What do you do for a living?

[Jon]

What do you do for a living?

I'm a student. I'm taking four courses this Fall semester. My major is Computer Engineering. So far I have a 4.0 GPA but I doubt I can keep that up forever since I have to work so much! (No, that's not pessimistic -- it's realistic, lol).

For making money, I do the following:
- Part-time as a web designer for my school's student government. (5 hours/week)
- Work at my school's book-store. (20-25 hr/week)
- Donate plasma. (6-8 hr/week)
- Run a web site; income from ads. (1-2 hr/week)

UPDATE 11/15/2008
I now work 30-40 hours a week as a software engineer, and my current GPA is a 3.96. I quit donating plasma long ago, and to be honest, I'm happy to be keeping it all to myself. Needles aren't bad for me, but they're sure not fun either.

[litolay]

Jon, congrats on your ambitions and persistence - working so much while going through school. You've picked a fantastic major that should yield you some excellent opportunities when you get out of school.

I'm an environmental engineer within the federal government. I generally earn less base salary than others with similar experience in the field who choose to work in the private sector, but it works for me. Most of those private sector guys work 45+ hours per week and many don't get OT for it. I'm done after 40 hours and can go home to my wife and family.

My work environment is low stress, fairly stable, and very secure. I will likely never have to worry about being laid off. The gov't also provides a terrific pension plan, in addition to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP, the gov'ts 401K). I've got excellent health and life insurance benefits, flexible hours, and ridiculous amounts of vacation/sick leave considering my length of service to date. The gov't also paid for me to get my Masters. Additionally, I get a tremendous sense of pride by protecting and cleaning up the environment on and around the places where our troops and their families live and work.

Last, but certainly not least, I can transfer fairly easily from one job to another in the government without severe negative reprocussions. For instance, a couple years ago I decided to look for a job overseas and am now serving in Japan. How great that my family gets the opportunity to see and experience another culture (on the gov'ts dime, too) by emersing ourselves in it for a few years.

[Jon]

Why thank you.

You sound like my type of guy. I wouldn't want to work over 40 hours per week either, even for more money. I want time with my future family. Depending on my job in the computer engineering field, I may have to work many hours when deadlines approach, but I'm going to try and limit that as much as I can. I'm hoping I'll be able to use my future skills to create some businesses for myself too.

[litolay]

When I first started out in my career, I was in the private sector and working for salary (ie: no OT pay). For a three month period, I was working anywhere from 60-70 hour weeks. I eventually did the math on that three month period, and I could have been making better money flipping burgers and chopping potatoes at my local In-N-Out Burger joint. It was at that point I told myself that I either needed to work less hours or be fairly compensated for the time I spent over 40/week. At the time, I was a single guy just starting out, but if I still had that job and was working those hours while trying to maintain a healthy family life, too, I'd probably hang myself.

You're going into a really hot field that's fairly marketable throughout the entire US and other first-world countries. Heck, even some emerging markets are in need of computer gurus. The key is to find an employer that is open to whatever type of lifestyle you are interested in maintaining and that is also flexible enough to adapt as your lifestyle adapts, too (marriage, children, add'l education down the road).

[bjoerges]

Hey all,

I am a constant learner, be it school or otherwise. I read many blogs, books, and stories to try and get a full picture of the world around me. I am most interested in the business and finance sector of the world but I have a strong affinity for philosophy and literary analysis. I am 22, married, with a baby on the way. I met my wife in college and left my parents house to move out to the east coast with her after two months of dating. After an awesome adventure that led to our marriage, we moved back to Michigan to settle down, raise a family, and build a business. We have ambitions to create a private school with alternative education practices.

I currently am a service writer for Moosejaw Mountaineering's website Moosejaw.com. It is a privately held company coming up on it's 15th anniversary to entering retail sales after opening it's doors in Keego Harbor, MI. It has since closed that shop and opened 5 retail locations in Michigan, with a 6th coming soon, and on in Chicago, IL. It launched it's first website in 1997 listing products available in it's brick and mortar stores as a phone in order site, eventually adding email order capability. In 2000, the new website at Moosejaw.com was launched, with full fledged online retailing. Several face lifts, and warehouses, later, Moosejaw.com has become a marketing and consumer relations shining star.

