# What do you do for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 27, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307 "2003-07-27T20:54:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ccwaterback](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/df705f/32.png) [@ccwaterback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ccwaterback)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/61 "2003-07-28T04:34:48Z")
Sage. Used to be a computer programmer / systems analyst / systems programmer / software engineer / dba / network architect / … depending on what your help wanted ad called for. I worked as an independent consultant. Nowadays I tinker with the stock market and buy lottery tickets. ---
**Author:** ![ReBusEniGma](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@ReBusEniGma](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ReBusEniGma)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/62 "2003-07-28T04:36:07Z")
Paying past careers: Studio Musician/composer/songwriter. I also became a licensed electrician and started an electrical contracting company. That was then. This is now: I am an Account Manager for a software consulting firm. I still teach guitar on the side. ---
**Author:** ![rjk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@rjk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjk)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/63 "2003-07-28T04:40:57Z")
“System Support Technologist”, working the helpdesk for quite a while now, though the job description includes everything from the wall plate right through the user. Lately I’ve also been burning CDs and writing the installation docs, and shopping for new HD software. (Suggestions from other helpdeskers are welcome; email in my profile.) ---
**Author:** ![altoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@altoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altoid)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/64 "2003-07-28T05:00:59Z")
Art teacher/ freelance graphic designer/ ceramicist (maker of stuff that gets broken, fixer of stuff that is broken)/ relief bartender/ constant troublemaker/ vindicator of the damned ---
**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/65 "2003-07-28T05:06:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Steve Wright \* > \*\*I’m also a smug git who says “Told you so!” \*\* Does that pay well? I could get into that gig. I work for a biotech company. For over a decade I worked with animal cells in culture, DNA, and RNA, trying to help develop therapies for human diseases. For the last 4-5 months I have been testing clincal samples (serum, mostly) from patients that are enrolled in clincal trials of our drugs. Not as intellectually challenging, but it seems to be in demand at the moment, and I was kind of in a rut with the other stuff anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Jodi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7feea3/32.png) [@Jodi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jodi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/66 "2003-07-28T06:15:01Z")
[quote] . . . constant troublemaker/ vindicator of the damned . . . /quote] Do you get dental with that? ---
**Author:** ![altoid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/45deac/32.png) [@altoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altoid)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/67 "2003-07-28T06:25:46Z")
**Jodi,** I am currently working on a collective bargaining agreement ---
**Author:** ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/68 "2003-07-28T06:29:34Z")
Full-time freelance copyeditor/proofreader. I work mostly on college-level textbooks, with a little trade and fiction thrown in for interest. Part-time jeweler. But I’ve always wanted to pretend I was an architect. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Lisa-go-Blind](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7c8e57/32.png) [@Lisa-go-Blind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa-go-Blind)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/69 "2003-07-28T06:49:24Z")
As it’s the summer, I’m working at the (ahem) second-largest video rental chain in the United States. Google that! In a month, though, I’ll have to quit. I have a promised university research job in the English department when I go back to school in the fall. ---
**Author:** ![lucwarm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e19adc/32.png) [@lucwarm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lucwarm)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/70 "2003-07-28T10:03:47Z")
Attorney: Unemployment Insurance; Wrongful Termination; Wage & Hour. I help folks who’ve lost their jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Fugazi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f08c70/32.png) [@Fugazi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fugazi)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 10:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/71 "2003-07-28T10:46:03Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by dead0man \* > \*\*I maintain secure voice communications computer equipment for the Air Force/DOD. \*\* 2E3X1? I was a crypto tech for 14 years. Now I’m a civilian working for a smallish telecommunications company. I’m a transport tech working on everything from T1’s to 400 gigabit fiber circuits. ---
**Author:** ![Aro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b3f665/32.png) [@Aro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aro)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/72 "2003-07-28T11:10:16Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Scarlett67 \* > \*\*But I’ve always wanted to pretend I was an architect. 😛 \*\* Why? Signed, **Aro** the Architect. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/73 "2003-07-28T11:14:15Z")
Project Planner/Scheduler here. I drive project schedules for IT projects. I am a guitarist/vocalist/songwriter in a band called Yell County. Despite the name, we don’t play country, more like a mod/punk thing… ---
**Author:** ![garius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e19b73/32.png) [@garius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garius)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/74 "2003-07-28T11:23:05Z")
Web Developer. Currently a member of Tony’s Gang (i work for the British Government 🙂 ) ---
**Author:** ![fotosbyfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/54ee81/32.png) [@fotosbyfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fotosbyfrank)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/75 "2003-07-28T11:23:18Z")
Semi-Retired I live off a bundle I made in the stock market (sold just before the NASDAQ bubble burst, and made even more shorting everything in sight when it collaped!), and income from some rental properties I own. I also have my photography business (which isn’t doing well since most of my corporate clients no longer exist) and I work PT at a hotel in the culinary and catering departments to keep me out of the bars all day. ---
**Author:** ![elfje](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19b73/32.png) [@elfje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfje)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/76 "2003-07-28T11:29:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by neisha \* > \*\*I’ll start…I’m unemployed. \*\* me too. since last week ---
**Author:** ![hardygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a3d4f5/32.png) [@hardygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hardygrrl)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/77 "2003-07-28T11:44:10Z")
Senior fraud analyst for a major credit card issuer. ---
**Author:** ![Terrorcotta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dbc845/32.png) [@Terrorcotta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrorcotta)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 1:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/78 "2003-07-28T13:45:52Z")
Graphic Designer. I currently design those awful coupons that arrive unbidden in your mailbox every 6 weeks. I also design goofy illustrations for t-shirts. Some day I hope to go back to editorial illustration and think pieces. And maybe a catherdral ceiling or two… ---
**Author:** ![Cowgirl\_Jules](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4af34b/32.png) [@Cowgirl\_Jules](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cowgirl_Jules)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/79 "2003-07-28T14:46:59Z")
A civilian inspector/field oversight contractor for environmental cleanups by the Air Force. ---
**Author:** ![PurplePerson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ec9cab/32.png) [@PurplePerson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PurplePerson)\ **Post date:** [July 28, 2003, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/191307/80 "2003-07-28T14:51:50Z")
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