Something other than pandemic, political, or religion...
No, this has nothing to do with photography either. 
A conversation the other day sparked some thoughts. How many of you plan or have planned the major events or circumstances in your lives? Let me explain a little... the conversation revolved around careers and what got us to the point of current careers. It got me thinking... my dad went into the Navy shortly after high school and learned HVAC. When he got out, he had a few mechanical jobs, but was hired by a local hospital for maintenance and ended up getting his journeyman’s card in HVAC. Then, he worked for Ford Motor Company for over 30 years. He got lucky; was never laid off [skilled trades usually aren’t unless it’s a scheduled lay off and usually only a couple weeks at a time] and was able to retire with a pension and his 401K. He retired early, so at first, he didn’t have his pension nor social security, but was able to live off of his 401K until the others kicked in. Anyways... I’m veering (oooh shiny). The point is, he had a plan or at least developed one while in the Navy. I just wonder if most people are like that or if most are like me and just go with the flow and see what happens.
I went to school for aircraft maintenance and repair right out of high school. Near the end, the school had a job fair where I was receiving offers of $7.50-$8.50 / hour for a union job in poor conditions (outside deicing and fueling aircraft in subfreezing temperatures and having to pay union dues out of that shit wage). I was already making $12 / hour at AutoZone as a parts manager with decent benefits and in a warm building. So... eventually I ended up getting into being a prototype mechanic and did that for about 15 years, give or take a few. While working for one place where I was performing several duties that would be the responsibility of an Operations Manager, I decided to return to school to get my BBA in Operations Management. The reason? That company refused to recognize what I was actually doing (even though my supervisor at the time put in a request for title change for me); so, I figured if I got my degree (which none of the management had and were all men), they’d have to recognize it. Of course they didn’t recognize it... everyone was laid off in 2013 and 2014. However, I graduated Summa Cum Laude and still owe $55,000 in student loans.
I started with the company I work for in October 2015 as a software (SW) process assurance engineer and worked my way into Project Quality Engineer. Never had I ever worked in the SW world before then. I did that for almost 4 years exactly. Now, I work in the Engineering IT group, which deals with the engineering tools (computer tools) and programs. So, I’ve done nothing I went to school for since high school. However, I have gotten to where I am currently because of that education, if that makes any sense. I went to school for what I know and ended up learning a bunch of new stuff that I actually do for a living, yet never went to school for it. I have always been mechanically minded and while it’s not physically building things and testing things, it’s doing that on a computer instead. Whether I need to prove that an engine works or a feature in an engineering tool works, doesn’t matter to me, they’re both being tested by walking through the motions as though I were performing a function (starting an engine or completing code review).
Last, but certainly not least... a large portion of engineers are a pain in the butt. They’re often people that never actually performed the functions that they’re creating and expect to be put in place. Example: At the one place I mentioned above, there was this mechanical engineer that had never even done an oil change, but I had to put this part that was designed and created by him and his team (who also never worked on anything mechanical in their lives) onto an antiquated military truck that last had an updated design in 1983 (or something ridiculous). He was confused by my frustration when it appeared as though he forgot to account for several items that have existed under that hood since 1977 (when that truck was a prototype and not being used by the military YET). He started talking about CAD (Computer Aided Design) and I stopped him and told him to get his ass out in the shop. Example from today’s role: “I need access to X tool.” My reply, “You were trained on this weeks ago. You don’t need me to give you access. Just sign in with your windows ID and password.” That person, “I forgot my windows password. I’ve only used my PIN since we got that capability.” Me... 
“Contact Support IT and get your password changed.” That person, “Why can’t you do it”? Me... “I don’t have access to those things, you have to contact Support IT; I am Tools IT. Different animal.” Seriously, this guy is a software domain engineer and he not only forgot his password, but somehow forgot in his 3 years working for this company that there are different IT departments.
