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[Shadowplay1979]

I wanted to be an archeologist for the longest time but that changed to working on art for games ever since opening up the FF3(6) manual and seeing amanos designs in the early 90s. I sucked at it and it never happened because i never battled through my own frustrations in learning and self doubt. I have lived alone since i was 18, fled from the east coast to the west coast and ended up working awful jobs for the next 15 years. I had left high school with very high marks and can remember fighting depression and anger in every job i was in which were all terrible labor, food services or security and feeling trapped just wishing i could go to college or have a regular office job and felt ripped off since when i was a kid i had always had very good grades and never partied or did anything else. All the jobs i was limited to was monkey work.

Long story short after years of depression i just kinda let go and stopped trying at work, i stopped being a good employee, for 9 years working for homeland security i got about 3 hours of sleep a night....i just stopped showing up to work. I got fired and then became homeless for awhile, i spent the next ten years working my ass off teaching myself art in a shitty roach infested house with shit roommates in a tiny room thats literally converted from another rooms closet.

Bit of an oversimplification...but since then i have worked for studios like Naughty Dog and now currently work for ....a very large Japanese rpg making company =x

unfortunately still stuck in this tiny room thanks to Japans shitty "you dont have a college degree..well obviously you are not a worthy human being" visa laws and now Corona crap and have to work from here for now

 

[Mista]

Been obsessed with airplanes ever since I was a kid. Grew up reading about them and everything

Decided to fix airplanes as a job. That’s why I am an aircraft engineer today.

 

[Clockwork5]

I worked in restaurants while going to school, as I was getting my degree I slowly became aware that I would take a pay cut for any job I would get out of school. I had played the service industry game well and by the time I graduated I was waiting tables at a super dope restaurant, making crazy bank (best money I’ve ever made in my life, around $300+ per 6 hour shift) and absolutely loving it. I decided to put my management degree to use within the industry.

Now I manage a super dope restaurant. Im not making that $50/hour I hit in my mid twenties but I make a good living. My job really is amazing, most days consist of me trying a dozen or so wines with the sales reps, leading a wine class for the servers, trying new menu items, making a couple phone calls, writing a couple emails and basically just kicking it with my staff and guests.
Then I lock the doors, pour myself a couple beers, knock out the spreadsheet and call it a day.

The only thing that I struggle with is the “hurry up and wait” mentality that infects the minds of all restaurant industry workers, it’s a kind of anxious boredom.

Covid is gonna fuck everything up though and depending on how restaurants look in the future I might have to say goodbye to this crazy industry.

 

[Susurrus]

In 2003 after graduating High School (get off my lawn), wanted to work with computers for a living, but the school I looked at, ITT Instituted was way too expensive (and as I learned later, a scam, dodged that bullet). Friend was joining Air Force so I decided to go see what they had, and the recruiter agreed to hook me up with a job working in the IT field w/ servers, etc. After fucking around for a little while working at a gas station, finally shipped out in early 2004, learned my trade like I was promised and worked in it, primarily working with Windows and Unix servers and clients, then moving and working with deployable servers. Cut to 2009, Air Force changes their comm career fields up a bit, and as a result I shift to Cyber Security, and start working it after moving again in 2010 starting with Information Assurance. Move again, work personnel security for a couple years. Move again, work Information Assurance again for 6 years, move again and keep doing it at a new location. I'm still in, but I plan to retire from the Air Force in 4 years.

For some reason, I actually enjoy the torture of it, and the money is good in it for the civilian sector, so I plan to keep working in the Cyber Security realm, working with policies, RMF (and evolutions of it, shit is always changing), and the like. Got my Bachelors (and working on Masters) in it, as well as my CISSP and will probably shoot for some other certs once I'm done w/ the Masters, so I feel like I'm pretty set up to succeed at least.

 

[Celcius]

My dad was a software developer so I gave it a try in high school and liked it. Plus sometimes he would take me to his job and as a kid I thought his office was really cool. Plus I liked having the possibility of using software to make video games or many other possible uses.

 

[highrider]

Let’s see, I was artistic, but very physical and athletic. I had a lot of trouble sitting still. Not hyperactive, just maybe higher physical energy than your average person. Utter failure in school, I barely passed my classes. It was tough because my father was an attorney and my mom was a clinical psychologist, my siblings were academic superstars so I was kind of the middle child who was a talented artist and good at sports, but that was about it.

I went in the military out of high school and spent 5 years in Germany then almost one more year deployed on Dessert Storm, I wasn’t a front line guy I actually worked in Meteorology for the field artillery so I wasn’t in much danger or anything lol, perhaps an errant scud middle was our biggest concern. When I got out I was 24 and my first job was from a friend of mine when I got back prepping cars for paint. Paid like 7 dollars per labor hour straight commission but it was a busy shop so I was making like 1200 a week which seemed like a fortune after the military and I had a natural aptitude. Being an artist I could also do graphics so it just gave me an advantage over a lot of my peers. I’ve done well, and I’ll always paint even after I retire, it’s fun. I love taking something messed up and making it tight. I have other interests, I sell art, worked as a chef, but I’m 52, a master craftsman who has skills in high demand. Feel very fortunate that I’m valuable enough to my employer to pay me now during this covid shit based on the income they’ve seen me generate.

In my family I’m like the blue collar tradesman that likes Trump and they’re all erudite liberals working in white collar professions. It’s hilarious.