I work in the environmental industry, as a project scientist/technician (and recently the project schedules have me listed as supervisor…HUH? I don’t remember being informed of that, but that’s another thread :D).
'The misconception most people seem to have about my job is that as soon as they hear me say “environmental”, they automatically think “tree and bunny hugger” and greenpeace psycho type jobs.
Nope, we’re the part of the environmental world that actually does something to correct and cleanup the contamination problems that exist (quite a lot of something as a matter of fact, I’ve done everything from remove ancient “orphaned” drums filled with nasty unknowns from the woods to being a baby tree minder (I don’t hug them, I just assist in making sure their survival rate remains at an acceptable level) in re-veg projects. We’re NOT the ones who drive around in ships (powered by fuel DUH!) at the base of oil platforms bothering platform workers, those would be environmentalISTS, not environmental industry.
Though I have to admit, I did once have a project where a boat was scheduled to tour the bases of various oil platforms. Their job wasn’t to harass the workers though, it was to inspect the infrastructure and check for potential structural problems that could lead to a leak and to act as first responders in the case of such a leak.
Another job I was involved in was for one of the big oil companies’ environmental division and their waterfowl project. THAT was cool. I didn’t get to go on the field effort, but the swan research was pretty darned fun. The project involved tracking and counting waterfowl in various exploration and existing drilling sites to ensure that the numbers stayed the same or grew in areas with drilling activity. My part of the project mostly dealt with swans. BTW, typically the numbers go UP around drilling and production sites. This is true for many of the species in Prudhoe Bay. “Environmentalists” don’t typically have much knowledge or understanding of what it actually does take to care for and protect the environment.
I’m a mechanical engineer. My current job title is “dedication engineer”; my company purchases commercial-grade parts and qualifies them for use in backup diesel generators (mostly 16 or 20 cylinders) in nuclear power plants.
On the mechanical side, I get a surprising number of “what’s wrong with my car” questions. I only took one automotive class in college…how should I know why your check engine light won’t go out? And no, car maintenance is not optional, or some kind of dealer scam! If you treat it like crap, that’s exactly how it’s going to perform.
On the dedication side: I don’t work in a nuclear power plant, nor have I ever visited one. We do not have radioactive materials on site; in fact, we don’t deal with the actual power generation aspects of a nuclear plant. If something goes wrong (an earthquke, for example) and a nuclear plant can no longer produce the power needed to maintain itself, that’s where we come in. Our generators do not supply “replacement” power to the grid, they just supply power to keep the nuclear reaction under control.
And I certainly don’t mind being the only female engineer currently employed by this company! I prefer working with the guys there, anyway; if they’re pissed off, they tell you to your face instead of engaging in some petty BS like some of the “ladies”.
One of the biggest misconceptions I’ve found is people assume we get paid for the time we don’t work.
I don’t get paid during the summer (and summer for teachers hasn’t been three months long in decades…it’s two months now.) I don’t get paid for the two weeks off at winter break or the one week off at spring break. I don’t get paid for Labor Day. I don’t get paid for Memorial Day. I don’t get for Veteran’s Day. I don’t get paid for Christmas Day. (Although, I used to…that used to be a paid holiday!) I don’t get paid for MLK Day. I don’t get paid for Presidents’ Day.
I get paid for working 197 days a year, although I work a lot more than that.
I always have to work in the summer to supplement my income; quite often I work over winter and/or spring break.
The other huge misconception about teaching is that anyone can do it.
I’m an academic advisor. I don’t get summers off, though advisors at other institutions might. During the summer, we work with new students at orientation, advise summer students, process summer graduations and work on projects for the coming year.
We’re not heartless bastards, although it may seem that way when we cruelly enforce our publicly-stated deadlines, policies and prerequisites.
I don’t know if this is universally true, but school districts in my neck of the woods offer the option of paying teachers the same salary over a 52 week period as opposed to “Summers off” pay.
You could have referred them to the Air Force recruiter to do Security Forces perhaps (half-jokingly referred to as “The Infantry of the Air Force”), if you could convince them that people in the Air Force do PT, receive combat training, and do lots of stuff that don’t involve flying around in airplanes at all. I’m not sure if the Air Force is still doing a big push for Security Forces airmen though.
ETA: I’m not Security Forces, but some of my friends are. I’m training for a job where I probably couldn’t get to use a gun even if I wanted to, but where I am nonetheless still required to meet physical fitness standards and PT regularly.
I too have found this thread to be very interesting. The one disappointment is that no Military Strongmen have bothered to post. Just too busy crushing dissent with an iron fist, I guess…
Just a few more clarifications about those of us who teach college classes PT:
No, we are not all PT because we want to be. That’s the case for some but not for most.
No, we are not all PT because we’re not good enough to be FT. Many of us teach varied classes on several campuses; we have master’s degrees, many years of experience, lots of skills, publications and more. FT positions are few and far between, and interviews for same are even more unlikely. No, we do not get promoted after a few years; it doesn’t work that way.
No, I do not have an office on campus. I should, but I don’t. I have a few places where I can get work done, but no actual office. Really. And don’t even think about shoving your papers under my department head’s office door. That is not my office, and he doesn’t like it when people do that. Neither do I. [This is actually directed more at students. Can you tell that they ask me about this a lot?]
No I am not a web designer, database administrator, retail point of sale expert, or accountant.
Being the boss does not mean I do not have to work, in fact I end up with more than the others.
Being self employed does not mean I work when I feel like it, it means I work when the customers feel like it.
No despite the cashflow of the biz computer hardware is low margin sales work. Just because I moved $500 in parts does not mean I made $500, more like $50.
I’m a programmer. So I must know what’s the best hardware or software to buy, what’s wrong with your wireless network, can deliver a full blown critique of Windows Vista vs XP, and can Photoshop anything.
I am a quality assurance technician. I calibrate guages, document compliance with quality standards, and on occasion do industrial statistics. I am not an inspector (you can’t inspect quality into a product).
Not my current job, but for 2 and a half years I was a data administrator for an insurance company.
My grandmother, from day 1 until the day she died (which also happened to be the last week I was at that job) would constantly refer to me as an insurance salesman. The company was in chapter 11 bankrupcy, which meant that aside from trying to pass off some of our policies to more stable companies, NOBODY there was selling insurance, and it didn’t matter how many times I told her, she would still start up with “how are the insurances sales going?” the next time we’d speak.
I currently am working in a document processing center for legal offices. If she was still alive, I bet she would start referring to me as a lawyer!
While I am interested in a lot of things automotive, I am not interested in everything automotive.
But wait you didn’t tell the teeming millions about some of these descriptions.
From last week: There is a slight tick in my engine.
Start car, rev engine KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK ah, no sir, that is what they call a rod knock, your engine is toast.
See above, they wondered why when I quoted the price on a replacement engine, I could not estimate to the dime up front. (I gave them a range of about $400 dollars depending on exactly which extra parts needed changing.)
