Jobs

[Mouth]

Bankers are not rich and powerful by default.

But you're right, the people with real power need to maintain a middle class that's skilled enough, big enough and rich enough to make and buy the products the elite are peddling if the rich are going to keep getting richer. The education system has evolved in part to maintain this system.

[Yushin Okami]

Are there no Uber or Lyft drivers here? I would think we'd have at least one and I imagine they would have some great stories.

[HyenaChaser]

My college degree got me a job smoking pot, jerking off, and hitting up Slap.

[4LOM]

What job should someone who wants a communist revolution follow?

Something that exploits workers, exploits markets, and spreads capitalism and democracy across the globe.

[kook nukem]

Bumping this thread because I think it's interesting to know what non-professional skaters who actually have a career do for a living. It seems so rare from everyone I've known for someone to skate into their late 20s or beyond and also make something of themself career-wise. It's as if we skaters have difficulty adapting to the real world. I've been a hotel bellman and valet for longer than I cafe to admit and have dabbled in engineering and graphic design degrees and am finally digging in to make one of those stick. One more semester of engineering, and if it doesn't feel right, I'll finish out graphic design (it'll take less time and be a less expensive degree, so it's kind of an easy fallback).

[Grampa]

Bumping this thread because I think it's interesting to know what non-professional skaters who actually have a career do for a living. It seems so rare from everyone I've known for someone to skate into their late 20s or beyond and also make something of themself career-wise. It's as if we skaters have difficulty adapting to the real world. I've been a hotel bellman and valet for longer than I cafe to admit and have dabbled in engineering and graphic design degrees and am finally digging in to make one of those stick. One more semester of engineering, and if it doesn't feel right, I'll finish out graphic design (it'll take less time and be a less expensive degree, so it's kind of an easy fallback).

Warning regarding engineering: you really have to want to be an engineer, because at no point does studying engineering "feel right". Studying engineering involves spending your entire weekends studying for a test where the class average is 30%. Two semesters ago the dynamics final had a class average of FIVE. It involves being exhausted at all times and basically hating life. I have three semesters left in my ME degree, and at no point has it gotten easier. I'm older and have worked engineering jobs (for a fraction of what I'd get paid with a degree, hence, why I'm doing this to myself), so I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but if that wasn't the case it would feel hopeless. Sure there are fun graphics courses and labs and whatnot, but the real classes are not fun. I don't know anyone who isn't stressed beyond belief.

Obviously a graphic design degree is going to feel better- it's one of the fun degrees.

[Sleazy]

if you get a proper graphic design degree for a 4 year school you will work your ass off too. the difference is, with engineering you'll get out and make good money while graphic design doesn't pay well and when my wife was doing it she didn't make very much money either. i graduated with a 2.8 and no awards and was a pretty useless programmer at the time and i started at like 45k (this was 16 years ago). my wife had a 3.8, graduated magna cum laud and won design awards in school. after graduation she got a job with high profile clients, she did super bowl stuff when it was in houston and at that time she was making around 10 an hour. while we were working in offices where we could hang out and play chess, wonder in late, take long lunches and all this, she was being micro managed and getting her balls busted and wasn't making any cash. it was demoralizing for her especially as she saw me and my programmer buddies making more and more cash and getting treated so well.

no matter what you do you will work hard. i'd focus more on what kind of lifestyle your career allows you when your not at work. getting off and not being exhausted and having the money to get a sitter and got out for a nice meal or the energy to go skate or workout is nice. being able to take good vacations is nice. most problems in life are easier to manage with money. my experience has been more money, less problems...

i firmly believe the two most important choices in life are what you do for a living and who you marry. if you get those two right your life will be good. and having a good career or wife takes a lot of work and it is a life long project.

i've posted in here about my work before but you've said you were curious about skaters who don't fit the stereo type and i probably qualify. my background is that i'm a programmer, i've published a few books on programming, won some awards, i talk at conferences and all that and in the past few years i've started a small consulting company .

[mynameisnotjeff]

I saw earlier threads and saw this was an acceptable answer:
Full-time college student (Psych Major and Child Dev. Minor)
Looking for a job because I feel like scum for relying on my parents
About to finish an internship on August 5th as a college counselor for a school that just had their 1st graduating class. I definitely see myself doing this for a living.

[Mouth]

If I could do it over, I don't think I would be a creative again.

Coming up with ideas looks like fun and it is. Selling the ideas and watching them die the death of a thousand cuts as they bounce from one unqualified committee to another is not. One thing I'm grateful for it the fact that I've learned a lot about digital design, UX and social networks etc.

Skills that will come in handy if the start-up some friends and I have been working on in our evenings and weekends goes ahead.

[RCB3]

Expand Quote

Bumping this thread because I think it's interesting to know what non-professional skaters who actually have a career do for a living. It seems so rare from everyone I've known for someone to skate into their late 20s or beyond and also make something of themself career-wise. It's as if we skaters have difficulty adapting to the real world. I've been a hotel bellman and valet for longer than I cafe to admit and have dabbled in engineering and graphic design degrees and am finally digging in to make one of those stick. One more semester of engineering, and if it doesn't feel right, I'll finish out graphic design (it'll take less time and be a less expensive degree, so it's kind of an easy fallback).

