# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![Nayna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ebca7d/32.png) [@Nayna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nayna)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/121 "2025-01-10T21:00:40Z")
My title is Commercial Property Manager, from lease analyses and negotiations to roof inspections, but really that’s only about 20% of the job. I also dabble in the company’s corporate entities/trusts/contracts/preparing for legal cases/IT/filing/managing contractors and maintenance staff/accounting/marketing/notarizing/HR/company calendar/office supplies … really, if anything has to be done, somebody will probably ask me to do it. Sometimes I help out with my bosses’ kids/pets/travel arrangements/homes. I love it all. It keeps me busy and interested. I’m happy with my salary, and the company pays for my health care. There are seven of us here, and I have my own office with a door, a desktop and two monitors. I can usually get away with paying my own bills, making appointments, and dealing with other personal matters while I’m at work. I spend my days in a pretty little town 22 minutes from my house. I’m 15-20 years away from possibly retiring, and more than that if I can swing it. My boss is older than I am, but I think the company will survive him, and there will always be something to do here. ---
**Author:** ![OldOlds](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/a3d4f5/32.png) [@OldOlds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldOlds)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/122 "2025-01-10T21:08:26Z")
I’ll echo what someone else said: This crowd really does have an impressive breadth of expertise. Lots of computer folks, and so far I think I’m the only pharma guy. I started in a lab, did a stint as a Validation Engineer, then I ran a small production facility. After that I spent a long time overseeing new drug development programs. That was my favorite, and I miss it. My last and current jobs were being a generic executive and would really like to get back to development. It would be a pay cut, however, so sometimes I think that at 51 I should just bank and GTFO. ---
**Author:** ![Apodder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apodder/32/17727_2.png) [@Apodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apodder)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/123 "2025-01-10T21:51:30Z")
Critical care RN. 31 years of surgical/trauma/transplant ICU, now the last 5 years in post-anesthesia recovery. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/124 "2025-01-10T21:57:17Z")
You – or someone like you – danced with me in the hospital hallway after my bariatric surgery 3 years ago, when I had a hard time shaking off the anesthesia. Thank you! ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/125 "2025-01-10T22:00:22Z")
What a fascinating group of experiences! I’m much more boring than some - accountant at an O&G company. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/126 "2025-01-10T22:07:50Z")
I see liontaming as your next logical progression. > [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > [Play your cards right, and you could become a high-ranking person in the govenrment](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Being_There). (Spoiler alert: don’t click if you haven’t seen the film _Being There_.) Whoa - you happened to pick no. 3 on my Alltime Greatest Film list. The only thing on the inside of my right trailer door is an 8" x 11" glossy from BT. (Chauncey in his garden) 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_stainless_steel_rat/32/5727_2.png) [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Stainless_Steel_Rat)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/127 "2025-01-10T22:18:22Z")
Just another Gentleman of Leisure (in other words, just a fancy way of saying RDOS). Before that I went from short-order cook to substitute teacher to Transportation (personal property) specialist for the Dept. of Defense (US Army), then Type Classification specialist (don’t ask, I worked it for a year and never figured it out), before finally landing by luck and happenstance in the job I held for nearly 25 years. International Arms Merchant. Actually, I worked as a Country Case Manager for Foreign Military Sales. When foreign countries wanted to buy some of our systems (because the USA makes things that go BOOM better than most folks), I wrote up the agreement, explained it to the customer, monitored it once signed so that everything got on contract and was within the cost shown, and briefed the customer on progress when they asked (usually 1-2 times a year). It got me to 4 continents and to seeing places and sites I never thought I would get to see, and I think I did a pretty good job at it. ---
**Author:** ![Toxgoddess](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Toxgoddess](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toxgoddess)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/128 "2025-01-10T22:36:49Z")
> [@OldOlds](#): > > Lots of computer folks, and so far I think I’m the only pharma guy. I did a postdoc at a pharmaceutical company. Loved it, but they weren’t hiring at that time so I ended up elsewhere. I have very fond memories of it though. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/129 "2025-01-10T22:43:56Z")
