What is your profession?
My profession is in programming. Initially, my dad tried to teach me Javascript. It was a struggle and couldn't get it.
A few years later, I took up computer science in college and that's where it all clicked: I can imagine the end result. It's a matter of being curious and finding (or I daresay... hacking) my way to that conclusion. Programming languages have a very funny way of allowing you to do just that. In studying computer science, I discovered the art of engineering all kinds of software-based solutions.
Because my way of solving problems is more deductive than inductive, I have to consciously build foundational knowledge and routines. Constant learning and insatiable curiosity is required for me to identify when my hunches are wrong and discard them accordingly.
I always enter “exotic dancer” when a form requires me to for some bullshit reason.
Long time IT/cybersecurity.
Cybersecurity is all about curiosity and learning. I got there via the military.
E: too soon.
Wow it's really cool someone from a military background went into the field of cybersecurity!
Is this common at all in cybersecurity?
There's a lot of IT jobs in the military, and that includes cybersecurity.
It is now. When I got into it, I was doing communications, mainly radio and satellite. I had no idea what I was going to do, and as it turned out, computers and learning really struck a chord with me.
I used military grade cryptography in the Navy, but I learned a lot about cybersecurity on my own. All the “puzzles”, and learning new things everyday like new technology, new vulnerabilities, etc.
Now they have specialists in the military and other government agencies that teach it. Although, given the current political climate, I wouldn’t want to be part of that with that.
As much as people learn it in school and the military now, I feel to be really good at it, you have to know at least a little of everything. I like to look at it like a technical jack of all trades.
You’d be surprised how many people there are from all sorts of backgrounds and interests, that had no idea they would be making a living out of hacking.
Any tips on how to break into the field as a SWE?
Learn everything you can, about everything you can,
and check out places you can practice your learning like Hack the Box or one of the other platforms.
And go from there!
I'm a lifelong cook. Been working in kitchens since I was 15 and I'm currently training to be the sous chef at my current location.
People shit on food service workers but the amount of practical real life skills I've acquired over the years has actually come in handy quite a few times.
Are there any particularly unexpected ones?
There's a couple for me.
Prioritization of tasks. The flaming pot is more important than the smoking oven.
The ability to move through a dense group of people without disrupting anyone.
Sense of urgency. You need to move with intention and do it quickly.
Injury assessment. You're not going home because you got 1st degree burns. Grit your teeth and push through. If you cut yourself it's a different story but unless your skin is sloughing off your fine.
Central heating and ventilation technician, that was my first one, it was awesome, learned welding and stuu like that. But during the winter I couldn't do it, every time so freaking cold.
Then I was a Rubber mixer for the aufomobile industry, which destroyed my sense of smell to a high degree so I switched again.
Next was frontend developer, then iPhona app developer and then finally I also studied computer science.
After that I I went back to the automobile industry, but with the CS background I'm in software development now. My profession is very broad. I'm Integrator, Software Factory Subject Matter Expert (basically architecture around devops), Configuration Manager. Not programming at all anymore.
Well sir, I step in front of cars and sue the drivers.
Jean Ralphio?
I got run over by a Lexus
I am a jack of all trades, master of none. I'm a nobody, who likes to have fun. I'm easily distracted and lose focus a ton.
I am an amateur scientist, a cook, an author of unwritten books, I can't solve your problems but I'll still take a look.
I've been a toy soldier, a quick thinker, a recycling inventer and a useless tinker, who was once known as a legendary drinker.
I'm naturally shy but occasionally I'm bolder and i see beauty beyond the eye of the beholder as a student or mentor to both younger and older.
A person "who" cares, doesn't matter about "what", "when" I'm needed, "where" ever that may be, and sometimes "why". z.
I've walked a mile in your shoes and I ran so far away just to be the man who walked a 1000 miles to fall down at your door.
I never give up, never surrender, never gonna let you down, never gonna turn around, bright eyes, every now and then i fall apart.
A party of one, a party of five, a party of me, oh, ah, ah, ah, ah, staying alive, staying alive. As long as I know how to love I know I'll be alive, I will survive.
I want it all or maybe just a little bit off more than I can chew on that it's a piece of cake and eat it too rich for my blood is thicker than water you talking about?
