Aug
4th
2017
Tell me about your job · 1:34am Aug 4th, 2017
I know at least some of my followers are gainfully employed. It'd be a big help to me if you told me about it! Some prompt questions:
- What do you do?
- What kind of environment do you work in?
- What are your hours like?
- What's a normal workday for you?
- Do you enjoy what you do?
- Do you think you're getting paid enough? (In comparison to others in your field at the same level.)
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
- What's the worst job-related experience you've ever had? (At this job or any other.)
Feel free to vent if you'd like, and only share as much as you're comfortable with/allowed to.
If there's only one question you answer, though, I'd like it to be "How did you get this job?"
Okay? Okay. Thanks in advance.
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Can I ask why you are interested in the information?
I'm a human. It was quite difficult to get this job, far more sexual favors than I would have liked, and I certainly don't get paid for it. But working to get any important information has been a chore. Let me tell you about this one time I--
[We interrupt this program for some breaking news. The spy has been found; the military has sent in a full force to apprehend them. The aliens won't win over us this time.]
I'm curious as to what this is all about, so I think I'm gonna go ahead and answer.
- What do you do?
I'm a Technical Writer for a company that produces drilling tools for oil and natural gas wells. I'm mostly focused on the Repair and Maintenance of the tools. "What is a technical writer", you ask? Basically, I'm the guy who writes the technical manuals, help guides and procedures explaining how the big, high tech, potentially lethal, sometimes radioactive $750,000 machine works so that the guys in the field won't break it and themselves trying to use it. Or if they do, we can point to the document I wrote and say "If you'd read the damn instructions, maybe that wouldn't have happened!"
- What kind of environment do you work in?
General office environment, nothing fancy.
- What are your hours like?
They were originally very strict, but then my boss left the company and the new one is lax on hours. As long as I work my eight hours a day and am in the office between 9-3, nobody cares when I actually show up and leave. As a general rule however, I tend to work from 7-4. General 40 hour workweek, weekends always off.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Much of it is involved with trying to turn the nonsensical, amateur scrawling of the engineers and manufacturing experts into legible work/field instructions that the average reader can understand. This includes creating interactive forms and occasionally explaining complex mathematical formulas, and I sometimes have to go into the field to witness a tool build, breakdown or test in order to properly understand and document it later. I also spend a lot of time bugging the right people to look at and approve documents, since I can't release them to the working public otherwise.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Since I was a kid, I loved explaining things. I frequently wrote encyclopedias for myself until Wikipedia made that redundant. This is similar, so yeah, I'm satisfied. It's also pretty easy for someone with naturally developed English skills and an Engineering degree, so from that perspective I really have nothing to complain about.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
While I would like to be paid more, this is more related to my current bill demands than what I think of my worth in the position. If I weren't fighting student loans, I think I'd be plenty happy with my pay.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
It beats manual labor in the hot summer sun in the local cemetery! And I have no intention of ever going back to Cracker Barrel. It doesn't pay as much as my last Tech Writer job, but that was a lucky break and I knew it wouldn't last.
- How did you get this job?
Uh, I applied for it? I didn't know anyone at this company, so I had to get in on my merits alone.
I'm an industrial engineer for UPS. More precisely, I'm a facility planner. It's my job to project future needs based on trends, to create efficiency where it can be found, and to enforce rules.
I work for UPS, so an industrial shipping environment. I oversee an automated facility, so there is a mixture of unionized employees unloading and loading trailers while an automated sortation system moves the packages around the hub.
There is never an end to my work. I was working 70+ hours until pretty recently. I've now adopted a "Do a reasonable day's work and leave" philosophy. I just told my bosses that I'm going to work 10 hours and then go home. Whether I work 6 hours or 10 or 15, there will still be more work to do. You have to draw the line somewhere.
Do two hours of daily reports, then get to work on long term planning/organizing for peak season. During this, several crises will pop up. There will be meeting to attend on some days, and I have to go out into the operation and do measurements and other data gathering activities.
Tough question. I've only been at this job for a year, and it takes about three to be competent. Right now, it takes me longer to do almost everything than it ought to, and that's frustrating. I think I'll be cool with it when I have full competency, but right now, no, I'm not really loving it all that much.
Hmmm. Well, if I can get down to the 8 hours a day that they are telling me that I'm supposed to be working, then yes. Right now, no. My predecessor worked like 30 hours a week, so it's doable, but not my reality yet.
It's the hardest damn job I've ever had. The actual work isn't so tough. It's dealing with moronic people that won't listen to basic logic because their emotions want something else, or dealing with a late train that throws all the plans out of whack, or the tenth last minute assignment that week that some big wig decided that they need RIGHT NOW despite the fact that I have a full day's work already planned out. That's the shit that drives me insane.
I started out twenty years ago as a guy who loads packages into semi trailers and worked my way up through the company. UPS is a very "promote from within" company.
Physics professor, and chair of my division (which includes the physics and several other related departments). I teach, but I also
herd catstry to keep everyone in my division on the same page, put together schedules (OMG u can't schedule Gen Physics I at the same time as Calc II or Gen Chem!), find and hire part-time teachers, etc. There's a whole lot more, but bleh.Classroom. Office. Driving to satellite campuses. Going to conferences and taking students on field trips to industry and such (have been to Oak Ridge National Labs, seen the world's biggest neutron gun and biggest computer, have seen nuclear reactors and irradiated all kinds of shit, been to power plants, ancient hydro dams, and all kinds of cool stuff)
Teacher's hours. Which means I may only have class on Tuesday/Thursday/Friday, but I spend a lot of time at home grading, doing course prep, grading, putting together schedules, grading, writing reports and grants, and grading.
I do, technically, get summers off. But most of that time is spent making sure the summer classes are going well, trying to hire more adjuncts, and generally putting out fires and trying to get ahead on course prep and making keys.
6am wake up, eat breakfast, SSS, be at work by 7:30, go over the day's first lecture, go over the homework key I made last night, go to class and do the teaching thing, go back to my office and do that all over again. Maybe at some point try to grade at work, then give up and read the latest Austraeoh chapter on my phone instead. Make phone calls, talk to another teacher about being a lazy ass who hasn't graded anything all semester, talk to another teacher about being a hardass unnecessarily, talk to another teacher about a student who ____________. Go home, eat dinner, grade late into the night, then make tomorrow's homework key.
I'd enjoy it more if publishers didn't feel the need to come out with a new book every two or three years. I write all my own lab manuals for lower-level classes, and I work all the homework problems myself for the higher-level classes, because I want to be able to help students on the homework, and some of the advanced classes can have hour-long homework problems, and I need to be able to just look at my key and not have to wonder "what in the world did the solution manual do here, and why?"
Grading is terrible, and soul-crushing. But I can't think of any other job I'd rather do. I'm taking a bunch of punk kids and turning them into competent, math-shredding professionals. That, and taking a bunch of education majors who've literally never had a science class in their lives, and helping them understand the very few fundamental rules that cause everything they've ever known to work the way it does. Just seeing folks make connections in their head, that's worth it.
That said, I firmly believe the world would be a better place if I had the authority to euthanize whoever I wanted.
Honestly, who ever does think they're getting paid enough? I'd say no, but only because I'd be making 5x my current salary if I was working in industry. I had job offers from more than one alphabet agency, some of which would have involved explosives, spaceships, and/or hazard pay.
Of course, I could also have taken a job at pretty much any other college, and be making 50-100% more than I'm currently making. But I like my small town, and, realistically, I'm never going to pay off my student loans, so it doesn't really matter.
I haven't stabbed anybody in fucking forever. I don't live in a cubicle, but I also don't get to see live rocket engine testing. No tossing hay bales in the hot sun. I don't have to snorkel in long-neglected swimming pools or haul 50 lb bags of caustic chemicals. Nobody's pointed a machine gun at me while I've worked at this job. Security at this job includes... Officer Tommy, who mostly walks past the nerds playing D&D in the cafeteria about once an hour, which is better than, say, having to drive through a maze of concrete barriers and waiting for people with bomb mirrors to inspect the underside of your car. I haven't been shot, or shot at, since I took this job. Celestia, when did my life become boring?
A long time ago, back when I was still in grad school, we were friends with a couple. The wife was an administrator at this college, and I'd just finished my PhD, and was unemployed, and she needed someone to teach a terrifying class called "pre-algebra" which is literally pre-kindergarten math up to 5th grade math... for adults. After a year of this soul-sucking class, the college's physics professor retired. So they asked me to apply, and I did. My wife was still in college, so I needed a local job, and this was it.
Any questions?
- University librarian
- Silent, generally, except around exam time and end-of-term, because of course things get rowdy then.
- 16.00 to midnight, Tuesday thru Saturday
- A great deal of filekeeping, records management, and other things that keep me glued to a computer not in plain view of patrons.
