A sometimes lonely summer job showed me it was stability I needed to overcome my shyness, says Micha Frazer-Carroll, opinions editor at gal-dem.com

I struggled with the machines and the soundtrack but got a raw insight into the decline of British manufacturing, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty

I enjoyed learning about hospital corners, ginger nuts and Sherlock Holmes. But it was my last summer as a care-free child, says Gina Miller

Teachers laughed and agencies told me to keep it off my CV, but my summer job taught me about hard work, family and class, says columnist and writer Nell Frizzell

A holiday job taught me that as long as objectives were achieved, no one much cared how I did it, says Hugh Muir, a senior Guardian editor

A wet summer in a Welsh ice-cream parlour was the perfect way to cope with impending adulthood, writes Guardian columnist Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett