How do YOU make money?

I work in a spit factory as a molar mechanic. I look down in the mouth all day, but it's very fulfilling.......
 
I am a highly compensated janitor. I cleanup project messes at a nuclear plant created by our project and engineering organizations, and on occasion, our IT group. And lately, business has been good. Never have to worry about job security or whether I will have anything to do when I arrive at work each day.
 
Made my money when my ship came in but I was at the airport......:D

Retired USAF (Air Traffic Controller) and then 24 years flying for a regional airline. Now do a little CFI'g if I can find a student.
 
How do I make money? By bilking idiots, of course. Isn't that the traditional way?

Actually, I'm an Engineer with an MBA. I manage projects and figure things out for a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway.
 
Originally Posted by Mason
Oh, Deere.
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saddletramp said:
Pretty perceptive from a guy from Long Beach, CA.:wink2:
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Long Beach is where I am, but not where I am from. :wink2:


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For the next seven months or so, I (try to) prevent senior Army commanders from making mistakes when it comes to airpower. Sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I'm not since they're the 'customer' and the customer is always right.

After that, I'm going to have to figure out something interesting to do that has less responsibility and more time off.
 
AdamZ said:
Not with this past year's bird flu out break you wouldn't!

I manufacture cole slaw for a living.
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So, do you have anything to do with Chik-Fil-A deleting Cole Slaw from the menu?

David
 
I take the specifications from the customers and bring them down to the software engineers. I'm a people person.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I encourage my kids to go into nursing or anything other than I.T. for that matter.

I showed them: "This is what daddy looks at for 8 hours a day"

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They agree it is the most boring computer game ever
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That looks just like my second monitor this morning, except mine is a construction schedule for a food production plant.
 
Looking to break into another field. IT to be exact. Computers seem to be the way to go.
 
Flyby44 said:
Looking to break into another field. IT to be exact. Computers seem to be the way to go.
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I will warn you - it is a young person's gig. If you didn't geek out on computers before your 30s, then my observation is you won't like IT ver much ...
 
Flyby44 said:
Looking to break into another field. IT to be exact. Computers seem to be the way to go.
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At what expense? If you don't have a genuine inclination for certain work, even if you're good enough to feign it, you end up getting crushed.
 
Wow I wish I didn't go into IT, but that's what I do.

My job is to hang around, look like I'm busy and occasionally do SQL development, SSRS report writing and basic analytics.

Oh and I have a side-gig or two because my main job can't keep me busy for more than 30 minutes of the 8 hour work day.
 
YOU don't in TODAY'S equity markets! :no:
Ouch.
 
I fly around the world telling people who work with internal combustion engines how internal combustion engines work.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I encourage my kids to go into nursing or anything other than I.T. for that matter.

I showed them: "This is what daddy looks at for 8 hours a day"

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They agree it is the most boring computer game ever
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IDOC.. *shutter*
 
MadseasoN said:
I take the specifications from the customers and bring them down to the software engineers. I'm a people person.
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Half the people here are too young to have seen that.



But wait until you mention someone really famous like Errol Flynn you are the only one in the room who actually remembers the name.
 
Isn't it 'chicken rancher' ?
 
Flyby44 said:
Looking to break into another field. IT to be exact. Computers seem to be the way to go.
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Pays well after a while, but it's a good way to "go" absolutely nowhere. Same ****, different decade.

Today's IT "fun" was swapping a bad hard disk in a server, and denying access to a file on a product that leaked information that shouldn't be leaked to the Internet if someone went looking for it, and should never been put in the root Apache directory 10 years ago on the product.

Yup. Been there 10 years. Apparently nobody has ever been interested enough in messing with us to go looking for it.

A 3rd party pen-tester found it. Smart guy. Or he had a nice bag of tricks someone else wrote for him. Don't know. Didn't get a chance to talk to him and see how long he's been doing the gig or what tools he likes.

A little vi magic of all the virtual host httpd config files and a note to myself to fix my .vimrc settings for tabs (again) someday, and the world is saved once again.

Oh we also formatted another XenServer to replace it with Hyper-V. Finally eradicating that POS. Hyper-V isn't my top choice, but it's a whole lot better than XenSever. And we'd already paid for it, so it's essentially a free upgrade.

Oh forgot. Also beat my head against my desk trying to figure out what a developer was doing wrong that was triggering an authentication error when talking to the Amazon S3 API. The logs were, shall we say, less than helpful.

Probably have to pen another nicely worded email request for people to stop turning their damned computers off when they leave. It's a bit difficult for the virus software to do its thing when they're off. And we don't have any good way to trigger Wake-On-LAN en masse, even if all of the machines supported it.

It's all so glamorous. Haha.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I look at spreadsheets that have tasks listed on them and I ask people if they can finish the task by their name by the date shown next to the task.

Then I tell my boss that they won't be done in time.
My boss asks me to present the data to the stake holders and I stand in front of them usually way under-dressed and look at their blank stares and say things like

"We need to tee up that conversation"
"I want to touch base with the business before we socialize these numbers"
"We need to open the lines of communication"
"We need to break down silos"

Then the top guy in the room that was texting his mistress instead of listening to me will say "Well, that was good, can you send out the notes from this meeting" because he has no idea what I said.

Then I go back to my desk and talk to the other project managers about how tough this project is and how I really have no bandwidth left to assist them with anything. They say "Yeah, I hear that" And then someone says synergize and we go home.
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You don't drill down on the numbers before you socialize them? :)
 
Flyby44 said:
Looking to break into another field. IT to be exact. Computers seem to be the way to go.
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I recall a conversation with a co-worker from India who commented that, at the time, starting a career in "computers" meant becoming a key punch operator. You might want to look into that.
 
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I never answered my own question here.

I go to different gas turbine power plants and ensure that the manufacturers performing the outage work (inspections and replacement of parts) do not cause any performance loss (or that the gains are what was contractually required).

My last job I did the same thing primarily for new construction aero-derivative gas turbines. I completed contractual acceptance testing and also performed some of the Exhaust Gas Temperature bias adjustments and Emissions tuning. I travelled internationally with that job and now I get to stay in the South East.

I'm starting on my MBA and looking to move into a different specific role, although I'll likely stay in the power industry. My day job funds my hobbies!
 
A couple of guys here hate their IT career. I love mine. Going on 17 years and I don't plan on leaving.

I work as a contract software developer. I found a niche that's in high demand.
 
MadseasoN said:
A couple of guys here hate their IT career. I love mine. Going on 17 years and I don't plan on leaving.
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Just a guess here, but you probably think of your work as an extension of your life. Many people isolate their work as something they have to do to earn a living.

I was in IT a lifetime ago and hated every minute of it. Not the work, the work was fun. It was the atmosphere, and that's what makes a world of difference for most people.

The final straw for me was being plucked from my domain and assigned to a project in an area I knew nothing about, using a variety of software and languages I knew nothing about - working solo and given a 90 day deadline. No ****, I was handed a dozen 3" binders and told everything I'd need to know was in there. The final step was sending the info to the state, and I talked to my liaison there a few times a week. As I was wrapping things up she said she was coming to town and wanted to take my team to dinner.

When I told her I WAS the team she was livid. Unbeknownst to me they'd extended our deadline time and again for a variety of reasons, all of which were now obviously lies.

To be fair, when I took the job I was told that I'd be working on Priority #1 - nothing-is-more-important assignments and would have to drop them for another Priority #1 assignment time and again. I guess I figured it would be out of necessity rather than poor planning. Changed careers w/in the same company and now enjoy what I do.
 
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