Kinda like the what's your job thread but what do you actually do at work.
I just started working at an architectural firm for their new structural division. I ride into work at about 7:45 and just sit there figuring out what size beams should go into the building for 9 hours. The structural group usually goes out to eat lunch together where they seem to talk about sports all the time. [roll] Not terribly interesting to me. I surf the DML about 3-8 times a day depending on how badly I need a break.
Pretty boring. Hopefully I'll get more important stuff to do soon but this is a good warm up. Let's face it though. Most of the work I'll be doing is either computer models of the building or hand calcs. Pretty boring and plain until the building starts being built and I get to go out and see it.
So what do you REALLY do at work.
I babysit and pull teeth.
Ahh, the joys of consulting !
Quote from: erkishhorde on August 12, 2008, 01:24:53 PM
So what do you REALLY do at work.
I figure out how to build shit that architects and structural engineers actually think will work because it fits on the paper. ;)
Right now, I go to school. For the time being, school means I get there about 8, bullshit til about 830. Instructor comes in, bullshit a few more mins. Then he goes over 1-2 subjects taking between 30-60 mins. After that, we go to the gym to workout or play sports, or we go for a run. After that is home. I'm typically home by about noon.
However, next month, I start the hard part of school. I'll be there from 0630 til about 18-1900...
i try to find new and unique ways of dodging the new and unique ways mgmt find to blame me for things i didn't know about ro told them about 3 months ago.
i also try to think outside the box when it comes to goofing off and maintining the appearance of doing work.
Catch bad guys... [leo] (Kinda)
Quote from: Sinister on August 12, 2008, 01:28:31 PM
I figure out how to build shit that architects and structural engineers actually think will work because it fits on the paper. ;)
I in turn try to figure out how to take an ugly structure (that has been made even uglier by several engineering revisons and a lot of "I had to" by the framers) beautiful and acceptable to the clients again. ;D
As little as possible...
but mostly I sand.
Quote from: KnightofNi on August 12, 2008, 01:52:25 PM
i also try to think outside the box when it comes to goofing off and maintining the appearance of doing work.
On that note: 23150 in Brick Breaker. SUCK IT! ;D
sac
/ it starts back at level 1 after you finish all 34
i get to work at about 0730
we BS for 30-60 minutes
I go run a couple water quality samples
....then the rest of the day, I'm essentially a fish farmer. stock em', feed em', harvest em', and put em' in the lakes around the state (though that part is only every so often)
sometimes I have research projects going on, but they still involve fish farming :P
In a nutshell (leaving out all the negative stuff), I help my clients become better communicators.
Quote from: IZ on August 12, 2008, 02:12:07 PM
In a nutshell (leaving out all the negative stuff), I help my clients become better communicators cell phone photographers.
;D
I am a prof at a major east coast engineering school.
Therefore I spend my time as follows:
30% writing journal papers
30% writing grant applications
25% traveling and giving conference talks
5% doing actual research
5% cracking the whip to get my students and postdocs to do their research
5% pretending to teach
i manage project managers and i actually like my job a lot. i have good employees and interesting projects in my portfolio
I pour liquids from one container to another. Then I click a bunch of buttons on the computer.
I'm a scientist.
I also bribe my gf with home cooked meals so she'll stay with me. She won't admit it though... but who dates a scientist besides ugly girls?
What? She is not! Shut up! >:(
I hit my head on the sharpest objects I can find in ceilings, pack concrete and sheetrock dust into every crevice of a laptop and electrocute myself every now and again.
1) I design large holes in the ground...some vertical, some horizontal. [coffee]
2) I also try and convince people they need large holes in the ground. [thumbsup]
3) Today (and for the most of the rest of the week) I'm reviewing a 100% design for 4 large holes in the ground, and marking up errors for correction prior to bid. I do this so the poor bastard (a young guy) who provides engineering support during construction isn't made to look like too much of an idiot by the contrator. [cheeky] This is inevitable to a certain degree though. [laugh]
4) Tomorrow I will be in a meeting where a whiney contractor will say he can't do something...despite the mountain of evidence that I am bringing which says he can...and shows it has been done before. [roll] I know (and so does he) the real reason he can't do it is he lowballed the bid and doesn't want to spend the $$$...but he won't admit that. ;)
#4 is the fun part of the job. #3 is pretty fun too. #1 is OK. #2 sucks.
