Ask Lemmy

Basically because of video games.

It first started with doing some admin work for a very early online StarCraft tournament. Keeping the roster/grid up-to-date and posting results ... by literally editing the html file. Started out helping out more and eventually got into PHP code of this early tournament software and helped with that.

Then later it turned into writing scripts and addons for World of Warcraft, as well as just hosting the general infrastructure like forums, dkp systems and voice chat servers you need for a large guild. Even later external online tools for EvE Online (D-scan parsing, wormhole mapping).

Then I just got lucky and while telling someone all of these "qualifications" they basically just hired me. Even funnier, over a decade later an old WoW guildmate approached me with a programming issue ... and after solving it he offered me a much better job. That's were I work now.

In 2008, I was fed up with a combination of wage slavery and freelancing, so I started looking around for a proper career. I found a job posting on monster.com for something called "seismic survey technician". I was severely underqualified and I had no idea what it was, but it involved computery stuff with and emphasis on Linux and other unix systems, in addition to international travel which sounded interesting, so I sent in my application out of curiosity.

I ended up getting the job, and over the years since them I've carved out a pretty comfy niche in the industry.

We used to build forts for fun. Then later, skate ramps. I realized I was pretty good at building shit so I got a job as a laborer. Then I got a job as a roofer on pretty nice houses. That turned into sort of helper/ apprentice thing. My dad and uncle had a construction/contracting company but I refused to work for them because I didn't want to get a job because I was the owners kid. Later, my uncle blew out a knee or something and they asked me to come lend a hand for a bit. Turns out, they were really, really good and I stayed for about 20 years learning almost everything. Now I work as a project manager and finish carpenter on some pretty big, fancy houses.

I failed upward to the level of my own incompetence.

I had an arrow in the knee kinda situation when I turned 18 so I spent more time on computers

Was recommended to me by my previous employer. Was the resident computer geek on my nursing unit. Not looking for a new job or anything. Out of the blue, my boss says IT is looking for computer geeks with clinical experience. Fast forward a few months, I am now an Application Analyst.

I was stuck working in restaurants in my late 20s recovering from alcoholism. Managed to get set up at trade school with a friend who gave me rides till I got my license back. Studied industrial electricity and got a job as a helper shortly after, I've been a licensed electrician for a few years now and work for myself.

I love my trade. It kicks my ass some days but most of the time its not bad, I make good money, and I can feel good about the work. I do a lot of residential service calls these days, I love fixing homes.

In the 1980s I took a BASIC class in a Radio Shack. I should have known then what career was for me.

In the 90s, after getting a shit degree in undergrad and having so much fun etting it, I joined the Army. I became the office super user, wherever I was stationed and I knew I needed too be in IT.

Mom wanted me to go into music performance. I went into computer science both because "holy shit how cool is that" and to get out of music performance.

My alma mater had three computer departments: CSC/CompSci, CIS/Computer Information Systems, and Graphic Design. I've never been artistic, really, so I didn't have a lot of interest in Graphic Design. But I didn't know the difference really between CIS and CSC going into college.

I went to the head of the CIS department to ask about the difference and he was like "CSC is about building the plane, CIS is about flying the plane." Misinterpreting that to mean CSC was about hardware and CIS was about software, I thought I wanted CIS. When I met with the CSC head, he met with me in a little lab in the CSC department. And on the shelves on the walls, there were robotic coin sorters and Lego robots and stuff. And that's basically when I realized the CSC department was my people.

A strange combination of circumstances. I originally wanted to do maths research or, failing that, be a maths teacher.

After a stint of research, and given how long getting to a tenured position would have been (with all the sacrifices that demands by chaining one or two years contracts all over the place, and with no guarantee of success), I decided to stop applying after my last contract came to an end.

Meanwhile, I met my wife who lived abroad where my teaching qualification did not hold, so I took a leap of faith and when my contract ended I left my country to move in with her and figured I'd find something there eventually.

At the time, the standard pipeline for a maths PhD looking for work in the industry was to do "data science" so I learned a bit of deep learning (this was pre chatGPT) but very quickly decided I did not want to contribute to that. I decided to start looking for other stuff, loosely related to my degree (and had a shitty admin job for a month).

