# What do you do for a living? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [March 29, 2005, 11:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850 "2005-03-29T23:46:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/21 "2005-03-31T01:08:40Z")
I am a Business Systems Consultant. ---
**Author:** ![Ale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@Ale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ale)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/22 "2005-03-31T01:14:08Z")
I´m a CGI (Computer Generated Images) animator, I work on a studio mostly on TV series and some advertisments. I can´t stress how much my job rocks, suffice to say that you´ve hit fat gold when your job requisites include watching cartoons at home AND at work, and telling/hearing/creating jokes all day. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![FairyChatMom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fairychatmom/32/21825_2.png) [@FairyChatMom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FairyChatMom)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/23 "2005-03-31T01:16:04Z")
Engineer. I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. Seriously. ---
**Author:** ![rorty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b2d939/32.png) [@rorty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rorty)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/24 "2005-03-31T01:35:24Z")
I schedule crews for an airliner. ---
**Author:** ![Bumbazine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bumbazine/32/362_2.png) [@Bumbazine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bumbazine)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/25 "2005-03-31T01:35:47Z")
I was an RPG programmer\* for 28 years, (with side trips into building construction and real estate), most recently as a Senior Programmer/Analyst. Then the latest recession put me on the streets _again_, and I haven’t been able to find another programming job. So now I own and operate a small shop where I make and sell hand-made soaps and bath products. I also do occasional contract programming. - That’s **R** eport **P** rogram **G** enerator, the computer language, not Role Playing Game. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/26 "2005-03-31T02:45:49Z")
For the most part, way too much homework while accumulating entirely too much student debt. Eventually, I’ll hopefully be working for some sort of political activism group. Currently, for money: I have a part-time job as a “I have a _real_ job and I don’t want to do this so put together this mass mailing for me” person at a small publishing company. I also write, have had a number of things published, and actually earned a couple bucks for two of them. ---
**Author:** ![Kiminy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Kiminy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kiminy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/27 "2005-03-31T05:11:16Z")
I teach “Computer Science” classes at a local private university. I’ve known I was supposed to be a teacher since I was in first grade, and forced my little sister to play “school” with me on weekends. (She was in Kindergarten, and our parents bought a blackboard for our playroom.) As I was growing up, I decided I might as well learn something that was interesting to _me_, since I would be teaching that subject to others for as long as I could as an adult. I loved math, and started college as a math major. I switched to French when I realized that French was easier as well as more interesting (I got to spend my Junior year in France!). My bachelor’s degree and my master’s degree are in French, as is my ABD (All But Dissertation) degree. When I was working on my dissertation on the syntax of French causative structures (ask me about it sometime… It’s _still_ really fascinating to me!), I realized that I would never find a full-time, tenure-track position in that area. With a 5yo daughter, and a 2yo son with birth defects, I figured it would be better to concentrate on my kids more than on a fruitless PhD. My husband found a job in another city, so we moved. I found a job in a retail computer store after moving, and learned a LOT about computers. The store I was working in paid me to learn how to teach computer skills, and to get the A+ certification. After burning too many retail bridges to go back, I found a job teaching Computer Science classes–mainly applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, etc.), how to use the Internet, and how to design databases, at a local private university, which is where I am now. I LOVE my job. While I would go back to teaching (and speaking) French in a heartbeat if I thought it would pay the bills, using computers is definitely my second most passionate interest. ---
**Author:** ![purple\_haze](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/db5fbb/32.png) [@purple\_haze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purple_haze)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/28 "2005-03-31T05:21:09Z")
I own a toy store\* \*Not **THOSE** kinds of toys, you sicko! ---
**Author:** ![Nunavut\_Boy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/e95f7d/32.png) [@Nunavut\_Boy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nunavut_Boy)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/29 "2005-03-31T05:46:40Z")
I am a medical laboratory technologist/guitar instructor ---
**Author:** ![TroubleAgain](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e480ec/32.png) [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/30 "2005-03-31T14:27:34Z")
Data Center Operations ---
**Author:** ![mlerose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/43a26b/32.png) [@mlerose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlerose)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/31 "2005-03-31T17:17:29Z")
Program manager for state school-based medicaid program. In other words, red tape. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/32 "2005-03-31T18:23:18Z")
Product Manger for a Telecom Equipment Manufacturer. I manage the process to decide what new product and new features to introduce, then manage the project to get them introduced. After that I help Marketing by answering questions about the product. And I also manage software licensing negotiations. (both sides) I’m currently working on desk-top IP phones, but you will see my last “babys” on the hips of many Home Depot (Canada) and HBC (The Bay, Zellers, Home Outfitters) store employees (their in-store wireless phone) as well as in the overfilled pockets of many nurses in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/33 "2005-03-31T19:10:12Z")
I write user guides and technical manuals for online secure transaction software. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/34 "2005-03-31T19:16:55Z")
Pari-Mutuel Totalisator Supervisor. ---
**Author:** ![Madd\_Maxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Madd\_Maxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Madd_Maxx)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/35 "2005-03-31T19:26:24Z")
AutoCAD Drafter for a Telecom Equipment Manufacturer. Yes, it is exciting as it sounds. I’m on the Emergency Response Team, Building Evacuation Team, and Building Safety Team, and 1st level Unofficial Tech Support. But they pay well and the haven’t laid me off yet so I have that going for me. ---
**Author:** ![Theodore\_Striker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/74df32/32.png) [@Theodore\_Striker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Theodore_Striker)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/36 "2005-03-31T19:35:21Z")
I’m a production planner for a mid sized can manufacturing company, with a fall back career as a poet. I’m not quitting the planner’s job anytime soon. ---
**Author:** ![Don\_Draper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Don\_Draper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Don_Draper)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/37 "2005-03-31T19:46:17Z")
By day, I’m a copy editor for a fiinancial magazine. By night, I am a lone, dark-knight avenger, righter of wrongs, cruader for justice, and scourge of the underworld! (But don’t tell anybody else that! Secret identity and all, y’know!) ---
**Author:** ![Bookkeeper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bookkeeper/32/281_2.png) [@Bookkeeper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bookkeeper)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/38 "2005-03-31T19:52:42Z")
> [@Lobsang](#): > > Pari-Mutuel Totalisator Supervisor. Now that’s different 🆒, bet you’re the only one! Me: Government accountant and Webmaster for pay, and President-for-Life (or until next coup phase) of a disorganized but durable game players’ group for fun. ---
**Author:** ![Dob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b2d939/32.png) [@Dob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dob)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/39 "2005-03-31T20:35:51Z")
Im a sr. engineer developing/supporting out mainframe and midrange CPM tools. I hate my job, but damn they do pay well. ---
**Author:** ![taxi78cab](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47c2d/32.png) [@taxi78cab](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/taxi78cab)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2005, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850/40 "2005-03-31T20:38:47Z")
I’m the Director of Information Management for a commercial real estate firm. Which means that I do market research, write market reports, produce newsletters, do database management, prepare presentations and investment portfolios, do some financial analyses, and generally do whatever else people ask me to. And because we’re here to fight ignorance, commercial real estate means everything that’s NOT residential. So don’t ask me about the value of your house. _I don’t know!_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-do-for-a-living/296850.md?page=3)