What career path were you lead down?

[Built Gypsy]

I've seen posts about dream jobs, and odd jobs, but what about the careers you have now? I've read mention of everything from computer networking to horse checker-upper to LEOs.

My question is, how did you get there? From start to finish, the schools you had to attend, what courses, how you found the job (or how it found you!), what the interviewing and application process was like, how you survived the first day, first week/month/year. What exactly do you do? Is it really what the employer originally advertised?

I'll be getting out of the Navy soon enough to start thinking about where I want to go next. Hearing about your experiences and the directions you took to get where you are now, career-wise, is something I would enjoy learning about.

It's always incredible to hear where life takes someone.

[Megan]

Path? There was a path? Dam, I must have missed that trailhead

[Built Gypsy]

It was the path labeled "Abandom hope! All ye who enter here" Most people seem to miss that sign though

Must be what happens when you have nothing but military in your family for generations as far as the eye can see. Try to pick a path for a good job designation or have one picked for you! Surprise, you're scrubbing heads and swabbin' decks for 20 years!

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Went down a path of just finding work to pay for stuff (all kinds of jobs). On my last civilian job a buddy was a reserve Deputy and then became a regular. Thought "Heck, maybe I'll try the reserves." Loved the action and ability to actually help out at times and the rest is obvious. My buddy is now a frustrated Commander.

I knew going in that the recruitment ad stuff was mostly bull scat, as were the actual job descriptions. I'd do it all over again...only smarter this time (more brains, less testosterone and brawn).

[ogmike]

This isn't exactly what you were asking for but it does show some of the career paths of some of us.
http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthr...highlight=jobs

[UFO]

Funny, first job was working in a Grocery Store. Decided to try my hand at selling Insurance. In the middle of that process, wife # 1 (In sequence only)and I decided to part ways. Got a fill in job delivering for NAPA Auto Parts. Numerous positions and some 22 years later, I currently manage a new Branch Store. NAPA has been a great company to work for and I can honestly say I enjoy what I do.

[Built Gypsy]

Originally, I was going to be an LEO, CHP or sheriff's office here in San Diego. My buddy in high school was doing the ride along program and was joining the Army Reserves. So he talked me into talking to an Army recruiter, I took the ASVAB, scored a 98, and several months later joined the Navy.

I wanted to go from military police to criminal investigator in either branch, but a the time I didn't have a driver's license, and my parents weren't trying to help with that matter, so the Navy recruiter stuck this pamphlet for the Naval Nuclear Program under my nose. $200,000 worth of reenlistment bonuses plus a bunch of other additional pay, and I was hooked. Spent 15 of the worst months in my life going through the program.

Shredded (not just tore) my meniscus on leave between school and the sub I was going to. Found out I had a broken wrist while trying to get around on crutches. The broken wrist I can thank a game of football for two months before I joined. The ER corpseman said after reviewing the X-rays, it wasn't broken.

So I never made it to the sub, can't do the job I'm assigned to do, and they won't let me out until the beginning of next year. Now I just spend my time riding and taking college courses. But God only knows what I'll be doing next

[flying_hun]

Guy, that sounds like a disappointing turn of events. Maybe not the worst, since it sounds like your training was not for an area of particular passion for you. The only thing I can say about your desire to be a LEO is that I see lots and lots of billboards recruiting for the jobs, so it seems that there is plenty of opportunity.

Myself, I'm a manager a large high-tech firm. I didn't set out to work in high-tech, and even once I had been hired, it was not my intent to stay very long. As John Lennon famously said, "Life is what happens while you're making other plans." I've been here 16 years now. They hired me out of grad school, but I didn't go to grad school until I was in my mid-30's. That was prompted by the experience of having had cancer and fearing that I had not pushed myself hard enough, or taken advantage of the gifts I'd been given.

Before grad school I had done many things. It took me 10 years to finish undergrad, and in that time I'd been paid to be a mechanic, a wrangler, a chairlift operator, ski instructor, race car driver (briefly, but it was fun), worker in a boxcar factory, Teamster, repo-man of steel products (really), purchasing agent, stock broker, etc.

The point is, for many/most of us the path isn't exactly linear. Keep your eyes and mind open, and recognize that initiative, imagination, training/education, and being open to new challenges are all key. Emphasis on imagination and initiative. Dream it and act on it. The happiest people I know have seen the world differently than others, and didn't depend upon the validation of others to pursue their vision.

Best wishes,

[Law Dawg (ret)]

Finding qualified LEO new hires is getting very tough. Many agencies are desperate to find recruits (signing bonuses and housing allowances are becoming normal). A big plus if you can cut it. Mine is an example of government think though. We are not meeting hire quotas and a large percentage will not make it through the academy (the backgroung kills even more before the academy). Then we are bleeding new recruits after the academy to MUCH smaller agencies in our own county...Arvin, a tiny community in our county, out pays us for new hires. Some of our NEWBs qualify for food stamps after paying out medical and retirement.

The Board of Supervisors scream for more pro-active law enforcement, demanding we throw more Deputies at pet projects. Yet we cannot fill the posts we have because of low staffing. Our brass? They go before the board and say "all is rosey, we have enough new hires" (technically true if you don't count attrition and other agency stealing). They don't throw out the fact that we are bleeding to death because the pay, at the entry level, is too low. That and the retirement (here is where it gets sweet for us old dawgs) is 3% at 50. With a stroke of a pen, I went from 40% to 60% retirement (at least two more years and I'm a civilian). You can just imagine what that means at the upper end of the scale of senority.

All that aside, your large liability will be your injury. It is still a physical job. Would you be able to handle the physical end?

[Built Gypsy]

All that aside, your large liability will be your injury. It is still a physical job. Would you be able to handle the physical end?

Eight more months of physical therapy and I'll let you know!

Who knows, maybe I'll stay in the nuclear power industry, although in civilian plants I hear the work is horribly boring. It seems you either get to tolerate your job and make a lot of money or love your job and live paycheck to paycheck. There's a happy medium out there somewhere! Or maybe I'll just live out my uncle's dream of owning a topless car wash