing with these assholes.
But hopefully I can get some ideas what to do with my life when I see what jobs you guys are doing, or what you plan to do in the future.
Professor Snugglesworth on
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I got the job by waking up that morning and knowing how to work a VCR/DVD player, powered speaker and video projector in tandem. No, seriously.
I'm just a student right now but hey, I want to keep tabs on the thread.
I got the job by deciding that I hated my degree in criminology, and I hated being a corrections officer. I knew I was good with computers so I took the IT test and did well on it and here I am.
I'd like to move into media focused IT, like setting up cameras and doing mixer work and special effects. I need a lot more school for that though, which is a problem right now. Also, I'd like to see any of the things that i've written and/or filmed make it into the public domain and gain notoriety.
I'm a Project Manager for a transition project for a medical software company. It's a one-year temp-to-hire position, and I started less than a week ago. I see myself hopefully working here in a year. So far, I really like both the people and the work environment.
Now this is very interesting, because I'm juggling with those two very subjects right now. I can't decide whether to take a profession in IT or Criminology.
For the latter, the only thing I have to go by is shows like Law and Order, but I've always been fascinated with the idea of contributing to catching the bad guys out there. My only concern is that many careers require you to spend some time as a cop. And well, I'd like to not get shot.
As for IT, I tried to get a certification in Managment Information Systems, but I hit a snag where the classes suddenly changed from "retard easy" to "now I'M the retard" hard. I want to finish it, but my community college only has the courses at night, which I can no longer take now that I have this job. I'm trying to see if I can finish the courses in another school, preferably online, but so far I haven't found anything. There's a lot of IT specific careers and I have no idea which one appeals to my online talents, if any.
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Hey man, congrats on the job!
I currently work as an Administrative Officer at a livestock genetics diagnostic laboratory. I started as a temp-to-perm position with Kelly Services and got hired on officially with this company two months into that position. I have been here with the company for a year but have started looking for other opportunities in the city. My wage is low for the position and field and the wage progression/advancement opportunities are quite disappointing. Hopefully I can line something up here in the next little while.
for the record, I only took the job because I was too young out of college to get into FBI or US marshalls or the like, and I couldn't get a job as a local cop because departments are only hiring returning war vets right now since it's cheaper and they're already trained.
A few months in, I caught wind that they were looking for engineers. So I borrowed someone's J2ME book and applied. I don't think I wow-ed anyone with my skills, but I managed to prove that I could pick this stuff up quickly. I was the 4th engineer on staff and now we have close to 30, so I've definitely got the "seniority" bit.
I don't know what I'd like to do next. I can see myself programming for at least a few more years, but part of me wants to get out. Maybe make the move to management, maybe change industries altogether. Law school has been an idea I've been toying with for a while. My girlfriend is about to start working on her Master's degree, so I'll be putting off any major career changes at least until she's out.
Don't do it. Stick with IT, for the love of god. I left IT to get into crim with these delusions of grandeur and now I'm 25 and I don't even know if I could still get into law school and even if I could I can't afford it.
If you want law and order, get a degree in history or english lit and go to law school, unless your college has pre-law, and do that instead.
Otherwise stick with IT.
I'm a Personnel Specialist Third Class in the U.S. Navy. Not that that means much specifically outside of making me a desk monkey that probably knows about pay. My specific job right now is to get activated reservists onto active duty pay accounts, and separating active duty reservists from active duty. It's frustratingly complicated at times since we use computer programs either decades old or brand new based and completely unusable in some cases. In my 3.5 years in I've gotten at least a little experience in almost everything my job is supposed to entail.
Of course, being military my job means I ended up inadvertently getting extra training in things not related to what I normally do in any way possible. I've received experience setting up and operating a hurricane shelter, driving a Humvee in a convoy or on its own off road, navigating with a compass and degree points, how and when to use advanced combat medic techniques (fortunately just the training), how to aim and shoot a grenade launcher (expert!), etc. I also spent nearly a year in Iraq as a detainee guard, both maintaining and updating the database for our 1k+ detainees and also physically guarding and escorting them. This was, by far, the worst part of my job that at times made me act like a worse person than I am, but I still don't regret volunteering to do it. If I hadn't someone much worse than me most likely would have gone and it's also given me a massive appreciation for how nice I have it at even the worst of times.
