What's your day job?

[Oddly]

View attachment 2869319 I travel around the country, performing with Jeremiah, my trained armadillo...

You should come to Ireland!
We have no armadillos.
I'm sure you'd be a great hit.

 

[bholder]

You should come to Ireland!
We have no armadillos.
I'm sure you'd be a great hit.

Let's see, it was St. Patrick that got rid of the snakes, who handled the armadillos?

 

[JohnDeereJack]

I work in healthcare for the devolved Scottish Health Service as part of the Scottish Cancer Clinical Trials Research Unit.

 

[Howlin' Hanson]

Retired, but working part-time at Sam's Club gas station. No lifting, no stocking, no ordering. Smile and wave.

Before that sold uniforms to Boy Scouts, and before that 30 years with USPS, starting as a sorting clerk, then philatelic, then permits, then sales rep.

 

[bassdude51]

Retired and living my dream.

 

[Richland123]

You should come to Ireland!
We have no armadillos.
I'm sure you'd be a great hit.

Sounds like a good name for a band.

Irish Armadillos

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I am a commercial insurance broker by day, with a focus on things that are difficult to insure (work comp for construction companies for instance).

Like everyone else in my industry, fell in backwards by accident but it is a great industry to be in.

Dang, I was figuring sewer treatment plant technician from your opening post...Speaking of falling in backwards by accident (ewww, yuck.)

I do networking from fiber to wifi, database foolishness, IT etcetera and occasionally pollute young minds with a smattering of knowledge in engineering subjects.

 

[Pilgrim]

I head up four small technology units at a 32,000 student land-grant university. Between them we research classroom and online instructional technology, install equipment and maintain about 300 classrooms (3.5 staff for 300 classrooms keeps us busy), work with designers and vendors in building new classroom buildings, train faculty in computer-related technology and using the learning management system (LMS), and run the LMS, which is Canvas.

I spend a lot of time reviewing things like touch screen monitors, cameras that do/don't do face recognition, developments in overhead mics (the Shure microflex system looks impressive), new lecture capture and video management systems, and most of all - figuring out how to make these things transparent for the 20% of faculty who are so damn technology averse that I swear they have shrines to chalk in their office.

 

[dangnewt]

View attachment 2869319 I travel around the country, performing with Jeremiah, my trained armadillo...

I thought Jeremiah was a bullfrog.

 

[Fishheadjoe]

I run and own my own I.T. recruitment agency. Been at it for close to thirty years! I know how to spell both cobol and assembler! Now, if I could just find a Base 24 person, I could take the rest of the month off!
Fishheadjoe

 

[delta7fred]

and most of all - figuring out how to make these things transparent for the 20% of faculty who are so damn technology averse that I swear they have shrines to chalk in their office.

Hehe!

My daughter works in IT at a university, one of her jobs is rolling out and and training for any new library systems that get put in place.

She never has a problem with the students, give them their username and password and they will be showing you things you didn't know about it in half an hour. Most of the lecturers are ok with it although some (probably the ones with shrines to chalk) cannot see why things need to change.

The ones that give her the most trouble are the retired professors who still have access to the library. They cannot see why they should even need a pass to get into the building, everyone knows who THEY are, and as for logging in and having to read documents on a screen well that is just lunacy! What was wrong with a few miles of shelves and an army of librarians to retrieve the documents?

 

[blowinblue]

Even though my recliner chair pic might lead you to believe I sit around and do nothing, that's not the case. Just about the time I retired nearly six years ago my mother-in-law came to live with us. Diagnosed with Alzheimer's, she needs help with everything and can't be left alone. When Mrs. 'blue is at work or out running errands, I'm on duty. No problem. It's a privilege to help. Not a physically demanding job, but certainly emotionally demanding. I now have considerable empathy for dementia patients and caregivers.

Most of my adult life I drove big rig trucks. 13 years hauling gasoline, 3 years hauling butane and propane, 6 years hauling logs out of the Central California mountains. Also (in no particular order) stints as an outside residential home loan rep, swimming pool salesman and designer, construction worker, automobile body shop dispatcher and assistance shop foreman, and lumber mill head-rig edgerman. Owned a swimming pool cleaning and repair business (twice). And a couple periods of doing nothing but gigging on the bass. I'm probably leaving a few things out. Hauling logs had to be the most fun (if you're into that sort of thing).

M. M.

 

[Mike N]

3 years hauling butane and propane,

"Bobby, how many times do I have to tell you?? Butane is the bastard fuel." - Hank Hill

 

[GKon]

MPE (Mail Processing Equipment Mechanic) for the USPS, and a Martial Arts Teacher.

 

[corndog]

Trim carpenter/miracle worker.

And anything else I need to do to make a dime.

Man I wish I had the skill of a trim carpenter.

 

[GBBSbassist]

I work for a company that rebuilds DC and AC motors, and manufactures new DC motors.

I'm a materials manager, and I do all of the CAD and design work. I'm very fortunate to work directly under a super enthusiastic mechanical engineer who is more than willing to sit down with me and talk math and engineering principles. He's in his 80's now though and is talking about hanging it up. I'm considering a sales pitch to my company to get them to send me back to college and pay for it, so that I can possibly step into that role, but that's pretty intimidating at age 35. Who knows...

I used to do TONS of freelance design work. One of my more enjoyable positions was designing custom ATA cases for music equipment and sports teams. I got to work on a case for the Stanley Cup when the Blackhawks won it back in 2015. I also got to do a case for one of those weird double guitars for Michael Angelo Batio.

 

[blowinblue]

"Bobby, how many times do I have to tell you?? Butane is the bastard fuel." - Hank Hill

Hank is right. When it's really cold outside butane doesn't generate enough pressure to keep pilot lights lit. At least that's how I remember it way back when hauling that stuff in the late 1970's. Butane was used more during the warm months of the year.

M. M.

 

[SoonerBill]

Manager for a Federal Govt contractor that does building and grounds maintenance.

 

[metron]

My degree is in electrical engineering but I work in technical compliance for both state and federal agencies overseeing a team of test engineers. So... no actual design work.

 

[T_Bone_TL]

I'm considering a sales pitch to my company to get them to send me back to college and pay for it, so that I can possibly step into that role, but that's pretty intimidating at age 35. Who knows...

At 35 you have a much better idea about work and applying yourself (and "what would I use this for in the real world") than the average 18-22 year old. So if your company will go for it, you go for it, and don't be intimidated by the whippersnappers.

FWIW, I went into undergrad at 18 and clawed my way out at 30 with a B.S. in Computer Science from the engineering school and an M.S. and PHd. from the school of hard knocks, but only the BS shows up (evidently the hard knocks school is not an accredited part of the university.) These days you can do quite a bit online while continuing to work, which might sell better to your employer - just be sure of the quality of any on-line course before committing.