Chances are, the odds are even, shirts versus skins. don't stop believin' that as far as I'm concerned, everybody wins or was kung fu fighting, thunderbolts and lightning, please.
Online I go by Lattrommi, the first and foremost, last but not least, mostly a man, still part beast, from the state of ohio in the united states of north america on this planet earth within the sol system somewhere along an arm of the milky way galaxy.
If you read all this, I hope you have a nice day.
IT Project and Team lead.
Protecting "my" engineers from the customers. :)
I get to cut up human organs for a living. Whenever something is removed during surgery, it comes to me. It can be mundane but there are fun and interesting things too. The job is very hands on.
No, I'm not a surgeon. You wouldn't want me to attempt to perform surgery on you. I'm not a physician of any kind.
Are you in pathology?
So… more like a butcher?
Gimme an M! Gimme an L! Gimme a T!
What's that spell?
I'm a Microsoft 365 admin. It's the easiest job I've ever had and it pays 6 figures. I don't even have a bachelor's, but no techie person likes Microsoft 365 so they avoid it like the plague, which I saw as an opportunity.
What
Where do I apply ???
Just search for "Microsoft 365 Admin" jobs. Glassdoor lists the range as 88k-131k. I'm in a low cost of living area, so I assume bigger cities would pay even better.
Game developer (software engineer) We get paid less than conventional software but it's very rewarding work on its own.
HAAAWOOO!
HAAAWOOO!
HAAAWOOO!
You work as a fog horn?
"You see old friend. I brought more soldiers than you did" Lol my first thought as well
Werewolf? London by any chance?
Had to scroll way too far for this.
PROFESSIONAL HOG CRANKER? WOW BROTHER, YOU'RE LIVING MY DREAM! AROOOOO
Musician. Graduated college expecting to go into STEM but the work made me miserable. A little less financially stable now but I would trade that for my mental well-being 10 times out of 10.
What kind of jobs do you do as a musician?
Manager in the neuroscience lab where I did my PhD. Actually pretty nice because I know the lab and everyone so we'll I can often do the management in a few hours and then just focus on my research (finishing my thesis because behavior plus in vivo neurophysiology takes more like 7 years instead of 4 lol). Although, there can be some very stressful moments, big grants or so (and my boss is one of those breathing-science profs that will msg on WhatsApp on the weekend or days off lol, but yeah fuck that). I learned that I'm not good enough/invested enough to actually become a PI or prof, so this management stuff is pretty nice on the edge. I don't have the responsibilities but my opinion is often respected due to my research experience in the lab. Pay is shit tho.
I manage an infectious disease monitoring lab in industry. Pay's a whole lot better out here, and my team is amazing and self-driven so I can do minimal people managing.
Oh that's sounds nice. Not sure how to word it well, but: is that a bit interesting to do long term? Is it following the advancements in science in a nice tempo? Do you have room for innovation yourself?
What I do specifically is called wastewater based epidemiology. While the term has been around for a few decades, it really took off in concordance with COVID. Previous PCR techniques like qPCR are heavily inhibited by co-elutors from wastewater extract. We use digital PCR which is way more resistant to inhibition due to the partitioning. We are using cutting edge technology and our R&D dept is constantly looking into additional targets we can test for. As a company we also do some non-pcr-based wastewater testing (drugs of abuse by LC/MS is a big one).
Additionally we also do next gen sequencing to track the COVID variants in communities.
I'm in IT. Wish I could have gotten into programming, but I'm just not suited to it for whatever reasons. I love tinkering on Linux boxes and figuring out networking issues. Interested in infosec, but discouraged by how many of those jobs involve working for the war machine.
I'm kind of in the same boat, thought I'd be programming but figured out early on that sitting at a desk coding for 8+ hours a day just wasn't my thing. Turns out I'm happier doing all the other IT grunt work e.g. setting up servers, backups, dealing with the network/wireless/firewalls, even provisioning and supporting user desktops gets interesting.
I'm a professional slut.... for data.
LOL I mean I can probably say the same thing and I gotta tell you. It's amazing the people out there that want to:
I'll use just a simple example of tracking incidents in your organization. It's so polarizing like people how do you expect to improve if you can't acknowledge your faults?
Extrapolate that to the current political climate.
