Escapist's Day Jobs

angryscotsman93

New member
Dec 27, 2008
137
0
0
College student, working towards a Mechanical Engineering degree and a Coast Guard license to work on ships. There's some serious money to be made in the industry, you know. The disadvantages of this choice are as follows:

-College life kinda sucks. My school is roughly 84% male, and "dating within the gates" is not advised. Plus, we really don't get out much.

-Once you're at sea, you're out there for a while. It varies depending on your ship, but a single job could last anywhere from three months to a year. During that time, you're gonna be working your ass off- eight hour work days, then about four hours of overtime, all within an engine room that's usually about 120 degrees Fahrenheit, if you're near the equator. Sure, you make good money, but it can be tedious, and even dangerous work.

-The sea-faring life isn't particularly family friendly. Most of my professors pretty much left the industry the moment they had a kid, because they didn't want to be an absent father figure, and just ended up grabbing a job onshore in some co-gen plant. When I was on a training cruise (sea internship), my First Engineer had graduated from Maine Maritime in 1980, but left the industry a year later when the jobs dried up. He got a job at a nuclear plant and worked there until about 2005, when it shut down. After that, he went back to school, re-obtained his license, and he's just been grinding sea-time until he can get his Chief Engineer's license.

So, all in all, the schooling kinda blows, and it's not great for people who like their families, but there's good money to be made, and you can travel the world on someone else's dime. That's what I'm looking forward to.
 

Kuilui

New member
Apr 1, 2010
448
0
0
I currently work at a deli making awful money, the people are nice, my boss lets me work whenever I want and I basically run the night shift and train all the new guys since I've been there a long time so more good stuff for a resume. Its acceptable for the moment. Also I'm about to get a bachelors degree that I have no interest in but should look good on a resume. Then hopefully onto a real job..
 

xmbts

Still Approved by Shock
Legacy
May 30, 2010
20,800
37
53
Country
United States
Currently I've got one job as a miserable sales clerk in customer service, and another job as a miserable apprentice electrician, though I really don't have any interest in keeping either one, hoping to find a better career path soon.
 

Sylocat

Sci-Fi & Shakespeare
Nov 13, 2007
2,122
0
0
I'm a director and actor at the Young Shakespeare Players, a nonprofit educational theatre program for children and teens. I also freelance as a video editor and animator.
 

Stg

New member
Jul 19, 2011
123
0
0
I'm a heavy equipment field operator in the oil field. Hours are a pain (almost 200 hours on my last paycheck) but the pay is amazing, although it leaves very little time for the family.
 

Pinkamena

Stuck in a vortex of sexy horses
Jun 27, 2011
2,371
0
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Normally I would say "student". But recently I miraculously landed a job at CERN, so now I work on getting the LHC back up and running after the long shutdown.
EDIT: To clarify, I mainly test electronics and make software applications for monitoring and interacting with the quench protection system.