What do you do for a living?

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Nearly 40 years as an electrical/System engineer/lead for a company that makes flight and engine control computers for commercial and military aircraft.
Specifically, I work to develop the test equipment that tests these computers. All the way from board level testers to full system integration stands.
Our company boasts that "Every second, a flight takes off enabled by the company's flight critical systems".
And "my" test equipment helps to make sure that these systems work properly for the safety of the crew and passengers.
 
I work for a company that makes photofinishing equipment. I'm a senior technical specialist which means basically that I've been around for a while. I fix machines. Ours, and others. Sometimes, photo related, sometimes not. I'm learning all the time.
A lot of the time, I am either sharing my experience with other folks in the company or I am going in when the brown stuff hits the fan.
 
So when does The Rocketry Forum Space Program begin? TRFSP. We certainly have the experience, funded by TRF.
 
I write and manage optimization software that schedules commercials on cable television. I also try to predict audiences.
 
I've worked as a full time entertainer since 1978.
I even did the Gong Show back in 1979!
Theme parks, opening acts and the last ten years on the cruise ships.

But age 60 the cruise lines don't call as often.
The entertainment managers want younger acts, which I understand.
That leaves more time to manage Odd'l Rockets, my rocket building blog,
kit instruction layouts and drawing for vendors and custom model builds for customers.
 
I spend most of my time figuring out how the heck to teleport that bracket into that box and fasten it in with the screws that don't fit with tools that don't exist someplace that I can't see or fit my hands into.....while making sure it's wired and programed right and won't blow up when you push the power button on something that last week was just a drawing by a 3rd grader on a used napkin.

Gawd! that sounds like me fixing everything in my house that was wired or installed incorrectly. You wonder how it even got through the inspections!
By now I can do minor electrical, plumbing and and drywall better than the original contractors.
 
Design engineer/professional model builder/problem solver at a major north Texas aerospace firm. Hit 30 years there back in May. Also support engineering trade shows, airshows and other events when not designing, building or managing our suppliers.
 
I'm a retired Park Ranger and now the fire administrator a council member for my city. Honored to be here on TRF with so many intelligent and learned individuals.
 
Oil & Gas Electrician, work more hours in a week than I care to think about, but generally a satisfying a job. Install and monitor pressures, flow rates, fluid density. All of it is automated and data sent via satellite to various places so that customers can monitor their wells. Lots of traveling but gives me plenty of time to think of new projects, only downside is I wish I was home with my family more often.

Industry took a dive over the last few years and they laid off tens of thousands of people, this increased my workload ten fold and my stress level shot through the roof. 26 yeas old and already seeing grey hair...:eyeroll: Its recovering now, people are coming back so better times ahead.
 
I spent the 1st 10 years out of high school as a screw machine operator, set up, and repairman. I got tired of being trapped inside all day and spent the next 10 years as a rough framer/carpenter/ remodeler.
then a cancer diagnosis involving the next 3 1/2 years fighting for my life involving a clinical trial, 5 surgeries to carve out the cancer, 2 rounds of chemo, and pretty much every test short of a pregnancy test- so those 3 years I would say I fought cancer for a living.. then all that I went thought put me on the DL. been on disability since.
so, what do I do for a living now? welp, I live!
 
I'm the lead in the entropy abatement and technical solution generation department of a multi-outlet electro-magnetic radiation based entertainment company.

That is, I'm the Chief Engineer of a 4 station FM radio cluster.
 
I am a senior electronic engineer for a world-leading global measurement company. I design electronics (including CCD and other detector systems) for spectrometers and spectrophotometers, and help make sure they are compliant with the various standards around the world.

In the past I have programmed the train control system for Melbourne, Australia. Before that I was heading up maintenance on the tram and bus Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system we had back in the 80's. At the time it was the most advanced passenger vehicle tracking system in the world.

I don't do much in the way of electronics for rockets. I do too much of that for the day job :wink:
 
I'm a naval architect--the company designs mostly medium sized commercial boats, from about 50 feet to about 300 feet. I've worked on tugboats, ferries, small cruise ships, and about two thirds of the Bering Sea fishing fleet. Now I'm mostly in management, although I occasionally get to make sketches that look like a 3-year-old drew them on a used napkin, which then get turned into drawings by talented people.
 
Retired - thank God

I used to work for a Fortune 100 company. I was in the aerospace division. I did lots of different things and mostly had good jobs. My best job, and longest one, was a warranty administrator. An engineering slot with little oversight as people didn't want to understand my job. Dealing with customers AND money was seen as a low class or hard job by many. However, most of my customers were great and I trained many of them not to send me warranty claims I would deny. Why do work that was non-productive for me and for them? I often went in late and worked diligently for a few hours and half-heartedly for a few more. My worst job was the last one I had; quality engineer. The job itself was OK, but they wanted you working 10 hours a day 6 days a week. Even then you couldn't get everything done and they would chew out the entire team regularly for not getting stuff done. Morale was bad and getting worse when I finally quit.

If you want to make good money work for a large soul-sucking behemoth. If you want to be happy find something else to do. The bigger the company got the better the pay was, but the working conditions steadily declined. You can tell the guy who writes Dilbert worked for a large company because he totally gets the mentality of large organizations. We would ask people interviewing for a job if they read Dilbert. I always felt a little bad when the recent graduates said that they didn't think Dilbert was funny. Poor little naïve fools.
 
Electrical engineer working for a consumer electronics company for the past 18 years. Started out doing System Integration (circuit design, PCB schematics and lab work for bring-up, development and debug), eventually transitioning into System Architecture (specifically focused on I/O technologies, power management and reference designs), still do lots of lab work but not as much schematics as I'd like, but I do get to specify custom ICs and work with some industry standards bodies on new interfaces. Ultimately meant less travel to Taiwan/China (factories), replaced by more travel domestically and to some other places like Israel and Hong Kong (standards meetings and R&D sites), so I still get to keep those frequent flyer miles coming in. :)
 
Manager for a busy McDonalds Restaurant......which is why I have little time to build and no time to fly.
 
Funny you should say that. It was unusual enough in its day that the broader system won an Emmy in 2015.

https://www.bizjournals.com/pittsbu...ion/2015/09/pittsburgh-company-wins-emmy.html

I am one of those guys that turned off TV over a decade ago. I just bought a smart phone a year ago and Internet a month ago. Before I would never have known when the Emmys were.

Everyone has such interesting jobs they have been doing for such a long time. I'm 31 next week and still like to broaden myself with knowledge of "stuff" in the world. I'm pretty sure in the end all the knowledge may very well get me no-where. I'm hoping to build kit airplanes for people. If not start a composites business or open a pizza joint. God knows I love pizza
 
I'm CEO at an optics (laser) manufacturing company. Our transceiver products are mostly used in data center applications; brand-equivalent to OEMs like Cisco, HP, Juniper, Brocade but half the cost and higher performance.
 
I spent 32 years in the dairy industry - the last 20 as QA Manager. When the dairy I worked for closed 3 years ago, I got a job as a lab rat (tech) testing the gypsum produced by the sulfur dioxide scrubbers at a coal fired power plant. Not as much money, but the hours are a lot better and the stress levels are a whole lot lower.
 
"Cushy office job"

I work in a "Cube-Farm" in a high-rise office building.

I'm in the financial industry, answering questions and fixing issues with entries in our corporate database. Had this same job for the past 10 years.

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"Cushy office job"

I work in a "Cube-Farm" in a high-rise office building.

I'm in the financial industry, answering questions and fixing issues with entries in our corporate database. Had this same job for the past 10 years.

WOW, no offense but that has to be the coldest most impersonal looking work place I have ever seen.
My sympathies.
 
I see what you did there!:wink:

Glad you noticed! :) We are pretty good at training the engineers not to design stuff that can't be built. It helps that many of the production guys built in real life the things they're now building in the computer, so they know how much space it takes to weld up pipes or structural steel.
 
I'm the #1 "field service technician" for a mid sized New Holland Industrial equipment dealership. We sell skidsteers, tractors, tractor loader backhoes, excavators and other small equipment for the lawn maintenance and home/business construction industry. We also sell Kubota tractors, wheel loaders, excavators, and skidsteers/compact track loaders. We recently (3 years ago) took on Hyundai Heavy Equipment (and yes, they're closely related to the Hyundai car company). They make articulated rollers, articulated wheel loaders, and excavators from mini size to BIG. They occasionally even send me to school to learn about this stuff. A lot of crap to remember... I'm paid hourly, so the more I work the more I make... :wink:
The OT pays for my hobby...

Adrian
 
"Cushy office job"

I work in a "Cube-Farm" in a high-rise office building.

I'm in the financial industry, answering questions and fixing issues with entries in our corporate database. Had this same job for the past 10 years.

Wow, real life "Office Space"!

I do not envy you...

Is this what you really do all day?

[video=youtube;_iiOEQOtBlQ]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_iiOEQOtBlQ[/video]
 
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