Been at the same job a long time. How about you?

cross hair · Mar 14, 2018

I had a bit of a reality check this morning. I was working on some parts and looked up around the shop and realized the first time I worked on the same parts was before four of my current employees were even born. I have been with the same company 28 years, first three years was part time so the last 25 years has been full time. I have gone from machinist to product development to plant manager to part owner. The last few years I find myself being kind of a fill in guy bouncing around the shop in whatever area we are backed up in, be it machining, assembly or even shipping and receiving, and still juggling a bunch of other responsibilities. We just sold the business Jan. 1st so guess I am kind of a lame duck right now, I'm thinking it's time to retire.

It did get me curious. How long have others been working at the same thing or for the same business?

DMF_TomB · Mar 14, 2018

cross hair said:
I had a bit of a reality check this morning. I was working on some parts and looked up around the shop and realized the first time I worked on the same parts was before four of my current employees were even born. I have been with the same company 28 years, first three years was part time so the last 25 years has been full time. I have gone from machinist to product development to plant manager to part owner. The last few years I find myself being kind of a fill in guy bouncing around the shop in whatever area we are backed up in, be it machining, assembly or even shipping and receiving, and still juggling a bunch of other responsibilities. We just sold the business Jan. 1st so guess I am kind of a lame duck right now, I'm thinking it's time to retire.

It did get me curious. How long have others been working at the same thing or for the same business?

.
i have been a field machinist, maintenance machinist and a manual and cnc machinist. as i at 50 years old had to apply for another job i picked a shop job cause its easier on a older person. too old to be working outside in cold and carrying heavy stuff up ladders or working on the floor.
.
try getting down on the floor and standing back up. do that a couple hundred times. or a hundred times climbing scaffold pulling yourself up on to a roof or high steel. when older be thankful your in a temperature controlled shop and can sit occasionally and look around

athack · Mar 14, 2018

38 years full time. Add another 6 years part time. Same company and I'm 56 years old. Yes sir family business.

AlfaGTA · Mar 14, 2018

Started the company as a partner (1 of 3) in 1980. Been here full time since. (38yrs more or less)
Sold to an employee 5 years back, but i am still here pretty much still doing the same work.....Machine work, design, maintenance....The lot.
Don't do golf, and i like the work. Low pressure (as to time) prototype work, no production....Not really looking to retire.
Cheers Ross

Tyrone Shoelaces · Mar 14, 2018

You'll know when it's time to retire. Don't go until you're really ready.

Regards Tyrone.

Lost in LA · Mar 14, 2018

Started at my fathers machine shop at 13 years old (1950 or so). Rode my bike to work. Messed around, swept up,light assembly all after school. Went to college, graduated, got an engineering job for six years. Took over family business in about 1974. Did not realize that I had been in training all my life.

Now we are still a small family business with two sons + wives + daughter-in-law + grand children involved at various levels. Now working on retiring.

Still doing some of the stuff I did at 13.

Lost
Fisher Machine Shop

D Dubeau · Mar 14, 2018

10 years in here January. Have run out of opportunities for personal and professional advancement here the last couple years, and am currently considering my options for self employment. Left for "greener pastures" 2 years ago for a couple weeks, and it turned out to not even be a pasture at all, just a slaughter house (now out of business). Have 2 offers for jobs that are at best lateral moves (same shit, different pile). Going to choose my next move carefully.

Time sure does fly by though.

DDoug · Mar 14, 2018

After the invention of Dirt, but before the electric light.....

The 2 Year Old Man - Created and Performed by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner - YouTube

Bruce Nelson · Mar 14, 2018

Depends on what your circumstances of employment are. In 1968, I left a machinist job in the Taconite industry in northern Minnesota. I worked there 13 years and received excellent education in a Machinist Apprenticeship. I finished my employment there as a journeyman machinist. I applied for a position as a Machine Tool instructor in a newly created Technical College in Wisconsin. I gave up any rights that I had earned toward a retirement in the mining industry. My new job had excellent retirement after 30 years of employment. I stuck with teaching and am now enjoying the benefits that I earned. I was a good teacher, and I was able to fashion my job to maintain my enthusiasm throughout my teaching career.

You guys that owned your businesses are a different breed of cat, and your experiences don't relate to the people that work for you. My advise for those that work in your shops is to educate yourselves, and go to work for the company that fits your long range plans. There is a lot to be said for working for a company for an extended period of time, as long as there is a reward for sticking it out.

cross hair · Mar 14, 2018

This is the OP. Just to add to my longevity I thought I would mention I was working in another machine shop before this business, started there at 19 years old, so all together I have been machining parts for 38 years. Never been unemployed or laid off since right after high school. That's a long time to be making chips! lol

FredC · Mar 14, 2018

Been self employed for 38 years and still can not talk the boss into letting me go. Maybe I will just have to quit.

cg285 · Mar 14, 2018

39 years (self employed). the bride 35 years

cross hair · Mar 14, 2018

FredC said:
Been self employed for 38 years and still can not talk the boss into letting me go. Maybe I will just have to quit.

Don't quit, fire yourself, then you can file for unemployment.

FredC · Mar 14, 2018

cross hair said:
Don't quit, fire yourself, then you can file for unemployment.

What a concept, unemployment and social security and a shop full of expensive toys, I could start having fun.

ewlsey · Mar 14, 2018

I've never done anything for more than 4 years in my life except go to school, and that's pretty much broken up into 4 year segments.

Went full time in my shop 5 years ago. This is the longest I have stayed in one place since I was 20. But, I've pretty much entirely changed what I do in the course of those 5 years.

Momma finishes her masters in another year and a half and then I'm outta here. Hopefully we have the resources to make that the last major move.

I don't know how you guys stick to one thing for so long without getting restless. I've never been able to do that. I'm jealous.

Tonytn36 · Mar 14, 2018

ewlsey said:
I've never done anything for more than 4 years in my life except go to school, and that's pretty much broken up into 4 year segments.

Went full time in my shop 5 years ago. This is the longest I have stayed in one place since I was 20. But, I've pretty much entirely changed what I do in the course of those 5 years.

Momma finishes her masters in another year and a half and then I'm outta here. Hopefully we have the resources to make that the last major move.

I don't know how you guys stick to one thing for so long without getting restless. I've never been able to do that. I'm jealous.

26 Years at present employer. It's a different ballgame every day is why I'm still there, plus I get to develop / play with some very nice toys.

Mud · Mar 14, 2018

Current biz since '79, but it has changed a lot over the years. First experience in business was in '72 when my father died and I took over running the family trucking business. I was 16 and wound up hating fixing other's mistakes and being on call 24 hrs and decided to take a chance on something new at 23. Still at it at 62 and love doing what I do, I'm not a machinist I just sort of make things and machining is part of that. Grew to love playing with and working on the machines as much as the making.

It's been said "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life". There have been times I didn't like going to work because of employee stress, now I can't imagine not doing what I do. I know that if I was doing something else I'd want to be doing this, so I just keep at it.

DDoug · Mar 14, 2018

Tonytn36 said:
26 Years at present employer. It's a different ballgame every day is why I'm still there, plus I get to develop / play with some very nice toys.

Also "Money talks and bullshit walks", goes a long way.

Gordon Heaton · Mar 14, 2018

Medical 'discharge' after 36 years with the same company. Part time now as machinist, toolmaker & machinery maintenance. Loving it too!

lars66 · Mar 14, 2018

46 years self employed in the repair welding.

Been at the same job a long time. How about you?

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