I was lucky enough to find a general call center position with the company upon moving back to Michigan and was moved to a service writer position before my training course was complete. It is a somewhat specialized position as every email with a question is personally responded to within less than 12 hours of it being sent. The community aspect of this company is hard to compare to any other company. Without having separate, user-driven social networks, or a company-run social network, an obvious culture of the customer base is apparent. The company has a strong personal connection with their customers. Though nick-names and aliases are often used for identity security of some employees, myself included, the interactions with consumers are genuine.

It is an awesome company that I am proud to work for. I see it having a very bright future and nearing it's tipping point into becoming a mainstream online retail location.

As for me, I will begin taking more courses starting January 2008 relative to marketing and management and pursue my MBA.

[JT]

Jon, first of all, I have to give you kudos, not just for your couseload/part-time work, but also for your having the foresight to educate yourself about your finances. I wish I had been as wise as you at your age; unfortunately, I made some good decisions (started investing in a 401k at a young age) and some bad ones (ran up some credit card debt shortly after college). So good for you for doing it the right way, keep at it and you'll have a bright future ahead of you.

As for what I do, here's the history:
I graduated college with an engineering degree, but not knowing what I really wanted to do. I landed a good job out of college that paid well (not great, but well for entry-level...$37K/per year plus benefits) in technical sales. Man, I stupidly thought I was RICH with that much money. I spent on clothes, eating out, trips with friends, etc. I quickly maxed out my credit card within 6 months of graduating. I realized I had a problem when I tried to apply for another credit card...to support my out of control spending...and I was rejected. I couldn't believe it! But, it motivated me to take a hard look at my finances...and I realized I was uneducated when it came to managing them. I resolved to correct this, and within a couple of years I had the spending under control, the credit card debt fixed, and was starting to save. Only problem...I wasn't liking sales. It didn't really fit my personality. So...I decided to take advantage of the company's education benefits and enroll in MBA school.

While there, I met a classmate who worked for a pharma company he really liked. He recommended me for a job there...and I've loved it so much I've been there for 9 years now. I have been fortunate to have had positions in supply chain and finance, and am currently in the corporate strategic planning group. I have opportunties to travel to other sites, domestic and international. I really love my job, I love working for a company on the cutting edge of medicine, I make pretty good money (much more than my $37K starting salary ), work for a great company that really believes in work-life balance and provides awesome benefits. As for the finances, I have gotten my act together, and at age 35 I have already saved twice my income in my 401k, own my own place, have no debt except student loans that I should have paid off in the next few years (well, and the mortgage...fixed rate mortgage, of course!). I am on a great path and loving life.

Keep asking these types of questions...the experiences of others will help you chart out your own career and life path.

[Green Panda]

Hey everybody!

I'm a newly minted graduate. I got a B.S. in Business Management with a "cluster" in Psychology. (Regret cluster, should've done a minor) I'm currently working in the operations planning department for a chemical manufacturing company. I basically work with creating deliveries and allocating products for our US warehouses. I found this job by applying as an intern and they liked me. The commute is a bit annoying (45min-1hour each way), but wages here are lower than national average due to military presence and other economic factors.

My husband(programmer) and I would like to move from our current location to Raleigh, NC, where housing is cheaper than our area.

[paulcjones]

New poster here.

I'm a 29 year old British expat living in the US, with my American wife and pug family

Migrating countries is expensive expensive expensive, but fortunately we both have good jobs in software (security software) - I'm a technical account manager, she a virus lab analyst (computer viruses).

