Just curious, what do you guys actually do for a living?
Scrolling through comments here, you can tell there’s a huge mix of people, some clearly technical, some more creative, some who sound like they’ve been in the working world for decades, others who feel like students or early in their career.
No particular reason for asking, just genuinely curious what kind of professions make up this community. Feel free to keep it as vague or specific as you’re comfortable with.
Drop your profession below, and if you want, one thing about it people usually don’t expect.
Space shuttle door gunner. It’s a surprisingly easy lateral move from my old job as a submarine screen window repairman.
Hey I’m a billionaire space cowboy. We probably know the same guys. Do you Bob, from accounting? He’s a putz.
That you, Maurice?
Former rock star, now retired, living on my private island, occasional public speaker, industry leader consultant when bored.
Just kidding. IT of course.
Damnnn , I was two seconds away from asking you how you broke into the rock star industry 🤓
“AROO!! AROO!! AROO!!”
No, not really. I’m an English teacher & childcare provider.
Used to work in IT, but preschoolers are generally easier to please.
Graham crackers and juice vs id10t errors. Lol
I have no idea what is called in English. I just work at a car park. Just above minimal wage, it pays my bills, finances my hobbies, is stable and once I’m out of the door at the end of my shift it is not my problem anymore.
Parking lot attendant, unless you drive the cars too, in which case valet parker.
IT support for a non-profit. We are a small IT dept so I do everything from installing printers to managing our network. I’ve been at this job for 20yrs. But worked in IT for 25ish.
WOW… A very interesting career life !!!
I did IT support for a non-profit too. I felt they tend to glom onto the clue until you’re used up and then move onto the next savior. Needless to say, I haven’t done charity work in a number of years.
I used to teach, now I wait tables. I’ve also been a computer tech, event security, summer camp counselor, and lay minister.
I’m thinking about switching it up again. Maybe electrician?
I’m a cashier. Are you proud of me mom and dad?
We are. Love, mum 💐💛
Why would that be a bad job? You provide a service to the community, that is better than a lot of other, so called prestigious, jobs. You didn’t make the world a worse place at the end of your day. So a lot better than many others.
For one thing, the pay is shit. For another, it’s at a gas station/convenenience store (corner shop) so I indirectly work for the fossil fuel industry. The fossil fuel industry sure makes the world a worse place.
I have a nonsense job title which doesn’t describe what I do, so on linked in I self title as a digital accessibility specialist. Prior to getting into this field, I was a physical therapist (technically I maintain my license so I still am, but feels weird to claim when I’m not practicing)
What was your setting? Why did you leave? I’m school-based. Considering leaving - kids are fun but admin sucks and schools are getting more and more chaotic. I’d keep my license to pick up prn hours if needed.
ETA- I have a friend with CP who’s an OT. I think OT was so helpful to her as a kid that she was kind of enamored with it. Now, 5-10 years into working, she’s finding that the clinic is too physical for her. She’d like to get into accessibility work. How did you make the transition?
I was 90% in SNF and assisted living. I did a few contract rotations that took me to acute. I went through the medicare payment changes which really made clear how admin was just working to manipulate metrics to get paid more (and yet the rehab department was a “loss” because we were a different branch of the company, so staff never got raises, just cuts) rather than accepting recommendations from the treating team. Being in a SNF during the height of Covid (find a side story/complaint below) really finished my burn out.
I went to a coding boot camp, and then got recruited by a friend turned coworker. It’s a nice, niche field if you can get into it, but a LOT of it is government work, so how important they find accessibility varies with the election cycle. That said, it’s probably a good time to get in. I work under the rehabilitation act of 1973, but a recent-ish ruling based in Americans with Disabilities Act is requiring that State and local government entities with a total population of 50,000 or more also have a baseline level of digital accessibility. Spoiler, most are not ready.
Side story: Covid was announced a public emergency or whatever in March 2020. Our company offered us a “hazard bonus”, but didn’t specify that their small print was that there had to be diagnosed covid in the facility. They also didn’t announce that they were only offering the bonus for six months. So when our building had covid sweep through in December 2020 (before vaccines were available), I was told to be providing physical therapy (close contact with heavy breathing) to people who ended up dying the next day with no vaccines and no hazard bonus. They also decided that some staff was not essential, so I totally got paid physical therapist wages to mop rooms and change linens.
Curious, with ur PT background, how do you handle stress or old thoughts that resurface? Trying to figure out how I can work on that for myself…
I’ve had a cumulative 6-ish years of weekly therapy (over three bouts, with 5 different therapists)
Environmental health officer, aka health inspector.
Most people don’t know who we are, but we play a huge role in the background on education and prevention for public health issues like food safety, communicable diseases (gastro, outbreaks, pandemic, tattooing, beauty parlours, mosquitoes, rodents, flu, covid, etc.), health of the environment (soil, air, water),… We are a jack of all trades kind of profession.
My profession is whatever job I can get with a HS diploma. Right now it’s a crane operator, I climb 1-3 stories to troubleshoot problems for a warehouse in 34f or -15f. Actually not bad, coworkers on my shift are pretty cool, pay is good, benefits not bad. Just allot to learn with the program and system they use. Still in training, wish my luck keeping this job till I get a college degree or trade.
Mood. Over the last 8 years I’ve been: a server, retail worker, a cashier, a barista, a cake decorator, a software designer, currently I’m a dishwasher.
Almost there same haha. Retail, cashier, order filler for warehouse, restaurant cook, more retail, brewer, even more retail, plastic molder and now cranes.
NOC technician. I monitor the internet infrastructure for a school district, remotely troubleshoot networking equipment, dispatch field resources, set up maintenance projects, coordinate with vendors, that sorta thing.
I’m a professional do-nothinger!
I make knives. I write about knives.
What? Those are totally some of my professions.
I used to be a scientist, lived the startup (hardware) dream, now thinking about next moves - world needs housing, right? Maybe reskill to civil engineering?
Surprising thing: hardware startups face so much upfront capital cost that they’re almost impossible these days, also, I’m starting to wonder if we maybe have enough Science/Tech and that investment could be better directed to short term material needs of people and the planet
I restarted my career during Covid after my consulting business dried up. 5 years in, I’m a sysadmin at a state university. But I am working on an escape plan from IT. I also chair a very active queer non-profit and sit on a lot of coalitions so time to myself is often at a premium. That’s not even mentioning my toddler son…
