When did you switch the jobs?

In my youth, I would switch jobs at the drop of a hat. It was such a different era. Very good jobs were plentiful, and as strange as it might sound to young people today, I never even considered the possibility that I couldn’t get a better job than the one I left.

When my first son was born I was offered an opportunity to work for one of my suppliers. Offered me full benefits and enough of a salary where my wife would not have to work. Being self employed at the time, a salary and benefits meant security for my new family. I took the job and fifteen years later I owned the company. Go figure.

When I was in the work force, between 1964 and 1980, I moved from one job to another because of changing where I lived, most of the time. I was a bookkeeper, so I could get a job anywhere I went. I got sloppy once and was let go, but it never happened again.

I’m addicted to the start-up life so I’ve already learned the hard way that my job isn’t very stable. My last company laid me off because they were a start up and they are having financial troubles. I went to another start up because I don’t learn.

I am very fortunate though in that my skills (software engineer) are in high demand. Getting a new job after I was laid off was easy, so I don’t live in fear of being laid off again.

When I was young, I switched jobs occasionally. I worked drilling marble in a trophy shop, as a clerk in a liquor store, and as a cook at Kentucky Fried Chicken.
I got a job as a cord board long distance operator for Ma Bell, and worked there for a year, before transferring to be a Splicer in San Francisco. I stayed in that title for 35 years, though I changed locations and duties about every 7 years. I retired in 2013, as a Splicer, working in the Digital work group. We would build and maintain fiber optic equipment. Not anything like normal splicing, but that was still my title.