- Yes. It's a nice, simple job that pays well enough to let me do what I want to in my off-time, and lets me interact with fascinating old books. I am secretly not-secretly a Sparkle, I know.
- I bitched to management a little once they moved me to the night shift (weird circumstances on that, though; our old night supervisor quit out of the blue, and they've not been able to find anyone else for the position, and I ended up holding the short straw), 'cos I've not seen the attendant raise that's supposed to come with the position, but beyond that, see above.
- Sure as hell beats the ice-cream joint. Or cleaning cages as an underpaid lab attendant at uni. :P
- What do you do?
Teach software engineering.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
In academia, in a highly collaborative environment.
- What are your hours like?
Usually about four consecutive hours four days a week, sometimes staying late. Three days off. Also, Summers off, because it's more important than extra money.
- What's a normal workday for you?
I teach by spouting profanity and showcasing ponies on large screens, and I meet with students.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Oh my yes.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
I'm stunned that somepony actually pays me to do this. Or continues to hire me when I spam the faculty lists with 'everypony' neigh-constantly.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
It's not quite as intellectually stimulating in some areas (I've had some weird bucking jobs) but it's certainly my fave so far, and it's fortunate I can do it at all given the loss of abilities caused by the delicious opiates I take for myofascial pain which means I can't stay awake long hours much.
- How often do you have sex with your coworkers?
I can't do this while I'm teaching them, but after they've passed the classes I normally teach, it's safe. I even consider it safe to bone my TA's while they're working for me, because there's not much supervision to be fair—I sign the timesheets without looking at them.
- Do you have any complaints about the janitorial staff?
Too many to list, but I'm fortunate to be in a building that has less of a controversial relationship with the janitors than the main building most faculty are in.
- How many shirts do you wear to work that are pretty much overt rape jokes?
Two.
- How many shirts do you own that are pretty much overt rape jokes?
Four, five... damn. I actually need to count, and I don't have time for that right now.
- What is the strangest thing you've heard or read related to policy where you work?
"Hurting a woman's self esteem can be a form of sexual violence." Welcome to academia, 2010+.
- Mineraloid: Jet, Limonite, or Tektites?
Where I work, definitely Limonite.
- How many hooves am I holding up?
All six.
- Who is your favorite pony, relative to work?
Read the previous answer and guess.
- Do you listen to music at work?
The screams and wails of the damned students, I guess. (Oh, by 'damned' I don't mean 'condemned'.)
- How many interactions have you had with human resources?
Exactly zero. I was never interviewed or hired. I still get paid.
- Who is the magic man?
His name shall not be spoken.
- How far are you from Waukegan?
Six hours and twelve minutes, if you take I-70 to I-65. It's a lengthy commute, but it's worth it.
- What is the most unusual fact about your job?
I am still legally permitted to be around children in Ohio.
- Do your coworkers like Trump?
Of course not. Universities are liberal cesspools where we worship altars of Hillary Clinton and murder children for use in Satanic versions of Settlers of Catan.
- Do you think you'll be in the same job in ten years?
I can't believe I'm still alive today, so I have no idea.
- Where would you like to be in ten years?
Inside pink pone. Or cuddling Scootapone.
- What is the most important thing about your job?
I haven't been able to figure out what I'm actually supposed to be doing yet, and I've been here for years.
- Do you have any regrets about your job?
Yes, all of them.
- Is there anything else you'd like us to know?
I once Prench-kissed and ball-fondled a husky in public at a party in front of several people's completely normal parents. Seriously, I did this. This is a thing that happened and people watched it and said nothing, probably because they had no idea what to say. It lasted for several minutes. I'm not sure how this relates to my job except I'd like to point out that I am employed at a major research university and get paid actual money to make pony jokes and spout profanity almost constantly, and I'm also that same husky-fucker. These are facts, PP. All of this is actually true in this universe. However, this used to be more surprising before Tartarus froze over last November. (Note: Prench is a ponification of French, because the ponies come from Prance.)
- Paper or plastic?
Neither. I prefer the real thing, thank you very much. (By which I mean copper.)
- Thank you for your responses! They have been recorded and sent directly to Homeland Security.
Well... buck.
- What do you do?
I'm an auto mechanic/technician (whichever term you prefer, I guess). I'm state and ASE Master Certified, which means that I get a shiny gold patch.
And I also work part-time as foster homes for developmentally disabled adults.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
It's your typical auto shop. The building we're in was built starting in the 20s, and I'm not sure when they finished. It's not the best arrangement, but it works. In the wintertime, it's cold, and in the summer it's hot. Sometimes there's a breeze blowing through, and on stormy days rain blows in through the shop doors.
As for the foster homes, they're normal houses or apartments. Sometimes I get spit on or bitten.
- What are your hours like?
I work from 7:20 to 5:20 or so Monday through Friday as a mechanic, then on the weekends I'm on call and might work any time. I've actually written a fair number of ponywords at group homes.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Arrive at the shop first, open up, drink some coffee and maybe eat breakfast, then start working on whatever cars we have in the shop. Some days I argue with the manager and other days we get along. Usually, when he remembers to turn on the radio it's to a station that I don't like, and I've considered on more than one occasion seeing what would happen if I hooked up the ground lead to the welder to one prong of the plug and then strike an arc on the other.
I usually have some downtime where I can catch up on ponyfics or sometimes even write them at work; it depends on how efficiently he's scheduling things.
Unless we're really busy, I usually eat lunch sometime between noon and two. If we're really busy, I might skip lunch entirely. And then the afternoon is a repeat of the morning.
As for the weekends, there isn't really a 'normal' day at a group home. I generally consider getting through a shift without having to write an incident report a good shift.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Eh, it's alright. I'm reasonably good at it, and I've got a rather substantial investment in tools, so I'd hate to try and do something else. Plus, it's nice to be sorta left alone for most of the day, and I can swear at cars to my heart's content.
For a year, I had to manage the shop as well, and I didn't like that so much. I had to deal with idiot customers and idiot co-workers.
The group homes are fun, too. There are some guys who are total jerks, but that's offset by the really cool ones.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
For where I live, yeah. I wouldn't mind a few bucks an hour more, but the convenience of having a job that's about a mile from my house is really nice, and I don't think that there are any other places in town where I could work that I'd make as much.
I don't make a lot at the group homes, but it's a nice backup plan in case the economy goes south again and I lose my job as a mechanic.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
The owner is really cool. He sometimes has temper tantrums, but afterwards he's sorry. I don't have a huge fondness for our current manager; the one we had before was a lot better, and the two of us made a perfect team. The hours are predictable, which is something that several of my previous jobs haven't had. It's not nearly as tedious as doing factory work. It's not as much fun as driving a wrecker was, but I'm paid about three times as much.
EDIT: I missed the "How did you get the job" because you were all sneaky and stuff.
Classified ad in the newspaper.
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Self-therapy.
- Software Developer (usually web)
- Cubicle farm (though large cubicles, in my opinion)
- We work a 9/80 schedule, which basically means every-other-Friday off, in exchange for 9 hour days Mon-Thur. Hours are generally flexible, from 6A-4P to 9A-7P, depending on preferences.
- Coding, troubleshooting, working with other coders, managing tasks, strategizing/discussing future technologies, talking with customers/SMEs about requirements, etc.
- It's reasonably decent enough. I wouldn't do it if they didn't pay me for it, but... it's what I do, and it pays the bills.
- Probably? I mean, honestly, I have no confidence and feel like a total hack half the time, but everyone else seems to think I'm decent enough at it. Of course, I'd love to make more, but who wouldn't?
- Definitely the best job I've had, though some aspects of who my employer is/who we work for can suck (bureaucracy, red tape, funding, etc).
- A former manager (and friend) of mine referred me/let me know about the opening. I applied, interviewed, etc.
Sorry about keeping it rather vague, but... I kinda have to.
I'm a lyft driver. I also occasionally do private rides and tutor. I'm a musician but that is barely making any money yet.
I enjoy my job. I get paid to meet cool people and explore SoCal. My car is covered in about 80 stickers, a collection of pop culture, music, politics, places I've been, and ponies. I wear a Hawaiian shirt, Lei, and pirate hat when I Lyft because I believe every ride should be a vacation from the stresses of life.
I wish I got paid more on shorter rides; our pay is determine mostly by distance not time, so sitting in traffic fucking sucks. Also they got rid of bonuses for older cars so I can't earn bonuses for driving a lot like people with newer cars can which I don't feel is fair.
Ultimately I probably only have about five years left before self driving cars take over. Such is the nature of capitalism that automation causes hardship rather than more leisure. This is why workers must seize the means of production. Rise up proletariat, you have nothing to lose but your memes!
I became a Lyft driver when my friend told me I should try driving for lyft 2.5 years ago.
My technical title is EMC (electromagnetic compatibility) Test Engineer, but basically I test anything that will be sold pretty much anywhere on Earth. (This is one of those jobs where it's pretty much impossible to explain what I do without boring the other person to death.)
