What do you do at your job?

[bschot]

I was reading another job thread that talked about how much he/she worked and how much time he/she got off. And it made me wonder; what do these people do at their job? I know what an electrical or chemical engineer is but I don't know what that job entails. Please post no matter what the job, just because you may find it mundane we may not.

I'll start first.

I was production lead at a pasta plant. It was my job to start one or both machines in the morning. We made long (think spaghetti) and short (think macaroni) pasta. I formulated recipes, which was the mixture of water and flour and had to make sure that the pasta head pressure was around 1500 psi. One difficult thing was that with each load of flour it would be a little different than the last and the recipes would need to be changed. Recipes had to be changed between summer and winter because of the moisture in the air and it changed how it dried. There was always cleaning to do. Did I mention in the summer it would be 120-130 degrees F with 100% humidity. Winter wasn't bad. At the end of the run I would send samples of pasta off for moisture testing and to make sure it wasn't cracked. Cracked long pasta wouldn't package very well and wouldn't make the customers very happy either. We would also do runs of lasagna and because how our equipment was set up we had to count the pasta by hand and it was all hands on deck. I finally left the job not because of working conditions, pay was decent and it was fairly easy, but because I was tired of being micro-managed. Nothing else is really coming to mind but I would be happy to answer any questions.



-Brian

 

[schematix]

I am an electrical engineer. Over the last few years I've worked on various aspects of putting shampoo, conditioner, lotion and body wash into bottles for one of the world's largest companies.

The process really isn't that complex. A handful of bulk ingredients are stored in large tanks. Many more small scale ingredients (e.g. fragrances and colors) are measured by hand. The large scale ingredients are dosed automatically via pumps. Smaller ingredients are added by hand. Depending upon exactly what you are making, oil based ingredients get mixed, water based ingredients get mixed, and then emulsified with streams of other ingredients via a secret process and then sent to large storage tanks. From the storage tanks it gets pumped to the packaging lines.

Packaging is pretty straight forward. Pallets of empty bottles are dumped into a machine that orients them. A label is affixed. Liquid is added. A cap or pump is attached. The filled bottles then get placed into an erected corrugated case. The full cases are then palletized, strech wrapped, put on a truck, and sent off to distribution. A few weeks later they show up at your local walmart, costco, etc.

There is a fairly good chance that the shampoo, conditioner, lotion or body wash that you or your significant other uses came from this plant.

I am currently working on a brand new high tech packaging line that complicates the process to an unimaginable level. My duties are centered around troubleshooting, planning, making minor programming changes, politics, training, etc. It's a huge clusterf**k, but every day is interesting.

 

[passedpawn]

Stamp collector. Perfs are my life. And gum. And color. And centering (OMG). Got mint US commemoritives pre 1930? Give me a call, let's talk

 

[kirbcheck]

I'm an advertising sales rep for the local paper. I spend 75% of my day with various clients talking about our products. I spend the rest of my day doing the paperwork, communicating via email, getting ads approved, etc.

I got a promotion in July, I oversee the classified department now as well. I create and implement sales strategies to increase our numbers. Now my sales time is down to about 50% of my day.

On Wednesday last week, we spent 2 hours in the mail room off of the press room manually stuffing inserts into the paper because we don't have the capacity to accommodate the number of ads in the paper prior to Black Friday.

 

[sillbeer]

FAA Aviation Safety Inspector. I don't like to fly.

 

[Genghis]

Network admin/IT support. I turn coffee into working technology.

 

[HoppyCricket]

I'm a medical device sales rep. Specifically, retina surgery devices. If you or anyone you know has had retina surgery, there is a 99.9% chance that one of my company's products has touched their eye. I spend 90% of my time in surgery looking at bloody eyeballs, showing doctors new tools, and offering advice on procedures.