I think that some people are so hyper-focused on their little world and work that they forget everything else... or they simply never cared to learn in the first place. I also think that sometimes, these engineers are so over-the-top educated that they don’t realize that the simplest solution is often the right one; they seem to overthink the issue... my husband [other than having issues with math] would’ve been a good engineer.
Are you in or did you have a career that was planned or did you fall into your role (and yes, stay at home parents are included in this... that's a lot of work)?
NO POLITICS, NO RELIGION, NO TROLLING, NO PANDEMIC ( unless you're discussing how your career changed because of the pandemic )
Just something fun and lighthearted.
I can commiserate with your analysis of engineers. I work with civil, chemical, and mechanical engineers. We all do water safety. That is our primary job...but some of them lose the focus of the forest because they focus too much on nit-noid shit. I also have problems with programmers who don't ask the end user what they really want in a program. They just spend weeks, months, years developing a program that never works!
Anyway, I didn't come into my career by accident. It took me a while to get where I am, but I've been here for 23 years now. The Air Force did the hard part in training me on how to do the job, I only got the book larnin' from college.
I do like my job...but when it comes time to retire there won't be any dust on my feet
How many of you plan or have planned the major events or circumstances in your lives?
Not... a... thing!
I often look back on my life, to observe that happenstance is paramount.
So... it's not just me!
I started working at 17 as a receptionist for a graphic arts company. My mother gave the owner his first job and he gave me mine. From the ground up, I learned print production and four color process camera operation. By 20 I was running the process camera production department for one of the biggest photography and process printing company in Chicago, the advertising hub of the US.
I've had much the same experience as you did but mine was with artists. One young man, a very fine artist, specialized in pointillism. He'd sit for hours filling in dots to create a work of art but had no understanding of the printing process and was incapable of meeting a deadline. Drawing 250 ppi on an image that will be printed at 150 ppi is a waste of time.
I've had the same issue with designers. I tell to them that their design can't be reproduced the way they 'envision' it and their only question was 'Why not?' Trying to explain the 'science' behind four color process printing to a stoner graphic designer was like explaining space travel to a cockroach.
None of them, neither the artists or the designers, ever showed any interest in learning about how their 'end product' made it into print.
All of the 'expertise' I garnered over 20+ years is irrelevant today and ironically, I participated in rendering my knowledge obsolete. While in Mountain View, CA, I did R&D for Apple, Intel, Oracle, HP, Sun Microsystems, Avatar, Activision and on and on. Once all of the programming was perfected, process production went from hands on to computerized right quick. Hands on typographers, keyliners and process camera operations are no longer job descriptions.
That made me guffaw. Designers of all types are clueless regarding production of a product.
I've had the same issue with landscape designers. It seems that they are incapable of properly using a tape measure. I've had to 'redesign' on the fly too many times to count. Of course the 'boss' [designer] still wanted to put the same amount of plants into the altered design because the plants and installation labor is where the money is. Cramming 10 lbs. of crap into a 5 lb bag...
And that's what auto engineers do under the hood of a car now... 10 lbs of crap in a 5 lb bag.
As a young girl my dream was to travel all over the world. I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up but I ended up in a career that had a travel element baked into it. It has been an incredible journey. Sadly there are other elements to my career that I don't like very much but I do it in between the travel and I've been told I'm pretty good at it.
We had the pleasure of working with a self described brilliant engineer.
He sent over prints for a bolt pattern on an rough burned 2 inch thick plate appox. 8 foot square, the pattern was to fit existing studs set in a concrete base and threaded holes for the machine to mount on the plate. The dimensions were all from the edge of the rough burned plate, we were like WTF there was no base line or even a common point. We took the print to the companies foreman and he let us do the measurements correctly and it fit perfectly, otherwise the workers installing it would have been burning and reaming the holes over 1/2 inch to get them to fit the base and the machine to fit the threaded holes.