Uh...better example. You ever see this label on your electronics? That means that an EMC Test Engineer tested it and passed the standards of the FCC/Industry of Canada/European Conformity. Tests can range from the radiated emissions it gives off, that the item can handle surges, that static doesn't shock you and shut the device down/damage it, and/or the frequency that the item is running at is stable.
Basically I try and see if your shit works or fails.
see why this shit is so hard to explain( ° ^ ° )vA test lab. Nothing spectacular, but we have these testing rooms that are pretty cool. I also work with pretty much all guys of varying ages. (Not even a joke: for something like ~6 months I was the only female test engineer until they hired a second girl (who I sadly never get to see since she's in a different building).) Sometimes it's awkward being the only girl, but 99% of the time I don't mind it. Honestly though, I think my environment itself is pretty nice, since everyone likes to joke around and really knows their shit.
Basic 8 hour day, though you can get some surprise overtime. (I spent a month doing 10 hour days since just one test was going to take something like 200+ hours to complete.)
Hmm...that depends. Normally I'll get scheduled to run tests for a client, but it always tends to vary. I could just be running one test for half a day or going through 8 different ones by the end of the day. Recently I've updated some of our procedures and learned how to do certifications (basically how you register your product with the FCC/etc.), so I haven't actually tested anything for like 2 weeks now. ( - ___-);
I like it so far (I've only been there a year)! I always see new products and have a better idea of what goes into development of electrical devices. I had always imagined myself doing work with the actual devices that would come out rather than developing stuff, so this plays more into what I was hoping for in a job. (Ah! I have a Bachelor of Science in Physics and Electrical Engineering, so this is technically all the stuff I was learning.)
There are some shitty parts of this job, not gonna lie. I still have to deal with customers, some smart or nice, some stupid as a box of crap.
Tough call. I think I get paid really well for my first 'big people' job. But should I get paid more? Probably since I'm in the smaller department and am doing a lot more than some other people. (I actually have my review coming up, so fingers crossed for a raise.)
The only other job I had before this was as a cashier for a grocery store, so it's leagues better. I do miss the freedom you had in choosing your schedule, but even then it's not a total loss since as long as you get 40 hours in, you can find ways to give yourself a free day.
My university has a website that helps current students and recent alumni find jobs, and that's where I found it. I interviewed, did a shadow day, and now I've been there for a year.
- What do you do?
Work tech-support for a fast-food chain.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Standard office
- What are your hours like?
anywhere from 12-9 to 3-12 Friday - Tuesday
- What's a normal workday for you?
Answering calls and emails in order to troubleshoot various issues that a store might be having
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Usually
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
I'd say yes, for the position I'm currently in. A promotion would be nice.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
Best one I've had, but I'm still young.
- How did you get this job?
I was approached by a contracting agency after posting my resume online.
What do you do?
I'm a UX (User Experience) Designer. I figure out what software should be made, and what it should look like based on talking with users of that software.
What kind of environment do you work in?
Normal Office
What are your hours like?
Normal 40 hour work week
What's a normal workday for you?
It depends a lot, but if I was to trim down my whole job into a single day I suppose it would be:
Interviewing Users (Usually over the phone)
Drawing up plans for possible user interfaces
Collaborating on those plans with Management as well as the software coders themselves
Creating high fidelity mockups in a software called Sketch, and then making that semi-clickable with a web app called Invision
Having users interact with possible future versions of the User Interface and get their opinions.
Iterating on that User Interface design for a while until I get something that most people are happy with
Do you enjoy what you do?
I think so. I've only been a UX designer for a year, and I've read before that it can take a few years before a career becomes something I truly enjoy and not just a job.
Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Not yet. I made more when I was a student. Though if I stay in this career path the salaries can get pretty high.
How does this job measure up to others you've had?
This just feels like a specialized position in the software development field. It's nice that I can design software without having to actually code it.
How did you get this job?
I had a lot of relevant experience, and applied to be an intern, which has turned into a full-time job.
I wrote up a lot more information about UX design in this blog post.
What the heck.
Director of Software Product Management for a Silicon Valley startup. I mostly work on mobile apps for athletes.
A WeWork office, 4th floor, window seat, downtown. All the interior walls are windows, so it is like working in a human sized HabitrailTM. But parking is free, and they stock vanilla almond milk in the kitchen, so it works out.
9-6 most days, plus several scheduled and several unscheduled hours each week in the evenings talking to our office in Beijing. The other night I got pinged on Slack just as I was going to bed, and ended up talking to the team for an hour to work out some design decisions.
In the office around 9:00am (+/- 30 min). Catch up on all the email, Slack, and Basecamp updates the Beijing team generated overnight. 10:00am phone sync up with a remote colleague in Hawaii. Spend the rest of my day working through my todo list, which can be almost anything associated with getting mobile apps out the door that isn't coding or creating production graphics. Some examples: answering stakeholder questions (and asking them), analyzing user data, solving design problems, writing copy, wrangling assets, and coordinating with my teammates all over the world (which does include occasional meetings). Go home around 5:30pm (+/- 30 min). Several evenings a week I end up on the phone or Slack with the team in Beijing for an hour or so.
I do.
My real joy comes from helping users. I get a real charge out of discovering a problem users have that our products can help with, then working with a team of very smart people from lots of disciplines to put together a solution, and finally seeing users get their problem solved. I read all the reviews and Twitter posts about our product and I get an endorphin hit every time someone says their play improved because they used our products.
Salaries and costs in Silicon Valley are insane. I make a lot more money than I ever expected to, but just barely get by. I wish I made more so that I could put more away for my family's future.
This is one of the best jobs I've ever had. I work with smart people. We make cool products. I make a fair wage.
Answered a job posting on Indeed.com. I had 20 years experience and they said yes.
-Ohio Dept of Health Long Term Care (i.e., nursing home) Inspector
-Nursing homes - some are beautiful, some are not.
-Generally four 10's, Monday to Thursday. Sometimes have to take home work, sometimes have mandated overtime (for, say, a complaint that specifically relates to the weekend).
-Go to assigned facility for either their annual inspection or a complaint. If the annual, follow a massive four-day checklist to its conclusion, including interviewing staff and residents, observing procedures from cooking to med administration, reviewing charts, all to pretty much see if the facility's doing what it should. If a complaint, follow a focused plan to see if the complaint is substantiated. If no, great, prep for tomorrow. If yes, write citations. Actual workflow varies wildly depending on the contents of the complaint.
-I enjoy it more than nursing, which I came from. My friends comment that I've looked happier since the change. Overall, while no one ever loves clocking in, I can see myself at it for the long haul.
-I have no qualms with my compensation. I took a pay hit moving to being a government employee, but the aggressive (compared to private sector) raise schedule will very much pay off in the long run.
-Inpatient nursing sucked the life from me for six years. Now I go to work in business casual and spend large segments of the day in a conference room. I'm in a good spot.
-2 years of social work, nursing (bachelor's degree only), or dietician and then apply to the state.
If you're doing this in search of employment prospects, I would advise my own experience that healthcare offers the best pay-to-education ratio. STNA certification can be earned in a few weeks and can earn you up to $15/hr (usually more like $10-12), while an associate's nursing degree is two years for about $25/hr. Both positions tend to leak like sieves too, so it's not hard to find openings. If you despise direct care there are housekeeping and cooking jobs (the nursing home business is booming, and they need 'em), but those tend to lean on the side of minimum wage.
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That was.... an interesting answer section.
- What do you do?
Job A) Medical Laboratory Software trainer/installer/technician
Job B) Freelance Visual Effects Artist
- What kind of environment do you work in?
A) Home, office, and on location at labs.
B) Home, and in studio occasionally.
- What are your hours like?
A) M-F, 9-5 mostly
B) Evenings, weekends, and sometimes more extended by agreement. Sometimes on a (reasonable) rush job, I take time off from Job A to do Job B. For more money, of course.
- What's a normal workday for you?
A) On the computer doing documentation and specialized artwork (document and GUI) at home and in the office. At labs, I install computer systems, interface medical analyzers, and train lab techs.
B) All computer work. Photoshop, Premiere, After Effects, Maya, and others. I do almost every sort of VFX work, from simply taking boom mics and cables out of a shot, to greenscreen matting, to compositing and digitally altering actors. I will occasionally work on a sound stage to help optimize the filming for FX work.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
A&B) Pretty much, but I like B better… mostly.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
A&B) I am grossly underpaid. But that was pretty much my choice in both jobs. Because of that, Job A lets me take an inordinate amount of time off. Basically whenever I need/want/can afford to. With Job B, it means I get work for small indie productions that wouldn’t be able to afford digital work otherwise. It also means I’m not worked to death with a 14hr/6day work week which is typical of most FX houses. The indies are usually more appreciative, too.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
A) Enjoyable work that’s not very difficult. One of the best office-type jobs I’ve had. Plus, I get to travel a lot, which I like.