We used an inheritance a few years ago to buy our first home in central Mass - fixed rate, of course

Financially, we do ok. We have an unfortunately large Credit Card debt - the result of too much loose spending and too little thinking ahead about our future. It feels like we live paycheck to paycheck, but that does include some regular savings contributions, and thanks to blogs like these we are getting better and better at handling our finances. I sometimes find myself completely confused though - the US banking / finance system is quite different to the UK one - so I feel like I'm learning all over again some days

[shreeki]

Hi,
I'm 18 and from Canada. I just beginning to realize the value of money. I'm going to university this fall for a co-op in environmental science (not environmental engineering though). It's a five year program and though I love the environment and doing my part to save as much of it as possible, I don't know if a bachelor's in env. sci. will offer that for me in the form of a job. I'm simply unaware of how much the field makes and whether or not the loan for that degree is worth the money and effort I will put into it. Does anyone know a site that predicts salaries and job outlooks for my degree-related field? Or perhaps someone who has said degree?

I started learning about finances when I got my first job. I was very proud of myself for making 3k in one summer without splurging any amount however, I spent quite a bit this year and having not had a job yet, am worried about how to save up for university this fall. I will be staying home so that should save something and I will be getting a loan from the goverment. I also have a small entrance scholarship but if my grades drop (it seems likely...) then they will take it away. I wonder if an article has been made to guide first-years into being money-saving gurus (or the like)?

I watch this site and many other financial blogs to constantly remind myself of ways to become financially aware.

[ekrabs]

Welcome, shreeki.

Very glad to hear that you (and many others here) are pursing financial agility at such a young age.

I wish I did.

[BoileR_RooM]

Jon: Tell me more about donating plasma. I'm curious about that.


I'm 24 and working full time in technology. Enterprise level sales. (Servers, laptops, desktops, cabling, solutions, etc.) 40 hrs @ office, but do e-mails and such at odd hours.

- I own an auto detailing business. 300-500 extra a week.
- I cross sell conciege services through my auto detailing business. 200+ a week. (I'm very consistant with one client.)
- I work at a bar on weekend nights. 250+ a week.

I try and shoot for earning $4,000/month AFTER taxes. The bulk of my money I make in cash, however check get depositted in my companies account. I moved back home to save money for a house. I keep my expenses down to a minimum and invest the rest. I have a nice system going.

[Jon]

Wow Boiler, you sound like a busy and successful guy. Good choices. Make time to relax!

Donating plasma is pretty simple. You go in, they give you an exam to make sure you're healthy, then from then on you can go in up to twice a week to donate plasma. Usually takes an hour or two total, depending on the wait time. I've done the math and this turns into about $10-12 an hour or so. I haven't donated plasma in a long time since I got my new job. I'm glad too because it kind of freaked me out sometimes.

[eke]

I did mindless data entry for 25 years. Then I worked in a convenience store for 5 years. Now I am unemployable.

[tondalea]

Hi Everyone

My educational backgrounds are in Finance and Real Estate. I have worked as a career in Corporate Relocation for approximately 15 years. Since the fall of the housing market these past few years, I decided to start my own online businesses by becoming an affiliate marketer. I enjoy sales. I work outside of the home about 10 hours a week doing outside sales and the rest of the time I manage 4 employees who support my websites. I have found in this economy it's a great way to earn extra income.

What drew me to this Forum was an opportunity to help other with 401k's that have been tanking in the last year or so. I sincerely hope to raise awareness in regard to regular people like you and I taking control of our retirement funds and earn amazing returns on self-directed IRAs and self-directed Roth IRAs by investing in real estate.

Here are some of the articles I wrote. I hope to make positive contributions to this Forum.

Laurel

5 Big Reasons Why You Should Get a Self-Investing IRA

Instant Strategies to Increase Your Roth IRA Rate of Returns

[bdclarke]

I am a specifications writer for a major metroplitan mass transit system. I just got my MBA. I hope to be doing some undergrad teaching during the spring or summer to supplement my income.

[paul120]

good discussion all through..thanks for starting the thread.

[Towps]

I've been working as a software developer for 3 years now come this December. Damn time flies and I haven't saved up as much as I would like to have after 3 years. But oh well, you can't have it all I guess.

[adam]

I graduated college with a BS in Computer Science and went straight to a job with the Federal Government. I've been here almost 5 years now (I'm 28). I bought my first house two years ago, and I've got my toy car (S2000) and my practical car (Accord). But because of all that I'm about $200k in debt (including the house). $25k of that was a consolidation loan for the two cars and some leftover credit card debt.

