Social What do you do for work?

[fx]

(apologies if there's a thread for this already although I didn't see any recent ones)

I'm always interested in what types of careers or jobs people pursue on a site like this through which an amalgamation of people come together to engage in all things Pokemon. Accordingly, this begs the question: what does everyone do for work? Do you like what you do, and if not, what would you rather be pursuing? What are some of the struggles that come with your line of work, and how do you make time to engage in this site?

Personally, I work under a family law attorney assisting in litigation for divorces, child custody cases, and terminations. Although mentally stimulating, family law is very deadline-oriented and that makes for VERY stressful days which sometimes results in evenings where I'm left feeling mentally exhausted and subsequently unmotivated to do anything. Additionally, it's hard to not think or stress about work when I leave the office; after all, the cases I deal with are very personal to the Clients and any mistake we make can be life-altering.

 

[zben]

I am working as a data scientist in an insurance company. Data scientist is an artificial intelligence engineer. We create algorithm to automate some boring human task. For example, Detect administrative document, extract or control information on them, automotic treatment of a mailbox ( sentiment analysis, subject detection), marketing analysis to boost new insurance contract.
Half my time I am in meeting with client and the other half I am coding.
I can work often from home so it is really cool, the hierarchy trust us and give us a lot of freedom and budget for our project.
My work doesn't spoil my personal life, we have a lot of vacation. And playing pokemon doesn't take me too much time so it is ok, I try to schedule smogon tournament battle before sleeping the evening.

 

[Durant]

I’m retired

 

[MrHands]

911 dispatcher. When I was 16 I used to spam horse porn on internet forums. Now when you call an ambulance I answer.

Makes you think doesn't it.

 

[Celestial Automaton]

I’ve never had a job. I dropped out of College in 2011 and have done nothing since. My parents and “medical professionals” blame my chronic social anxiety and oversensitity on autism and any time I show any sort of defience I’m having a manic episode apparently. I’ve finally had enough. I looked up consequences of overprotective parenting in adulthood - I’m a textbook example. Regardless of the cause, I need to deal with my anxiety and learn to be independent. I’ll need help and support from others because I’ve become an adult who’s currently unequipped to survive in the real world, but it’s still ultimately got to come from me.

 

[antemortem]

I’m in grad school right now to direct theater and other live productions (like fashion shows/runways) professionally either across the country or as a resident director within a theater company, or both. Depends on the winds of change of the career as the next couple of years roll by. I’m pretty optimistic about the outlook because there’s always someone looking for directors and always networks to grow and connections to be made. I have a Bachelor’s in performance, so my time will inevitably be split between acting (which I’ve done a fair bit of since I’ve been in California already) and directing, though not necessarily split evenly down the middle. That’s how I prefer it, so we’ll see what happens.

I can work often from home so it is really cool, the hierarchy trust us and give us a lot of freedom and budget for our project.
My work doesn't spoil my personal life, we have a lot of vacation. And playing pokemon doesn't take me too much time so it is ok, I try to schedule smogon tournament battle before sleeping the evening.

I’ve had a thing for befriending programmers wherever I go on the internet the last 10 years or so, and I can tell you that you are certainly not alone in having a Python tab and a Pokemon Showdown tab open simultaneously lmao

How did you fall into this line of work and do you see yourself doing it long-term?

Personally, I work under a family law attorney assisting in litigation for divorces, child custody cases, and terminations. Although mentally stimulating, family law is very deadline-oriented and that makes for VERY stressful days which sometimes results in evenings where I'm left feeling mentally exhausted and subsequently unmotivated to do anything. Additionally, it's hard to not think or stress about work when I leave the office; after all, the cases I deal with are very personal to the Clients and any mistake we make can be life-altering.

yo I had NO idea this is what you did for a living!! So cool… Were you in school for this back during The Player magazine days? I literally can’t imagine a conversation of us talking about this and I’m so curious if I’ve just smoked a lot of weed since then and forgot, or if this is a more recent development

 

[Ununhexium]

I just took a job working in cell therapy treatment manufacturing, so that should be cool even though the hours are a little wacky.

 

[fx]

yo I had NO idea this is what you did for a living!! So cool… Were you in school for this back during The Player magazine days? I literally can’t imagine a conversation of us talking about this and I’m so curious if I’ve just smoked a lot of weed since then and forgot, or if this is a more recent development

I was a minor during those days (hence my lackluster decision-making back then) so I definitely wasn't doing anything even close to this LOL I only recently got into this field around the end of 2020

 

[Bughouse]

I'm a statistical programmer/consultant/data analyst/etc who overwhelmingly works on projects with federal and state healthcare agencies doing a range of things all generally related to calculating payments or auditing payments calculated by others for accuracy.

I've been doing this for like 6+ years now and when you get as in the weeds as I am, it's really just astonishing how complex everything is and even now I keep becoming more certain every day that single payer healthcare is the only real solution, though it would possibly put me out of a job.

 

[zben]

How did you fall into this line of work and do you see yourself doing it long-term?

