Are You Working in Your Field of Choice, and/or Do You Like Your Job?

Hey Everyone,

Something that always interests me is what people do for a living and how they got into that particular line of work.

I would like to ask:

* What is your current field of employment, and how did you get into it?

* Is there another field that you would like to get into, and why?

* Are you working in the field you had originally intended to work in, or are you doing something different, and why? If you're in a completely different field, has it been for the better or for the worse?

* Do you like your current job? Why or why not?

Of course, if posting your honest feelings about your job will get you into some sort of trouble at your workplace, please don't feel an obligation to make an individual post. Because of this, I am also going to create a poll regarding job satisfaction that is both anonymous and multiple-choice so that everyone who wants to answer hopefully has a chance to do so.

The poll allows for a limited number of choices--I won't be able to cover every option--but I'm hoping this will generate some honest discussion about this topic.

Thank you for sharing and I'll be looking forward to hearing your answers.

P.S. Dab nab it.

I accidentally hit the "Enter" button before I was finished with the poll, and wasn't able to add any others even with the edit, so I think I missed a few more possibilities.

I believe the system now allows for 10 choices, but I think this poll will still provide some interesting insights.

Thank you so much for your time and participation!

Wow... you are on a roll with lots of really good questions this week, and they all seem to hit really close to home with me...

Before I forget - thanks for the multiple choices... great job given the limited number...

I'm a Senior Analyst for the USMC (Gov't Civilian/Retired Marine Officer). My current field has nothing to do with my under-grad (other than math/science); however my Master's was obtained halfway thru my active duty career in Operations Research and I've been working in that field ever since...

I love working with Marines - for the most part they/we are pretty good people.
I always tell my kids: "Find something that you like, that you are good at, and that someone is willing to pay you for."

Over the past 11 years I've always been afforded the opportunity to identify pressing issues and initiate studies, analyses, and research that were relevant and useful for the USMC. While I've never given it much thought - I've kinda evolved into a visionary for creating conditions for long-term analytic successes down the road.

Unfortunately, the current Senior Civilian Leader in my field has simply created an unpleasant work place: 1) he lacks vision; 2) he resists recommended changes from his staff and even Marine Leadership; 3) he's determined to protect his empire; 4) he lacks accountability - was never suited to be incharge of humans 5) he has created a hostile work environment; 6) I've become a recent victim of his as he perceived my recent successes and honest objectivity as a threat to his protecting his empire...

Bottomline: over the last year this individual has made my work experience miserable and has single handedly failed to deliver the level of analysis that the Marine Generals have demanded of him and our organization over the past two years.

The Perfect Storm for me was the unfortunate timing of wife's departure coupled with this added stress from work... I suspect that managing either one of those monumental stresses individually would not have been as depressing as it has been...

It was during my deepest struggle that I was finally able to give it all to the Lord - and genuinely reconsider my purpose and my priorities... "Should I be working for a living - or should I begin to live for a living?"

I'm tired, I've worked hard my whole life - I'm only 54, but I'm ready to retire. My vision of retirement included keeping myself busing with grandkids, hobbies and recreational activities...

I suspect that once the Storm calms with the impending Divorce - that I will be able to reconsider WHAT I WANT TO BE DOING WITH MY LIFE. As an INFJ personality type (advocate/counselor) - I really love helping people. I find myself being able to empathize with lots of our cc friends...

While I feel obligated to pay for my kids colleges as I had originally planned/promised... I'm considering the possibility of transitioning my analytic skills toward seeking a job where I might be able to help combat against sex-trafficking...

I've never had a job I enjoyed. It's hard to imagine what that's like.
Only once can I think of a time I enjoyed my job to any degree. I actually hated the work itself, not suited for me, yet I was actually supported by my superiors for the first time ever. I got into the one position I desired and things went well for a while.
It didnt last before it all came crashing down around me though.

My current field of employment is Early Childhood Education.

One day I would love to study early childhood mental health. Play therapy. Working with children who have been through trauma, creating healthy attachments etc. To a very small degree I deal with these kinds of things on a daily basis with the kiddos that attend our Center, but would love to learn even more. (The majority of the time they teach us far more than we teach them!)

I LOVE my current job. Fantastic kids...amazing families. I'm blessed indeed! When I'm at work I know I am right where God wants me to be for the time being. (This is my 28th year!) Plus, weekends off! woohoo

The above is the graphic I designed earlier tonight. I feel a little rusty after taking a short break from CC, and losing access to the site where I started designing such graphics earlier this year, but I am slowly getting back into the swing of things, and learning a new image program It is not what I do for a living, though somewhat related, for part of my job entails prepping people's digital image files for printing. My job has changed a lot over the years, but the bottom line of what I do is making other people's work look as good as it possibly can. Some of the work I do ends up in galleries as part of an artist's installation. Some of the work I do ends up on people's residential walls, or in photo albums, drawers, boxes, cupboards, envelopes, or in the garbage. LOL When I started out it was all film, but very little film is used now compared to last millennium when we developed and printed at least a thousand rolls of film some weeks.

