I spent 21 years as a telecommunications tech for a literal Mom and Pop company , then went to work for another 16 years a large corporation as an engineer. A so called Applications Engineer. I spec'd out and did the bid work for telephone systems at first and later both telecom and data systems. I put together all the parts and pieces to make the systems after meeting with the potential customers to determine their needs. Or answering RFP's. I liked that work, especially for many years although I had "bosses" they were often located hundreds or thousands of miles away, and i saw then only a few times a year. I was essentially self directed for many years. Get your work done and on time, keep the bids flowing into the sales guys so they could make their presentations either by themselves to the small customers or with me on the large customers.
On the large systems the sales guys would defer to me to explain things to the customers. Then if the sale was successful, I would assist the technicians in the layout and scope of the job, and often the programming of the system to meet the vision of what I discussed with the customer to meet their goals. For many years I also acted as a Technical resource for technicians all over the company, even ones in other regions beyond my normal responsibility until finally the company started up a nationwide TAC center devoted to this need.
I enjoyed all aspects of this kind of work. Then the business model and the industry changed, and I found myself working from home as a glorified call center as one by one the engineers from the various regions were let go. It was decided that we wouldn't sell complicated phone and data systems, but focus on a small in house acquired IP system that was easy enough to configure by the sales guys. Gone were the days of the "big iron", the huge PBX systems that were complicated to install and configure. After a period I was out of a job.
I got a job back with the company as a sales person selling data circuits to business's. I hated it and i especially hated the pressure to make sales with sometimes phone calls several times a day wanting to know what was in the "pipeline". Even though I made good money doing it, I HATED it. Perhaps Loathe might not be a strong enough word to describe the dread I felt driving the 38 miles to work each morning. I probably made more money that last year I worked for the company than I had ever made before, but I would have traded it all to get my old engineering job back which was long gone. I solved the problem by retiring. I simply resigned and retired. I heard later from a co-worker that my old boss was sacked and the sales region was reorganized and the pressure was much lower, but I did not hang around to see it. I went home. I sold Health and life insurance for a few years after that while retired, but at 66 I am not pursuing that very hard now either, Although I did complete my continuing education to stay licensed this summer.
Of all the many jobs I had thru the years before getting into telecom, like working in two way radio shops and television repair shops, probably the most interesting one was working as a Deputy Sheriff when I was in my early twenties. Everyone should be a law enforcement officer for at least a little while. It gives you an outlook on life you cannot get anywhere else. It will teach you more about people and how they think than any other way I know.
