Do you ever wish you did things different in your career?

If I’d been a bit more mature and swallow my pride I may have got to fly fast jets like I always wanted to, however I’m happy with life (almost) so everything has led me to this point.
 
Nah, i work to live, not live to work

As long as i enough money fro City, bills and going out then great

A woman of 59 i had worked with since 2005 died yesterday and i know she was driven in her career, gone now
 
Interesting one as I am in a job I really enjoy now, but it has taken many many years of bouncing around between ones I really didn't like before I got here but then the experiences I got from those ones has helped with this so perhaps yes and no is an accurate answer!
What I will say is my youngest daughter is in year 11 at the moment and looking at Colleges for the next steps and some of the options available for her, compared to the ones offered to me (I went to a school with a Sixth Form attached to it and was very much funneled through into that to do A-Levels whether I wanted to or not) does make me a bit wistful in terms of wondering what could have happened had I had the choices she now has.
 
DiscoSteve said:
I'm what you'd call an IT Geek - right from 18 straight out of school - started in a factory building the things and then at 24 moved into Enterprise IT (big boy stuff, companies and govt departments) - originally the move was driven by wanting to work closer to home as the first of our kids was born (and I turned down a decent pay-rise after a couple of years with another company because I didn't fancy the commute to Warrington) but since then over the last 35 years I've been around the world on the back of it and experienced working in more industries you could ever believe (including a Premier League Club)- and I've mostly been based at home for the last 10 years - even now it never gets boring. So probably I wouldn't have done anything differently.
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Now we know how the scousers hacked City's computers:-)
 
Scottyboi said:
Wish North Manchester council didn't let all us apprentices go due to the credit crunch and recession in 2009, loved that job everyday was different and I'd have no doubt bought a house over 10 years earlier.

Instead ended up in an office job which is no good for someone with a short attention span. Probably going to reduce my hours in the near future to look after my Mrs and one of my sons.

Being a colour blind **** seriously limited some of the jobs I fancied.
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Traffic light design out of the question then ??
 
Obviously there were some shit moments but I’m blessed in that I enjoyed working life right up to retirement. Any time I stopped enjoying it, I moved on.

Took a couple of calculated risks, like relocating and later going self employed, but they both proved good decisions. There have also been compromises, like commuting three and a half hours a day and working away from home but hey, it’s had its compensations too.

Given all the hours you spend at work, there must be few things worse than being in a job you hate.
 
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It's an interesting question. I took early retirement eight years ago and in the time since I have looked back over my life and career countless times and I'm quite proud of what I did, for various reasons. This is mainly the way I overcame personal challenges and fears to actually go into the field I did in the first place and to persevere with it, in spite of many people telling me I should quit and it wasn't the life for me. For anybody reading this it's a perfect example to never listen to people who doubt you or try to shape your life. It's your life and you can overcome and achieve anything if you have the determination to do so.

I left school at sixteen years of age and went to work in an office, Griffin and George in Baguely. I quickly realised I couldn't stay there. The office was small and friendly and I had already been promoted after six months, but I was bored shitless. I knew I wanted more than being confined eight hours a day inside an office. The turning point in my life is quite amusing in how it happened. I was leaving my house in Benchill to make the thirty minutes walk to the office. It was a glorious June morning and I suddenly heard laughter and my two of my mates mocking me as in, "Ohh look at him in his suit!" One lived on my road and the other I went to school with. They were both in the merchant navy and on leave and on their way to Blackpool for the day. They convinced me to call in sick and join them. I did so and they paid for everything as they had promised. During the day they told me what a great life it was and why didn't I jack my boring office job in and join myself? I was sold and after passing a general knowledge exam and medical at the shipping federation in Salford, I worked a week's notice and was off to Gravesend to do my ten weeks training. The rest is history.

Now I was a kid who got travel sick in a bloody car. I can still recall the shock on my mother's face when I told her what I was going to do. "But you can't, you get sick in a car, how will you cope on a ship???" I had no idea but I was going to find out.

Needles to say the first few times for me was tough. I was seasick for the first few days until I regained my sea legs again. Indeed on my first trip to sea I was seasick for a week. Many times I was told it wasn't the job for me, that I wasn't cut out for this game, go back to your office. Now I'm a stubborn little bastard so the more they said this the more determined I was to continue. I spent forty two years at sea before I took early retirement at the end of 2016. I remember on my very first trip an old hand laughing when I told him my plan was to do two years, see the world, save some money and get out. He said, "Son, if you do two years you'll be in it for life. This game gets in your blood, it's not a job it's a way of life." He was 100% right.

