[Closed] What do you do and do you enjoy it?

trade counter. hate it.

Technical customer support - enjoy it after years of being a data analyst.

I moved dept late 2015 and it is like working for a different organisation - much nicer people on the support side. I find that whatever you are doing, the people you are doing it with make the difference.

😉

Print trade.

It's alright, but not what it used to be.

Programme Manager (no, not T bloody V)

Love it to bits, thrilling, excitement, angst, political horsecrap, loading, rolling off.

Awesome.

I'm not really sure what I do to be honest (I have a job title but bears little resemblance to what I actually do), not a lot by the looks of it but it pays me well considering I only seem to spend a few hours a week actually doing any work. Just being seen to be around the rest of the time seems to keep everyone happy. Enjoy it enough and it kind of picked me.

I tell people how they should be doing stuff, I teach them to do it, I do it myself, and I also fix it when it's gone wrong.

Stuff to do with computers, the kind of computers that you don't see.

And it's pretty good generally 🙂

Civil Engineer. Like the job. Hate the industry.

Professional Engineer. I design brakes for cars for a large vehicle manufacturer.

Up and downs but generally I'd say; I love it 😆

11 years Merchant Navy - got my Masters license and quit - mixed feelings it had it's moments came ashore
Operations - had it's moments
Head of Ops - was ok but working for the Chinese was a PITA
Risk Mgmt now - pays the bills, leave work at 5.30 home by 7.00pm a means to an end really. Likely to be here till retirement!

Tchnical Consultant, when I finally work out what that is, I'll let you know.
I do enjoy it though.

IT Manager (yes really). The potential is there for a really satisfying job however at the moment it sucks hence my looking for a move.

programmer turned plc programmer. Job is ok when there is good work crap when not. Too much traveling for me. I think if I was part time I would like it a lot more and get the same done most weeks

Care worker

Love it, but I'm mentally, physically and financially knackered.

Currently being treated like a fool by my employers.
Having to fight every single day to retain just a little dignity and my legal employment rights has left me a bit broken tbh.

The job is so rewarding, but it's causing me quite a bit of distress at the mo.

Well overdue a change.

Ex RAF pilot, now Airline.
Not big on the nights out of bed, but off to St Lucia for 5 days tomorrow, and get to take my bike away all round the world.

Oh, and I'm Part Time too.

Quantity Surveyor.

Kill me now.

Working in HE sector.

I'm lucky as I get variety in my job. Teaching MSc students who 'generally' want to learn. Supported to do my own further research. Plus I coach within our referral clinic so get to work with athletes too.

I'd go stir crazy if it was the same stuff all the time.

Used to work in the city for an investment firm. hated it.
now sell kayaks and paddleboards for a living...better but not there yet.

These days doing R&D in power electronics and other "projects" in conjunction with several universities, bit different to working for the big industrial players but working on completely new concepts is very rewarding AND we get a decent IP share at last!.

perchypanther - Member

Quantity Surveyor.

Kill me now.

Noted for future reference.

Too late. Your chance has passed. 🙂

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I don't think I've got the nerve to refer to it as a job. More a continuation of what I spent my time doing as a kid. I bloody loves it, I do! 😀

Too late. Your chance has passed.

What the hell is a quantity surveyor?

Occupational Health Nurse - managing a service providing to GP's and Dentists and their staff. Can't abide it but its relatively easy ( more so than my 12 years ITU work) but trying to decide what else I can/ want to do instead is an ongoing challenge 🙁
Not helped by constant service reviews and threats of closing. It's making me ill so need move on - ironic being made ill running the service meant to help ill people stay at work!

NHS and HE, half and half

It's OK. Varied, and I like the people I work with but I'm mostly just tapping it out until retirement now

I hurt people too but that's mostly as a hobby

I didn't get where I am today by actually listening to QSs!

Nobody does.
That's why we have to stay on the field of battle long after the "operational" troops have departed, cleaning up the carnage and bayonetting the wounded.......or Final Accounting as I prefer to call it.

A mix of actual graphic design(inhouse stuff mostly, but do some work for external customers. Posters/leaflets/brochures type of thing) and production work, also template creation, indd & html/css for our online system(though that'll change soon, so will need to learn the new way of doing it/remember the old way/ later version of a system we used to use), general problem solver, among other things.

It's all right, varied enough to keep me interested at times. But can bore ye to tears when the production side of it is busy.

For 6 months of the year, I basically get paid to annoy you good folks though! 😆

I too work with computers you don't see. Data manipulation, managed file transfer and workload automation.

Do I enjoy it? Weirdly, yes. When I'm allowed to just crack on with work.
Do the current politics around this place make every day a real chore? Yes
Do I want a change? I nearly did a few weeks back but decided against it. I don't want/need to change for money reasons and my work/life balance is pretty damned good.

