Inventory for car dealership
Taco Bell
Satellite tv store clerk
Ice cream scooper
Grocery clerk
Call center agent
Call center supervisor
Business analyst
Started out teaching English at Embry-Riddle.
Graded 10,000 essays.
Lesson learned.
Became a mathematics teacher.
Discovered computing.
Never looked back.
Location
Houston TX
Education
Stetson University: B.A., M.A. in English; M.S. in mathematics
Lead Developer, business owner, US Army veteran. I build things for the web. My website is a bunch of HTML pages that didn't need a framework. Yours can be too!
You bet, the horseless horse shows are always WAY more entertaining than the real thing. As a kid I could jump 4+ft, as an adult I can hardly throw myself over a 3 ft jump. Lost some of my spring/everything kinda tightens up LOL
then i started to backpacking thru all the south america, and had a lot of crazy jobs, and some cool jobs as:
truck cleaner
computer support (hardware, formating, virus removals, etc)
truck charge unloader (i dont have sure how to write it sorry)
truck recovering (i worked with some guys who were recovering broken trucks)
then i came back to home, started to study development really hard (i was always studing software development, since i was 12 i think, but was always for fun), so I got the courage and started doing some freelancings, then everything has change.
now, some years later, im working as front end developer in a place which i really enjoy :)
He/Him/His
I'm a Software Engineer and a teacher.
There's no feeling quite like the one you get when you watch someone's eyes light up learning something they didn't know.
I worked at McDonalds to help pay the bills, but the job was across town making things very difficult once my school schedule changed to take over the entire day.
Luckily, while I was complaining about my situation to a classmate he told me he worked in an IT department on campus and could talk to his boss about getting me a job.
I knew enough IT to get the job, since I would work on old out dated computers at home all the time. (Just like the ones on campus 😉)
The fact I got the job came down to networking, a little off-hand knowledge and luck.
Retail Associate. Funny, I was almost 30 before I had my first retail job. A friend had a pop-up shop last holiday season and I worked Black Friday while she was out of town.
Mystery Shopper has got to be kind of the programming mindset! my guess. All of these things you list seem to have been preparation for development (working with people, understanding production systems [production assistant], and the creative aspects overall.
cool!
Reading through the comments, and oh dear, some seem to have held all possible jobs before getting into software. I'm jealous of the experience gained throughout those jobs. Priceless.
I, on the other hand, started with software, and transitioning into photography/videography
I’m a developer with 15-years of experience in the .Net stack as well as an interest in Angular.I’m known for taking legacy projects and updating them so they can be maintainable and have new features
He/Him/His
I'm a Software Engineer and a teacher.
There's no feeling quite like the one you get when you watch someone's eyes light up learning something they didn't know.
I was in finance for 20 years and then my company got bought and I was eventually laid off. I was the Trading Operations Manager for an Investment Management firm. I retired for a while but decided to pursue a second career as a web dev.
Data wrangler, software engineer, systems programmer, cyclist. Unix (mostly Solaris) for aeons. I talk C, Python, SQL, Performance, Java, Kafka and Makefiles.
Location
Brisbane, Australia
Education
BA (Mathematics, Modern History), University of Queensland
I do miss working outside sometimes, but being able to continue to work as I'm sitting in Osaka on a month long working vacation from California sure is amazing!
I realized after three years at the grocery store that I am not cut out for retail and much prefer a more challenging career.
Still working on breaking into a dev role
keep doing IT stuffs that are fun and interesting to you
If/When you try for jobs go full on, apply everywhere, work on your elevator pitch, DO realize that you have something to offer, work off your frustration with job pursuits constructively -don't get too down on yourself when you fail. Remember every failure gives you the advantage of knowledge. Keep at it -you'll get there.
Not really that interesting if I'm honest, but my job history as a web developer is far more interesting.
First web dev job lasted just 3 weeks because they were offering a junior salary, but looking for a mid to senior developer.
The next job was supposed to be an apprenticeship which I started 6 months early because I want to get stuck in.
Those 6 months were hell because I was still being given an apprenticeship wage and I was paying for a houseshare and for rent for my flat back home. I was finding ways to earn extra while there, which they inevitably found out about and so I never started my apprenticeship.
