Originally Posted by the sci guy

I was an elementary school teacher for 6 years. (mostly 5th grade)
I left education when we moved to a larger cities with more opportunities for me to explore other interests, and because public education was destroying my morale and health.
I was planning on going into IT support, got A+ certified, but I ended up getting a job at the same company as my wife.
So now I'm a Geoscience Tech at an oil & gas service company. I work with seismic data, while at the same time work with marketing, sales, attend world-wide conferences and workshops, and work on special projects directly from the big boss man. It's pretty awesome, and I was just hired as a full-time regular employee from a previous contractor status. I have my own office and a salary almost twice what I was making as a teacher. Plus the plaza our building is in has 2 gyms with lockers and showers, and dedicated reserved bike commuter lockers. I got one!