at what age did you start your first job or...

I completed a lower education and started college later on. I am 22 years old now and I still go to college part-time, but I also started to work 3 days a week. I have worked one day every week when I started college and I studied fulltime. When my internship came along my weeks were 50 to 60 hours (4 days at school, 1 day at work and internship during the weekends). I couldn't cope with that and so I switched to part time studies. I now work 3 days a week in child daycare and I go to college 2 evenings a week.I have 2½ years to go, and I will have a higher education aswell. I think 22 years is a good age for me, it works well. I guess it's very personal what works for you.

I had a paper route when I was twelve. I made a whopping $50 a MONTH for slinging papers at houses. That was in 1983. My first "real" job where I had to punch a clock and keep hours and get to work on time, etc., was when I was 14 working in a fudge shop. From there it was off to McD's! I think that as jobs go each of those was fit for the age of the worker. The earlier kids learn a work ethic the better. 12 was the minimum age for that paper route. I don't see the need for children younger than that to hold jobs of any kind and 14 is about right for jobs requiring managing more than one task.

I started working when I was 18 years old. I started in a factory running a CNC Machine. I thought it was pretty cool. I left there and went into another factory and worked there for 13 years. I didn't go to college, but learn in the school of hard knocks.