There's a lot more to my employment history and I might need to write a post on it. 😂
Just a coder and a dad. I love my family and I love to code!!!! started coding at 11, so I have 25 years under my belt. Still love learning about it every day. Black lives matter!
Weed (not drugs :P) puller
errand boy
grocery store attendant
telemarketer (a million kind)
student loan advisor
bar back
QA Tester
promoter
manager at an night club
My first job, as a short-order cook, was when I was 16.
I got into software when I was 10, working on Oregon Trail on the TIES system, which was on a Model 33 using a 110 baud modem and an acoustic coupler to an HP minicomputer.
Later on, I've worked on Expression Blend, Visual Studio, and Internet Explorer.
These days, I'm working on Photoshop. (I've also worked on Premiere Pro.)
Born, raise in Tijuana, MX. With a degree in Philosophy, have worked as janitor, sales person, pizza delivery boy, teacher, press operator, prepress, desktop Publisher, and for the last 19 years dev
Lead Developer, business owner, US Army veteran. I build things for the web. My website is a bunch of HTML pages that didn't need a framework. Yours can be too!
I was fortunate enough to only need to work once I started college.
Event Organization for College Community Center (RIP Cornell CCP)
Research Technician helping a graduate student study Obligate Slave-making ants in New York State (This was really cool. They lived in acorns a lot of the time)
I only had one job, I worked at a bus company for about three years, where they use this bars on both doors to track (count) the passengers that aboards through the day, my job was to analize and generate reports of every bus, every day and deliver the results to the corresponding owner
Nice! -Great Question! I love that you asked this question (and answers thus far) because it really shows our diversity. Everyone has a story and everyone's story is important, and relevant, and beautiful!
me:
large printing press plant clean up crew worker...supervisor..manager [age 16 (1988-90)]
recycling center worker.. assistant manager [age 18]
semi truck driver for deliveries
small business owner (recycling newspaper as animal bedding)
plastics recycling line worker and forklift driver
small business owner (recycling pallets)
plastics recycling and extruder operator/manager
plastics recycling plant supervisor
printing press operator (4 - 8 color -large scale)
Delivery truck driver (plastics recycling)
Systems administrator (Minux, SCO, ATT Unix, HPUX, Linux, dos, windows) - medical field
This is generally a very controversial issue in fact. It all depends on our perception. Thanks to planetofhotels.com/en/, I have not had such an impression, as they say - price = quality. There are truly terrible conditions in the bathrooms of local hotels. If you buy cheaper, there will even be a shared toilet, but it's not worth it, believe me
Grocery store all-around-helper during high-school. Bought my first Fender Strat and first DVD-Drive from that.
Then three years apprenticeship in the Sparkasse-Bank in Munich. Finished it but I was shit at sales, so they didn't hire me.
After that I spent a day at McDonalds. This must be what hell is like on bad days.
Then three Years waiting at Pizza Hut during FOS-School and Uni. This was the most fun job, although I hardly had any days off because I worked on the weekend. It was hard on the relationship with my now-wife, so we were happy when I found the following job…
Doing Photo-Archiving at ADAC-Motorwelt (largest magazine in Germany) for one year. No weekends, easy work, and double-pay than Pizza Hut. (From 6,12 € to 12 €).
After that in 2011 I did the internship at my current company and have been here ever since.
Ruby on Rails developer - Maker of ✨ things on the Internet. O(🐌^n) kind of guy. Alumni @lewagonparis (batch 145). Builds wooden furniture on his balcony.
I just finished high school, but I was pretty into Model UNs and Quizzing and Literary stuff before I got into tech. I still like all those but I believe the higher purpose can be better served using technology.
He/Him/His
I'm a Software Engineer and a teacher.
There's no feeling quite like the one you get when you watch someone's eyes light up learning something they didn't know.
I am a software development engineer in test for Infosys. My job is officially to write automated tests in Selenium Webdriver. I'm also a web developer as a hobbyest
Teacher
Networking events/boot camps organiser
PR
Freelancer
Founder of Inside Lahore, a blog about the city I live in. (Current)
Software Engineer(Ruby on Rails) (Current)
I'm a professional PHP, Python and Javascript developer from the UK. I've worked with Django, Laravel, and React, among others. I also maintain a legacy Zend 1 application.