I got in to the Navy because despite what libertarians believe the free market hates poor people. The best I could manage at 19 was busboy and I didn't have any options. One of the guys I knew at work left for the Navy and it seemed like he was already accomplishing more than myself at that point. Also, one tooth had already rotted out of my mouth and I had an abscessed wisdom tooth so that helped decide too.
Sadly, during my in processing I didn't get any sleep one night and fell asleep during an important test so I got stuck with the above job(s) for my first four years. Furthermore, by freak chance I was put on shore duty in Gulfport fucking Mississippi for my first duty despite explicitly requesting anything overseas or on a ship.
The good news is that in the next few months (Presumably. We'll know for certain when when the actual orders arrive) I'll be leaving for Monterrey California for the job I initially planned on going in to. I'll receive training in a foreign language (Probably Chinese or Arabic), a sizable bonus depending on the language, and a high clearance along with some nice orders to pick from since I'll have prior naval service already. It'll be a very nice change of pace from data entry I've been stuck with. After that I'll most likely be separating from the Navy barring making officer since civilian jobs for interpreters with clearances pay way better than enlisted.
I started off not knowing what the hell I wanted to do with my life, danced briefly with architectural drawing before I discovered the wonderful world of coding. Took a year-and-a-half intensive to get my certificate, worked a bit developing software for travel agencies and then landed this job when a friend of mine called me up.
What would I like to do next? Write fantastic fiction.
I'm studying Web Application Development via distance learning, intending to make it a prelude to studying Comp Sci proper, though ideally I'd like to get into a position where I can work part time and devote more of my time to study. Don't know how feasible that's going to be, though.
At the moment I'm a claims handler for a home insurance company, the company is huge so there's a lot of wiggle room if I want to change roles, and it's interesting enough to keep me going for the moment. I basically decide who gets what and how much of it, within a fairly broad and flexible set of guidelines. From what I hear, that's unusual enough within the Financial Services industry to make it worth hanging around.
I got my big break while doing an investigative piece on a fellow - Bob - who escaped from police custody and was eventually shot and killed in a small town. This town was also where the prison where he had been held for several years was kept, and in that prison was his uncle. His uncle's girlfriend lived in the same town, and when Bob escaped he fled to her apartment. Anyway, cops raided the house, Bob was shot and an officer actually lost a finger due to friendly fire. I did a records request and found that the Department of Corrections had the uncle talking with his girlfriend on the phone about the escape, even putting Bob on the phone. So DOC knew about the escape, where he was held up, and never told the town's police. A lot of misery could have been avoided if DOC did their job. In the end the warden was ousted.
Now I work at a paper owned by the Washington Post, which is pretty exciting sometimes. My beat at the moment is religion, though I try and do as much video game/gamer culture pieces as possible.
My dream ("That lives in me like a golden, flaming hawk") is to be a video game journalist. And by journalist, I mean in the traditional sense of the word. I am sure there are some good video game journalists out there, but not enough by my count. I'd like to be one of the people who goes in and contributes to fixing the problems that exist in the industry, specifically in regards to a true lack of objectivity (especially when you are reviewing the very game that is paying $ for ads on your site).
So yeah... video game journalism. That, or help produce a few games. I can has writing job kkthx.
Before this I was a management development trainer for a different local govt.. for a long time.
I've a teaching degree, a post grad diploma and a master's in HR - evaluation of training, and have just had to defer a Ph.D cos my dad is sick.
I started as a volunteer working with parents for a national charity, discovered I loved training, and am good at it, then found out it was a real career, so went for it. My employer paid for the master's.
Find out what you enjoy the most, see if you can do it as a volunteer when you're not at work. Look around in your company, is there something you could do as a secondment/temporary post - that's how I found out I didn't like employee relations work in a heavily unionised business.
