So what does everyone do for a living?

[Slotback]

I design mansions then I live in them.

[Alejandro Rhodes]

I used to be an owner a prestigious workshop for tv ,stereos, PC monitors fixing in my city, but due the hard a strongly bad situation in my country I been mechanical, a computer fixer, an optical equipment measure fixer, yesterday I use my truck for as moving truck  ,an english teacher (lol but is true) and I'm thinking to learn to read the cards for the future  ::) and do hairs makeup for women, LOL

Things are not easy here  :P

[MWISimmer]

I'm a consultant for an international flooring company. My duties include estimating, loss adjusting for our insurance partners, dealing with complaints and liaising (sometimes arbitrating) between management and company executives.

It pays well, but I get a lot of stress and grief for my money...

[J.]

im a tax dodger a.k.a. student

[Mobius]

A student during school, a carpenter when not in school, and a recent Air Force Officer applicant.

[DaveT]

I am a Service engineer,I service/repair breathing Apparatus mostly on cruise liners and chemical sites all over the place.

cheers
Dave.  

[legoalex2000]

I am a Hardware Computer Technician for a local business.
A+ Certified,
CCNA Certified,
and going for my Network+ and Macbook Basic Hardware certs
Air Force CAC* for Kirtland & White Sands
DOE Q** Clearance

through 2 Contract Companies called Nexicore & Servright, I am the only Certified onsite Technician for in the State of New Mexico:

Best Buy Geek Squad Onsite
Circuit City Firedog Onsite
Staples Easytech Onsite & In Store
HP, Compaq, Dell, Gateway, & eMachines Warranty onsite.
Walt Disney Co.
ScriptPro Pharmacy Automation machines
Cinemark Theatres POS. Terminals
DHL Global Services
Panda Express restaurants

as well as all Machines pertaining to the State of New Mexico (gov.), Sandia Nat'l labs, Los Alamos Nat'l Labs, Kirtland AFB, White Sands/ Holloman AFB, & United States Forest Service.

im a busy man... frequently work on weekends.

Ramos

*CAC - Common Access Card for Military Bases
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_Access_Card
**DOE (Department of Energy) Q Clearance (DOE equivalent of a DOD Top Secret Access)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Q_clearance

[beaky]

An old topic... like last time, I still earn my daily bread turning crap into gold, mostly. Or trying to.
Call me Crapelstiltskin.
Hey, that's a pretty good screen name... dibs!!

I'm officially a site supervisor/lead field technician in the audio/visual installs business, and I got into it for the same reason I got into my second job ever, and every one since: it paid a little better than the previous job and I could somehow make it look like I knew what I was doing while I figured it all out.

[RitterKreuz]

it paid a little better than the previous job and I could somehow make it look like I knew what I was doing while I figured it all out.

nice

[TacitBlue]

An aircraft mechanic. I currently spanner on 737-800's and Air Bus A320's.
However, for the last three days I have been stuck in bed with flu, not man flu, the real thing and it sucks. Thank god for laptops and wifi.

Matt

Ive been thinking off becoming an aircraft mechanic when i get my A levels..

What is it like?

Good pay?

What qualifications do you need?

Thanks,

Ben

I don't now how it works in the UK but in the states, you need either an airframe or powerplant mechanics license, although most people get both. I'm currently in training for my A&P license, you may have noticed that I work that into almost every conversation... It's challenging but rewarding and infinatly fascinating. Anyway, my point is that there is probably a similar certification in the UK. In fact, a quick search turned up the CAA site. Try doing a search on that site for mechanic.

So that's what I want to do, but currently I do something vastly different: I'm a 7up man. Wat I do is go into grocery stores and take the 7up products from the back room and put them on the shelves. I don't drive a truck, that's a common question, so I thought I'd just go ahead and answer it. It's a crappy job, it doesn't pay enough and it's physically exhausting at times. I really don't like it, but I keep it because the schedual fits in perfectly with my school schedual. What attracted me to it was the fact that I'm not one of those people who falls ass-backwards into good jobs (we all know people like that) and this was pretty much the only place that would hire me. That's yet another reason for me to go to school, so that I will have a qualification and give someone a reason to hire me over the other guy.

