My understanding is that a significant number of “retired” people have part-time jobs (partly because they need the money, partly for something to do). No one here in that category? If so do you identity yourself as this job (Uber driver…), your former profession, or “retired”?
I only say I’m a retired IC designer if it’s relevant, and that’s too broad a category in any case. I still review papers and have a column where I can pontificate about IC design issues, but I’m seven years behind the times so I laugh at LinkedIn queries.
At our conference a year ago I asked a question, and you are supposed to identify yourself and your affiliation. I said blissfully retired. Someone said, “don’t rub it in” so the next time I said “can’t be laid off.”
I’m a retired software engineer. I have no problems saying it: I haven’t done any professional programming in eight years.
I say I am a “retired (whatever)”.
I guess I’m still an RN, though, as I am keeping my license active.
mmm
I’m “On My Own Recognizance”
I still identify as a physicist, despite my job being teaching high school math.
As a “retired Y.” But only when I want to annoy my co-workers. Yep, co-workers (doing X).
I identify as someone who quit working at age 55 and my former employer pays me monthly not to return.
Depending on context, “I’m a retired X” or “I worked as an X.” One of my professions has a legally restricted title, so I can’t say, “I’m an X” since giving up my license. Usually I say, “I’m a writer” since my current activity is what’s relevant to the conversation.
I have a little souvenir that endorses the “retired (whatever)” choice. It’s a coffee mug that says “THIS IS WHAT AWESOME RETIRED PHYSICISTS LOOKS LIKE”. However, the fact that this simple sentiment is written with a grammatical error might tarnish that endorsement.
Got asked this at a BBQ yesterday. Just told them I’m a retired programmer. Usually people just nod and change the subject (as happened yesterday). Sadly, they won’t hear my thrilling stories of using a binary shift-right to cleverly bury data in an array index, and how I saved a few nanoseconds of processing time. “No wait! Come back! Let me tell you how I coded a circular buffer using only one line in C!” Fools have no idea what they’re missing.
Ditto. I guess I could say I’m retired from General Dynamics, Boeing, Sperry, Halliburton, McD, Honeywell, UPS, Lockheed, Brown & Root, ITT/Continental, [city] EMS, [city] Water Works, and [city] Airport, having worked full-time for all of them at some point. 
Sometimes I pick one of them just for fun, to make conversation interesting. But the last thing I did was programming, so I usually use that one along with the last company I worked for.
A friend retired at 51. His dad taught him to save for retirement, and he took it to the extreme. His financial advisor suggested retirement at 50, he worked an additional year.
Now he has 4 fun part time jobs (one is bartending at a brewery). He works more hours each week now than he did as a grade school principal.
I retired from working as an actuary, and i made an attempt to get a job as a teacher. (Then i got really busy with vacation planning. I’ll be away more than I’ll be home this summer. Oops.) But if i succeed in getting a party time teaching job, I’ll call myself a teacher. Until then, i guess retired actuary will do.
Once a copy editor, always a copy editor.
I sometimes throw in working for the Dept. of State just for fun, as almost everyone assumes that means CIA. I have been known to lead people on by saying “I did a lot of wet work. . .” - pregnant pause - “. . .all those leaky pipes, you know.”
For many years I lived near the NSA headquarters in Maryland, so whenever I met someone who simply said, “I work for the government,” I’d reply, “So, NSA, then?” They’d often be surprised I’d figured out their clever ruse.
Oh yes. Sometimes a change of subject, or a fellow traveler that is interested.
I was in GIS before it was called GIS. Most people know what GIS is now. I used to say I make maps on computers. Which gave them a sort of confused
understanding.
side note/ GIS used to be called AM/FM. Automated Mapping / Facilities Management. That was REALLY confusing, and perhaps the worst acronym ever made.
A favorite pastime at embassies is playing “spot the spook”. There are declared agents and there are agents posing as Foreign Service Officers. It’s usually not that difficult to spot them, as they are clueless about certain aspects of the DOS. You don’t want to get caught trying to spot them, as it could have serious consequences, nor was it a good idea to discuss it with others, so it was more of an idle pastime between spouses.
Depending on where you live, the professional orders/accreditation organizations will mandate who can call themselves by a given title, including after retirement. I cannot call myself an “engineer” without being a member of the provincial order, even if I have an engineering degree and do work in such a field (in my case, I work in a field with federal oversight, making provincial membership kind of pointless). A retired engineer who is listed as “retired” with the order cannot hold themselves out or have it be understood that they are an active member.
I’m assuming other orders require the same thing (doctor, nurse, etc).
For non-regulates professions, though, it’s all a lot more casual.
Yeah, i can still call myself an actuary
- there are no legal requirements to do so I’m the US, so you can call yourself an actuary, too, if you are so inclined.
- as of today, I’m still qualified to practice, according to my professional society’s rules
But I’m not doing a lot of actuarial work. And I’m doing a lot of retired stuff. So “retired actuary” seems more descriptive.