[close]

Warning regarding engineering: you really have to want to be an engineer, because at no point does studying engineering "feel right". Studying engineering involves spending your entire weekends studying for a test where the class average is 30%. Two semesters ago the dynamics final had a class average of FIVE. It involves being exhausted at all times and basically hating life. I have three semesters left in my ME degree, and at no point has it gotten easier. I'm older and have worked engineering jobs (for a fraction of what I'd get paid with a degree, hence, why I'm doing this to myself), so I've seen the light at the end of the tunnel, but if that wasn't the case it would feel hopeless. Sure there are fun graphics courses and labs and whatnot, but the real classes are not fun. I don't know anyone who isn't stressed beyond belief.

Obviously a graphic design degree is going to feel better- it's one of the fun degrees.

It may be fun in college, but it's a tough gig to land a cool job in the real world. I have a graphic design degree and have bounced around a lot of mediocre jobs. It was really rare for the people I graduated with to wind up with a fun gig. A lot of people ended up doing different stuff. I'd recommend learning more stuff about digital design, coding, and web stuff. There's a lot more options for things like that. I'll be honest and say I'm not the biggest go-getter, so I'm sure if I really busted amy ass, I could've worked my way up to something more challenging. But just know also that it's basically a 9-5 desk job. 

[iKobrakai]

Working in one of the marketleading insurance companies in Sweden. I'm at the head office, approving/declining transfers. It's a summer job, but who knows, maybe some more will come. Most people would rather kill themselves than do the work that I do. I like it, though.

[JB]

graphic designer here. dont be a graphic designer. going for something a little more difficult but is more financially rewarding is a MUCH smarter move in the long run.

[shit_for_brains]

"creative"/design jobs suck either the whole time, or until you break through and become some sort of director rather than doing production work. You get shit pay unless you're full time freelancing and hustling 80-90 hours a week, and that can't/won't last forever. I was constantly considering a career change until a few years ago.

[Jim and Dan]

Still an Operations Analyst & now an ERP tech; fucking hate it. 

I'd rather work on a farm & do something that is personally more fulfilling.

[Sleazy]

it's seems like there's a lot of agreement about the design jobs maybe not being the best so i'm going to throw this out there too. i definitely don't mean to offend anyone by generalizing but i've also found the office politics to be really annoying in hip design environments. a lot of solo poo sniffing going on and cliquish, elitist vibing. my wife dealt with a lot of passive agressive vibing, lot's of gossip and shit talking and things like that. seems like working in a trendy hair salon kind of vibes at times.

[shit_for_brains]

it's seems like there's a lot of agreement about the design jobs maybe not being the best so i'm going to throw this out there too. i definitely don't mean to offend anyone by generalizing but i've also found the office politics to be really annoying in hip design environments. a lot of solo poo sniffing going on and cliquish, elitist vibing. my wife dealt with a lot of passive agressive vibing, lot's of gossip and shit talking and things like that. seems like working in a trendy hair salon kind of vibes at times.

That is very very true but in my experience it's mostly younger people who are newer to that kind of working environment. 22-27 age group I'd say. It's hugely social when you're new to it, and with studios constantly doing things like offering free beer and other "perks" to get people to stay at work longer you just have a lot of young fragile egos spending too much time together. Just like anywhere else though, if you don't care about it it won't really effect you much. That's just my experience though, and remember that I'm super smart and cool and funny and good looking.

[Sleazy]

lol, yeah, there's a lot of that in programming with the zaney start up culture but it seems less dickish and more goofy. like it's more like going to a pep ralley in high school where you're just thinking wow this shit is silly but the design stuff felt more like rude, vibing. definitely not trying to shit talk all designers, my wife is a retired designer and every industry does have it's own annoying stuff. business sides got that over confident douche\bitch thing and then programming has that patronizing ahole thing.

[nesta.]

Just bumping this because, similarly to whoever did the same thing two years ago, I'm always interested in reading what people are up to career-wise. Maybe some members who didn't post last time around will see this, or if anyone has progressed/changed fields/whatever...

I work in the study abroad office at the university where I did my undergrad (fairly large school, ~30,000 students). I manage all of the financial matters: creating program budgets, charging student accounts, payroll for faculty-led programs, etc. It's okay. Kind of crossing a bridge right now, as I worked in the accounts payable office throughout the last two years of undergrad, gaining financial experience (I studied philosophy and literature with a french minor, so completely unrelated to what I was doing at the time), but I'm really pretty sick of administrative number crunching. I've more or less been doing it since I was in high school, with a few factory and call center jobs thrown in during the early college years. After graduating in May of 17, I had a 6-month contract as a compliance analyst for a F500 corporation hq'd in my city, and the pay was nice but the corporate atmosphere was stifling and it was back to the 9-5 grind (which definitely has its perks, don't get me wrong).
Like I said, I really want to get out of the administrative side of things, and even though I enjoy the environment I'm in now, I'd rather have more student contact and be able to travel like some of my colleagues. However, budgets are tight, and I don't see any of them leaving anytime soon. If I can't leverage my current experience in international education into something at another university, like a program coordinator or international student recruiter, in the next year or so I'm thinking about going through a post-bac/master's program to become certified to teach English at the high school level. I'm kind of questioning that as well, as there are many strong drawbacks to teaching and it's the kind of profession in which there is no neutral, "it's an okay job" kind of stance, you either love it or get burnt the fuck out from mismanagement of stress in a couple of years, and if the latter then that's a lot of wasted time and money to get certified...