Do you work at my company?! Holy shit that's spot on.
They're all the same. All companies are the goddamn same..
The scale of this problem is mind-boggling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002
::: spoiler spoiler for those who don't want to skim an article on a US military war game Long story short, the US Armed Forces performed a practice war simulation, "costing US$250 million (equivalent to about $423M in 2023), the most expensive war game in US military history". The two teams were "Blue" (totally-not the US) and the "Red" team (totally-not Iran or Iraq). The retired Lieutenant General of the Red team made the reasonable choice to adopt old-school low-tech tactics to avoid the Blue team's sophisticated electronic surveillance network, as well as other asymmetric tactics like those used by real armies who have defended against US invasions. Red team won in one day. There were apparently a range of technical problems in the simulation which made it harder for Blue, so they re-tried with conditions to make use of the remaining thirteen days. However:
Environmental Scientist. As my username suggests, my passion is studying bivalves. My day job involves studying nutrient cycling in San Francisco Bay (where clams come up quite a bit)! Through my work, I have also grown fascinated by phytoplankton
Ayo! Fellow environmental scientist ;D
Found you
Researcher/academic. Been an interesting path from high school :)
What's your average working day like?
I hope I wasn’t misleading but I am currently a PhD candidate, so on the final step towards getting my PhD.
My day is mostly writing, reading, then editing while playing with my cats, child, and partner on breaks :) and of course applying for money lol
Do you have a specific field of study? Do you work for a university? (just curious, please feel free to ignore)
I hope I wasn't misleading but I am currently a PhD candidate, so on the final step towards getting my PhD. Since I am in academia and do conduct research I think it applies but I am not a professor yet. My field is Buddhist studies (Buddhologist). I work and am supported by my home university luckily.
Thank you for the answer 🙏🏾
Wage slave and renter
Steel section bender.
Rodriguez?
Data engineering. Quite a change from my undergrad path.
I'm an office manager at a methadone clinic. I'm working toward becoming a Drug and Alcohol Counselor. It's a wonderfully rewarding job and I can't wait to continue in the field.
Engineering Business Analyst. I need to learn SQL though
What does a business engineering analyst do?
I am part of a new team created to bring order to the chaos that resulted from a disorganized wellbeing company merging with an even worse health plan administration company. I am in a constant battle to help people understand the byzantine complexities of the systems powering our stuff, and encourage and facilitate open communications between teams and departments that until now have each had their heads buried in the sand, with zero interest in understanding how their work contributed to the whole. Also I come up with better ways to do all these things. I think businesses Analyst position responsibilities probably vary widely by team and company though.
Isn't this what management ought to do?
Hahahahaha good one.
Have a bachelor's in Radio/Television/Film. Worked as a Reports Analyst for over a decade writing SQL code to pull data from databases to create reports in spreadsheets. Now for the last sixteen years I've been a hairdresser.
Process chemist. Got my MSc, worked as a medicinal chemist for a bit and realized it wasn't for me. Decided to get my PhD, then found my current job and its been perfect
Storyboard/3D generalist. I work at a small animation studio from home. The good thing about this is that I basically work whatever hours I want as long as I get my work done. That means 11 or 12 start times and I also get a chance to work on my personal projects when it's a slow time. The pay could be better but that's my only complaint.
Sweet man! Is there anywhere I can check out your animations?
Sure, here's where I post stuff I do https://www.instagram.com/monstrous.creations?igsh=NjZ4dWtjYmFyeG53
Was a cop, now I'm in EMS. Much better mentality, even with a shittier job environment.
Virtualization Engineer. Finally doing what I am passionate about. I was a stock broker 10 years ago. It was a crazy ride.
Whats a virtualization engineer?
As a virtualization engineer, I work with VMware products (Now owned by Broadcom) to design and implement virtual infrastructure. This allows organizations to run multiple virtual machines on fewer physical servers, which enhances scalability and simplifies backup and recovery processes. Think of it as creating a digital version of a computer that can be easily adjusted and moved around.
Okay, I’m going to sound like a drooling moron here. When I see you say “virtual infrastructure” I’m imagining you make video game buildings in virtual reality. When you say “virtual machine” I think of a calculator, but in minecraft or something. So are you some kind of programming engineer? Or am I just too stupid to understand what your job is? Thanks for being patient with this troglodyte.
