offshoot of the teaching thread.
Just curious as to how many people chose their profession for the money and not the love of the work?
Me I'm a coder. I chose it because I loved coding. I wrote my first program on the ti994a
I ignore career paths that can provide a better income, because it is what I like to do. I'm not interested in management, engineering, although I would
love more to do with theoretical approach and proof of concepts.
Since we're bagging on teachers for the bennies and all, I'm just curious to hear everyone's position on their career path and why they took it
The official Prexus message board that won't sell out.
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 ellocopato |
How many people chose their profession for the money/benefits? |
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Posts: 3782 04-01-08 5:58 PM
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Afmo |
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Posts: 2327 04-01-08 6:07 PM
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not my career, but i did get my substitute teachers credential because it paid more to babysit the kids than to mop up their messes....
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fatesdefiance |
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Posts: 3106 04-01-08 6:31 PM Community Member |
Some people actually chose their profession?
Hunter Tarryn Valewalker -- Twisted Fates
(Prexus - Retired) Nightshade Tarryn Valewalker -- Kingfisher Brigade EQ2 - Unrest Tarryn of Dale, Hunter -- Dies Irae LotRO - Meneldor |
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Federiko EQ |
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Posts: 3288 04-01-08 7:16 PM You can never have too |
IT project design/implementation, and I do it because it's easy and it pays quite well in relation to the effort and stress level of most jobs.
I'm fairly apathetic towards the industry though. I can most likely make more doing the same work for a hedge fund or something similar, but I have friends in those positions and the added headaches of working with insufferable assholes isn't worth the extra cash to me. Relaxed atmospheres and cool co-workers are a much better fit for me. If I had my choice I'd produce micro budget indie films and travel the festival circuit, but at the same time I like toys and have no desire to be homeless or eat Ramen again... so I have a dilemma.
Last Edited By: Federiko EQ 04-01-08 7:20 PM.
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Falkahnhan |
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Posts: 2625 04-01-08 7:52 PM |
I'm a mix. My degree is in aerospace engineering, I spent the last few years working for a controls integrator but I recently started a position as an
engineer for an aerospace company.
Throughout high school and college I worked toward an aerospace engineering degree because I've always had a passion for aircraft and space craft. However, after a few months of job hunting I decided that I needed a paycheck more than I needed to be in aerospace so I took a job as a control systems engineer but I always kept my eye out for an opportunity in the aerospace industry and that opportunity recently crossed my path. I'm kind of like Fed in the sense that I could probably choose a career path that would lead to more money than the path I'm currently on but I don't want to make the sacrifices (long work weeks, lots of travel, etc) necessary to go down that path. I'd rather spend time with my wife, puppy, and someday kids.
- Joe
I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which grants a right to Congress of
expending, on objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents.
- James Madison |
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Morkenlar |
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Posts: 1891 04-01-08 8:13 PM |
My degree is in physics, with a strong emphasis on engineering/design/space. It fit with my inquisitive/logical nature, and I wanted to be involved with the
space program, for the laudable purpose of doing something that would hopefully benefit humanity as a whole in the future.
Turns out, those jobs in the space field underpay (which I accepted at the time), and are unreliable. When I left KSC, I got a job with the Navy doing quality assurance/non destructive testing for ordnance. Turns out to be a good fit for me, mostly technical, small community (good for the introverted), differing programs, problem solving, new technologies, etc. So I tend to like it. I could make more if I left the government and went to a defense contractor or if I were to change over and to emphasize aircraft or pipeline inspections. But it's hard to beat a government job for reliability/stability. Frankly, it boggles my mind how many times most people change jobs in the modern business world.
Mork
"A government that robs Peter to pay Paul can always depend on the support of Paul" |
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Federiko EQ |
#6 | ||||
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Posts: 3288 04-01-08 8:33 PM You can never have too |
Frankly, it boggles my mind how many times most people change jobs in the modern business world.It's a lot easier to move up in position/salary by changing companies than sticking it out with your current one, especially if you're in an area with no shortage of places hiring. It takes a certain type of person to be on a first name basis with recruiters though and I'm not that type. |
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Ersiusp |
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Posts: 2294 04-01-08 8:39 PM 1-900-Santa |
fatesdefiance wrote: The only difference between a boy and a man is a man asks himself when is it time to stop wondering. Certainty is rare to nonexistent. |
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Zifnab |
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Posts: 2639 04-01-08 9:18 PM |
My dad was a Computer Scientist for 30 years with the Dept of defense. He even has his picture in the National Cryptologic Museum. So like alot of kids I
followed in my fathers foot steps.
