I have ticked a yes because I certainly do not hate my job and get a certain satisfaction from it. I work in mechanical engineering programming and setting CNC machining centres and lathes which is both physical and mental work, it also allows me to make and repair parts for motorcycles which has its uses.
It has the added bonus of even in this climate having more vacancies than people to fill them so it allows me to pack it all in and go off for a while then come back either to a previous employer or a new one if something more interesting turns up.

I wish there was a "I don´t know button" to choose ...

As far as I am concerned I was kinda destined from early childhood to take over the family business. Looking back I can see a whole lot of manipulation by my parents, the same thing my mother now tries on my son (fortunately with no luck, we coached him well).

I got an engineering degree and knew by the time I did my thesis that I never could work in a larger company (where the job opportunities are) for several reasons. My Dad then again offered me to get onbord his business so I made a two years apprenticeship in a job I neither liked nor hated. What followed was emotionally draining, period of hard work which was paid well insofar that I got a share of a third of the business premises. A lot more happened but I am not going to talk about that.

In the end I found myself supporting my folks for more than ten years financially because their only plan for retirement was to hand over the biz to me and let me pay for it. Many times it was taking the food out of the mouth of my children and giving it to my parents. I am still chained to support my mother financially until the end of her life and she is in good shape for her age of 74.

The job itself is demanding and I have been living in the burn-out zone for many years. It has left a lot of scars on my soul, mind and body. It seems like I am probably recovering, to what degree nobody knows.

The economic woes left me with a lot of debt, something I had hoped I´d not have at my age.

That´s about all I can say about the negative aspects of my job.

The good aspects are that I always had the freedom to be close at hand for my wife and kids. I could employ my chronically ill wife and let her work at her terms. I could make good friends and do friend stuff with them. I could purchase fun stuff like a chainsaw, weedeater, genny and a lot of other stuff on my biz. I can shoot my pellet guns on my own private indoor rage at 30 meters.

After 24 years I am now getting rid of the old crew I took over from my Dad with which I never really got along and can now employ great people I actually like. In one case I could even help - employed a wonderful woman who had fallen upon some rough times.

I was forced to work hard on my own shortcomings and I am still learning, including the therapy I am doing right now. This aspect is probably the most valuable part of my job.

Don´t think I could help but thanks for asking anyway.

Well I'm a plumber by trade, I like my job but I hate the company I work for; they pay me a fantastic wage but for this, they treat me like shit.

I'm at the crossroads right now; I don't know whether to quit and do something completely different, emigrate to another country or just start up the bonneville and hit the road? :confused1:

Why not work for yourself ??? Everyone needs a good, honest plumber right ??

Or Volunteer with your plumbing skills. You'd be 'hot shit' in the third world offering professional first world plumbing skills.

Just an idea

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

Actually, trying to transfer First World trade skills to Third World situations doesn't work very well at all: you never have the right tools, the parts and practices are all different, and local people can generally do it way faster anyway.

If I hated the people I worked for and felt they were treating me like shit, I'd be out the door. Being your own boss isn't for everyone or every situation, but where I come from a reliable plumber is a rarity, and it doesn't take one long to set up a thriving business.

All this talk about taking skills on the road is fine, but it really depends on where you go. Being an itinerant welder in Europe might be fine, but how are you going to make that work in Africa, Asia or Latin America? Same with small engine repair: does anybody really think they're better at this (using local tools, materials, and parts, of course) than that guy in the little tin shack by the side of the road? Notice how much you pay those guys to do a bit of welding or repair work? Can you survive on that sort of wage, even if you can find the work (and again, the tools, the materials, the parts)?

Mark

There are a places (few and far between, I grant you) that work to western standards and charge western or 'almost' western prices.

I can name four motorcycle specific ones off the top of my head right now.

There are plenty of people with A LOT of money in the third world and they like to spend it...

