What did you want to do after you graduated schoo?

I wanted to go into archeology or game warden .. unfortunately life had other plans for me… what did you guys want to do, did you succeed on getting it??

I never knew. Still don't.

I got business degrees because I figured I could always get a job but had no idea what I wanted to be. I gravitated to commercial real estate appraisal and found I was good at it and really enjoyed it. I lucked out.

After high school I spent four years in a catholic seminary in Philadelphia (st Charles boromeo). Got my BA in philosophy with minors in Latin and Greek.
Left the seminary and worked as a carpenter for several years, something I always did in summers during high school and college. Was an easy skill to fall back on when I needed employment after college. Had great teachers on the jobs and loved carpentry.
Got a part time night job at a bank to help pay off college debt, and loved working for the bank.
Got my MBA and have been working at the bank for last 35 years managing interest rate risk, derivatives portfolios, MSRs, fair value accounting, and pro forma models.

How’s that for NOT doing what I started out to do after high school?
Jim

Trap,hunt,and fish

After high school went to UMC. Wanted to be a vet. Learned real fast I did not have smarts ( to many social events ) and did not have the needed pull to get into vet school and got a BS in forestry fisheries and wildlife. Worked for state for 28 years and retired. Now I just fish hunt and trap. Also lost my hearing from guns but it has its advantages.

Didn't know at the time. Had some letters of interest to play football at a few colleges but still didn't have an idea what I was going to major in. So just went off to work and another year and a half I hope to retire. Then trap, hunt and fish.

Went and got a four year degree and the oil industry tanked lol all worked out well in the end

The only thing I ever wanted to do was farm. That's all I've ever done.

I wanted to farm too. Took four years of General Ag at Oregon State (didn't graduate) then went back to take over family farm. Got bored after a few years and joined the Peace Corps. Got stationed in Ecuador's Amazon region working on an AID funded agroforestry project. Really enjoyed my two years there and became a fluent Spanish speaker.

Came back to the farm and have been here ever since. Farming summer and trapping during winter. Just retired, (should say draw social security), but will need to keep on farming to pay the bills. Never had a pension of any type and never made enough to save anything. Still depend on my trapping income too.

I had a contract in the movie industry but some guy named Ron Jeremy had a better mustache, so they went with him instead.

Stay out of Vietnam if possible.

Now that is a tough break.

Back in the day, a mustache must have meant something else.

I wanted to be the next E.J. Dailey. Must say I failed miserably. All I could think abut was trapping. Fur prices were pretty poor at that time. I did not have the money, skills or experience to be a lure maker and professional trapper so tended and old fashioned mason. Mix mortar by hand with a hoe and a motor tub. Lugged brisk, stone, cement blocks and mortar for about three years, also learned to lay brick, stone and blocks. Went into the carpentry game and worked my way up the long ladder. In my late thirties.
Worked in an office for a couple years doing estimating primarily, writing contracts, looking at jobs, working with vendors and some drawing. Hated that.
Went to college and all the time before that I did not think I could spell college. Taught carpentry at a technical school for 23. years until a bunch of teacher and kid hating board members got elected or appointed and cut programs. At age 70 I am still working doing code enforcement and plumbing inspections. The pay is good but it is not a fund job.
I am unsure for certain, but I think I have to give up dreaming about becoming that famous trapper.

Mac

Got out of college and raised a family. Never used college degree per se. But used all that knowledge in a different way in life and still use it today. Worked the farm and built pools time. Two jobs and a family took most of my time but still found a little to trap hunt and fish

Went to gun school, Trinidad and then went to to working in the gun trade. Wanted to move to Montana, or Wyo.. or Idaho. Went to work in Montana in 81' Got hit with disability but still messing around in the shop

It’s amazing how many people invest in an education by going into debt with student loans and don’t stick with the field they picked it hard to comprehend the waste of money.

Get a job first then figure everything else out after that.

Veterinarian was my interest.

I got my degree in Fisheries biology but at the time with budget cuts there were few jobs for a white male. I'd been working in fly shops and guiding in CA , NY and MT.... so I stuck with it and it served me and my wife well.

My degree did help me and college has other benefits. That said, in 1979 a CA state university cost me $30 a quarter plus room and board.

Pete

Factory work - Jail - RN - Physician assistant

U.S. Army. That's why I joined at 17. Wanted to serve my country and still feel the same.

