Thread: How did you choose a profession/trade when you left school?

After growing up on a dairy farm and having no love of cows and hating school I managed to get an apprenticeship as a boiler maker/welder specializing in Stainless and Ali. As I completed my time my parents decided to relocate the farm to the outside of Margaret River (3 times the land) I agreed to build a new dairy (I had already revamped the first one) and stay for 2 years to help set up the new farm, this was a massive shock to dad as up until that point I had never even put on a set of cups on a cow...

13 years , 1 wife and 2 kids plus 2 more dairies later (including a 50 stand rotary) the dairy industry basically imploded early 2000's. I ran my own farm repair business, plenty of work but no money in it. I ended up doing a bit of FIFO work. We moved to Tom Price and was there for 7.5 years while I was a fixed plant maintainer, kids loved it, my wife struggled with it but it was the right place at the time. As the kids came up to high school, the opportunity for me to return to FIFO came up so we relocated back to the south west. The site I was at went to custard, run by muppets who had no idea and I left Rio after nearly 11 years. I stuck with FIFO working across the Pilbara ending up as a project supervisor doing some very interesting stuff (including first Cat Minestar remote controlled D11 dozer for BHP) Just recently I have returned to Rio as a supervisor over seeing comms and IT projects, apparently I don't need to know how the team does the job, just make sure they do it safely....

During this time we also returned to the farm that is now growing trees so have plenty to do, that along with a certain D2a means I won't be retiring for a long time

Some very interesting stories on these pages and amazing how a green oval badge is the common thread that ties them together

cheers

Redd

A couple of years ago I thought it would be a good idea to o a spreadsheet showing everywhere I'd worked up until retirement some 13 years ago. I started with my first job as an apprentice motor mechanic at a garage flogging BMC vehicles but left due to constantly getting the blame for everything that went wrong.
They even tied to blame me for a front left wheel coming off a combie van when it was going down a 1 in 10 into Chatham a major town in Kent. Luckily the wheel didn't run right down and cause havoc at the bottom. I hadn't been anywhere near the thing but that didn't stop the bullying idiots making me the scapegoat.
I got my own back by reversing a new Morris Minor in the showroom into another car gently and denting a door badly which wasn't discovered for a while and by that time I'd already left.
Got another apprenticeship as a fitter and turner which I stuck for the full 5 years and they were good employers who put up with my bad teen behaviour. Dad had died not long before I left school at 15 and they reckon this had had a bad upsetting influence on me and it had.
Anyway, after detailing what one could only term a "varied career" here and in the UK and reaching 50 plus positions over the 50 years of "work", I gave the spreadsheet idea away as some places I did short spells at I couldn't even remember their names.
Both brothers have gone on to make their fortunes by hard work after doing apprenticeships but I never could be bothered that much and played golf, drunk beer and chased bar maids instead. Much more enjoyable.
Mortgage paid off 30 years ago so debts and no worries apart from those from owning a D4 with an engine which may destroy itself so life's not bad at all.
AlanH.