 

[treacheroustexan]

I used to be a team leader working in injection molding for a plastics company that did a lot of the halloween and easter baskets you can buy at walmart, blue bunny ice cream, etc. Then my girlfriend and I moved a year ago, and I accepted a job in research and development at another plastics company as a process engineer tech. So all of the new technology behind new water bottles/soda bottles/etc, we work on there. It's a very fun job and was a great career move for me.

 

[schematix]

FAA Aviation Safety Inspector. I don't like to fly.

I'd love to hear some of your stories!

What could possibly go wrong in a flying beer can?

 

[passedpawn]

Stamp collector. Perfs are my life. And gum. And color. And centering (OMG). Got mint US commemoritives pre 1930? Give me a call, let's talk

I'd love to hear some of your stories!

Oh god, where do I begin. I'm so glad you asked! Philately is so exciting, I think it's just taking off.

 

[TheMadKing]

Nuclear reactor technician at a university research reactor. Sounds cool. Isn't. I supervise routine maintenance. I train 18 year olds how to operate it. Most of my time is spent filling a chair and waiting for my idiot boss to invent some BS problem. I do a lot of audits and paperwork and make sure my bosses ducks are in a row. I drink a lot of coffee and design a lot of beer recipes at work haha.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

I am a freelance utility and cameraman for ESPN and NBC in the NE area. Most of the stuff I do is just on NBCSN and the lower ESPN channels but I have worked on things like Monday Night Football before. Most of my job is running cables, we're there at least 6 hours before the show running thousands of feet of cable to cameras, monitors, mics, you name it. The fun part is that after the show, we have to coil it all back up and load it back in the truck!

During the show if I am a utility, I help a handheld cameraman manage the cable trailing behind him, it involves a lot of running in shows like football. If I am the cameraman, well I shoot video. I'll have my specific assignment, and anything else as dictated by the game. I basically just try as hard as I can to not be chewed out by the 2-3 people in the broadcast unit(s) that are trying to "tell the story".

I don't think people realize how many people(and how much money) it takes to put on shows like that. Regular old college football is going to have at least 5 cameramen, 2 utilities, 1 audio mixes and at least 2 assists, 2 replay operators, a graphics operator, director, technical director, AT LEAST one producer, 3 Broadcast Engineers(what I hope to be one day), a red hat(not sure what theyre real title is, they stop the game for TV time outs), a "Video" person(they make sure all the pictures look good and manage the iris levels of the cameras remotely from the truck), and of course all the talent, play/play color and probably a sideline reporter.

That isn't even including the people back at base, but that's probably only one or two people.

 

[sudbuddy]

I brew beer for a living. The pay is sh*t but the perks are great. I think your jobs still sound a lot cooler than mine, especially @ThatVideoKid because that's what I wanted to do before I got into brewing. NASA engineer sounds pretty good too I guess. You people are all too smart for me, time to find another forum I guess!

 

[treacheroustexan]

I brew beer for a living. The pay is sh*t but the perks are great. I think your jobs still sound a lot cooler than mine, especially @ThatVideoKid because that's what I wanted to do before I got into brewing. NASA engineer sounds pretty good too I guess. You people are all too smart for me, time to find another forum I guess!

My girlfriend works at the NASA in Cleveland, and I'm jealous... Softball during lunch break everyday (weather permitting) and 6 weeks of vacations at age 22.. you can't beat that.

 

[sudbuddy]

FAA Aviation Safety Inspector. I don't like to fly.

Please, PLEASE, never tell me why you don't like to fly.


Why don't you like to fly?

 

[sudbuddy]

My girlfriend works at the NASA in Cleveland, and I'm jealous... Softball during lunch break everyday (weather permitting) and 6 weeks of vacations at age 22.. you can't beat that.

You have to be sh*tting me

 

[treacheroustexan]

You have to be sh*tting me

I wish I was. But it's true. They have it made!

 

[sudbuddy]

Never let her go. Put a ring on that immediately. She is a unicorn

 

[sudbuddy]

I'm a little biased. I freakin love playing softball

 

[treacheroustexan]

Never let her go. Put a ring on that immediately. She is a unicorn

Currently working on it. haha.