Some of the work I do is for professional photographers, and some is for amateur photographers. The work I do for amateur photographers is generally more interesting I love looking at people's photos! I have looked at tens of millions of pictures in the last forty two years, and still remember many of the pix I have seen. Family picnics and birthday celebrations. Vacation and travel photos. Beautiful flora, fauna, great works of art and architecture, religious iconography. Some of the best of the best, and, some not so great, too. We do not miss the days when people could not edit what they gave us before they gave it to us for processing

I feel like I could say yes to all your poll questions! Photofinishing is the only thing I have done professionally since I started my first lab job on my 21st birthday, and it is the only thing I knew I wanted to do since I discovered a passion for dark room work in college, where I completed the first year of a two year design arts program. I was a high school drop out, and I dropped out of college too, but my fairly strong artistic proclivities mixed with a modicum of ability and a desire for being immersed in the creative process has served me well, and been a bedrock in my life when all else was failing and falling into inevitable chaos and destruction as it so often did in my youth.

I have been at my current job for thirty six years. A miracle, I know, and thank You, God! Because of my seniority and somewhat central position in the lab (most of the work flows through me) I have a lot of freedom. When we are busy I work hard, and when we are not busy, my boss allows me to come and go pretty much as I see fit... without docking me for hours not worked, unless I take a day off. I have worked with many of the same people for years, and with the downsizing of the industry due to the influx of digital, we are pretty much a skeleton crew who have worked together for many years, decades even.

Someday I may not have to go to work any more, and retirement age looms, but I tell people I cannot afford to retire

I just "read" you post...thanks to you. I was not much aware of the advances in text-to-voice tech until you led me there……..thank you always. I always think interms of Magenta when I "read" and that is much of the time now, not so little as before.

I worked for a company called Hedrich-Blessing in Chicago while attending college. They were architectural photographers, and I was an assistant. I really enjoyed photographing things like the Picasso (ascale model before its assembly in Chicago's city hall plaza.) I do not think myself having been a good photographer, but I did enjoy what I did, and with the advent of graqphics programs on the pc, I enjoyed all kinds of image manipulation with Adobe PhtoShop and PhotoFiltre primarily. I can still use the lattr with ease,but somethings are not very accurate. Magnifying section by section makes things easier…….it is or should I say was fun .

I like what I can see of your work…….keep it up always……..you can never retire.

I am glad you are able to keep enjoying the site using text to speech programs! I do very little photoshop in my job, for it is done in a different department. I work mainly with print ready files (or film), adjusting the density and colour filtration, sometimes just a little, sometimes a LOT. Back in the beginning, I read the negs with my eye as opposed to having a machine monitor read it for me, and remembered the filtration without the help of back printers to record the data.

Oh! You are reminding me of so many of the professions I have done work for. As you mentioned, scale architectural work, work for real estate agents, mining companies (goodness, those endless boxes of core samples! LOL), forestry companies, and lots of aerial photography, art agencies, and sports venues, to name a few. One slide scanning job I did took a whole month of slogging away, eight hours a day! That is why amateur work is often more interesting

For a time in my current job, pre-digital days, I did the forensic photos for one of our local police stations. The work was in someone else's department, but she refused to do it, whereas I found it morbidly fascinating. I will never forget in my first job, the first time I saw a picture of a corpse on a slab in the morgue. I had to ask my co-worker if it was real I have read suicide notes. People are sometimes surprised that anyone actually looks at their photos. Believe me, I look! I can take it all in at a glance, or pause momentarily to bask in the beauty and be moved by the wonder. I have been greatly moved by some of the things I have seen Moved to laughter, and moved to tears.

A lot of labs just want to pump out the work, but I have always fought against that trend to give the customer the quality they deserve. My previous boss and I sometimes fought like cats and dogs LOL. But when the cuts started happening, he told me I was lucky in that I would never lose my job due to being so capable. It took him twenty five years to admit I was better than he was at what we did. Haha. Wow. A Chinese man telling a white woman she is better than he is? When does that ever happen? Twenty five years!!! LOL

I do no know if these will show but here are two photos I snapped while touring Paris. It is the Eiffel Tower and some guy painting the thing. I had my Kodachrome with me. By the way this was during and until the end of "Les manifestation contre DeGaulle, 19u68.) Believe it or not, I was recruited to go with a detective to attend various activists' meetings......undercover...funny I would get involved with such activities, but it was mainly collecting leaflets.

I love my job. I am employed to assure that all Lakes, Ponds, and Rivers here in Bama are adequately stocked with fishies!



So, I toil away with rod and reel to fulfill my duty.......

What, exactly, are the age limits for this "play therapy" and what would I need to do in order to qualify?

I may or may not have been known to buy a few toys in my day... "for the kids"... and I may or may not have used my friends' kids as an excuse to buy (and possibly play with) toys.