Sarge

Find a job that would support a wife & kids as well as afford me the financial ability to build a house. I got into the trades and met my goals, the ONLY goals I’ve ever made.

I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was little, but wasn't up for the amount of schooling that took. So I then decided on being an English teacher, which is what I initially went to school for. But then, partying got in the way and I dropped out with only an associate's degree, which in retrospect was a probably a blessing. I could never be a teacher in today's educational climate......




Why does this not surprise me??? A typical liberal mindset, I guess. Certainly not something I would think anyone would brag about!!!

I'm just really glad that all of the people that are most important to me were the ones running INTO the fire.... not away from it!!!

Kind of had a variety of interests, Conservation Officer, biologist/forestry, contractor, fur trapper, farming/ranching
I couldn't get into Vermillion as a CO,,, I was white,
As a contractor and trapper I was doing well, So the biologist thing passed too.

I just kept plugging away 11 years of trapping and construction to finish college. , Realistically state college was inexpensive in the 70's and early eighties, ended up with a number of degrees,,,and close to a few more. I paid for all m own college, except one year after registering thye handed us checks as we walked out the door that were never applied for.


Ended up mostly in vocational education, Technology ed, Voc, Agriculture, construction and SPED. A relatively safe career, and not the kind of money I was making outside of school hours,, however I longed for construction and , hunting and trapping, freedom.,
I firmly believe I was called to be a teacher,,,, unfortunately it didnt pay my wife lifestyle like other directions would have favored

Thought I was going to be an electrician. And then I thought I would stay in the oilfield.

Went differently than planned.

After HS spent a winter trapping, then 4 years with the 1st Cav and 3rd Inf, 11 years trapping for a living, used GI Bill to get wildlife degree, worked for USDA as federal trapper, finished out career as wildlife biologist with BLM and US Forest Service. Still guiding hunters and trapping in retirement.

So you admit it! You wanted to remove guys shorts all along.

Has it already been a week?

You can't even be drafted. You never served.

Came in a bit hot on a guy being honest.

I was already signed up for tech school before I graduated. School ended in June and 4 months later I was in Illinois for school, and 2 weeks after that I met this smokin hot babe that would become my wife.

Wanted to be game warden ended up in College 3 years, lottery draft came around ended up 2w years in Navy as Hospital corpsman where spent most of my career with USMC

I went for wildlife biologist about the same time. As mentioned the job market was nonexistent. I ran into 2 guys who had Masters in the field, found out they were working at a golf course being ground tenders.
That was it for me, not going to waste 4-6 years of my life and spend a bunch of money on education that wasn't going to enable me to get a job.

So I dropped out, went to a tech school for 1 1/2 yrs, I was recruited by a company to start an apprenticeship. So I quit full time school and started working full time.
Best decision I made. It allowed me to retire early and enjoy life even more than normal.

Me to.

Always wanted to be a park ranger. Went to Penn State upon graduation high school, then the police academy.
I got my full time park ranger job, and worked 2 police jobs part time. Did this for 10 years, then natural resource management for another 8 years until I got into exterior remodeling. Now I’m earning twice as much loot.

I love being a park ranger.Best job I have ever had.

I was glad I didn’t have an extra thing getting in the way of going to work every day. I was able to finally work during the day, and not only night shift.

No I never served and I regret that now. But I'm married to a veteran, and ALL of my close friends are also vets. Just because I never served.... that doesn't mean I cannot be proud of the men that did.... and embarrassed for those that brag about their efforts to NOT serve.....

Freshman and sophomore year in high school I wanted to be a gunsmith

my mother convinced me there were better fields to get into , she didn't see a stable future in it , I think she was wrong but it would have been more work to find work and I probably would have ended up working for myself.

I had some machining and programing cnc in so I figured go learn electronics something that came fairly easy to me but not to most and then get into CNC machine repair and similar.

well in electronics school I took a part time job with a communications company that made telecommunications equipment. figured it would be a job for a while , 27 years later I guess I never got around to fixing machines. Turns out Telcom pays the bills , very stable and allows for remote work since nothing I work in is actually a at the office.

it isn't what I intended to do but it is the least worst thing I could be doing.
mainly it is a really good company to work for , they treat people right , the medical benefits really have been top notch, the medical insurance we had I paid 10 dollars for my oldest , 15 for the middle and 20 for the youngest kid, that was the copay on the pregnancy test then co-pays stayed flat at 20 for a bunch of years.
The rest if the prenatal and birth were covered from that first co-pay

that was it till they were 18 , that was some great medical insurance , adults pay co-pays but none for kids was great.