 

[sudbuddy]

Atta boy. Or girl

 

[bigken462]

I'm a career Paramedic and have worked in healthcare for the past 25 years and currently a night shift operations supervisor for a small crew of 18 medics and EMT's. My main focus is ambulance and 911 dispatch operations for a county of just under 90k during the night shift hours. Secondary duties are endless, but I handle all PR and large scale event and MCI planning that goes on in our county.

I'm fortunate to have a good shift of employees who gets along well with each other. EMS can be a very demanding job where you often question your sanity for choosing it as a career. My payday is not the money, the benefits, or the uniform, but rather the handshake and the occasional sincere thank-you we get from our patients or their family. There is very little reward in this type of work, so we all strive to make a positive difference to those who call us for help.

KT

 

[Kharnynb]

I mostly design and install automated firealarm and camera observation systems these days, but i'm also a qualified abloy lock specialist and occasionally still install door systems for bigger public buildings.

 

[MI_Dogman]

U.S. Seafarer Licensed 2nd Mate Unlimited from Great Lakes Maritime Academy 2010 Grad. Operated Trailing Suction Hopper Dredges for a couple of years out of school rebuilding beaches and digging shipping channels. Now I am currently a Dynamic Positioning Operator on a Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit in the Gulf of Mexico working a 28 On 28 Off Schedule. Now instead of stressing out about ship handling situations I monitor a lot of sophisticated positioning equipment to maintain position during drilling operations. I missed Thanksgiving this year, BUT I get Christmas and New Years this year!!

 

[NoIguanaForZ]

I am a mechanical engineer. My job mainly consists of Solidworks and swearing at Solidworks.

The rest is being a second technician when one is needed because FNG on the (admittedly small) engineering staff, supervising and assisting with field installations, paper calculations because FEA takes forever to set up and has a serious GIGO problem, data analysis, operating testing equipment, and occasionally I manage to wrest actually writing a proposal or report away from my boss, who doesn't quite grasp the concept of "delegation" and grasps everything else too tightly.

 

[CaptBrew8386]

I too am a Dynamic Positioning Operator in the Gulf of Mexico. I'm a USCG licensed Third Mate and Master 1600-ton. I'm the Chief Mate on an Offshore Anchor Handling/Towing/Supply vessel. I also work a 28 on/28 off schedule. Basically I just push buttons on a computer 100+ miles offshore but I get lots of boat handling in port. I hope to be on the big dynamically positioned ships and MODUs in the future. At the airport now to go home for Christmas!

 

[slym2none]

When I am working (mostly seasonal), I am cleaning out empty rental properties. Empty only refers to the fact that no one lives there & it isn't furnished. You'd be amazed at what people leave behind, bad & good.

Good: DVD recorders, gaming systems & games, rugs, nice furniture, etc.

Bad: wet laundry in the washing machine/dryer, food in the fridge/freezer, dirty dishes, etc.

That's not counting what they leave behind in the bathrooms: hair, used razors, hair, dirty toilets, hair, shaving stubble, and hair

Otherwise, I clean the kitchens (stoves, refrigerators, filthy ovens, cabinets, floors), the bathrooms (we all know what that entails - lots of hair), the other rooms (cobwebs, blinds, windows, carpets) and laundry. I go in and they look like pigsties. When I leave, they (usually) look like new. These are mostly rented out to college kids, who absolutely don't give a **** about how messy they are nor how they leave the properties.

It's a **** job that reminds me how stupid I was for not attending college every time I go into one of these places.

 

[PhinneyWoodBrews]

... then emulsified with streams of other ingredients via a secret process and then sent to large storage tanks.

I'm not sure I can adequately convey how tickled I am that my cheap shampoo/conditioner is packaged in a way that involves a 'secret process'. I have zero doubt that it is a complex operation that requires many highly skilled people, but I really had just never considered it before. Cheers!