[feedmeseymour]

in house product photographer, doing graphic design, web design, video work and advertising. like most people, im underpaid for sure, but i cant complain too much because i get to fuck around on slap all day sometimes.

[LemThurdy]

Working at a private golf course riding around on mowers and shit. Also get free golf and food but no skateboards allowed lol real chill doe

[childhood]

I can relate to what you were saying about learning finance stuff, even though you didn’t go to school for it. My degree is in Anthropology and English, but I’m currently working for a company that does financial advising for nonprofits. I’m learning a little about that from being there, but spend most of the day putting stuff into spreadsheets and PowerPoints, and working on redesigning their website.

I like it though. It’s interesting being in a totally different field and learning new stuff, my bosses are actually really cool, it’s in a great part of the city, and I get to work alone pretty much all day. It’s perfect for me for right now.

[Andmoreagain]

sr. content manager at a tech company. Not a new, flashy tech company. An old, boring one that makes standard tools for IT guys. I write all about said tools. Good benefits, good pay, boring work.

[nopes]

ive been working for the same datacenter/server hosting/isp for almost 20 years.

[nesta.]

I can relate to what you were saying about learning finance stuff, even though you didn’t go to school for it. My degree is in Anthropology and English, but I’m currently working for a company that does financial advising for nonprofits. I’m learning a little about that from being there, but spend most of the day putting stuff into spreadsheets and PowerPoints, and working on redesigning their website.

I like it though. It’s interesting being in a totally different field and learning new stuff, my bosses are actually really cool, it’s in a great part of the city, and I get to work alone pretty much all day. It’s perfect for me for right now.

What's funny is that what I've bolded in your post is applicable to me as well. On the surface, it's a pretty sweet gig. The university is a mile from my house, beautiful campus, my boss and colleagues are cool, I have my own office, I actually have my own student assistant, and I do feel like I've gone beyond the basic data entry shit that I've spent 5 years of my life doing. What I do now directly impacts students and faculty members within the university. But like I said, I want more contact with people outside of my immediate department and I'm just pretty over sitting in a desk doing behind-the-scenes administrative work, whether it has a tangible effect on people or not. I'd be more than stoked to never have to open Excel ever again.
I'm glad you're into it, though. My problem might be more with how bored and stagnant I feel within a short period of time at a new job. Like, I've only been here for 6 months and I'm always exploring other career options, even while I'm at work. Kind of a shitty feeling.

[CHONGO]

just work random craigslist gigs as of right now. Labor, carpentry, painting, very odd end jobs. But most of them lead to a full time gig. Plus it always pays cash

[EAT PUSSY!]

I'm basically doing the same office crap I did back in 2009 when this thread was created. 

[the snake]

following Jim Greco's philosophy for decades^^

[slippy]

Used to work as a fire sprinkler design engineer but the isolation and monotony of working with headphones on being discouraged to even talk to your desk-mate led me to quit.  Wanted something mellow for a quick "in between" job so I got a gig being a loss control consultant, basically traveled the state inspecting schools and training staff for an insurance company.  Super weird gig but really mellow and relaxing, lots of relaxed driving. 

This "temporary" job has turned into a 3 year deal by now, I switched to data analytics and now am working directly under the 2nd in command doing a complete company overhaul and process optimization.  Firing, promoting, moving people around, the whole thing.  Weird amount of responsibility and virtually no pay increase.  Starting to look for new gigs using some of the Tableau and data analytics I learned here, hope something pans out

[RCB3]

For about half of my income, I run a social media program that's outsourced to me from our local tourism company. About a quarter of my income is from photography where I'm on retainer as an image contributor for the same tourism company and on a retainer for Hydro Flask, a local company where I live. The other quarter is trying to find freelance photo work, which some months can be absolutely nothing and other months be an extra couple thousand dollars. I'm not the biggest fan of not knowing exact monthly income, but am super lucky to be able to do any of my work whenever I like, so it's given me a lot of freedom to do things like weekday backpacking trips, or hiking on a random Monday morning with less people around.

[fergus]

I just started a new job 3 months ago as a support worker, mostly working with at-risk kids and older males with physical and mental disabilities. So far its been the most rewarding job and definitely more my speed compared to some of the other jobs I've had. The coolest thing is one of the kids I look after loves to ride scooters and sometimes rolls around on a board and since he found out I skate he's been wanting to go down to the skatepark every day of the week so hopefully, I can get him on the board more often!