What do you do at your job?

[TechyDork]

I am an IT Coordinator (Made up title that means i tell people to restart their computers several times a day)

Basically I am the only tech support, one man IT department, for an office of 65-70 office users, researchers and animal care workers. I do it all, help desk, system administration, server installation and maintenance, security system design and installation, web design and maintenance. Anything that plugs in and has blinky lights or connects to the internet is my job. Man, I really should be paid better....

Oh, and I spend way way too much time on here.

 

[Ridire]

(Made up title that means i tell people to restart their computers several times a day)

I have somehow become the go-to tech guy at my office, which is scary. Last month I put out a standing order - anyone who comes to me with an IT problem, before they have rebooted their PC, is fired.

 

[TechyDork]

I have somehow become the go-to tech guy at my office, which is scary. Last month I put out a standing order - anyone who comes to me with an IT problem, before they have rebooted their PC, is fired.

Genius, but then i would be out of a job in a week due to lack of people left to support.



People just roll their eyes at me and say "You always ask me if I have rebooted..." when i tell them to do it. Well 95% of the time it fixes it, so just do it and stop interrupting my HBT "research"

 

[MaxStout]

In reality, I am also an attorney. But a very different kind of attorney. I am a dual licensed attorney and CPA. I spend most of my time helping people buy or sell businesses.

Another attorney here. Used to do patent prosecution (drafting/filing patent applications, arguing with the USPTO, etc.), but haven't done that in several years. Now doing intellectual property litigation, with some general business lit. as well.

 

[wallybangbang]

I have somehow become the go-to tech guy at my office, which is scary. Last month I put out a standing order - anyone who comes to me with an IT problem, before they have rebooted their PC, is fired.

I am going to steal that. The first question I have when people call with computer problems is have you restarted it. 95% of the time the answer is no, and 94% of the time that fixes things and undos what they have done. We don't give the crews the IT guys number because he is contracted and very expensive. They basically already pay my salary so I can tell people to restart their computer.

It also scares me I get computer questions. My knowledge does not go much farther than restarting.

 

[jrcrilly]

In reality, I am also an attorney. But a very different kind of attorney. I am a dual licensed attorney and CPA. I spend most of my time helping people buy or sell businesses.

My partner of many years did only conveyancing, licensing, and sales contracts (gave up courtroom work decades ago) but he just retired. The firm (well, just me now) will be strictly litigation going forward. I BRIEFLY considered picking up his workload but I'm more of a barrister than a solicitor at heart.

 

[TheRealAleNail]

I am a fire alarm/low voltage/fiber optic technician. Also a professional fighter. I prefer my night job but it doesn't pay as well.

 

[Ridire]

My partner of many years did only conveyancing, licensing, and sales contracts (gave up courtroom work decades ago) but he just retired. The firm (well, just me now) will be strictly litigation going forward. I BRIEFLY considered picking up his workload but I'm more of a barrister than a solicitor at heart.

That's how it goes. I also have one law partner, and his is 90% litigation. As we say, I set 'em up and he knocks 'em down.

 

[mattv21]

Projects like that don't come along often in one's career.

I can relate to this. The last job I was involved in was designing the plant for what is going to be the world's largest sulfur melter (should be online by the end of the year, if I understood correctly). While that may not sound like much to the general public, it was an enormous undertaking in the sulfur production world and I'm really glad that I got to have a part in making it happen.

That being said, it was a real bear's a** to make happen... but we're proud of it.

 

[ColoHox]

I'm a postdoc. In other words, after spending 4 years in grad school, I now have to spend 3 years getting additional "training."

The pay is better than grad school, but I have zero expectations of time off or off-hours.

I work with deadly pathogens in bio-containment, so I guess that part is neat, but I have to take 4 showers a day.

 

[ifnotuthenwho]

I’m a network engineer at a regional financial services company. The network I design/support would be considered huge to some, and small to others. My group manages about 1000 devices at around 200 locations, but I focus primarily on the data center.

I think the “engineer” term is used loosely, but that’s what my title is. I don’t design or build new switches, but I am responsible for capacity planning to ensure that there is adequate bandwidth to support the applications and users. However most of the developers can’t tell me how much bandwidth their application requires, and sometimes they can’t even tell me what other systems it communicates with. That makes capacity planning difficult. I call it engineering without numbers.

My work week is mostly 40 hours, but as with most IT jobs, there are changes that can’t be made during business hours. So that can mean evenings, or from 12:00 to 6:00 on Sunday morning. I’m fortunate that my job is treated as salaried, but I do get paid overtime if I work evenings or weekends. I get 4 weeks of vacation plus some sick days, and 10 holidays.

My biggest issue is convincing my relatives that just because I work in IT, I don’t know how to fix your PC or some random application. I tell them that I work on the equipment that allows the PCs to communicate, and if I have a PC problem at work, I call someone.

 

[sillbeer]

I'm just a nervous Nancy when it comes to flying. I like my feet on the ground. It's actually a lot safer than driving.

 

[Billy-Klubb]

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

it was tracer rounds for the SMAW rocket launcher. I ran a cold lead header, cannelure machine, seated the bullets in the casings, counter bored the .308 casings to seat a modified .22 Hornet burst, mixed the trace and ignigter powders along with the robot that pressed them in the canisters, and also did field testing and weapons maintenance.

 

[harrke]

I supervise operation of two nuclear reactors. This is a rotating shift-work job -- 12-hour shifts sometimes three-days(nights) a week and sometimes four. The job itself is mostly paperwork (now much of that computerized) as I review/authorize routine testing and maintenance. However, if something goes wrong, it gets the adrenaline going. The rotation of the shifts gives me a good excuse to brew -- I find it a fun distraction from the "rules" at work and it allows me to stay up a little longer when switching my biological clock to the next shift.