B) Very enjoyable work unless I get a clueless client. I have enough experience that I can usually spot that type and turn them down before it becomes an issue.
- How did you get this job?
A&B) Mostly by knowing the people involved from other places. It really is "who you know"... at least for me.
A) Friends from the SCA run the company.
B) I knew most of the software from working in the videogame industry for years. I worked on some indie films and commercials for free and built up a portfolio. On my first paid gig I was hired by a friend I met in another fandom, and then word got around.
I have, depending on how you count, between two and three jobs. I'm going to describe one of them.
- What do you do?
I'm a consulting researcher in a R&D department of $COMPANY. I help them develop algorithms for computer vision, 3D reconstruction, and computer graphics. My current job is
stealing jobs from hard working 3D artiststeaching AI how to improve point-cloud derived 3D meshes.- What kind of environment do you work in?
Small open-plan office with everyone in it doing the same work and, as likely as not, yelling at each other about maths.
- What are your hours like?
I am a consultant, so I don't have regular hours. Some days I don't work. Some days I work twenty hour days. Depends.
- What's a normal workday for you?
From those days I put in a normal-ish workday is:
1.Roll into job late because morning is a crime against humanity and my consultant force-field means I don't have to work the clock, thank the heavens.
2.Spend a contemplative 10 minutes with a cup of coffee and my daily todo list.
3.Peer at paper, write cryptic notes in margins, yell at author, write more cryptic notes. Stab at paper and mutter curses.
4.Fire up development environment, poke and prod at code, mutter. Call colleague and have a hand-waving argument about optimization.
5.Code some more.
6.(On a good day)achieve progress and, given the fact that my consultancy job means I get given all the problems nobody else wants, spend about fifteen minutes prancing in triumph. Possibly literally.
7. Document my work for my panoply of bosses and boss-adjacent figures.
8. Wander around the office doing mentoring work with the younger coders. Explain such arcane concepts as 'read the documentation' and 'why do I bother writing this anyway?'
9. Get roped into interminable meeting.
10. Chew off my own leg to escape.
11. Go home, limping.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Yes. I like research, I like the field, and I like my co-workers, even if they don't occasionally RTFM.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
...yes? Maybe? I could use more money, and I have had more lucrative job offers, but on the other hand, I don't really need more money, and I like what I'm doing.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
Better. Work in academia is too fraught with terrible mind-killing politics and contact with modern students erodes the soul.
I'm a private tutor, teaching high school students. Once I get my business registration out of the way, I guess technically I'd be a Director.
Either student homes or public libraries. With any luck, expansion will see me work in the latter more than the former.
The golden hours for tutoring are between 4.30pm to 6pm on weekdays, long enough after school finishes for students to rest up. I'm lucky to have found students who'll take night classes as well from 7.30pm - 9pm. This kind of work makes you think in slots rather than in hours per say - a "full weekday" would only be 2 hours + 2 hours, and weekends can be as many shifts as you can fill. I also sparingly taught English to young migrant professionals who were free during school hours. Because I operate independently, I get to negotiate for slots that I would like filled, and can simply say "I'm not free" on slots I'd rather keep for myself like Friday and Saturday nights.
I wake up and pursue life stuff, i.e. applying for real work, during day hours, and go out and tutor come 4 pm. This job requires me to drive a lot - I'll be out from 4 pm to 9 pm, for example, and about 1 to 2 hours in total of that would be driving, eating dinner in the car, or generally waiting for the next slot to hit so I can knock on the door.
I do! It's easy enough when you get the hang of it, more so than other jobs. I get to choose my work and I only have to interact with one or two people at a time, rather than tens per hour. I get to help students go through what is a tough system, and contribute the best I can to helping them achieve their goals.
I don't work enough hours for this to be a proper job. I do, however, charge flexibly (when I started, I charged $20/hour, and now for some students I charge $42/hour) because that's the nature of the business and I've taught enough to be able to wield that sort of negotiating power. It feels good to be able to dictate your worth.
I make enough to live off of, I think that my clients pay me fairly, and that I deliver enough value to warrant my fees. I could always do with more, though...
It's much easier to blend into an existing lifestyle, that's for sure. Though the hours are "fixed", they're short and light, and I get to work in a manner that suits my personality rather than some company culture. Yesterday, for example, I spent 20 minutes discussing with a 16 year old how Romeo and Juliet could be interpreted as a comedy instead of a tragedy... It's a bit more fulfilling (though sometimes more boring) than moving liquor boxes; less strategic than being an intern in a small environmental consultancy; and definitely more comfortable than generating leads as a sales rep. But it's not a long term position, and that looms over my shoulder ever time I show up to a student's place.
How did you get this job?
Special formatting because this is something I firmly believe in: you start by putting yourself out there and being confident.
If you have knowledge in an area, you've got something small. If you can convey it meaningfully so as to teach, you've got something valuable. If you can observe and listen and spot where they're making mistakes, you've got something even better - you can now deliver personalized service.
If you're stuck transport wise, just suggest to meet in a public place where you can reach. If I knew what I knew, I'd have started my advertisements with the line "All lessons in ___ Library only". Maybe it's because I've been doing this for over four years, but to me, it's really, really easy to set yourself up with a couple of students to start. Put an ad on Craigslist or any free online placeholder where Google will pick it up and send it along to a worried parent. Explain what you'll do for them, how much you'll charge, where you'll meet them, and how to contact you. Then wait for the bites. It can take long or short depending on what you're offering - Math is super popular - but it will come.
What do you do?
I work as a medical laboratory scientist in the local hospital. I run the tests the doctors order for the blood/urine samples collected by the nurses.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
A laboratory. No windows, lots of loud machines. Not the best, but it's fine with me. Below is an example of one of those machines, though ours isn't configured the same way. We have three of them in our main lab. For scale, this one would be about 15-20m long.
cobas.com/content/internet/product/cobas/en/home/product/clinical-and-immunochemistry-testing/cobas-8000-modular-analyzer-series/_jcr_content/mainParsys/tabs/tabsParsys/tabitem_0/firstProductDetailsParsys/image/image.img.jpg/1432122227533.jpg
- What are your hours like?
Our hospital lab runs 24/7/365. I work night shift, eight-hour shifts.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Depends on the day. Weekends are understaffed but usually pretty slow, while week days are usually understaffed and busy as hell. As far as actual work, we clean up the mess left by second shift (finding missed tests on samples, run the specimens they couldn't get to due to where volume of specimens) and then ride out the night depending on how many inpatients we have.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Lots! It's a daily struggle of time management and critical thinking. Plus I'm good with computers and stuff, so working with fickle machines is a skillset I've developed over a lifetime.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Depends on the day. Sometimes I'm hardly working,others I'm doing the job of three people.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
Better phrased as 'is this job that requires you to stand less, don't have to deal face to face with customers, and pays three times more than cashiering better than that shitty cashier job you had through college?' Yes.
I probably don't count as gainfully employed, but I couldn't resist.
- What do you do?
Stay-at-home mom.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Living room strewn with toys, with the TV nattering children's shows and songs in the background. Sometimes I go to other rooms strewn with toys with other TVs nattering children's shows and songs in the background. Occasionally I end up in environments where other people are trying to be gainfully employed and I chase a toddler through the aisles and apologize to them.
- What are your hours like?
I have off from 7PM until 10PM every day, plus sometimes she sleeps.
- What's a normal workday for you?
If I'm lucky:
Sometime between 7:30 and 9 I hear the sound of giggling and jumping on the bed through the baby monitor. Go in and tell her to stop jumping on the bed. Take her downstairs, make coffee and breakfast, put on cartoons, and then wake up.
Spend the rest of the day keeping her from: climbing on the TV stand, jumping on the bed, standing on my husbands computer that he never puts away because he wants her to break it, getting in the trash can, pulling the folded laundry out of the basket or drawers, throwing all of her toys on the floor for no goddamn reason, falling asleep at six o'clock because she refused to take a nap earlier, and screaming like I cut her arm off because the wrong song or MLP clip came on youtube.
When we go out I get to keep her from doing totally different shit.
This is often broken up by household chores, getting her food, changing her diaper, and occasionally reading half an article on the internet.
On a bad day it's the same stuff but it starts at 3AM.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Only because she's friggin' adorable.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Yeeeah. About that.
I do get hugs and kisses, though.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
The only one that came close was when I worked at a resort town bookstore on the off season and basically got paid to read all day.
How did you get this job?
Lots of sex, then nine months of growing a human inside of me that I had to forcibly expel.
4623293
What companies/instrumentation? I work with mostly Roche/Cobas in our chemistry lab.
- What do you do? -- IT Tech Support, remote and in person, from over the shoulder pointing up to Active Directory/DFS/802.1x/etc troubleshooting.