I luckily found soon after quite a niche job as a software engineer where understanding maths was really needed (working on the geometric kernel of a CAD program) and thus managed to get my foot in the tech door and learn "enterprise" coding there. I moved on from that particular job but remain in something very close to that.

Manufacturing quality assurance. I don't have a ton of mech engineering in my area, so I broadened my search by just using "engineer". I had to sift through a lot of software/dev/etc engineering listings. I noticed there was a consistent stream of quality engineer, quality system type roles. Applied, and now it's my career trajectory.

It's a bit niche, the "real" engineers want nothing to do with it, and I get to dabble at various levels into all the products and processes. It comes with a good amount of documentation, auditing, pondering the true intent of accreditation requirements, and other mundane tasks, which is why so many people hate it. But maintaining the quality system maintains the business, so I have a job.

It's not ISO 9001, but it's similar. It has a ton added that's specific to the industry, so it's tangibly useful. Personally, I think ISO:9001 is a pyramid scheme. Under 9k1, you have to vet your vendors... Unless they're also 9k1 certified! Regardless, I'm surrounded by 9k1, so I have some local mobility as well as national mobility for the specific industry.

As a kid I sat in front of a computer, so I got a job sitting in front of a computer. I do evening courses so I can get a different job sitting in front of a computer.

A lot of accumulating pieces of luck. I started as a physical therapist, but burned out. A friend suggested a coding bootcamp where I made a new friend who used to be an occupational therapist. She got a job and then moved into digital accessibility (which we hadn't really learned about but made sense with our backgrounds). Her workplace had an opening in accessibilty and they hired me, so I moved and that's what I've been doing ~6 years.

I didn't - I created it.

I'm a self-employed home improvement contractor. I got laid off from my previous job as a plumber and I didn't want to just find a different company to do the same thing for, so I instead took this decade-long vision of a better alternative and turned it into a business.

Loved learning programming as a teen, never wanted to do it as a job, then when I got older I realized that's the only marketable skill I have, so I became a developer.

Luck. Nobody dreams about being an auditor( unless you are an accountant) but I had just graduated and was looking for a job like crazy and saw and add for a trainee program in a big4 company. Manage to go in and that's it. trainee programs in big comlanies can teach you a lot. 10/10 would recomend

My last job was going out of business and one of my old coworkers recommended I go work at a slaughterhouse her son works at. Been there 4 months now and like it a lot more than my last job. Still a job though so only so much I can like it.

I’m one of those useless management types. Basically got really good at managing processes and people and kept getting promoted. I landed my current job because of someone I used to work with. They needed a great operations manager for a new acquisition and gave me an offer he knew I couldn’t refuse. I LOVE the job and the field it’s in (the trades).

Analytical chemist.

Educated in Marine biology, started work on the dock that developed my ability to handle bizarre hours and self motivation, used the bizarre hours to get a harvest gig in wine making cellar work where I learned to grind, used my grind and bizarre hours to do some commercial electrical installation, then did some electric meter reading where I learned the importance of attention to detail, used all of the above skills to become a winery lab technician where I got experience working with high functioning lab equipment, wanted to get away from wine so now I'm a chemist.

Life is good. I've been more underpaid at every step of the way, but I feel that's allowed me to function with less stress at every step of the path.

Built my own CMS while trying to put together my art and design portfolio website. Applied for a graphic design job. In the first interview it came up in conversation that I designed and built the website from scratch. 2nd interview they were very interested to hear how I built the site. Got hired. Showed up on my first day and was introduced to the development team. I was very confused because I thought I was going to be doing design work. Became the lead web developer of their marketing department. Zero experience. Been a web developer for 15+ years now. I keep accidentally doing well at this and can't get out now. I just wanted to draw.

I got hurt on the job and was given compensation. While I was free someone suggested I get a book called "Discover What You Are Best At," by Linda Gail.

It's a series of tests and then a list of the jobs that use those skills.

I've read a few 'self help' books over the years, but this is the one that actually worked.

And no, I won't mention my career. What made me happy will probably make everyone else miserable.