What do you do?

[SAS]

Bit hard to explain my daily routine in work but here goes...

I work for a large postal company as a data entry keyer, also I'm working on two projects; "coaching" where I retrain people to pass set performace targets, and "a board game" which will be used as a learning tool.

I start work at 1.40pm. I do my rounds of the people I am coaching at the present time, and arrange meetings with them or their manager depending on the situations. I collect stats of their performance and create reports on each keyers performance and give ideas to help them improve.

Along with that I have to work on the board game, which is proving popular and I'm under pressure to create 400 questions related to the theme of the company which I'm slowly running out of ideas for.

Then at 7pm I should be "keying" as this is the busy time and it's all hands on deck until 9pm, where I can then go back to my coaching duties.

Throughout the day I also have to support the manager of my team and it's members, along with dealing with random questions from other people at work related to the "keying rules" as they know I'm up to date on them.

Juggling all that and at anytime I could be asked a question, pulled away for a random meeting or given another project to do, this creates a lot of pressure, but I enjoy it (maybe I'm crazy?). Although winding down at the end of the day and on weekends I'm finding very hard and girl friend is getting p***ed, but luckily is understanding (at the moment).

Also before work I news hunt and post news on here, add more to the guides, and usually find more things to work on once I log in each day (ok not a job, but it's still time consuming).

Now my head aches and a bollocking at work to look forward to today

 

[Xtro]

Afternoon (I'm in France yet again and its afternoon here so bite me).

Anyways...

I'm very much in a transition stage.

I work for EA Games. After leaving the UK govt doing Linguistics/translation/decryption work I ended up here doing localisation/linguistics work which pays well and I wear and look how I want.

I travel a LOT at the minute (I'm over in France lots and lots lately, gf lives here tho too). Usual day consists of powering up my works laptop and checking mail, taking receipt of new project work, dishing out work to a team of 30 (2 teams, one based in Paris, one in Prague). I work on the road a large amount of the time these days which can be a drain. Loooong train journeys spent logged on to the net is zzzzzzzz.

When I'm not on the road I'll be either with the Paris or Prague teams, seeing how everything is going, advising on new work, check out new ideas developers have and tell them if its ever going to work in Swahili/Urdu/Italian/whatever and the like. Sometimes we get the most random jobs. Had to visit Barcelona to work in a recording studio with Fifa developers and ended up meeting a couple of the Real Madrid team by chance. Another team I was recording background "radio chatter" for a game in a pizza restaurant in Prague...odd.

All the above might sound fun (it is after working in govt) but it is d..r...a...i...n...i..n...g... my life away. Me and the gf aren't coping with the long distance thing at all well

Sooooo, I am currently (on the side) training to be a professional body piercer and tattooist \o/ This work gets you meeting loads of new people, all fun and LOTS OF TRAVEL AND ITS ALL FUN. Due to this I am now friendly with tons of Canadians and thats where I plan on emigrating to in the long term although I fancy hopping back to the Netherlands for a bit first.

Shuts the fuck up...this laptop is shit btw. Its the gf's she's out at work as I'm STILL OFF due to bust ribs (been 4 weeks now!).

 

[yaruar]

(real time financial data and systems)

Heh, I wonder if you're in my emergency contact list

As for me. I wake up at 7:50/8am. Run through the house putting clothes on and brushing my teeth. Walk briskly to station whilst smoking. Cram myself on the district line all the way to mile end, then cram my way on the central line.

Maybe make it to work on time (8:30) although usually 10-20 minutes late depending on the tube and how good a dream I was having.

Get to desk, fire up email, check overnight jobs, curse the failed backups and listen to overnight voicemails.

Fire up online newspapers, grab a coffee, read boards, start doing work.
Most of my work is reactive during the day, responding to traders having hissyfits and arguing with our retarded compliance officer. Chase up suppliers or open tech support tickets with phone/systems/exchanges which are playing up with us.
10 am go downstairs and buy a bacon sandwich and have a smoke.
More coffee, possibly project work if I can be arsed. Ignore requests which aren't urgent and try to wind up the elastic bands which our systems rely on as much as possible without snapping them.
Inevitable lunch time comes at a random time and I just have time to smoke and grab a sandwich before some dealer who got drunk on a previous day needs to listen to the recordings of their phone calls due to not being able to remember the trades they put in the day before.
Afternoon more of the same. If i'm lucky (like this week) I will be informed of 8 people starting in the next week and will point out there is no room in our offices physically for more than 3 of them... Order 15k's worth of equipment and sit down for coffee.
Eventually 6pm rolls around and I wander off home.
Fire up the pc and bitch to gf about the day ahead.