- What kind of environment do you work in? - Think 1980s office with 2000s tech. Thank God for domains and remote access. Most of the non-IT peeps in the office (I'm the only IT guy in the building) take off for field work during the day, so it can get awful empty at times. On the plus side, I seldom have to wait on the microwave.
- What are your hours like? 40hr weeks, good benies, little micromanagement on leave policy, good co-workers, and a good boss.
- What's a normal workday for you? Sit down at the desk and start putting out fires. By the time all the fires are out, it's time to go home. Plantronics binaural headsets are a must. Now 'normal' has a varying definition. At times, we're slamming out new hardware while pulling back old out-of-warrantee stuff and dealing with network hiccups in twelve hour days, while other times have me going into the online training site and saying, "What do I want to learn today? That looks interesting." I used to be in shape. I still am. Round is a shape.
- Do you enjoy what you do? - I think it's the best job I could ever get that fits my personality profile. I'm Aspergers fairly strongly, and I had expected to be living in a cube with no human interaction, but on busy days I never get to take the headset off from my first step in the door until I flee. I *like* fixing people's problems. It's a little like the Lone Ranger, without the dead relatives.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough? - Yes. Despite many in my field who get hired away to private industry for an even multiple of my salary, I *like* where I am and what I do.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had? - I'm blessed in that this is the *only* full-time job I've had since college. Most of my part-time jobs before this one only strengthened my determination to graduate college and do something different. This is it.
- How did you get this job? - Turnover. In short, the office hired *three* people for the job I've got now, one at a time, each one either quit before starting or worked a week before finding a better-paying position. My parents' next-door-neighbor works for the unnamed agency, knew I was looking for a job, and poked me into applying. That was 1988. Out of the twelve of us in the state now, four were hired that same year. The rest are like mayflies. In about 2027, we all will be retired and all that will be left is mayflies.
--(edit) Worst Work experience - That's difficult. The peeps in this agency are the kind who would break their arm to help you out of any jam. I got stuck with a Meniere's attack once a hundred miles from home and the local office boss made sure I got my pills and situated in a hotel to sleep it off, then came by next morning to make sure I was OK and to help me get back on schedule. Wonderful people. Ok, got distracted.
Worst experience was when we were replacing routers in each of the offices. We sent out detailed instructions for the offices to follow, set up a schedule, and yours truly got into his car with a set of routers to make the rounds. I show up at one office, announce myself, tell the office to do the *one* step they need to do that I can't (because I don't have AS400 permissions, thankfully), then start to unscrew the router out of the cabinet. The screws were a (censored) and took me an *hour* to get the old hunk of hardware loose. At this point, I was 45 min behind schedule, so I unplugged the old router, plugged in the new one, screwed it to the *good* spot in the cabinet (Stupid stripped threads), and told the office "You can turn the AS400 on now." Turns out they hadn't turned it off, despite... sigh. It was going to take two hours for our AS400 peep (remember, I know nothing about the antique) to get the config unbuggered, and they wanted *me* to do it. Several exchanges of verbs were made in an attempt to get my square peg to fit in their idea of a round hole before I just called the AS400 peep, handed them the phone, and left for my next office (of three). I caught holy heck for that, but the boss chewed me out with a "I know you didn't do anything wrong but I have to yell at you now" so it wasn't that bad.
4623325
Cool! I work for an LIS company! (see above)
That's a big-ass Cobas lineup! You must run a ton of accessions a day!
- What do you do?
I'm a heavy equipment operator.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Construction sites, mostly. Sometimes quarries, train- or shipyards. It really depends.
- What are your hours like?
Usually six or seven am until three or four pm. I'll occasionally pull a night shift, though.
Edit: Usually 40 hour weeks with some overtime.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Clock in, make sure I know what I'm supposed to do, do it, clock out.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
More or less. I tried working inside after parting ways with the army, but I just couldn't do it. Academia was full of assholes, tech is full of smug kids, and there were too damned many people around either way. At my current job I make a helluva lot less (great benefits, though), but the people are generally nicer and they leave me the fuck alone ([get out of my swamp intensifies]). Plus I'm actually improving the world around me, which is great.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Yeah, generally. More money would be great, but I live alone and make more than enough to cover expenses.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
This is not what I trained for, it's not what I went to college to do, and is in fact what I wanted to escape when I was younger, but as a grown man it just fits. For now.
-How did you get your job?
A friend of a friend put me in touch with someone willing to take a chance on a one legged bastard. I like to think it worked out for both of us.
4623339
Heh. We don't have a 7756 like the above image. We have a 756, a 76 and two 56's. Though, I've been hearing talk that we're going to be upgrading to more/bigger in the near future. Our lab runs anywhere from 3-7k specimens a day, depending on weekday/end. We earn our pay.
- What do you do?
I am a cashier at Chick fil A.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
I mean, I dunno, a Chick fil A. Pretty typical stuff. Really friendly, though.
- What are your hours like?
About 15 hours a week, which is fine with me since I have a ton of medical crap I have to deal with. My wife is the main breadwinner. I'm the supplemental income. Very much needed supplemental, but still...
- What's a normal workday for you?
Stand in front of a register, take orders, then give out drinks and sauces. Occasionally do some cleaning and re-stocking when needed.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
I actually do. As my mother put it, Chick fil A is the Disney of fast food. Yeah, pretty much. We do call our customers "guests." We do say "My pleasure" instead of thank you.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
10.50 an hour for a starting wage is pretty good, yeah.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
One of my better ones. They're very understanding about my medical problems. Would have probably even have hired me if they knew about them from the start, so that's cool. Probably second place to my R.A. job. That one was the bomb.
4623344
That's still a pretty serious line-up! I've done a few hospitals and reference labs that size, but not many. Our bread-and-butter is mostly POLs with four or five instruments and less than two hundred samples a day. I see a lot of Cobas e411s and Integra 400s. I don't want to broadcast my workplace, but if you look at any of the trade publications where LIS companies advertise, we're the one with the castle logo.
- What do you do?
Still a full-time student in the midst of medical school applications as we speak, but for now I'm working in a lab at the local medical school. Focus is on biochemical applications of Raman spectroscopy with regards to changes in gram-negative bacterial metabolism.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Medical School Lab; have way more space than we need, which is fine by me. No grad students, so I'm basically #2 in charge at age 21, which is pretty lit.
- What are your hours like?
They let me work anything up to 40, but since there's not often that much to do and sleep sings its siren song to me, I usually only work about 30/wk.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Growing/Filtering Bacteria, sitting in a dark room with a laser, and data analysis.
So, so much data analysis.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Absolutely. It's not a fulfilling career like being a full-time physician will be, but it's always interesting and has made me realize I definitely want research to be a part of my career- academia, ahoy!
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
College caps wage for undergraduates, no matter how 'skilled', so I get 13.25 an hour for my highly specialized job. As I understand it, that's less than they pay burger-flippers in Seattle, but my wage could shoot up to around 20 for the spring after I finally get that sweet, sweet bachelor's degree.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
I've been blessed to like all my jobs. Home Depot night stocking crew was actually a good time, although not as intellectually stimulating. Another tool company I worked at for a summer was a little more stressful environment, but still great people.
Full-time retail house paint sales. I'm a Sales Specialist! (according to my official title)
It's a store. It has a front and a back. The front has all kinds of displays for the various products that homeowners can buy. The back is full of extra product and the bulk ones we sell to contractors. It's a small-group environment with only six employees, but the over-arching company is biiiiiiiiiiiiig. It's also one of the busier stores in the district, and since we only have one (maybe two) additional employees over other stores, it often feels understaffed. Though the crew is good.
40 a week. I'm not a morning person, which is great, because the morning people needed a competent afternoon/evening guy.
Alarm goes off at 9 but I snooze until 9:30-ish. Head out about 10:30 for my hour commute. Get in 5 minutes late (seriously, I'm so well-known for it, that my boss takes special note when I show up earlier).
Help Sue-homeowner figure what the fuck she actually wants to do to her house (half of which is generally trying to get her to have an opinion on the colors she pulled out), help Joe-contractor figure out what the fuck his customer wants to do to their house, try and custom blend a color off a small patch of whatever random piece detritus someone brought me, upper management says we haven't done enough paperwork yet today, would you mind taking care of it?, extend the list of tomorrow morning's orders, listen to my boss rant (it's actually more entertaining than it sounds), try and figure out what part broke and how to special order another for before yesterday...
LUNCH
...finish figuring out where the hell I can order that part from, OMG CONTRACTOR TOM NEEDS A DELIVERY RIGHT FUCKING NOW (it's one quart, but it's just a minute down the road. do you mind?), run the day's accounts receivables (and probably yesterday's), put away stock, fix the stock put away by coworkers, fix that one guy's price because he never pays that much, help Sue-homeowner #23 figure out which paisley pattern would be best for that one corner behind the curio cabinet that no one is going to see anyway, but which still needs to be perfect, field a call from another store asking me how the hell to do some regular task, tint that giant order for the one place, and the other slightly smaller one, and that other-other one, and that other-other-other...
