October 4, 20178 yr For those of us that are not smithing for a living, what do you do to pay the bills? I'm a Hardscaper for the last 12 years doing mostly retaining walls and patios
October 4, 20178 yr Major gifts fundraiser for a private liberal arts college and conservatory of music.
October 4, 20178 yr Smoggy, an English friend of mine once had occasion to fill out a census form with the occupation "Gentleman" (by which he meant "son of a British Army officer, currently unemployed").
October 4, 20178 yr I'm a Hardscaper for the last 12 years doing mostly retaining walls and patios Beautiful work!
October 4, 20178 yr Currently: Flight line Airworthiness inspector, AMT-I, Preflight & Delivery - At a large commercial airplane company near Seattle. Spring 2018: Going to retire and spend my winters on the beach in Puerto Vallarta, enjoying many icy cold beers and grilled shrimp tacos...
October 4, 20178 yr Currently I'm a flooring installer. We lay all sorts of floors in all sorts of places. Not where I want to be, but it sort of pays the bills. I'm going through college for software development, even though I've been doing it as a hobby for 11 years. Everyone wants you to have a degree now a days, sigh. Prior to installing floors I was a heavy equipment mechanic specializing in big cranes, to include the three biggest operating in the gulf of Mexico. I did metal fabrication for temporary replacement parts and additional attachments on all of the equipment we worked on.
October 4, 20178 yr Validation Engineer at a computer factory in Mexico; working on the big rack mount systems. I write shell scripts to test they get built correctly, (all 1000 disk drives are the correct model and at the correct firmware revision, all the cables go from the correct A to the correct B, DIMMS are in the correct slots, etc.) Prior to that about 25 years working with major research organizations: NRAO and Bell Labs; so basically an old UNIX guy; bearded, balding and I'd be wearing suspenders save that I have to go through security so often at the plant...Hitting things with hammers after work is VERY therapeutic! (Double BS degrees: Geology and CIS) genesaika: persevere! I was hired into Bell Labs with my Geology degree and then told to get one in a field they actually wanted and spent the next 10 years working more than full time, dealing with a 100 year old house, a young family and taking classes; (and having undiagnosed diabetes---adult onset type 1/LADA/Type 1.5). However, soon after graduating and getting diagnosed, Bell Labs (Lucent) went into it's death spiral and I was out of a job *but* had that shiny degree and over a decade of experience to go with it. Made a huge difference getting my next two jobs
October 4, 20178 yr It was decided I was to crazy to continue working as an auto mechanic in 1990, as $800 a month just does not cut it, I supplement my income as a blacksmith, horse trainer and farrier.
October 4, 20178 yr Retired... after 29 years on the job as a police officer and happy to be out. Still sometimes I miss the clowns but not the circus. Prior to that a butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker. BTW: Jasent that's some outstanding work
October 4, 20178 yr Author BTW: Jasent that's some outstanding work Thank you and thank you for your service. It was decided I was to crazy to continue working as an auto mechanic in 1990, as $800 a month just does not cut it, I supplement my income as a blacksmith, horse trainer and farrier. You gotta be a little crazy to work with horses
October 4, 20178 yr I build airplanes, airforce tankers and freighters. Shady, looks like we have another thing in common. We should meet up sometime.
October 4, 20178 yr Retired after 37 years in landscaping, the last 23 doing my own design/ install gig. Previous to all that is some lumberjacking and tree climbing. I've slapped down a bunch of pavers in my day, but really focused on stonework. I'm also a certified (certifiable) plant geek. I'm now splitting time in the new house with wife, wood, metal and plants. Steve
October 4, 20178 yr Thomas, I'm working on that whole perseverance thing, haha. It's always nice to hear stories of people making it in my field. Doesn't really help me much that New Orleans is like a technological wasteland, every few months or so I'll find anything in the tech field and they usually want a full stack developer with absurd experience.
October 4, 20178 yr Oilfield... janitor of the oilfield. I do containments for all the liquids. Acid friction reducer oil and whatever else might be there. We also do restraints. Big honking ropes wrapped around iron pipes sk that if anything does go wrong it doesn't swing around and kill a bunch of people.
October 4, 20178 yr Finally retired after 40 yrs forging. Just moved to O.R from Colo. and trying to get my smaller shop set up so i can do things for me instead of customers.IF i can get away from wifes obsession with plants and gardens, and guess who gets to do all the grunt work.
October 4, 20178 yr Currently a maintenance mechanic at a commercial bakery. In the past I have owned and operated my own machine and fab shop, automotive lift technician-installed and serviced, tool maker for a dental metals foundry, gunsmith, all around plant maintenance at the Jelly Belly Candy Co., tool maker for a screw machine shop, and yearning to strike off on my own again.
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