What do you do for work?

[TrevorW]

If I told you I'd have to shoot you

[wavelandscott (Scott)]

Currently MD at Sumitomo Chemical Australia...

In January, I will become a VP in Sumitomo Chemcial America in New York City.

So in summary as person who is purely "management overhead", I don't do actual "work" anymore I simply make it more difficult for others to do their work. I've also described my position as a "Seagull Mgr"...fly in to an office, squawk and flap around a bit, leave a "mess" on the desk and fly away...

[Rick Petrie]

Hi
Retired Designer in Civil Engineering and Surveying.
Worked for Local Govt. for most of that time and also a stint in private enterprise for about 8 years.
Picked a bad time to retire as the current economic disaster is sucking up a lot of hard earned super. I'll just have to spend more time looking up, both in observingand the stock market. New astro gear is out for awhile.

[Clarry (Clayton)]

Originally Posted by jjjnettie

Were you there at the same time as my cousin Tony Parker?

There's nothing glamorous about my job.
I'm a front end supervisor at our local Supa IGA. (checkout chick)
It does have it's perks though, while chatting to customers, I've gotten to meet quite a few locals who own scopes, 4 of whom I'd call serious amateurs and another 3 who are very keen beginners.
We get transient astronomers dropping in from Brisbane on their way to the monthly star party held at Hazeldean , just outside of town.
And once a year we have Astronomers from all over the country coming in, stocking up with supplies for Qld Astrofest.
So yeh, I like my job.

The name doesn't ring a bell. I worked with Peter at Reflections restaurant in Palm Beach from 1982 to about 1985.

[Ric]

Food Services Administration & Project Manager at the Canberra Hospital

It's really a front for a top secret organisation protecting the world from alien invasion

[iceman (Mike)]

I'm a Tech Team Lead at realestate.com.au, leading a team of developers on making web-based products for real estate agents.

Been here for about 10.5 months, and was at Ericsson and Hutchison before that.

[Lee]

I'm a GP. Not too much delivering babies here though (we hope!).... I was a doctor in the Air Force until a few months ago. Before this I was a laboratory scientist, so I have spent almost my whole life to now training (or so it seems).

[rogerg (Roger)]

Software developer, more so project leading and analysis these days than coding. Work primarily with Java & DB2. Been with the one IT company for 8 years since leaving uni. I do have an ABN to my name for the purpose of photography, but these days it doesn't do much other than cost me money and give me the excuse to see my photo's printed, as it's not my focus.

[Ian Robinson]

"Retired" pyromet process engineer , parttime postgrad engineering management student, would rather be working (not interested in FIFO , not interested in contract jobs as they are REALLY not worth the bother).

The rumour of a shortage of engineers in Australia is imaginary - If there really was a shortage I would have been snapped up ages ago (and would probably be living in WA, NT, Qld or SA now). Opportunitywize for engineers - NSW is a hole, and Newcastle is stuffed and has been since Pasminco closed the smelter and OneSteel closed the steelworks.

Seems to me most companies want experience and credentials but are not prepared to pay guys like me who have these what we are worth , so they pay peanuts to imports and get monkeys instead .

So what do I do now ? - I do my own thing (got enough money and income to live comfortably (owning one's home , having a good reliable car , and being debt free is a big help)) and I keep on applying for jobs (more out of habit , as I don't have to - not that I ever expect to land one , I'm over-qualified, I'm too experienced, I'm too fat, I'm too expensive, I'm too old (I'm wrong side of 45 , and of 50) and HR in most companies is full of kids in their 20s who know SBA and discriminate against guys like me in favour of young "beautiful" and trim know all sod all types).

I am bitter and twisted.
I refuse to deal with the Job Network which in my view is a total waste of time.

OK ... now that's off the chest .... good to have rant every so often.

[Mombat]

Currently studying. Doing a bachelor of science, majoring in physics and pure maths at Melbourne uni. Starting a job at the casino next week which should be interesting and i have my scope to drain off any extra earnings i may have.

