poll: what best describes your occupation?

[ColonialMarine0431]

Went with medical/healthcare.

I'm still a student, but starting in January, I'm changing my bachelors to Medical Technology. Lots of biology and chemistry and I'll be learning to work in a hospital lab. Maybe grad school in biochem, microbiology or something similar one of these days.

Currently I'm doing surgical technology at the local community college, but I don't think I'm going to be continuing after this semester.

Health Care is an excellent field to be going into right now. Good choice.

[Thor]

Health Care is an excellent field to be going into right now. Good choice.

Around here, 90% of the jobs are health care related.

[NHSparky]

I suppose I should have put that down too than, but I voted engineering, mechanical shrugs.

I perform electrical testing, maintenance, and modification primarily to medium and high voltage switch gear, transformers, and associated equipment.  Formerly, I was a control room operator in a utility power plant.

So you and I can certainly trade some horror/war stories in that regard.

[NHSparky]

Awhile back I was involved with the field training of workers in preparation for a switch from approximately 40 proprietary work systems to a combination of SAP and Maximo.  Five years later, and several legacy systems are still in place to facilitate work.  I think the original plan was for the plug to be pulled on all legacy systems six months after the official change over 

And if you think Maximo sucks, try NAMS.  I miss Maximo.

[Odin's Hand]

Currently, sales, but soon to be medical.

[jtyangel]

Payable/receivable specialist for a small company. Forecasting, budgeting, and all that fun geeky stuff. ON a day like today it's not unusual for me to have papers on my desk, my floor, and the wall behind me--lol. Once the check run and wires go the next day, my desk looks 'magically' cleaner and it starts all over again the next week to the inevitable Friday build up. 

So numbers and paperwork==perfect choice. 

[longview]

Occupational therapist primarily in geriatrics and psych.  Sport horse rehab, and run a few cows.

[Evil_Conservative]

I selected "OTHER".

My full-time job is for a timeshare company in the corporate offices.

My part-time job is in retail for the Christmas season.

[DLR Pyro]

Pyrotechnician (fireworks guy) at Disneyland.

I couldn't find a category for explosive so I picked arts, music and stage.

[Alpha Mare]

 Where's the 'all of the above' button?

We own a car parts store- he handles parts stuff, I do everything else; paperwork, books, computers, maint & repair...
I do horsey rescue and rehab, too.

[LC EFA]

Technically and formally I'm a computer geek.

I had to retire from IT service before I took down a fire axe and cleared some dead wood.....

Now I'm a casual day trader working for no one but myself.

[catsmtrods]

I am a hvac tech so I have dirty calloused hands. I also make bamboo fly rods in my spare time. I am not educated, I went to the school of hard knocks. It taught me to rely on no one so I can fix most anything except a broken heart.

[JohnnyReb]

There is some paper involved, just not me doing it!!  I actually go to the courthouses and look up all the old records. It is quite interesting to read those old deeds and wills. Sad too. They are selling their land, mules, and slaves. They always put a price down by the slave too. It will be like $6 for a kid, $15 for a teen/young adult, and about $6 for an older person. The mules always cost more too. Of course here in MS, many of our courthouses were burned down in the Civil War so the records only go back to the 1860's. Sometimes you can find some 1850 stuff.

That ain't the only state where they burned down the courthouses. They destroyed records so the carpetbaggers and others could steal land/property. There was no construction in reconstruction....just more destruction.

[franksolich]

.....I can fix most anything except a broken heart.

That's almost poetic, sir.

Question.

Last winter, a primitive on Skins's island had a problem with his furnace.

Some other primitives told him how to take care of it by himself; they didn't think he needed to call anybody.

This was in New England, and the place was covered with snow.

The primitive couldn't get into his basement (outside entrance); too snow-clogged.

So the primitive decided to call an HVAC repairman, with the assumption that the repairman would at the same time shovel his sidewalk and the entrance to the basement, to get to the furnace, so he wouldn't have to do it.

At that, the campfire over this issue went out, died.

I'm curious, and you're an HVAC professional.

There's no way we'll ever know, but what do you suppose happened when the HVAC guy showed up?

This primitive by the way acknowledged he was able-bodied, not ancient or crippled, frankly admitting he just didn't want to shovel the snow himself (one had to do the sidewalk, too, to get to the entrance to the basement).

[LC EFA]

That's almost poetic, sir.

