What do you do for a living?

[Fuzzywookie 2,145]

Me. I drive a heavy haul semi in Seattle/Tacoma area during the day. Then go home a night and play X-Wing.

[heychadwick 11,357]

I'm an IT technical guy / Project Manager type.  I currently work for a big financial company.  Great use for my degrees in Painting and History.

[Stoneface 3,750]

Retired from designing fire fire protection systems. Now I pick up side jobs and play X-Wing at least twice a week.

[Grayfax 991]

I'm in IT.  I have been the helpdesk "pit boss"while I was the wide area network administrator.  Really enjoyed the command line interface work I got to do, but being on call 24 hours a day and the stress of the helpdesk finally had me looking around.  I was sure there would be nothing in the small town where I live, but found that the local university had a entry level tech position that paid more than I was making.  I was headhunted by one of the colleges and have now been here for 7 years and I still say I work in IT, because I am responsible for student worker(s) that do the grunt work.  I also do system administration and handle all nine of our websites (including a rebuild as they could not be migrated from mambo (yes... Mambo in 2013!!!).  One of the coolest things I get to do is go out and capture my own images for the websites and any of our promotional material.  Yep, I get to go hiking with a camera with college students regularly and still call it IT.  Oh, and I also do video editing... because, you know... IT!

[WarriorPoet 352]

I teach high school English.

Summer is coming.

[Norym 291]

Another IT worker here.  I am a Network Analyst for a hospital.  I spend most of my days working in Active Directory/Exchange Console, VMware and Citrix.  

Am on-call every 5 to 6 weeks and spend about 5 hours a week doing HelpDesk time.

 

I have a Communications (Media Writing) degree with a Political Science minor.   And believe it or not the writing skills are still very useful.

[TasteTheRainbow 8,726]

Research Analyst for government pharmacy programs.

Bio degree. Wanted to be a teacher. In 2 years promotions have spiked me from making 25% more than teacher starting salary to exceeding top-end teacher salaries by a comfortable margin.

I wish I could teach, but I don't want my kids growing up with bad schools and questionable income streams in this part of the country.

Edited June 9, 2016 by TasteTheRainbow

[dotswarlock 2,424]

Programmer analyst, building custom applications with a minimalist team (only 1 programmer per project, lol) in order to improve internal efficiency (or build solutions that just don't exist yet).

 

Fun stuff, as long as you know how to navigate your way through the red tape of a governmental type institution

[dotswarlock 2,424]

So many ITs here, let's just all go work for the same company.  That way, we'll know what to talk about / play during breaks and car pooling will be much easier

[Grayfax 991]

So many ITs here, let's just all go work for the same company.  That way, we'll know what to talk about / play during breaks and car pooling will be much easier

 

If only! That would be fun... and probably frustrating for whoever had to herd cats...

[Fuzzywookie 2,145]

Wow! With all these supra geniuses that play. There's no wonder why I lose so much.

[Gadge 4,294]

I'm the assistant editor of a magazine called 'Airsoft Action' as my main day job (its a game like paintball but with BB guns and a bit more of a 'military' feel) but I also write military history articles for magazines.   I'm *supposed* to be doing a book on British Army Uniforms of the Cold War but i really cannot get motivated.

 

On weekends I promote industrial/hard dance club nights every now and then which isnt a 'job' as such but its fun and makes a fair bit of cash as well as keeping my 'social life' alive.

[Gadge 4,294]

I teach high school English.

Summer is coming.

 

I used to be an English teacher.

 

I started off as a teaching assistant working in an 'inclusion unit' to try and get kids with behavior issues back into class.  I loved that job.   I went to work at 8, came home at 3.30 and got 14 weeks holiday a year and didnt have to take any work home with me.

 

My girlfriend at the time nagged me to become a proper teacher so I did the teacher training course and just found out that while it paid a bit more than being a TA there was no end of embuggerance to deal with.

 

Each one hour lesson normally needed around two hours to prepare if there was no existing scheme of work or i'd not taught that text before, we were on a stupid timetable that didnt allow any time to discuss anything interesting that came up with the class.   Not only did you have to do an 'exciting' lesson plan for each class but you essentially had to do three as most my classes were mixed ability so i had to differentiate and do bonus tasks for the bright kids and simplified ones for the less able.

 

And then there was the marking...

 

And then there were the utter harridans in the staff room who I didnt see eye to eye with politically and were two or three generations older than me.

 

I stuck teaching out for a year.

 

Loved teaching kids interesting stuff, hated the way we had to do it.

