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I'm more at the tail end of this question rather than the beginning like most of you. In the near future as I wind down from my daily work of the last 37 years, I guess that's "retirement", I plan to do plenty of volunteer work to help various good causes.
I never had to work for free in my engineering profession, though I think in other fields working your way into a great opportunity may require different methods. After graduating from college (engineering, BSME) I got my first junior engineer job for what was an average starting salary for that position at the time, in what was a pretty tight job market for engineers in 1972. The job didn't seem like it was exactly what I wanted, as if I even knew that back then. But it worked out since that small company turned out to be a great place to get experience, prove myself, and move ahead. I'm basically still in that same field...though by now I'm one of the most experienced/knowledgeable engineers in this niche. So I'm pretty much in charge of the whole ball game now and my main concern is making sure the younger guys here will be able to step up, take the ball, and run with it as I wind down the daily grind. It's been rewarding in ways I could never have predicted or planned. I think the next twenty years will be too, but in different ways and I'll be able to do some helpful work for free this time.
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