I finally realized that while I have a bunch of stuff, I was still living more or less paycheck to paycheck and I needed to get that under control. Especially considering I now make $26k more than when I started. I didn't have any money saved besides what was in my TSP, I had about $8,000 in credit card debt, and the two cars were at about $25k (at that point), student loan, tsp loan, mortgage, blah, blah blah. So I've made progress, but I've still got a ways to go.

[FrostyFire]

I'm only 22 years old, but I started out doing everything at a young age because I moved to Canada and got pushed up two grades in school. The only smart thing I did credit wise was pay off my student loans before I was even eligible for credit (19 in my province, BC.) I wasn't earning a terribly large amount ($25k/yr,) but considering I was still living with my parents, expenses were low! I started doing well, got a $2500 limit for my first CC, got approved for a brand-new car without a co-signer in the same month. I was doing well financially, and credit wise. Things started going downhill the first summer that I was 19, as it is also the legal drinking age. Started blowing money like water, going out for lunch and dinner daily, including a minimum once a day Starbucks run. My friends and I decided we need to go to Mexico that summer too. Sweet, I could "afford" that, I'll just throw it on the CC. That was the first time I took off more than I could chew, and the last time I saw the number 0 on my CC balance. A year later I got a job as a Systems Analyst making almost double. I thought that I was now "loaded" and was earning more than anyone else I knew at 20. I started making more frivolous, un-necessary purchases like a MacBook Pro. Of course work bought me a shiny new laptop 2 months later so I sold the MBP at a major loss too. That didn't do anything for the CC balance though. The spending just never stopped from there. I was living the life of the rich and famous on a below average middle-class salary. I'm 22 and I make $50,000 a year and I live paycheque to paycheque.

I now owe:
$35,000 on a car loan
$17,000 on a motorcycle loan
$10,400 CC debt with a $10,000 limit (11.9% interest though)
$13,900 on a retardedly high interest rate loan (28%)
Jesus H, I owe $76,300.

To top it off I'm desperately saving up to get married, except I haven't saved anything! I'm also going on a 4 week trip to South Africa next May that is going to cost about $4,000. On a happier note, I have dramatically changed my life style in the last few months. The girlfriend and I were victims of constantly eating out for every meal and constantly wasting on non-necessities. We have lived together for almost a year now and I've taken an executive stance on cutting down expenses where I can, whether it's turning the heat down or switching the lights off. It was hard to get her to charge her ways, considering she's a full-time student and has parents paying for a full ride.

Fortunately for me, I've never missed a payment on anything. Sometimes I've had to use really creative ways to get around being completely maxed out and making sure I can afford to eat before pay day.

I'm glad I have found this site and can't wait to learn on more ways to save money.

[ekrabs]

Welcome, Frosty.

[NJScubaDiva]

I am an accounting coordinator (I handle AP, AP, taxes, bank statement, etc..) and absolutely hate it! I have an English Writing degree, but after way too much partying in my 20's and 30's, graduated with less then a 2.5 GPA...and realized that with a BA in English and really low GPA, I couldn't make any money in the writing field, couldn't go into teaching, and had to fall back on my entry level experience from my teens (accounting). This week, I sent in my application for grad school, going back as a non-major/non-matriculated student in order to prove myself for grad school - or at least to pursue a teaching certificate. I want to someday have a job that I can wake up and look forward to going to and feel as though I am making a difference in the world (even if it's a small one). I work for a great company (a small cell tower management company) and in this economic spiral downward, I feel somewhat secure in my position. I have about $15,000 in debt left to pay off, in additon to my husband's approximately $8,000 (he's in a credit counseling program which has been wonderful for him - he had outrageous interest, late fees, and over-limit fees due to him just giving up and not paying his bills about 5 years ago...so we enrolled him in the cr.counseling program and they knocked his interest down to 8-9%, cancelled the late and overlimit fees. He was about $35,000 in the hole, and in about 4 years, paid off over 3/4 of it. He also had a small local auto transport business that bit the dust this summer (gas prices, no new customers, loss of previous customers, etc...), so that put us about $15,000 in debt, but that will get paid off over time as well (we are waiting for one "slacker" vendor to pay us the $9000++ they owe us and then my chest pains will subside, somewhat). So, that's my life, in a nutshell for now.... I'm just really happy I found this website, because I'm learning so new/interesting info and finding some great deals and even better ways to save!! Thanks, all and good luck!!

