Define "real" job.. If you mean first steady job I got paid for, then.. umm..
Well.. September 1994 or 95 was my first job.
Horray for paid work studies in school.
That 50 cents an hour seemed like slave wages, but eh.. what was I gonna spend my money on when I was 14-15?
As for my vote, I voted for 19, cause that's when I started my first real minimum wage or above paying job at K-Mart working 3rd shift stocking stuff.
It was fun.. lol I can tell many stories about the fun we had, and also some stupid stories from my times working there, but I'll leave that for another day.
Worked there for 3 years, and then went to my first FIRST Nationals event in 2001, and because of the work I did on the team helping with CAD, one of the other mentors on the team said he had a job open where he worked and asked me if I was interested during a phone call I recieved from him litterally the day after I got off the plane from FL.
I said yes and that was my first "real job" in my current field of study.
Spent almost exactly 3 years there and the place was in financial difficulty so I was let go.
Went to another place and the same thing happened, but this time it was less than 4 months after I was there... Cost cutting measures, and part of a lean manufacturing practice.
But now though, the market for my degree in CAD is very weak (unless I want to to commute like.. 50 miles plus every day each way) and I may change to something else.. who knows.
Maybe I'll take up a trade as well.