Got Job? Created 9 years ago2014-12-02 23:09:25 UTC by Notewell

Thinking about my need for employment got me to wondering what you all do for a living.
So, what job do you have? What jobs have you done in the past? And what kind of training or skills are/were required?

I'm a programmer for a local Engineering company. We mostly do combustion systems - anything that makes fire. Burners, boilers, ovens (cookies / pies) but i can also do Climate control such as coolers and freezers for labs with humidity control and the like.

So I program in C and Ladder Logic (RLL) It's a heavily "If This, Or That, Then this" language. But the newer hardware has some awesome features like subroutines and remote updates / data logs. I do a lot of work for Europe so I'm always translating stuff too. (I don't know languages, but I go back and forth with the client sending screenshots of the touchscreens to make sure the grammar is correct)

As far as that goes, any coder mindset can get into it. I happened to take a class in school that gave demos with the primary controller we used at my job - kinda got lucky. Half-Life scripting has helped a lot because I'm used to doing crazy things with a limited toolset. It's a great segway into industry problem solving.

More recently I've been designing control systems. So for that I'm actually using some knowledge I gained with my Electronics degree. I need to do a lot of reading - manufactures manuals and such. I need to know how to protect the user and the wire and how to properly size the power coming into a panel and then distribute it to the devices through branch circuits and circuit breakers / fuses.
So i'll get a quote from a customer, cross reference their job specifications, pick components, lay them out, purchase the parts, make CAD drawings.... Then it goes into Engineering check and we discuss options etc etc... Then the panel gets fabricated and If it needs programming, I do a preliminary program during fabrication.
Most of the stuff coming through our shop is a one-of-a-kind system so I get to play with new technology and techniques all the times. It keeps things interesting although I usually have a standardized starting point for the basic stuff. And then any custom panel needs a custom manual... I usually write those too - how to use the touch screen, how to install it, start it up, i provide basic troubleshooting help and a list of all the hardware used and a recommended list of replacement components.

I've also been doing some specialized prototype circuit board design for one of our clients, but our main workflow has always bumped that to the backburner. That involves the same thought process but instead of 480 volts, it's like 24Volts and you REALLY have to know your components.

So yeah....

I have an Electronics Engineering Technology degree which came with basic knowledge of electrical: DC, AC single / multiphase power systems. I've been coding since I've been 14 (Calculators, BASIC, C, HL1/2 scripting etc..) and I'm a pretty good troubleshooter - I can find problems fast, and I'm not too bad at coming up with solutions.

So.. the Half life mapping experience also comes in handy when I want to do graphics for the touch-screens. My boss loves it and I have a good time doing it.

Sooo....
Education: High School, 2-year AS degree - EET, 4-year BS degree - EET (I graduate in 5 days!)
Work Experience - 4.5 years.

Other experience: Writing (Wrote that silly Source SDK book) Took a few Technical Writing classes in college.

I'm a commission artist for various projects and media for most of my cash. It's amazing what people will pay for some art. Most of it is for large scale print too so I gotta wonder sometimes.

For my background, I have a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Media Arts and Animation. I've worked several bullshit jobs until refining my skills enough to work from home doing prints.

I've been working on Super Matt Jordan since February of 2012. It is currently being rebuilt on a new engine.

I've also been working on a secret project that should be hitting the shelves soon within a couple of months.

Despite having a degree in Electronics and having extensive training in programming, I decided to scrap all that and pay for my Architecture studies as a photographer.

Weddings or whatever kind of receptions, portraits, and product photography are amongst the things I do. Corporate receptions are potentially the most interesting because I often get promotional swag. Electronics vendors are the most fun. I've been given pretty much anything, from flash drives to complete audio interfaces I have no use for. Should have sold the stuff while it was current.

I started out by helping a friend of my mum with his work shooting wedding videos, running cables and setting up lights. He preferred to sit aside and look after the booze, so eventually I wound up doing all the work. I liked it. His photographers often ended up with him, and since I didn't mind because I always liked photography, I also ended up taking the photos too. I never took a photography course, this is how I learned everything. The hard way, probably. But it helped me see the business side of it.

I'm glad I'm going to be an Architect, though. I love photography, but people are cheap. Especially lately, with all the smartphones and tablets and facebooks and twitters, a photographer's work is underappreciated, so most people think of it as unnecessarily expensive. I consider my prices average for the quality of the work I'm offering, but most people still try to haggle down to 20-30% of my rates. I end up refusing jobs and they end up with crap photos taken by some nephew that just got a 1100D.

I wonder if people do the same with buildings.

Currently working as the Helpdesk Manager at a Shrewsbury based Web Design company. Basically I handle all the incoming calls and support tickets and either solve them myself or pass them on to a second level development team for more complicated issues. I also do all customer training and it's my voice on the automated phone system too. That will have been my role for two years in January. Used to absolutely hate it.

Skills I use:

Customer interaction skills (Just being a friendly guy with a sexy voice)
Web design stuff (Photoshop, HTML, CSS, jQuery, blah blah blah)

Started out as a design integrator for the first five months, and that was my role at my previous job of three years. That was basically using the "Web design stuff" mentioned above.

Before that I was at Morrisons as an administrator. That's the customer interaction again and a crap ton of data entry. Snore.

On the side I work on The Core and I am still attempting this "writing a book" crap. No other exciting projects to mention really...

Working as a Systems Administrator for a company that makes cash register software/hardware and gas station control equipment among other things. Got this job from a friend leaving.

