tell us about your job

[scotchnrocks]

[ QUOTE ]
I am bored at my job, so I will tell you about it.

What do you do? Structural engineering (unlicensed still).

Do you like it? Not really.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I am well-suited because I understand geometry well and am good at math. I am unsuited because I am very easily distracted and unwilling to apply myself very much when there is no dire consequence to being lazy.

What kind of people do best in your work? People like me, just without all the other crap running through their heads.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? A degree in civil or structural engineering basically.

What is a typical day like? Coffee, 2+2, and working on structural plans. It varies between custom homes, apartments, condos, townhomes, and other miscellaneous wood-framed buildings. I am pretty much always doing the same thing when in the office, which is designing the horizontal and lateral force resisting systems in these buildings. I am out of the office when I do structural observations on projects under construction or go to consultant meetings.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Stupid people in the field and at other offices.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration is usually caused by having to finish projects in short time periods. Elation is usually caused by drinking coffee in the morning, leaving for lunch, and leaving the office at night.

How much do you make? About $60k/yr when you count profit sharing.

How much can one expect to make in your position? Somewhere around $80-100k/yr with a good amount of experience and your professional engineering license.

[/ QUOTE ]

I have been working as a structural engineer (bridges and retaining walls) for a little over 2 years now with my a BS and MS degree, and this is about where I'm at and exactly how I perceive it. Good post.

[Jihad]

What do you do? Navy Pilot

Do you like it? Yes

What make you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? Athleticism, intelligence, calm under pressure. Also people forget that you are, first and foremost, and Professional Military Officer. So the standard stuff that goes along with that helps tremendously: honor, sense of commitment and dedication, good leadership abilities.

What kind of people do best in your work? There's a pretty well-defined prototype. A lot of the stuff you see in Top Gun is unfortunately true personality wise. 100% Alpha Male attitude helps a lot. You absolutely must be smart and absolutely must be athletic. Outside of the straight monkey skills, you really need to be cool under pressure, and you really absolutely must be social. The wardroom of a Navy Jet squadron is like a (much) more mature Fraternity, and if you don't fit in its really obvious and you will just never get the help that you need to succeed.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? 4 year degree, commission in the Navy, and then its about 2-4 years of flight school. If you're a Carrier-based guy such as myself, you're looking at the fat side of 4 years due to the carrier-landing and highly technical Fighter syllabus.

What is a typical day like? God right now its an absolute dream because we're on a down-cycle. I get to work at 0650 for a morning maintenance meeting (my ground job is on the Maintenance side so I have to be there) and then I hit the computer, EMail, 2p2, then depending on the day I'll have some minor ground work to do. I fly about 3 times a week and sometimes the flights require lots of preparation and effort, but other times its just a quick brief, start up the jets, go be a cowboy for an hour and a half. When you are busy, you're very busy, and there's a lot of time away from family, and a lot of sacrifices. Fortunately (although I really do itch to see some action) I haven't had to do that yet. As for now, I get every Friday off and I'm going on a week and a half flying detatchment down to Curacao, which is gonna be awesome. Oh and I'm 75% sure I'm flying a jet to the Paris Airshow in June for 2 weeks.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Alpha males (read: me) can be giant tools and there's a good amount of head-butting if people are not kept in check. I don't fly enough lately, and my squadron is decommissioning in 2.5 years so its gonna be a hard road with no foreseeable actual deployments.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration: Bosses, just like everybody else, and getting left off the flight schedule. Elation: taking a break from work to fly at 500 mph 200' off the ground, dropping 2K pound bombs, landing on an aircraft carrier, cloud surfing, going over a thunder head upside down and seeing a sunset when you crest it, etc. Also I love working with the Enlisted guys. Also, as of yesterday, doing 4 impromptu low altitude high speed passes of a Submarine headed out to sea, and seeing flashbulbs go off while you're in a 90 degree angle of bank turn [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]. That was fun.

How much do you make? 60K ish.

