A8 Owners Daily duties.....

[IT]

So, what do we all do then ?

We know our car hobbies, that brought us here, but what do we do to earn our daily bread ? Some of us may be retired, or between jobs or have more than one career going on. I think unlike some of the other executive prestige marques, I think the 8's attract folks from all walks of life, and maybe this thread will prove it. Obviously this is a voluntary section, you can provide as little or as much detail as you like.

I'll start, with an overly-detailed listing

IT - Yes, computing. Started in 1995 at the ripe old age of 17 in a basic helpdesk job and moved onwards and upwards. Took a bit of break in 2007 and started the whole A8parts car dismantling business for something completely different, but other than marketing and procurement, I mainly did the IT side of things.

Today, I specialise mainly in Storage, data protection, online backup, replication and specifically in Netapp storage, which I've been working on now since 2002. I have a robust Windows and Ms-SQL background, backed up with years of exposure to troubleshooting LANs and WANs, particularly for performance..... Currently working a contract for a nationwide Business Continuity provider on their Managed Service portfolio in Birmingham.

[Singh]

I work in the HQ for Europe's biggest travel company, I assist our shops all around the country but am officially in the Web department which looks after everything related to our website stuff.

Stuck behind a desk all day and dream of having a job working with cars. Great perks though, £30 flight return short haul and £90 long haul isn't bad, and every year I am given a fair amount of dough to go on holiday, I'm hoping to go on some resort visits this year, which is basically a free holiday you get paid for.

I'd rather work in the holiday industry then say the insurance industry, it is more 'happy' most of the time. I've learnt a lot, but am planning to make the jump to automotive as part of my long term plans.

[sarg]

Originally Posted by Singh

I'd rather work in the holiday industry then say the insurance industry

I'm a 21-year veteran of the insurance industry

Work as a self-employed independent financial adviser

[kal_ay]

Left school in 1991 went on a YTS course as a mechanic got a placement at a tuning specialist in Birmingham,doing day today servicing as well as tuning of classic cars such as E type Jags,Aston Martin DB4's.Loved every minute of the job.Compulsory purchase order was placed on the premises of the garage by the council in 1999 or thereabouts,it's now a bloody car park.Since then been running the family taxi business with bros which we've owned since I was13.

[The_Laird]

After doing a PhD in genetics, I started off as a scientist (microbiologist) in the Public Health Laboratory Service, but moved into marketing after a few years. Now work as head of marketing & sales for a small biotechnology company that span out of Strathclyde University 5 years ago. About to launch our first product - a multiplex diagnostic system for infectious disease.

Now that usually stops converstaions dead in their tracks!

[daviesbike]

I am a fully qualified chef I got bored of the unsociable hours and followed my love of modifying everything and anything so I’m now also a qualified precision engineer can manufacture everything and anything from scratch given the right tools
I’m now self employed, drive a taxi everyday taking a disabled child to school more than 45 miles away and bringing him home, when I get home at about 5pm I have an hour rest bite and I’m then on call till midnight, so over all I more or less work between 16-18hours a day I’m up at 6am every morning and finish at 12 in the evening, I have a love for rallying I have been at it for a few years, if I had the funding I would take it all the way but for now it’s a hobby rather than a career path, I own another two businesses one of which is a Valeting company which I set up and just leave the lads too it, I’m the stick shaker and drum up all the work, the other company I will disclose at a later date when its off the ground its hush at the moment in the next 6 months there will be about 200k thrown into it and with a bit of luck I can sell on and finish the other businesses and take a slower approach to life, sounds like I want to retire but I’m far from the age of retirement anyway I won’t bore you anymore that’s more or less my life, aside from that I have only lived in the uk for 7 years yes I’m English or welsh rather I was born here and ended up living in many different countries , Gran Canarias for 7 years, Norway for 2 years,benalmadina for 18months,surfers paradise Australia for 14months, the list is endless but I’m rabbi ting on now so that will do for now

[Oli18]

Hi,

Not that this thread is about backgrounds but thought i'd throw it in there as alongside the work we do, we do appear to have a number of non-UK nationals on here which is just as as interesting to know about.

I'm a 30 year old Dutchman ('shhhmokin' de pancake') who's lived on-and-off in the UK for the last 18 years. Born in Indonesia in 1981 i had my teen years in the '90s lol. Lived in Holland, Belgium, UK (obviously), Australia and worked in Shanghai for a year in 2004. By the time i was 25 I had moved about 20 different times and looked forward to staying in 1 place for a bit. I've been in London now since 2006 and although it's rubbish from a 'car space' perspective, I love this city - it's alive and one of the most interesting capital cities in the world in my view...my favourite if you will.

All in all, i love the UK and have made it my home. The culture, the people (especially you funny lot 'oooop nooorf') are all brilliant. This may seem strange, but for a person coming from possibly the 'flattest' country in the world, the rolling hills of britain are something that put a smile on my face each time I take a road trip.

I've always loved cars...similar to Amar I would be at car shows from a very young age and would ask my dad (who has never had a particular interest in cars) to let me go into dealerships so i could take the car brochures, to then cut out the cars and stick them on my bedroom wall. As i said, i was a teen of the 90s and I knew the D2 was a car i was going to have to own 1 day. I'm now on my 2nd 8 and have been driving them for the last 5 years.