But like you say. It doesn't have to be the third world. USA,Canada, Australia, NZ and think about the developing countries in the East. There is PLENTY of great travel out there and places like Canada and Aus are crying out for skilled trades, even now.

When I was in the Yukon a few weeks back, they literally couldn't pay people enough to stay out there and work.

People behind the bar were on $20Ph plus GENEROUS tips...


Unfortunately for me at the time, none of my qualifications applied and I didn't have a work Visa. Hence why I'm going to give welding a bash. Even if that doesn't work out then at least I can make and sell bespoke stuff from my workshop.

Anyway... We're getting off topic

__________________
Did some trips.
Rode some bikes.
Fix them for a living.
Can't say anymore.

I think it would be a OK if you could plan the working part. I'd hate to spend a trip having to deal with "networking" and all the other rubbish that goes with trying to get grubbing little suits to part with their cash. Knowing I had to be somewhere on a certain date to work for X weeks would be OK.

Ted, if you are looking at welding as a transferable skill, take great care with the certification and training records. We have endless trouble with the attempts of local authorities to create closed shops by this route. If you are thinking Canada/USA, do their certification even if it's the lowest level as well as or instead of European/UK stuff. A certified welder is skilled employee, while any fool (such as myself) can tack bits of metal together given enough practice. Pay levels of course reflect this and you can still take on car body repairs even if certified.

This can work the other way too, my UK HGV ticket is restricted to 32 tonnes but the yanks never cared. You would need to know this though, there is next to no money for driving rigids over there.

Andy

We all have aspects of our job we don't enjoy as much as others and, frankly, if we didn't we'd have nothing to bitch about!

I teach teenagers (when they can be bothered to focus) science and really enjoy most parts of the job. The holidays are a bonus but its the sort of job that you can't do well unless you have the passion and the understanding. Once you have some semblance of understanding how a teenager operates and feels then 75% of the job is done for you.

Do I love my job? Yes.
Apart from being an extra in a soft porn movie I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather do

I enjoy my work when I get to do it (building). Being self employed, working for private customers is a real problem these days. Almost everyone wants something for nothing. Most of my time is spent adjusting quotes or quoting for something completely different. Work is a bit thin on the ground as well, which means when I'm not actually busy on a job I can't go on holiday because I'm worried about work coming in.

The only thing that keeps me sane is a small number of really good regular customers, but even they are feeling the pinch at the moment.

We're lucky enough to have a few other strings to our bow such as holiday accommodation lets and B&B. I'll be retiring from the building game in about 5 years (officially) but will keep the tourism things going to hopefully allow us to travel a bit in the winter.

As a welder my advice is to stay away from welding .
You'll ruin your health and be treated like shit by your employers especially if you decide to work in the oil and gas or mining industries .
There is a shortage of skilled trades at the moment but I've experienced a few booms and busts and believe me the busts last a lot longer than the booms . Resource industries have an on/off switch , you're better off working in a steadier industry .
High wages in "The North" are because of the high cost of living , which you won't really experience until you've lived there for a while . $20 /hr isn't very much as you'll probably only work for 4-5 months of the year .
There's also a reason that nobody wants to live in the north - think about that for a bit .
If you are going to go welding , stay on the "clean side", TIG welding specialist equipment and that sort of thing , but be warned it takes a long time to become proficient . Welding is the hardest of the trades because it is an art , purely a physical and mental skill and takes dedication .
It's better if you are small so that you can crawl into tight spaces and best to start young , if you're over 30 - don't bother .
You'll also be tested constantly and if you can't pass the job tests - you're done - adios amigo - don't let the door hit you on the way out .

To work from your own shop is nice , but you HAVE to have a niche market and sell to people who will actually pay you for the time involved .
Every Tom ,Dick and Harry will come banging on your door at all times of the day and night and want something welded up for pennies .
Good welding equipment is expensive and so are good premises .If you think you can cobble stuff together out of an old garage with a "buzzbox" welder , think again .

