My profession is in programming. Initially, my dad tried to teach me Javascript. It was a struggle and couldn’t get it.
A few years later, I took up computer science in college and that’s where it all clicked: I can imagine the end result. It’s a matter of being curious and finding (or I daresay… hacking) my way to that conclusion. Programming languages have a very funny way of allowing you to do just that. In studying computer science, I discovered the art of engineering all kinds of software-based solutions.
Because my way of solving problems is more deductive than inductive, I have to consciously build foundational knowledge and routines. Constant learning and insatiable curiosity is required for me to identify when my hunches are wrong and discard them accordingly.
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I was an electrician for 15 years in the canadian military and for the last 3 years an instructor. I got really tired of using my whole body all the time and working outside all year round. I also got really tired of the military lifestyle and how bad the leadership got.
Quit my old job 2 years ago and took up programming. Now im about to graduate from college(canada) with a 4.0gpa and hopefully have a job with i right away.
Analytical chemist,
Virtualization Engineer. Finally doing what I am passionate about. I was a stock broker 10 years ago. It was a crazy ride.
Whats a virtualization engineer?
Someone who understands Hyper-V
Hyper-v sounds like an STD you could catch if you got drafted into the Vietnam war
As a virtualization engineer, I work with VMware products (Now owned by Broadcom) to design and implement virtual infrastructure. This allows organizations to run multiple virtual machines on fewer physical servers, which enhances scalability and simplifies backup and recovery processes. Think of it as creating a digital version of a computer that can be easily adjusted and moved around.
Okay, I’m going to sound like a drooling moron here. When I see you say “virtual infrastructure” I’m imagining you make video game buildings in virtual reality. When you say “virtual machine” I think of a calculator, but in minecraft or something. So are you some kind of programming engineer? Or am I just too stupid to understand what your job is? Thanks for being patient with this troglodyte.
You aren’t a moron at all. If you haven’t been exposed to it I wouldn’t expect you to know what it is.
So virtualization is kind of like taking multiple computer operating systems and running them on one physical server. So instead of needing a physical server for each system, you can run dozens. Then you can have clusters of physical machines that are running hundreds of virtual machines (computers) per cluster.
QA Manager. I started out as a test analyst, then taught myself to code with JS, C#, Python and a little bit of C++. moved into a test automation engineer role then a QA engineer at a different company before being promoted to manager
Manager in the neuroscience lab where I did my PhD. Actually pretty nice because I know the lab and everyone so we’ll I can often do the management in a few hours and then just focus on my research (finishing my thesis because behavior plus in vivo neurophysiology takes more like 7 years instead of 4 lol). Although, there can be some very stressful moments, big grants or so (and my boss is one of those breathing-science profs that will msg on WhatsApp on the weekend or days off lol, but yeah fuck that). I learned that I’m not good enough/invested enough to actually become a PI or prof, so this management stuff is pretty nice on the edge. I don’t have the responsibilities but my opinion is often respected due to my research experience in the lab. Pay is shit tho.
I manage an infectious disease monitoring lab in industry. Pay’s a whole lot better out here, and my team is amazing and self-driven so I can do minimal people managing.
Oh that’s sounds nice. Not sure how to word it well, but: is that a bit interesting to do long term? Is it following the advancements in science in a nice tempo? Do you have room for innovation yourself?
What I do specifically is called wastewater based epidemiology. While the term has been around for a few decades, it really took off in concordance with COVID. Previous PCR techniques like qPCR are heavily inhibited by co-elutors from wastewater extract. We use digital PCR which is way more resistant to inhibition due to the partitioning. We are using cutting edge technology and our R&D dept is constantly looking into additional targets we can test for. As a company we also do some non-pcr-based wastewater testing (drugs of abuse by LC/MS is a big one).
Additionally we also do next gen sequencing to track the COVID variants in communities.
Also developer. Been writing code since around 1985. I wrote a system in the logistics field back in 1999 and I’ve been expanding it ever since.
My job title is data engineer, but the organization I work at is small enough that it basically ranges from business intelligence to cloud engineering to data architecture to data science to whatever other thing is even slightly related to data :)
Software engineer. In the past mostly C++, now it’s mostly C#. Lots of databases too.
Electronics Technician and cryostat hall manager. I’m currently assisting in the moving of about 30 cryostats from various places in our current lab into the cryostat hall of our new building.
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I’m a professional slut… for data.
LOL I mean I can probably say the same thing and I gotta tell you. It’s amazing the people out there that want to:
- Control the narrative of the data
- Suppress the data
I’ll use just a simple example of tracking incidents in your organization. It’s so polarizing like people how do you expect to improve if you can’t acknowledge your faults?
Extrapolate that to the current political climate.
Do you work at my company?! Holy shit that’s spot on.
They’re all the same. All companies are the goddamn same…
It’s so polarizing like people how do you expect to improve if you can’t acknowledge your faults?
The scale of this problem is mind-boggling: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Millennium_Challenge_2002
spoiler for those who don't want to skim an article on a US military war game
Long story short, the US Armed Forces performed a practice war simulation, “costing US$250 million (equivalent to about $423M in 2023), the most expensive war game in US military history”. The two teams were “Blue” (totally-not the US) and the “Red” team (totally-not Iran or Iraq). The retired Lieutenant General of the Red team made the reasonable choice to adopt old-school low-tech tactics to avoid the Blue team’s sophisticated electronic surveillance network, as well as other asymmetric tactics like those used by real armies who have defended against US invasions. Red team won in one day. There were apparently a range of technical problems in the simulation which made it harder for Blue, so they re-tried with conditions to make use of the remaining thirteen days. However:
After the war game was restarted, its participants were forced to follow a script drafted to ensure a Blue Force victory. Among other rules imposed by this script, Red Force was ordered to turn on their anti-aircraft radar in order for them to be destroyed, and during a combined parachute assault by the 82nd Airborne Division and Marines air assaulting on the then new and still controversial CV-22, Van Riper’s forces were ordered not to shoot down any of the approaching aircraft. Van Riper also claimed that exercise officials denied him the opportunity to use his own tactics and ideas against Blue Force, and that they also ordered Red Force not to use certain weapons systems against Blue Force and even ordered the location of Red Force units to be revealed. The postmortem JFCOM report on MC02 would say “As the exercise progressed, the [Opposing Force] free-play was eventually constrained to the point where the end state was scripted. This scripting ensured a blue team operational victory and established conditions in the exercise for transition operations.” :::
Processionally NEAT
and TIDY?
I work in insurance, specifically auto insurance. I used to work as a bodily injury adjuster, but moved to subro. I’ve been doing this for longer than I realized. My mom told me with a smile that I’ll likely be in insurance the rest of my life. I went home and cried 🤣
Pays alright though. And I’m (currently) able to work from home which I know is a blessing. Just wasn’t what I was dreaming about as a little girl, you know?
Are you really that ugly though?
I am 😔
🫂
professional neet
I’m a lifelong cook. Been working in kitchens since I was 15 and I’m currently training to be the sous chef at my current location.
People shit on food service workers but the amount of practical real life skills I’ve acquired over the years has actually come in handy quite a few times.
but the amount of practical real life skills I’ve acquired over the years
Are there any particularly unexpected ones?
There’s a couple for me.
Prioritization of tasks. The flaming pot is more important than the smoking oven.
The ability to move through a dense group of people without disrupting anyone.
Sense of urgency. You need to move with intention and do it quickly.
Injury assessment. Your not going home because you got 1st degree burns. Grit your teeth and push through. If you cut yourself it’s a different story but unless your skin is sloughing off your fine.