I check the DML when my eyes start to hurt from looking at plans or a boring Word document/CAD file. :P
I go to the gym when I wake up. I go home to eat...eat....then eat some more. And eventualy, I go to work at 5pm and bark orders at lazy clients until 7 or 8pm. Life is good I think! [thumbsup]
Retired, but for reasons that I do not understand or can begin to ponder I am busier now than when I was working 60 hours a week, or at least it seems like it.
good f'n question!
apparently, i've not been doing a good job of whatever it is i do, lately [roll]
i spend lots of time goofing off on the internet, but when "real" work comes in, i can be found spinning wrenches on motorcycles and atvs. every once in a while i will actually use the internet for work and look up parts and parts diagrams for customers.
it seems like at once every week or two i start a new mod on the ktm or duc.
I train scientists in how to use our equipment (very high-end automated microscopes) and how to analyze the data they get from it.
I put together training materials.
I run experiments for prospective customers on our equipment to show them how it would perform.
so nice not to be in Marketing anymore. :)
Retired ;D How do you folks find time for work?
Quote from: howie on August 12, 2008, 07:37:49 PM
Retired ;D How do you folks find time for work?
It's funny, when I was unemployed for several months (a few years ago) I wondered how I had ever managed to find time to work. [cheeky]
Right now I'm not bothering to go in at all. Next week I will start staring at random things for a long time, but as little time as possible. Oh, and I will make powerpoints and go upstairs for coffee.
I make the beast with two backs off like you wouldn't believe. I can't talk about specifics publicly. Don't want to mess it up [evil]
I start going to school on the 27th, and this past summer, i try not to get electrocuted, but as of today, i need a new job.
I spend 90% of my time make the beast with two backsing off and then spend 10% of my time using 1000% of my brain.
On average, I figure it's a wash.
I send free shit to ducpainter. [laugh]
My typical workday is pretty varied but it all involves construction in some form. Today was just a whole day of painting, which I don't really need to describe. Yesterday was much more fun. I finished a kitchen remodel that another contractor really, really messed up before he bailed on the customer. Here's a very basic breakdown of my day:
Change oil in my jeep
[bacon]
Drive 2 hours to job
Get to job, set up work area
Rebuild damaged/missing wainscot identical to this:
(not my pic or work)
(http://vrielingwoodworks.com/images/wainscot1.jpg)
Run crown moulding and baseboard
Install flooring transition strips and run shoe mould
Putty everything
Remove, re-cut and re-hang kitchen door that doesn't shut
[bacon]
Rewire electrical for oven that other contractor did wrong
Install single convection oven
Install gas downdraft cooktop
Camp out in 18" high crawlspace for an hour or so while running cooktop vent
Install fridge
Pack up tools
Drive 2 hours home
Marlboro and iced tea
Bed
My day started about 5:45 AM and I got home at midnight.
Spend most of my day making stickers and fitting it to vehicles, in between I stuff around on the internet [thumbsup]
Quote from: IZ on August 12, 2008, 02:12:07 PM
In a nutshell (leaving out all the negative stuff), I help my clients become better communicators.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nFP1QREIWYg
[laugh]
I run a photo lab which means:
Maintain machine (1/2 hour job stretched to 2 hours, once a week)
Surf web for hours at a time (Can't print Photo's all the time)
Being next to the main entrance, I gawk at the good looking Woman passing through.
Stare Outside and watch the world go by. (Or stare at my Bike which is by the Entrance)
Wander around the Store like a lost child and annoy the other staff.
And print the odd photo from time to time. [cheeky]
I teach 6th graders how to type properly & how to use word processing software. Then I teach 7th & 8th graders basic computers skills related to word processing, spreadsheets, databases & multimedia software. I also answer my phone at 4:30AM when bus drivers call & drive for a source of easy extra money ~
JM
Quote from: red baron on August 12, 2008, 09:52:26 PM
I send free shit to ducpainter. [laugh]
and he's really good at it too. [thumbsup]
i'm an art director at a design studio,
lately i've been doing that, and managing production and creative.
i spend most of the day on a computer...
doing research, comps, presentations, mechanicals, fixing the designer's digital files, retouching...
the rest of the day is in meetings, or the phone with vendors
i have more goof-off time in the summer ;D
Quote from: DuCaTiNi on August 13, 2008, 04:16:32 AM
fixing the designer's digital files, retouching...