Welding can be great and rewarding but according to my welding instructor buddies only about 5% of those entering the local BC welding school at "C" level make it to "A" level and are working in the industry .If you want to work in Canada you'll have to have Canadian certification and every province is different , AND structural and pipe welding qualifications are different .

So have a think about it Ted , it's not something you can walk right into and make big bucks right away .
As a foreman , I don't even consider guys qualified unless they have 5 years of work experience under their belt - I don't have time to wipe their snotty noses and teach them their job and also pay for their expensive mistakes .

Learn how not to Weld just by watching this video

This is what old welders turn into ,
Amazin Blaze Weldin Service - YouTube

All the best .

__________________
Blessed are the cracked, for they let in the light. - Spike Milligan
"When you come to a fork in the road ,take it ! When you come to a spoon in the road ,take that also ."

There's much here with which I agree. I teach Music in a Secondary school and am a Head of Year. Apart from the fact I get to listen to Music all day (although there's a little more to it, obviously!) I love teaching, and am lucky enough to teach Pupils interested in learning (sometimes a rarity in this country). I love the classroom aspect, although there's much of my job that I'm not overly excited about - mostly admin! Not to sound too cliched, but I really feel like I've made a difference in my job, especially the Head of Year side of it, and this gives me a great sense of satisfaction. On another thread, there's a discussion about 'what's the point of overland travel?'; one poster suggests that the only point in life is procreation. I would suggest it's making some sort of difference to the lives of others. I suppose, therefore, I do love my job.

The holidays allow me to travel quite often and, when I retire, I hope to have a pension that will allow me to travel around the world (hopefully I will be healthy enough).

Like many jobs / careers, mine allows me to do the things I love doing. In that respect, I love every minute of it.

running your own business is a great way to get away with being a motorcycle overlander. With some serious family commitments and only a relatively profitable business, I saved up enough to buy a bike and go on a months tour in 1.5 years. cheap all around it was, but all the better for it.

I love my job, it is very hard and dangerous, but if i were just doing it to make money, I don't think I would respect it enough.

Knowing I was working to pay for my trip made me a very hard working boy! The work and the travel, they live side by side. Make them love oneanother and you just ride the wave!

Now I am back, I have half an eye on another trip, otherwise, I would hate my work!!!!

This is so bloody true. They expect you to stop what you are doing, fabricate something using the bit of scraggy scrap they’ve bought in as a template then weld it together. Then are shocked when you ask for the price of a small drink rather than the hour of shop time you should have charged. Then when you get back to what you were doing, it takes another half-hour to remember what you were doing before you got interrupted.

I do sometimes still do these little jobs because you really can’t be sure what it might lead to but it depends what mood I’m in and how I’m asked.

The other thing that really gives me the dog is when someone asks me to quote for some fabrication work then when you give them the price they say “oh, I can get something like that off the internet for £19.99”

Oh and architects who don't know what they're drawing and imagine that 1000kg of steel structure can be held together with fairy-dust and hung on sky-hooks.

So, back to the question “Do you like your job/career ??”

I am a chippy by trade and used to own a small building company doing good quality extensions, conversions and structural jiggery-pokery. When the big sites closed down a couple of years back, the market was flooded with trades who would work for almost bugger-all and I couldn’t find enough work to keep my lads busy. I restructured, cut costs, the lads agreed to short weeks but eventually I had to call it a day.

I now have what some people call a portfolio career and others call scratching about.
I still do building and maintenance stuff but only for a few of my regular customers from the past.
I sub-contract to a few local building firms occasionally but won’t do anything rough or crappy.
I also subcontract to a local metal fabricator using my site skills to measure or template, set out and then install staircases, balconies and balustrades. I do some fabrication in his workshop when they’re up against it. We’ve just finished building loads of Christmas decorations for shopping centres and street furniture; basically box-section or tubular frames of all shapes and sizes that are wrapped in garlands and lights.
I even do some office work occasionally for a company I worked for 25 years ago in the rubber and plastics industry (seals and gaskets)
If things get really tight I phone an agency and jump into an HGV for a couple of weeks.
I have my own workshop with a mixture of wood and metalworking tools and undertake all manner of stuff from security barriers and gates to reception counters. I especially enjoy dicking about with bikes and will be building some luggage racks, tool boxes, etc.

