Your career ascent (or downward spiral)

[StevenM]

1. Trail hand for conservation authority
2. Wash transport trucks
3. Factory Labor
4. More Factory Labor
5. Customer Service Representative (Call Center)
6. 1.5/2.0 years of Computer engineering study.
7. More Factory Labor
8. Custodian

 

[(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)]

5. Customer Service Representative (Call Center)

Did you hate that? Must have been draining as hell. Thought about doing it myself awhile ago but got into the role of helping people with their computers directly in person instead of over the phone. Mostly able to be on my own and do other things while waiting for being needed, able to work quietly if I was lucky and learned a lot about computer hardware when I was more of a software guy at the time.

Good career idea for INTP's I think, being a Technician. Lots of problem solving and it's usually varied throughout the day.

 

[StevenM]

Did you hate that? Must have been draining as hell. Thought about doing it myself awhile ago but got into the role of helping people with their computers directly in person instead of over the phone. Mostly able to be on my own and do other things while waiting for being needed, able to work quietly if I was lucky and learned a lot about computer hardware when I was more of a software guy at the time.

Good career idea for INTP's I think, being a Technician. Lots of problem solving and it's usually varied throughout the day.

It was actually the job where I stayed the longest. It had more opportunities for problem solving, I think.

 

[Polaris]

Waiter in Chinese restaurant (1 year)
Guide/translator in art gallery (6 months)
Hotel/ski resort worker
[Commenced degree I]
Room maid/waiter/bartender/cleaner (1 year)
Assistant teacher/museum attendant/swimming instructor (2 years)
[Completed degree]
Dental Hygienist (12 years)
[Period of illness]
[Commenced degree II]
Pharmacy assistant (2 years)
Project coordinator/facilitator of Government incentive (1 year)
Inland fisheries research facility field and laboratory technician (1 1/2 years)
Ski shop/outdoor equipment assistant/management/web site development (4 years)
University laboratory employee (1 year)
Currently finishing new degree...

Good career idea for INTP's I think, being a Technician. Lots of problem solving and it's usually varied throughout the day.

Yup.

The work I enjoyed the most was the field/lab tech stuff as well as web site development. Independence, creativity, variability, on-the-go problem solving in a no-bullshit research-based context. Only issue with fieldwork is some repetition (data collection) as well as the physical demands. But the conditions are such that the field work is never monotonous from one week to another. Something always goes wrong -- and that's where Polaris thrives the most: problems, gimme more problems

 

[Ex-User (9086)]

1- Social Surveying
1.5- Data Entry, IT support
2- Internet shop management/assistance
2- Freelancing, translation
2- Getting a degree

 

[TimeAsylums]

washed dishes at Golden Corral (DO NOT EAT AT BUFFETS YO')

looking to do anything but fast-food

 

[beeurd]

1. Assistant in a tropical fish store, part time after school for a month or so.

2. McDonald's. 8 years, 4 of which I was a shift manager.

3. Online Community Manager / Editorial / Customer Support. 3 years at the best job I've ever had. I loved every minute of it, up until the point where I was made redundant because we went bust.

4. Unemployed for a year while I tried in vain to get into university or into a job like my previous one.

5. Bar/kitchen worker at a local pub. Minimum wage, rubbish hours; desperately want to quit. Been here just over two years.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

1. Auction circuit (age 14-17)
2. Chain mega retailer (2.5 years)
-Started Fisheries & Wildlife degree
3. Grocery store (6 months)
4. Federal work study lab assistant & a bunch of paid undergraduate research grants, + a bunch of volunteer work (3 years)
5. Paid to teach delinquent youth urban gardening (3 months)
-Started grad school
6. Graduate teaching assistant, more research grants (1 year)
-Insanity manifest
7. Unemployed, stocks, auction circuit (6 months)
8. Newspaper delivery, stocks, auction circuit (3 months)
-Started secondary ed certification
9. American Equity mortgage cleanout (I live/d on the dead, incarcerated, homeless, etc), stocks, auction circuit (~6 months and counting as official)
10. Laptop repair tech at a small local shop, stocks, auction circuit (~1 month and counting)

May start up a butcher shop/minifarm and taxidermy in the fall.

 

[Jennywocky]

1. Camp counselor
2. Restaurant cook
3. Pizza delivery
4. Meal server
5. Computer tech support
6. System developer
7. Yard services
8. Environmental data collector
9. Inventory counter
10. Worship leader / Music coordinator
11. Wedding music coordinator / performer
12. Book editor (3 years)*
13. Managing editor (3 years)*
14. Technical journalist (1 year)*
15. Technical writer & graphic artist (10 years)*
16. Forum moderator/admin
17. Computer programmer (3 years)*
18. Systems analyst (4 years)*

*Official "career path"

Good career idea for INTP's I think, being a Technician. Lots of problem solving and it's usually varied throughout the day.

I really enjoy troubleshooting problems for the reasons you suggest -- basically there's (1) variation, (2) a problem to be solved, (3) I can pull in my past experience and systematic understanding to come up with intuitions over what the problem might be, and (4) the flow of trying solutions and narrowing down the cause is a rational process.

I'm really good at remember patterns I've seen before and/or having a decent idea of where a problem might be coming from.

 

[paradoxparadigm7]

Bakery/Bagel server
Waitress
Food service worker at college
Therapist
Program evaluator
Executive Recruiter

Once my fortune comes through...ne'er-do-well

 

[GreyArea]

Just for fun I will annotate whether or not I was fired from the job:

1. Taco Bell Slave, Age 16 (fired)
2. 401k invoice filer, Age 16-17 (fired)
3. Grocery store stocker, Age 17 (fired)
4. Pizza Hut delivery driver, Age 18 (quit short notice)
5. Army Combat Medic, Age 18-22 (ETS)
6. Hotel Valet, Age 22-23 (quit with proper notice)
7. Operations manager for Army Hospital, Age 23 (quit after being threatened to be fired)
8. Round Table Delivery Driver, Age 24 (quit short notice)
9. Butcher, Age 24 (rage quit)
10. Olive Garden Server, Age 24-25 (fired)
11. Waiter, Age 26 (quit with proper notice)
12. Border Patrol Agent, Age 26-32 (Present occupation)

I have noticed that a lot of other posters have mentioned dissatisfaction with their jobs/careers. Thinking back on all of these jobs I remember always feeling as if I could be doing better or feeling as if I wasn't being paid what I was worth. This always led to me not really taking my job seriously which usually ended up with me being fired. My current career is far from ideal but it pays well and allows much independent work and occasionally some much needed solitude. It was never what I envisioned myself doing. I constantly dream of doing something else, but it pays the bills and its stable.

 

[hein]

1.Tech Support
2.Field Tech
3.In-house Tech
4.Field Tech
5.Database Developer
6.Software Developer

 

[_whispers_]

1. English teacher to home schooled kids
2. Dish washer
3. Waitress
4. Graphic Designer (volunteering)
5. Paper rat at the Deposit Insurance Fund (internship)
6. Marketing Assistant (aka secretary and oh! I hear Doctor Who from the other room )
7. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) & Social Media Specialist
8. SEO Manager (can I put this one here? I won't accept it, but they did scout me from another company, drafted a contract and all that)

 

[dr froyd]

1. Poker player (3 years)

Also been daytrading but I don't know if it counts when you lose money doing it.

 

[Analyzer]

1. Mason(concrete)
2. Busser/Host/Waiter
3. Sales Associate/Cashier
4. Valet
5. Customer Service Representative
6. Web Developer/E-commerce
7. Online Marketing/Copywriting