Engineering School in France with applied maths major.
5 first year of job i mostly only code and now i increasingly meet the client and manage 1 or 2 people. I think i want in a long term do 25% code , 75% management/client

 

[faint]

a mix between an IT manager and a sr systems administrator. once my staff is settled in i will transition to more project based work and less doer work.

 

[Fishy]

currently unemployed and loving it, i'm finishing a CS degree so once i finish that this summer i will most likely start diving in on personal projects vs. seeking employment as i don't need to do that at the moment

 

[McGrrr]

I'm a back office associate at an investment bank. I work in wholesale credit, which is lending to large corporates. That said, I started out in external audit and I'm a qualified accountant. Most of my time is split between Excel, Outlook, and PowerPoint; it's generally a comfortable ~40 hours/week job, with predictable busy periods.

I've bounced around a bit in my 13 year career, only to find that the grass really isn't green anywhere i.e. every job has its fair share of bullshit, so I've made peace with that fact and settled into something with a tolerable amount of bullshit. The culture here is positive and inclusive, my colleagues are affable and competent, and my manager is supportive and empowering, so there are no dealbreakers. My employer is also one of the largest global banks, with very generous benefits, so I plan to stay forever.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

I'm a technician, I work for an engineering company. Usually my job entails quality control - measuring parts to make sure they're up to standard, though I also help the manufacturers as and when required. My company looks for new ways to make things, then sells those methods to various companies.

 

[bdt2002]

I need to get a consistent job, and fast. I'm at a point where, while I do have spending money as a college kid (which is already rare enough to see as is), the only reason that fact even exists is because I rarely ever go anywhere and spend it. At the same time, I have nothing to save up for, but also no job I'm currently working at. In terms of previous jobs, we've got:

-A job at a grocery store that I honestly really enjoyed for a "first job", except the other staff didn't know how to re-hire people off education leave

-A grand total of two days spent training for a job as a Christian camp counselor before my parents wanted me to quit... let's just say this camp is a prime example of why some people have a hard time trusting Christians and leave it at that

-A job at a pizza joint about 20 minutes away from home, except me and my parents didn't like how me and another autistic kid (great guy by the way) were turned into "the guys who only do the dishes", among other issues

...suffice to say, I don't exactly have the best history with keeping a new job that I've wanted to work towards for any given reason. Apparently it's normal for an 18 (at the time) year-old high school turned college kid to do this much job hopping over the span of two calendar years, but I would feel a lot, and I mean a lot better about myself if I could get as much confirmation of this statement as possible. Looking forward, I want to push for a 9-to-5 job at our county's developmental disability center, because I dunno what I did for those guys over there to love me as much as they do, but they just kinda do and we get along excellent.

 

[dhelmise]

currently i am a swim coach and life guard. specifically, i was a head coach for a summer team up until this year and i coach a high school swim team in the winters and am a pool manager at a summer pool company. however, i'm in school for a degree in software engineering and was double majoring in math until recently (math is horrible), though i was looking into changing my major entirely or becoming an emt then decided not to because i do not feel like wasting 3 years worth of acquiring credits. + if i wanted to be an emt i could just do that afterwards.

I’ve had a thing for befriending programmers wherever I go on the internet the last 10 years or so, and I can tell you that you are certainly not alone in having a Python tab and a Pokemon Showdown tab open simultaneously lmao

so you're saying im not your first?

 

[Arsenal]

I only recently started working and am currently a data engineer. I always wanted to major in math as a kid and I heard that this (Along with Data Science) is a field you can get into if you like math. Luckily the IT side of things was something I was able to get into and enjoy, I don't really plan to change my field for the near future.

 

[Clone]

(im 14 so keep this in mind). I work on peoples gardens and lawns in the summer months or just whenever i have time to do that job. It nets a pretty good profit just due to how many retired people live in my area who are too old to be working on their gardens/lawns often. I also have an application for a fast food restaurant near my house since in my state the legal working age is 14. wish me luck i get the job for that one

I'll tell you right now, you're gonna make way more money mowing lawns than you will working in a fast food restaurant, and you'll be a lot happier. You make your hours and set your workload.

Do what you want, but I'd recommend sticking with the lawns. More money, better hours, and you're not dealing with a shitty boss or customers

 

[faint]

I need to get a consistent job, and fast. I'm at a point where, while I do have spending money as a college kid (which is already rare enough to see as is), the only reason that fact even exists is because I rarely ever go anywhere and spend it. At the same time, I have nothing to save up for, but also no job I'm currently working at. In terms of previous jobs, we've got:

-A job at a grocery store that I honestly really enjoyed for a "first job", except the other staff didn't know how to re-hire people off education leave

-A grand total of two days spent training for a job as a Christian camp counselor before my parents wanted me to quit... let's just say this camp is a prime example of why some people have a hard time trusting Christians and leave it at that

-A job at a pizza joint about 20 minutes away from home, except me and my parents didn't like how me and another autistic kid (great guy by the way) were turned into "the guys who only do the dishes", among other issues

...suffice to say, I don't exactly have the best history with keeping a new job that I've wanted to work towards for any given reason. Apparently it's normal for an 18 (at the time) year-old high school turned college kid to do this much job hopping over the span of two calendar years, but I would feel a lot, and I mean a lot better about myself if I could get as much confirmation of this statement as possible. Looking forward, I want to push for a 9-to-5 job at our county's developmental disability center, because I dunno what I did for those guys over there to love me as much as they do, but they just kinda do and we get along excellent.

i would recommend looking for jobs at your local apple store / target / starbucks. many offer starting pay of $15/hr depending on location as well as higher ed payment programs.

