Work and Salary History, Part I

The next biggest moneymaker is work. I work for an investment bank as a Team Lead / Software Engineer. Banks definitely pay better than other companies. As I joined less than a year ago I have yet to experience a bonus, but I have heard great things and am waiting patiently.

I also currently do a little contracting / consulting for another small business at night and weekends [and sometimes during the day at my main job - like I'm writing this during right now :) ]. That is another source of income at present (another 20% on top of what I already make in the main job). Basically, I am trying to live off of that, while saving everything that comes in from the main job.

I will now rundown my work and salary history in a 2-part post (some of the early numbers might not be exact as it's been a while and they are not written down anywhere but my brain). At the end a 3rd post wil summarize and graph all the numbers.

First Job

Age 12: Delivered newspapers for a school year (mornings before school). I have no idea what I was paid, but it was probbaly something like $300 for 6 months. I hated getting up in the morning.

High School Part-time jobs

High School: 9 months Burger King - $3.75 per hour inserting frozen patties into the burger machine. Quickly promoted and earning $4.25 an hour and and then $4.75 an hour handling money at the drive-through and counter registers.

High School: Bussed tables at a local restaurant for 2 nights before quitting: $30

High School: Self-Serve gas station convenience store. Start at about $5.00 an hour and by the end of high school 2 years later was making probbaly $6.00 an hour (I really can't remember though). I didn't save any of this money, just used it for food and going out with friends. It was dream job as I was alone in this store with hardly any customers. I could play music, do homework, study, read, watch TV, lots of free junk food - pretty much anything goes.

Choosing College

For choosing college and my future, I loved math and computers and was not sure whether I wanted to teach math or develop computer applications.
I went to school for Computer Science at one of the top 10 schools in Computer Science, but with the knowledge that I could still go into teaching if I wanted. When I graduated, I quickly decided I wanted to try teaching as well. I enrolled in another small, but well known college for a Masters in Education to teach Secondary Mathematics (High School / College math).

Freshman year of college - Christmas break worked a little at the gas station/mini mart / convenience store a couple times for a little more spending money.

First taste of money

First summer home from college - ~ $7.00 / hour. Painting and maintenance work at my Dad's office (who helped me to get the job). Best part was I was paid as a contracter so minimal taxes were removed. I was paid flat out for all the time I spent. Probably about $1500 in 2.5 months.

Responsiblity, Future Experience

Next 2 summers home from college - Camp counselorI wanted to get back to working with kids and gain experience doing so. I must have anticipated maybe going back to school for a teaching degree (after my undergrad was finished) and how my resume would look with the counseling experience on it. Or, maybe I just wanted "nice, fun summers playing with kids."

Summer between Sophomore and Junior Year: Counselor / Trip Coordinator for a sports camp. Managing kids daily getting them to and from their activites. Coordinating and managing huge amounts of kids on day trips away from the camp including places like NY City. When I think back, I can't imagine being responsible enough to handle all that - but I did. ~$1400, plus free room and board for about 10 weeks. In terms of an hourly rate, it was ungodly low since I was required to be on the campus 24 hours a day for 6 days a week. We had one day off a week to go home or do whatever.

Aside:

That's sort of like the hourly pay being in the army or military - they get next to nothing an hour since they are required to be onsite for so much of their time in the service. It's probbaly not good, but that's how I have come to think of jobs - how 24 hours - how much time you have to do whatever you want wherever = How long you have to work = How long you cannot do whatever you actually want.

Then take Total Salary received divided by "How long you cannot do whatever you actually want" and that is really your $ / hour. That means Transportation time is included because if you didn't have the job, you would be doing what you wanted, not driving to/from work. If you start to think about jobs this way, you will really see which ones are oppressive and which really pay you the best rate. You want to maximize your money and minimize your time.

Back to the jobs:

Summer between Junior and Senior Year: Senior Counselor for the sports camp. Managing kids all day long throughout their daily routines. It was a lot of work involved creating activites, skits, etc. But, it was really fun. ~$1800, plus free room and board for about 10 weeks.

Teaching Math

While enrolled in the Masters Program, I got my first real job teaching small classes in a vocational high school for about $9500 a year. Upon graduating college, I did not want to take a computer career immediately. I wanted to try for the teaching degree and teaching. I got accepted at a small, sort of elite (sort of snobby) liberal arts college to study for a Masters in Secondary Education. I would also be taking a state test for teaching certification. Since I was currently pursuing the degree and the certification, the school was allowed to employ me as a teacher. It was quite an honor to be selected over many other candidates and I was very lucky to have such a job. All of my other classmates who were studying in the same program had nothing close to what I had (in terms of resume-building and experience - not in terms of money).

In the summer, I was off and made some extra money ($3000?) teaching soccer at a pretty high-class soccer camp (due to a connection my aunt had). It was a great deal and I made $20 an hour. Plus, very little taxes due to be paid as a contracter again.

Teaching class in a vocational high school for about $12000 a year. Pretty good raise - especially in terms of percent (%26). After a year and a half of teaching and schooling (only needed 6 more months to graduate and teach fulltime), I realized I didn't want to be doing the same thing every year. I was prepared by the other senior teachers to graduate, find a good school district, create some lesson plans that would never change (as well as the fact that new math is never discovered - you teach the same concepts every year) and sit back and teach for 30 years, then retire. That was a bit scary, but mostly depressing. I wanted more.

About the same time, I found an ad for part time programming at a local software contracting firm...

(continued in Part II)