Pray to God that the guy who is in the store 5 minutes before close is the last one.
Do my daily pokestop loop. Commute home.
(An abnormal day is pretty much the same, but it starts at 6:30 am instead)
It's alright. It can be tough when things get going for long periods of time because I'm an introvert, and 6 straight hours of mild- to moderate physical labor combined with an unbroken stream of customers and phone calls really wears you down.
It is rather fun drive by a house and be like "hey, I helped make that look!"
No. I play assistant manager all the time. That's not my pay grade though.
There are other jobs out there?!
Thanks, mom. (she saw a help wanted sign)
I'm a graduate student in economics. It's a mix of teaching (or whatever alternative job is assigned that semester -- ETA: just found out it's grading for a few classes next semester) and my own research.
An urban-style university on the border of where the city starts becoming less brownstones and more multi-unit detached houses. The department is a converted brownstone.
Variable. I'm almost done with classes, so some of that structure is going to be gone. Fairly long, but it depends. Plus side is I mostly get to set my own hours, which this week has meant a few days of ~11AM to ~9-10:30PM, with (sometimes) some gaps in there. Working weekends are a thing, but it depends.
Can be teaching undergrads or making plans for the same. Reading academic papers, searching for data, doing math or writing code. Staring at a screen trying to figure out what's wrong. Trying to convince people that I have ideas that aren't irrelevant, unoriginal, or just plain stupid.
It depends. I'm more engaged than when I was a software developer, but this is mostly a lot more stressful, and I miss just being done with stuff when work's over. That doesn't really exist in the same way anymore. On the plus side, my work social life has never been better. But that's not saying a ton.
It's close, but yes. We're in a high cost of living area, and it certainly wouldn't hurt to be a bit higher. At the moment the big thing is that I'm envious that it looks like all the people two cohorts below me will be getting a better deal than I am.
More stressful, more rewarding, hope I don't screw it up.
I got a BS in an unrelated technical field (including writing a couple published math papers one summer), got an MS in something a bit closer, went to work as a software dev, took some classes (mix of online from a real--land grant--university and some from Coursera), retake the GRE (the place I ended up going required it to be a lot more recent than when it officially expires--but hey, that means I've taken the old and the new one, and can say the new one is a better test, both actually trying a bit to differentiate at the top end of the math side and improving the English side by moving away from pure vocab in favor of writing-ish things like sentence completion) got letters of recommendation from the professor I did research with and two from my MS, wrote what was (I now realize) an incredibly shitty cover letter/statement of purpose, and applied to 13 schools that were all (I now realize) way too good for me and got lucky with one.
Are you checking to see if we have all the necessary bronies to rebuild society?
Software quality assurance
A small team in two person offices, surrounded by other teams of similar size.
Flexible, but I generally work 9-5. Getting the tasks done on time and showing up to requisite meetings are what matter. I can work from home, which is both a blessing and a curse.
It varies, which I appreciate. There's a mix of coding (basically writing for the left side of the brain), result reporting (largely mindless and repetitive), and test setup (physical work that gets us moving)
Yes. A good chunk of that is being passionate about the project and company, which helps me through tasks that aren't as fun.
There's food in the fridge, a roof over our heads, and no crushing worry about having to choose between the two, so yes.
Best one I've ever had. My previous job was similar in terms of the actual work, but the environment, hours, and project were terrible.
I had my resume professionally redone and sent it everywhere, including applying for some jobs at my now-current employer. Roughly six months later I got the call for an interview.
- What do you do?
I'm a technical support lead for a big VOIP company (2nd or 3rd tier, depending on how you measure that), working in limbo between lower tiers and execs.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
I work with a lot of very smart people, which is awesome, but it's a highly stressful place for everyone. My job entails needing to know everything, while being hampered by politics, and the lack of internal communication about product development, back-end changes, and lack of response from operations, QA, and development teams when critical issues are escalated. I improvise far more than I should need to.
- What are your hours like?
I pretty much work the same hours I've had for years, which allows me to miss the worst of Bay Area traffic on both sides of my shift. I am fortunate that no one has ever tried to change my hours.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Well, see question #2 - that's pretty much it. But I'll give you an analogy:
Driving on the freeway, people who should not be there typically hog the fast lane, blocking other drivers who just want to get past them (Prius, Mustang, and pickup truck drivers are the worst - apologies to those of you who drive them). Everyone has their own self-interested agenda for that lane. No I am not cynical. The only time when people actually seem to treat the far left lane as a Fast Lane is when traffic starts to slow, and then everyone tries to move left in the hope that it will actually be faster, only to clog up that lane and make it the worst one on the freeway.
I work in the fast lane, and everyone comes looking for me there.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
I enjoy being productive and helping people, no matter what I do. I would enjoy it a lot more if this job didn't suck nearly every ounce of creative energy I have, and then throw migraines on top of that. I never got migraines before this job. I probably look a lot more... aged, now.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
I am still making significantly less than I did 9 years ago. Yay, DotCom bust. At least having this job is better than living in a cardboard box. Although come to think of it, I do actually live in a box...
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
If you're still reading and haven't guessed already, it is by far the most stressful job I have ever had. If I were in a serious relationship right now, balancing those two things would probably leave me dead from stress.
- "How did you get this job?"
Family recommended me, and then I went through nine individual interviews.
Sorry if I was a bit vague. The last thing I need is to be recognized by a critical piece of info while blaspheming that my work environment isn't perfect.
- What do you do?
Producer for CBS Radio's ConnectingVets.com
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Office environment mostly. I sit at my desk most of the work day, though I spend three half-hours in the studio bantering with my host.
- What are your hours like?
Well, I work the morning show, so my day starts at 3 AM, but luckily I get off at Noon
- What's a normal workday for you?
Wake up at 0300, SSS, be in office by 0400. DO show prep with my host—find interesting news articles that vets would like to hear about, write scripts, fuck around on Facebook, finalize interview schedule for the day. 0600 we go live on the air/internet stream. FOr the first half-hour, my host and I will talk about the news, promo guests, and shoot the shit. Then the next half hour I'm at my desk calling our guests, hooking them into the studio line. That repeats form 0600 to 0900. Then I write articles for our website, produce a few radio spots, fuck around on Facebook, and generally run out the clock until 1200, when I get to go home.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Immensely. I love broadcasting, writing, entertaining and informing people. I mean yeah, it has its stresses, but it's the good kind of stress. I hesitate to say it, but this is pretty much my dream job.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Considering I'm making around $15,000 more than the stated industry average for an entry-level employee(entry level because this is my first civilian broadcast job), I would say yes.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
A shit-ton of a lot less stressful than the Army. It brings new challenges, but I welcome them. Now, all I have to do is not fuck around and lose it.
- What do you do?
My company can best be described as "party planners for healthcare companies." We arrange all the meetings where people can talk about new drugs and therapies, presumably mumbling into the microphone when they get to side effects. (My mother says I'm a servant of the devil, but she's being facetious. Mostly.) I was in software-level tech support from when I was hired in mid-December until early July, when I got moved to adding features at the semi-direct behest of our clients.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Physically, it's a rather small building, only two floors and a basement in a shape roughly approximated by \|/. I'm in the basement at the intersection of the three lines, diagonal from the server room. Perfect environment for browsing Fimfiction when work is slow without my coworkers noticing, since they're all on the second floor. (Hooray for department overflows.)
Socially, it's pretty laid back. Everyone's been very nice since I started, and I've made some friends with whom I go to lunch. One of them is my direct boss. Another is my former direct boss. The best part there is that I had no idea either of them held such positions until about January. This is why it pays to be nice to everyone. I didn't realize one of the people who walks by my desk on a regular basis is our CEO until last month!
- What are your hours like?
Nominally 9 to 5, though I arrive early enough that everyone's cool with me turning it into 8:45-4:45. However, I live forty miles away from work, so my commute tacks on an extra hour to each end of the day. Fun.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Depends on where we are in the two-week Sprint cycle, but six days out of ten, it's a 9:45 stand-up where we all say what we did yesterday, followed by a mix of coding, getting feedback from QA, reviewing other developers' code, and surreptitiously reading horsewords on my phone when there's none of the above to do. Other days, we're deciding what to do in the next two weeks, figuring out who does what, or demonstrating what we've done to the people who interact directly with our clientele.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Usually. Again, the work community is very nice, and the work is a series of engaging puzzles with practical applications. Sometimes I end up hitting my head against a brick wall for a while, either because of a few overlooked characters or because no one ever really explained what our codebase actually does and I've had to figure it out as I go, but that's pretty standard for programming. (Well, the first part is anyway.) Plus, one of the biggest frustrations is on his way out. Our sysadmin, who apparently resents actually doing his job but made himself too indispensable to fire... is getting fired. With a disgustingly generous severance package. He was basically holding the databases for ransom, but at least we won't have to deal with him come September.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough?
