Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How much Money do you make?

OK, so I’m gonna focus on the kind of work I’ve done because it’s much more interesting than money. I
got a BS in geology and started working at the end of 1982 just when the oil field took a downturn so
there were a lot of unemployed geologists and no one was hiring. My first job was in Dallas as a
sampling technician taking soil and water samples to investigate Superfund sites in a five state area, paid
a salary of $15K/yr. Doesn’t sound like a lot, but I bought my first new vehicle, a short-bed Toyota
pickup for $4,995. That was the first and last vehicle I ever financed.

Did that for a few years and caught on with a company that focused on cleaning up contaminated sites
on Air Force and Army bases, worked my way up to project manager, then opened a new office for the
company in San Antonio, then relocated to Colorado 25 years ago and managed a regional operation for
the same company which had by then grown into a mid-sized engineering and construction company
through acquisitions. My business unit had 300 people, annual revenues of $100 M, and dropped 5-10%
of that to the bottom line every year. I was responsible for everything within the business unit
including profit and loss and we had a pretty good incentive plan so the pay was very good. We did
construction, contaminated site cleanup, transportation design, and wastewater design and
engineering.

We had some really cool projects along the way. Did an $80 M construction project in Iraq in 2004,
building a base for the Iraqi Army so that (we were told) the US could turn over the effort to the Iraqis
and bring our men and women home. I went over for a short time, it was like the friggin’ wild wild west
and we were in a relatively secure part of the country. Did a $50 M project re-paving and improving the
Air Force runway on Shemya Island in the Aleutians, a $25 M project rebuilding 1,100 military family
housing units at Keesler AFB after Katrina, a $30 M design project for a segment of I-35 near Austin, and
managed the Austin Clean Water Program where the city replaced a lot of its storm sewer system. If
anyone is in the Air Force and has had Lasik surgery recently, we also built the Lasik clinic on Lackland
AFB. I was very fortunate to have a bunch of really good project managers working for me, that made
my job really enjoyable.

That company was bought by one of the largest engineering and construction companies in the world,
and after that the place was just not a good fit for me. Left it twelve years ago for a much smaller
company that does the same thing, took a pay cut but got a big raise in quality of life. Planning to retire
in a year or so, tough decision because I like my job and the people I work with. My boss is our CEO and
he loves to fish. For a while there, it seemed like every time I’d visit our corporate HQ we’d take a day
off and he’d take me fishing and he knows some good spots. We’re still doing really cool projects, and
I’m still driving a Toyota pickup, bought it 12 years ago. Put three sons through college, one at VA Tech
which was not cheap, but we’re debt-free and all the boys are too. Plenty of nicer stuff we could afford,
but just can’t justify it. Probably because both my wife’s and my parents came up during the
depression and their frugality rubbed off on us.

Gus too?

I”m 72 this year and slowly transferring clients to my partner who is 40. I have met lots of good people who have stayed with me for most of my career. Hard to let loose of the relationships, but after helping them retire, they get it and have welcomed my partner and that has been great. Biggest problem is finding good employees and that’s one reason why I’m hanging on for a little while longer. Not to mention I still get paid pretty well.
Like Glen said in an earlier post, it’s all about what you put in your pocket at the end of the day.

Earlier post, 6 kids, wife is the CEO of the household, low debt, happy family. God bless them. My wife was a stay at home mom until the youngest wast in second grade and she worked part time. You make do.

Gus and I thought a lot alike at times.

So, yeah.

I'm thinking you're Gus's sock puppet, with proper diction. Prove me wrong.

Lack of evidence does not prove evidence of lack.

OK, so I was wrong about the proper diction.

But what about the sock puppet part?

Do you have ALIENS in Colorado?

We have them here, a whole base of them living under Mt Shasta.

Then there's the Area 51 place right over the border in NV.

They had them where Gus lives too. Might explain some things.

The Shasta Aliens are some crazy sombisches.

Yeah, but I prefer the Shasta aliens to the old Mt. St. Helen's aliens.


The St. Helen's aliens used to be well-grounded but now they're all over the map.

Definitely something going on up on that mountain.

I heard two loud booms when St Helen's went off 154 miles to the South. I thought someone was throwing firewood logs at my fence.