How much can one expect to make in your position? I'm a pretty junior Lieutenant, and the pay scale never stops going up. In 2 years, once my flight pay kicks in (over 6 years in flight status), it'll go up over 70K. Making the next rank is about 85K, and if you're the next rank (XO/CO of a squadron), you can expect about 95-100K. Never forget the benifits, of which their are plenty.

[JaBlue]

Jihad, have you ever read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff? Its all about navy pilots and seems pretty true to your responses. You might really like it.

[Jihad]

[ QUOTE ]
Jihad, have you ever read Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff? Its all about navy pilots and seems pretty true to your responses. You might really like it.

[/ QUOTE ]Yes and absolutely.

[Weasel45]

What do you do? Loan processor for Home mortgages

Do you like it? Not really.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? The job is pretty easy. Anybody could do it. I am poorly suited because I am not very organized.

What kind of people do best in your work? People who are organized.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? None. I started doing data entry when I was 19 at this company and I got promoted from there.

What is a typical day like? Get in at 9:15. Read Espn and 2+2. Do some work. Go to lunch. Submit any new files or check on conditions on in progress files I have.

What kind of problems do you encounter? People dont give us the paperwork we need. Some lenders can be really backed up so you have to wait like 4 or 5 days for an approval or for Loan docs.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration is usually caused by getting a bunch of new files at once. Elation is when you close a loan for someone purchasing their first house.

How much do you make? 40-50k

How much can one expect to make in your position? 30-70k

[mrmr]

[ QUOTE ]
I am bored at my job, so I will tell you about it.
What do you do? Consulting, Affiliating, for various Internet Marketing Ventures.


[/ QUOTE ]

I read your entire post and still have no idea what you do. Care to elaborate?

[nolanfan34]

I don't want to post about my current job, but I'll post my previous one because I think people might find it somewhat interesting.

What do you do? Public Information Officer for a caucus in the State Senate. Basically a PR/Media Relations guy for Senate members of one of the parties.

Do you like it? During the legislative session, when you're busy, it's great. When your party is in the majority, it's great. One year one of my members was the chairman of the Senate Ways and Means committee, so driving the budget discussion in the press and getting my work published was a blast.

When you're in the minority, or having to write for difficult members, it sucks. The interim is also extremely boring during the summer, because the work slows down tremendously. The best analogy is that it's like an NFL season. Go hard for 4 months, then it dies down in the off-season. That's how I ended up with 6000+ posts on 2+2.

What make you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I had experience in broadcast journalism. I write well under extreme deadlines and pressure. I have a knack for public speaking so speechwriting came easy. I'm fairly outgoing and easy to get along with, so developing rapport with reporters was a strength.

What kind of people do best in your work? People who are outgoing and have good communication skills. People who have patience dealing with people with big egos, and are good at defusing difficult communication situations. Good writing skills and the ability to write persuasive arguments. Ability to not be bored by the minutia of public policy.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? College degree in PR or journalism for the most part. Or experience in a legislative member's office for a few years. Some people make the transition that way.

What is a typical day like? During session: Get in around 8. Attend committee hearings, track member's bills, work on press releases, write talking points. When members are on the floor, track floor action on TV, run back and forth from the office to the floor for member's needs, chat with reporters. Leave around 5 or 6 when they're not on the floor. Around the legislative cutoff dates, multiple days of working 8 am to midnight are not uncommon.

During interim: Work 4 ten hour days. Get in around 8. Check e-mail, surf 2+2. Eat lunch. Stare into space for 30 min. Walk around capital grounds to get out of windowless office. More e-mail. Go home at 5. Repeat for 6 more months.


What kind of problems do you encounter? Difficult members with unreasonable expectations. Members who accidentally make racist comments and cause political firestorms. Death from boredom during the interim.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration: Sort of mentioned above. Having a member completely re-write a press release, or argue linguistic semantics, then watch them re-write what they already re-wrote in the previous draft will drive you insane. Being in the minority and having your press releases ignored.

Elation: The party at the end of session. Seeing your words in print in newspapers across the state.

How much do you make Mid $40k or so for the first few years. Increases based on time in service with the state. Communications Director position, the one shot at advancement, pays between $65k-$90k depending on experience.

