Flexibility - The Key to Multiple Careers

OK.  Bob's turn to blog.  I'm the quiet one in our marriage, so usually I am short and to the point.  I am the one about to retire, after working for the last 46 years since my college graduation in 1969.  I would have to sum up my career as a number of related, but different mini-careers.

Colorado School of Mines Class

I was educated as a mining engineer, and worked for 22 years in the mining business - Idaho, Washington state, Colorado, and Utah.  Let's call this career #1.  The mining business is always a roller coaster of boom and bust cycles, and when the oil shale business in Colorado crashed in 1985, I landed a job at the Hanford Nuclear Reservation in Washington state, on a project to bury the nation's nuclear waste deep underground.  This was the start of career #2 in the nuclear business.  Unfortunately this project lasted only 3 years before being cancelled, and I was job hunting again.

I managed to find an opportunity for a job in Zambia, Africa, as the Project Manager of a feasibility study for the state-owned copper company.  Back into career #1 in mining.  This was an extremely eye-opening experience not only for me but for my family also.  Living and working in a third world country is something everyone in America should experience.  Our two kids were just finishing high school at the time, and each was able to spend a summer in Zambia.  This was not only an educational experience, but also gave all of us the 'travel bug' for the remainder of our life.

Chimpanzee Refuge in Zambia

Le Anna has waited patiently for the last 34 years for me to finish working, so we could really hit the road in earnest.  Now that retirement is less than 60 days away, we have already planned 3 major road trips, and are talking about spending next winter somewhere in Central America.

But back to my career summary.   After Zambia I consulted for about year in Colorado and Texas on an oil shale project that quickly died as fast as it had begun.  Looking around for a job landed me back at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state, and back into career #2 in nuclear work.  I stayed in the project management field, managing environmental cleanup projects which were just being started at the old Department of Energy sites which produced Plutonium for the bombs.

The nuclear cleanup career transitioned into the project management of heavy construction jobs for several years, which I should call career #3.  I loved construction work, and always found the projects exciting and interesting (translation - challenging).  I built a water treatment plant in Oregon, and a nitric acid plant near Calgary, Alberta, before deciding to embark on career #4, owning a small business.

Boatyard Fabric Structure

After the Calgary job, we bought a condo in Port Townsend, WA with the idea of making this our "home base" while I continued to work in various locations.  But I stumbled across a small business  selling custom-made fabric membrane structures that appealed to my engineering background.  This story is for another time, but suffice it to say that we learned that we were not salesmen.  

Shemya Island Barge Off-loading

After 2 years, I accepted a job back at Hanford, this time managing construction work (back to career #3).  This was followed by a 2 year project on Shemya Island at the end of the Aleutians, building an installation for the missile defense agency at this air force base.  Following this was a 6 month project in Qatar in the Middle East (what a change).  Both of these were single-status jobs, meaning I went alone and left Le Anna back in Port Townsend to hold down our daily life.

Bob @ Al-Udeid AFB, Qatar

After the Middle East I took a job in England, back in the nuclear cleanup business, where Le Anna and I could actually live together for a change.  This was probably my favorite job of my life, since we lived in the Lake District of northern England in a tiny village that was truly idyllic.  After 2 years we ended up back in the US where we spent 3 years in South Carolina before finding our way back to Washington State where we are today.

At the pub!

My insight for today, with the countdown to retirement ticking away, is that it is a very exciting and stimulating time for me.  I have a very wide variety of interests, and I am eagerly looking forward to the opportunity to get more deeply involved in some of them.  For instance I love to paint watercolors, but have not had the time lately to indulge.  I have dreamed of building my own house some day, and still hope to do this when the time is right.  Of course, travel is very high on the priority list for both Le Anna and I.  Over the next 2 years we would be happy if we could basically travel full time.  We just need to find a way to do this economically.  We look forward to seeing new places and meeting new people.

We truly believe life should be an adventure and we are anxiously waiting for the next one to start.