[happyjack]

I'll stick to the favorite job that's "in my career" to keep with the theme I sense OP is wanting.

I did a lot of manual / hard labor in middle, high school, and college, and studied engineering.

My favorite job was about 6 years out of college where I got to combine all those. I was doing contract applied research for the private sector. Along with engineering systems and designing experiments, I was also machining, turning wrenches, taking samples, etc.

I find myself most happy when I'm running around / working with my hands at least 3 days a week and doing office / design work the other 2 (on average).