My working life

After 38 years, I stopped gainful paid employment on 25th May 2026.

I write this post because experience is the thing you get right after you need it and I wish I had known the things I know now, a year later.

Careers, Jobs, and Gigging

I started salaried employment with Jaguar Motor Cars in 1988, the year I left school. Apart from waiting on tables and cleaning dishes in a golf club, I have largely worked in two different industry sectors - Automotive manufacturing and IT, specifically SAP implementation.

I have heard it said that my parent’s generation (the Boomers) would have one career, my generation (Gen X) would have five jobs in our lifetimes and our children’s generation would end up having to do five jobs at the same time…and I concur with that prediction.

My Dad was a Doctor, full stop.

Over the years, I have had 7 employers, run my own business for a few years, and been part of one (unsuccessful) “start up”.

My two children are already working multiple angles and they have not left school yet!

Of course there are exceptions, my Mum put herself through Open University and then Law School to go from Nurse to Solicitor while never stopping being a full-time Mum. But the general trend appears clear to me.

Fond Memories

Along the way, I collected any number of memories - I list them here not to show off or complain but because I imagine there are similarities in all our working lives. Some of what follows count as fond memories, others less so.

• In 1988 as part of Jaguar’s training program, I was taught it’s impossible to file a piece of metal perfectly flat

• At the end of 1992, I walked around a Ford Motor Company car park in Genk counting how many Mondeos were missing their driver or passenger seats. I worked for the company that supplied the seat runners and, for many reasons, struggled to supply what we needed to in the first quarter of full production. After a few weeks, seatless cars started appearing in Ford’s car park leading to their Site Director paying us a visit. He couldn’t quite believe that I, a 23-year-old, was in charge of the (admittedly small) Just-In-Time (JIT) production facility. He left somewhat in a huff having told us to “pull our finger out”.
• Shop Stewards (in my case representing members in both a Paint and Metal Fabrication shop) are just as likely to dislike talking to 25-year-old manager as a Ford site Director.
• Attending an interview for a job I knew nothing about (the newspaper advert literally said “Don’t worry if you don’t know what SAP is”) and finding that my two interviewers were late because they had been playing squash at lunchtime. I got the job.
• Travelling business class (them sure were the good ole days!) to Philadelphia in the mid-1990s to work my first day in the States. It was a day-flight, I travelled in a suit (I was a consultant after all) and got laughed out of SAP’s Newtown Square offices as soon as I arrived. I wore polo-shirts and chinos from that point forward.
• Spending 2-3 years each living in Boston (skiing in Vermont), San Diego, and Singapore - all part of a “travel the world” implementing SAP lifestyle. We took advantage of these base location and visited places like Hawaii, Chicago, Seattle, New Orleans, Montreal, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Mexico.
• Living and working in the middle of London - running around Battersea Park in the early morning, walking to and from work along the Thames Embankment, drinking craft beer and eating curries in the evening.
• Bringing up two wonderful children before leaving London for many reasons but mainly Brexit, schooling, and space.

Honestly, I think I loved most of it, most of the time.

However, on reflection, 12 months after my last pay-cheque, I wish I’d known more about how the body and mind work together.

A bit more context first

Before going further - I’ve never had a spa treatment or massage and never practised yoga, meditation or mindfulness. Perhaps I’ll end up wishing I had but, till now, I’ve thought I would manage just fine without any of that.

Actually that’s not entirely true. I did one yoga session (led by my wife who is a qualified Iyengar yoga instructor) and she asked me how I found it. I said “good but I don’t think I have time for it” and she said “yes, that’s the point”.

I didn’t really understand what she meant but think I might now.

What I wish I’d known before I stopped working

The best piece of professional feedback I ever received was “Care less”. Two words, from my boss, about 10 years ago.

Why did he write “Care less”? I’m not entirely sure because both of us didn’t really talk through the feedback, but I think he was saying “watch out, you’re always ‘all in’ and that may not end well”.

Throughout my life, I followed my parents’ example. They both work inordinately hard. Sure, my sister and I lived a life off the back of the “fruits of their labour”; neither of us wanted for anything and that was largely down to Mum and Dad’s prodigious work ethic.

Both my Mum (76) and Dad (86) have passed away in the time since COVID. Luckily both led very healthy lives, right up to the point they didn’t. And they both passed away as a result of heart attacks. Up till leaving work last year, I didn’t really think too much about the nature of their passing but have had time to reflect on it since leaving work.

I thought I would semi-retire at 56. I had done the maths and worked out, WWIII to one side, that we could thrive in a good scenario, drive easily enough in the median and survive in the worst case. All was going to be good, I’d have time to play golf, learn to code, spend more time with the family and relax.

I was wrong.

The Let Down Effect