I actually wrote a post today about Craigslisting, but WordPress ate it and I was ticked off. I was going to rewrite it today but kept getting mad all over again, lol. Then I came across My Entire Work History: All 30+ Jobs! 
at Budgets Are Sexy and it got me going. I’m turning 30 this December, and it seems that I’ve had nearly half that many jobs. So without further ado, here have been all of my jobs over the last 30 years.
Pre-College
- Babysitting ($5 an hour) – This was awesome since the main two kids I watched when I was 13 were really laid back and we had a lot of fun.
- English Tutor in Argentina ($0 – volunteer) – I still have the goodbye poster from the very cool kids and staff at the Sherlock Holmes English Institute in Bahia Blanca, Argentina.
- Pawn reseller ($15-$60 per ring) – I would buy rings from the “new and crazy” arena of online auctions in 1998 (like Bidz) and resell those rings to the local pawn shops. It was fantastic since I could get the rings super cheap (like $9.99) simply because people were hesitant about the online arena. But I do think the pawn shops wondered where this 17 year old was getting all of this gold and diamond jewelry, lol.
College
- Dorm 24-hour help desk ($6 an hour) – I actually met Mr. BFS at this job one late night when I pulled him over to keep me company. Found out later that he kept walking by since he was trying to think of something to say, lol. He’s lucky I am social and get bored easily, hahaha.
- Dorm tour guide ($6 an hour) – This was boring and required a lot of walking. Parents also always seemed surprised that dorm rooms are small. Note to all parents – dorm rooms are small and most teenagers don’t care. You can eat, sleep, and hang out…don’t need much space for that.
- University of Houston donation center caller ($6.50 an hour and it sucked for 2.5 months before I quit) – I don’t know how many people hung up on me while saying that they worked for Enron and couldn’t afford anything, much less donations.
- University of Houston Games Room Attendant ($6.25 an hour and I did it for 3 years) – This was AWESOME. Made some great friends and am just super lucky to have ever gotten this position so I could leave the donation center.
- University of Houston Admin Office Assistant ($6.25 an hour for 2.5 years at the same time I worked the Games Room) – This was a great filler position, especially during the summers.
- Black Jack Dealer for Company Parties ($11 an hour but travel time didn’t count..overlapped with my last year of college) – I worked a bunch of company and private parties throughout Houston. It was a great Friday and Saturday night job throughout my last year of school and first couple of years after graduation.
- Tax Office Receptionist ($7 an hour) - This one overlapped with the Games Room and the Black Jack Dealing for my last semester of college…had 12 hours of classes and 60+ hours of part-time jobs, lol.
Post College
- Forms programmer ($26,500-$35,500 a year over 6 years) – That job was pointless but I met a handful of amazing people, and the free time there did lead me to find out about blogging. So yay!
- Petsitting on and off for years ($20 per dog per night) – My favorite puppy to watch moved to Kansas, Asia the Shar-Pei.
- Babysitting on and off ($10 an hour for two kids) – This lasted for about 6 days in one month. Then the kids started acting out since their mom left so often to be with her boyfriend.
- Blogging and Blog Advertising Management ($5000 first year, $99,000 second year, and $119,000 so far this year – all before Paypal and other expenses, but still happy!) – This is by far the best job that I’ve ever had. It fits my leap frog brain activity and lets me have the flexibility to actually live. The money is nice but the real benefits aren’t monetary. It’s nice to have a job that just finally fits me and not the other way around.
What does your work history look like? Have you had a billion jobs or is your work history more subdued?
I think a lot of us have had a lot of jobs when you start really counting everything. If I counted mowing grass, summer jobs, fast food joints, part time gigs, the jobs I only lasted a couple of months at I am sure I would be where you are. The thing I have seen though is that many people who are entrepreneurs end up going through a lot of jobs simply because they don’t want to be at work in the first place. Or if you let my mom tell it people are just lazy and quit…lol
Wow that’s great about the blog and online income! I have babysat, worked in retail and at my current job. Not a whole ton of jobs that I’ve worked haha.
What a fun post! It got me thinking about all the “work” I’ve done. I tend to think only of my “real” jobs when I think of my employment history.
High School: Worked at Dad’s law firm and one dreadful summer at McDonald’s with some babysitting sprinkled in here and there.
During College: was a nanny for a boy with Asberger’s for a while (possibly the most rewarding job I’ve ever had)
Post College: I worked in my field (athletic training) until we moved to Nebraska. Now I’m a full time job seeker.
My summer jobs were door to door salesman (dealer), ceramic sprayer and mail clerk. After college, I was a management trainee, Sales Engineer, Accounting Supervisor, Sr. Financial Analyst, Controller, VP of Finance, CFO, retired, entrepreneur (several), consultant and teacher (now). This covers 48 years!
Pretty low key: Lifeguarded in high school and college. Also while in college I was a RA (free room and board) and events manager. Then I worked at a sustainable consulting firm and now Adaptu.
haha so crazy I just at Budgets are sexy reading up on his job history. Mine is pretty simple – although I was a part time front end manager of a big chain grocery store in highschool. Thought it was pretty cool that I was barely able to drive but I balanced the safe with $25000+ in it (over 100,000 on Friday night), and locked the place up. I still think back wondering what were they thinking giving a 17 year old so much responsibility.
Mine’s pretty subdued as well. A two week job at el rancho cima in the trading post in high school, a big chain drugstore for almost four years (three college and one post), music retail (band and orchestra instruments) with two different companies for almost three years, a crappy furniture sales job that lasted less than a year (but pushed me to get my teaching certificate), substitute teaching, one-on-one aide, and now tech apps teacher (all in the same district) with some volunteering here and there…I’m just glad to finally have found where I belong.
I’ve been an optometrist forever, but my first “real” job at age 16 was at a blue jean factory making those labels that say “Machine wash warm/tumble dry”. Most boring job ever. Made me want to go to college. I also did a short stint at Dairy Queen. Smelled like french fries for hours after a shift.
I spent all of college working security on nightclubs.. was the best job ever! Especially when I got promoted and ran one of the clubs security teams! I was pretty much getting paid $25/hour to talk to my friends and let them jump queues
@Thomas, yeah, I really have decided that I generally just didn’t like working for others…
@Michelle, you are very stable.
@Christine, maybe you can work with children again…
@Krantcents, that’s not actually a lot over 48 years – way to go with being stable!
@Jenna, I applied to be an RA but wasn’t accepted. Ended up getting the game room job instead though – that was nice.
@Mandy, wow. You must have been a very trustworthy 17 year old.
@Ivy, I am also super happy you found a place you belong! Yay!!!
@Kim, mmmm, french fries. I know you probably got sick and tired of them, but for us non-fast food workers, that is the smell of a great evening.
@Savvy Scot, that sounds fun!!!
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