How much can one expect to make in your position? See above. At the state level, I guess the highest would be to move into the Chief of Staff role for a caucus, which would be around 100k. I can't speak to federal, but similar roles probably have a higher ceiling there.

[rsigley]

What do you do? 2nd year actuary for an insurance company (4 tests done)

Do you like it? yep

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? i guess my background in statistics (phd from rutgers)

What kind of people do best in your work? good problem solvers

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? college degree in math, stat, economics, or actuarial science. pass a bunch of tests.

What is a typical day like? spend 60 mins crammed into a train with millions of other people on our way to NYC. sit around and wait for people to give me stuff to do since i'm still considered new they don't trust me enough.

What kind of problems do you encounter? too many bosses, i think I have 8.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? i can run with the ball if given to me, but they haven't run the offense through me yet. once I get the results from this exam I took last month tho I should get more responsibility.

How much do you make? 64k

How much can one expect to make in your position? once i get fellowship prolly like 300k, no idea - it varies so much.

[Marc H]

What do you do? I manage ~15 patent examiners, who decide whether a patent applicant will receive a United States Patent for his invention.

Do you like it? Yes.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? Engineering knowledge, now combined with law degree. Attention to detail.

What kind of people do best in your work? Socially impaired individuals [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] (well, maybe) who can understand highly technical subject matter and make themselves understood in the English language. Actually, that's more true of examiners. As you move into management, people skills get more important.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? Bachelor's in some form of engineering. Legal training is not necessary, but like chicken soup, it couldn't hurt.

What is a typical day like? Review a bunch of examiners' decisions on patentability ... and/or meet with attorneys who want us to reconsider our position ... and/or sit through various less-than-scintillating meetings ... and/or perform various administrative tasks, like putting someone in for promotion, doing some special project for my boss, etc.

What kind of problems do you encounter? I have one or two employees who can't really do the job, so I have to spend a lot of my time monitoring their work product. Occasionally I have to field a phone call from an attorney who is unhappy with something we have done (or failed to do).

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? Frustration - see semi-incompetent employees, above. Telling them for the sixth, or sixteenth time, how to do something they've just done wrong AGAIN. Elation - seeing somebody you hired and trained move up the ranks and become independent, or even a managerial colleague.

How much do you make? Just north of $100K, plus potential for half-decent bonus (a few thousand) once a year.

How much can one expect to make in your position? Not much more than I'm making now. One could make a bit more by moving up the management structure, but NOT a lot more, unlike private enterprise. If I left to practice law on the outside, I could make substantially more money within a few years.

[NajdorfDefense]

What do you do? Chief Investment Officer, mostly private money with some corporate funds/cash also.

Do you like it? Love it. If I had to get a real job, I'd go back to bartending on South Beach.

What makes you in particular well-suited or poorly-suited for your work? I have pretty strong analytical skills, love to read, and learn new things, ability to spot a trend as well as avoid one that's ending, good gambling/gaming instincts, and am long-term greedy.

What kind of people do best in your work? Strong analytical thinkers who are able to evaluate people and situations quickly and without bias. Have to be able to spot the BS artists which comes with experience. Ability to manage clients is the biggest thing. Keep fear and greed firmly in balance.

What qualifications are necessary for people considering work in the same field as you? EV calculations, able to open Excel, explain why one investment is 'better' than another, based on some set of criteria. As long as you have the smarts of a clever 11-yr old, you're all set.

What is a typical day like? This would take a longer answer, but I'll sum up, I get to my office around 9:15 and check over yesterday's stuff and look the markets and check emails to make sure nothing blew up. At 9:45 I head down to grab food. Read a lot of deals and pitches and stupid/brilliant emails. Spend day on phone with marketers, managers, lawyers, acc'ts, client[s], coworkers. Minimal Excel and similar work. Head out btw 5-9pm depending on my work load.

What kind of problems do you encounter? Too much capital, not enough good ideas/managers. Clients are not always rational.

What are the biggest (most common) sources of frustration and elation? See above. Doing well. Outthinking the market.

How much can one expect to make in your position?
Managing OPM you can expect to make anywhere from very low six figures to Eddie Lampert money.