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Klark |
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Posts: 808 04-01-08 11:50 PM |
I went down the science path of reasons other than money (interest, secure careers, nerdiness, sounded impressive...) I got sucked into management more to
fill a void than for the money; the work had to be done at a higher level before you got the salary anyway. I went into aerospace because a great opportunity
landed on my lap; the raise was only serendipitous. But, reading Mork's comments about government underpay in space, I need to see what aerospace
contractors are making before I feel happy.
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Ganders |
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Posts: 2409 04-02-08 3:48 AM |
I'm with Ello - I'm a coder by profession because frankly, if I was unemployed I'd still be sat coding so how cool is it that people will pay me
good money to indulge in my hobby?
Over more years than I care to remember in the industry, I've realised that in general if people are only it in for the money, they do a pretty shitty job compared to those who just want to be doing it anyway.
I support indoctrination in the schools starting at kindergarten promoting homosexual parity and normality, environmental
catastrophism, white guilt, and American unexceptionalism
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creac |
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Posts: 2121 04-02-08 4:35 AM Mortal Wombat |
I started off in banking because I was interested in economics, international trade and finance and it seemed like a decent career path. That was after I
didn't get into the journalism course I wanted. I had acceptances for various universities to do other courses but in the end they didn't excite me, so
I got a job with the bank.
I spent 13 odd years working in two states for the first and second bank I worked for, ending back up in Sydney. I went from junior clerk to national level management and I really enjoyed it. The money was very good, but that only came later. When my employer restructured and 90% of the employees had no job, I was picked up by one of my clients. I wasn't really enjoying it. For that, and other reasons, I took a chance (and a huge paycut) and moved into IT which had been a hobby of mine since I was 10 (I wrote my first program on a System-80 which was a local version of the TRS-80) but I was never a coder despite learning Z-80 Assembler at age 11. So, I spent several years as an IT consultant before grabbing a job with my current employer, an OEM manufacturing printers and projectors and other imaging products. I've had a few roles, but now it's a technical and administrative one as I run the service network for the pro gear and provide technical guidance as well. Since I'm an amatuer photographer who likes computers, it's a bit hard to find something better than an IT imaging role where I get to print on $25,000- machines at whatever size I fancy :-) The pay is crap, but the side benefits are great and I realised when I got out of banking that I added 10 years to my life. I do miss the pressure and I miss having staff, because I enjoyed managing people and most of them enjoyed being managed by me. Who knows what the future holds :-) Farwarden Creac Peregrinate
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Aielman KajiraLiege |
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Posts: 4606 04-02-08 7:47 AM |
I didn't really choose my profession...it sort of chose me. When I got bounced from the service because of my back, I sort of drifted around for a couple
of years doing this and that, and eventually fell into purchasing for a lighting company before I got a call from someone who I went to boot camp with asked me
to come work for him as a consultant in for the navy. I did that off and on for a few years when my old man finally browbeat me into going back to school. I
took a look at the projections for the largest job growth through 2010 and settled on Electronics as something I'd grown to have an interest in as I dealt
with quite a few sophisticated systems in the service, and did got my degree electronics engineering in a 3 year program.
While I was in school, Sprint started up their internet service (which has since been sold to Earthlink) and I was one of the first 100 people hired for their first call center as a third tier tech. So I fell into the IT field as an offshoot of what I was doing with Electronics. After I got my degree, I moved in with my brother in Jacksonville, who was just getting out of the navy, and once again started working for the Navy out at the Fleet Training Center in Mayport. It was an on again, off again, gig due to the nature of that particular service (they change their minds every 6 months as to whether or not they want contractors teaching certain things) so I augmented income by working local crew at several venues in town for one of the production companies. In the meantime, I fell in with this startup company that my brother had been working for for 6 months. It was very promising at the beginning of the IT boom, so I ran with it. The first 10 weeks were an intensive course that got you a 4 letter Microsoft Cert on either the engineering or programming path...I took the former, and immediatly started teaching Exchange 5.5, NT 4 and later 2000, and IIS all over the country. Three years later, 9-11 happened, and the company faltered. Within 6 months, they were closing their doors, as much from bad management as it was from the tech bubble bursting, and I was looking for a way to get back to doing my part to serve the country. I ended up back at FTC...but this time teaching 2 different NECs in the IT field as well as continuing to assist with other coursework related to fields I'd previously consulted for. Two years of that, and a new CNO, and I was looking for work again. I still wanted to continue to serve the community, so I took a job with the school system my wife worked for, and I've been there since. The pay sucks, the benefits aren't that good (Kayso made triple what my wife and I together took home) but the hours aren't bad, it's challenging work most of the time, it's easy to get time off to nurse sick kids or go to school functions, and I affords me the satisfaction of giving something back to my community. peace, Aielman "Bush said that he now believes in Global warming...as a result...I'm not sure
anymore." - Lewis Black
Last Edited By: Aielman KajiraLiege 04-02-08 7:49 AM.
