# So. What do you do for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 9, 2025, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774 "2025-01-09T21:53:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tride](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tride/32/13907_2.png) [@Tride](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tride)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/21 "2025-01-09T23:44:44Z")
I got a fancy degree from a potted Ivy (Wesleyan) and became a carpenter. I’ve built/worked on houses in Martha’s Vineyard, Telluride CO and Bozeman MT. Eventually I became a general Contractor, which was easier on my body but less fulfilling than being a carpenter. Now I’m a house-husband and ski bum. ---
**Author:** ![Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/intergalactic_gladiator/32/112_2.png) [@Intergalactic\_Gladiator](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Intergalactic_Gladiator)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/22 "2025-01-09T23:46:07Z")
I am an intergalactic gladiator. ---
**Author:** ![Reeses\_Monkey](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reeses_monkey/32/2885_2.png) [@Reeses\_Monkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeses_Monkey)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/23 "2025-01-09T23:51:42Z")
Currently I’m a medical courier for the American Red Cross. Technically I work for a third party company but all of our product comes from the ARC. Our dispatchers are in Georgia but I’m in Pennsylvania, which makes it fun when I try to tell them that the hospital they’re trying to send me to in WV is not “on the way” to the one in Pittsburgh. They have no clue as to local geography. It’s an interesting job that gets me out and about at all hours of the day and night. I could be sent to the hospital a mile from my house or dispatched to Kentucky. Our delivery area encompasses 62 of PA’s 67 counties, along with bits of Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky, and the occasional oddball runs to New York or DC. ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 9, 2025, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/24 "2025-01-09T23:59:43Z")
I do VFX for video games, currently working remotely on an upcoming MMO. I’ve been in the industry for about thirty years, and I hope to retire before AI completely replaces me. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/25 "2025-01-10T00:06:52Z")
> [@brachyrhynchos](#): > > I am a corvidologist They’re such amazing birds. Any reading recommendations? [Mind of the Raven](https://www.harpercollins.com/products/mind-of-the-raven-bernd-heinrich?variant=32122736476194) was one of my favorites. > [@Lightnin](#): > > I do VFX for video games How is it doing this in the West (presumably)? I thought it was all (or mostly) outsourced these days… not even to AI, just cheaper countries? Of the remaining ones still employing humans in the West, is it a good career? Exploitative / lot of crunch? ---
**Author:** ![Lightnin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightnin/32/180_2.png) [@Lightnin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightnin)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/26 "2025-01-10T00:14:38Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > How is it doing this in the West (presumably)? I thought it was all (or mostly) outsourced these days… not even to AI, just cheaper countries? Of the remaining ones still employing humans in the West, is it a good career? Exploitative / lot of crunch? Yeah, I live in Canada (as a US citizen), but work for a US company in California. Most studios outsource to a degree, but only the “grunt work”. Most studios that I’ve worked for have only used outsourcing if they absolutely had to. It can be exploitive, but there’s a big movement away from that now. One of my previous studios has recently unionized, and I expect that trend to continue. ---
**Author:** ![Tripler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripler/32/21807_2.png) [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/27 "2025-01-10T00:35:04Z")
Appraiser of Fine Antiques & Collections. Tripler . . . and professional coffe drinker & memo writer. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Girlfriend](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.girlfriend/32/193_2.png) [@Dr.Girlfriend](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Girlfriend)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/28 "2025-01-10T00:35:57Z")
I work in the finance operations area of a large insurance brokerage firm. Fancy way of saying I pay the financial advisors who sell policies. ---
**Author:** ![Alpine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alpine/32/17813_2.png) [@Alpine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alpine)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/29 "2025-01-10T00:37:49Z")
Another GISer here. I’ve worked for a small Colorado county as the GIS Director/Coordinator/sole staffer for 25+ years, the last 6 remotely from Bozeman, MT (yes @Tride is my house husband and he’s the BEST). I still enjoy the variety, from scripting in Python to making maps and herding data. Before that, I worked for a domestic violence/sexual assault hotline for 4 years. Boy was that a long time ago! ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/30 "2025-01-10T00:42:15Z")
Barrister in Canada doing a fair bit of appellate work, plus odds and bobs of other law stuff. I’ve appeared in all levels of court in my province, and in five appellate courts across the country. Have also appeared in federal and provincial administrative tribunals. Write the occasional article and do guest lecturing now and then at the law school. ---
**Author:** ![susan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/susan/32/17537_2.png) [@susan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/susan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/31 "2025-01-10T00:44:10Z")
Retired. Now I’m back to being a poet. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Strangelove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.strangelove/32/6613_2.png) [@Dr.Strangelove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Strangelove)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/32 "2025-01-10T00:57:54Z")
Thaumaturgical engineer. ---
**Author:** ![X.L.Lent](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/a5b964/32.png) [@X.L.Lent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/X.L.Lent)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/33 "2025-01-10T00:58:41Z")
Very late 1970s: Restaurant worker. 1980s: Production artist. 1990s: Small truck driver with some warehouse work 2000 to just recently: QA tester of games and webpages Now: Retired, internet surfer and amateur artist. ---
**Author:** ![brachyrhynchos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/brachyrhynchos/32/376_2.png) [@brachyrhynchos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brachyrhynchos)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/34 "2025-01-10T01:18:59Z")
Bernd Heinrich is terrific. I think his 1989 work _Ravens in Winter_ is classic Bernd. John Marzluff and Tony Angell’s 2005 _In the Company of Crows and Ravens_ is very good as is Candace Savage 1995 _Bird Brain: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays._ ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/35 "2025-01-10T01:22:22Z")
I design hardware and software for industrial control systems. I’ve done a lot of work in steel mills, pharmaceutical companies, corn processing and ethanol production (including corn syrup, corn-based plastics, and artificial sweeteners), breweries (one of the top 5 beer companies in the U.S.), the manufacturing of plastics, and a lot of different chemical plants. FYI - the training required to work in a chemical plant literally includes the phrase “there is no such thing as a good siren”. Also, one perk of working for a brewery is that if I have to go on site for some reason, they’ll usually give me a free case of beer. ---
**Author:** ![Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mean_mr.mustard/32/3865_2.png) [@Mean\_Mr.Mustard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mean_Mr.Mustard)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/36 "2025-01-10T01:35:07Z")
Retired Registered Nurse. mmm ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/37 "2025-01-10T01:49:19Z")
Retired MD ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/38 "2025-01-10T02:09:40Z")
> [@Tripler](#): > > Appraiser of Fine Antiques & Collections. > > Tripler > . . . and professional coffe drinker & memo writer. What happened to Blower-Up Of Stuff Real Good? I’m on SSDI and coach cross-country/track at a local high school. ---
**Author:** ![KCB615](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea666f/32.png) [@KCB615](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KCB615)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/39 "2025-01-10T02:26:28Z")
My first career was a firefighting. After enough decades of that, I jumped to fire protection engineering. Now I’m a registered engineer in a large handful of states. I design fire protection systems, fire alarm systems, and conduct fire hazard analyses mostly in high hazard industrial and storage facilities. Just as much fun, about 10% of the stress, and far better pay/hours. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/40 "2025-01-10T02:30:58Z")
> [@Paintcharge](#): > > Design and build museum exhibits. The company I own is in the process of going out of business, but I think I’ll be going to the local science museum. I used to be a collections manager/docent/whatever was needed at a small museum. These days I’m a human resources benefits and leave administrator. I handle benefit changes for all employees when they’re hired, when they have a qualifying life event, and of course open enrollment. I also handle leave issues for FMLA, short term/long term disability, parental leave, and worker’s compensation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774.md?page=3)