I digress...what do i do? Well, i'm a marketer with a weakness for big brands. In the past these have included

McDonalds (flippin burgers...I got 1 star, oh yeah!), Surrey
Oxfam (charity work whilst at school), Surrey
Avis (best uni job ever delivering, collecting and cleaning cars), Bristol
Motorola (financial analyst intern), Swindon
Coca-Cola (marketing intern), Shanghai
Castrol (marketing analyst - contractor), Swindon
Yahoo! (marketing manager), London

I have a specialism for digital marketing and - like Amar - had a fondness of going back into a business more focussed around automotive. 18 months ago, i got offered a job with Shell to set up their digital marketing team for the Lubricants business. We look after everything from the website (shameless plug for our consumer lubricants and industrial lubricants websites, oil selector tools like Shell LubeMatch, mobile (we're getting there ) as well as all marketing campaigns across all brands that go across all markets). I love this job despite the crazy hours working with Asia in the mornings and the US in the evenings - partnering with some of the most amazing automotive brands like Ferrari and Ducati is a perk few other companies can give. I live 15 mins by motorcycle from work which is right next to the London Eye (which uses Shell lubricants to keep it turning ) - it's the building in the middle of the picture below with the tower and have a view of the city and the Thames that's just incredible.



Before anyone asks, do i get free fuel, the answer is a very unfortunate 'no' I could get a company car but forego it when I realise i would have to travel in a lesser motor than the 8! I believe someone mentioned something about 'sharing an armrest' recently which i believe summed it up well!

Thanks,

Oli

PS - my last shameless plug for my colleagues in other parts of the business

Mobile App - features include station locator, route planner, motoring reminders (tax, insurance, service, mot) and your loyalty points balace (if you have a Shell Driver's Club card - or VPower Club card for those that truly love their vehicles )

[Adrian E]

Wow - lots of variety so far!

I'm a qualified manufacturing engineer, by background, but have never used it!

Did holiday jobs working on the development of the euroNCAP car crash rating scheme which fuelled my love of all things car related

When I left uni I applied for a lot of jobs in manufacturing but competition very fearce even then for the limited jobs available. My 'Desmond' didn't cut It

Ended up changing tack and worked in vehicle safety research for 4 years doing stuff on truck brakes (have both hgv licenses as a result) and accident research (statistical analysis, on the spot accident investigation etc)

Then moved into the civil service and started project managing the kind of research I used to do! The research used to influence policy decisions.....

Moved around within my dept and did some early work on road pricing (boo) and smart ticketing (all those 'smart' bus passes pensioners now have) before trying to create a database of all speed limits for all uk roads that's updated in real time (more or less)

Writing was on the wall about spending cuts in govt, our little boy was getting bigger but we didn't want to put him in nursery full time at 9 months old, so we decided I'd take a 2 year career break to look after him when my wife went back to work. I'm over a year in now and love the time I get to spend with him watching him develop. Don't miss the 3 hours a day I used to spend commuting to not far from oli's office lol

Migt yet extend my career break as suspect if I try to go back soon it'll just be for redundancy not had a job advert emailed to me for months

My s8 was an answer to the question 'what's the daftest car I can buy for taking our son to baby groups' and although I sometimes regret my choice, I do love the car

Adrian

[PsYcHe]

Suppose I should add my tuppence worth.

I'm an IT geek (or Lead Technical Architect as my business card claims). Currently working for a small systems integrator specialising in datacentre gear, virtualisation, storage consoliation, data protection, networks, (much the same as Ian really but with EMC kit instead).

Apart from the obligatory paper round (and corner shop) job as a teenager, been in IT for the best part of 20 years, started off with big UNIX systems (sold one to RBS with 72 CPUs in it.. yum), eventually got into server virtualisation stuff as the Windows guys struggled to get it initially and wound up working for a large integrator, a systems manufacturer and the job I'm in just now.

[HPsauce]

Another IT person here, though I've "downsized" a bit in recent years having worked on some of the biggest (at the time) computers in the world.
First programmed a computer (a Deuce) at school and that was in the mid-sixties!
Studied Maths at University and really randomly got a Computer job straight after - I just liked the people and it was the only job I applied for even vaguely to do with that.

A few years in giant international companies programming on mainframes in London, then I joined one of the "BUNCH" - major manufacturers. Became a support manager and stayed there for a VERY long time in various roles/locations around the South-East.
Various "crises" arrived pretty simultaneously so I "bit the bullet" and left them to work as an IT Manager, mostly in mid-sized businesses. Very precarious as companies are grown/shrunk/reorganised/acquired though I did end up in a good role at an international company responsible for all the worldwide IT and Telecoms infrastructure with leading-edge internet involvement.
When that ended after about 5 years (owners sold up in stages over a few years then Venture Capitalists moved in) I left the corporate world for good - the market for over-50 IT managers is limited, despite laws on age discrimination!

Set up my own company providing IT support to home users and small businesses which has now been running happily (and locally) for about 8 years.
In my early years I had planned to retire before now, but work keeps the brain ticking over, so it's maybe 20 hours a week which is ideal for me.