Career Origins

Scott Hardie | July 10, 2015
What was your first job, and what lesson did you learn from it?

Aaron Shurtleff | July 11, 2015
Delivering newspapers. I learned that I am NOT a morning person, and that I can sleep through an alarm clock with ease if I don't want to wake up.

And let me tell all you naysayers right now: Knowing that a conventional electronic alarm clock fails to wake me up has allowed me to buy loud clunky alarm clocks that have saved me from missing a ton of appointments, so it was a valuable lesson! :P

Steve West | July 12, 2015
Math Tutor for College Adults.

Lesson #1: People learn at different speeds.

Lesson #2: Ignorance does not equal stupidity.

Lesson #3: A lot of people confuse "can't" with "won't".

Several of the people I was called to assist insisted they had no aptitude for math. A large chunk of my time was having them un-learn a lot of stuff and teach them fresh perspectives on math concepts. I started this when in High School at my Community College, began attending later the same college myself and continued tutoring for the next few years. Not all the stories were success stories but the majority were.

And yes, you can.

Mike Eberhart | July 13, 2015
I started working in my dad's sign shop when I was 14. I was the shop cleanup boy, I cleaned the trucks when they came in at night, I cut weeds and grass around our highway advertising signs, and just general gopher type work. What I learned is the value of hard work and what it can get you if you do your job the correct way.

Matthew Preston | July 16, 2015
Sales associate at Toys 'R' Us. I learned that working for your favorite toy store as a kid is not as fun as shopping at your favorite toy store as a kid.

Scott Hardie | August 2, 2015
Aaron: I was never technically employed as a paperboy, but I did cover my friend's route a couple of times when he was sick, and it was not much fun for not much pay. I'm betting that a few weeks of biking along your route tossing papers is what it took you to afford a better alarm clock.

Steve: Good for you to take that attitude. A lot of people, including of my loved ones, struggled with math in school and became convinced that they just couldn't do math and refuse as adults to try it, perhaps to protect their egos. But it's likely that they just need a fresh angle that makes the concepts clear to them, and their own reluctance to try is the primary obstacle to finding that angle. I myself struggled for years with learning a foreign language, and perhaps unlearning the bad habits and starting over with new methods might make it stick.

Mike: Good story. That's exactly the kind of work experience that we should all start with.

Matthew: That sounds similar to my first work experience, at the local comic book shop when I was maybe 14 or 15. I was in there all the time as a customer, so I figured I might as well get paid to be there, and talked them into letting me do chores around the building for store credit instead of cash. I wasn't a very good employee (I was slow and completely unfamiliar with retail operations), and I didn't enjoy it very much (I gave up months later), but I did learn the same lesson that you did. And I got one more thing out of it, a love of tabletop RPGs. Most gamers are introduced to Dungeons & Dragons by a friend, but I had all of this extra store credit to spend on something, so I picked up a superhero RPG and learned the hobby and loved it. It's given me a lot of good times and friendships ever since.

Erik Bates | August 6, 2015
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Scott Hardie | August 8, 2015
Did you develop an affinity or an enmity for McDonald's after working there?

Erik Bates | August 10, 2015
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