What line of work are you in

[Rufus]

Hi all, you all seem a very intelligent bunch and I was wondering what jobs do you all have, if any and do they make coping with your conditions easier or harder.

Also looking for career ideas for myself as I dont think I could ever return to my old job but I suffer from neg thinking and rock bottom self esteem at the moment so I dont think I could anything.

[Tembo]

I’m a teaching assistant in a primary school. It started off as a voluntary job and now it’s paid. It’s very rewarding, and working with kids is great. I didn’t think I’d work well with kids, as I’m not a parent, but I’ve been better at it than I thought and have really enjoyed it.

I thought this could lead to being a teacher - but sadly not. Being a teacher looks incredibly hard work, with lots of paperwork, talking to parents, and you need to be a confident public speaker in order to regularly present to a whole class and take assemblies. I did start with teacher training, but it was overwhelming and I can’t believe how much I struggled with it all

I’d recommend being a teaching assistant - it’s rewarding and fairly relaxed. However, with this job comes low pay and lack of job security (TAs are often the first to go when there are cuts!). After a few years of this, it’s come to a time for me to consider something else - I need better pay if I’m ever going to be able to afford to live on my own. Goodness knows what I’ll do though, as I can only just about cope with this job, and it’s not even classed as a ‘professional’ job.

[Gosties]

I've been a Cleaner, Call Centre Worker, Checkout Operator, Store Assistant, Supervisor & Department Manager.

Some jobs I really hated and others were enjoyable.

A lot of the time it's down to the people you work with some good some bad.

[Rufus]

I worked on a chemical plant for 30 odd years - the only job I have ever had since leaving school.

Probably why I haven't coped well since being sacked - long story

currently unemployed

[sillypenguin]

I do administration for the IT department. Been there for just less than a year working full time, although now I'm working from home 3 days a week and in the office twice a week to sort out the deliveries. Definitely one of the better jobs I've been in although the lockdown has made it even busier as usual as we are still having to provide an essential service to users. I still get crazy anxiety but nowhere near as bad as I was when I worked in call centres, they were the worst!

[FraidyCat]

I'm a programmer. I can out perform my co workers because i don't have a life outside work.

There are daily team meetings every morning where we take turns to to talk for around 30 seconds each to discuss any problems we had yesterday.

These were hard at first, took me six months to get used to, but now really easy. The guys I work with are really nice people.

[Kipper]

Civil Servant, semi retired, working 3 full days a week.I am a clerical support worker, extracting and filing of files, despatching post etc.