What do you do for a living?

[99outback]

I have been working for a printing company for the last 3 years. It's a family owned business. I really enjoy it! Before that I was going to school and also working as a motorcycle mechanic. Still love messing with bikes but I am looking forward to doing some work on my 99 2.5 Outback! I also need to stop being such a creeper and post up every once in a while. So if you need some print, let me know

[rockhopjohn]

Originally Posted by jp1203

Guess I'll revive this thread!

I work in IT for a school district. I never know what I'll be doing from one day to the next...I could be driving 20 miles out to one of the far away schools for some sort of issue, or building an image for a new desktop or laptop then imaging new machines in my office all day, or on the roof of some building troubleshooting cabling issues, or any number of other things. Being that there is a total of three of us to handle seven buildings, we all end up doing a little bit of everything. I love it and they pay me pretty well to be there, so I can't complain one bit.

Looking through the thread, it looks like there are a ton of us IT guys.

Cool, after I got out of grad school, while I was looking for work in my field, I moved home and did IT work for the school district I did K-12 in. It was definitely an eye opening experience. We spent a tremendous amount of time keeping our network and hardware up to speed for the tremendous amount of online testing they seem to do these days.

Like you, I might be in a wiring closet trying to make a port hot one minute, installing a new printer the next, and heading out 20 miles to another school to re-image a machine the next. I really enjoyed, but I am glad I finally got a job in my field. The school system I work for didn't pay all that well (about $12 an hour).

[jp1203]

Originally Posted by rockhopjohn

Cool, after I got out of grad school, while I was looking for work in my field, I moved home and did IT work for the school district I did K-12 in. It was definitely an eye opening experience. We spent a tremendous amount of time keeping our network and hardware up to speed for the tremendous amount of online testing they seem to do these days.

Like you, I might be in a wiring closet trying to make a port hot one minute, installing a new printer the next, and heading out 20 miles to another school to re-image a machine the next. I really enjoyed, but I am glad I finally got a job in my field. The school system I work for didn't pay all that well (about $12 an hour).

I too am in the district that I was a student in. It's funny switching to a first-name basis with the staff. I did a lot of work as a student, and was only really gone for one year. Surprisingly, very few people responded to the job posting...and those who did apparently had great credentials but a horrible interview. I got lucky.

I'm part time now, which is actually perfect because I'm working on a CIS Networking degree at the same time.

Sounds like you basically had my job at another district! I love it because it's not sitting in an office all day...I'm on my feet 90% of the time, and every day is different. Some nights, I'll go in on my own time and experiment with building up a DRBL server for CloneZilla, for example (I hate Ghost). Or if I just need somewhere where no one can bug me for a while.

I make a little more than double that hourly, and I'm very happy with that. When I did retail, I would have to work ridiculous amounts of hours to pay the car insurance (based on my bill, you'd think my Outback was being assessed as a BMW), food, gas, school, etc. The stress, lack of sleep, and hit to my GPA was horrible. I'm very fortunate to be able to get away with fewer hours...I can concentrate a little more on school and actually have a life. If it became full time, it would be sufficient for a single guy to live comfortably off of. Who really needs more than that?

...and if it never became full time, it will look great on a resume.

What type of company are you doing IT work for now?

[MB77monza]

I am a certified dental technician. I got my degree in 1981 from Southern Illinois University (go Salukis!). My wife and I opened our own dental lab in 1988. Still going strong 22 years later

[dborla01]

Originally Posted by MB77monza

I am a certified dental technician. I got my degree in 1981 from Southern Illinois University (go Salukis!). My wife and I opened our own dental lab in 1988. Still going strong 22 years later

Wow, I am a CDT, 1978, technician too. Went to City College SF. We own a dental office and laboratory in portland oregon area. Been in the tooth business since 1971 in the navy.

[MB77monza]

Wow don't run into many fellow CDT's. Spent quite a bit of time traveling back and forth to Portland to study with OBI.

[rockhopjohn]

Originally Posted by jp1203

I too am in the district that I was a student in. It's funny switching to a first-name basis with the staff. I did a lot of work as a student, and was only really gone for one year. Surprisingly, very few people responded to the job posting...and those who did apparently had great credentials but a horrible interview. I got lucky.

I'm part time now, which is actually perfect because I'm working on a CIS Networking degree at the same time.

Sounds like you basically had my job at another district! I love it because it's not sitting in an office all day...I'm on my feet 90% of the time, and every day is different. Some nights, I'll go in on my own time and experiment with building up a DRBL server for CloneZilla, for example (I hate Ghost). Or if I just need somewhere where no one can bug me for a while.

I make a little more than double that hourly, and I'm very happy with that. When I did retail, I would have to work ridiculous amounts of hours to pay the car insurance (based on my bill, you'd think my Outback was being assessed as a BMW), food, gas, school, etc. The stress, lack of sleep, and hit to my GPA was horrible. I'm very fortunate to be able to get away with fewer hours...I can concentrate a little more on school and actually have a life. If it became full time, it would be sufficient for a single guy to live comfortably off of. Who really needs more than that?

...and if it never became full time, it will look great on a resume.

What type of company are you doing IT work for now?

Well, for me IT has always been a backup, the way I made money in college. Currently I am a lead well site geologist on oil rigs in North Dakota. It pays about 5 times what my IT job did and I get about 7-8 two week vacations a year.

[jp1203]

Originally Posted by rockhopjohn

Well, for me IT has always been a backup, the way I made money in college. Currently I am a lead well site geologist on oil rigs in North Dakota. It pays about 5 times what my IT job did and I get about 7-8 two week vacations a year.

Very cool. Can't argue with the pay or vacation time there, that's for sure!

[the toninator]

Electronic Data Interchange analyst/PM in IT Dept of a Medical MGT company. Almost flunked high school, did flunk out of college. fficeffice" />>>

[bmb527]

Well, I don't do anything as exciting as a doctor of one sort or another, but since 1989 I have been a FAA licensed Airframe and Powerplant Mechanic. I started at a private plane repair shop, then I started my airline life. I started at a large regional carrier in Utah, then to another in Baton Rouge, La. Then went for bigger planes with Jetblue in NYC and then moved back to Denver to work for Frontier. In 08, Frontier went broke, my job left me, so now I find myself working for Boeing as a QA Inspector for the 787 Dreamliner. I work at the final stage of the process, in the Everett Delivery Center. My group makes sure the airplane is perfect before the customer takes delivery.
After 20+ years troubleshooting, fixing, deferring or doing whatever it takes to get people to their destination safely, working for Boeing is like being in a retirement home! Plus the cold wet of the Puget Sound region has my arthritis going strong so I FEEL like I am in a retirement home! I miss airline life, but there are things to be said for a steady paycheck!