What do you do for a living?

[FlawLaw]

minister, lawyer, father, husband, brother, son, volunteer, seminar lecturer, gardener, reader, musician.........

[MikeEdgerton]

By the time I was 25 years old I'd made my first million in the oil business in Pennsylvania. Actually, that's not quite true. I was 30 years old and it wasn't the oil business, it was the gas business, and it wasn't in Pennsylvania it was in New Jersey and it wasn't me, it was my brother.

In actuality I'm a Network Administrator (Geek) for an insurance company.

[fatt-dad]

Hey, fatt-dad, it sounds like we have a similar background. Before giving up any hope up stability to become a luthier, I studied geology, and then fluvial geomorph/hydrology in grad school here in Oregon. I love science but for the fact that you get to do less and less fieldwork as you "progress".

Uh oh. #Now I'm going to have to buy one of THESE in solidaridy with a fellow geologist from the Northwest. #Better keep working. . . .

f-d

p.s., I still get into the field and always bring my pancake

[Lane Pryce]

My non-paying job is a stay at home Dad. As a result I have the up most respect for moms --- especially single working moms. When our son is in kindergarten I try to pick a few tunes or check out the cafe. Most times I am taking care of honey-dews ---- the perpetual never ending list. More often than not I'll be working on CME's for my paying job. I run a very busy Emergency Room every weekend, occasionally I have to work through the week or cover a night shift. Lp

[Jerry Byers]

After 20 years in the military and flying various aircraft, I put that aside and became a program manager. Now it's all about the politics of managing government contracts.

[Martin Jonas]

I've got a Masters and PhD in physics and used to do research into archaeological dating methods. Since leaving academia, I have been working as a forensic marine consultant for the last decade or so, as a partner in a firm of independent experts. Travelling worldwide at short notice to investigate marine casualties, mainly cargo-related (my engineering and nautical colleagues deal with the more spectacular sort of casualties, collisions, groundings, sinkings and such). Life can be pretty unpredictable, but is rarely boring! Luckily, I do enough non-travel work (office-based opinion work and expert witness work in court) to have a reasonably regular family life and find the time for some picking!

Martin

[Mattg]

Started out in Geology but quickly went into Geographic Information Systems. Still dip into the geosciences now and again.

[Jim MacDaniel]

Majored in restaurant management, but never set foot in a one except to eat. Eventually I ended up in IT, currently as a project manager (PMP certified at that

[JGWoods]

Well there are 24 hours in a day
Sleep 8 hours

Environmental mgr of sorts- everything from filing air permit applications to cleaning up acid spills, training, etc. for a thin film coating business. 8 hours

Part time minister- mostly buryings, some marryings- amateur musician, keep wife happy, eat, drink be merry 8 hours

[GTG]

I'm a fire ecologist with Parks Canada. I study the effects of fire (and or lack thereof) on ecosystems in the western Canadian national parks. I sometimes get to fly around in helicopters and light huge fires, but that's not the main part of my job. In my free time I'm trying to finish up my phd at U of Washington (Seattle). I mainly dine on honeydew and drink the milk of paradise.

[first string]

A friend of mine said Americans answered this questions backwards from most other places. American's tend to identify themselves primarily with their occupation rather than what they do with life. Answering the question in another way helped me reevaluate what's really important. I guess for Scott's sake I'll call myself an amateur bloviator! That's still my favorite word I've learned in the last 12 months, followed by PICNIC from the IT world for a customer with computer problems (Problem In Chair, Not In Computer).

Jamie

That was exactly what I was thinking when I read this topic.

I studied film making, and most of my ambitions are still along those lines. I write, I listen to music (and attempt to play it), I read, eat good food and drink good beer or wine when I can afford it, spend time with my friends and family. All these things seem more important and more essential to who I am than what I do. The focus on occupation as the primary indicator of character does seem to be a distinctly American outlook. I am told that in France and in many other places in Europe it is considered mildly rude to ask what someone does before at least making some marginal effort to get to know them. That is perhaps a little extreme, but it does serve to underline the cultural differences that exist between us here in the States, and the rest of the world when it comes to work.

But then again...maybe I feel the way I do because my job title might as well be Drone or Trained Monkey.

[Fliss]

Marketing communications manager for a civil engineering / professional services consultancy.

Fliss

[carleshicks]

I am a Millwright project manager and estimator

[mythicfish]

"I am told that in France and in many other places in Europe it is considered mildly rude to ask what someone does before at least making some marginal effort to get to know them.'

And rightly so!

Curt

[cooper4205]

im finishing up college (after a three year hiatus) and am currently working in the sports dept. of our local newspaper, a sort of jack of all trades for them right now. luckily, i have a wonderful, patient wife that puts up with my MAS!

[Flowerpot]

""I am told that in France and in many other places in Europe it is considered mildly rude to ask what someone does before at least making some marginal effort to get to know them.'
"

For those of us not in France, asking what somebody does for a living IS a way to get to know them, and probably the most often asked question between strangers in the US ("So, what do you do for a living?). I can't imagine taking it to be rude.

For what it's worth, I'm in engineering, designing integrated circuits for cellphone and wireless stuff.

[MikeEdgerton]

Jamie, PICNIC is a variation on PEBKAC, as in "That was a PEBKAC error". Problem Exists Between Keyboard And Chair. Not to be confused with an ID 10 T error.

By the way, my wife is French and the first thing she ever asked me was "What do you do for a living?" Funny how truisms come and go.

[Tim]

The focus on occupation as the primary indicator of character does seem to be a distinctly American outlook. I am told that in France and in many other places in Europe it is considered mildly rude to ask what someone does before at least making some marginal effort to get to know them.

Many of us have been having #on-line conversations for years so we sort of know each other... #

Twenty years in the Army, now six as a contractor working for the military. #Most of that in varying IT roles.

[billhay4]

Ne'er do well.

Bill

[Jonathan Peck]

....guess that could explain why only americans are replying to the question.

[first string]

The focus on occupation as the primary indicator of character does seem to be a distinctly American outlook. I am told that in France and in many other places in Europe it is considered mildly rude to ask what someone does before at least making some marginal effort to get to know them.

Many of us have been having on-line conversations for years so we sort of know each other...

I wasn't saying it was at all rude or otherwise inappropriate in this context, or necessarily in any context. I was just trying to raise what I see as an interesting topic for discussion that relates directly to the topic of this thread. I myself have been known to ask people what they do for a living, not long after meeting them.

My personal feeling on the matter is that it is natural to be curious, and after all, most of us of necessity spend about half our waking hours at work, so it is perhaps telling in at least some superficial way to know what someone does (for money). That said, I do think we tend to overemphasize the importance of one's career in defining that individual in our minds.

So I guess I would place myself somewhere between the "American," and the "European" outlooks on the subject.

[sunburst]

Another with a science background (majored in biology), never really had a real job, I'm just making and repairing instruments.

[gospelman]

High School Math Teacher - 9 years and counting

[G_Smolt]

Full-Time Fish Whore.

Gots me an Aquaculture degree, a Fisheries Science degree, a Seafood Technology degree...I own a processsing plant, and I am a flyfishing guide in the early / mid spring and late fall.

Oh yeah...I like fish, too.

Mark

[Steve Scott]

Mortgage broker and small time real estate investor