I am a Software Developer for a top 50 Fortune 500 Company where my team specializes in Dev-Ops, by night I am a web developer trying to sharpen my skills and enhance my personal website project!
I empower people to become software developers, especially those with kids/family responsibilities, full-time jobs, or who feel too old to start over. 🥰👩🏽💻
Location
Washington DC
Education
Duke University | The Firehose Project (coding bootcamp)
Paperboy, waiter, live sound engineer, cashier, line cook, pizza guy, tutor, recording engineer, performing musician, guitar/bass teacher, music school owner/manager.
Marketing assistant and student promotional rep for my uni 🎉 Was an awesome job to have while in uni, and it ended up helping me learn to work with marketing teams when I moved into development 😊
I've been a professional C, Perl, PHP and Python developer.
I'm an ex-sysadmin from the late 20th century.
These days I do more Javascript and CSS and whatnot, and promote UX and accessibility.
The only non-tech job I've ever had was a high school internship as a tour guide/educator at the local museum. It was a ton of fun and really helped me get comfortable with public speaking.
I’m a full stack developer who has experience with several front-end tools like Reactjs, Vuejs, and jQuery as well as some back-end tools like PHP, Laravel, Node, and Express.
Location
IL
Education
AAS in Information Technology/Web Development
Work
Senior Software Development Engineer at Wizards of the Coast
Right before I graduated in IT, I used to pay my bills as an ESL, and German teacher. It's pretty high demand here in Brazil, but not a very well paid job.
Peter is the former President of the New Zealand Open Source Society. He is currently working on Business Workflow Automation, and is the core maintainer for Gravity Workflow a GPL workflow engine.
For me:
Nightclub security... Oh boy what out :D.
I’m from Canada and the worst clientele in that industry are NHL stars who think they’re above the bar rules 😭
Inventory for car dealership
Taco Bell
Satellite tv store clerk
Ice cream scooper
Grocery clerk
Call center agent
Call center supervisor
Business analyst
Painting, like houses? Or an artist?
I would have loved to sell art, but it was houses. Ladders and windy days! 😬
Yeah, marketing will do that... 🤣
You have done things Man....
Before:
After:
+1 for another Infantryman turned coder 😀
Here's an old pic of me in my jump crew days 😄 (In my above list I just lumped it in as grounds crew)
OMG yes!!!! Damn you were good at carrying poles. I remember feeling like a turtle putting the standards on my back to move them all over the ring. 😂
Do you go to shows with "horseless horse shows"?
(These are my long-hair-don't-care days)
That hair!!!!
You bet, the horseless horse shows are always WAY more entertaining than the real thing. As a kid I could jump 4+ft, as an adult I can hardly throw myself over a 3 ft jump. Lost some of my spring/everything kinda tightens up LOL
looking for first software engineering role now
then i started to backpacking thru all the south america, and had a lot of crazy jobs, and some cool jobs as:
then i came back to home, started to study development really hard (i was always studing software development, since i was 12 i think, but was always for fun), so I got the courage and started doing some freelancings, then everything has change.
now, some years later, im working as front end developer in a place which i really enjoy :)
In order
Mechanic ⚙️🔧
Do tell: what is the story for transitioning from McDonald's Team Member to IT help desk? Why IT?
I worked at McDonalds to help pay the bills, but the job was across town making things very difficult once my school schedule changed to take over the entire day.
Luckily, while I was complaining about my situation to a classmate he told me he worked in an IT department on campus and could talk to his boss about getting me a job.
I knew enough IT to get the job, since I would work on old out dated computers at home all the time. (Just like the ones on campus 😉)
The fact I got the job came down to networking, a little off-hand knowledge and luck.
That's a great combination of self learning/interest and luck. Beautiful.
I had a fair amount of odd, non-tech/non-software jobs.
High-School
College
Post-College
Mystery Shopper has got to be kind of the programming mindset! my guess. All of these things you list seem to have been preparation for development (working with people, understanding production systems [production assistant], and the creative aspects overall.
cool!
If tech does me wrong, baker/barista would be my go-to skill.
