My trade was Automatic tool setter done it all my life,selfemployed for about 25 years. Example

below.

 

4 hours ago, Nojohndoe said:

I wonder if the OP expects honesty?

Way too many Walter Mittys here, both online and offline. Another true story (no really), I was once drinking in Patpong in the mid-2000s with an old member that no longer posts here (hi elsie). It was something like 04:00 HRS. We stumbled into one bar and wound up sat next to a European that claimed to work for the Singha beer company and he said he was at work right now. His role is just just drink in bars and monitor the quality of the beer. . . Now, when I post it here, it sounds like he was joking, but he was completely serious. I could tell you all kinds of stories like this, and it's one of the reasons I avoid foreigners in Thailand. Bangkok is a different matter these days, there are many foreign professionals in the city and the pretenders are easy to spot.

 

 

 

I'm a bit confused ..... we had almost exactly the same OP late last year, and most people responding seemed to be builders, roofers, plumbers, or they had been self-employed in a range of entrepreneurial businesses that took them around the world.

 

There were even comments about how many members had a craft or manual skill that helped them to adapt to international living.

 

This time around we have rocket scientists, government officers and oil industry engineers.  Has there been a shift change at ASEANNOW since the new year?

 

All the Artisans have knocked off for tea while the scientists clock on?

29 minutes ago, Meat Pie 47 said:

My trade was Automatic tool setter done it all my life,selfemployed for about 25 years. Example

below.

I was a Non automatic tool setter, and operated a steel lathe.  Instead of pushing a button, to start the operation, I had to turn the wheel / tools into the steel, and pop out a few 100 or 10k pcs.  Almost 50 yrs ago, and actually my 2nd 'real' job.  Hated it, being chained to, and acting like a machine and I didn't last long.  Setting up was interesting, but usually took only about 30 minutes, per order.

 

Profession:  professional bum & LPOS ... excelled at that.  Work smarter not harder.

5 hours ago, Paulaew said:

Honesty would be good. I'm frank about my wandering career and lack of accomplishment.

Being honest with yourself is important I think, especially when you wind up winding down in Thailand. Myself, I'm disappointed with the lack of progress in my 20s and 30s, despite of my best efforts. Unfulfilled potential can eat away at you, believe me I know. I've actually done better since marrying but I can't really make up for the lost time, although the experience I gained in earlier years is priceless and serves me very well now. All that said, my greatest achievement is my kids. I work hard for them.

 

My life so far had been a bit like a fruit cake. I had a lot of jobs, fruit picker, trucker, taxi driver, electronics engineer, teacher, hotels in various capacities (where I spent most of my time). These days I have my own IT company and also receive a stipend from my wife's family for running part of their empire. It either involves a suit, or a harness for climbing electricity pylons.

 

 

 

Software engineer, software manager, engineering manager - it all stopped rather suddenly after a trip to Melbourne to upgrade a computer system, stopping overnight in Bangkok.... 

14 minutes ago, KhunLA said:

I was a Non automatic tool setter, and operated a steel lathe.  Instead of pushing a button, to start the operation, I had to turn the wheel / tools into the steel, and pop out a few 100 or 10k pcs.  Almost 50 yrs ago, and actually my 2nd 'real' job.  Hated it, being chained to, and acting like a machine and I didn't last long.  Setting up was interesting, but usually took only about 30 minutes, per order.

 

Profession:  professional bum & LPOS ... excelled at that.  Work smarter not harder.

As you can imagin I did not just press buttons I also operated non automated machines including lathes,milling machines and more. The early types of Automatics ran on cams which I also had to design and make my self but I did not just produce a few items I used to produce thousands what you would call repetition engineering, but as an toolsetter or engineer you will know what I mean.

Vagina Stretcher….short hours and big pay….end of story….????????????????

I worked in the printing business for 34 years. Started as a hot metal compositor (placing single metal characters in what was known as a stick) you will see these in museums now, not many of us left now I think????Then moved on to was called a paste up artist, (producing magazines and books) this was placing film on another slightly thicker piece of film (the end product was a positive or negative piece of film) My next step was Desk Top Publishing (mostly magazines) the ladies on this site may have heard of them, Living, She, Options, Women's Realm etc. Planner/Platemaker was my final step (similar to Paste up Artist) producing 32/64 pages in Black, Cyan, Magenta and Yellow of thin aluminium which wraps around the rollers of the Printing Press

Worked for a Federal Agency 32 years.  The last 11 years in Management for that Agency. 
I retired about four years ago.

Almost 28 years in USAF.  25 years worked in the field of metrology (science of measurement) in various calibration laboratories around the world.  Experience was a perfect match for my second 19 year career.  Building flue gas analyzers from the ground up that were later used in Emissions Monitoring Systems primarily in power plants and refineries.  Again, these were installed around the world.  Managed the in-house calibration facility, Field Service Engineer (loved that) and Field Service Manager (hated the shirt and tie part of that), much preferred the field and hands on work.  Got to see a lot of the world and had (still have) more FF miles than I'll ever use although I have put 100's of thousands to good use.  Now fully retired and almost 82 years old.  Pretty good with Excel spreadsheet development and recently picked up some 2d CAD design for personal use although a few have asked for help with some small projects.  Mostly I design custom accessory parts for underwater camera systems.  Once designed I have the parts cut at a local laser shop.  It's been a good life.  I have a beautiful Thai wife.  She is a CMAS and SSI certified SCUBA instructor.  Our daughter, also a diver is in university in Bangkok.      

Before I retired I was a Restaurant Owner. Sold everything and moved to Thailand with my family. Now during retirement, I spend my time investing in the stock market & crypto currency. Funny thing, is I make more money through investing in Crypto than I did as a restaurant owner. 