Is it bonus pay day? Yes it is 😀

What the hell is a quantity surveyor?

26 years i've been asking the same thing. Still waiting on an answer....

That's why we have to stay on the field of battle long after the "operational" troops have departed, cleaning up the carnage and bayonetting the wounded.......or Final Accounting as I prefer to call it.

EDIT:

26 years i've been asking the same thing. Still waiting on an answer....

I thought Quantity Surveyors had become extinct, seems they are all Commercial Managers now.

Merchant Navy, really enjoy it. Only work 6 months of the year so plenty of time for hobbies. A lot of hard work studying but recently bagged the Masters so that's me done for exams! Money's not bad either but not having to take your work home with you is the best part.

Programme Manager (no, not T bloody V)

couldn't be more meh, iritating, excitement, angst, political horsecrap, dealing with peoples crap day after day to the point I sometimes think it's a nursing home (it's not).

Shite.

Interesting, I'll be popping over to a site that has been signed off and running for 12 months to clean up the carnage left by certain people due to the kit that was chosen being a bag of crap and not working. I think the job came in under budget though. A job well done in that respect, happy suppliers, happy contractor and a happy client. Oh! Hang on!

Estimators fault innit!......Arseholes. 😉

I'm training and development officer for a small charity.
I teach teachers to get outdoors.
Today I'm in Dumfries, working with student teachers.
I also manage all our training nationally, our web and social media, as well as new course development.

It's a fabulous, challenging and ever interesting job.

It just doesn't pay much, and as a small organisation I don't have anywhere for progression.

Self-employed designer of all sorts of things.

Consumer electronics
User interfaces
Websites
Advertising & Marketing
Print
Packaging
etc

Find it very difficult to imagine a better job, apart from the fact it's 99% desk-bound.

Estimators fault innit!......Arseholes.

*strokes chin*

Maybe if you'd stroked the estimators areshole he'd have included a decent allowance for the kit you wanted? 😉

I'm not really sure what I do to be honest (I have a job title but bears little resemblance to what I actually do),

This,

My Business Card says 'Solutions Manager' but I', sometimes called Sales Director if the person I'm speaking too needs to think they're talking to someone 'serious' - I'm rarely serious about anything.

Truth is, we're a small outfit, there's 5 of us, there’s massive over-lap of roles, and few people get to just do one job.

I'm part IT Consultant, if a Client wants to do something with IT stuff (which sometimes extends to anything with a plug on it) it's up to me to work out how, and then ask for money for it, which usually goes like this:

"I want to do this"
"Okay, let me work is out for you"

Several hours, days, weeks of research later...

"Okay, here's how we do it, it'll cost £x"
"you're taking the piss, I could buy *this* for half as much"
"Sorry, but *that* is nothing like what you want, and won't do what you need it to do, and isn't very good".
"YOU'RE JUST TRYING TO MAKE MONEY FROM ME!!!?!?!"
"We do offer discounts for charities, are you a charity?"
"No"
"Neither are we, yes I'm trying to make money"

Okay I don't often say the last bit, but I really should. These aren't consumers, Business Owners and Directors of sizable businesses do seem shocked that we, a commercial enterprise, wants to make money in exchange for doing stuff.

I’m also the “talk to client because they need something that costs money, even if it’s £1” Guy, because the Helpdesk Guys are terrified of money.

Part-Time Delivery Driver.

Microsoft Licensing Expert, which is more like being a punchbag, one of my esteemed colleagues will call me, claim it works in the exact way which offers them the path of least resistance, argue with me when it doesn’t and then make it my problem because it needs paying for.

Credit Controller.

Recruiter of new clients.

Retainer of existing clients.

Buyer of stock.

Guardian of stock, another thankless task when I dare ask what they plan to do with the many hundreds of pounds’ worth of hi-tech do-dar they’re swinging about their head, so we might, Idon’tknow – get paid for it.

Project Manager, or the “who said we can do that” ****er.

The best bit, whenever anyone asks - my colleagues just call me "the Sales Guy" which is awesome, they might as well say "the tellers of lies and spreader of rumours - don't tell a thing and don't believe a word he says".

So I enjoy it? Yes, most of the time, it used to be all the time, but it’s got more and more complex and more stressful in recent months.

Offshore oil & gas.

Safety first, folks. Unless it affects the bottom line, obviously.

oceanographer.

it's not too bad.

fireman. dont enjoy it so much these days, a lot of time away from family. but, coming from a background in engineering (factories), i can keep it in perspective and its a good job really. not complaining.

Acoustic consultant.

