h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yesterday, my daughter began a new job - perhaps her 4th or 5th so far. And it made me wonder?

Some folks here seem to seek or need change of employment frequently. My own 'career' was mostly military, and each transfer was a completely unfamiliar task and group of people. So including my transition to "medically retired", I count around 13 or so "1st days".

How many "1st days" have you had?

I've always worked in the same company, but it's a big company so I've moved around a bit within the company over the 34 years I've been here.

I've probably started something completely new about 10 times. But it's not exactly a 1st day: although I'm working with new people, it is still in the same building, with the same pay conditions, canteen and general approach to the way things work.

I'm the opposite. I'm with my 8th employer, who I've been with for about 3.5 years now. I've worked for the others for periods between 1 and 7 years. I should probably count an 18-month period of unemployment, too, as I've never worked so hard in my life as trying to get a job.

It's certainly been a varied experience. Most of my employers have been well-known global IT organisations or in the IT departments of well-known names in other industries (energy, government, publishing, electronics). I think it was when I was in my 5th job when one of the senior managers labelled me a "mover". (He stressed the word - more like "mooo-ver") as if that summed me up as a weirdo who would never fit in. Well, I'd have happily stayed there if they hadn't got rid of around around 30% of their workforce after the dotcom crash.

In the early days I got itchy feet and moved to get more technical experience. Nowadays I tend not to have much say in the matter, but those toes are a-twitching. Then again, maybe it's gout.

As to first days, we'll, I'm a bit more feral than other workers and can look after myself - I've done all those formalities so often.

Some of us "movers" are "movers and shakers". Before I retired had 15 first days in 13 different countries plus two postgraduate bits of paper.
Coincidentally, today is a first day for me: my last employer has offered me some on-line work. If the contract arrives today, I shall start at midnight (8 hour time difference)

[reposting after previous post lost to sick login .]


I couldn't give an accurate number as I spent a year or so as a freelance photography assistant / film production assistant with an extended stretch working with a film set construction company building a huge photography exhibit. But if we count that all as three jobs...

Drug clerk,
Pizza delivery,
1 day grocery store night stocker,
Sweeping fiberglass dust,
1 day delivering phone books,
[away to university]
Photo lab 1,
Photo lab 2,
[Aforementioned freelance period]
Photo lab 3,
Photo lab 4,
Photo lab 3 under new management,
Current NASA photo lab job under three companies/contracts.

So, between 13 and 15 depending on if I consider my current job as one job or three.


I'm not sure if that's more or fewer than I expected.

I've had 3 official first days, or 5 including first days at placements during my unemployment days.

That was helped by the fact that for 5 years I moved around in terms of job title, but always in the same team, so it wasn't actually a change.

The first days were very different in approach, even though the jobs were quite similar - "here is your desk and computer - off you go" - as the facilities varied a lot.

My first job first day was good, as there was an excellent staff canteen and all sorts of other handy facilities to be introduced to as well as the job. The placements were hard as there were very limited facilities, so for one I went home for lunch, and the other one required me to eat my lunch in a corridor as the staff room was in the basement and there was no lift. The second job first day had no canteen, average facilities and a need to do training on emergency evacuation as I wasn't based on the ground floor. This job again there is no canteen, but there are good facilities and it is near to a couple of good eating places. The main thing is learning the software systems as they are more powerful than anything I've used previously but no one person seems to know what everything does so I met a large number of people on my first day

My bride worked in general administration in office settings. So aside from faces, the work about the same. Then she was a military cook, and while seeing different places and people - still the same work and expectations.

Some of my changes were from trans-Atlantic radio and data communications (pre-days-of-IT), to NORAD radio and aircraft controls, to NORAD monitoring of every bird in the air over North America (including annual tracking of Santa), onwards to ... well other completely different stuffs. Always chasing rambunctious and wayward electrons - vacuum tubes, transisters, klystrons, IC's, SMT ...

There are more ways that electrons can break or bend the rules of physics than kids can 'bend' parental rules.

There are no such things as rules in physics - they're models. Parenting - that's a different matter.

To both - no kidding ...

How far back in life are we going?

I shovelled snow and mowed lawns at the Town Library when I was twelve.
I had a "first day" when I worked a summer job at a greenhouse, and another one when I worked in a plastic spoon factory, and also in the bindery of a book publisher. I worked part time jobs in two different libraries while I was in graduate school, and then had a "first day" at the library where I spent the 37 years of my career, first in cataloging/technical services, then in reference.

That seems like 8 first days, though they weren't anywhere near as traumatic for me as the first day of high school or college, or the day I went for my draft physical. learning the physical layout of a place
is pretty stressful for me; none of my jobs required knowledge of large spaces. High School and College campuses were much bigger and more complex....

Meeting and getting to know lots of people? Again, school had far more people to deal with than most of my jobs.

I don't see why you couldn't count a lot of those times. At 12, I worked for a chap that boarded trotting horses. I had to learn how to feed, groom and deal with such magnificent beasts. Just as each 18/7 farm job I had in summers - each has new people, beasts and needs.

That first day is some real measure of trepidation - What the am I getting into now?

I just really hope I don't have another first day unless it's on my terms. But with the vagaries of NASA budgets in this age of obstructionist republican congresses and their antipathy for science and evidence, the threat of a lay off is always there in the back of my mind.

I was well-measured while in our uniform for 21 years. And then pretty much "one of a kind" as a civilian contractor for 16 more years.

When it comes to budgets, bean-counters are in charge - and no one is indispensable - if someone with paper qualifications are 'equal' ...

As a supply teacher later in my career I had a lot of first days..Some of them being last days.

People tend to be a bit more organised these days, but on occasions in the past I remember turning up somewhere on day 1 and they'd hardly done anything to prepare for my arrival - no desk, no computer, colleagues knew nothing about it, etc.

Probably the most bizarre was when I took a job with a well-known energy company. I turned up at reception with my letter and asked for my manager (he'd interviewed me a couple of weeks before). After a few phone calls they told me he was on leave and they couldn't contact him. Many more phone calls later I was asked to go up and see a different manager, who happened to have a vacancy in his team. I ended up working for him for nearly 3 years.

" they'd hardly done anything to prepare for my arrival - no desk, no computer, colleagues knew nothing about it, etc." [Icy North]

Maybe they expected you to bring your own stuff?

I draw the line at bringing my own desk.

Only an artist would draw the a like that.

Srry,
\
only an artist would draw a line like that.

Your own desk? A computer? I've had some positions that I shared some ...