For my experience level? Certainly.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
Those consisted of barely-paid internships and a few miserable months spent in the cheese department of a grocery store. They don't even begin to compare to this position.
- How did you get this job?
After several months of trawling job sites, an actual live person noticed my online resume. The recruiter got in touch with me, put out some feelers, and arranged some phone interviews. There were missteps; at one point, I think I got him nearly frustrated enough to give up on me. But I hit it off well both socially and technically with this company on the phone, and then in an in-person interview. (I hadn't expected the literal written test, but at least I wasn't expected to answer every question correctly.) Around Thanksgiving, they told me I was in.
General construction work, including framing, roofing, masonry, and concrete.
Outdoors, varied by the week.
7:30-ish to 4:30-ish five days a week, with breaks for lunch, snacks, and rain. Sometimes we start earlier if we're pouring concrete, because it sets too fast if the day's really hot.
Show up, haul stuff around, cut, hammer, glue, lay shingles, mix mortar, listen to entirely too much country music, make stupid banter, go home and take a long shower.
Yeah, I like it. Construction is very satisfying, being physically active is pleasant, and if we've got a job I don't like, it doesn't last long, because we usually finish in a week at the outside. It's very, very dirty at times, but not actually disgusting. Rain is a pain.
The pay isn't great, but my living costs in the area are low, and I am unskilled. If I got certified as a mason, I'd make more, but I don't really plan to do this long-term.
Physically the hardest I've ever worked. However, the variety is fun, the company is great, and there's a lot to be said for working with your hands. I'm glad I'm no longer doing warehousing for Amazon; that was soul-crushing, in several ways.
I will note that I'm currently on medical leave; I fell off a ladder and broke my wrist/elbow. This was entirely an accident, I'm covered by workman's comp, and I do plan to go back. I wouldn't have gone up the ladder if I felt it was unsafe, but accidents do happen.
Still, it's been... kinda rough. At least now I'm in a therapy splint and can type again, even if it requires hovering my hand awkwardly over the keyboard.
4623333
Well, your employment was gainful until you expelled the human.
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First off, thanks for all the replies! I've read every single one so far. :)
Second, I've got one more question for y'all, which I'm going to add into the first post: What's the worst job-related experience you've had? It could be at the job you describe or another one. If you haven't had any, don't feel pressured to answer! Well, don't feel pressured to answer anyway. :)
4623553
Remember that cheese job I mentioned? My boss there was lazy, demanding, obnoxious, not terribly bright, and surprisingly quiet for a man of his girth, which allowed him to sneak up on me when I least expected it. Each department of the store shuffled him about—he was my sister's boss when she was working the fish counter—and I had the misfortune to intersect his trajectory through fancy cheese.
Yeah, not a pleasant man.
I am a postdoctoral researcher at a major midwestern research university. I use and develop RNA sequencing technologies to try to understand what make cancer cells tick. What genes are expressed in tumor more than normal cells? Do these genes make the cancer worse? What aspects of the cancer are causing these genes to be inappropriately turned on? The technical term for the field I study is epigenetics, which focuses on chemical modifications to DNA, RNA and proteins that affect how genes are turned on and off.
I work in a laboratory with a fairly interdisciplinary team of scientists (in fact, despite mainly researching biology, the lab is part of the Chemistry department, and my own training is in biophysics). There are about 25 of us (a mixture of graduate students and postdoctoral fellows), and I also collaborate with a group of cancer biologists at the medical school.
Long. I typically try to get into lab sometimes 9-10a, and leave when I'm done with my experiments which could range anywhere from 6p to 12a (though, typically I'd say I work until ~8p most days). I am typically working ~6 days a week.
It can very depending on what stage I am at in my research. Some days, I'm at the bench all day doing experiments or teaching some of my undergrad minions how to run a particular experiment. Some days, I'm on my computer all day writing code, analyzing data, reading papers or writing.
I wouldn't be doing it if I did not enjoy it. I like being around other smart people working on really interesting research. It's fun to converse with them everyday about science and exchange ideas. I enjoy the intellectual challenge of what I do and the fact that (maybe one day) it could help people suffering from cancer. Also, I am a giant science nerd and I essentially get paid to be a science nerd.
I get paid well for a postdoc, but that's not very much compared to other jobs requiring a PhD. However, because I am funded by the National Cancer Institute through a National Research Service Award, I am technically paid by you (assuming you pay taxes), so it's kind of hard to ask for a raise.
Considering I haven't really ever had a real job (worked as a research assistant throughout undergrad and graduate school), it's fairly similar to the research jobs I've had in the past. Now that I have a PhD, I work a bit more independently and get to help train some students in doing research. There is a bit more pressure as I have only a relatively short time to get some projects published that will hopefully land me my next job.
4623553
All the truly bad moments of my job so far have been of my own making. Forgetting to load a podcast, leading to dead air, missing a deadline, again because I forgot. I'm still struggling with mental health issues, so mostly I am forgiven, but it makes me feel like shit.
4623263
Mineraloid? Copper? Why haven't we been best friends for 30 years now?
4623333
Stay at home mom.
I'm married to one of these, and it's a tougher job than anyone else's here.
- What do you do?
I'm a blackmailer.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
Well, this one, among others.
- What are your hours like?
Like right about now.
- What's a normal workday for you?
Today.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Oh yes. I look at it like recycling: I'm taking things people don't want and turning them into things they're willing to pay for.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough? (In comparison to others in your field at the same level.)
I think my fees are quite reasonable compared to the expense that might otherwise be incurred if certain things were revealed to employers, spouses, Senate Sub-Committees, etc.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
It's not the most remunerative--nor the least--but it's definitely the easiest. And, strangely, I have fewer moral qualms about it than any of my 9-to-5 jobs.
- What's the worst job-related experience you've ever had? (At this job or any other.
There was that time I took a competitor camping in the Mojave Desert, and I forgot to have the hole pre-dug. Did you know the soil there is called "desert pavement" and that they need special tools to dig it up?
Never again
[J/K J/K J/K PEOPLE sheesh]
4623553
Well, breaking my arm hasn't been pleasant, but that's been more about the resulting fallout (pain, depression, possible light maiming) than about the actual experience. Pretty sure I've had sprains that hurt more in-the-moment, and at least it was over fast. :P
I did delivery for a while, though, and getting into a car-crash while delivering sub sandwiches was also miserable, even though it hurt less. Especially since my boss had the bare legal minimum and never mentioned I was required to buy my own commercial-grade insurance if I wanted to be legally covered during delivery. Yes, I was younger and stupider. (Anyone else who looks at delivery jobs, if you're not using a company car, be sure you know what you're getting into.) For a guy who claimed to be a christian minister, he was a real rat-fink.
There was also the one incident where I worked with a guy who kept trying to touch me. I picked him up by his collar and he cut it out. Sure, it was petty and childish, but I'd have probably thrashed him with a broom if he didn't stop. Just because I'm quiet doesn't mean I'm alright with people messing with me. Zero harassment my ass. :P
At a distant fourth, working sixty hour weeks in an Amazon warehouse with a more-than-one-hour commute each direction was very, very, very miserable, in an 'all I did between Thanksgiving and Christmas was work and sleep' sort of way. At least I received equitable compensation.
4623553
Oooooo... That's an easy one. I used to work in a different store. The busiest one in the district. Not the biggest by raw dollars, but by sheer customer foot traffic. (For example, my current, rather busy store gets between 40 and 60 customers a day plus matching phone calls. This other store can hit 150.) If my current store feels understaffed, that other store is drastically, chronically short manpower. Hiring is officially controlled by the district, not the store, and the sales volume isn't enough to justify the manpower needed to handle the customer volume...
So. My assistant boss at the time had health issues, so he scheduled a week off to go do some dialysis tests. Right about that time, my boss had to take some emergency time off due to persistent health problems. (They discovered he had a hidden genetic heart defect that's not normally a problem unless you're under high stress... Yeah.)
This happened at the tail end of the summer when people are starting to pick up all the fixes they'd been putting off while on vacation. It happened just in advance of a major weekend sale. And when I, playing management since all of ours was gone, tried to expand people's hours, district management said, "No overtime!" Well... okay... We're now critically understaffed and not allowed to cover the hours better.
But wait! It gets better! The sale started Friday morning when we opened at 7 am. My first coworker is scheduled to show up at 8 am. At about 8:05 he falls off a ladder and breaks his foot.
Biggest retail sale of the of the year, in the most retail-heavy store in the district, I'm missing half my crew, and district management is actively hindering my efforts to provide proper coverage. And that kind of sale lasts 4 days...
The worst... well, that would be many, many years ago when I was in the Merchant Marines and I got very badly injured. Anything that's happened since hasn't been worse than waking up in a hospital and hearing that the guy standing right next to you died.
