tell us about your job

[Matt Flynn]

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I have a good job but I really dislike talking about it.

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would you like me to tell them about your job for you?

[Howard Treesong]

What do you do? I manage litigation for about 1/3 of a Fortune 100 company.

Do you like it? Yes, quite a bit.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? Pluses: Fifteen years' experience tying cases for similar companies; solid fundamental understanding of litigation processes and associated risk analysis; a quick intellect and high bandwidth; communication skills that permit easy translation from lawspeak into either insurancespeak or businesspeak as the case may be. Minuses: Inherent laziness; inability to take routine issues seriously.

What kind of people do best in your work? Those who can make quick decisions on insufficient data and who can tolerate high risk. Those who can communicate sometimes-arcane legal concepts to nonlawyers.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Law degree and ten-plus years of experience in the trenches, plus some connections earned during that time.

What is a typical day like? Get in by 7:30 or so. Spend all day responding to email and talking on the phone. Review incoming complaints and hire counsel. Analyze problems pitched to me by business units in order to try to minimize legal risk. Discuss strategy on major cases with other inhouse lawyers and execs. Make strategy calls on cases. Review and authorize payment of outside counsel bills. Once per quarter, comply with significant reporting requirements. Argue with accountants about materiality and sarbanes-oxley. Create training materials to explain to businesses how to NOT [censored] up. Usually out the door by six unless I'm editing a major brief, in which case I ignore email and phone and let it all stack up while I rewrite, then get to all that stuff at the end of the day.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Some of our litigation is kind of cookie-cutter (products liability stuff) but most of my time deals with managing one-off issues, but virtually all of it is problem-solving in virtually every area. IP, HR, commercial, products, coverage, you name it.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation?Outside counsel who can't write a brief that gets to the point quickly. My experience is that judges perceive themselves as damn busy, and devote little time to most motions and briefs. Because of that, a brief needs to get to the point quickly and clearly without too much irrelevant detail -- but must also be scrupulously correct on the facts and the law. Credibility is our stock in trade. Elation comes from making correct risk assessments, such as winning a case outright after rejecting settlement.

How much do you make?Mid-six figures. Some of it is deferred under various complicated executive incentive plans. Company and division performance can be a 25% swing in either direction. I took a huge pay cut to take this job, and haven't regretted it.

How much can one expect to make in your position?About what I am. Moving up one spot on the corporate ladder would be huge, however.

[limon]

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people who are willing to work their ass off in order not to work (hustlers),


people who will end up dead if they dont get married.



I dont want to de-rail the thread, but your first point describes me also, something I couldnt put into words. The 2nd part limon, Ive been recently thinking about, I am pretty sure we are cut from the same cloth, have some of the same areas of business (moneylending, sports etc) and I hvae the feeling that w/o a wife to calm me down its going to rough times ahead, but I really dont want to settle down yet. Honestly enough, I feel that I teeter on the edge of complete degeneracy, and complete normalcy. at what point did you figure out when to get married, or was it not a planned thing?

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i was in a long distance relationship w/ my highschool sweetie for 11 years. it was a cream dream....for me. once she earned her PhD she gave the ultimatum and i made the wise choice to get married. it helps shes bi and the first few years were a wild party. i needed that sort of transition or i wouldnt have made it. most (maybe all) great hustlers are married the single ones end up on the rail. marriage forces you to choose only the best hustles and not chase every coin flip. also the life of a hustler is very lonely becuase few can understand or would condone most of what you do so a partner in crime who knows everything helps somehow.

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I always basically worshipped you (even when it was apparently your brother posting a long time ago?) but now I am pretty sure my life ambition is to write your biography. Will you be my hero?

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thanks man. my brother opened this account and he is "limon". when we 1st moved to l.a. we had to play holdem and neither of us ever played it (only stud and draw in oregon), my brother wasnt even good at stud and draw, so we bought a 2+2 book on holdem and learned of the website. i didnt own a computer so he agreed to ask some questions. after i got a computer and he had a child i took over his account. he would be horrified by half the shyt i say.

[TheWorstPlayer]

i'm probably one of the only 5 3/6 players on stars who knew that

[JojoDiego]

What do you do? managing editor of a monthly trade magazine for cops

Do you like it? Yes, usually.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm creative, I can work well with many types of people, I don't panic, and I'm a bit of an idealist. On the other hand, I hate having to deal with people motivated purely by money, and slackers and idiots frustrate me.