I'm planning to finish the Ph.D at some point, but I'm only doing it cos I want to, it won't help me progress in my current job, its because I love learning stuff (and LewieP says its just so I can be called Dr Procter before him!).
For paintings in progress, check out canvas and paints
"The power of the weirdness compels me."
I'm in the process of rolling off my current project of implementing an IT-centric portfolio management tool and internationally-aligned project management methodology. I've got a few blips coming up around q2 of this year, and in q3 we should be ready to start my next project on the next phase of the umbrella program I've been working under for the last year. That is if we can get executive comittment.
I recieved a degree in Information Management in college and promptly decided that I absolutely did not want to work in IT for a living, so I got myself onto a project management track. PM is a core competency that spans all business. Running an IT project really isn't too much different than running an offshore well project other than the costs, risks, manpower and terminology involved.
Within 5 years I plan on getting my MBA with a specialization in marketing or entrepeneurship and creating my own startup - probably in the tech sector because that is where the majority of my personal network lies. I'm thinking something like a small, localized business process/program management/project management consulting company utilizing my contacts in Energy for high profile/profit margin contracts. Anyway, the catch is that since oil is $100/bbl and the energy industry is aging rapidly (average age is 44 or so) energy companies are paying out the wazoo to keep young guys like myself. Which makes it hard to leave.
My ultimate goal is to get a professor job. I've applied to every university in Canada that had an opening in my field, but university recruitment is a slow process so I've got months ahead of me before I hear anything. Moreover, getting a professor job is hard; universities typically get 100 applicants for each job, and as a new graduate I can expect most of them to have more experience and publications than I do.
Wannabe: Firefighter. Just finished EMT school, and just getting started on the hiring process (CPAT test, written test, interview, background check, etc.)
Reasons: I've worked since I was 16. I graduated HS early at age 15.5, started college full time at 17 with a full ride scholarship. I got very bored. I quit school, moved to CA, and have done various office jobs for the last 8 years. I hate it. I've always wanted to be a firefighter, but foolishly abandoned the pursuit when I first went into college. Now I'm back on track and actually excited about a job for the first time in my life.
We'd go into housing court on eviction day, and try to pick up as many cases as we could. Basically, I would approach an unrepresented tenant before their trial or mediation started, and give them some legal advice. I'd go through all the possible defenses and counterclaims that can arise, and write up an answer for them. Then, usually when the landlord saw that the tenant had representation, they'd negotiate with us. So pretty much I'd try and find a resolution that didn't leave my tenant homeless. Sometimes we'd go in with a third party mediator, instead of a one on one negotiation.
I think in the three months I was on the job I kept like ten or so people from getting evicted. It was kinda interesting, but the people were entirely too ungrateful generally for me to want to do it long term.
I'm now finishing up my last semester of school, with no idea what I'll do after I graduate.
I got the job by being awesome in the hardest class in the Computer Science department at my university and saying yes when the professor asked if I wanted a job. I think I was technically a consultant to the company that I now work for officially, who hired me after two years of consulting work once I graduated in December.
I'm not sure what I want to do next. I like my job and it pays well, but there's the whole being part of the evil oil empire thing. It's also awesome in that I'm able to stay in my awesome college town with all my awesome friends, many of which will be here next year as well. But part of me wants to see how working for one of the bigger tech companies up in silicon valley is. I'll definitely be weighing my options until June when I may have to move out of my current house.
I will translate for you and act as general tough guy.
We will rule with iron fists.
Thank you.
Most requested post in the Army. I had to switch assignments to get it. It's pretty awesome so far.
Going forward, it depends whether my PhD applications go anywhere or not. If so, I'll be a dirt poor graduate student until sometime into the next decade at which point I'll probably head into an NGO or a teaching/research position. If not, I'll probably sign on with a consulting firm, because trained engineers who know my system are in absurd demand.
Before that, I worked at Lexmark last summer in another internship. You have no idea how much code is behind that stupid Print dialog box.