Why does that sound so familiar ;D
i'm in your bankruptcy court, ruining your life! [thumbsup]
I spend 4-8 hours a day in meetings with marketing, sales and business operations people. The rest of my day is spent trying to figure out how to build systems that support their conflicting needs.
Quote from: McKraut on August 13, 2008, 05:25:32 AM
i'm in your bankruptcy court, ruining your life! [thumbsup]
[laugh]
2 Weeks of:
0700 wake up
0730 ride to work
0800 open the office and start ploughing through all that went kaput overnight and prepare site visits for engineers
0900 the gang shows up, get their jobs assigned, there's that 30min pause for everyone to get their butts in gear
0930 team breakfast
1000 off to visit customers
1400 lunch time
1500 back to work
1700 go home
6 Weeks of the same but starting work at 0900 and finishing at 1800
There are lots of out of hours customer visits etc apart from this.. it's a great job. It's normally very quiet from July - September, rest of the year is hell.
We're a team of 5 field service engineers
working for Bloomberg in Madrid and we cover the whole of the Iberian peninsula except Portugal (there's another team there).. so we're quite busy. Anything from teaching a user how to use a biometric
sensor, replacing equipment (kbds, double screens, pcs, routers), installing and configuring (sometimes) network kit, supporting our news bureau and tv sets at the stock exhange, organizing and setting up conferences, managing stock logistics and maintain our node site. Lots of stuff to do!
Quote from: NuTTs on August 13, 2008, 06:00:06 AM
2 Weeks of:
0700 wake up
0730 ride to work
0800 open the office and start ploughing through all that went kaput overnight and prepare site visits for engineers
0900 the gang shows up, get their jobs assigned, there's that 30min pause for everyone to get their butts in gear
0930 team breakfast
1000 off to visit customers
1400 lunch time
1500 back to work
1700 go home
6 Weeks of the same but starting work at 0900 and finishing at 1800
There are lots of out of hours customer visits etc apart from this.. it's a great job. It's normally very quiet from July - September, rest of the year is hell.
We're a team of 5 field service engineers
working for Bloomberg in Madrid and we cover the whole of the Iberian peninsula except Portugal (there's another team there).. so we're quite busy. Anything from teaching a user how to use a biometric
sensor, replacing equipment (kbds, double screens, pcs, routers), installing and configuring (sometimes) network kit, supporting our news bureau and tv sets at the stock exhange, organizing and setting up conferences, managing stock logistics and maintain our node site. Lots of stuff to do!
What happened to siesta? What good is it living in Madrid without siesta? ???
i used to code.
now i:
write technical documents
review technical documents
assign technical documents to coders
review code written from technical documents
prepare for meetings
attend meetings
write and distribute minutes from the meetings
come in about 15 minutes late and use the side door so that lumburg doesn't notice, then i zone out for about an hour.... after lunch i zone out for about another hour.....
in any given week, i get about 15 minutes of real work done.
I surf motorcycle forums on the Internet and take online classes at the University of Phoenix.....
What I'm really supposed to be doing is calibrating various analyzers and providing emissions data for R&D testing of gas turbine combustors that are used in turbines that create electricity for municipalities.
I am one of two master certified Porsche techs in San Antonio. I am supposed to fix and maintain Porsches. I get to do a little of that but I also bail out the service writer when he gets in a jam, help the parts department look up parts, consult with customers in person or by phone, help the other techs or fix their problems, and lately I've been training an apprentice. Every once in a while I will actually get to work on a car uninterupted.
I intern for an engineering firm around Pittsburgh that designs bulk materials handling equipment. Most of the work I do involves rotary car dumpers (train pulls up, it grabs a car or two, rotates them 180 degrees to dump contents, then an arm comes down and moves the train forward so it can dump some more cars). People that already have these things usually want to know if their equipment is capable of handling either longer trains or heavier cars. So I sit in a cube running this simulation program that is about as exciting as watching paint dry, fill excel spreadsheets with numbers and graphs (which usually freeze since I am nearly FILLING them), then write a report. Not very exciting work..... I miss working in the body shop at the local chevy dealer.
