Did You Work Outside of Academia Before Becoming a FT or PT Faculty?

[Wahoo Redux]

Does anybody but me remember an interview on Mtv (back when Mtv was a thing) with one of those Big-Haired '80s Rockers (BH8R) during which the interviewer repeatedly asked him, "What was your last job?" and BH8R repeatedly smiled and said, "I've never had a job"?  I remember thinking, 'That is a dude who did it right' (although now he probably works at Walmart after rehab or something)...

Which made me think of my lifelong-Republican ex-military father's dander in a rough whenever he thought someone wasn't working hard enough---even if it had nothing to do with him!

And then there have been some of the traditional "the grass is always greener" statements with the expected counterpoint of "my grass is not so green, junior, and if you'd seen what I've seen..." on the other poll about "Would you do it all over again"...

And then I remembered the head of our little underwriting office, those many moons ago, jabbing his finger at me and demanding "Where is that *$#!@% quote?" in a highly aggressive, confrontational manner that this little dweeb would never have dared to do if we were, say, at a bar and I wasn't the new junior underwriter (and even though I was following the protocol of writing up the contracts in the order in which they were received) and thinking, 'I need a new career before I stuff this twerp in the recycle bin'...

All of which just makes me wonder what other professional experience our little band of posters has had. 

Rock stars and twerp bosses and constant telephones with irate clients and a heck of a lot of sheetrock hauling and shingle-factory line work and janitorial duty and even a little night security guard work and billing clerk and insurance processor then group admin rep and then underwriter, among many other jobs over the years, has given me a perspective on this very imperfect world of academia.  And I will admit that I might not do it over had I seen the crash of '08 and the dissolution of the traditional university that we are now seeing.

Just wondering what others have done.

[Aster]

I tried out K-12 right out of my undergrad. It was not a positive experience.

The only good thing about it was that it properly motivated me to get into graduate school as soon as possible.

[rhetoricae]

I had many years of retail, food service, and admin jobs -- I continued to work my FT admin job during grad school & while adjuncting (I carried our insurance), before luck opened up a good opportunity and I finally became FT faculty.

With very few exceptions (for instance, specific tasks -- I love working the espresso bar as a barista, and I am content shelving books), I ended up very dissatisfied or depressed in most of my jobs. That said, I could happily work at my college sandwich shop job forever -- but that's more a function of that specific place/shop/culture/people than anything else.

[mahagonny]

I worked three restaurants as a dishwasher (I could say busboy/dishwasher, but dishwasher sounds more distinguished) 11 pm -  7 am six shifts/week. Then I supported the family with self employment which I still do. I didn't get into college teaching till around age 30. Well, maybe a few hours here and there but no heavy schedule till around 30. I had taught at a few prep schools or community service kinds of things, non-credit, college affiliated. My first three or four 'part time' teaching positions were obtained by answering the telephone. Others were declined. But the best one I ever had I had to hustle (promote myself) to get into.

[bopper]

Reminds me of the "Bruce Springsteen on Broadway' where he was musing that everyone sees him as the epitome of a working man (because of his songs) and he said he never worked a 5 day a week job....until now.

[Ruralguy]

Well, I worked in museums and  government labs, and while technically not academia, I was in my field for those 4 years, published, applied for faculty positions, etc..  I am guessing that's not what the OP meant.

I worked as a stock clerk in two different grocery stores. I actually didn't mind it so long as the managers were cool, which was only the case part of the time.

[apl68]

My father was a bricklayer for most of his working life.  I spent a number of summers working with him full-time on residential and small-scale commercial work.  Very dirty job, with lots of heavy lifting.

Otherwise I've spent my whole working career in either academia or libraries.  Library work requires a certain amount of heavy lifting as well, so the early construction experience was actually good preparation.

[spork]

I worked nearly four years in the Department of Justice before starting my doctoral program. If I had stuck with federal government employment, I'd be retiring in a couple years with a nice pension, after probably being posted a few times to DC or overseas (a plus, for me). At the time I had a terrible immediate supervisor, but either I would have gotten a new supervisor at some point or would have transferred somewhere else, which is much easier to do in the government than in academia.

[mamselle]

As an independent scholar, I have always worked both outside and within "the academy" at various points.

M.

[wwwdotcom]

I worked for a few years in industry and hated nearly every minute of it.  I still work out side the academy via consulting but it is much easier to deal with because it's on my terms.

Assuming that we're not talking about high school jobs.  If we are, then the summer I spent working at the local convenience store was the best summer of my life. Bless you Throwing Copper.

[bio-nonymous]

I worked in construction, eventually became a a building contractor with my own company-->until I decided to go back to school to become a scientist in my mid-30's (early mid-life crisis!). I love my job now, but there are certainly many days when I still miss my old career.

[backatit]

I did lots of work before I started in academia, ranging from blue collar work (stable hand and general ranch hand, building fence lines and doing controlled burns for the state) and payroll clerk, waitress (my "fall back" job which my parents always stressed you needed - something you could get a job in anywhere and do on a moment's notice if you were laid off), and then working in the industry in which I would later teach. I think it was valuable to have a lot of varied experience, although I'd hate to wait tables again (my aching feet, and I'm too old now, I think, although I could probably manage to do payroll again even if it was boring and repetitive - I did union payroll too, and that was interesting and challenging).

I think that working in industry gives me credibility with my students, although I need to brush up on my skills because it was a while ago. I don't really have time to take contract jobs now, although I'd like to, both for the money and the contact with industry, but I'm very conscious of stretching myself too thin.

[mamselle]

As an independent scholar, I have always worked both outside and within "the academy" at various points.

M.

I should also say that, since a large part of my work has to do with the arts, I always promised myself I'd keep one foot in the analytical/historical study of the arts, and one in the practical areas of arts applications. So professional performance, research and writing, teaching and giving tours have always seemed consistent with each other in my mind.

However, I didn't also plan to learn to do filters, pivot tables, and budget sheets in Excel; org charts and custom formatted backgrounds in PowerPoint; medical transcription, taking off doctors' orders, and entering X-Ray requests in Medi-Tech; running reports and doing entries in QuickBooks; doing travel planning and procuring visas for 13 people going to 8 countries over a 3-week period; or creating HR files in Access--but there you are. 

It's been a most interesting--and educational--life.

M.

[onthefringe]

I suppose I get a "not really". I spent two summers as a "night finisher" at a Dunkin Donuts (worked 8pm to 6am working the counter while also frosting and filling doughnuts in preparation for the morning rush back when the doughnuts were made in store and still had trans fats)

3 + 3 months of trying to sleep during the day while smelling of pastries all the time, while watching my co-workers tell me "never leave college" apparently convinced me that a career in academia was the way to go!

Straight to graduate school from undergrad, then postdoc, then faculty position.

[jerseyjay]

Here are some of the jobs that I have had (in addition to my more than 10 years part-time teaching as an adjunct and three years as a VAP) :

At McDonald's;
As a kitchen assistant in a fancy supermarket;
As a temporary office worker;
As a receptionist;
As a customer-service agent for an online travel agency;
As an office assistant for a large telecommunications company in a foreign country;
As a high school teacher in another foreign country;
As an English as a Second Language teacher abroad and the United States;
After I got fed-up turning 40 and still being an adjunct, I worked in the publishing industry (in a field related to my degree);
At various times, I worked as a free-lance copy editor;

I currently work as a tenure-track professor. I find having worked at these other jobs helps me (a) relate to my students, all of whom work and go to school; (b) appreciate being a professor, despite its real downsides.