I’m a computer programmer for a large financial services firm. I design, write and fix computer code that allows customers and customer service reps to look at and update data.
I’m a planner for a South Florida county.
I write reports on proposed amendments to the comprehensive plan and present those reports to various agencies.
I also write reports on Community Development Districts, a way for a developer to finance infrastructure installation and maintenance for new subdivisions.
And I handle Minimum Use Determinations, which are a type of grandfather clause for residential lots that do not meet residential density standards of the Comp Plan. I also created and maintain the database for this.
These jobs require the use of a Geographic Information System which I use every day. Occassional projects include creating maps for the public or other departments with the GIS. But I never get to do any scientific analysis with it, which is what it was made for and what I would like to do. Oh well.
I’m a business process analyst for a software development firm. We do full lifecycle development for custom software; since I live in the capital of my state, most of our clients are state government.
I work in the JAD services department, which means I get to spend a lot of my time in meetings (more specifically, JADs). A JAD is a workgroup-style meeting where business users, technical experts, and decision makers are brought together to hammer out the details of what the business does, what its needs are, and how the system will be designed to meet those needs. While a lot of companies feel they know what they want out of a system when they put out the bid or RFQ, when you get into the JAD you find out that what they really need may be something different altogether. By working with the people who will actually be using and implementing the system, and facilitating rather than lecturing, you get a more accurate and realistic picture of what is required. JADs are from 4 - 8 hours in length, and when I’m in the JAD phase of a project, I usually spend anywhere from 3-5 days a week in a JAD. During the JAD I am up in front of the room, drawing the flowchart on a whiteboard, writing down action items or important points and encouraging the quiet ones to speak while trying to moderate the influence of the overly long-winded.
During the JADs we work with the group collectively to analyze needs and requirements, gather business rules, and create process models. Each JAD produces many pages of documentation. The meeting notes are turned into minutes, and the minutes and process models are used to build requirements for the new system. The developers take these requirements and use them to start programming. For the project I’m currently assigned to, each 4 hour JAD translated into (on average) 30 pages of minutes, and an 80+ page deliverable of the as-is business process for each program area within a State Department. The next phase will include some process reengineering (getting everyone to agree to do portions of a process the same way) and modeling of the to-be processes for system development.
In addtion to all of that there are numerous project management functions, such as developing and maintaining the project plan, creating the plans for communications, risk management, quality management, change management, etc. and making sure we have the resources to hit our deadlines.
JADs are the core function of our team, but we also do all kinds of analysis, general problem solving, management consulting, and strategic planning.
My day job is Database Administrator and Application Developer. I make sure the database is fed and warm and happy and running properly. I look for throughput bottlenecks and optimize them. I make sure the backups run correctly. I create applications, mostly in Visual Basic, for the end users to massage the data in ways that they need.
My evening (real) job is Taekwondo Instructor. I am a 5th Degree Black Belt and I teach my students life skills, using Taekwondo as the teaching medium.
I’m a supervisor. I work in the Graphics department of a smallish-medium sized Life and Disability insurance company.
I focus mainly on website design for our public site, intranet, policyowner, and agent sites as well as design interactive presentations for our agents to sell our insurance, and fancy HTML formatted emails. In addition I supervise 3 graphic designers who create flyers, pamphlets, postcards, and booklets to help sell our insurance. I do project distribution, time management, some creative direction type of work.
I don’t wear a tie but I do sit in a cubicle (mine is the biggest in the department though!)
But, a bitter lesbian IS my best wet dream!!!
Seriously:
I am the Bus Guy. Director of Transportation for a large (and getting much larger by the day) K-12 public school district.
I do it all.
I oversee a staff of 7, plus 5 mechanics - 92 buses.
We plan routes using a student database and a nifty piece of specialized software.
Hire, train, discipline (when needed) and fire 102 drivers and 44 bus monitors.
Spend lots of time talking with principals, who all say I have the toughest job in the district.
Spend a lot of time with parents who are ticked off at their kid’s bus driver.
Serve on several district-wide committees dealing with: future planning, school attendance boundaries, student discipline policies, traffic safety, labor negotiations…
Oversee contracts for out-of-district special needs transportation (another 23 buses) and the portion of our district that we currently contract out for regular transportation (47 buses).
Anything and everything having to do with transportation, buses, school site safety, safe walking routes to school, and bus stops.
I am the first contact with the police, road departments, and park districts.
Train and supervise adult crossing guards in areas around schools.
And, I surf the Dope.
Ever see Office Space? My job is almost exactly like that, but with three important differences…
1 I’m a Systems Administrstor, not a Software Engineer
2 My boss is more demanding of my personal time than OS boss, and
3 My coworkers don’t like me, and so would (and likely do) conspire against me, but not with me.
It’s loads of fun.
I am a psychologist.
I spend a good part of my week teaching at a university, where my fixed activities are teaching my classes and going to committee and faculty meetings. I spend a large part of my work day talking with students, planning my classes, grading, and doing reading related to my classes. I also provide supervision and oversee student assistants. In fall I assist with orientation and training; in winter I assist with admissions; and in spring I do some other orientations. Sometimes I’m a guest in other people’s classes, and sometimes I do some professional writing.
Some terms I also teach at a community college, which entails meeting with other instructors to coordinate curriculum, planning and teaching my classes, talking to students, and going to meetings.
I have a private practice. On a typical day I’ll talk with a few clients or potential clients on the phone, call insurance companies, see clients, and write notes. It could also include format psychological testing and report-writing.
