Working 9 to 5

[veg-o-matic]

Okay, we're starting to get a good idea of what we look like, so it's time to take it to the next level:

What do we do to support our appliance habit--er, uhm--I mean what do we do for a living?

I'll start by confessing to being a former librarian who got roped into doing IT, so now I'm running the online catalogs for a major Eastern library system in addition to performing various networking duties.

Yeah, it's boring, I know, but I'm hoping we have some actors or models or International Business Kingpins out there.

Nosy little stinker, ain't I?

 

[foraloysius]

I work at a center for work and income as an advisor as it is called nowadays. Perhaps it is clearer when I say that I work at the employment office which is a semi-government institution. People come over to us to register as unemployed and applie for social benefits. Lots of challenges, but also a very stressful job.

 

[roto204]

Support new machines so I can get old ones

I work for a school district IT department, and just got promoted from being a school site technician.

Yay! More appliances to come! :-D

 

[scott55405]

I am a law firm word processor.

 

[chachp]

I lead a computer help desk. Busy place, someone always doing something stupid to their computer! LOL

 

[brisnat81]

Network administrator for a Manufacturing company

http://www.brenclosures.com.au

 

[jdinstl]

I'm a Computer Programmer for an investment firm.

Veg, back in my consulting days, I worked for an outfit here named DRA. These days, they've been bought out by Sirsi. But I learned about MARC records, OPAC's and all kinds of cool library stuff. DRA was probably one of my favorite gigs, and it gave me a very healthy respect for Library Science.

John

 

[tolivac]

Work as a broadcast-transmitter operations engineer at a govt shortwave broadcast plant.Broadcast shows to people in Cuba,Africa,and South America.Used to work at their studio plant in Wash DC.

 

[parunner58]

WOW, there are alot of IT people here. I am the email Administrator for Binney & Smith, the People who make Crayola Crayons and Silly Putty we are a subsidiary of Hallmark Cards. We use Lotus Notes for our email software. I have been here for 20 years and have done everything from being a mainframe computer operator to PC Support manager and if a person can break a computer I have seen it all.

 

[neptuneguy27]

I work as a Tech Adviser for a company that makes caulks, sealants, adhesives and other repair products. Who would have thought that caulk needed technical assistance? But believe you me, there is a demand for it.

 

[chachp]

Hey Parunner58,

I was an Email admin for years. I supported a GroupWise environment up until v4.0. We started with Wordperfect Office v2.0 in 1988. We then merged with a company that was a Notes shop so I was involved in putting in a GroupWise/Notes gateway. That seems like a lifetime ago. 23 years with my company. I'm another old fart.

 

[swestoyz]

The Grainger Man

I'll be the first to admit that I don't work in IT. I work for Grainger Industrial Supply - in their Parts and Sourcing dept. It is very hard to explain what it is I do, so it is easier to say I sit at a desk (and deal with Lotus Notes/SAP!! argh!) and fill out TPS Reports.

Ben

 

[DADoES]

Been with the local movie theater for almost 21 years (April 1984). Done everything from cleaning the auditoriums and mopping up barf to dealing with pissed-off customers to running the films to working the books . . . which is the position I've been at for the past 6 years.

Also since November 1998, so-called general manager and general-tech-person of a small local ISP -- help desk, keeping servers running, dealing with the E-VILE teleco, coordinating customer billing, yada yada. Sorry to throw in the IT-type thing again. Took a call today with a customer who had installed an AOL trial CD which got his dial-up connection completely out-of-sorts, and he didn't even have a clue how to use Add/Remove Programs.

 

[westie2]

IT here Programer Analyst, system administrator, software specialist. Have been a programmer from 1973 first for oil research now for a poultry company.

 

[veg-o-matic]

Yow! We're a bunch of geeks!

Oh come on--we can't all be a bunch of computer nerds! Someone has to be a doctor or lawyer or Captain of Industry.

Nathan: I really like some of those cabinets of yours. We have primarily Vero cabinets for networking stuff and while they were okay at the beginning, they're WAY too small now. Might be a little expensive for us to get 'em from Australia, though!

John: Small world! SIRSI was one of the automation vendors we considered when we last did vendor selection--a time-consuming, ugly project. I am by no means a MARC expert, but our head cataloger thinks I retain all the stuff she tells me. She is SO wrong! Still, I have to retain some of it, even though I've spent years avoiding the whole MARC thing.

Ralph: We have two Help Desks: one for staff, one for the paying customers (we're an ISP). Every time you think you've heard it all, something new comes up. My personal favorite comment from a HD guy was "No sir, the sound of frying eggs coming from your computer is generally not a good sign."

 

[DADoES]

The BF is not a CN if that is of any consolation, they sometimes mystify and cause him confusion.

 

[brisnat81]

Data Cabinets

Hi Bob,

What we sell is pretty unique, the server/data cabinets can be reconfigered once installed to have different rack depths. The current range of cabinets just won an Australian Design Award.

