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This paper discusses, through the findings of several research projects undertaken during 2000–2002, the way in which Australian teenagers learn and talk about work. It reports the young people’s perceptions of work - both part-time work and full-time work after leaving school - and the ways in which they compare and contrast work and school. Willis in the 1970s in England uncovered 'how working class kids get working class jobs' and this paper uses Willis’s findings as a starting point to begin to examine, nearly 30 years later, teenage perceptions of work and workplaces in Australia. These early experiences of work and the comparisons the young people make with formal learning are important for the teenagers’ future identities as workers and learners.