Question.

Last winter, a primitive on Skins's island had a problem with his furnace.

Some other primitives told him how to take care of it by himself; they didn't think he needed to call anybody.

This was in New England, and the place was covered with snow.

The primitive couldn't get into his basement (outside entrance); too snow-clogged.

So the primitive decided to call an HVAC repairman, with the assumption that the repairman would at the same time shovel his sidewalk and the entrance to the basement, to get to the furnace, so he wouldn't have to do it.

At that, the campfire over this issue went out, died.

I'm curious, and you're an HVAC professional.

There's no way we'll ever know, but what do you suppose happened when the HVAC guy showed up?

This primitive by the way acknowledged he was able-bodied, not ancient or crippled, frankly admitting he just didn't want to shovel the snow himself (one had to do the sidewalk, too, to get to the entrance to the basement).

In this part of the world there's two things that would happen.

1) The DUTard would pay standard qualified tradesman rate (at least $50 an hour for HVAC service) for the service tech to clear access to the job.
2) The DUTard would be told to clear access to the job at their own expense before work would proceed.

[Eupher]

I am in Benefits Administration.  I picked paperwork, if you saw my office, you would know.  But, it could have been bureaucracy, or health I suppose. 

If I had thought things through in my youth, I would have been a meteorologist.  Not a TV one though. 

My passion is music, though I don't do it for a living any more. I can't not play my instruments.  I'm retired military, but I ain't fully retired. I'm in the medical device manufacturing business, but it ain't health or medical.

So I picked "paperwork" because I handle a lot of it. I write procedures, investigations, and talk to my people about these things to better educate them.

I'm touching wood as I write this, but FDA hasn't been in this building in over 22 years. People who have worked here over the years wouldn't know FDA if they walked in wearing a badge. My background with these guys and respect for what they can do is something I try to get across.

Changing a culture is a slow process. 

Maybe that should be another option - "changing a culture" - because that's fundamentally what I'm trying to do.   

[Thor]

My passion is music, though I don't do it for a living any more. I can't not play my instruments.  I'm retired military, but I ain't fully retired. I'm in the medical device manufacturing business, but it ain't health or medical.

So I picked "paperwork" because I handle a lot of it. I write procedures, investigations, and talk to my people about these things to better educate them.

I'm touching wood as I write this, but FDA hasn't been in this building in over 22 years. People who have worked here over the years wouldn't know FDA if they walked in wearing a badge. My background with these guys and respect for what they can do is something I try to get across.

Changing a culture is a slow process. 

Maybe that should be another option - "changing a culture" - because that's fundamentally what I'm trying to do.   

Ohhh, come now, Eupher........ we ALL know that you're just an old blowhard at heart !!

[njpines]

Technical writer, formerly for publishing industry and then telecommunications, now for a large corporation working through a contract to overhaul all of AMC's (Army Materiel Command) logistics software from their current legacy systems (a.k.a mainframe computers) to an SAP system.

Shorter version:  I've spent the last 25 years either writing about the computer industry or writing computer manuals, installation procedures, etc.  Exciting, I know! 

Even shorter:  I translate geek-speak into English!

[Chris_]

I spend my day holding down a chair.  Getting pretty good at it, too.

[Eupher]

Ohhh, come now, Eupher........ we ALL know that you're just an old blowhard at heart !!

And don't yew fergit it, Baba Louie!   

[BlueStateSaint]

Because I work for NYS, I said "bureauracy."

[JLO]

What best describes your occupation?

Sport Fisher.

[Gratiot]

So you and I can certainly trade some horror/war stories in that regard.

I absolute love this trade!  It certainly takes a healthy respect of the danger and a lot of technical knowledge, but we really do get to work with some cool gear and witness wild amounts of energy... hopefully from a safe distance!  Be safe with that outage work you're on!   

[NHSparky]

I absolute love this trade!  It certainly takes a healthy respect of the danger and a lot of technical knowledge, but we really do get to work with some cool gear and witness wild amounts of energy... hopefully from a safe distance!  Be safe with that outage work you're on!   

Odin testing on 480-volt MCC's starting tonight.

[chitownchica]

Pre-sales systems consultant. I work in software sales and do things like demo software, talk through technical requirements, and answer RFPs. Basically, I handle all the technical discussions to the point of sale.  Interesting work and it pays well.  In the past I've been a teacher, software trainer, and network admin.