You aren’t a moron at all. If you haven’t been exposed to it I wouldn’t expect you to know what it is.
So virtualization is kind of like taking multiple computer operating systems and running them on one physical server. So instead of needing a physical server for each system, you can run dozens. Then you can have clusters of physical machines that are running hundreds of virtual machines (computers) per cluster.
Someone who understands Hyper-V
Hyper-v sounds like an STD you could catch if you got drafted into the Vietnam war
It's very similar, but much worse.
I am a carpenter. Which is to say I'm a generalist. I am self-employed. Rural. Pickup truck etc.
Botanist, no research now, though, mainy education. It's pure fun.
Marine fabricator, which sounds better than upholsterer. I specialize in canvas, making enclosures for boats.
I work in insurance, specifically auto insurance. I used to work as a bodily injury adjuster, but moved to subro. I've been doing this for longer than I realized. My mom told me with a smile that I'll likely be in insurance the rest of my life. I went home and cried 🤣
Pays alright though. And I'm (currently) able to work from home which I know is a blessing. Just wasn't what I was dreaming about as a little girl, you know?
Are you really that ugly though?
I am 😔
🫂
College teacher/academia in music and techology.
counselor/mental health
I give people hearing damage.
(I run audio for live events.)
Hearing specialist (evil)
Electrical contractor, I’m actually posting from an attic right now. If you’re in a blue state and young, I strongly recommend you look into the field.
sysadmin of sorts. My job description is different day by day.
QA Manager. I started out as a test analyst, then taught myself to code with JS, C#, Python and a little bit of C++. moved into a test automation engineer role then a QA engineer at a different company before being promoted to manager
I work Logisitcs Management and manage 200+ drivers for last-mile deliveries for a large company. I don't like the company but I take pride in my work and the projects that I manage, but I'm using it as a stepping-stone for something better in the future
Electronics Technician and cryostat hall manager. I'm currently assisting in the moving of about 30 cryostats from various places in our current lab into the cryostat hall of our new building.
Jerk.
(me, not OP)
Like swords and armour?
Doing my BSC in Informatics atm but I am already working as a student intern network engineer for the state railway working on the internal train network and the train-to-land connection but also on stuff like the announcements and dashboards. Wherever I am needed.
I'm a datacenter administrator and professional photographer as side hustle. I love my work so much that it barely even feels like work
Back-office college financial aid at a larger state college. Financial aid mostly disburses by batch process, so my job is to audit that. Some things, like external scholarships, are manual and require a quick reassessment of the financial aid package to ensure the student is still eligible for everything (if anything, loans need reduced sometimes per regulations). Some things require "professional judgement," like when a student is not yet 24 but claims to be independent due to unusual circumstances. There's more, but it's really just an accumulation of batch work, queues, and audits which require a reasonably good working knowledge of regulations.
I was an electrician for 15 years in the canadian military and for the last 3 years an instructor. I got really tired of using my whole body all the time and working outside all year round. I also got really tired of the military lifestyle and how bad the leadership got.
Quit my old job 2 years ago and took up programming. Now im about to graduate from college(canada) with a 4.0gpa and hopefully have a job with i right away.
I worked in childcare for years, was a teacher for a decade, I've been a waitress and bartender for a decade... maybe it's time to switch again.
My real vocation is as a father, though. How I make money is secondary to that, always.
Dropship Door Nerf Gunner
Processionally NEAT
and TIDY?
Electronics Technician and self taught programmer. My career has been building equipment to test locomotive traction motors and alternators. Lots SQL and PLC programming, electrical drawings, web programming for reports.
Everyone here is using Lemmy and is either in SWE, Sys Engi, Sys Admin or DevOps.
/s kinda
I work in travel insurance claims. I'm in a third party administrator for underwriters. When you're on a trip and you get hurt or get sick, you give us a call and we get a claim started for you.
I don't appreciate that sentence starting with "when" rather than "if."
I straighten below hairs for Japanese adult entertainment employees. Usually a Philips does the job, however for some folks I've had to whip out the ironing board. It's a tough job.
Wait, what?!
When they get too long, the industry sells the hairs to Hollywood, for various props like long beards.