We had quite a few run ins with his engineering skills, but he also prided himself an accomplished surveyor and mining engineer. He plotted a line with the help of his boss's son and some of the most sophisticated surveying equipment for the next cut. It took them most of a day to stake and flag a straight line. When they were done the dragline and dozer operators were still out there looking over what the next cut would be, we went out to talk to them and they were a bit puzzled with the line, by the time the overburden was removed and product blasted the cut would be so narrow that the haul trucks wouldn't be able to turn around at the bottom, so we looked back down the line and it was in a narrowing curve. So we asked what distance they needed, we paced it off on both ends and by eye moved the stakes in to a straight line in less than an hour
Aren't most self-described brilliant?
I went to school and became a ASE certified Automotive Technician in Electrical Systems. I did so well, the school offered me a job as an instructor. I turned it down because I was making more money at my current job which had nothing to do with mechanics. I changed careers several years later and went to work in the Tradeshow Industry as an install/Dismantle laborer. I was so good at it that an Exhibit House offered me a job, which I took. Once I began working there, I learned why some of the booths were constantly having to be modified on the show floor; DESIGNERS! They have never worked on the show floor and it shows, lol! They forget that there are no such things as "skyhooks" or that it is hard to find convention centers with level floors. They forget that you can't hang large, heavy TV's on flat walls that only have a 4in. wide base. They just draw pretty pictures on their computers, get the customer to sign off on their designs, and then blame everyone else hen they find out that in order to make their stupid designs work, it will cost an additional 10k or more.
Oh yeah, and I've never had a job fixing electrical systems in cars
My dream job would be an anthropologist.
I was an administrative assistant at a company that needed software programmers. I took an aptitude test, interviewed with a panel of programmers, was accepted into training program. Same company offered to pay for college degrees. I started out with programming classes, decided I wanted something different than what I did at work all day, switched to History and Anthropology. Got an undergraduate degree, went on to get a Masters in Human Resource Management/Organizational Development. I worked full-time, took night classes. I ended up being a Technology Project Manager for an International company. Traveled a lot, both in US and Europe for the job. Continued to take classes to keep up with technology and acquired several professional certifications. Been retired for 6 years. Among my volunteer activities is an animal shelter, I would like to own property and be able to rescue dogs/cats, but for now volunteering will suffice.
I do as well. I work with the bully breeds getting them socialized and ready for adoption.
Yes, and thank you both for your volunteer efforts! It's people like you that made it possible for me to get my Rocky. I never thought I'd really want a dog for my own... I never had a pet until I grew up and moved out and my first pet(s) were two cats, lots of fish tanks full of fish, and a California Banded King snake. My son had been begging for a dog and he had been showing that he could be responsible for one so I began looking at local rescues. See... my husband had a husky and a tuxedo cat when we first got together and had them since they were just little things, but by the time we'd gotten together, they were 11-12 years old. I only got to witness (and clean up after) the end of life years. My husband and I had put in an application for adoption with Great Lakes Bully Brigade (GLBB) for one of the "Pumpkin Patch" puppies, which were Mastiff-Lab-Am.Staff mix a few years ago. They were gone before they got to out application, but I figured that it wasn't meant to be. Well... fast forward to last year when I stumbled across a Facebook post by GLBB about an abandoned American Pitbull Terrier (APBT), which is one of the smallest "bull" breeds, but I immediately fell in love with his face. I commented with something to that affect and then emailed them asking if our 3 year old application was still on file and valid. They asked if everything was still the same in the household and I explained that no, we adopted a 4 year old cat from another rescue, but other than that, nothing had changed. I originally was looking for a dog / older puppy for my son, but he ended up being my puppy. He's definitely a "mama's boy" and he won't stray too far from me even with the gates and garage open... he won't leave. He loves cuddles. He's my buddy.
I love your story and yes, they are great cuddlers. Does he do zoomies?
He does do zoomies... usually around 7-8 pm he gets a bug up his butt and goes crazy. My 17 year old daughter eggs him on too. It's funny. My daughter and I were the ones that didn't really care if we had a dog or not, but her and I were the ones that definitely wanted to keep him after our 2 week trial adoption... that was a year ago.