I plan on graduating in June, continuing my internship through the summer until my lease runs out on my apartment, and hopefully by then I'll have a job lined up somewhere other than Ohio. In the long run, my girlfriend and I have toyed with the idea of someday moving overseas. Sweden seems lovely.
As of 2 weeks ago, I'm retired. A man of leisure.
Now my only job is keeping those damn kids off my lawn.
Wow. When you're talking about how criminology is a bad choice, is it because you haven't been able to find work for it, or that it's overall a shitty subject to enroll in? Is there a difference between criminology and criminal justice?
It's funny you bring up english lit, since I've been told several times that I should pursue it due to my writing skills and love of fiction. Problem is it doesn't look like a high paying job. And ultimately I want to make a lot of money whatever I do.
As for IT, I'm not sure exactly what I could qualify for. I use a PC extensively, I've messed around with my router, windows vista, etc. I installed all my PC parts into my tower recently too. When I was taking those previous classes I held out pretty well until I reached a point that involved calculations and....ugh.
But I finished over half of those classes, so I want to make use of those credits one way or the other. I'm just not sure what kind of IT program is up my alley.
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I moved to LA in August 2006 because my (then) girlfriend is going to Pepperdine to finish her Masters degree in Public Policy. Having already graduated college and working a dead end job in the cable company's call center, I decided that moving with her would be the best thing for me to do. Upon arriving in LA, I worked at the temple for two weeks under the guise of a "working interview;" meaning that I would work and get paid and my supervisor would observe how I fit in with the rest of the team. I originally applied for the assistant web developer position at the temple's high school campus, but after a real interview with the administration, I decided I didn't want to get a job only to leave it 2 weeks later. Fortunately, my supervisor at the temple kept the System Analyst job open for me just in case I didn't take the web job.
This job was great for the first year, but I have since become one of those people who hates going to work every day. My immediate IT co-workers are great and my boss is the best supervisor I have had in a long time, but I hate everything else about this place. The clergy are some of the biggest assholes I have ever met and their assistants think they are the proverbial shit because they assist the clergy. Most of the teachers and staff that work here clueless as to what happens in the real world, since all of them come from wealthy families and have never really left the "Beverly Hills Bubble." It also goes without saying that their religious doctrine is shoved in my face on a daily basis because this is a religious organization.
I'm under-paid (by my boss' own admission), over worked, and under appreciated by the rest of the organization.
My wife (same girl) is graduating in April and is looking for jobs back in the mid-west and I can't wait to get the hell out of here.
What I Want To Do: I was *this* close to joining the Marines right after high school. I regret not joining the military, but with the current state of affairs, I'm kind of glad I didn't.
I graduated with a BA in History in 2005. I'd love to be a history professor, but that would require more schooling, which I can't afford right now.
I wanted to be a firefighter or forest ranger for a good, I don't know, 10 years of my life, but I don't know why I didn't pursue it. I think it's something I need to look in to at this point in my life.
There are three offices in my state. One of them is right next to my house. That one is, by a stroke of bad luck, not the one I am working at. No, I commute two hours each way to my other office, in the middle of my state. The commute is the worst part about my job. I hate it; it drains me physically and emotionally. Even fairly good days at work turn into depressing shitfests by the time I get home at 8 pm after waking up at 6 am.
The good news is that, come april, I will be able to work out of the office in my town, 2 minutes away. The bad news is that day is 12 weeks away.
I sort of fell into this job; the position was brought to my attention via a family friend and it seemed too good to pass up. I have a BA and majored in history in college. I had no idea what I wanted to do, and, depressingly, still don't.
I figured I'd jump at this job, and make some money and save up while I figured out what i really want out of life. So far, the second part has seen no progress, and the commute is shitty enough that it's really getting to me.
But I'm going to stick it out until April. Ah, sweet, blessed April.
I plan to be an engineer for the rest of my life. Music is what I love to do.
Being that that's what I dabble in and I would love to get into that field, can you give me any tips?
I'm working towards setting up a custom bicycle building business on the side, so we'll see where that goes.
took out her barrettes and her hair spilled out like rootbeer