What do you do for a living?

Spent my first year out of high school as the primary caregiver for my Grandmother. Worked for four years at Action MFG, making all the goodies you servicemen got to play with. Two years in production and two in powder. Went to school for welding/fabrication. Got a job at a small ag company and went from the shop to the office. Still there.
 
Retired from NJDOC after 25 years of doing cell extractions, transports, detention officer, general assignment, Special Operations Group, and firearms instructor.

Before that I was Army Infantry. Now I do armed security three days a week or more if doing special protection details.
 
Dropped out of high school one month after turning 17. One month later, in the Navy. After that, became a Boilermaker. 31 years and counting. I can rig, weld or engineer just about anything around a boiler. My last year of work I was General Foreman over the building of a cement plant, an OSHA instructor, IMSHA instructor, and an instructor for BNAP teaching math, rigging and drafting.

I woke up on Jan 08, 2009 having had 3 aneurysms during the night. My entire world changed.
 
Retired from a major corporation, after 39 years and after relocating eight times.. I started at the bottom and ended up the last 11 years as the president of one of the companies inside this large corporation
 
Now retired since 2002! I retired with a very good pension as a union pipefitter/welder. Most of my work was at large chemical plants, atomic plants, factories, prisons and other types of large, commercial projects. Many of the jobs had LOTS of OT and that built my pension and health benefits up sufficient enough that I could get a good early retirement at 55 rather than go out at 62.:D

My background in auto racing and the many part time jobs I held at different times in my life came in very handy in my pipefitter carrier.
 
Seems like quite a few of us on this forum are retired, which makes sense: who else has the time to sit in front of a computer for hours a day just for fun?

I sometimes get asked how I can afford to be retired and still live a pretty good lifestyle. I tell them that waiting until I turned 70, and 48+ plus years of full time work is what allows me to now do nothing and enjoy doing it!

Most of my early life was spent in the U.S. Army, and after 24 years of that I became a Nursing Home Administrator and worked another 24 years in health care management. Also worked 10 years part-time as a Motorcycle Safety Instructor. Now I spend my day at the gym, the computer, on my motorcycle or at my pistol club. And I get to visit with my kids and grandkids a lot more than when I was working. Plus my wife and I have gone on several nice trips already and I hope to do a lot more traveling before my body gives out or the money runs out!

I keep thinking about reloading, and I bought all of the equipment. I even have some cases, bullets, primers and powder but have yet to actually try to figure out how to work all this stuff. I'm sort of saving this reloading work for when I really feel that I have nothing to do and start to get bored, but being retired just under a year I have yet to feel bored at all.
 
Union Sheet Metal Worker Local 85 in Atl, Ga for 28 years now. Running work for 20. I got to work on 4 of the tallest buildings in the southeast. With any luck I'll be joining all you retired men in just a few years!
 
I used to tell people that my job was typing closed captioning for pornos - I used a lot of vowels!

I was a Product Safety Specialist working for Underwriters Laboratories for the past 32 years and retired on November 30, 2013.

Now, I am an apprentice clerk a few days a week in a small (itty-bitty) Local gun shop.
 
I have been an RN for almost 15 years, all of it in the field of oncology. One of only 4 guys in my graduating class. Spent the first 8 years in the operating room, and have been in management ever since. Love what I do, helping people through some of the most difficult times in their life. It is amazing how far cancer care has come the past 15 years, and can't wait to see what the next 15 hold.
 
Retired in 2010 after 33 years as a wildland firefighter/forest ranger. I supplement my diet by hunting wild game and fishing; I use my retirement pension and social security check to buy beer and pay bills.
 
Journeyman Carpenter for last 20 + years, started framing houses and building foundations and eventually moved into mostly commercial ,but always seemed to build at least 1-2 homes every year.
Built my family home from my own design, taking ideas from other homes I have built.
Didnt enjoy the stress of the responsibility of supervising "tools"(longer story), so for the last couple years I have been doing higher end renovations ,where I can work to my own standards and let the art flow:).
When you present a 40 000 dollar invoice and the customer is so happy they buy you a bottle of rum, Its a fairly stress free way to make a living.
Oh yeah, I get to set work hours too. see you guys this evening ,gotta go build some art.
 
Simi retired and rebuild antique American carburetors. 40 years + repairing carburetors.
 

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I started off rebuilding cold headers that make nails and screw machines, then I was an auto/jeep mechanic. Then a machinist, the building vertical lathes from 36" to 144" chucks. Then built cnc lathes for Chrysler tank, m1abrams and a lathe to manufacture breech boxes & muzzle brakes for the 155mm. Then I assembled the sub unit components for the 155mm howitzer for the US ARMY I did the barrel slides, gear boxes, hydraulics and shock absorbers and brakes. We did it all but the barrel. The barrel and complete assembly was done at the waterveilt arsenal. For the past 21 years before I retired in 2002 I was the lead mechanical tech for the world head quarters Otis elevator engineering group. I worked on new designs, R&D, life testing, the Disney tower of terror. And various projects. I was support for the lab. I was a blue collar guy in a white collar world.
I got to use all my talents and past experiences on this job.

Now I play with international farmall tractors and cub cadet and estate mowers. I still do some welding and fabrication with my son's. I'm passing the torch to them sort of speak.
 
What do I do? Go fishing, listen to music, go fishing, do the shopping, go fishing, go hiking, go fishing, go hunting, go fishing, go to the range, go fishing. Oh, did I mention I go fishing?:D

Here is yesterday :)
 

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