Luckily, tomorrow is my last day here since I will be returning to school for one more year. So this weekend it's a trip to the lake with some friends for my 21st birthday.....hopefully I make it back alive
I'm the guy that manages everything concerning a landlord's property portfolio.
My job stinks becuase I have so little work to do that I can't find ways to occupy my time...I take some online classes so that helps but in general I'm B-O-R-E-D. If anyone needs an employee and actually has work to do, let me know!!!!!!
<---------------
Quote from: ducpainter on August 12, 2008, 02:13:19 PM
In a nutshell (leaving out all the negative stuff), I help my clients become better communicators cell phone photographers.
;D
[laugh] [laugh]
...now THAT was funny
...get to the office in the AM...start with a round of calls...(i call some jbubles, some ash, some erikkshhorde and what not)
then i start receving calls form folks that want me to design a nice home for them in one of the most expensive and complicated places in the country, for a lot more than what they were expecting to spend [roll]...
visit planners, city attorneys...some clients...a few job sites...
ops! what time is it? oh, ok then... [drink]
....but really i coordinate the works of a few dozen really talented professionals in order to make someones dream come true....sometimes its great, sometimes not-so-much
Quote from: Desmo Demon on August 13, 2008, 06:37:46 AM
I surf motorcycle forums on the Internet and take online classes at the University of Phoenix.....
What I'm really supposed to be doing is calibrating various analyzers and providing emissions data for R&D testing of gas turbine combustors that are used in turbines that create electricity for municipalities.
well, at least it's not an "important" job that you're slacking at, where people are depending on you and stuff.
Quote from: porschaholic on August 13, 2008, 07:57:22 AM
uninterupted.
What does this mean?
I draw lame cookie-cutter houses (floor plans, elevations, electrical and plumbing) and try to make them slightly less lame
Assign work to the engineers and bug them constantly till I get it back
Then I draw up the revisions sales decided were necessary 3 days after the final construction docs were completed and send it all back to the engineer again
Submit drawings to the local municipalities
Explain to city inspectors that the info they just asked for is already on the plan and that since they aren't engineers on the project they don't get to dictate beam sizes, etc.
Deal with any issues that come up in construction because the trade didn't follow the plan or, on rare occassion, because the plan was missing a detail.
Explain to our sales staff how to read plans.
Explain to our site superintendents how to read details.
Work to resolve problems or get new models approved on unrealistic deadlines. (don't bother to explain this to management as they don't get it/don't care)
Quote from: DCXCV on August 13, 2008, 12:12:15 PM
What does this mean?
I draw lame cookie-cutter houses (floor plans, elevations, electrical and plumbing) and try to make them slightly less lame
so, you're the guy responsible for all these freaking "human farms" in all the dallas suburbs....can't tell one house from another. madness. but they all go apeshit for these places...i don't understand it.
give me a cool little house in a decent neighborhood...built in the 60's or something, with some updates and a little renovation. character and uniqueness = cool
Usually about 4:05 am I am awakened by a driver calling to ask if I am the one doing tech support on the new handhelds they use. When I deermine that it isn't a network connectivity issue, I tell them to call the IT manager then I go back to sleep.
Head in to the office at about 7:30am and browse the intrawebs for acouple of hours.
I then sit in on meetings where I get to tell the owners that this great new thing they want to do won't work with our current system or if their idea will work then why it is going o cost so much to implement.
Off to lunch with some of my office coworkers.
Back in to the office, I spend the next hour or two browsing the web and ordering tech equipment of various purposes.
I then complain about the demands made by our temporary receptionist on my time since 99% of all of her stupid assed questions have nothing to do with IT let alone LAN/WAN/T-COM in any way whatsoever.
Then around 5ish I stop by the hospitality room where the owners are schmoozing some local politician where i have my choice of tap or bottled beers in virtually any format imaginable.