The other part of what we do is in Partnership with Hager Germany.

We are the Aust distributor for their circuit breakers, automation systems and so forth.

There are 4 IT staff at work, we have 2 factories in 2 different states and 7 offices around Australia, its a busy place to be.

I'm supposed to be a general all hands on kinda guy, but in a addition I manage network security and MS Exchange.

We've just implemented Commvault for backup and data management and so far we're very impressed, but its meant we've had to start finding Terabytes of nearline storage.

Nathan

 

[foraloysius]

Hey, I'm not a CN either! My work is basically to get unemployed people back to work.

 

[ironrite]

Ok, I do something different, I find people that don't want to be found! It's called Skiptracing.

 

[powerfin64]

Ok.. my turn..

Im a Hairdresser of 21 yrs..
suprised huh!

 

[rchris]

You seeing a pattern here?

If not, lemme put out what I do to keep Hamburger Helper on the table and pay the ISP bill:

Until last month, Information Systems Coordinator administering a point of sale system installed in a large chain of haircare salons. The Company got bought out, I got laid off, and now I do contract work as a PC Support Tech.

How many appliance repairmen we have here? Cmon: REPRESENT!

 

[chachp]

My personal favorite: This goes back a bit. I was a software trainer back in the days when Windows 3.1 was first starting to become the desktop standard (told you I was old). I was training WordPefect 6.0 which I think was the first fully GUI version. Anyway, we had posted the prereqs for the class which was a basic understanding of Windows and using the mouse, etc. So I would assume everyone at least can get themselves around the Windows environment. I am just starting the class, we've all done our introductions and I say "OK, let's get started!." Move your mouse to.....and this guy in the front row literally picks up the mouse off of the desk and places it on the monitor to try to move the cursor. I gave my assistant the look of "DAMN, this is going to be a long day!" and it was.

 

[kenmore1978]

Currently

Looing for work, but as Frank Sinatra once sang, I've been "a puppet, a pirate, a pawn, and a king"

Over the years:

mainframe tape librarian (twice)

paint, hardware, shoe salesman (Montgomery Ward)

Mail/fileroom supervisor
receptionist/personal assistant
Internet customer service
magazine/book publisher circulation clerk
various temp jobs

Basically, been there, done that stuff

 

[retromom]

What's in a name?

Since my name is Venus, I choose "Domestic Goddess". ;-)

 

[jasonl]

All the geeks in the house say

Well, considering I really don't know Linux....

I'm also in IT. I'm a desktop PC technician working on becoming an admin and hopefully a systems engineer.

A job and location change is gonna happen soon so I can be with Bri.

I feel a big collection coming.

I'll start a home for wayward Kenmores :-D

 

[coldspot66]

O.K. I'll bite!!

Chosen profession was accounting/bookeeping, but am now a self-employed appliance REPAIRMAN! Finding this group was like dying and going to heaven! At least doing it for a living made my fascination seem "normal" lol!

 

[Cybrvanr]

I am an audiovisual technician that maintains equipment for several of the local colleges in the area. My job involves designing, installing, and maintaining audio visual equipment in the classrooms, TV studios, and auditoriums. You could say my job is "hooking up stereos" but if you see some of the stereos I deal with, the work can get pretty involved!

A/V has always been a lifelong interest of me, so I really enjoy the job. As a young child, I was always wanting to look up in the sound room of the auditorium after a show to see "where the magic happened", and I've always been enthralled with big racks of equipment with lights, buttons, switches gauges and the like, so this job is a real dream come true for me!

I started out heading in the A/V direction, but didn't really think there was much money to be made in it, but that was before home theater, and LCD projectors and other technology really started to make it big.

Well, My career shifted into the I.T. world for about 5 years back in the late 90's when the computer industry was making money. I got tired of dealing with Microsoft related problems and went back to the audiovisual world. I preferred to repair electronics with a soldering iron and a multi-meter versus a mouse and a floppy disc, and with the folks at Redmond cranking out more and more unreliable junk and squeezing out the competition, things didn't look like they would improve.

After moving back to the audiovisual world, I found out that companies that build A/V electronics actually answer the phone, provide useful information and own up to malfunctions....not to mention the job security was much better!!!

Still, I am interested in anything that consumes or produces energy, has moving parts, etc. I imagine I I really had to fall back on something, I could become an appliance tech, or an auto mechanic without any problem

 

[jaxsunst]

I am currently a Database Analyst, I've have applied for, and am acting as interim Reports Development Manager. I will have (or have now, depending on how you look at it) 6 analyst reporting to me.

 

[Bryan71]

My Job

I work for the Arkansas Governor's Office as one of his Admin. Assistants.

 

[peterh770]

QA Analyst for the mainframe reservation system of a major hotel chain, and 2x laundromat owner.