I have to complete 50 hours of continuing professional education every two years to keep my license, and always exceed that by many hours.
I participate in some statewide committees and regional and national organizations related to my work. I currently have a regional presentation and two state-level presentations accepted for spring conferences, and I’m waiting to hear about a proposal I submitted for a national conference in the summer.
I went to Vietnam and Cambodia with a group of psychologists this fall, and hope to do some teaching observation and/or guest instruction and/or direct service provision through an NGO in the future.
My work has great variety and flexibility and I really enjoy it.
I am an Aeronautical Engineering undergrad. I go out far too much and end up missing lectures. It’ll carry on that way until at least third year.
I kill micro-organisms and their spores.
I am a Thermal Process Specialist/ Food Scientist. I spend most of my day testing my company’s various products as they are thermally processed (i.e. Canned) to verify that our cook processes are correct and what we sell isn’t going to kill anyone. I also work hand in hand with our R&D department to process new and “improved” items. I also file too much paperwork with the USDA and FDA.
If I am not testing a certain product, I am usually testing our equipment to verify that it is working correctly.
I’m an analytical chemist for a pharmaceutical company.
I do the Quality Control testing of products for release to the market or stability samples (to check how products behave over time. Most of my work uses HPLCs (High performance liquid chromatography) but occasionally I till use GCs, FTIR, UV/Vis spec, TLC or even wet chemistry tests (mainly for identity testing after packaging).
I document my procedures and results in lab notebooks and submit them for review, I fill out Certificates of Analysis with the final results, and I putter around the lab helping to clean/keep things in order.
It’s actually not as hard as it seems. In fact, I’m too good at it. I did a whackload of ID testing today… my boss didn’t think I’d get it all done, and I was finished with 45 minutes left to spare. I rarely see the reviewers because frankly, I don’t make many mistakes and one project to the next is largely the same.
I am a technical director for a theatre company.
For the office part of my job I make sure that the designers get what they want, within reason.
I make sure that everyone stays in budget.
I schedule the crew; find extra crew when we need it.
I make sure that we can handle the technical requirements of and rental group coming into the space.
I create construction drawings from the designers for the builders.
But the best part of my job is that I handle all of the special effects for our shows. For example a few days ago I had a blood day. I spent the day creating different recipes of stage blood for different applications. I have had to make fully stocked bookcases open and close like magic, move walls, make smoking bombs, all sorts of fun stuff. I love my job.
I’m an IT director in state government. I supervise a small staff that plans and builds communications facilities. we do design, engineering, federal and state compliance filing, project management and financial tracking. It’s amazing what can be done with a small staff, who I treat shamelessly well. I look after your money as if it were my own, and I am very happy to be able to serve the folks in my state.
I’m an MD/PhD student, doing interdisciplinary research.
I take several medical classes a semester. The rest of the time, I sit in my office. There, I do the following:
Talk with my colleagues to better understand the particular field that they specialize in, and to answer questions about the fields that I know, or refer them to someone who can answer to their satisfaction.
Badger the experimentalists for more data to interpret.
Write programs to manipulate, store, query, and analyze the data.
Design new algorithms and statistical analyses to extract more meaning from the data.
Design wet-lab experiments to get data of my own to complement what the rest of the lab generates.
Carry out said experiments, or find people capable and willing to carry them out in collaboration with me.
Write grant proposals.
Write papers for publication.
Go thru the stack of stuff I left yesterday. Put off the boring stuff.
Surf the web. Usually The Dope or PBS or “educational” stuff in the morning. Ignore the loudmouth receptionist spouting ad neausuem about the latest drama in her life.
Have a snack. Wait for the mail.
Sort thru the mail. Trash the crap. Input all the invoices in the computer.
Check to see who owes us money. Start gentle harrasment.
See who we owe. Generate a check run. Weed out those that are not critical.
Pester my boss to sign shit that is due.
Input the hourly slobs time cards on payday and run checks. Pester boss to sign them.
Go to lunch. Usually make some sleazy saleman buy me sushi at least once a week.
Surf the Dope and porno for about 4 hours.
Generate UPS shipping labels for the stuff to ship.
Surf more porn.
Straighten up desk. Leave 10 minutes early to beat traffic.
Now, I watch Law & Order reruns on bad days, ski or motorcycle or offroad on good days, drink beer, cook and watch PBS till bedtime. Somebody has to do it.
Go thru the stack of stuff I left yesterday. Put off the boring stuff.
Surf the web. Usually The Dope or PBS or “educational” stuff in the morning. Ignore the loudmouth receptionist spouting ad neausuem about the latest drama in her life.
Have a snack. Wait for the mail.
Sort thru the mail. Trash the crap. Input all the invoices in the computer.
Check to see who owes us money. Start gentle harrasment.
See who we owe. Generate a check run. Weed out those that are not critical.
Pester my boss to sign shit that is due.
Input the hourly slobs time cards on payday and run checks. Pester boss to sign them.
Go to lunch. Usually make some sleazy saleman buy me sushi at least once a week.
Surf the Dope and porno for about 4 hours.
Generate UPS shipping labels for the stuff to ship.
Surf more porn.
Straighten up desk. Leave 10 minutes early to beat traffic.
Now, I watch Law & Order reruns on bad days, ski or motorcycle or offroad on good days, drink beer, cook and watch PBS till bedtime. Somebody has to do it.