Reading through the comments, and oh dear, some seem to have held all possible jobs before getting into software. I'm jealous of the experience gained throughout those jobs. Priceless.
I, on the other hand, started with software, and transitioning into photography/videography
Oh thanks. I thought I'm the only one here, who started with software. :)
I was a cashier at a Cracker Barrel then I had a couple of ISP call center jobs.
You were Donald Duck?
🤯
Most of my jobs were summer jobs during college, which took me all over the USA and the world:
I was in finance for 20 years and then my company got bought and I was eventually laid off. I was the Trading Operations Manager for an Investment Management firm. I retired for a while but decided to pursue a second career as a web dev.
milk runner (showing my age here!)
bartender
pizza delivery driver
cook
warehouse grunt
library assistant
system administrator
afterwards:
software and hardware support
software maintenance engineer
developer
(and now it's 15 years later)
In order:
Oh I like this one!
In order of events:
I do miss working outside sometimes, but being able to continue to work as I'm sitting in Osaka on a month long working vacation from California sure is amazing!
I realized after three years at the grocery store that I am not cut out for retail and much prefer a more challenging career.
Still working on breaking into a dev role
You can do eeeet!
Here's some advice you didn't ask for:
For me:
Not really that interesting if I'm honest, but my job history as a web developer is far more interesting.
First web dev job lasted just 3 weeks because they were offering a junior salary, but looking for a mid to senior developer.
The next job was supposed to be an apprenticeship which I started 6 months early because I want to get stuck in.
Those 6 months were hell because I was still being given an apprenticeship wage and I was paying for a houseshare and for rent for my flat back home. I was finding ways to earn extra while there, which they inevitably found out about and so I never started my apprenticeship.
There's a lot more to my employment history and I might need to write a post on it. 😂
Weed (not drugs :P) puller
errand boy
grocery store attendant
telemarketer (a million kind)
student loan advisor
bar back
QA Tester
promoter
manager at an night club
... and much like Ben it was the marketing that finally made me change tac...
Sadly none. I've been some sort of network/system admin and that probably counts as software too except for putting wires in RJ-45.
That kind of makes me feel like a child. But hey it's fun to make computers go bee bop bee bee
My first job, as a short-order cook, was when I was 16.
I got into software when I was 10, working on Oregon Trail on the TIES system, which was on a Model 33 using a 110 baud modem and an acoustic coupler to an HP minicomputer.
Later on, I've worked on Expression Blend, Visual Studio, and Internet Explorer.
These days, I'm working on Photoshop. (I've also worked on Premiere Pro.)
Coincidentally I wrote a post related to this today. I’ll link at the bottom.
The full list, in order:
dev.to/garrett/why-i-m-switching-c...
Mine:
I was fortunate enough to only need to work once I started college.
Event Organization for College Community Center (RIP Cornell CCP)
Research Technician helping a graduate student study Obligate Slave-making ants in New York State (This was really cool. They lived in acorns a lot of the time)
Undergrad TA for an intro to CS course
Stream Ecology research assistant
I was an:
After:
I only had one job, I worked at a bus company for about three years, where they use this bars on both doors to track (count) the passengers that aboards through the day, my job was to analize and generate reports of every bus, every day and deliver the results to the corresponding owner
Been coding long before my first job but still haven't found somewhere to be a full-time developer yet. Some day...
Quarry Specialist - National Guard
Krystal's
Concrete finish work
Delivery Person - Ice
Miscellaneous labor
Wal-Mart - Unloading Trucks
Lowe's - Floor crew
Corrections Officer
Logistics Manager - National Guard
UPS - Unloading trucks
VA - Medical Records
Delivery Person - Restaurant products
Nice! -Great Question! I love that you asked this question (and answers thus far) because it really shows our diversity. Everyone has a story and everyone's story is important, and relevant, and beautiful!
me:
Little late to the party, but still:
1 and only: Sound Engineer / Sound Designer ( 20 yrs )
Graphics designer ( some freelance gigs )
I have started with Wordpress websites along the way as a side projects, but now I am in the middle of career change and learning to code.
