What do you do?

TBR600

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Jan 7, 2009
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Location
Beaufort, SC
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2003 Ford Mustang Cobra, 2010 Mazda3
Did a little search, didn't see this topic so here it goes:

I know a lot of us probably don't like to discuss our work when we are enjoying our time off, but I love to talk about careers/jobs with people. I find it fascinating to learn about an individuals job, especially if it is a little different than what you usually come across. I envision this thread as somewhere to discuss career paths (who knows, you might just give an idea to someone, or get your own!) so feel free to post up your own job as well as ask questions about another posters line of work!
 
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I work with heat to put it simply.

I work strictly on gas burners that my company produces. In most situations, they're on boilers. So far the largest burner I've started up and tuned was about 33,000,000 BTU. Not exactly something you'd use to heat your house. Smallest burner has been 175,000BTU. Just barely small enough for standard home. I service, and start them up. And, because my office is the only one in this country, usually there's a least a whole day just in traveling to the job site. Never thought I'd be in this field but, I am.

Through this I'm finishing an Associates Degree in Energy Management I already have a Class 2 license from the NASOE. This means I can safely operate hot water and steam boilers up to 15PSI. While it's not needed for my line of work, it gives more credibility on site.
 
What do I do? Very little. :|

Oh you mean job? I'm an IT technician in a large business based in Leicester. I work in a team of 6 and I currently cover all levels of support, from simple helpdesk stuff to preparing and deploying machines to server config and maintenance. We also spend time informing people that just because it has a plug on it, it isn't necessarily something we deal with.

I've been dealing with System Center 2012 a lot recently and I will shortly be attending a course with a view to get qualified in that area.
 
More IT... mostly consulting stuff these days, haven't done any actual development in about a year.
 
Well my job title is a Vehicle Performance Aerodynamicist Intern and I work at SAIC Motor UK Technical Centre on the infamous Longbridge site. Basically I work on the aerodynamics of MG and Roewe cars - SAIC is the Chinese company that bought MG Rover when they went under. I have more recently started some work on the Euro NCAP side of crash testing, too, which is fun.

I'm an intern doing a year out in industry between 3rd and 4th (final) years of a Mechanical with Automotive Engineering MEng degree so from October I'm back at uni.

Always wanted to work in the automotive industry (childhood dream job was to be a car designer) so I'm pretty happy where I am right now.
 
I work with radiation :mrgreen:

I trained as a therapy radiographer 20 *cough* years ago, and the main part of the job is using high powered x-rays produced by linear accelerators to treat patients with cancer. Their energy ranges from 4MeV to 25MeV - compared to 20-150keV for a diagnostic x-ray.

However, I've specialised into the pre-treatment side, which is planning the patients' treatments rather than delivering them. The patients go for various diagnostic tests - plain x-rays, CT scans and MRIs being the most common - and the doctor then indicates the area (tumour) to be treated plus margins for possible spread, patient movement and other uncertainties. They also outline any organs at risk that should get no, or limited, dose, and then it's my job to decide which parameters to use to provide the best possible plan for that patient, e.g. number, direction and energy of beams, and whether it needs to be just a conformal plan or a more complex IMRT plan.

For example, a patient with a nasal tumour - top plan is multi-field IMRT, bottom is 3 field conformal. Dose to the tumour is much more uniform with the IMRT, while the low doses are constrained more, hence reducing side effects.



I produce anywhere between 1 and 10 of these plans a day, depending on complexity. A simple 3fld conformal takes ~1 hour - a full blown IMRT can take a couple of days. There's a lot of liaising with the doctors, other planning staff (physicists and radiographers) and the treatment rads, so I'm never bored! I've wanted to do this job since I was 13 and choosing my GCSEs - I knew I wanted to be medical, but not a nurse (no offence to nurses, I just didn't want to be one!) and also knew I didn't have the brains or staying power to be a doctor. This job seemed to be the perfect balance of techy stuff and patient care, and I love it.

tl:dr - I'm a geek :D
 
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I am a professional drunk.

(grad student)
 
Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way Patti can't see me - after that I sorta space out for an hour.

I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
 
currently doing my masters thesis on communication and logic elements for industrial demand side management :| ... so yeah, i do very close to nothing as well.
(i studied mechanical engineering (B.Sc.) and energy engineering (M.Sc., just finishing up with said thesis), which sort of just about is sorta the same direction i guess)
 
I help make WordPress.com which is a hosted version of the WordPress open-source software, which I also contribute to here and there. WordPress.com is currently like the 8th largest website on the Internet (yeah, it's big, even bigger than Yahoo).

The company I work for, that owns and runs WordPress.com, is called Automattic (the founder's name is Matt, hence the double T). WordPress itself is open-source and not owned by anyone, but the company I work for was founded by the same guy who founded the software. We also donate heavily in man hours to the project.

Specifically I'm a web developer -- I write PHP plus some MySQL queries, HTML, CSS, etc. and work on internal tools at the company that makes it easier for my coworkers to do their jobs.


I also have a second "job" running this damn place. :p
 
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Currently I'm an online delivery driver for a well-known orangey supermarket. It's not the best, most exciting or most respected job in the world, but it's interesting, keeps me reasonably fit, gets me out and about during the day and (most importantly) pays more than if I simply worked in the store. Of course, it has some pretty shitty moments too! At least its not boring. :lol:

But I have a degree in Journalism and that's what I'd really like to do. Ever since I was about 12 and started properly reading car mags (instead of looking at the pictures) I thought "that's what I want to do". Ideally it is still what I'd love to do, but it's been nearly 2 and a half years since I graduated now and I'm applying for much more general jobs, including PR, marketing and the generically titled 'communications'. I'm still trying, but it's getting pretty bloody disillusioning.
 
Well, I generally come in at least fifteen minutes late, I use the side door - that way Patti can't see me - after that I sorta space out for an hour.

I just stare at my desk, but it looks like I'm working. I do that for probably another hour after lunch too, I'd say in a given week I probably only do about fifteen minutes of real, actual, work.
:lmao: +rep


Currently I'm an online delivery driver for a well-known orangey supermarket.
Online delivery driver..?


Me, I'm a compliance auditor in the car insurance field. I'm also just about half-way through my evening MBA program. Not really sure where I want to end up but lately operations consulting has been on my mind. Time will tell.
 
I wonder if you have ever done mine?

Anyway I am a Business/Systems analyst for a large outsource company and I work at a MoD establishment atm. You know that veterans fiasco in the US? It is part of my job to make sure that our clerical support has all the IT systems to avoid a similar catastrophe here. The government would be right in the 'doggy doo doo' if it did.
 
That's my official title. :cool: People order their groceries online, I put them in a van and deliver it to them. Simples. :D

So if it's online do you control it by a modded verion of Euro Truck Simulator or GTA?
 
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