 

[Kharnynb]

It's a **** job that reminds me how stupid I was for not attending college every time I go into one of these places.

the only difference between you and me is that you get a small wage to take home and i get a bigger wage to pay off tuition fees....

 

[FatDragon]

Browse HBT altogether too much...

Oh, were you asking what I'm being paid to do at my job?

I teach English to 2-6 year old kids at a Montessori preschool/kindergarten in China. I also do a lot of curriculum and material design - mostly stuff like worksheets and flashcards but occasionally more fun stuff like writing and illustrating books, short plays, songs, and the like. Also, lots of paperwork.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

I make metal stick together by way of electrical arc and listen to a bunch of cry baby pterodactyl pants crying about every little damn thing. "It's too hot in the shop. It's too cold in the shop. Why should I have to clean my own work or try to do a good job? I farted and it smells bad so I better go home."

 

[CaptainDucman]

Plan extensively, preflight, check, double check, verify... takeoff

Stare out the window for hours at a time (to my middle school guidance counselor... who got the last laugh now biotch!)

Solve all the worlds problems with the help of other crew members

Work on BeerSmith

Yelp "Brewpubs" in far off places

Plan extensively, brief, land, clear customs/immigration

~26-72hrs later, rinse and repeat

 

[Billy-Klubb]

Plan extensively, preflight, check, double check, verify... takeoff

Stare out the window for hours at a time (to my middle school guidance counselor... who got the last laugh now biotch!)

Solve all the worlds problems with the help of other crew members

Work on BeerSmith

Yelp "Brewpubs" in far off places

Plan extensively, brief, land, clear customs/immigration

~26-72hrs later, rinse and repeat

many times i wanted to look up my high school counselor and administrator. martha floccers, I made and tested military ammunition, was assistant manager of a steel yard, built/designed methane vacuum systems/vapor recovery units/water transfer plants and a pipe welder as the assistant manager of that shop. who's a loser now, flocc faces? :rockin:

 

[SharonaZamboni]

I'm a second shift supervisor in a group home for developmentally disabled adults. They range in age from early thirties to late seventies. I cook their dinner (purée it for some people), feed them, clean up, give them pills, take them to doctor appointments (and the movies, and out to eat), help them in the bathroom, etc., etc. Some residents are more independent than others.
Pretty much do everything that you would need done if you couldn't use your arms, legs, or voice.
I develop and monitor progress of goals for learning/maintaining individuals' skills and supervise and train staff.
My favorite type of people are ones with behavior problems. It's challenging to figure out what's causing the behavior, and satisfying to be able to help them overcome their issues.

 

[arnobg]

FAA Air Traffic Control Specialist, 3 year anniversary next month and moving to the FedEx World Hub.

 

[TheCADJockey]

I control thousands of drawings and am tasked with making sure each of them, some being over ten years old, are formatted and structured exactly the same. Accuracy and attention to detail is imperative. Tolerances. Lines all over the place. Spelling errors are bad and a misplaced zero could mean something turns into a fireball and plunges into the ocean. Mil-spec's, material conditions, PCBD drawings. The other half is spent here, looking for a way to pass time.

 

[brrman]

Software Engineer for a medium sized national company (700+ people) that facilitates eligibility, claim and patient information between providers and health plans. The business rules can get REALLY complex, and then add in HIPAA rules...

But I enjoy it because it's challenging - nothing worse than a boring software job.

 

[nygel74]

Therapist.

 

[bschot]

The jobs you talk about don't have to be current, if you think it might interest us, add it. I and I'm sure others are more than happy to read about it.

Billy-Klubb, could you tell us about that military ammunition you worked on?

CaptainDucman, what do you fly? I'm a pilot, too (up to light twins.)



-Brian

 

[Ridire]

It's important to have a job that makes a difference, boys. That's why I manually masturbate caged animals for artificial insemination.