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Have meaningful, enjoyable work that provides a living income?

Seeking a career change and would like to explore what others do that they enjoy and which provides a living income they simply can’t complain about.

If you enjoy what you do and it pays the bills well... what is it, how did you find it, what is needed to gain entry into that work/field/company...? Please tell me all about it. πŸ™‚

Thank you!

SimplyMe 5 Feb 11
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9 comments

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I'm a Salesforce admin/analyst/designer. I came from an IT background but it isn't required -- I know lots of fellow admins who had no tech at all when they started. The really important part is to be able to think of solutions to problems, visualize structure and movement of information, and help people work through how they do things (i.e. their processes). People work as admins for companies directly, in consulting firms, or independently (like me). Salesforce has a free training site called Trailhead. If you think you might like this, check it out: [trailhead.salesforce.com]

That sounds up my alley! I will look into that. Thank you for your input!

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I had a work ethic that was a soother in dealing with this. Your always looking for a new job and a new place to live. Good Jobs that pay well are usually found in big cities where the cost of living is very difficult adding in commutation and traffic and or both. If your paying your bills with some left over then your on safe ground until you can either find new digs, or you know your going to get a raise. Good jobs also come from either friends or relatives or a reference. You will never get a job on what you are qualified for and will find out those who do have the good positions have an attachment of sorts. If your creative and can start up your own area of expertise you will have some rough riding for a while but will find out if it is going to get better of whatever. My other practice was to find a job that no one else wants and learn how to get good at it. Just keep your eyes open and keep sending in resumes. I don't know about Linked in and if your signed on with them but it most definitely would not hurt.

I have privacy concerns as to LinkedIn. 😟

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Indeed! A great resource! Thanks for the reminder, Bob.

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I am currently pursuing an advanced degree in Pharmaceutics, but my back up job/career was always something to do with great outdoors. If I fail as a researcher, I will be a park ranger. I used to work as a guide in National parks before for people who wanted to unplug, and it was one the most amazing, rewarding, and self-fulfilling jobs I've ever had.
If you are good with programming, you can also always do that, or be a beta tester. This job only requires a computer and your brain really.

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Teach

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I am too old now to score a job with big bucks, I have had them in the past, not at all satisfying. No-one wants to pay me for the work I want to do, so I compromise, I get less than minimum wages, I do the work they need done and they allow me to take on pet projects. Poverty line in Oz for a single guy is $426-250 a week, I struggle to make $200 for 2 days work. Speaking of which, I best be off, I start in 20 minutes.

Sounds like you may be contracting yourself out. Pros and cons in doing so, I’m sure.

Hi @SimplyMe no, I did work as a contractor for a while, that was fine, silly amounts of money but did work for companies I really disliked. I work from our local community centre, the work doesn't offend me, I teach preschoolers and high schools kids and run various projects including our community gardens. When I decide to take on something new they let me run it under their name and incorporation so I don't need to worry about insurances and legalities, saves me lots of time. Last year I was creating a new energy projects, they are still running, a few small things to finish then I want to establish a kayak/canoe trail in my local water ways with easy launching facilities. The level of satisfaction is very good, I don't have debts nor many expenses. I have always said, wealth is not what you have but what you don't need.

@Rugglesby What very fun things you seem to have going!

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I manage lots of stuff that nobody else does, at a Natural History Museum - it's so amazingly cool and rewarding, I love it. So, I manage a team of 3 nice people who all work hard and know what to do; I look after facilities so if a light or a microscope breaks I get it fixed; and I look after a complex taxonomic database. πŸ™‚

It's a pretty unique job though and I have fairly unique qualifications to do it. It does provide a living income but museums aren't the best payers and most staff do it because they love what they do.