 

[ChrystalFalchion]

Sharing bad experiences here. I used to work in a hotel. Bad hours, bad pay, and the most unpleasant colleagues I've ever worked with. They had me finishing work at 2, sometimes 3, a.m. and starting my next shift at 09:30 the same day - which is actually illegal in the UK! They barely showed me how to use any of the equipment, and then yelled at me for taking too long. Any tableware broken came directly out of my wages. Most of the staff spoke barely any English, including a guy who'd lived in the country for 9 years. For the record when it comes to immigration I believe that if you come legally, learn the language, pay your taxes and obey the law, you're welcome to stay and I hope you're happy. Before someone accuses me of discrimination.

I hear things have changed a bit since Covid, since it's now an employee's market for the first time in decades, and the hospitality sector has garnered a (well deserved IMO) reputation for treating staff shittily they're having to rethink their approach.

 

[Camden]

Worked as an online TEFL teacher for a few years but the industry fell apart because of a combination of COVID and Chinese government regulations destroying most operations. Currently I'm staying with my grandparents for a few months to help them out before I move and get a random job somewhere and decide the next direction my life will take.

 

[antemortem]

-A grand total of two days spent training for a job as a Christian camp counselor before my parents wanted me to quit... let's just say this camp is a prime example of why some people have a hard time trusting Christians and leave it at that

I’m scared to ask… but wtf did they have you doing on those 2 days where your parents wanted you to pull the plug so fast??

currently i am a swim coach and life guard. specifically, i was a head coach for a summer team up until this year and i coach a high school swim team in the winters and am a pool manager at a summer pool company. however, i'm in school for a degree in software engineering and was double majoring in math until recently (math is horrible), though i was looking into changing my major entirely or becoming an emt then decided not to because i do not feel like wasting 3 years worth of acquiring credits. + if i wanted to be an emt i could just do that afterwards.

Well with that in mind what do you want to do with those credits/your inevitable degree now that you’ve dropped the math (which I’d say was a hell of a good decision)?

so you're saying im not your first?

This was never on the table…

i would recommend looking for jobs at your local apple store / target / starbucks. many offer starting pay of $15/hr depending on location as well as higher ed payment programs.

There’s this, just understand itsallyellow that any job you’re gonna have for like the next 5 or 6 years is gonna be pretty damn un-glamorous, but you have the agency and are allowed to quit any job where your superiors don’t do everything in their power to make sure you are taken care of

There’s always another/better job out there, whatever that means to you

Worked as an online TEFL teacher for a few years but the industry fell apart because of a combination of COVID and Chinese government regulations destroying most operations. Currently I'm staying with my grandparents for a few months to help them out before I move and get a random job somewhere and decide the next direction my life will take.

Bro I literally remember the DAY you moved to Thailand(please don’t be Taiwan… pretend I got it right) for this job, was it a dream or could you not imagine yourself doing something like that again? Clearly you’ve got the experience/credits now and can do something with that in the field, right?

 

[Brambane]

I have worked in environmental/conservation education at a couple different zoos and aquariums now. My fundamental duties boil down to supervising volunteers, conducting education programming about conservation, fundraising for conservation, and interpreting natural history.

It's pretty good fun. Doesn't pay well, especially if you are anything less than a manager/curator or higher, and it can be emotionally exhausting since the stakes are fairly high. But it's rewarding and exciting when things work out well.

 

[Jamez]

Currently work at this big car wash place. Basically it’s just manually powerwashing, and drying cars, then also cleaning interiors of cars as well. It’s actually pretty popular, on a warm, sunny day, business will be never ending all day until like 8pm or so. The best part of the job and why I like it the most is for the 1-2 hours per shift that I get to dry cars, because that is paid in tips instead of hourly pay and on a good day you will bring home like 40-50 dollars in cash for an hour of drying

 

[Camden]

Bro I literally remember the DAY you moved to Thailand(please don’t be Taiwan… pretend I got it right) for this job, was it a dream or could you not imagine yourself doing something like that again? Clearly you’ve got the experience/credits now and can do something with that in the field, right?

You got it right! It was Thailand, yes. I enjoyed it for a while but over time I realised it wasn't something I wanted to keep doing. Honestly I would love to be a streamer but that's a completely unrealistic goal so I'll find some chill work to do while considering my options. There's a whole world of possibilities out there!