What do you do?

[Elan]

There are so many interesting people here on TUG, and although I know or have been able to make an educated guess at what many of you do for a living, there are many others where that's not the case.

I'd like to ask anyone who is interested to post a line or two regarding their occupation, and another line or two that describes their job function. No need to get specific with employer names, etc.

For you retired folk, how about telling everyone what you used to do when you were still a productive member of society .

 

[scrapngen]

Wow! I know there's a big grin there, but, really - "productive" member of society?? Guess those of us who function in this world without a paying/paid occupation should just go hole up somewhere as we are not "productive!"

 

[DeniseM]

I teach pregnant teenagers, young moms, and their newborns, at a public high school.

 

[Elan]

Wow! I know there's a big grin there, but, really - "productive" member of society?? Guess those of us who function in this world without a paying/paid occupation should just go hole up somewhere as we are not "productive!"

Of course I was being sarcastic. At the same time, I was attempting to keep the thread from degenerating into "I'm retired, I do whatever I want, whenever I want", as I don't find that particularly informative.

 

[Pat H]

I spent 23 yrs as a Bank Fraud Investigator until I retired 9 months ago. I handled both internal and external investigations and at times also did physical security. Like any job, it had it's ups and downs but I had some very interesting cases over the years.

 

[Elan]

I guess I should have stated what I do:

I'm an Integrated Circuit Design Engineer at a semiconductor company. My job entails a mix of designing circuits and writing software to identify circuit design (logic) errors.

 

[Karen G]

Before we started our family I was a high school teacher and I taught typing, accounting, and business law. That was in the "olden days" before computers.

Now my husband and I are thoroughly enjoying retirement.

 

[ricoba]

This is an intereting topic/question...thanks for asking it. I'd like to hear about others and their pursuits

My career has been one of wearing many different and sometimes wierd hats. Some have been a great fit, whereas some have not been so comfortable.

On my resume, I describe myself as being someone who has been in the "people helping" profession for most of my whole adult life.

I graduated from seminary back in 1980, but church ministry jobs didn't open at the time, so I spent the next 12 or so years working in human/social services. Most of my work was with dysfunctional youth and families.

In the 90's I was involved in sales for awhile (one of those not so great hats for me), then a door opened for me to go into minstry work. So for the past 15 years or so, I have been working in small religious schools, churches and other religious institutions. To make ends meet and to keep out of trouble, I have put on some of those uncomfortable hats, for example, I was a tour guide in Hollywood and Warner Brothers Studio's for a couple of years.

Currently, I am working with a small Methodist church in Pasadena, CA. I started as a program associate/coordiantor and am now the church secretary! But I prefer the term "Grand PooBah"!

As well, a couple of years ago, I re-entered the educational world and am now half way through a Doctorate of Education degree. This June, I will be bestowed an Educational Specialist (Ed.S) degree, which is in this program half of the Ed.D.

I look forward to learning more about others.

 

[heathpack]

Veterinary neurologist/neurosurgeon. I treat animals with brain, spinal, nerve and muscle disorders. Mostly dogs. Its very interesting.

 

[pkyorkbeach]

What a great post..With our TUG ID name it is hard to guess what each member does. I work for a school system doing Benefits....

 

[Blues]

I'm a computer geek. Degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. I've had a varied career, ranging from Bell Labs (named on patent for the voice answerback system that says "Please deposit one dollar and thirty five cents for the first three minutes), to being in on the ground floor of the microcomputer industry, designing first hardware, then software.

For the past 20 years, I've been a software geek for a non-profit oceanographic research institution (MBARI). Yep, I write software to control robot submarines, collect data from instruments at sea and telemeter it back via radio or satellite, and control experiments attached to underwater cables 3000 ft under the sea. It's so much more rewarding and interesting than writing another operating system or building another desktop application. And they pay me to do it!

-Bob

 

[PigsDad]

Another computer geek here. I have been a software architect / engineer for 20+ years at a very large computer company. I started out writing software for cutting-edge computer graphics systems (back when a single graphics workstation could run you $100K+), and that was a lot of fun. Now I work on systems that will monitor most everything in a customer's IT environment to provide them with the highest system availability possible. They don't let me out of my cage very often...