 

[Jupitus]

Heh, I wonder if you're in my emergency contact list

Depends where you work, but I doubt it to be honest... most of our customers aren't directly trading but revendors of data, ie we wholesale international market data to local providers who pas it on to their end-users. That said, we'll not turn you away if you want to buy a 77,000 msg per second, 1.6 million data item, record based feed from us

 

[]AC[dRuM]

Market / Business analyst, both online and in the real world, I travel a lot with a laptop and love it! Deciding where best to invest money / time and effort are the main areas I deal with, this also includes companies that need to streamline their operations and provide a better quality of service for customers and/or investors.

My employer / private clients and salary are my business I'm afraid

 

[Bym]

New mummy - spend my days and nights breastfeeding and changing newborn every 2 hours, washing baby clothes, having the odd nap in between as I get around 4 hours broken sleep every night, and trying to find time to tidy round a bit. Oh, the fun.

But our little one is lovely, so I don't mind at all.

 

[Lazarus]

New mummy - spend my days and nights breastfeeding and changing newborn every 2 hours, washing baby clothes, having the odd nap in between as I get around 4 hours broken sleep every night, and trying to find time to tidy round a bit. Oh, the fun.

But our little one is lovely, so I don't mind at all.

nice one Bym - congrats to you and your other half

 

[]AC[dRuM]

nice one Bym - congrats to you and your other half

ditto ..

 

[leggy]

If anyone is even remotely interested:

8.30 - Get my lazy arse out of bed. Roll down the stairs and into the shower.
8.50 - Leave for work (10 min drive)

I am currently a research Scientist for an early stage (est. 2 years) start-up tech company. We are developing a technology (amongst other things) that will be used in next generation displays.

I don't like my job really. It pays well but it's just not me and I've never been comfortable in a research based post. I have been given a share of the company as I am technically one of the founding members. So realistically I would like to hang around.

Imo the atmosphere is far too relaxed though (being based in a university atm) and this drives me a little mad. Everything moves too slowly for my liking.

5pm - Go home or to the gym for an hour and a half.

Evening either consists of some movie watching, reading or game playing ( of the girlfriend is out or working). Otherwise it's round to the bird's for some sex0r.

Tonnes of fitness related stuff in the evenings just now as I'm probably going to start marathon training (note "probably". There is a good chance I'll not bother my arse).

 

[Doh_boy]

Congrats Both of you

p.s. Pity there's not a 'manly cigar smoking smiley'

 

[Will]

I have a job as a call centre monkey. It is pretty dull, all things considered.

But in my spare time, I do lots of cycling and mountain biking (prize for the person who guesses what my custom title means), which keeps me sane until I escape.

 

[throdgrain]

My job is quite interesting.

Im a frog farmer. The frogs are farmed for the French market mostly, for food, although we also breed rare species for conservation species.
The hours are good, I get up about 10 am and check on the pools, then return home in time for Neighbours. Afternoons much the same, wander around making sure that copulation is going on at full tilt, then back in time for tea.
In the evenings I like to make ancient Japanese death shrouds using origami.

 

[yaruar]

Depends where you work, but I doubt it to be honest... most of our customers aren't directly trading but revendors of data, ie we wholesale international market data to local providers who pas it on to their end-users. That said, we'll not turn you away if you want to buy a 77,000 msg per second, 1.6 million data item, record based feed from us

In a previous incarnation I was senior support at dialog before they got bought up by thomson

 

[leggy]

My job is quite interesting.

Im a frog farmer. The frogs are farmed for the French market mostly, for food, although we also breed rare species for conservation species.
The hours are good, I get up about 10 am and check on the pools, then return home in time for Neighbours. Afternoons much the same, wander around making sure that copulation is going on at full tilt, then back in time for tea.
In the evenings I like to make ancient Japanese death shrouds using origami.

You rock throd

 

[kanonfodda]

congrats to you bym

My day consists of getting up at 6:30 and getting ready for work, only a 20 minute drive, but I like lots of time in the morning.

Get to my desk for 8ish, log on to the internet and start checking the forums etc.

Log on to our helpdesk software, see what pointless calls people have logged today :S, then get on with some development work (ASP/VB/Access (yeeach))

Pretend to work for several hours, have some lunch. Pretend to work some more, then go home.

