What career did Dickens first undertake as a young adult out of school?

He worked at Warren's Blacking (shoe polish) Factory, applying labels to bottles of blacking. He only worked there for about eight months but it had a deep and painful impact on the rest of his life. When his father was released from debtors prison, Charles's mother tried to insist he stay in the blacking factory, even though the rest of the family were now together. Fortunately for Charles, his father overrode this and Charles left Warren's and went to school.