The first few months were brutal, before i got the hang of everything and where it all was, now its quite simple. Got my own small office that is in front of the kitchen so coffee is just 5 steps away

I'm at the end of a 2 month internship in Javascript. Don't know if I'll get hired, my performance wasn't terrific, plus I'm a Telecommunication(+Electronics +Information Technology) Engineering student, and the faculty is unforgiving. Even if the situation is unclear at the moment, at least I learned a couple of interesting stuff and I can do more complicated web apps now(if I don't forget all the stuff, since I have little time to practice).
So, I hope I'll be earning my first money until next year somehow. I never had friends to do anything for me in this sense. I'm on my own, for now.

A lot of electronics experts around here!

I'm a freelance VFX artist, creating visual effects & motion graphics for broadcast TV, adverts and corporate videos.
Since college I've always worked in TV, but I started out as a camera operator before the early call times and stressful working environments pushed me towards post-production. Not to mention the far higher rates.

I typically work around two weeks per month which provides enough money to comfortably live on, though occasionally (like now) I end up on a mega project and work for a few months solid.

Freelance life can be stressful as I'm constantly having to source my next job, but I enjoy the benefits way too much to go back to permanent work.

warehouse employer and i drive forklift sometimes, they pay pretty well

my warehouse:

Multimedia producer and artist, both of which cover a huge range of things.

I just finished a Bachelor of Multimedia Design at Uni.

At the moment I don't do shit.

I want a job in a pub.

I'm aware that's not really covered by a degree in Multimedia Design.

I'm an engine programmer at Nerd Kingdom working on the sandbox game TUG.

You have to know C++ and lua. You also have to have a firm grasp on linear algebra and vector math. My specific job requires a lot of rendering, multithreading, and networking know-how.

Lots of programmers here! I'm also a programmer for a reasonably large corporation here in Aus. The stuff I work on is real-time client/server data capture - as in, one user drags an item in the app, and all other clients are automatically updated in real-time. I primarily work with C#, JavaScript, SQL, and Java. I have a BSc in CS, it was a 3-year degree.

Also...

4-year BS degree

He he he he he

I just finished a Bachelor of Multimedia Design at Uni.
...
I want a job in a pub.

The joke basically writes itself!

Hooray TUG!
Just got the email update with #60 in it. Multiplayer woooooo.

I work in retail.

Fuck retail.

Used to be a duty manager for a hotel, was really good, then desperately needed a job so I could support myself @ university.. worst decision I've made.

I may try to find a picture or two of my normal work environments.

I'm a draftsman. All you need is to be proficient with autocad, good at geometry. Some math helps, just used the Pythagorean theorem today to find a length. 3D modeling helps a bunch too. And I do all of our graphics with the Adobe suite especially photoshop and illustrator.

I use what I honestly learned in highschool, 2D drafting and some of what I learned in college although I did not get my degree.

Drafting is a really fun and decent paying field.

Production worker
I work for a small production company as a carpenter, which entails very basic framing and finishing work mostly using wood, but we use everything from plexiglass to structural steel. Once in a while we have projects that require pneumatics, microcontrollers, running wire/audio, and other cool shit. Sometimes we get to do install work across the country, or even abroad.

Experience needed: None really. Electronics knowledge is always helpful. I would not recommend a job like this unless you enjoy it.

Besides that, I've done every shit job you can imagine. Probably the most fun was working as night desk clerk at a full-service hotel, summers/weekends during college.. Got to see a lot of crazy stuff, like keying into a room--because of noise complaints--, and a literal gangbang is going on... just one example ;P

I work as a debt officer for the government.
Requires a ton a problem solving and communication skills, and knowing how to 'leave work at work'

Call center environment. Considering the state of employment for people with little qualification and experience (like myself) its a fitting job.

Used to work in hospitality.

Let me tell you, for you first few jobs you may end up working in some pretty sucky jobs.

I'm only posting in this thread because it seems everyone else is.
Current Job
n/a

Previous Jobs
n/a

Unfortunately since I don't have many options for getting around until I pass my driving test, I don't have any real opportunity to get a part time job at the moment. I'm about halfway through third year of an aircraft engineering degree though, and the university is supposed to be one of the most highly regarded in the country when it comes to engineering, if not the most highly regarded, so hopefully my job prospects at the end of it all won't be too bad.
I'm looking into getting an internship at an engineering company over the summer though, so if I succeed at that then I should be alright when I graduate.

One thing that I did that apparently looks very good to employers was volunteer maths tutoring for secondary school students, for an hour a week. That was done through the university, so it might be worth seeing if your uni has a similar program.

This thread has made me realise that most people here are much smarter and far more successful than I am...

Or are just better at making it look awesome when it actually isn't.

If it makes you feel any better, I only push shopping carts for a quarter above minimum wage.

Here here, good saint Urby

Or are just better at making it look awesome when it actually isn't.

yeah bro, how much can I spice up that work in a call center which is not actually that great

You can spice it up by not letting become what defines you as a person. As soon as that happens, it's all over: you get pulled into a rut and you'll sit there for years being utterly miserable.

The web developer everyone needs but doesn't want him. He is the average guy that goes everyday to work and keeps a minimum social agenda. But during the night he becomes somebody extraordinary. His super power is: detecting 404's before they happen and fixing them.

This thread has made me realise that most people here are much smarter and far more successful than I am...

Man... you're expecting a baby. If that doesn't prove success and accomplishment at least on the family level, I don't know what does.