To think that most families have a common/most popular occupation?

[workit]

I am from a large family...over 40 cousins and several aunts and uncles

In my family there's 12 nurses!! The rest are a mix of
3 teachers
4 engineers
1 doctor
1 accountant
2 electricians
1 plumber
1 microbiologist
1 speech therapist
1 hairdresser
1 counselor
3 in IT
The rest are in uni or school

A friend of mine comes from a large family also but the most common occupation in her family is teaching. Does this happen in most families? Is there a popular occupation in your family?

I have always felt this was the case in my NHS themed family, 2 nurses, 3 GPS, a host of other specialities. I'm the only non NHS, the black sheep!

My dad has 3 siblings, 2 childless and the 1 with children none of us do the same job (4 of us). On my mums side there's 2 siblings and I have 4 cousins, 2 brothers in the military and another cousin works for the same company as I do (different office and location), the other 1 doesn't work.

My sibling works in a completely different industry to any of us though!

YABU

I don't have any teachers or medical people, which seems odd compared to most people here. I have:

• engineer
• top-secret government work
• tech start up
• business owner
• shop owner
• PA
• antique jewellery expert
• architect
• COO
• civil servant
• government IT type person (his job might be as unclear as Chandler's from Friends)

Depressingly most of my relatives are "unworked", which I suppose is a common industry (or lack thereof!). But it's another layer of doing what you saw growing up.

I'm the only woman in my family who works, my sisters, mother and aunts, cousins have never worked but been SAHMs.
I've always worked full time as an NHS professional in the NHS and had minimum maternity leave.
The men of the family who've worked have been engineers mainly with one GP.

Not at all...
1x NHS matron
2x NHS admin
1x teaching support
1x youth leader
1x computer technician
2x gas engineer
2x builder
1x tattoo artist
1x nanny
1x retail worker

I come from a big fat Indian family on both sides:

4 engineers (2 women)
4 pharmacists
6 software developers
2 bankers
The rest (approx 15 of them) are follow the money types and so change industry / professions as needed.

Nope, we have a mixture, tradesmen, accountant, teachers, PT, fund manager, surveyor, medical secretary, nurse.

@BaylisAndHardon

Gingsters? Is that a stealth boast I spy

All Teachers doctors solicitors here - middle class central 😁

My dad was an electrician, my mum was a nurse. I used to be a legal secretary, my husbands a carpenter, my sister in law does something too complicated to understand high up in the nhs. My brothers both do something to do with trading. No idea what any of my cousins do,

The theme in my family is two income households. That goes back generations. I grew up with the assumption that I would work and have children, not either or. As my great grand parents, grand parents and parents generations all have. Usually career jobs, too.

General theme in my family for the past 3 generations has been either academic/research or teaching or social workers.

In DH’s family most of the current and previous generations have been either Military or self-employed.

Cross-family socialising didn’t really take off during our wedding reception.... fortunately me and DH have more in common!

How big is a 'family'? There aren't many of us.

I work in student support.
My mum is a retired speech therapist, my dad is a retired mountain guide.
My uncle is a retired advertising photographer.
A cousin does something with Mr Fothergills' seeds.
My mum's dad was an accountant, my dad's dad was a miner.

I have some cousins on another side, but no idea what they do, we're not close and I haven't seen them in decades.

All farmers or accountants or teachers. And we all return to farming even my cousin who stopped being an accountant in her sixties.
DH's extended family in Ireland are a glorious mixture of academics priests and accountants.

Dd(12) thought she was very funny when she suggested she came from a teaching dynasty

Not in my family, but for my kids their mum and dad are both accountants, as was their step-dad and their dad's partner!

Ds2 (14) wants to be an accountant too.

I was going to say lawyers & hairdressers.. .but actually the numbers dont' say that. Very large extended family, not sure how to draw the boundaries.
4 salesmen, 3x lawyers, 3 teachers, 2 hairdressers, 2 bums
Uncounted generic office workers, and one each of...
pilot
road builder
electrician
welfare mum
truck drivers
statistician, scientist
civil engineer who married another civil engineer
tech writer
recruitment
psychiatrist (retired)
mortgage broker(s)
operating theatre technician married same
writer (very published)
musicians?

I'm not fully sure what many of my dozens of cousins & their kids do, tbh

I'm jealous of all your big families.

Teaching.

I’d actually say my family is more “public service”.
5 x teachers
2 x local authority
2 x civil service
1 x nhs
... and one IT techie and one supermarket manager

We're a big old mix, nobody does anything similar!
Business analyst
Zoo manager
Ecologist
Quality controller
Care coordinator
Builder
Bus driver
Photographer
HR training partner

totally...everyone around me -three generations all did more or less the same degree up to Phd level across both DM and DFs families. All then worked in academia at least for a few years. I definitely ended up doing it as a logical next step - would love to leave but no idea what do and feel stuck. So following in your family footsteps is not always a good thing.