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Alliara |
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Posts: 348 04-02-08 7:49 AM |
Sort of a mix of both.
I've worked with animals all my life having grown up on a lake and spent summers either at my aunt and uncle's farm or my other aunt and uncle's marina. I drove horse carriages for a living for a few years and was a college drop out while working on my marine biology degree. I eventually got an associates in animal science and planned to work at the Aquarium but that fell through (I didn't meat the quota :/ ) and having left my job at the post office to finish school, I was short on money. So I went into lab animal research because it paid double to triple what I would have made as a vet tech. Been here for 16 years now. I don't like it as much as farm or small animal vet work, but working at a university is much better than the pharmaceutical industry where I started. |
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vizco |
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Posts: 3040 04-02-08 7:53 AM Raid Peon |
I'm another software guy. I've been doing it for a long time and I enjoy it. It's intellectually challenging, pays well, there's no heavy
lifting, and if you don't let yourself be bullied and do a decent job of planning, the hours are regular.
Unlike some coders (even ones on this thread!) I hardly ever write code outside of work. What I do instead is try to get bosses to support recreational coding of one sort or another ("I'd like to work on this fun idea for a while... any issues?"), and I've been pretty successful at that. In fact, I should be working on such a proposal right now, so...  Harmony of Souls : My Quiver All this science I don't understand; it's just my job five days a week.
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Ididar Tzan |
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Posts: 2497 04-02-08 8:03 AM |
I never would have picked my current career when I was a kid. Matter of fact, I never picked it until I was 17/18. I hated the whole boy scouts thing and my
mother in her infinite wisdom said "you're staying in it or you're doing something else with your time". When I declared my hatred for boy
scouts she pushed me at a neighbor down the street who was in Air Cadets which lead to my glider/power pilot licenses. Couple guys in Air Cadets older than me
went and did the Aerospace course at Ryerson and I followed in their footsteps.
I don't regret my career choices at all, actually. Somedays I wish I'd picked another career path but that's just a case of "grass is always greener". I'd imagine everyone has those days. For a while I really, really wished I'd become a Philosophy major but that was just temporary insanity speaking. The one thing I wasn't aware of is the INTENSE amount pressure in commercial aviation. If you've never worked in commercial aviation its hard to describe but you can imagine that every second an aircraft is on the ground is a second you're not generating revenue and that means you're losing money. That attitude is prevalent across the entire aerospace industry and it causes many divorces (i.e. AIDS ... Aviation Induced Divorce Syndrome). But, I wouldn't change right now for the world. I find my job fascinating and I only find some of the people I work with frustrating. You'll always work with some annoying people or FOR some annoying people so quitting because of that is a waste of time. |
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Zifnab |
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Posts: 2639 04-02-08 8:18 AM |
Unlike some coders (even ones on this thread!) I hardly ever write code outside of work.You know I once wrote an operating system (more like a premptive multitasking kernel that ran on top of DOS) and a client server database for 'fun'? Since I made no money from either it just sounds pathetic :)
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Ersiusp |
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Posts: 2294 04-02-08 9:41 AM 1-900-Santa |
Ididar Tzan wrote: I would have loved to be a philosophy major, but I don't want to be working at Barnes and Nobles or Starbucks for the rest of my life. I went with math instead. |
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Eleazarr |
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Posts: 2806 04-02-08 9:46 AM Father Mulcahy |
In my experience, if money is the motivating factor in why you do what you do, you will not be a very happy person. No, I don't do what I do because of
the money. The reality is that I would do what I am doing now for free anyway even if I worked in another job.
"Imagination does not breed insanity. Exactly what does breed
insanity is reason. Poets do not go mad; but chess-players do. Mathematicians go mad; but creative artists very seldom. I am not attacking logic: I only say
that this danger does lie in logic, not in imagination."
-G.K. Chesterton |
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Itnusar |
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Posts: 111 04-02-08 10:38 AM Community Member |
I got my degree in MIS. I am working in the IT industry. I didn't choose the industry because of money. I needed to have a job I could wake up to most
mornings and not dread going to work.