I don't get to meet anyone famous, though Sir Ian McKellen said thanks once or three times.
Architectural lighting designer. I love it and hate it. Love the complexity and endless learning about science and tech, and how to apply it creatively. Hate the contractors who put forward alternates and mess up the entire design intent only to pocket the difference.
Currently studying to change careers to be a game dev as a generalist for indie games.
Well stop spec’ing $30k lights when it come from the same factory as the $500 light. 🙂
That's the thing though! I'm specifying well priced lighting that has good support from the supplier, warranties that last 10 years, good colour temperature and degradation rates etc. And the alternatives are nowhere near the same quality and have a dodgy warranty! I'll put the alternatives through it they're truly like for like, but it never is.
Also developer. Been writing code since around 1985. I wrote a system in the logistics field back in 1999 and I've been expanding it ever since.
I'm currently a Site/Processing manager that dabbles in data, got there through beekeeping. I got a summer job working for a beekeeper (over 30 years. ago now) while doing a BSc in organic chemistry and never went back to uni - I was planning to go into lab work/food science in the dairy industry.
911 call taker
My job title is data engineer, but the organization I work at is small enough that it basically ranges from business intelligence to cloud engineering to data architecture to data science to whatever other thing is even slightly related to data :)
I shoot birds at the airport.
Online communications for an organisation that focuses on local youths. Everything they organise, do, etc... we offer them a platform and also acts as a link between them and the local politicians. Since we're an online platform, it's a very important job (or so it feels) but it's not always easy to explain. So most of the times I just describe it as: "I post a lot of things on social media and our website as well as writing a newsletter, plus I go to a lot of events"
Trying to ditch all meta/big tech apps, tho, but almost impossible with this job. We rely on Instagram and TikTok a lot (our target audience is 16-30)... That's definitely a downside. Looking to expand to fediverse as well, but it's a slow process
Android programmer. Picked it up back in 2011 when I was a couple years out of school.
mathematician
Web developer & marketing specialist.
I fell into it in my early twenties, and figured it out along the way.
Software engineer. In the past mostly C++, now it's mostly C#. Lots of databases too.
Analytical chemist,
Chronically unemployed
Work in a jail as a co. It's alright but pretty shitty at times. Pays decent and I can live a good life outside of work.
Freelance fehdreyer
I studied German philology for far too long because of sunken cost phalacy, while I had a monotone student job localizing e-learning presentations until I got laid off. Then I took part in a programming bootcamp and have been a Frontend Web developer for the last 4 years.
Recently, I'm feeling a little unsatisfied because I'm very much a jack of all trades, master of none kinda person, and to get further in my field I would have to have a really deep understanding of how things works under the hood, and those abstract things are very hard for me to grasp. Even harder since I had covid two years ago with ensuing brain fog for more than half a year, which still makes it harder to learn new things and keep them in my memory, which is quite sad because I always learned pretty fast...
Now that I have been part of this hamster wheel of corporate bullshit for quite some time I feel that I want to do more creative stuff with programming, as I was always interested in art and making music (which sadly also has declined because of perfectionism and anxiety), and creating visual stuff brings me into the zone where the hours fly by, but adapting some configs or working with abstract data stuff does not.
Should my job get taken by AI I want to do something with my hands, like wood or metal working, or something where I can help people, but let's see.
On the other hand I should be glad that I have a stable job that pays well and the people there are really nice, but I feel something is missing in my life. I tried to buy happiness and materialism, but somehow I was happier when I had less
Software/solutions consultant, and union actor.
I mean I was. I mean I am. I dunno. 20 years in I.T. starting from programming to a 'senior tech consultant'. But was then made redundant. Didn't get a job straight away. Started working at my girlfriend's bar as a bartender & server.
That was over a year ago. 60+ applications for jobs in I.T.; zero interviews. WTF.
I'm trying to work out why & what to fix, but for now? I'm a server & actor.
I'm reading and tinkering with technologies but not nearly enough. And will have to explain the gap in employment.
It's getting harder to resist the urge to panic and break down.
I do IT category management, sourcing/procurement for F500 companies. Been doing it for like 15 years and I don't know what else I would be doing. I like the work. It's challenging, changes enough, and there is a mix of strategic and tactical work. Notably, I don't get burned out with it.