Shoot, and if it will boost my mental health (not to mention stability), sign me right up!


In all seriousness... I have really enjoyed reading about everyone's working careers and stories. I always wished I could find some sort of apprenticeship, and I truly admire the people who have found lifelong careers that they genuinely enjoy.

I hope others will keep sharing as well.

Something to be said for 'Play Therapy'...

I honestly believe that my 1.5 year old GoldenDoodle pup senses my emotional downs and comes a running to lick my face/tears; and wants to transition into play... As if he knows that playing will help to solve all my worries... and 9 times out of 10 he is usually right .

Hello
Hello soulsearch,

If you're looking for Seoul, it is the capital of South Korea

But seriously, I have been working in the computer operations environment since 1983 and I am just now changing my profession over to photography, for a change, as I am tired of sitting in cubicles for 8 to 10 hours per day. Now I can be outside taking pics of the scenery and enjoy the out-doors and get paid for it.

Thanks Ahwatukee!

Yuppers. That's why I chose the username "Seoulsearch"--I was born there. And, it represents my search for who I am, who God made me to be, and what I believe God has called me to do--to help others learn who they are in Him as well.

And, totally awesome that you can earn a living through photography.

It sounds like an amazing job!

Retired is fine with me now, but I may volunteer somewhere like a foodbank soon. like maybe spring.

You know, there’s this lil creek, or stream, it sure ain’t adequately stocked with fishies😛, but its got moccasins in stock, and I’d really would appreciate some advice on how to send’em back to the man downstairs where they rightfully belong lol.

To answer all the questions in the OP:

I work at a fast food factory. It's not something I really like, and I would certainly rather not have to hold down a job, but it's a lot better than some jobs I know of. It's not really a career, but it's a living.

I intend to work as long as I am feasibly able to work. I consider it my part of the responsibility of living in this world. Back in Eden life was easy, because the world worked like a well-maintained machine. After sin broke the world it still worked, but not quite as well, and we have to put out some effort to survive in this world. Some try to get around it by theft or other unscrupulous means, but it is our responsibility to work for what we need to survive. I figure when I am no longer able to work it will be time to retire.

But that don't mean I'm nowhere near happy about it... I sure am looking forward to Heaven, every day when I get up and go to work.

[offtopic]
On a side note, a song that this thread title reminded me of:

Can folks say you're outstanding
In your field of labor?
Can they say they saw you the other day
Trying to help your neighbor?
Can they say they saw you on the street
Telling folks God's really real?
Or did I hear them make the sly remark
That you were just out standing in your field?

[/offtopic]

Where do I begin? When I was a kid people told me I should be an artist because I could draw well. Even my art teachers told me that. Drawing was my favorite thing and I drew all the time. No cartoons or anime (I don't even think anime existed then). I always tried to draw things realistically.

So anyway I got a degree in graphic design and worked as a graphic artist for most of my working life. I enjoyed it at first but then I got stuck working for small companies that were very poorly managed so I got tired of it and decided to go into the medical field because I've wanted to for many years.

I would have taken up nursing but I don't have the stomach for it, so I became a pharmacy tech instead. My goal was to eventually work in a hospital. It usually takes a few years of retail pharmacy experience before you can qualify... Well my first pharmacy job was a horrible experience. Not because of the job itself, but because of the way I was treated by my coworkers who basically didn't want me in their little clique.

Anyway, that job got cut short when my dad got sick with cancer and I spent the next 2 years caring for him. After he passed away I didn't know what I wanted to do or could do. Those 2 years changed me. I used to have a very sharp mind and nearly aced my national pharmacy certification exam which was mostly complex math problems.... but now I am so forgetful. I can't even remember 3 things on a shopping list or where I parked my car. People say its normal, but for me it is not. Needless to say, I have abandoned my desire to work in the medical field because I am no longer mentally fit to perform critical tasks, plus the fact that hospitals remind me of all the stuff my dad went through during those 2 years. I still have my sense of admiration and respect for doctors and nurses though..

So this brings me to where I am now.. Trying to start my own small business. It will be a one man operation and a very demanding one, but I keep running into unrelated problems that are preventing me from getting started. The first one put me in the hospital at the end of last year. Luckily it was nothing serious. But after that, it was a months long road to getting well enough to give my business idea another go... And then right after I start to make progress I suffer an injury that is totally unrelated to my work. Its something that requires more than a few days off. It's been a series of injuries and illnesses for the last few months. In fact right now I am just getting over a rotator cuff injury and a bout of sinusitis. So I don't know if I will ever have a job that I love. Lately I've been feeling like just giving up on everything.

When I was a kid I wanted to:


Work in the circus 🤡
Be a horse rider 🐴
Fly a helicopter 🚁
Be superman/woman 💪
Have magical powers 🧚‍♂️
Be an astronaut and/or work in a space station zapping aliens 🌔💫⭐️🤖👾

So no, I’m not doing my original job of choice! 😁