So, back to the question “Do you like your job/career ??”

Yes.

I am lucky that I have a small house with a small mortgage. I don’t make loads of money and there are times when work is very thin on the ground. I do pretty much pick and chose what I do though; I’m not afraid to turn sh1tty work away.

I can trundle off for a day’s trail-riding at short notice if I fancy it or spend a day or two dicking about with my bikes. I may not ever have enough time or money for “the big trip” but am scratching that itch with a few weeks away here and there.

Sometimes I think that I should have done things differently but I have friends who are in high paid jobs with big houses and new cars and to be honest, they all look at least ten years older than me and spend their time moaning about how crap their lives are. They also seem to think that the rest of the world is really bothered about the specification of their new M3/5 or the size of their telly.
Not for me I’m afraid.

I work as a Director at a private English school in Mexico City. There are aspects of the job I love, watching people learn, helping teachers get better or promoted and parts I don't like much. I have done the job for a long time and I and things have changed. I now look forward to retiring and having time to travel more. Will I miss the work? I don't know but as it gets closer I think about that more and more. I love working with people but I guess I will love being on the road and meeting new people.
Time will tell.

I've been musing on this since the topic started. Do I actually like my job/career. Well, given that I'm getting towards the end of it it would have to be a somewhat reflective question. Over the years / decades I've inhabited heady academic heights and scratched around in the gutter for a few quid. I've worked for large corporations, small businesses, been a company director, self employed and a casual, paid by the hour, drone. Some promised fame and fortune (but didn't deliver) others were just a means to an end and yet others had me working 90+hr weeks with eventual stress induced medical conditions. All of them have had good and bad points. They all, even the drone ones, had one thing in common - I did them because I was interested in them. That for me has always been the biggest motivator; I have to have some interest in the work. Money has almost always been secondary.

Of course you can't totally divorce money from the equation, everyone has to live and the ideal would be to find the type of work where job satisfaction and high monetary reward go hand in hand. Those jobs do exist but as a rule of thumb they tend to have fairly high barriers to entry. My wife and a number of other family members are medical doctors, a profession which in it's higher echelons in the UK at least is well paid compared to the national average. All of them have had periods where they have questioned the wisdom of their career choice. One gave up medicine for a number of years to work in television production before going back to it because of the stresses in the tv world. Another has been (is) studying for a law degree in their spare time "just in case"! This is someone right at the top of the medical career structure but mindful of the way the NHS is going. Nothing comes without its downside.

I know a number of other people with seemingly high flying jobs, big salaries and "golf club" lifestyles whose jobs have been teetering on the edge for years and everytime an assessment of corporate future requirements "review" comes to their department have been driven to drink by the stress of it all. Kids in private school, big mortgage, wife with "needs" etc all hanging on the slash of an accountants pen. Everytime I look at the dismal state of my bank account I remind myself things could be worse.

All of this doesn't help Ted find a direction in life and I don't really have much advice to offer other than to point out that the grass isn't always greener on the other side of the fence. Over the long term I suppose I have noticed that the people I know who have been able to successfully achieve some sort of work / life / finance equilibrium have been those who have worked to the strengths of their personalities rather than pointing out the magnitude of their qualifications. I was very aware of that yesterday when we attended my son's degree ceremony. Several hundred people all with the same qualifications but with vastly different personalities all talking about what they're going to do next. Be interesting to see who follows their head, who follows their heart and who end up on the checkout at Tescos.