One of the most interesting things about the SDMB, to me, is the diversity of member backgrounds. We have people from many countries, who speak many languages, and who work in many fields. It’s the last that will be the focus of this thread.
We have airline pilots, doctors, active-duty military, technogeeks, veterinarians, journalists, musicians, scientists, authors, at least one cinematographer, and of course a handful of professional dipsticks, among many others. Ask a question on virtually any subject, and there’s a pretty good chance that somebody will come along sooner or later to say, “Yes, my first job was programming binary load lifters,” and then offer their fascinating first-hand knowledge on the subject.
I was reminded yet again of the breadth of expertise represented on the boards in this thread, which features the following:
And I thought: cool.
So my question is, which fields are under-represented, or have no representation at all? I’m trying to think of examples, jobs I don’t remember anyone claiming: do we have any tattoo artists? dentists? long-haul truckers? Any others?
I’ve been a site safety officer on a construction site contaminated by radiation and flammable gas, had a convenience store/gas station, and my current job is pretty specialized but under the more general umbrella of “software test” so probably isn’t very interesting.
Any nuclear reactor engineers? Paper cup manufacturers? TSA? Professional brewers/distillers? The person that makes antacid tablets taste chalky?
I think we have a dental student.
Do we have any hot air balloonists?
Tree trimmers?
Cops?
Aerobics Instructors?
Garbage men?
Postal workers?
Cab drivers?
Midwives?
We have brewers galore, including August West, who does it professionally. pkbites is a cop, IIRC. I’ve also seen responses from midwives, postal workers and the odd personal trainer or two.
I don’t think there is much we don’t have experience with around here. That’s one of the reasons this place is as great as it is.
Yeah, I’d forgotten that guy, but on the off chance he was telling the truth, he still wasn’t a legal executioner.
As far as chicken de-beakers – damnedest thing – I never actually worked the machine, but I’ve helped de-beak chickens. Now there’s a job that isn’t real resume material.
I would wager that even if there are hobbyist macrame’ enthusiasts, there’s unlikely to be a professional macrame’ or ornamental knot tier (I had to look that up!) among us. There’s not a lot of money in that field, I must assume.