What kind of people do best in your work? Organized, efficient people. Non hotheads.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Good with written English, good with people. Definitely need work experience with the deadline thing.

What is a typical day like? It depends on where we are in the edit cycle each month. I seem to write 30 e-mails or so a day on average. I might be editing and/or copyediting articles in Word. Or I might be editing and/or copyediting layouts in Quark. Or I might be planning future issues, communicating edit plans to ad-sales, putting out fires, attending a trade show, dealing with random jobs that fall my way, etc. I'm also on the phone at least several times a day with the editor, ad sales, writers, PR people, etc.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Writers miss their deadlines. Production frequently gives me fewer or more pages than I'd planned for. Ad sales frequently pesters me with requests, impositions, etc. that violate editorial integrity. We frequently have way too much workload.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration: not enough staff. Elation: I can't say I'm ever elated--that's too strong. I definitely enjoy seeing our final product each month when it arrives from the printer, however. And getting good feedback from readers can make your day.

How much do you make? 55k

How much can one expect to make in your position? from what I've read, up to 70-80K, maybe 100K?

[OrigamiSensei]

What do you do? I am in technical sales in the EDA (electronic design automation) industry. My company makes specialized computer hardware and software to assist companies with electronic design.

Do you like it? Even though it can be quite stressful I do genuinely enjoy it. I realized about a year after I graduated from college that this industry and sort of job was where I eventually belonged. It took a while to get there but I've never regretted taking this career path and I have trouble imagining any other job I could realistically do that a) pays as well and b) I would like as much.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I'm very self-motivated and I enjoy working with customers to solve their problems. Also, because I am on the ADD side having a lot of activity and things going on at once keeps me from getting bored.

What kind of people do best in your work? People with a good mix of technical, business management and people skills. As a typical dork engineer it took me quite a while to really learn the business management and people skills. To be truly good at this job one must have the ability to fully understand and meet the needs and desires of the customer while still maintaining a profitable situation for one's own company.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Generally an undergraduate degree in electrical or computer engineering. A Master's in science or business is a definite plus but not necessary (I don't have either). Beyond that, generally 5+ years in an engineering design position since some maturity and experience is required.

What is a typical day like? It depends and it pretty much changes from day to day. I travel approximately 30-40% of the time. When traveling I am at customer sites across North America and Europe doing meetings, presentations, demos and occasionally support. When not traveling I work out of my home office. A typical home day involves conference calls, phone and email communications with customers and co-workers, planning for the next set of trips and events, and development of meeting and presentation materials. Also, since I act as lieutenant to my manager I wind up helping to fight a lot of his fires, helping him to prepare his documents, etc.

What kind of problems do you encounter? My main problem is that customers are reluctant to spend their hard-earned money and they need convincing. [img]/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img] Customers having issues with the products they have purchased is another one since an unhappy customer is one that will soon be purchasing from my competitors. However, as far as I am concerned anything to do in dealing with customer concerns is what I am paid for and I don't mind handling those issues. It's when the internal tiffs and political infighting occur that I get stressed and upset.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? As noted above the largest source of frustration is when internal company friction keeps things from moving ahead with the customer. It's also frustrating to see customers behaving irrationally or deceptively. Elation is when we achieve a win-win situation with the customer. They pay us for our products and services of course, but in doing so they also make themselves measurably more successful and profitable. I'm not out to shake someone down for a one-shot killing, I want a successful long-term customer-vendor relationship. Since I work in the organization that handles our largest customers where relationship is key it's a good fit for my temperament.

How much do you make? Over $100K and I'll leave it at that.

How much can one expect to make in your position? A solid person in a position like mine can expect to make $75-175K depending on experience, talent, and how well the company is doing.

[Zeno]

What do you do?

I work for a small Environmental Consulting Firm (this is my third career by the way)

Do you like it?

Mostly yes, but it can be stressful because I have a variety of roles that I must fill, but I have also had the opportunity to travel about the US and once to Taiwan for this type of work. And the variety of the work I’ve done adds much enjoyment.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work?

I’m well -suited for what I do because I always put my best effort into whatever I undertake to do.

What kind of people do best in your work?

Those people with a blend of scientific, technological, organizational, and people skills.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you?

A degree in a science or engineering field (Geology, Hydrogeology, Civil Engineer, environmental degree etc). Many that I work with have Masters degrees in their respective field and almost all have at least an undergraduate degree.