Kurt

 

[MuranoJo]

I am in Marketing for a global Tech company, and for 2/3 of my career reported directy into sales organizations.

Hubby is an early retired science/biology teacher, and I should avoid topics about what it's like to be married to someone who has taken early retirement while I continue to work.

 

[MuranoJo]

I teach pregnant teenagers, young moms, and their newborns, at a public high school.

Denise, that must be a challenging, but very satisfying job!

 

[chellej]

I am a health physicist and currently work for the state as a radioactive materials inspector.

I worked a lot of years at the national labs - INEL, Los Alamos & Nevada Test Site. I have done a good bit of emergency planning and response for nuclear facilities as well.

 

[LisaH]

I was trained as a Molecular Biologist. For the past 8 years, I have been in technical sales for a multi-billion dollar company.

 

[csalter2]

I am a high school principal with over 3000 students. Yes, I have lots of fun. I really look forward to work every day.

 

[suesam]

Great topic!
I am a social worker for an assisted living management company. My areas of expertise are dementia care and third party payments. Very interesting all of the time...very rewarding most of the time

Sue

 

[Zac495]

Denise – I didn’t know that about you! Rick, what are you going to do? Principal? Wow – we have all sorts – geeks, techs (are they the same thing:rofl: ), vets, and more. I’m so impressed. I love this community.

I’m a teacher. I spent the last 26 years in the classroom ranging from 1st through 5th grades. This year I got a new position – I am the elementary gifted support teacher (same district). I work with the AT kids (those students whose IQ’s are in the top 2%) and support all teachers with enrichment of all kids.

So since I’m a teacher I will give you my spiel:
1. Mistakes are good, because they help you learn.
2. Try, don’t cry.
3. No one is smarter than anyone else. We’re all smart in our own way.
4. Don’t say something’s easy. It can be hurtful to those who don’t agree.
5. Always greet people with a firm handshake and eye contact.

 

[Mimi39]

I retired 4 years ago after being box office manager of a non-profit theater (Shakespeare, mainly) in the S.F. Bay Area for 25 years.

 

[silverfox82]

Retired 5 months before 9/11 from the NY City Fire Dept after a 26 year career. After that my wife and I owned and operated a seasonal clam bar/restaurant for 3 years and finally delivered art to shows around the NE US, saw a lot of motel rooms and interstate hwys. Now completely a man of leisure and loving it.

 

[ctreelmom]

Before kids, I worked in event planning, marketing and PR, but I've always called myself a writer. During kids, I worked a little as a freelance magazine and newspaper writer/editor, marketing communications consultant and held a couple of part time gigs in retail. Now, (it's not exactly "after kids" but now that they are older) I just started a permanent part-time job in customer service for a baked goods distributor--very different but communications skills are still key!

My hubby (he's not on TUG) is a retired NYC Firefighter, currently serves as Chief of our volunteer fire department and his "day job" is a facilities supervisor at a local hospital.

 

[caribbeansun]

Not an easy question to answer as I seem to be doing a lot of different things right now including business improvement consulting, business valuations, virtual CFO services and just for the heck of it customer software development and implementation. During the downturn it's be challenging but also very rewarding as the companies I work with have done very well.

 

[Dori]

After a 32 year career as an elementary teacher (20 of those in beloved Kindergarten), I retired at age 52. I still do a lot of supply work in Kindergarten and Grade One. I also have a small, home-based cake decorating business. The orders from family and friends keep me busy.

DH and I travel quite a bit, and enjoy it very much.

Dori

 

[LUVourMarriotts]

I am a techy. After getting my Masters degree, I worked for Kraft Foods (Gevalia) and Avon Products as a Systems/Network Administrator. Then I went to EMC to work with their Network Management Software (NMS). I recently left there and now work for a start-up that is funded by 3 huge IT companies (1. The worldwide leader in storage (possibly already mentioned); 2. The worldwide leader in networking; 3. The worldwide leader in virtualization). In my new position, I am a Solutions Architect for build and delivery of Cloud Infrastructure.

College eduction: BS in Business Management & Economics from Springfield College (MA) (please don't laugh, I know); MS in Telecommunications from Pace University (NY)