Can be great, can be mind numbing beyond belief.

Find it very difficult to imagine a better job

Yeah that does sound pretty cool.

P-Jay's job and company also sounds interesting from a professional point of view. I keep trying to get him out on a ride since he's local to me, but he ignores me.

I'm a "Technical Analyst" in the finance industry - it's a cross between systems & business analyst.

When I get free reign to design something new, it's enjoyable. When I spend 8 hours diagnosing a production issue (like yesterday) not so much...

This seems pretty relevant...
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electronics design for real-time process control

we tend to get projects that no-one else in the world can (or wants) to do so it can be quite interesting but by the same token there's not much to go on 🙂

Senior consultant....
For a 3 person company - I wanted the senior adding when we did business cards.
Job really is technical director, salesman, programmer, developer, consultant, analyst and a few more things.
In the last 10 days I've been looking at 2 major hospital moves (patients and equipment for some of the biggest developments in the world in that sector) a breakfast cereal plant, and something for some people in uniforms. Varied all the way, best bit is the flexibility, worst bit is the flexibility as I've been doing wired hours and weekends since Christmas.
I can generally still piss off riding and got a weekend on the bike as part of this week's work away. Downside was the 6hr drive for a rearranged meeting and crap flights home. Cover a geographical area bigger than Europe.
Enjoy most of the time...

Bank Manager. Meh..... even Alan Shearer had/has bad days

I work in a box factory designing boxes, big boxes, little boxes the work is varied..... but I feel a bit boxed in.

criminal lawyer , I do enjoy it. I talk to interesting people from all walks of life. I often get to make a very real difference to peoples lives (in a good way.) The job has many challenges to try and rise to. Also crushingly bad bits and nowhere near the £ people imagine and/or are told by the government propaganda.

- I wanted the senior adding when we did business cards.

[img] [/img]

Market strategy for a large [s]distributor of stationery products [/s] company. Travel too much, work hard. Work from home when not on travels, so work/life balance is good.

Police - a specialist role but having a sabbatical two years out this year, moving to Switzerland to be with the g/f to see if I can make ends meet over there. Had enough of the uk and its problems sadly.

Started my own business 7 years ago tomorrow. Now employ 16 people and love every stressful, irritating, joyous moment of it....

molgrips - Member

Find it very difficult to imagine a better job

Yeah that does sound pretty cool.

P-Jay's job and company also sounds interesting from a professional point of view. I keep trying to get him out on a ride since he's local to me, but he ignores me.

Sorry,

I'm not ignoring I promise, I tend to drop in an out of here for thinking space when work is twisting my melon.

Happy to go for a spin in a few weeks, I'm on the bench at the moment - doctors’ orders. W/e the 18th / 19th next for me.

PM me (does that work now?)

@cfh about right but what's the point in not being the senior of one... I occasionally shave my beard off to make it look like we have more staff

Dolphin trainer, Pit crew for an F1 team or, I seem to remember. once a biscuit designer.

Dolphin trainer had the best results.

Used to be an economist/ manager - hated it
spent many years at University and re-trained to be a Geologist
worked in academia for quite some time - was a great job but the politics and admin was soul destroying
work in the oil industry now - easy job and good pay - very good for the family

Train Driving

Only actually "driving" for about 50% of the time per shift on average
£46K
35 hour week which usually ends up being more like like 30-33 hour
Variety in the job is not too bad. 13 different routes and 5 different classes of train.
Only a 3 mile commute

It has its bad points. Most of the trains themselves are a bit run down and some of the station buildings are old. Plus, you can't usually book a day off at short notice. Its frustrating when it's sunny and I want to go mountain biking but work gets in the way

Acoustic consultant.

Can be great, can be mind numbing beyond belief.

yet you named yourself after it 😉

me, I design and build emails for a higher education institution. It's fine. Can be quite fun at times. You wouldn't believe the politics and red tape, but the working conditions otherwise help compensate for that.

Graphic Designer for a US-based firm. Formerly a mechanic, bike guide, bike trade insider, marketing thing, seed packer, brick scrubber, part-time soldier and lifeguard. Also had an interview in the porn industry.

Many, many plus points, but today I'd happily trade it in for something that involves being outside with people, preferably in mountains.

Train Driving
It has its bad points

"[i]So, what do you do? Do you enjoy it and why did you pick it?[/i]"

Cost Modeller. Trying to cost things for an organisation that really has [b]NO[/b] idea how much things cost. Sometimes enjoyable. Often frustrating when trying to magic up some sensible results from data that is utter gash.

It picked me. Being a spreadsheet geek helped.

Import and distrubute "adult" toys. Pretty dull except for demo days.

scaredypants that's selective quoting

I'm the man that's called when things go wrong....

