Ambitions Job Experience

[Crise]

I was reading through the topics and didn't see this mentioned in any I think... well something to keep in mind for any profession that has a skill related responsibility.

Make sure you don't have those skills maxed or you might find it is slower to get promotions (because maxed skill seems to mean no more experience gain, no matter how hard you work out, tinker etc.).

Also the whole Co-workers thing with professions seems to have no impact on experience gain (at least I noticed no visible progress on the bar, while socializing nor when relationship status changes... maybe good relations net you bigger boost when doing the "main" responsibility, like handling emergencies for firefighters, I don't know).

[Pam]

Welcome to the Forum, Crise!  Good topic here.

[MomOfMany]

I haven't noticed any visible gain by coworker either so I normally don't bother with it. I didn't know that about the maxed skill either as I hadn't quite gotten that far. But definitely good to know!

[Crise]

Welcome to the Forum, Crise!  Good topic here.

Thanks... just thought that those of us who were planning on having existing sims engage in professions should know this.

For example if you try to max out firefighter profession with a sim that has high athletic and handiness skills... well suffice to say you'll be putting out a lot of small fires and after level five getting a promotion can take ages (this is the point were I resorted to testingcheatsenabled and shift dragging the exp bar).

Also just an update regarding co-workers I did see the "job experience" symbol above my sims head once while socialising... don't ask me how that happened, as that was one time luck, but for one thing the exp gain was minimal if not non-existent

[MomOfMany]

Yeah, I did notice a bar once too but it went away by the next interaction! Maybe you just get a little boost for each coworker you meet and then another little boost when you hit each different relationship like friend, good friend, and best friend. I don't know though. I didn't notice much of anything. I am sure when the masters here get to it they will figure out just how much of a boost if any it gives. They are good with that here I have noticed.

[Simbacat]

In case anyone decides to go the self employment route, the professions levels are tied directly to how much money you make.
I can post these if anyone is interested.

[AnnaDruvez]

I've discovered that the weekly royalties you collect don't apply to the job experience money meter for self-employment as a writer. However, the money you collect from sending in a few chapters and the money that you receive when you complete a book do register.

For the writer profession, btw, your only job responsibility is selling your books... Which is pretty much the same thing you did normally.

[TommyT]

I've been trying to replicate your results but I just can't.  With both of my firefighters I maxed their Athletic and Handiness before I even introduced myself to my crew and I reached level 10 on day 10.  With my architect I maxed painting before taking a job which got me to level 6, and my jobs were paying 3x as much than if I'd started working off the bat.

[Crise]

Well I am very sure it happened to me... since after lvl5 with firefighter my experience started to crawl. When I started my firefighting I had athletic nine and handiness ten.

When I trained my sim in athletic he got promoted while at home whilst his job exp rose pretty fast but after that no matter how much I pumped iron etc. nothing seemed to happen to job experience.

Though this also was an old pre-ambitions household but that *shouldn't* matter.

[TommyT]

Hmm I wonder if since your Sim already had high skills he was shorted on the total possible experience he could gain?

[Crise]

Not sure, I didn't save that game so I could try again (though now my skills for that sim are 10 and 10) we can see if this changes anything.

Though I can also say for sure that when I was playing as firefighter I never got any exp from maintaining the firetruck or the alarms either... and you are supposed to get some since they count towards handiness right?

[TommyT]

I just made a new Sim in a new Twinbrook and made her a Firefighter.  On day one with no skills and no coworkers met I had her maintain the engine.  The xp bar flashed like a gain was made but it didn't fill up any.  She then went to a small fire which filled her bar halfway, and when she got back to station I had her maintain the alarms - which increased her xp bar.   

[AriaGirl77]

I think this probably has some truth to it.  My firefighter sim gained 3 levels while on maternity leave.  All she did was work out and invent things.  Occasionally she had to go back to the station to repair the engine and alarm, but obviously she didn't go to any emergencies.

[Carl]

I'm definitely in agreement about trying to start with minimum skill levels in these professions that track them. I did a test character and got 7 levels in ghost hunting just from reading logic books, before the first shift. That's something only possible with static needs but it shows just how big a factor they are in your performance. So you'll make more money if you can spend those off hours studying and gaining experience.

[Drevin54]

Yeah, I've found a cheat with testingcheatsenabled true, and if you go to the career tab (you must have a profession as your job), you can drag the experience bar up and you can level up to level 10 in any profession in less than a minute! Hope this helped