But that's probably not the sort of thing you're interested in. The worst recent thing was that I recommended an old friend from my videogame days for a job... and he totally screwed the pooch. Didn't deliver and cost the production a bunch of money. They were justifiably angry and I felt betrayed. Fortunately, the producer didn't blame me (much) and I'm still on good terms with most of their crew, but the friendship is a bit tenuous and uncomfortable now. We're Pretending it Never Happened, and that isn't the most comfortable place to be.
4623553
Worst experience ever? Eh, I tend to forget them as soon as they happen (most people call in because they don't know a lick of tech and can get pretty hostile). Although, I will say the worst period of time was when I was on this thing called the 'escalation management team'... So I had to politely answer emails from above store management about why something isn't fixed yet. They were usually told something by the store that's completely different from how the troubleshooting call actually went. 1 register down vs all registers down, 10 minutes of downtime vs an hour of downtime, etc.
Now, I could do this... but at the same time of answering the emails I was also expected to answer calls from onsite techs, and cleanup the tickets from our first responders. Also, because I was the night guy, the ones that handled escalations during the day gave me around 5 super messed up escalations every day to follow up with during the night. Each of these aspects were also expected to be done like the others didn't exist. For five months (It's a position that gets rotated out) I left work feeling absolutely terrible about my performance pretty much every day, super stressed out, and there wasn't even a pay raise since I was still technically a level one agent. Gah!
Oh, let's see how much I can say without crossing my privacy lines.
- What do you do?
Most recently, High-Performance-Computer builds for a tech company. From tightening the screws (shipping can be brutal) to providing QA and directing the efforts of up to four other people on the project. I've worked on designing optimal workflow environments and contributed to improvements and tweaks to the HPC specs.
- What kind of environment do you work in?
There have been two – the office moved to another building after a while. The first was an unfinished dungeon filled with dust with fiberglass insulation dangling around, which didn't have enough power to run/test more than a handful of machines at once; this room was down a hallway, through the building lobby, down half of another hallway, and through two more rooms from the main office of this tech company site. The second was nearly attached to the main office, which becomes important later on... It was a nice, properly lit room with walls and power and the air conditioning didn't keel over every other week.
- What are your hours like?
Generally really flexible and dependent on what needs doing. Moving to the new office was fun because I helped reinstall the server room. That was an 18-hour day. Usually I shoot somewhere between 20-40 hours when there's work, depending on what else is on my plate. I have other responsibilities, so if you count those, there's a reason I don't have nearly enough time to write stories here as I'd like.
- What's a normal workday for you?
There is no such thing. Between the people and the computers, every day has something exciting, and we keep finding new problems that old experiences don't apply to. Sometimes it's something completely unrelated, like the pipe for the bathroom upstairs clogging and spewing out all over the front room (walls and all) when the plumber works on it. Sometimes coolant starts pooling on the motherboard because someone didn't set the water block gasket in right. I've even stumbled on extension cables while holding a ~$5500 computer (neither computers nor people were harmed, fortunately).
It's really noisy from time to time, because these things are small and run hot, so each case has two cooling fans that spin very fast and eat 50W each. With eight machines on a rack, it sounds like the rack is going to take off.
Every now and then I get to hold a box of parts that's worth more than most people's houses, and sometimes they need someone to drill holes in a wall or ceiling, or maybe buy exactly one lemon and one lime for an office party, and I'm often the guy who does that.
I suppose if there's one consistent thing, it's the nicks and scratches that happen when you work with inanimate metal objects, no matter how dull the edges are.
- Do you enjoy what you do?
Honestly, yeah, it's pretty fun to put these things together and troubleshoot the crazy problems that we find during testing. Most of the time, I don't take any work home with me, and usually there's room for conversation or music or such while we work – provided you can hear over the fans. Most people that I work with respect me – being the reason I am where I am – and it makes for great conversation material.
- Do you think you're getting paid enough? (In comparison to others in your field at the same level.)
No, for reasons, but I can't complain too much – I keep my expenses low and for this level of flexibility, I'd rather keep my job. I have gotten pay raises and may still continue to do so over time, but my skills and responsibilities seem to grow just a bit faster than that paycheck.
There are some other perks, though. I have what probably would have been a $4000+ desktop computer that I only had to spend $300 finishing out.
- How does this job measure up to others you've had?
Well, I still kinda have that other job (same company), but this one is more engaging and less tedious for sure.
- How did you get this job?
Well, I was working on the one project for a few months by then (not gonna go into detail about that one, though), and that had been enough time to for them to realize that I could both produce double the output they had set the bar at and introduce new QA practices. Also, the equipment stopped working from time to time, so while they had it fixed, I would have otherwise been twiddling my thumbs. They figured I could at least tighten a few screws. After another couple of months, my coworkers in the first project had proven just how lucky they had been in hiring me, and I had also figured out how most of the HPC design at that time went together. By then, I was pretty much a part of the second project.
- What's the worst job-related experience you've ever had? (At this job or any other.)
You remember how the room I worked in moved form 'unreasonably separated form the main office' to 'next to the main office'? That turned out to be a bad thing in one small but significant way: My boss's boss's boss could wander through any time he pleased, and boy did he have opinions (and he skipped those other two links in the chain of command for nearly everything). I was going to provide all sorts of awesome specifics, but 'publicly' is not the place to do so.
Well, there's the brief version of one of the things I do.
I will be a little non-specific, but hey, why not.
What do you do?
I'm an aerospace engineer with the US Navy. Civilian employee, not servicemember. I mostly handle aerodynamic issues involving ships, the most common being placement of wind-indicating sensors on the mast or the safety and ease of operating aircraft around them.
What kind of environment do you work in?
Standard office/cubicle setup. Though our building is right next to the runway, so there are always planes thundering past. Thank goodness for soundproofing.
What are your hours like?
Pretty standard here as well. We can work 8-hour days, or we can work a compressed schedule of 9 hours on Monday-Thursday and get every other Friday off. Legally, we're not supposed to work unpaid overtime, but it still happens sometimes.
What's a normal workday for you?
I mostly run simulations, so at a desk in front of a computer, but once in a while, we get to help out with flight tests, which might mean setting up equipment on the runway or even going out to sea on one of the ships for a week or two. I've really enjoyed that, but you do get jaded after enough of it. It's definitely an experience being out on an operational warship, but once the novelty wears off after about 3 days, it just gets really boring. We did one flight test where I got to ride in the helicopter for one of the short test cards and even fly it for a couple minutes while the ground crew were reconfiguring the instrument towers. There are a number of older airplanes on static display around base, and I've been known to climb around a few of them to take measurements for our simulation models.
Do you enjoy what you do?
The technical aspects, very much so, but not the other stuff, the kinds of things Dilbert makes fun of, like pointless training or worrying about getting projects funded. I do a lot of CAD work, running simulation software, and some programming, all of which I enjoy.
Do you think you're getting paid enough?
Yes, I'm very happy with it. I've hit the top of what I can earn without moving up to a management role, which I very emphatically do not want to do, so my pay is going to be stagnant until I retire, but it's easily enough to live on.
How does this job measure up to others you've had?
I haven't actually had many jobs. My first was in high school, when I was a teacher's aide at an after-school day care. That's where I first learned I was not good at being in charge of other people, which persists to this day, hence why I have zero interest in moving into management in my current job, even if it's the only way to ever get promoted from where I am. I did a summer intern job as a technical writer to document inventory control software. Then in grad school, as is the standard, I got paid as a research assistant, so it's technically a job. My only other job since college was essentially as an aerodynamicist, same as I do now, but on jet engines.
What's the worst job-related experience you've ever had?
This is going to be very tame in comparison to other people's worst moments, but keep in mind that I have some social anxieties that at times are severe. (Heh, in this fandom, who doesn't?) The worst is that I have a phobia of talking to people on the phone whom I don't know well, even worse if I'm the one who has to initiate the call. Need to have a plumber come to the house? The wife has to handle that. But during one stretch about 10 years ago when project funding got kind of sparse, we were all tasked with contacting various ship/aircraft program offices to try and convince them we could provide them with analysis that would be useful to them, so they should fund us. That's been the only time in this job that I dreaded coming to work every morning and left every evening with a migraine. It lasted a couple months. My previous job with the jet engine company... well, I understand why they did it, but it still sucked for me. They had to transfer people to other departments for economic reasons after 9/11, and I got put from a job very relevant to my expertise into one that really wasn't. I was interminably bored, which precipitated my looking for a new job.
How did you get this job?
It's easier to find new jobs when you're already in the industry instead of finding entry-level work. My first job was just from an interview out of college, then I switched jobs by benefit of the Navy wanting to bring in someone with that jet engine experience, though oddly enough, I've barely done any work related to engines in 15 years. Though there's also always a benefit to knowing the right people. My resume got passed here through a friend of a friend of a friend.
I am also interested to know why you asked everyone about this. Doing research? Collecting ideas for a story?