 

[Gumbo]

But in my spare time, I do lots of cycling and mountain biking (prize for the person who guesses what my custom title means), which keeps me sane until I escape.

I would guess at 'One Fixed Gear', but I thought you were a singlespeed freewheel man and not quite a fixed gear convert yet, so I may be wrong.

 

[SilverHood]

First year student (self explanatory) and part time office monkey for a domain registrar / webhost

When I do work, I get in around 9.30, grab the mail from wherever it's been put, and then start going through it, dishing out the letters personally adressed and openeing the rest (and then cutting the stamps out for charity.... tedious, to say the least).

Then I process cheque payments, process other stuff, reply to irate / inquisitive customers.

And then, the joy of my life.... the company answerphone.
Oh. Dear. God.

"plz call meh bak, numberiz dreforsevnatetoninefordredretoforonthree"

Usually involves listing to up to 30 messages, trying to make sense of what they're saying. The average is 3 times per message... if I have to listen to it more than 10 times, I simply assume they'll call back if it's important.
If only people would go slowly on the phone numbers or other contact details.

Then I'm done at 12.30

Or, if I'm desperate, I work til 17.30 doing customer support (Dear sir, please find a link to our FAQ inlcuded in this email)

Regards....


I much prefer being a student.

 

[Will]

I would guess at 'One Fixed Gear', but I thought you were a singlespeed freewheel man and not quite a fixed gear convert yet, so I may be wrong.

Very close indeed. One F------ Gear. It scares all geared mountain bikers.

 

[tRoG]

Basicly, I fire missiles at stuff.

We test all sorts of military type equipment, usually missiles/rockets etc., but sometimes armour and things, too. I aim, control, and fire the missiles, and occasionaly play around with some radars.

It's not nearly as exciting as it sounds... I spend most of the day in a little room infront of a computer

 

[moomin]

Final year computer science student at the University of Manchester. Did A year in industry for a large power utility company last year.


Looking forward to going into a over crowded market, with poor prospects and people thinking I'm merely an IT peon.

 

[Hashmonster]

Me is a CAD dude - Spend the majority of the day trying to decipher hand drawn sketches made by our designers of bedroom/study/kitchen plans and redrawing them into proper technical drawings

Also revising jobs that wernt thought thru in the beginning!!

Aint bad tbh, money is good and the place of work is only 10mins away tho its slightly longer due to mitcham common being in the way and me not wanting to walk to work... so i sit in traffic in my lovely car

I wont be for ever tho - bit more experience etc

 

[Tom]

I'm a television outside broadcast cameraman and location television/film sound recordist.

I'm freelance, and make my own decisions about who I work for, and how often, although to tell the truth, I could do with a bit more work (couldn't we all). I love my job, its a great life.

 

[Gumbo]

I flog car parts to the Motor Trade, basically answering phones and trying to send the right parts to the right customer.

I have my own desk, I wear a tie, I work very hard for very long, and am reasonably paid. We are a new branch of a company with 20-odd sites or so. We are doing very well, upsetting the competition, and making bonusses and incentives galore.

I enjoy my job, I work with a great bunch of people from very diverse backgrounds. The company is big enough to be a big force in the industry, but small enough so the MD knows the names of everyone, right down to the part time afternoon delivery driver.

Right now I'm tired, exhausted, tuckered out. This next week will be the the first time off I've had since we opened 6 months ago. I intend to sleep for at least the first three days.

 

[00dave]

Royal air force MT driver

Although my posting hasn't come up yet I should be posted to Stafford under 2mt, who supply haulage to and from airforce bases around the world. They're currently needed in Iraq at the moment so guess where I might be next year. That's right Cyprus.

 

[Sissyfoo]

Office monkey at the moment. Saving up moolah to go back to Uni to do a MSc in parasitology over in the states (they give assistantships for MSc stoodents...its the only reason I would consider living there).

My job pretty much sucks ass; every day I get into the office and think about how sweet it would be to quit and find something else to do but in reality the job ain't *too* bad. I do very little work, surf the bbc website most of the day and drink lots of tea yet for some reason my bosses think that I am one of the hardest working buggers in the office.

I do need to find some 'brain' work soon though because otherwise my mind just festers and I get very unpleasent ... as I am sure most of my friends will tell you.

