Oddbean new post about login | logout what was your first job and what did you learn from it?
Washing dishes in a nursing home. I learned that I really really didn’t want to be doing work like that for the rest of my life.
BBQ restaurant and that I didn't want to smell like BBQ for the rest of my life. How about you FED 👀
I think it was two weeks with the local youth brigade, helping out the elderly with their tasks, helping out at the local school and also doing some gardening it was soul-wrenching, but it gave me a much needed reality check at a really young age
Cyber cafe attendant I learned the internet is a rabbit hole 🐇 🕳
Being a bike mechanic I learned i really dont like being a bike mechanic
a hands-on skill that definitely comes handy, and also something to fall back on if you ever need a side-hustle
Sure thats true but honestly but if being fully honest it probably taught me discipline both in the sense of responsibility and in setting a goal to become my own boss
as someone that's looking to become their own boss, any concrete advice from experience?
If you found the field you want to be in work for those you look up to and learn from the details. The more different places you been at the more you understand why X is a solution for situation X. And than all it comes down to just taking the first step "accept that you will be wrong". Best advice someone gave me basically saying Perfection makes no sense just go for it
My first job was Data Scientist and I learned that I should have taken on many various other jobs prior.
woah straight to a data scientist?! what was it like?
It would have been a lot less frustrating if I had had some dishwashing, table waiting or babysitting experience. 😅 The technical skills are only half of it.
Gas station lackey as a kid. It sucked.
never heard the word lackey before
Wasn’t the formal title on the job description of course. 😂
I worked on the greens crew at a golf course. I learned to work as part of a team to make something that other people spent their free time enjoying. That it takes a ton of work to maintain something beautiful and it’s a shared responsibility, that can’t be done alone.
that sounds absolutely wonderful, never been to a golf course in my life
Yeah, it was an awesome gig. Outside everyday, on the course at 5:00-5:30 am, the smell of cut grass, physical work, and getting to use machinery and equipment. I don’t spend anytime on them now, but for a kid it was the perfect weekend/summer job. What was your first job?
Movie theater concession stand. I learned that it’s okay to stick to my principles. They fired me because I wouldn’t work on Christmas Day.
did they offer you any extra salary, or just expected you to with no further reasoning?
Nope. They tried to make it look like it was “mutual” and they made me sign some paperwork that I didn’t read. I was 17 and my (very Christian) mother was furious. She called a lawyer who sent them a series of threatening letters. They “settled” by sending me three months wages. I thought that was pretty cool.
It was odd to me because I couldn’t fathom why movie theaters would even be open. I mean, who goes to the movies on Christmas? Well, apparently it’s one of their busiest days of the year and it was an all-hands day. (Except for the manager’s nephew. He got the day off.)
Bricklayer. Lesson: hard work doesn’t pay of! After that Studied -> got bullshit job -> do nothing earning much more money…..
Fry cook for a fast food restaurant called Whataburger. Learned how to work under time constraints with stressed out people.
Waitress in an Italian restaurant. Omg - 157 lessons :) most important: 1. Be always nice to ppl who make and serve food to you, or generally to ppl who “serve” you, bc … it’s just clever thing to do 😛 (it helps me now a lot) , always tip, 2. How much a smile or few nice words can be a game-changer and even impact your income, 3. I learned the biggest secret of my life - how to make the best tiramisu without mascarpone🤌🏻 😀, 4. Even hard physical job can be fun 🤩