I never regretted my choice. It was a great life, travelling the world and getting paid to do so. The adventures, the characters I sailed with, the women I met in various ports and the freedom of being home on leave with plenty of money in my pocket. Lots of my mates were in the same occupation or the army so there was always plenty of people to party with on leave. We really did live like bloody kings. The job allowed me to buy my own house, finishing my mortgage early, have a private pension and decent savings and retire early. I'd do it all again tomorrow. I could bloody write a lot more but I've bored you enough. For a working class kid in the seventies it was a great escape from the council estate and normality.
 
paulchapo said:
It's an interesting question. I took early retirement eight years ago and in the time since I have looked back over my life and career countless times and I'm quite proud of what I did, for various reasons. This is mainly the way I overcame personal challenges and fears to actually go into the field I did in the first place and to persevere with it, in spite of many people telling me I should quit and it wasn't the life for me. For anybody reading this it's a perfect example to never listen to people who doubt you or try to shape your life. It's your life and you can overcome and achieve anything if you have the determination to do so.

I left school at sixteen years of age and went to work in an office, Griffin and George in Baguely. I quickly realised I couldn't stay there. The office was small and friendly and I had already been promoted after six months, but I was bored shitless. I knew I wanted more than being confined eight hours a day inside an office. The turning point in my life is quite amusing in how it happened. I was leaving my house in Benchill to make the thirty minutes walk to the office. It was a glorious June morning and I suddenly heard laughter and my two of my mates mocking me as in, "Ohh look at him in his suit!" One lived on my road and the other I went to school with. They were both in the merchant navy and on leave and on their way to Blackpool for the day. They convinced me to call in sick and join them. I did so and they paid for everything as they had promised. During the day they told me what a great life it was and why didn't I jack my boring office job in and join myself? I was sold and after passing a general knowledge exam and medical at the shipping federation in Salford, I worked a week's notice and was off to Gravesend to do my ten weeks training. The rest is history.

Now I was a kid who got travel sick in a bloody car. I can still recall the shock on my mother's face when I told her what I was going to do. "But you can't, you get sick in a car, how will you cope on a ship???" I had no idea but I was going to find out.

Needles to say the first few times for me was tough. I was seasick for the first few days until I regained my sea legs again. Indeed on my first trip to sea I was seasick for a week. Many times I was told it wasn't the job for me, that I wasn't cut out for this game, go back to your office. Now I'm a stubborn little bastard so the more they said this the more determined I was to continue. I spent forty two years at sea before I took early retirement at the end of 2016. I remember on my very first trip an old hand laughing when I told him my plan was to do two years, see the world, save some money and get out. He said, "Son, if you do two years you'll be in it for life. This game gets in your blood, it's not a job it's a way of life." He was 100% right.

I never regretted my choice. It was a great life, travelling the world and getting paid to do so. The adventures, the characters I sailed with, the women I met in various ports and the freedom of being home on leave with plenty of money in my pocket. Lots of my mates were in the same occupation or the army so there was always plenty of people to party with on leave. We really did live like bloody kings. The job allowed me to buy my own house, finishing my mortgage early, have a private pension and decent savings and retire early. I'd do it all again tomorrow. I could bloody write a lot more but I've bored you enough. For a working class kid in the seventies it was a great escape from the council estate and normality.
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It’s crazy looking back at school in the 70’s and how negative everything was, being told you’ll be lucky to get anything. The first time coming to the US blew me away on how positive everyone was and how they wished nothing but the best for me, so accommodating and helpful
 
idahoblues said:
It’s crazy looking back at school in the 70’s and how negative everything was, being told you’ll be lucky to get anything. The first time coming to the US blew me away on how positive everyone was and how they wished nothing but the best for me, so accommodating and helpful
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As working class council estate kids we were mainly written off and conditioned to accept our place on the conveyor belt of drudgery and low paid jobs. Some teachers were inspirational but a lot just went through the motions. Looking back I don't blame them, classes of over thirty, lots of whom didn't give a fuck as they were constantly told they'd never amount to anything.

For me it was some old hands on the ships who watched me trying to work while dying of sea sickness. They meant well but no way was I giving up. I looked as weak as fuck but I've always been strong inside.
 
idahoblues said:
It’s crazy looking back at school in the 70’s and how negative everything was, being told you’ll be lucky to get anything. The first time coming to the US blew me away on how positive everyone was and how they wished nothing but the best for me, so accommodating and helpful
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Quite honestly working class kids are often poorly thought of and even today it hasn't changed that much.
 
No, I’ve had many great times and have travelled the world with my career - been everywhere. My only regret is not jacking in my current job sooner. For a number of reasons, it went to shit around Covid-time. I’ve had to stick at it mainly for the same reason a lot of Americans stay at jobs they don’t care for, because of the medical insurance it brings (yay USA). At some point this year I’ll finally have some flexibility and am looking to sack it off. Don’t want to spend the last 5 years of my career, before retirement, still doing it.
 
mexico1970 said:
Quite honestly working class kids are often poorly thought of and even today it hasn't changed that much.
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I remember one time talking with my old GP on a visit back to England. I had been friends with his son when we were young but he sent him and brother sister off to some elite public school somewhere. I told him what I was doing with my life and he was shaken and surprised with what I was telling him, I genuinely think he was pissed off that I had done so well for myself. I will never forgive him for that even though he’s been dead for a long time, it felt like a slap and I really understood him that day and have always been such an anti pompous English person to this day
 
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