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We are in shortage of over the road truck drivers. If you have no immediate responsibilities at home it can be quite profitable. As an OTR driver you get a large tax break from your take home pay. Expenses while on the road are quite low if you're not a materialistic type of buyer. Leaving one the ability to save quite easily if you don't already own a lot of debt. Female drivers are on the climb today. I read an article just today that Covenant Trucking is offering a $40,000 bonus for drivers to go team, 20,000 each. Companies are beginning to have to pay higher prices to get goods across the nation because of the shortage. So Covenant is trying to capitalize on this by encouraging team driving to keep their trucks moving around the clock. The new rules of electronic logs going into effect this year is hampering with single drivers getting products to warehouses and market across the country. I believe they also have their own school for training. I had to put something like $1100 when I went to TDDS and also got a government grant. I went to Werner and they paid off the rest of my debt through their pay program. Werner also has their own school though. If you're in a position to be able to go independent you could really make better money than joining a large company as those though. I was OTR for nearly 3 years and it was quite the experience. I've been through 47 of the main land states, all but N. Dakota, we have quite a beautiful country. Team driving is not for everyone though. Or is trucking period. Teaming, you really have to be lucky to find someone you mesh with or get along with other people easily. Driving, it's a solitude aspect of life that takes a certain type of person. Confinement in a truck 11/14 with a 10 hour break in the sleeper is a day. Your social activities will be at a shipper a receiver, and most often truck stops to eat and shower. But I loved the experience! And watched a lot of movies in my sleeper on my 10 hour breaks πŸ™‚ Anyone with questions, feel free to contact me. I'll help the best I can. But it's been 13 years since I've was OTR and drive local now. This industry changes a lot.

Thank you for responding. I know this isn’t the type of work for me. Separately, what impact do you think self-driving trucks will have on the industry, and when would you imagine this would make an impact?

That was a very thorough and thoughtful response. I loved it. I wanted to be a truck driver for many years. Never did it though.

I wanted to drive over the road when I was young but women were not accepted then. I fear am too old to learn but often felt like the perfect relationship for me would be with a OTR trucker and occasionally go with.

@BlueWave Thank you. I figured I was going on to long, but if someone else would be interested. πŸ™‚

@SherryMartin actually there is a climbing number of people in our age group going into trucking. With the current job market going tech, people with limited skills and education such as myself, more baby boomers are getting on the road trucking. Depending on where you get the training you can be in a new job in a month to 2. I met a lot of people well into their 50's and 60's that are new drivers unprepared for retirement And the school makes a difference to how fast sometimes also. I know when I went to TDDS it had one of the highest hiring rates for an independent school. Which is one of the reasons I went there. They also train diesel mechanics. They had 2 different classes to choose from. I think it was a 4 or 6 week, then an 8 week class if I remember right. Towards the end of your class representatives from some of the top major trucking companies come in and give a presentation to hire into their companies. A number of trucking companies have their own training schools. This reduces their chances of hiring bad apples that can lead to law suits.

@SimplyMe I think we are a long way from self driving trucks. Our infrastructure as far as roadways will have to be vastly modified to accommodate a combination vehicle for the size of a tractor with a trailer at 53' long! In the short term future I would imagine off highway terminals for redistribution to straight trucks into cities. Or they're going to be moving a lot of our shopping centers and groceries stores next to a highway or railroad. It can be a real bitch maneuvering a truck through especially large metropolitan areas. I don't care how much you modify a road with technology to self propel a vehicle of that size through a city such as some of those in New England, your going to have to take down the whole city and start over in some cases to do it safely without a lot of damage being done. Or as I said above, redistribute into straight trucks. Does that offset jobs for the industry? I've been through downtown Boston a couple of times, not going to happen with a self driving truck! Queens, New York City, Pittsburgh, no no. Hell, you get into some of the small towns in the boonies with Dollar Generals and stores like that, good luck on a self propelled truck that has to maneuver a jack knife to line up with their dock to unload! Is someone going to be with that truck in situations as this to operate it? Or companies have to hire someone to operate it at some point once it's there. N.E. alone offers a well of complications to the trucking and corporate companies that will cost a fortune to overcome. Scrap yards. All our steel companies have their own scrap metal yards a scarp company like mine deliver to. They will have to spend a fortune to self propel a truck into their yard to the right pile of steel to dump. Job security for me? I don't think I have to worry to much anytime soon. Fuel trucks. I don't know about anyone else, but I'm not ready to see several thousands in gallons of any type of fuel rolling down the road by itself! Or any other type of hazardous and or dangerous material that by law requires a placard trailer. Who's going to operate the hoses once a fuel truck gets to a gas station or refinery? I hope they do a great job modifying the road into the refinery for self propelled trucks! Or move the refinery out in the middle of no where for when they blow up. I think we have a long time before we can afford the infrastructure for a reliable self driving trucking system. Right now just worry about how they're going to keep people from hacking into your self driving car!

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I am an academic. It's great because I get to do original research as well as teaching, two things which I find very rewarding. I discovered my taste for it when I studied for my first degree and was published as an undergrad.

Sadly it's not something you can fall into, but it is worth the effort if it's something that suits your character.

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