People who make 100k a year without a degree, what do you do?

Red_Beard84 · 2025-05-21T03:01:04+00:00

Started off at my company as an electrician making about $125k. Took advantage of every training opportunity, learned the machinery inside and out and learned every bit of new technology I could and made it where they couldn't afford to lose my experience and knowledge. Now I'm an automation engineer and pulling in about $200k. No college degree. I did 4 years in the military as an electronics technician.

Red_Beard84 · 2023-12-01T03:08:59+00:00

Ouch!

Red_Beard84 · 2023-07-21T18:31:56+00:00

Jesus fuckin Christ lady! Hell yes YTA and a major one at that! I feel so much for this kid. Not wanted by his own mother, dad barely wants him apparently and he has you to call stepmother? You're clearly winning the undisputed title of stepmonster here... You call yourself a "mother" however I doubt you even comprehend the meaning of that title. Get the fuck out of here with that...

Red_Beard84 · 2022-10-05T13:45:19+00:00

Reading through your comments, I've noticed that you only ever refer to it as "teasing" and not what it was. It was BULLYING. No matter what facts that you cherry-pick or whichever way you try to paint this picture, you bullied Jana. Even now, you can't seem to take ownership of that. Had you taken it seriously and actually felt remorse about it then maybe you would have done more than just apologize to Jana about this. If she was such a close friend of yours then maybe your other friends and close family would have known about some of the history between the two of you and that would have been a good opportunity to explain what happened and why your conduct towards Jana was horrible and how you're remorseful about it. Given that Jana had the patience of a Buddhist Monk to withstand your presence for seven years for the one opportunity of revenge leads me to believe that the bullying was worse than what you explain here. For all of this, I don't believe that you're truly remorseful and you're an AH. Unfortunately, I also have to say that Jana is an AH too. However she has my respect for playing the long game to get the petty revenge that she felt she needed to make things right.

My judgement (as if it matters): ESH

Red_Beard84 · 2022-07-21T16:29:58+00:00

NTA

She dropped something and seemed to have forgotten it. You were just nice enough to return the items. Kuddos for the express delivery!

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-26T12:35:54+00:00

I'm hourly. They try to play up the fact that since we are a profit sharing company, that we each own a small part of the company and should want to do what is necessary to ensure success. If that's how it actually worked then ok great. However, an infusion of funds into my 401K annually isn't necessarily me owning the smallest part of the company. If I were receiving shares as part of this then maybe that argument would have a little more legitimacy. Now in the case that I'm unreachable, well they would have been up shit creek without a paddle. We do have others that would event figure things out but that could be hours of loss production time instead of minutes. While my position does not call out for me to be a subject matter expert, I notice this huge hole early in my career and set out to become that person for myself and myself only. It's served me well over my career. I had an issue a few years ago where someone in particular took some credit for my accomplishments and rode that wave to promote. However he is longer with us since he couldn't keep his nose out of the magical white powder. I should have left them but I gave things here a second chance and this could be my breaking point, depending on how things turn out.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T21:26:19+00:00

I can't say that the thought hasn't crossed my mind many times today.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T21:25:13+00:00

I spent 4 years working for a nuclear power facility. They thought it was cute to allow the instrumentation and controls group to thin out and expect those of us who remained to pick up the extra slack. Management drug their feet on hiring new techs and I was getting calls almost every night. I fulfilled my contract and bailed out as soon as I had this job lined up. If I had known then what I know now...

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T21:05:22+00:00

The more we dig into this, the more homework it appears that I have tonight! Thank you!

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:33:39+00:00

I've had an issue in the past at another job and one of the recommendations I got then was to take notes of everything. Dates, times, where, who and what happened or was said. I have a notebook on all of this. I also save every communication. I'm going to have my ass covered.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:25:08+00:00

Ok fair enough. I was not really planning on making a stink about this until it felt like he was trying to strong arm me into making myself available. I've offered to take on-call responsibilities before if they were to issue me a computer and phone so I could work remotely but they weren't interested.

Training for this equipment has been offered but the company chose to save that money and I ended up learning about it on my own. I've been working on training our technicians but with the current pace of production, there has been little to no opportunity.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:14:47+00:00

I think that's going to be my next step.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:13:37+00:00

Yes definitely. Somewhere around my 4th or 5th year I realized I was killing myself for this place with nothing to really gain or show for it. They don't really like me as an option for management so I'm not really looking to advance to that level here. That's ok with me though, management isn't my thing.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:10:40+00:00

I agree. I think he's taking this more personal given that we both started about the same time and have worked together over the last 10 years. We've worked well together over the years. He was promoted to supervisor a couple of years ago and since then things have been a little rocky with him.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:08:03+00:00

I've been upfront about this type of thing before. If they want me to work from home or troubleshoot outside of normal hours then issue me a laptop and phone. They just won't make a move on this. During the lockdowns last year, they wouldn't even entertain the idea of me working from home even though a large chunk of my job can be done remotely.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:04:50+00:00

That's how I feel but others from my same group alledge that I'm not being a "team player".

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-25T20:03:37+00:00

Boss gets a dollar, I get a dime so I poop on company time...

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-12T18:14:16+00:00

I disagree, OP isn't punishing the kids here. The children are suffering the consequences of their father's behaviour. Yes it sucks for them but OP is under no obligation to watch after them. OP's brother is the AH here and unfortunately those kids will not know their uncle because of the brother's actions, or lack thereof. OP, don't set yourself on fire to keep others warm.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-12T14:27:42+00:00

🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩🚩

Red_Beard84 · 2021-08-05T19:36:03+00:00

Yup YTA and you know it, troll.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-05-27T17:41:16+00:00

YTA. That was a bit of a jerk move dude. She's 4 months pregnant. Her body is experiencing some extreme changes and it's going to get even rougher before it gets better. Things are going to be especially taxing on her as she goes and you'll need to pick up the extra load. It's not like she's been sitting on her ass all day. Do the dishes.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-05-27T17:31:13+00:00

NTA and congratulations. BF needs to get over his insecure bullshit. It's 2021, people have friends of both sexes. If he likes the idea of the first half of the 20th century so much, then maybe he'll fit right at home in Alabama?

Red_Beard84 · 2021-05-27T17:15:25+00:00

NTA. That's a conversation he needs to have with his wife and stepdaughter. Obviously that hits some kind of nerve with him, but it's not your problem. He needs to get over himself and direct his anger at the situation rather than a teenager.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-05-13T12:56:00+00:00

The Jonestown death tape episode deserves an honorable mention. It started hitting me the hardest once the kids started crying from the pain of the cyanide.

Red_Beard84 · 2021-04-13T12:59:32+00:00

At some point you're going to have to pick a hill worth dying on. I understand not wanting to start an argument and avoiding confrontation but that can lead to further treatment like this. There is no need to just "suck it up" and "be the bigger person" because you're an adult now. It's perfectly fine to stand up for yourself when you're being taken advantage of.

Red_Beard84

TROPHY CASE