My goals were to go to college, get a bachelors degree, go to law school, become a trial lawyer, marry a model, live in the country, and retire early. All goals achieved, plus some huge blessings from God. The rest is all bonus time. (And not one student loan.)

I always figured I'd go into the military and try to fly something. The girl I was dating when I graduated wasn't in the military so we went to school together instead. I graduated from there and now I build the airplane parts that I would have probably flown had I stuck with my orig plan. You are so young when you are making these life decisions and you don't realize they are actual long lasting life decisions. I think at the time I thought I'd just go to the military when school didn't work out and it wasn't any big deal. I've worked at a factory now for 25 years. Crazy how life works.

Some pretty cool stuff so far gang!!!
I never was too good in school because my mind was always somewhere else.. I’d usually have a trapping magazine or catalog hidden in my schoolbook and paying more attention to those instead… except for history class… I did pretty good in that class. I also got better grades in German language than I did in English… lol!!!

Went to school and got a degree in wildlife management. Got on with Feds as a biological technician and moved on up from there and retired 34 yrs later as a Natural Resource Manager

I wanted to be a paramedic but then Desert Shield came along, I joined the Marine Corps. Spent 8 years in, during that time I took classes when I could and worked towards a bachelor's degree in Electrical Engineering. I spent the first four years of my enlisted time doing what I felt a calling to do, the second enlistment, I went for the education and the MOS that would help. Got out, went to work and finished my degree and I have lived a great life so far.

Never graduated high school As my father died when I was 16 so went to work shooting beef for John Morrel at night on the kill line.Joined the service at 18 and my younger brother joined with me at 16. My mom signed him in with a fake birth certificate lol, we went airborne and spent most of the time in the field and didn’t get to Vietnam. Got out and started cutting meat which was a great trade in the late ‘70s, I processed game in the fall and winter since 1977 up until about the time I turned 62 . I retired 3 years ago from meat cutting but still own my own fireworks business that I brought my son into about 8 years ago. I never made huge money but over years of saving and pension we want for nothing it’s been a great ride so far.

I always wanted to be a trapper. Whatever I did I made time to trap. Went to the U of Wyoming in 1970 for dairy cattle management but 2 years in my family sold the dairy cows so I never graduated. Back to New Jersey to run the family mink ranch until we quit that in 1986. Stayed on the farm working in the family zoo until 1994. Bought my own farm, started doing ADC work with my own business. Loved the trapping part of ADC but hate dealing with the clients. Sold that in 2008, quit making snares to sell in 2010 (feeding that monster drastically cut into my trapping time). Did computer work out of my house for my brother-in-law's business from 2011 to 2020 then retired from that. Now just putter around on my farm and trap, fish and hunt.
Was lucky to marry a girl that has a great business mind. She started her own business, sold it 15 years later for boo-koo dollars. She then took over the office part of my ADC business and quadrupled that income in a short time. In 2008 her brother's business was on the ropes, he was broke. He asked Linda to help him out and when he died in 2023 he was worth over 20 million dollars. I mention my wife as without her many of out of state trapping trips would not have happened.

Me Too. But I couldn't figure out how to make a living at it. I decided the closest I could get was to be a game warden. So that's what I did for thirty years. And it was a great choice for me. No regrets.

I did not finish high school either. Worked at a truckstop. No self service back then. Parked trucks often. Worked in the shop some. After the military I started driving. Easy to get a license back then. Still do it in the summer. Dont work for 4 months out of the year. Take days off during driving season for fishing. Kids want me to retire. Dont know what I would do all day if I did. Just run local. Pull a dump trailer. I miss OTR but the job I miss does not exist anymore. Big job north of the Kansas city airport. 3600 acre industrial park being built. Will be biggest in MO when finished. Needs a LOT of rock. Next door they building an AI something or other. Think we got all the rock hauled for that. Grandson is taking leave from the Marine Corps. Buddy from NM is coming for a few days. Going to do some fishing starting Friday. Not sure when I will go back to work. Next Wed.? Taking off in July for FTA show.

Good plan.I just got jobs that would allow me time to trap,hunt,and fish.