> [@liirogue](#): > > accountant at an O&G company. And “O&G” means what? ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/130 "2025-01-10T22:47:24Z")
i was guessing Oil & Gas myself. ---
**Author:** ![liirogue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dbc845/32.png) [@liirogue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liirogue)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/131 "2025-01-10T22:47:35Z")
Oh sorry - oil & gas edit - ninja’d by **Maserschmidt** ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/132 "2025-01-10T22:49:17Z")
Thanks both of you. Easy to forget which TLAs are universal and which are industry-specific 🙂 I sure do. ---
**Author:** ![mtnmatt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a3d4f5/32.png) [@mtnmatt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mtnmatt)\ **Post date:** [January 10, 2025, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/133 "2025-01-10T22:53:46Z")
I am a Program Manager, working in the television tech industry for the last 25 years, managing and implementing the development of things like cable/satellite infrastructure (set-tops, VOD systems, etc.) for major providers and suppliers like Verizon and Cisco. I’m currently working on building production tools (cameras, encoders, etc.) for creating Immersive Content for the Vision Pro. I was an English/hacky-sack major in school, and after the videotex partnership where started my career was shuttered, I worked as a Producer for a TV show, and then spent 5 years doing cable regulatory affairs (franchising, etc.) before moving over to the tech side to run the Y2K program. Being here at Apple was not really foreseeable back then. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/134 "2025-01-11T02:53:47Z")
I’m a farmer. Certified organic fresh produce, primarily direct-market, to be precise. Related to that I’m the primary manager for a farmers’ market. Only tangentially related to that I sit on a town planning board. None of that pays very much and some of it doesn’t pay anything; but it all needs doing and most of the time I like doing it. Before all of that I worked in vineyards, so also farming; and briefly as a migrant fruit picker, also farming. Before and sometimes during that I worked, very briefly at each, at: waiting on tables (which I am bad at); beveling crystals that went into radios, which was an awful job which I’m pretty sure no longer exists; and in a medical records room, a job which is now I presume done drastically differently than it was at the time. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/135 "2025-01-11T05:15:57Z")
> [@LSLGuy](#): > > Easy to forget which TLAs are universal and which are industry-specific 🙂 What’s a “TLA”? > [@Lancia](#): > > I teach English and math at a last-chance boarding school for troubled and at-risk youth. > > Before this I was a hospice caregiver for 14 years. Holy gawds. Remind me to 1a.) give much respect, and 2b.) NEVER piss you off. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/136 "2025-01-11T05:17:55Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > What’s a “TLA”? A three-letter acronym for Three Letter Acronym. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Richard\_Pearse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/richard_pearse/32/13144_2.png) [@Richard\_Pearse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Richard_Pearse)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/137 "2025-01-11T05:52:26Z")
I’d like to echo the praise for the diverse experience here, but also perhaps lament the number of retired people. There’s nothing wrong with retired people of course but it underlines the fact that the SDMB is a dying message board. A question for the retired people. Do you normally identify yourself with the job you used to do, or have you found a new identity in retirement, or did you never identify yourself by occupation? This thread obviously leads you to identify as a “retired such and such” but how do you think of yourselves normally? What is your answer to the question “_who_ are you?” For myself, I’m an active airline pilot with about 14 years of flying left, medical permitting. I have also worked as a service station attendant, a post/freight sorter, and I had a stint playing Red Light, Green Light, with trains. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/138 "2025-01-11T06:23:02Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > > [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > > > What’s a “TLA”? > > A three-letter acronym for Three Letter Acronym. 😉 Oh, for cryin’ out loud. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 10:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/139 "2025-01-11T10:29:11Z")
I started off working in sales / project management in translation, then got into importing first dealing with international supplier then sales and marking of imported products. Later, I took a complete turn and went into teaching and have taught English for 13 years. ---
**Author:** ![Lsura](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7993a0/32.png) [@Lsura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lsura)\ **Post date:** [January 11, 2025, 11:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774/140 "2025-01-11T11:11:32Z")
I’m a librarian at a very large public university in the southeast US. But mostly I manage other librarians and projects at this point in my career. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/1012774.md?page=8)