# So, what do you do for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 9, 2006, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687 "2006-07-09T01:11:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Syntropy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/65b543/32.png) [@Syntropy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Syntropy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/41 "2006-07-09T03:26:05Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > I am also certificated in Gifted & Talented Education. So _you’re_ my daughter’s English teacher. :dubious: 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/42 "2006-07-09T03:38:17Z")
> [@fetus](#): > > Interesting. If you don’t mind, can we discuss some of the ins and outs of this over email? Chemistry is my current major and I’m thinking of looking into chemical engineering. Sure; e-mail sent. ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/43 "2006-07-09T03:39:52Z")
I have two jobs: I’m a Product Placement Executive\* 😃 for a major supermarket chain here in Australia, and in my spare time I write about historic firearms for a well-known shooting magazine. I’m also studying law part-time, but I’m finding it very difficult and quite boring now, so I’m not sure what I’m going to do… \*officially, “Long Life Nightfill”- I put the stock on the shelves at the supermarket in the evening after it’s closed. ---
**Author:** ![kinoons](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a698b9/32.png) [@kinoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kinoons)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/44 "2006-07-09T03:53:36Z")
I’m a paramedic, have been for 5 years. I wanted to be a pilot in the USMC as a teenager, but my poor eyesight kept me out. I was involved in the Civil Air Patrol, and decided to join a ground search and rescue team. One of our requirements was a first aid class, that’s how I got hooked on medicine. Currently I am attending school to become a RN. Paramedicine is great fun, but it’s a little tough to pay the bills. My ultimate goal is to become a nurse practitioner. During college I worked at Gateway Computers as a computer tech. Still dabble in it on the side, fixing computers for friends and family. ---
**Author:** ![racer72](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/racer72/32/3075_2.png) [@racer72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/racer72)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/45 "2006-07-09T04:04:20Z")
I work for a large aircraft manufacturer. I currently perform functional tests of the aircraft lighting and oxygen systems. I actually started out with this company building boats, specifically the Navy PHM’s. I was laid off and went to auto mechanics school and ran my own shop. I was called back for a couple of temporary positions on the 747 and 757 programs. In '86 I was hired for the 737 program and have been building them since except for a 4 year period when I went to help start the 777 program. On the side I have a paralegal business I need to put a lot more effort into, I sell stuff on Ebay to support my collections and I recently got my CDL to drive limos. ---
**Author:** ![groo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecd19e/32.png) [@groo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groo)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/46 "2006-07-09T04:10:03Z")
I design embedded software that controls airborne and spaceborne radars. Actually I argue, pontificate and make Powerpoint slides 38 hours a week. Then I spend about 2 hours writing code. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/47 "2006-07-09T04:41:15Z")
I design videogames. Right now I’m working for Sony on a PlayStation 3 title. I spend about half my time writing design docs and half my playing playing the current build and giving feedback to the programmers and the artists. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2006, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/48 "2006-07-09T05:10:22Z")
I’m an engineer, as you could probably figure out from my ID. I design hardware and software which runs in manufacturing plants. Stuff that I’ve designed is used to make beer, steel, drugs, chemicals, plastic, breakfast cereals, cigarettes, light bulbs (er, excuse me, “lamps”, they are very picky about that), and processes nuclear fuel. How I ended up here: I went to college and couldn’t make up my mind between comp sci and electrical engineering. I ended up with engineering (BSEE). My first job was as a hardware engineer in a company that made airborne radar and flir systems. I did a bit of embedded programming while I was there, but mostly did hardware work. Fortunately, unlike groo, I spent most of my time doing engineering, and not power points and arguing, although there were some weeks where I can definately relate. I became a defense cutback in the early 90’s. I decided I didn’t want to do defense work after that, so I contracted around. I’ve always had the ability to do software and hardware both, which landed me a bunch of niche jobs. I worked in a power plant designing equipment and programming PLCs for a bunch of projects to make the plant more efficient. I designed equipment for testing hospital isolated power systems. I designed a bunch of computer controlled equipment for a neurobiology research lab, which was by far the most enjoyable job I’ve had in my career. That job was funded by research grants, and when the grants ran out I needed a job in a hurry, because by then I was married and had my first child. I quickly grabbed a job for a company that made industrial controls. I didn’t like the company much, so I figured I’d work there for about a year or so until I found something else I really liked. That was ten years ago, so I guess it’s time to consider that this might actually be a permenant job. What it’s like working in my field: Read Dilbert. Any engineer will tell you it’s not a comic, it’s a documentary. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2006, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/49 "2006-07-09T05:11:46Z")