[madcatwillie 23]

I'm an architect...or will be once I finish my licensing exams.  Three of seven done thus far, should finish by the end of the year.  I used to work in BioTech doing clinical documentation and that was exactly as fun as it sounds, so I went back and got an Architecture degree.  At least the grind now is in a creative field and not technical writing purgatory.

[WarriorPoet 352]

My girlfriend at the time nagged me to become a proper teacher so I did the teacher training course and just found out that while it paid a bit more than being a TA there was no end of embuggerance to deal with.

...

And then there were the utter harridans in the staff room who I didnt see eye to eye with politically and were two or three generations older than me.

...

Loved teaching kids interesting stuff, hated the way we had to do it.

[Emphasis added] This.

I'm finishing my 5th year, and I take work home with me every day and on the weekends. The popular idea that teachers work from 8-3:30 is absurd; the other popular idea that teachers have the summers off is inaccurate. But mostly true. (We spend a lot of time in the summer doing "Professional Development," which is basically workshops and trainings to improve our practise, and usually a certain number of credit hours are required to maintain your certification.)

And don't even get me started on curriculum, standardized testing, or the "old guard" of the staff room.

Edited June 9, 2016 by WarriorPoet

[Bojanglez 2,158]

I spend 20 years as a network engineer but am currently COO/EVP, Engineering for a technical consultancy.  Most fun I've ever had in a job

[BlackSunSyn 133]

retired US Navy. Worked in the ships Combat Information Center (CIC). Served on Destroyers, Battleships, Cruisers and Aircraft Carriers.

[Victor42 70]

Graphic Designer here. Worked for Battlefront Miniatures for many years, but now work at a 'normal person' job 'cause it pays more.

[FTS Gecko 24,135]

I'm a preacher.

 

I introduce people to the Gospel Uniting Nations Beneath Our Almighty Testament.

[Dagonet 7,246]

IT here as well, Continuity Management and Systems Monitoring for a major financial institution. Shift work, with plenty of freedom for fun stuff at work.

[UnfairBanana 2,251]

Currently the Data Miner for a company. Specifically, doing loss prevention stuff. 

Working on my Cybersecurity degree, then have no idea where to go or what to do. But I'm definitely tired of LP. It kinda makes you hate people and you look at everyone as a thief.

[Robin Graves 6,054]

I work at a distribution center for magzines and periodicals. So I have a front row seat watching the death of printed media.

[FTS Gecko 24,135]

I work at a distribution center for magzines and periodicals. So I have a front row seat watching the death of printed media.

Egon Spengler predicted this day back in the 80's.

[Robin Graves 6,054]

 

I work at a distribution center for magzines and periodicals. So I have a front row seat watching the death of printed media.

Egon Spengler predicted this day back in the 80's.

 

 

And that's why he is my favorite ghostbuster. Well that's not the reason why, but he's my fave ghostbuster.

 

But yeah I think we get at least 70% back of stuff that didn't sell.

 

On the plus side, plenty of star wars stuff around the workplace now: SW helmets*, stickers/ trading cards, the(translated) Darth Vader comics (wich are awesome!) and even those LEGO polybags from when TFA came out.

 

* edit; that's those miniature helmets, not full size ones. http://www.altaya.fr/miniatures/casques-star-wars

Edited June 10, 2016 by Robin Graves

[heychadwick 11,357]

First off...I can't seem to LIKE much these days.  Over half of mine time out and won't work.  So, I'm sorry that I can't LIKE so many of these comments.

 

I wish I could teach, but I don't want my kids growing up with bad schools and questionable income streams in this part of the country.

 

The IT bubble burst of the early 00's were harsh to me.  I looked into doing a teaching job for History.  People always say I'm engaging and can draw people into whatever I babble on about.  I looked into it, but my state is terrible for education.  We are usually in the bottom 5 of all states in the US.  Starting teacher pay was $22k a year?  That's barely above the poverty line.  My cousin up north switched from office job to teacher and starting pay for her was $40k/year.  Ugh.....no teaching for me, it seems.  

 

The economy up turned again and I am making well above what a teacher makes these days.

 

 

On weekends I promote industrial/hard dance club nights every now and then which isnt a 'job' as such but its fun and makes a fair bit of cash as well as keeping my 'social life' alive.

 

Wait...they still have industrial nights?  Man, I recall the days of my youth spent at the Acid House and Industrial nights at the clubs.  Mostly it was one in particular called The Fallout Shelter.  Oh, the glory days of youth!

 

Currently the Data Miner for a company. 

 

I usually joke about going to back to work as "going back to the salt mines".  You can kind of say that with some validity!