[GrahamL]

Farmer for the last 20 odd years ,,how time flys by..sometimes on my own mostly employed by others currently here
http://www.hwns.com.au/
I fill a small supervisery role and work with 15 or so great people
with various intellectual dissabilities/mental illness etc .

I really enjoy working with people who despite there circumstances
are very genuine and can always find a little hummor and laughter
in every day .

[koputai (Jason)]

Full time job is Broadcast Engineer, in television and film production equipment.
My own business (part time) is designing and manufacturing electronic systems for rebreathers (mixed gas diving equipment).

Cheers,
Jason.

[AdrianF (Adrian)]

I am currently an Engineering Teacher (Metal fabrication) at TAFE I almost got my AD Electrical Engineering and worked as an electronics technician for CQU for awhile and then a technician looking after photocopiers for 6 1/2 years.

Adrian

[Jen]

now where do i start.........

A housewife, a mum of 2 children, story teller, a toy repairer, a cleaner, chef, gardner, dishwasher, laundrette assistant oh wait i forgot to mention my daytime job
Im a revenue assistant for our local water authority and i also sit along side our engineer boss and draw up all his mud maps of sewer and house plans on to the computer using auto-cad (i love it) been there for neally 5 years and before that i was studying IT and waitressing

there is some interesting jobs in here

[Barrykgerdes]

I have never had to work. I heard somewhere when I was quite young. "Find out what you like to do for enjoyment then find someone to pay you to do it".

I played with radios and crystal sets as a kid and gradually improved my expertise, got a ham licence, Used to help out in a disposals shop (While I should have been in school) made all the disposal radios and radars work just to see if I could.

When it came to earning a living I was offered a job with the navy dockyard radio centre. I never classed this as work because I did it for fun. I progressed quite quickly through the organization to be a communications systems expert and travelled all round Australia in ship building and repair. Built a couple of submarines in Scotland, What a great holiday! Then built patrol boats in Cairns. They even gave me holidays which I accumulated because who wants a holiday when you get an all expenses paid jaunt to a holiday resort for three weeks three times a year.

I retired at 55 on a nice CSS indexed pension and want for nothing.

Eat your hearts out suckers!

Barry

[wysiwyg (Mark)]

Optimisation Manager for a gas utility company, specialising in system architecture and change management.

Basically, I come up with a good idea and get someone to build it.

[acropolite (Phil)]

I'm a Telephone PABX installer, we supply and install phone systems ranging from a couple of handsets to hundreds, VOIP is a fact of life nowdays so I've had to develop some IT skills to go with the job.

We're a dying breed as a lot of telephony is disappearing in to the IT area but at 55 I'm really not that fussed.

[h0ughy (David)]

Well lets see,

I started life working for Bob Hawke for a while, then Mr Keating (dole) then worked in a service station doing dog watch for a few years supporting my wave ski surfing habits (which I paid for dearly with skin cancers now) all the while nursing my first refractor (90mm tasco), then progressed onto the RTA designing roads and traffic signals, then on to a private survey firm as their IT man /CAD design, then on to my current employer where I do infrastructure planning and design. Actually I surf the net far too much but that’s is not a real job is it .

Other part time jobs were driving a truck and bar tending, driving a friend around for singing telegrams (cleaned up for forum) and of course IT work building and working on PC’s - all to support a addiction – Astronomy LOL

[Bassnut (Fred)]

This thread is fascinating, such a wide range of occupations.

I was a tech for NZ television, an R and D contract design engineer in London for large format studio audio mixers (Rank Arena), my own business in Industrial Automation electronics and now the Australian service center for an electric wheelchair controller manufacturer (Dynamics).

[RobF (Rob)]

Originally Posted by Lee

I'm a GP. Not too much delivering babies here though (we hope!).... I was a doctor in the Air Force until a few months ago. Before this I was a laboratory scientist, so I have spent almost my whole life to now training (or so it seems).

+1 here for the lab life. Senior biochemist for a private path firm. I see caffeine has an important status in your life Lee....!