Sorry for the long post, I just got off of work and nothing reminds me of how much I dislike this job than doing it all day.

[J.]

as well studying i also work part time as a bar-man

[Mictheslik]

An aircraft mechanic. I currently spanner on 737-800's and Air Bus A320's.
However, for the last three days I have been stuck in bed with flu, not man flu, the real thing and it sucks. Thank god for laptops and wifi.

Matt

Ive been thinking off becoming an aircraft mechanic when i get my A levels..

What is it like?

Good pay?

What qualifications do you need?

Thanks,

Ben

Me too

I would suggest a degree in engineering.....preferably aeronautical, but if you don't want to specialise then most other forms are fine.

.mic

[Mobius]

An aircraft mechanic. I currently spanner on 737-800's and Air Bus A320's.
However, for the last three days I have been stuck in bed with flu, not man flu, the real thing and it sucks. Thank god for laptops and wifi.

Matt

Ive been thinking off becoming an aircraft mechanic when i get my A levels..

What is it like?

Good pay?

What qualifications do you need?

Thanks,

Ben

Me too

I would suggest a degree in engineering.....preferably aeronautical, but if you don't want to specialise then most other forms are fine.

.mic

Sorry Mic, but I have to disagree.  95% of the Aero people I know wish they had gone Mechanical.  You can take almost all the same classes, except the degree title is Mechanical, and since most aerodynamics are done one computers with CFD now, companies don't hire as many Aero people any more.  Especially if you want to be an aircraft mechanic, you're going to be working with all kinds of mechanical devices and machines and really won't be doing much with the aerodynamics of aircraft.  Although, aerodynamics does focus more on aircraft, where mechanical can be anything from manufacturing to plastics to whatever.  That's the reason I went for Mechanical instead of Aero, but in the end, it's always up to you and it's what you want to do.

[expat]

An aircraft mechanic. I currently spanner on 737-800's and Air Bus A320's.
However, for the last three days I have been stuck in bed with flu, not man flu, the real thing and it sucks. Thank god for laptops and wifi.

Matt

Ive been thinking off becoming an aircraft mechanic when i get my A levels..

What is it like?

Good pay?

What qualifications do you need?

Thanks,

Ben

Me too

I would suggest a degree in engineering.....preferably aeronautical, but if you don't want to specialise then most other forms are fine.

.mic

Sorry Mic, but I have to disagree.  95% of the Aero people I know wish they had gone Mechanical.  You can take almost all the same classes, except the degree title is Mechanical, and since most aerodynamics are done one computers with CFD now, companies don't hire as many Aero people any more.  Especially if you want to be an aircraft mechanic, you're going to be working with all kinds of mechanical devices and machines and really won't be doing much with the aerodynamics of aircraft.  Although, aerodynamics does focus more on aircraft, where mechanical can be anything from manufacturing to plastics to whatever.  That's the reason I went for Mechanical instead of Aero, but in the end, it's always up to you and it's what you want to do.

The main difference, is whether you want to get your hands dirty or not

Matt

[Splinter562]

Primarily doing avionics. Absolutely love it.

I've got an aero degree. Bottom line is, nobody really learns how to engineer in school. You get the theoretical knowledge, some good groundwork, and a set of tools in your engineering toolbox to help you. But you really learn how to engineer on the job. What you need in your engineering tool box depends on what kind of work you want to do. Structures, systems, and maintenance can easily be done with a degree in mechanical and an interest in airplanes. Aero work, even though parts of analysis are done on CFD now a days, would be very difficult to do with a mechanical degree. Not impossible, but it'd be a steep learning curve and you may have a hard time finding someone to hire you without an aero background. Also, if you get a good job with a small company, there's nothing to say you can't cross train yourself from one area to another by picking up small projects as they come up.

EDIT:
I don't know how the systems works on the other side of the pond, but in the states some schools offer aviation maintenance degrees which will get you your A&P certification as part of the program.