This is generally a very controversial issue in fact. It all depends on our perception. Thanks to planetofhotels.com/en/, I have not had such an impression, as they say - price = quality. There are truly terrible conditions in the bathrooms of local hotels. If you buy cheaper, there will even be a shared toilet, but it's not worth it, believe me
Lots of things:
Grocery store all-around-helper during high-school. Bought my first Fender Strat and first DVD-Drive from that.
Then three years apprenticeship in the Sparkasse-Bank in Munich. Finished it but I was shit at sales, so they didn't hire me.
After that I spent a day at McDonalds. This must be what hell is like on bad days.
Then three Years waiting at Pizza Hut during FOS-School and Uni. This was the most fun job, although I hardly had any days off because I worked on the weekend. It was hard on the relationship with my now-wife, so we were happy when I found the following job…
Doing Photo-Archiving at ADAC-Motorwelt (largest magazine in Germany) for one year. No weekends, easy work, and double-pay than Pizza Hut. (From 6,12 € to 12 €).
After that in 2011 I did the internship at my current company and have been here ever since.
I've not had much really.
That's unless you want to take into account volunteer stuff at University.
I just finished high school, but I was pretty into Model UNs and Quizzing and Literary stuff before I got into tech. I still like all those but I believe the higher purpose can be better served using technology.
So you wore a purple leotard and a bob haircut... 😂
And like Ben I started at in marketing before realizing I was far more skilled at programming so...
Most recent at top:
Teacher
Networking events/boot camps organiser
PR
Freelancer
Founder of Inside Lahore, a blog about the city I live in. (Current)
Software Engineer(Ruby on Rails) (Current)
Insurance clerk
Dishwasher
Wendy’s
Movie Theatre employee
Active duty military for 10 1/2 years
Bestbuy Mobile Sales
ATT Wire Technician
For me personally:
I was musician, voice actor, martial arts trainer and furniture fitter before I started in IT.
I was a Recruiter.
Always had a passion for code but due to low marks in my undergrad, i never thought I'd get a job Software.
That was a Myth.
I lead Front-End Development in my company now.
Lifeguard (HS + College)
Pool Manager (College)
Youth Minister (After college)
Seminarian (after that)
IPod and IPhone repair technician
Desktop technician
Electronic technician
Electronic engineer
Test engineer
For me:
Makeup artist
Public health research assistant
Public health analyst
Freelance Wordpress implementor
Not necessarily in that order
I was an Engineering Officer cadet in the merchant navy (UK), which was an awful idea – several months on an LPG/Chemical tanker.
Definitely don't do that.
Here are mine:
Paperboy, waiter, live sound engineer, cashier, line cook, pizza guy, tutor, recording engineer, performing musician, guitar/bass teacher, music school owner/manager.
Fought crime for a couple of years. Didn't like the cape so I decided to program instead
Marketing assistant and student promotional rep for my uni 🎉 Was an awesome job to have while in uni, and it ended up helping me learn to work with marketing teams when I moved into development 😊
Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Team Member in the Army.
This is approximately right:
a computer cafe attendant :)
Never held anything other
The only non-tech job I've ever had was a high school internship as a tour guide/educator at the local museum. It was a ton of fun and really helped me get comfortable with public speaking.
CVS
Target
My first career is in software (I'm 21) but these are the job I held before:
I was about to type none then I remembered I did one data entry job at a bank the summer before I started university 😅
I was a call center agent.
i was a butcher once.
My first job was as a developer intern. I feel both lucky and spoiled, since I could have learned a lot from a more diverse set of work places.
elementary school student
Lots of retail
Biology Teacher
Direct Support Staff
Chemical Analyst
Histology Technician (current)
I really hope to make my mark in development soon, though!
• Janitor(summer job)
•Concert Setup Team (Summer Job)
• Staples Center Guest Representative. This being amazing because I’m a Laker fan👏🏼
Right before I graduated in IT, I used to pay my bills as an ESL, and German teacher. It's pretty high demand here in Brazil, but not a very well paid job.
That was during high school and university. Then I got into software right away 😁
Well I am mechanical engineer turned programmer.
Before getting into software? I was 11.
Pizza delivery officer.
Correspondent
I'm very lucky because I never worked outside of IT.
I'm from Brazil and I worked as an electrical engineering's internship.