 

[djpringle]

p.s. djpringle any jobs in Asia, Africa sucks

Not much in Vietnam at the moment, in the future a few more fields'll be developed. Indonesia is always a hotbed of activity, not sure how much stuff requires DP work though. Installations are old and won't have much subsea kit.

Not good news about Africa sucking though, which part are you in? I was angling for Angola as my next assignment.

 

[Gengi]

RE djpringle, I am in Nigeria, that is probably a large portion of the reason for my thinking, Africa sucks. I have heard some reasonable things about Angola though, as it is better than Nigeria. I have also heard some not so good things about Angola, mostly to do with customs and immigration and the need for a bit of 'dash'. It generally does not affect the individual, the companies agents usually handle that side of the coming and going process, hidden away in a corner so the company can say 'it' does not pay bribes

Cameroon is not bad, and I have heard Ivory Coast and Equatorial Guinea are ok too (Equatorial Guinea has a bit of a problem with certain passports just now due to the recent alleged attempted coup).

There will be loads of work in West Africa,especially in the deepwater segment, and from what you mentioned in your 'what I do post' training of locals could be a good way forward, FPSO's seem to be the preferred way of getting the oil out of the ground. Lots of need to train people on those.

Later

 

[djpringle]

We have to deal with 'facilitation' payments out here as well, so no change there. Still not sure about working on something that isn't bolted to the ground though.

 

[Gengi]

Facilitation Payments, thats a new one :worthy: . Those fixed things are no good, its natural to float and bob about in the sea

Later

 

[TdC]

My job title is "Technical Infrastructure Developer B". As titles tend to not mean much, in the real world I am 2nd&3rd line Solaris support and projects for a large multinational. Sometimes I dabble in other things which tend to run in to security (as in unix systems, not walking about with a big maglite). There are certain parts of my job that I am not allowed to disclose, so I tend to keep details to a very general level.

My average day could look a bit like this:

0600: turn off alarmclock, snuggle back up to the gf
0630: turn off alarm again, yawn, mutter at gf employing advanced tactics (farting nastily) to drive me to kitchen and make coffee. after this shower, shave etc.
0700: go to work (either my current location or Amsterdam, Rotterdam)
0715 (or 0830/0930 depending): arrive work, get coffee, browse news sites
0730: read email, work out what to do based on that, check project roster, support roster, standby roster. prioritize work based on special formulae involving how much I like whoever has a problem, when I had mad se><or last, the average speed of the internet and the niceness/not-niceness of the weather.
0800: have a p00
0820: call diverse project buddies, have wee chat
0900: call up pet scripting project on my private E4500 development server and play with that for a while.
1100: browse some funny/online comic sites to clear my mind.
1130: lunch
1215: read private work-related email, respond, dabble in problem solving. wonder if black magic or perhaps voodoo would make my job easier.
1300: work on project stuff, randomly boot servers, send nasty emails, read (and laugh at) support calls, call firewall support to swear at them, possibly do some support stuff if project time allows, discover new ways to manipulate our work management system to higher levels of evil.
1600: panic phonecall from a manager who claims only I can solve his problem. refuse to help on the basis that he's not gone through proper channels. call his cover-story a pack of lies, invite manager to partake of donkey penis, text my team coordinator that we "have a live one".
1615: take phone off hook
1616: grin as pagers, mobiles and deskphones throughout the office begin to ring.
1617: answer call, accept incident record, hopefully fix problem with consumate ease, inspiring generations of sysadmins to come.
1700: call in to workmates I am friendly with, discuss day, file work for next day, have last coffee, shut down office.
1735: walk back to the office cursing my sense of duty that forces me to answer the phone even though I am half-way out the door
1736: accept major incident call, work out contingency plan, grab laptop and nearest security guard, run to server bunker, fix server.
1930: call gf -> going to be late
2220: call manager and demand pizza.
2300: call gf -> going to be *really* late
0130: finish up fixed server, call manager, accept praise modestly, hang up phone, call boss, listen to swearing at me, the time and life in general, leave server bunker, swear at world in general, bike home, collapse into bed, steal duvet from gf, decide that odds are I shan't get any if I wake her, fall asleep.
0338: mobile rings, it's a manager telling me he's so pleased I've done a quick job fixing their stupid server and asking me if there's anything I need done. I lie and tell him I've just left for home and that all is fine. he'll get my declared hours in the morning. he's not pleased at that, but then, neither am I.
0600: alarm-clock goes off.