Itnusar
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Muerta |
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Posts: 2582 04-02-08 2:06 PM Legend in the making... |
I have always enjoyed working with people and helping them. Going into Psychology helped my desire to understand how people ticked. Working in education in CT allowed me to do hands-on work that my Master's would not let me do (need a PhD. to do here for what I was doing in Alaska). Since I am starting to change professions by going back to school (nursing and hospice), its again because I enjoy working with people and attempting to help them, and have a strong belief in a person's right to die with dignity and/or at home. Although the salary will be better than what I am doing now (I hope), it still all about helping to bring a better quality of life to those who need it.
My Life Summed Up on a Bumpersticker: Religion is for those who believe in Hell. Spirituality is for those who have already been there.
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KivuliNyamaa |
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Posts: 120 04-02-08 10:24 PM |
My degree is in trombone performance. I love music, but can't stand the dedication to the life it takes to be an orchestral player. I value my free time
too much. Currently I'm an electrician because the company I work for gives me a steady paycheck and I'm treated like one of the guys instead of a
number. First name basis with the company owner, and all that. Comraderie goes a LONG way for me. I could make more money elsewhere easily with my IT
experience, but I'd rather do what I must to maintain my living quarters and food and spend the majority of my time living than have a ton of money and
almost no free time.
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Aielman KajiraLiege |
#22 | ||||
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Posts: 4606 04-03-08 7:55 AM |
KivuliNyamaa wrote:No shit? Huh...I didn't know you could get a degree in a single instrument...that's cool. I took a couple of music courses in college the first time I went as electives and they were quite the bitch...gave me a newfound appreciation for music majors, hehe. peace, Aielman "Bush said that he now believes in Global warming...as a result...I'm not sure
anymore." - Lewis Black
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ellocopato |
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Posts: 3782 04-07-08 3:18 PM
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Zifnab wrote: I wrote an editor in basic whose menus looked like the microsoft windows folder tree pop-up structure. I should've patented it :P
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Feydakin Rainsong |
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Posts: 5124 04-07-08 10:13 PM Wholly Shi'ite |
I am working in the IT industry. I didn't choose the industry because of money. I needed to have a job I could wake up to most mornings and not dread going to work. How do you not dread going to work in the IT industry every morning? There's nothing in my 14 years of experience in the industry that would delude me into thinking I actually enjoyed my job. Some days are more tolerable than others, to be sure, but I don't recall once ever looking forward to going into the office. On the original topic, my first degree was in Aerospace Engineering, and the closest I ever came to working in that industry was as a contractor for LockMart doing visionic database modeling (building the models and terrain in flight simulators). Most of my working life has either been writing software or as a system administrator, and most recently I've moved into a new job as an Information Security Analyst. I'm getting a second Bachelor's Degree in MIS with a concentration on Info Security, so I suppose I'm actually doing stuff right now that pertains to what I'm going to school for, but that's kind of backwards... most people get the degree and try to get a relevant job; I got a job and I'm trying to get a relevant degree. Taking the InfoSec job has benefits (a modest bump in pay from my previous, woefully underpaid job within the company as a WebSphere administrator), not the least of which is that it's nothing like the crappy job I'd been doing for the last 9 years (WebSphere administrator). The sad thing is that, unlike most places that would be glad to get rid of a tenured person earning a high salary and replace him with someone with less experience for significantly less money, I happen to know that the less experienced person they hired came in at roughly a 25-30% higher salary than I was making, which really pisses me off to no end... I probably would have stayed in that job a few more years if they'd made that kind of offer to me. My wanting to change jobs wasn't primarily about money, and I told them that, but I also told them that I was sure there was a certain amount of money which I would be hard pressed to turn down. They didn't offer it, I took a different job, and then they learned the hard way exactly how underpaid I was and what the real market value of my skillset was. So I guess I can't begrudge the new guy his salary, and I guess I should be content knowing that my employers basically fucked themselves by not recognizing the true worth of their employees (my coworker who was the only other WebSphere admin in the company also transferred to a new position at about the same time, and we basically left our boss in the lurch in the process). Aside from being in a dead-end career track, though, the lack of management interest in what we did in that group (the only recognition we got was the negative kind when there was a problem, but when things were just fine, it was as if we didn't exist) were just really grinding me down. On top of that, being the primary on-call support 24x7x365 for 9 years will pretty much make you want to run head-first into a wood chipper. Now that I'm on a larger team with rotating on-call schedule and doing different stuff from day to day, I'm quite a bit happier and less stressed.
A door is sometimes a jar, but a jar is never a door.
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Surreal |
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Posts: 122 04-08-08 9:32 AM |
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