Terry - Somerset
Established Member
Some interesting thoughts already.
Me - Dad was a structural engineer and mum a teacher. So I came from a fairly middle class (do we do class anymore) family who had some expectations of me.
At age 9 or 10 I started "borrowing" dads tools and trying to make things. I took my bicycle apart as soon as I got it to see how it worked. I went to a technical grammar school where technical drawing, physics, metalwork and woodwork took precedence over latin, greek etc.
Age 17 I learned to drive and spent the next few years mending a stream of bangers. My initial thoughts on career were working in a garage or engineering company where I would have lots of tools to play with.
But I also realised that the moment I tried to progress in these areas I would become a manager, not a doer. At that age money was fairly high up on the priority list (car, flat etc) so I decided to become a chartered accountant.
Uni was not for me as mostly I thought it was a bit like school for 18-21 year olds and frankly I was bored with no money and academia.
So for the next 40 years - 20 in manufacturing/engineering and 20 in the public sector I practised my "craft" with moderate (not great) success. Some periods of work I found satisfying and enjoyable, some less so. But work was always a means to an end (mortgage, food on the table, bigger house, hobby car, family etc), never my lifes desire.
Age 58, 8 years ago, I took voluntary redundancy - within a few days of my youngest daughter having finished Uni. I looked around and decided to convert one half of a double garage into a workshop and start turning. I spread my interests to cover more general woodworking (coffee tables, toys for granddaughter etc).
Like all of us I occassionally look back and wonder whether I made the right choices. I seriously considered an IT career having done an "A" level in computer science but thought that the boom would soon be over (how wrong can you be). Subsequently thought about building contractor (ultimately) starting with general painting, decorating, small conversions, extensions etc. During school holidays I had started this on a minor level fixing gutters, painting ceilings, putting up shelving etc based on an ad in the local newsagent.
But what ifs and daydreams are easy - the reality is that my career (not job) provided me with a comfortable living and now a pension. I am a pragmatist and know that the other choices could have been dead ends or ended disastrously due in part to health issues.
So I don't regret how things evolved. But I do realise that all choices are compromises and the creative side was repressed by the objectivity often needed in finance. I am now desperately trying not to think in straght lines so that turning and woodwork are more about emotion and feeling, not objective performance.
Me - Dad was a structural engineer and mum a teacher. So I came from a fairly middle class (do we do class anymore) family who had some expectations of me.
At age 9 or 10 I started "borrowing" dads tools and trying to make things. I took my bicycle apart as soon as I got it to see how it worked. I went to a technical grammar school where technical drawing, physics, metalwork and woodwork took precedence over latin, greek etc.
Age 17 I learned to drive and spent the next few years mending a stream of bangers. My initial thoughts on career were working in a garage or engineering company where I would have lots of tools to play with.
But I also realised that the moment I tried to progress in these areas I would become a manager, not a doer. At that age money was fairly high up on the priority list (car, flat etc) so I decided to become a chartered accountant.
Uni was not for me as mostly I thought it was a bit like school for 18-21 year olds and frankly I was bored with no money and academia.
So for the next 40 years - 20 in manufacturing/engineering and 20 in the public sector I practised my "craft" with moderate (not great) success. Some periods of work I found satisfying and enjoyable, some less so. But work was always a means to an end (mortgage, food on the table, bigger house, hobby car, family etc), never my lifes desire.
Age 58, 8 years ago, I took voluntary redundancy - within a few days of my youngest daughter having finished Uni. I looked around and decided to convert one half of a double garage into a workshop and start turning. I spread my interests to cover more general woodworking (coffee tables, toys for granddaughter etc).
Like all of us I occassionally look back and wonder whether I made the right choices. I seriously considered an IT career having done an "A" level in computer science but thought that the boom would soon be over (how wrong can you be). Subsequently thought about building contractor (ultimately) starting with general painting, decorating, small conversions, extensions etc. During school holidays I had started this on a minor level fixing gutters, painting ceilings, putting up shelving etc based on an ad in the local newsagent.
But what ifs and daydreams are easy - the reality is that my career (not job) provided me with a comfortable living and now a pension. I am a pragmatist and know that the other choices could have been dead ends or ended disastrously due in part to health issues.
So I don't regret how things evolved. But I do realise that all choices are compromises and the creative side was repressed by the objectivity often needed in finance. I am now desperately trying not to think in straght lines so that turning and woodwork are more about emotion and feeling, not objective performance.
