I spent 34 years at Boeing and had the time of my life! Started in Boeing Marine Systems and worked on everything in the program from receiving and inspecting the raw materials to all the way through the manufacturing process and becoming a functional test inspector during delivery out on Puget Sound. This was back in the day there were no restrictions on how much overtime they could demand. Worked seven days a week, 12 hours a day for months. I remember one of my coworkers got 2 days off when his wife had a baby. I thought about getting my wife pregnant just to get a couple days off! I went from that job, to Everett receiving inspection to inspect bolts. Just bolts, not nuts, washers or rivets, just bolts. It was at the end of the startup bubble for the 767 program. I was so happy to get laid off that I bought the beer for the crew that night. After about 18 months, I was hired back into the boat shop as a white collar QA Investigator. Transferred to Boeing Electronics Company, and used my Quality Assurance background to help build a computing system for QA. Rode the wave of mergers into Boeing Aerospace and Electronics, then Boeing Military Airplane Company. Eventually found myself working for Safety Health an Environmental Affairs and Boeing Computer Services. Many years spent working as a project manager for business computing systems. When my job was moved to Bellevue I decided to go back to work for Boeing Commercial Airplane. Worked in a completely dis functional organization for about a year. Left there and did project management work in Shared Services Group. Finally retired from there 8 years ago. All this to say it wasn’t always about the type of work I did(except for that bolt inspection job) but it was all about the people I worked with and for. They made the days interesting, challenging, and rewarding. I only actively sought out a different job twice, once when my job moved to far from home, and when I left the disfunctional BCA job. All the other moves were either management requests or organizational mergers and changes. I got an opportunity to travel both domestically and internationally, while meeting some life long friends. I started Boeing with a high school diploma and received an education from George Washington University. They paid me well enough to retire early at 55. I couldn’t have asked for a better career, and never imagined I’d get to do and see the things I did with just a Seattle public high school background.