 

[Britinusa]

Im a Vice President for a School bus contractor, i oversee the daily operations of transporting over 10,000 students a day, i also am responsible for the long term goals and plans for the companies success.

 

[btbnl]

Data scientist at a national lab. Get every other friday off, 3 weeks of vacation, an extra week off at christmas, and no one cares if sometimes I get too caught up in research to notice that I've been there for 3 days straight and haven't slept.

Which lab? What data?

 

[btbnl]

I'm a computational cosmologist at a national lab.

I use the largest (unclassified) supercomputers on the planet to turn raw data from crazy-sensitive microwave detectors into pictures of the Big Bang, and as a result I was the first person ever to see the beginning of the Universe.

 

[Duke145]

I Fly airplanes for a living, although now I'm junior in both my new airline and my equipment so I sit around a crash pad and wait for someone to call in sick. While I'm waiting I play video games and as of recently plan my next brew.

I belong to on online gaming community and I have always though how cool it was that we all came together through the internet, just like this place.

What an awesome thread. Its crazy the spectrum of backgrounds all congregated because of HomeBrew

Commuting to hubs my whole career I have had the opportunity to sit next to many interesting people. I love hearing about what people do. Recently I sat next to a lady who sells your browsing history... yes, ALL of it . LAX to TPA became a short flight listening to how much data the web gathers behind the scenes from our clicking.



"Sparky" "The Plastic Jet" "The DreamLiner" Officially called the Boeing 787

I assume you fly for an arline?, which one?

 

[ThatVideoKid]

Sounds kind of similar to what I do. I'm a Technical Director for a "major cable news" channel. It's basically a glorified button pusher but there are lots of buttons and if I hit the wrong one people around the world see it. Essentially all of the cameras, remote events, reporters, live "beauty" shots, graphics machines, video playback servers, pretty much any video source comes through my video switcher. I then "switch" the live broadcast as it's happening. I'm lucky in that it still allows me to travel on occasion to do live events but doesn't keep me on the road for weeks on end away from my family (and my fermenter! );.

My office:

Hey a TD! I really like switching, but news isn't for me. I love the traveling(though there isn't much yet, I'm only 22 haha) and being at a new location every time I work(2-3 days a month). I really want to be a TD or an EVS operator but I'm going towards Broadcast Engineering for the dependable income...though staying freelance is still the dream.

 

[ThatVideoKid]

as a result I was the first person on the planet to see the beginning of the Universe.

Boy I hope that inspired a beer.

 

[sabotenfighter]

Translator/technical checker of automotive marketing materials, repair manuals and owners manuals for a top 3 manufacturer. Spend my days at a desk reading most of the day and work the normal Japanese office life. 30-70 hours of overtime a month and yet I still find time to brew 300+ liters per year.

 

[bschot]

Btbnl, any chance we could see that picture? Or at least a link to direct us to the picture.

 

[btbnl]

Btbnl, any chance we could see that picture? Or at least a link to direct us to the picture.

Sure. The data were taken by the BOOMERanG balloon-borne telescope and the image made the front cover of Nature (false-color image of the Big Bang in the background, balloon readying for launch in front of Mount Erebus in Antarctica in the foreground).

 

[btbnl]

Boy I hope that inspired a beer.

That was in my pre-brewing days.

 

[passedpawn]

I'm a computational cosmologist at a national lab.

I use the largest (unclassified) supercomputers on the planet to turn raw data from crazy-sensitive microwave detectors into pictures of the Big Bang, and as a result I was the first person ever to see the beginning of the Universe.

I'm assuming that what you mean is that you've seen the data that, when extrapolated, point to an expanding universe and an initial time/point of origin (?). Ed Hubble might have beat you by a bit.

 

[btbnl]

I'm assuming that what you mean is that you've seen the data that, when extrapolated, point to an expanding universe and an initial time/point of origin (?). Ed Hubble might have beat you by a bit.

Nope - I mean we detected photons created in the Big Bang and built up an image of it from them.

 

[philb1969]

Chemist (BS) by degree. Worked in analytical labs for 20+ years, then went to the Dark Side (Sales) for a international specialty chemical company. Coatings, Adhesives, Sealants and Elastomers. I try and get R&D people to make new products with our stuff and manage existing accounts. 50% travel, mostly by plane. I get to travel to Sweden once a year.

 

[passedpawn]

Nope - I mean we detected photons created in the Big Bang and built up an image of it from them.

Don't photons move at the speed of light (I mean, they are light )? How can you catch up to a photon released from the big bang? Wouldn't it be at the edge of our universe now?

 

[PlexVector]

I'm an electronics engineer or more specifically and embedded systems engineer, which means I design things that have computers in them. I design the analog and digital circuit and then write the firmware that drives the hardware. I guess one of the more interesting devices was a portable gauge that uses a nuclear isotope to measure the density of soils and asphalt. You've seen the rollers used in road building--there is actually a lot of science that goes into how many times the roller rolls back and forth before the asphalt is at the proper density. Presently, I'm designing a new sensor for automatic faucets and flush valves, like in airport restrooms, that actually works.

 

[SharonaZamboni]

Presently, I'm designing a new sensor for automatic faucets and flush valves, like in airport restrooms, that actually works.

Thank goodness! There's a restaurant in town that drives me nuts. I end up jumping all over and walking to and fro to get that dang thing to flush.