[ekrabs]

Welcome NJScubaDiva. Thank you for sharing your story.

[cis4smack]

How much did you make donating plasma?

[finwiz]

Well i am a housewife & i do online trading for my earning but now days i am buying & selling properties it is a very profitable business.

[Jon]

How much did you make donating plasma?

Around $150 a month. Sometimes more or less depending on how frequently I went.

[adam]

Ramit's post today made me realize that I didn't actually say what I do. I'm a computer scientist for the Navy, a DoD civilian. I do modeling and simulation and assessment work for the Navy's engineering command. Like other federal employees I could have made significantly more money in the private sector, but I really enjoy my benefits and the ability to do the work I'm doing. Not everybody gets to get shot off an aircraft carrier for free

[Shaun Connell]

I'm the office manager of a radio station, though I'll be quiting this fall as I enter college. I'll be double majoring in business administration and economics. I also manage a website that pulls in a bit of money.

[dazzford]

Hey all. I have been reading "I will teach you to be rich" for a good few years now, but this was the first time I have been compelled to post.

I'm 29, have owned and sold both a condo (at 21) and a house (at 25). Between my wife and I, we had racked up over 50k in debt by 2006, not including the mortgage on the house (which we sold for 3k more than we owed). However, as of this time last year, I am happy to say we are debt free and now have a significant emergency savings and retirement accounts. We live in NYC so cost of living is high.

My wife audits airline food preparation facilities around the world for some large airlines. She's also attending NYU at the same time working on her masters. As great as her job sounds, it's not high paying, and we don't get air miles either. After taxes she brings in approximately $450 per week.

I am a Software Development manager and bring in about $1500 per week after withholdings (of about 40%!!). 47% of my net income goes to pay for our 1 bedroom apt . Luckily I work for some amazing bosses who value their people and the work/life balance. It's not a government job, but I also work only 40 hours a week without ever doing overtime. Of course I completely believe in this as well, not allowing my own employees to do any overtime either.

We both have our own allowance of $200 per month for entertainment. This includes eating out, which in Manhattan costs a ton, and which we do not do often.

Right now, we have taken on 8k of school debt for my wife's masters, however, we plan to completely pay that off every semester, allowing us to maintain our emergency fund while keeping debt to a minimum.

On the side, I also do my own development, and I have a few things that I'm hoping to bring to market in the near future. However, being inherently lazy, I have said this before, and started many projects, never bringing them to competition

[mlola]

I work for a non-profit. I absolutely love what I do, but it is highly stressful (70 hr workweeks are not rare) - financial stress doesn't help (don't need to tell you I'm not in it for the money) - and wondering how to make some extra bucks on the side (freelancing??? what?). ADD poster child, I have no savings, don't really shop or go out, don't pay rent either - so hopefully I can work something out soon. Previously worked in the private sector where I made the big bucks but was ridiculously miserable (crying, depressed and sick all the time) Maybe I can start some sort of food stall on the weekends? I need to do something, soon. I guess this place is a good start no?

[finwiz]

I work for a non-profit. I absolutely love what I do, but it is highly stressful (70 hr workweeks are not rare) - financial stress doesn't help (don't need to tell you I'm not in it for the money) - and wondering how to make some extra bucks on the side (freelancing??? what?). ADD poster child, I have no savings, don't really shop or go out, don't pay rent either - so hopefully I can work something out soon. Previously worked in the private sector where I made the big bucks but was ridiculously miserable (crying, depressed and sick all the time) Maybe I can start some sort of food stall on the weekends? I need to do something, soon. I guess this place is a good start no?

I hope you are liking iwillteachyoutoberich well this is the the best place you can have.