I get to work some time between 730 and 8 am
wait for customers to bring in there cars..
pull in car and pretend to work for 15 minuets, then when customers have left, I eat a burrito and drink some coffee.
then, if the work is interesting ($$$) enough, I get motivated to get shit done.
this morning I pulled a cyl head off a jetta, needs guides, valves, cam chain, ect..all due to lack of regular oil changes for 180k miles.
next up, this STINKY hippie's car, smells of rotted pizza and petruly oil.
most of the work though, is in figuring out WTF they're saying is wrong with there car, then trying to explain to them what failed, and why then can't wait in the waiting area while I replace the clutch on their allroad..
Quote from: McKraut on August 13, 2008, 12:27:54 PM
so, you're the guy responsible for all these freaking "human farms" in all the dallas suburbs....can't tell one house from another. madness. but they all go apeshit for these places...i don't understand it.
give me a cool little house in a decent neighborhood...built in the 60's or something, with some updates and a little renovation. character and uniqueness = cool
I wouldn't say I'm responsible for it - consumers are. But I'm a cog in the system, sure. I went to school for architecture - F.L. Wright, Alvar Aalto and, to a lesser degree, Renzo Piano are my biggest infulences. My job just pays my bills for the moment and it's interesting.
I monitor daily trading activity run exciting reports, and read people's emails. Yes, I have the power. I can read other people's emails. note to all of you out there- dont talk about anything you dont want others to know about on your work email. People read that stuff..
I mill around, wishing I could be anywhere but the day job at the day job, and sling booze at the night job.
Quote from: Lucazuma on August 13, 2008, 03:07:19 PM
..please elaborate...
They have the power.. => http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33tH-JdPDg (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z33tH-JdPDg)
I'd love to say, but I can't. Weird.
the fourth one...
(http://i249.photobucket.com/albums/gg216/mikesixtysix/misc/treecomicbig.jpg)
I take little strands of glass and use electricity to stick 'em together.
Quote from: Magnus on August 13, 2008, 07:23:56 PM
the fourth one...
LOL
that sounds like what our shipboard guys want when it comes to... shit, just about anything they think will mate to an existing configuration.
Quote from: McKraut on August 13, 2008, 11:33:42 AM
well, at least it's not an "important" job that you're slacking at, where people are depending on you and stuff.
Some days, all I have to do is a 30-minute calibration at the beginning of the day and a 30-minute calibration at the end of the day......and occasionally look on the other computer monitor to check on some pressures and air flows...that's pretty much one hour out of a 10-hour day resulting in......lots of time to surf. ;D
Quote from: Lucazuma on August 13, 2008, 03:07:19 PM
..please elaborate...
person A is married
has account for online dating website
tells those people she is a widow.
tells husband she loves him in next email.
Quote from: DaniD on August 13, 2008, 10:03:13 AM
My job stinks becuase I have so little work to do that I can't find ways to occupy my time...I take some online classes so that helps but in general I'm B-O-R-E-D. If anyone needs an employee and actually has work to do, let me know!!!!!!
What do you do?
We are hiring like mad right now, I just had to pass on two projects I really wanted to do because I don't have enough staff.
Would moving to Europe be a problem for you?
wouldnt be an issue for me! ;D
Me either!
well my signature did say it all....
now i got work around 0830
get online,check my mail
i lurker around the web about 75% of the time
i triage people for appts, do EKGs, the best part is getting to poke people [evil]
help the docs with anything
then go find happy hour somewhere
Quote from: ducducgooseme on August 14, 2008, 02:40:13 PM
wouldnt be an issue for me! ;D
that's what I was going to say, sounds good to me.
When do I start?
i fix wrecked cars, and i have no clever punch line
Quote from: ducmouse on August 14, 2008, 03:02:47 PM
[snip] the best part is getting to poke people [evil]
...
then go find happy hour somewhere
Your job sounds like heaven for all guys. [laugh]
Health Physicist (mess around with radioactive stuff), Laser Safety Officer (mess around with dangerous laser stuff), Chemical Hygiene (mess around with dangerous chemical stuff), Hazardous waste management (mess around with mixtures of dangerous chemical stuff), insult on laboratory modification and design and other environmental stuff.
Spend an inordinately large amount of time cruising the net and listening to tunes. ;D [coffee]
LA
i fix aeroplanes
(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/sheriness/crash.jpg)
(http://i12.photobucket.com/albums/a233/sheriness/img029.jpg)