What do you do for work ? Is it hit or shit.

dh1

Likes Dirt
Turbo-machinery/ Rotating equipment service engineer. Travel and work on sites all around Australia, currently in Melbourne working at Exxon Mobil supervising the overhaul of a wet gas compressor.
 

SF Trailboy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Manager an electrical wholesaler. Nearly 10 years. Pretty good job and not a bad employer but don't really have the control I need to weed out certain bad apples in my staff.

Was a qualified financial planner but people are way to emotional about their money.
 

moorey

call me Mia
Turbo-machinery/ Rotating equipment service engineer. Travel and work on sites all around Australia, currently in Melbourne working at Exxon Mobil supervising the overhaul of a wet gas compressor.
And philanthropist.... :hug:
 
J

JaRedy

Guest
TBH I thought there would be more engineers in this thread. For some reasons mountain biking seems to attract a lot of them!
It's crazy isn't it. I don't know a single non-riding engineer, but of all the people I know through mtb, 10-20% are mech engineers. When shuttling with randoms its almost to be expected that at least one person will be an engineer. Heck, I've been out doing shuttles and been the only person in the car that WASN'T an engineer.
 

Jim Junkie

Used to sell drugs, now he just takes them
It's crazy isn't it. I don't know a single non-riding engineer, but of all the people I know through mtb, 10-20% are mech engineers. When shuttling with randoms its almost to be expected that at least one person will be an engineer. Heck, I've been out doing shuttles and been the only person in the car that WASN'T an engineer.
Mech Engineer here :wave:. Hit or shit? It has it's moments; I get to do plenty of design work, it varies and it's challenging, so I like that. Best of all they let me do 4 day weeks so I can spend a day with my kid and have a 3 day weekend, which is pretty awesome.

Some days though I wish I could just take the stress down a notch. I'm generally pretty good at keeping it under control but occasionally it gets the better of me.

Plenty of people who ride bikes here though!
 

EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Air traffic controller. Pretty good gig most of the time. 5 weeks a year leave but usually we get our RDO's during leave so it goes a long way. Lots of time midweek to ride/surf etc. and I never take work home.
 

SF Trailboy

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Air traffic controller. Pretty good gig most of the time. 5 weeks a year leave but usually we get our RDO's during leave so it goes a long way. Lots of time midweek to ride/surf etc. and I never take work home.
Nice - looked long and hard at this this year when they were recruiting. Didn't end up applying as I was worried about some of the posting locations around the country.
 

EsPeGe

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Nice - looked long and hard at this this year when they were recruiting. Didn't end up applying as I was worried about some of the posting locations around the country.
Yeah it's something you need to think about. Generally speaking the best way to get posted where you want is to pick the place geographically furthest from where you want to end up.
 

tubby74

Likes Bikes and Dirt
I was originally a mining engineer, then moved to miming software and now freelance as a software consultant to publishers.
I enjoy taking things from business requirements through coding, kind of like one long logic puzzle. Having several clients there's never an expectation im at a desk at any given time, but have to be aware if i dont deliver promptly i may not be the one they call next time. Still rather the odd huge week of work than a static 9-5
 

c3024446

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Unemployed Mech Engineer here. Can't say I ever really liked it. Money was the only good thing. Was flat out from 2008-2013, then the last 2.5 years have been a stressful time just trying to keep employed! Discovered that boom and bust industries aren't my cup of tea.

I'm keenly reading this thread for new career ideas.
 

stickso

Likes Dirt
Unemployed Mech Engineer here. Can't say I ever really liked it. Money was the only good thing. Was flat out from 2008-2013, then the last 2.5 years have been a stressful time just trying to keep employed! Discovered that boom and bust industries aren't my cup of tea.

I'm keenly reading this thread for new career ideas.
Dunno if there's any overlap here with mech eng, but a couple of mates are fire engineers and don't seem to have any issues with employment. Both have moved around a bit the last few years on their own terms. Sounds like the workload can get crazy busy from time to time though.
 

Haakon

Keeps on digging
yeah, i had a go at getting in...failed the psych tests.:noidea:...................:crazy:
Yeah, it's probably best to keep quiet about the little voices in your head telling you to kill and kill again... Apparently it's not a good thing when you're stuck thousands of miles from help with an axe murderer in your midst.
 

fatboyonabike

Captain oblivious
Yeah, it's probably best to keep quiet about the little voices in your head telling you to kill and kill again... Apparently it's not a good thing when you're stuck thousands of miles from help with an axe murderer in your midst.
plenty of penguins..just jump in the Hagglund and go mow a few hundred down :evil:
 

MarioM

Likes Dirt
Spare parts interpreter at a truck dealership . Good gig , good pay and good guys in my department and never a dull moment .
 

floody

Wheel size expert
I'm a secondary English and SOSE teacher. Ongoing work is scarce. In order to be able to stay in education working the rounds of piecemeal fixed term and casual engagements I put in about 20 hours a week in a supermarket stocking the dairy aisles.

My career after nearly a decade is pretty well at a standstill, even the temporary security of fixed term work has mostly evaporated. I've worked city, suburbs, remote; public, private, elite, disadvantaged; middle school through to high school certificate; foundation through to advanced subjects. Unfortunately I am too old for beginning teacher positions and incentives, and don't have enough ongoing experience to be competitive for other roles.

Teaching is the most fulfilling and enjoyable thing I've ever done and simultaneously the most heartbreaking and demoralising.


I'm going to have to scrap it and start another career soon from the looks of things, which is disappointing but that's life.
 

jarrod839

Banned
I'm a truck driver in the waste industry waking everyone up at 4am emptying dumpsters. Its ok work, shit hours and sometimes u get covered in shit but the money is good and and a stable industry and the company has a modern fleet of vehicles.
 

Jesterarts

Likes Dirt
I'm the Head of Client Solutions at a start up eLearning company.

It's a pretty good gig all in all and SUPER amazing compared to my last role in a much, much bigger organisation.

The perks of the role:
- I set my own schedule and work where I like, though years of corporate conditioning mean I'm still more comfortable working 9 to 5
- Work from home a lot of the time
- Get to travel a bit. Though mostly to Sydney but I did get a trip to Wellington earlier in the year and took wifey to make a nice weekend trip of it
- I get paid enough that I don't think about money any more. Then I get commission. But to be honest if tomorrow for whatever reason they asked my to do the same role for 20% less I still would.

But by far the biggest benefit is that I am working in a space I am passionate about and I get to be honest with clients. I get to help them with real solutions, not the shit you see out there labelled 'eLearning'

The biggest down sides are:
- It's hard to switch off. Because there is no fixed working environment, it's hard to have that physical switch off. But I am getting better
- It's rather lonely. In my last role I managed a whole group. So I would so 90% of my time was meetings with the team, stakeholders, etc. Not I have a lot of 'me' time. Wife hates is as I ambush her as soon as she is in the door.

So is it hit or shit, I would have to say hit.
 

hach_bee

Likes Bikes and Dirt
Project management in major events temporary infrastructure over here. Get to deal with some pretty awesome gigs (majority motorsport related, but I also do some concerts, NRL), get to do some pretty cool stuff for sure! Weekend before last below.
12036661_903717209665762_4868816818390476917_n.jpg

But it certainly can have its shit moments....as in, I literally had to shovel someone's shit last week. Post bender, tradie, bog monster sized shit. I myself was horrendously hungover on 3hrs sleep at the time, we call it 'event karma'.

I still wouldn't do anything else, in fact I'd do this for less (don't tell the boss!) and I'm only on a post grad salary! Very very lucky :roll:
 
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