Ladies of reddit, What volunteer or paid work have you done? How has it been important to you?

14 comments

  2. I’ve volunteered for years with animals, at a farmed animal sanctuary and as a foster for dogs.

    I’m paid to work as an engineer.

    My work with animals is far more meaningful and important to me personally, but my job as an engineer is also interesting.

  3. I volunteered at a hospital over the course of a few years as a teenager, and it got me into the medical field. I got hired in the laboratory right out of high school. It was life altering, and I’ve been on the path to getting my RN since.

    Now, I try to pop in on weekends to a local museum to help out, but sadly work and personal stresses have kept me from it. The museum has little to do with my line of work but I think the history in my area is pretty neat!

  4. I’m a member of the volunteer fire fighters and co-coach the little girls football team.

    For work I had three summer jobs in factories, worked as a nanny for two years, waitressed on and off for a few years and worked a few student jobs and adult jobs in accounting which is what I’m still doing now.

  5. volunteered at a distress centre helpline and an autism non-profit. the distress centre was hard tbh, the things we talk about with callers is not easy. the autism non-profit was amazing, i absolutely loved it. it was so wholesome and the workers were amazing.

    i’ve worked in fast food when i was about 18-19, comes with its challenges but i met my best friend there and it was great whenever we were on shifts together.

    currently working as a research student at a mental health hospital. its related to my undergrad major so its good career wise but i cant say i love it.

  6. I volunteered at a zoo for 4 years. Best unpaid job of my life. Even if most of it was sweeping up poop.

  7. started volunteering at a small equine rescue centre when i was 14 and i’m still there 4 times a week 8 years later. it keeps me busy and i enjoy it more than anything

  8. I have volunteered with the special Olympics for 6 years and love it. It’s really rewarding and I run the law enforcement torch run (I’m a cop) alongside the athletes every year and try to make an appearance at as many events as I can.

    I also volunteer with different law enforcement charities like one that’s about giving gifts to children in need at Christmas, giving assistance to families who have lost loved ones in the line of duty, and assisting in pill and gun take-backs.

    As far as paid work, I’m a cop and work mostly on investigating sex crimes, crimes against children, homicide, and robberies.

    It’s all important to me. I like helping people and giving back to my community.

  9. I have volunteered on a Habitat for Humanity build site. Absolutely awesome experience. It’s great to feel like you are contributing to something worth while.

    I get paid to be a nurse. I enjoy it.

  10. I volunteered in high school at the Donovan Research Library where I edited the updates to the army training manuals, the Moving Vietnam Wall Memorial, and Red Cross when my dad was stationed in Ft Benning. This was 20 years ago. I’ve been working for a natural language AI tech company for 9 years and I’m currently a quality manager. I get paid medium bucks for it.

  11. I volunteered for a couple years at the local Humane Society! Basically helped socialize the cats/kittens, it was awesome.

  12. When I was 16 I worked as a volunteer for my veterinarian. It was great…I got to help care for the dogs and cats and learned that as much as I loved them, I couldn’t stand the idea of cutting them open. I had been considering being a vet.

  13. I have volunteered to be backstage manager for a festival a couple of times because a friend did it. It wasn’t important but it was fun.

    I also volunteered at a library for some project because it was related to my working field and it could help develop my management skills. And it was meaningful, because it helped kids in their development.

    I volunteered for tons of committee’s and did a board year for several reasons. Mostly to meet people and to support an association/politcal party I cared about, but also to develop skills necessary for the working life.

    I volunteered to interview kids and some other activities because I studied to work with kids while not being experienced in communicating with kids.

    I have done some paid side jobs during high school and university for obvious reasons. I value these a lot, because it feels so amazing to earn your own money and taught me to not be as spoiled as I used to be. I did several jobs, but working as a cleaning lady for elder people has been truly a blessing. I loved their stories.

    I worked full time as source and contact tracer during the pandemic. It was very important to me because it got me out of the house in lockdown, gave me a break from studying, gave me the oppurtinity to earn about 1/4th of my student debt, and made feel useful during a worldwide crisis. It made me feel less powerless to be able to help lower contaminations, but also to talk to people, advice them, and help with ther anxiety or grieve if they had any.

    I now earn a living while working in depression and suicide prevention amongst teenagers and I absolutely love it. It’s so meaningful.

  14. I volunteer as a mentor for a high school robotics team. It is so important to me watching these kids learn and grow. The robot is 100% designed and built by the students. The mentors just teach the students how to use the various CAD and programming programs and what hardware and parts are available.

    I work as an engineer in the aerospace industry. It’s so fun and inspiring to work on a program that will take us back to the moon!

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