Desk jockey for most of my career. Insurance, paper manufacturers, health care filtration specialists in sales and later inventory management. After redundancy in my fifties I worked as a postman which, whilst the remuneration wasn't great, was the most enjoyable job I did. 

Now I work as hard as I ever did but for no salary.???? The wife's a hard taskmaster but I'm in no hurry to change it. I could never have had this life in the UK 

Butcher's assistant, builder's labourer, gardener, shelf night-filler at a supermarket, cleaner , accounrs clerk (federal government), researcher (federal government), researcher (university) and finally a university lecturer.

13 hours ago, Paulaew said:

I'm interested to know what forum members do (or did) for a living. What is (or was) your profession or occupation?

33 years aircraft technician... age 16-49
apprenticed in UK with British Aerospace [formerly BAC]

13 hours ago, Nojohndoe said:

I wonder if the OP expects

My engineering friend calls them "X-Y" men. Ask lots of questions, garner information but none ever comes back.

12 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

NSA deep operative. 

Retired. 

No such agency?

NSA...????

When I left school my first job was mucking out the bottom of Cuckoo clocks, I then went on to cutting corks to fit flies rectums. Both on the advice of my father who got fed up with me asking him what I should do when I grew up. Sadly I never grew up. ????

12 hours ago, Neeranam said:

worked offshore for a year and one year in the office, designing the Piper Bravo oil platform. 

Is that the one that blew up or it's replacement? 

I'm one of those, you know...ex-SAS

12 hours ago, zzaa09 said:

NSA deep operative. 

Retired. 

35 years KGB and  SVR later, I used to be your neighbour.

Began work at 16 (apprenticeship) technical college in Oz (T.A.F.E. -technical and further education) in horticulture, then TAFE in landscape construction and design (structural qual's), then additional training TAFE - full carpenters license.

Worked in building trades in renovating / building, concurrent business as a landscape designer and construction for about 18 years.

Sea change at early 30's ... university - bachelors of social science, then my Masters in counselling and psychotherapy, concurrent studies in Gestalt psychotherapy with attainment of Masters degree.

Practised as a psychotherapist for about 30 years.  Retired.

Not yet 'the end' ....

i left school at 16 and worked as a broker in the city of london for a couple of years. but i just didn't see the point, i had all this money and no time to spend it. meanwhile my friends didn't have a pot to <deleted> in but all the time in the world.

 

to me that seemed wrong and a waste.

 

so much to my parents horror i took my 4th summer off, bought a flat at the seaside and jacked it all in! and i've never worked for anyone else since.

 

it was the best god damn thing i ever did. that little property was the seed that flourished into 30 years of hedonism for me and still going strong.

 

 

An artist in burnt clay.

Fruit picker, factory worker (cardboard boxes), trench digger, timber yard labourer, builders labourer, hot mix road worker, stock control clerk in, variously, a welding factory making farming equipment in Perth, a steel supplier in Melbourne, a plywood manufacturer in Brisbane, a scaffolding hire company, and an Iron ore mine and company town in the Pilbara. A professional AFL footballer (tongue in cheek, I did get paid a small amount to play before a knee injury stuffed up a planned career!). I know I had several other jobs in my early days after school, but they're lost in the mists of time.

 

Eventually grew up, married (bad decision!)  and joined the federal government where I worked in several departments - Education (student grants), Aboriginal Affairs (much bigger grants), Immigration, and others, before early retirement 30+ years later.  A senior grade, shift work at airports and frequent travel, resulted in a healthy pension. Combined with profitable investments in shares and real estate ensured I never have to deal with Centrelink or whatever they're now called. 

I'm not rich, but it seems that way with my Australian income's spending power in Thailand.

10 hours ago, Led Lolly Yellow Lolly said:

Way too many Walter Mittys here, both online and offline. Another true story (no really), I was once drinking in Patpong in the mid-2000s with an old member that no longer posts here (hi elsie). It was something like 04:00 HRS. We stumbled into one bar and wound up sat next to a European that claimed to work for the Singha beer company and he said he was at work right now. His role is just just drink in bars and monitor the quality of the beer. . . Now, when I post it here, it sounds like he was joking, but he was completely serious. I could tell you all kinds of stories like this, and it's one of the reasons I avoid foreigners in Thailand. Bangkok is a different matter these days, there are many foreign professionals in the city and the pretenders are easy to spot.

 

 

 

In my days as a contract engineer, I did a stint with the Guinness Brewery in west London.  Alas, I wasn't employed to drink the beer (although they had the coldest, Cold Guinness in the universe!).  I was brought in to design a radio comms system that their field engineers could use to send reports from pubs back to HQ.  This was prior to smart phone technology.  So I accompanied the engineers each day as they visited pubs AND tested/tasted the beer (I also partook!), and occasionally did some radio comms tests.....

44 years in offshore drilling. That's what brought me to SE Asia.

varied life .. worked as an international tour guide ..then onto working on movies .. Hollywood..spent a lot of time in LA ..did script writing with some of the biggest names in the industry worked with many top A list actors... producer's director's..did location scouting in Europe..had a lot of fun lived the dream now im a House husband here in a small village in the north of Thailand cash gone but im happy as a pig in Shooot

1 hour ago, Old Croc said:

Is that the one that blew up or it's replacement? 

The replacement. I worked with many guys who worked on the 'Alpha'.

28 minutes ago, Old Croc said:

. A professional AFL footballer

My former rugby team is in the Scottish Premier division but didn't get paid back then. Some friends tried to get me to go to Australia to become an AFL player. Seemingly my height(6'4") and rugby ability would have made me a perfect footy player.