What is a typical day like?

It varies because I have a number of roles. I may do menial tasks like making up a training matrix to helping on a large bid proposal for jobs, to writing reports. I also still do field work (drilling and sampling mostly) though not as much as I used to

What kind of problems do you encounter?

The main problem is dealing with government agencies, the overburden of regulation that border mostly on the inane and obstructionist, and the, in general, moronic people that try to enforce all the nonsense. I’ve worked for private clients also and this is usually much better and always more rewarding.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation?.

For frustration one word: WASTE. Waste of time, effort, and money for much of what we undertake. If we work for government it is three times more costly for what we can get done for a private client. Also much work done or forced to do by government is at least partially wasteful and much is simply unneeded. For elation, best recent example is that last summer I worked very hard with much overtime because I was in charge of producing a large Scientific Report. Worked more than four months on it and did everything from authorship of chapters, reviewer, coordination of all the people writing and producing it, to helping with figures and compiling. It was about 400 pages (a lot of tables and data so not all that was writing) when all was finished and we did a good job on it. When it was finally finished I felt better about this effort than I have for just about anything since I finished my Masters Thesis.

How much do you make?

About 80K

How much can one expect to make in your position?

From about 60-100k depending on a variety of factors including size of company, your personal versatility, experience, and amount of drive.

-Zeno

[kidcolin]

Props to Miles for getting this killer format going.


What do you do? I'm a "component design engineer" for the world's biggest chip manufacturer. That's a fancy name for logic design. I make chipsets.

Do you like it? I'm on the fence on this one. I've been here just shy of 2 years. There are things I like, there are things I don't. When it's just the design work, I love it. For instance, this past Sunday I was up all night to catch up on some stuff, and didn't blink an eye. But there are other days where it's boring crap. Ultimately, I think the "culture" is going to be the reason I leave this place.

What make you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I've got a solid, logical mind. I'm hard working, patient, and don't compromise on quality. I'm poorly-suited in that I pay far too little attention to stuff like documentation.

What kind of people do best in your work? People similar to me. My one fear is that the really successful in-house engineers are somewhat complacent in their place, though. We have some really brilliant minds, and their stuck in this "turn out 1 design per year" frame of mind. I guess this didn't really answer the question.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? You need an electrical or computer engineering degree. If you faked it through college, you won't last here (or at any job worth its salt, for that matter). A lot of recent college grads work at my level.

What is a typical day like? Walk in somewhere between 8 and 9. Check email. If it's a day I really need to get cranking, I get cranking. Otherwise respond to mails while checking through my various sports blogs. A little 2p2, too. It all depends on what phase of the project we're on. Sometimes it's testplans, sometimes it's spec work, sometimes it's RTL coding.. usually it's pretty busy. Get finished up between 5-6, though some days I'm there until 8 or 9.


What kind of problems do you encounter? Either bugs in the design, or just straight up design work. Beyond that I'm not really sure what to say.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration: I just don't "fit in" here. I don't get along with many co-workers. I feel isolated. I find them all very boring. It's really a downer sometimes.

Elation: Getting cycles going on new designs. Stuff like that.

How much do you make Started at 54K + benefits, stock options, etc. After a year 65K, more stock, etc. I should have a raise coming in the next month, but probably only a couple thousand bucks in keeping with inflation this time around.

How much can one expect to make in your position? I dunno, really. My EXACT position, maybe 70K. But I'm a newbie. You can go a lot of different directions from here. Micro-architects and principal engineers make solid 6 figure bank.. so do design managers. So if you assert yourself, you can do pretty well. And if you're really bright, you can probably find other companies willing to fork over big bucks for you.

Apparently before the dot com bubble burst, employees who stayed at my company for 5 or 6 years were millionaires, just based on stock. The past few years haven't been that kind, unfortunately.

[El Diablo]

kid: "Props to Miles for getting this killer format going." Actually, props to JB for some great questions.

Howard: Do you want to stay as legal/GC or do you want to move into a more general executive mgmt position?

[Howard Treesong]

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Howard: Do you want to stay as legal/GC or do you want to move into a more general executive mgmt position?

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Open. I'm confident I can get to the GC company level, although not perhaps at a company as big as my current employer simply because of the leverage in the legal department (100+ in-house lawyers, many of whom are strong, but only one GC). I like law, but could see myself jumping to the business side for the right opportunity where I felt as though I knew enough to be valuable.