I’m a psychologist and assistant professor. I have two related degrees, and two unrelated degrees. I used to be an English teacher, but while that was fun, it didn’t feel like my profession. I had thought I’d grow up to be a poet. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/50 "2006-07-09T05:27:48Z")
I’m a stage manager for a local kids’ theatre summer camp in the mornings, I’m a stagehand here in the afternoons, and I’ll be going off to college in the fall, possibly to major in theatre. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2006, 5:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/51 "2006-07-09T05:43:58Z")
> [@appleciders](#): > > I’m a stage manager for a local kids’ theatre summer camp in the mornings, I’m a stagehand here in the afternoons, and I’ll be going off to college in the fall, possibly to major in theatre. Are yo going to SOU or somewhere else? ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/52 "2006-07-09T06:17:31Z")
I’m a supervisor in a call center, keeping the reps in line and preventing them freaking out on cranky customers. I’ve held down a number of jobs, from real estate appraisal to driving a truck, I’ve been self employed, worked in convenience stores and pet shops, pretty much everything except for fast food work. ---
**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 6:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/53 "2006-07-09T06:23:07Z")
I’m a Photographer and a writer, which is a fancy way of saying I deliver hot wings at night to pay the bills. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/54 "2006-07-09T06:37:09Z")
I’m a “development clerk”; a lot of the older engineers at work think that means I change toner cartridges and clear paper jams. I do do that, but only because the plotter is in my office. Most of my actual work is in document control and doing data entry on blueprints. All the drawings for my company begin with me assigning a number, and end with me doing the input and formally releasing it. This and more for my liberal arts A.A. It’s actually all kind of like a cross between being a data entry automaton (mostly this), a mechanic, a reference librarian, a mailroom clerk and a document curator (in the blueprint vault, no one can hear you scream). In a more unofficial capacity, I bring whimsy to the stuffy military-complex cubicle farm by wielding a Nerf gun and wearing novelty glasses. I’m quitting in September though to finish my BA in Classics. ---
**Author:** ![appleciders](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85f322/32.png) [@appleciders](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/appleciders)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/55 "2006-07-09T06:39:40Z")
> [@Shoshana](#): > > Are yo going to SOU or somewhere else? Elsewhere. Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, more specifically. SOU’s got a _great_ program, but I grew up here and I really need a change of scenery. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/56 "2006-07-09T08:17:11Z")
My career path (not counting farm chores as a kid): -Counsellor (for the Latin for “housekeeper with fancy title”) in a home for retarded adults -Bellman -Desk Clerk (various hotels) -Various jobs over a multi-year period that involved working with recently released from mental hospital schizophrenics and included- -Resident Manager of an apartment complex for schizoaffective adults (some interesting stories I must admit, but not something I’d ever do again) -Schizophrenic Trainer- getting them to jump through hoops is easy, but paying me $10 per hour so that you train a schizoaffective person who may have an IQ of 12 or may have an IQ of 189 to fold laundry for $5 per hour in a job that s/he didn’t want in the first place was not one of the federal governments better thought programs -Driver for the schizoaffective -Front Desk Supervisor -Home Mortgage Servicer (may the company go broke and the officers slither back into hell) -Customer service for the Department of Education’s direct loans (not as scintillating as it sounds) -Librarian There were others but those are the ones that come to mind. ---
**Author:** ![Sublight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@Sublight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sublight)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/57 "2006-07-09T08:42:02Z")
I’m a copywriter at an ad agency, and on the weekends I’m a wedding minister. ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 9:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/58 "2006-07-09T09:44:27Z")
I’m the lead developer of a software team. This team is small enough that I develop more than I manage. The last team I managed more than I developed. I like this better. ---
**Author:** ![Lady\_Venom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9fc348/32.png) [@Lady\_Venom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lady_Venom)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/59 "2006-07-09T13:16:22Z")
I’m a supervisor/admin assistant for a large Hazmat, Plumbing & Commercial company. I’m a very busy drone at the moment. We clean up Haz spills and pick up haz waste, provide residential & commercial plumbing, as well as perform various Industrial & Commercial cleaning. I was their receptionist for almost 2 years, left for about 9 months, and was hired back as admin, and later supervisor of the other admin and receptionist. I assist 2 of the sales men. Two very different guys with different working styles, so I have to gear myself accordingly. First job I have ever had that I truly love. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687/60 "2006-07-09T14:46:11Z")
> [@Clockwork And Candy](#): > > [hijack]OMG, this is my last post. My trial membership expires in a few hours. It’s been fun and everyone here was really nice. The days just _flew_ by-- it’s hard to believe that my time is already up. Still, I’ll continue to lurk these forums, if it matters. Buh-bye.[/hijack] Please check your mail and your status. Jim [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-do-you-do-for-a-living/363687.md?page=4)