With structural steel work anyway, I sort out extras, remedials and good ol fashioned ***k ups.
Takes me all over the south, was in Wimbledon last week, sat typing this in St Austell.

Within its own field its varied work, and by its very nature unpredictable, leading to random days off in the week. I'm self employed and charge per day regardless of time it takes. I used to run a fabrication shop but over heads, changing standards and the arse dropping out of the economy meant a change. I really miss having my own work shop, but my stress levels are right down (I'm always solving someone else's problems these days, not my own) now, and weekend work is a thing of the past.

photographer of expensive bling and shiny things
love it though its more of way of life than a job and cant imagine having to do a proper job in an office or with line manager/boss/corporate crap/spreadsheets/targets etc.

plusses: never boring, travel, nice lunches, the odd cheeky day off seeing interesting things and interesting people, the money.

downsides: spells sat at computer retouching, the actual shoot time is only a small percentage, quoting on jobs and not getting the nice ones and mission creep where i get “can you just take a quick shot of this while you are at it?"

Also had an interview in the porn industry

Fluffer?

Dream job really, I have a cafe in a forest. Usually leave the bike in the van.
Before that I was a network designer for a big telco supplier that eventually went bust through some shocking decision making.

Project Manager for a small department which is part of a huge multinational Engineering company.

We design/build/test/maintain refrigeration plants and HVAC systems for Naval ships and submarines.
We've got our stuff on the majority of the UK naval fleet and are heavily involved in the next two major UK Naval builds that are about to kick-off.

It can be annoying/frustrating, but on the whole I really like it.
I rarely have to take work home, and generally walk through my front door at 5.30 each night.
I do have to travel a bit (off to France tomorrow) which is a bit of a bind sometimes, but the flipside is I've been to a few interesting places and eaten in a few good restaurants.

Promotional prospects aren't great - most people stay for decades - so I need the level above me to retire before I move up.

On the whole I'm pretty happy.

Software developer. Or in old terms, computer programmer.
Self employed (contracting) for the last two years means no need to pay any attention to all the corporate BS that I had to suck up in my previous job(s).

Less secure than permie but loads less pressure.

I enjoy it more now than I did in previous jobs due to the above

I thought my job was pretty depressing......scouring this post has cheered me up a little bit. 😆

Was an design engineer until my wife became ill now a stay at home dad and teach CAD at the college one night a week. Really happy with how my life work balance is going right now. We don't have as much money but neither me or my wife mind

I wheel and deal stuff (no not drugs). Mainly Antique and furniture but I'll literally buy and sell anything if I can make money. Upside is I work about 30 hrs week.. Downside is it doesn't earn me a fortune. Some days it's shit boring and general public can be ****s.. Other days it's a good laugh and actually make some money. This time next year Rodney....

database admin for a massive manufacturer.

It's good. Easy enough - a lot is experience. Knowing when to panic and when to not.

It's easier (less stressful) than being a DBA at a big law firm in London. Twenty minutes drive, or a decent hilly cycle. Flexible, bit of travel. Pays the bills.

I could be earning a lot more back in london, but why bother? I earn enough to do what I and the family want. Why kill yourself for mammon?

It's not what I did at uni. Not what I wanted to do. But needs must 😀

Production Engineer in the Biscuit industry.
Not so much enjoy it, but have enjoyed seeing widespread impact of some of my innovations, in a stealthy kind of way

I'm not 100% sure what my title is. I basically help our wholesale director with the day to day and act as account liaison for our US and larger UK customers. I spend a lot of time creating graphs and updating product listings too.

It doesn't challenge me in any way, shape or form and I don't particularly like it, but the people I work with are nice. I'm currently the sole source of income so have to suck it up.

Geotechnical Consultant. Work for myself from home. I'm pretty sure I won't find anything better for me.

I run the UK's transplant support services - i.e. the transplant list, organ donor register, 24/7 matching & offering organs, mobilising organ retrieval teams etc.

I've been doing it for 2 years. It's the best job I've had in terms of purpose, but it's also bloody hard work.

My wife is currently without a job and her support is vital to make this work for us and our kids. I was in London 3 days last week and then interviewing for the remaining 2. It's difficult to find time to do work, hence me waking at 4am today and not being able to sleep again.

We'd see more money in the family kitty if we took a job each with the same combined salary (that's the tax / Child Benefit system for you).

On the bright side, about 85 people will get a new organ this week - and I cycle to work every day. 🙂

I run the UK's transplant support services - i.e. the transplant list, organ donor register, 24/7 matching & offering organs, mobilising organ retrieval teams etc.

This is truly heart-warming. 😉