What's Your Job, Really?

[AmeliaJane]

I loved this story from the Planet Money website where people described what they actually do all day in their jobs:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2013/02/06/171289860/-honestjobdescription

I think mine would be "talking people into things." (non-profit manager.) I talk new volunteers into doing it our way, established volunteers into doing things a new way, staff members into taking on new projects or handling their old ones differently, community organizations into forming partnerships, etc.

What do you really do all day?

[Kestra]

Decide which people get sent cheques and how big that cheque is. That is, when I'm not training new people how to decide which people get sent cheques and how big that cheque is.

[cdttmm]

I am the bringer of the harsh light of reality. :D I spend most of my time putting things in perspective, crushing everyone's hopes and dreams, reining in everyone's crazy ideas, and generally returning everyone to reality, both operationally and financially. It's a good thing I have a charming personality, otherwise people at work would hate me.

[ApatheticNoMore]

I.T. assembly line. And it really is like an assembly line, I have called it the factory, and I just turn a virtual screw or two for a virtual widget again and again and again and again, all day, every day.

No wonder people easily believed that we only use 10% of our brains, it turns out not to be entirely true, what is true is we only use 10% of our brains WHILE AT WORK!!! ;)

[Tradd]

Trying to keep people from doing stupid things. And explaining the consequences (customs fines) if they do such stupid things.

[iris lily]

I am the bringer of the harsh light of reality. :D I spend most of my time putting things in perspective, crushing everyone's hopes and dreams, reining in everyone's crazy ideas, and generally returning everyone to reality, both operationally and financially. It's a good thing I have a charming personality, otherwise people at work would hate me.

so, you are the money person, right? You dispense money?

[iris lily]

I manage an assembly line. My days are spent toggling between quantity and quality decisions. I want both, not either/or, yet I don't aim for perfection. I aim for 95% right.

[SteveinMN]

Mine was breaking things. The idea was to overload Web sites and networks in simulation before clients got a chance to do so.

[Tammy]

Assessing patients, implementing treatment plans, and serving as the coordinator of things between docs, nurses, techs, patients, social workers, families, and management. I'm the charge nurse. Sometimes I clean up literal shit, and sometimes it is merely figurative. Literal is easier. ;)

[cdttmm]

so, you are the money person, right? You dispense money?

Yes, all the money goes through me. I am the one with the power to approve or deny all things money related. I'm the COO for a media start-up. We don't yet have a CFO so my job is really a COO/CFO combo.

[jp1]

I assess companies to determine 1) how much private information of others they have and 2) how likely they are to suffer a network security breach. Then I try and convince them that they should buy insurance to cover the costs if a breach happens.

[KayLR]

Disseminate information in various forms through various channels.

[Blackdog Lin]

Retired now, but my previous job of 32 years could have been described as moving various items around to various spots around a large room.

[Rosemary]

I used to evaluate new materials in a semiconductor manufacturing clean room. Wore the full "bunny suit" every day. Ran tests using enormous ovens and other equipment, ran evaluations using various kinds of optical and electron microscopes.
After that I worked in semiconductor packaging (not boxes. this is the usually plastic housing that surrounds the silicon chip; the package is what you see when you open up any electronic device). No more clean room, but still evaluating materials. Different equipment and materials - mostly plastics here, many environmental tests, and learned how to do ultrasound analysis for package integrity.
Then I moved to a job that was mostly at a desk and in meetings, had to make a lot of overseas calls to Asia to manage experiments being done there. Hated this job - too much sitting.
Now I'm home with DD but I do some technical and other nonfiction writing part-time. I also take care of almost all the household stuff (finances, garden, paperwork, food, etc) so all DH has to do is go to work. This way he has more free time after work than either of us did in those years that we were both working.

[catherine]

90% of the time I'm doing one of three things:

--Writing a discussion guide for upcoming research
--Conducting the interviews with doctors, patients, or payers--either in person, on the phone, or on the internet
--Writing a report for the interviews I've conducted.

The other 10% is administrative tasks like billing, being on phone calls to discuss projects, and keeping up with industry reading.

ETA: I just actually read the article, so in the spirit of those great comments, I have to say that what I actually do is:
Drug dealing: I help major pharma companies figure out how they can sell more drugs (Market researcher in healthcare field)

[KayLR]

Lin, my SO, retired from the AF (supply squadron) sometimes tells people he was in the "pile-it" (pilot) program. Pile it here, pile it there.....

[treehugger]

Diplomat, cruise director, firefighter.

(I'm a project manager and database manager for an environmental consultant, working on a number of project teams; I do a lot of troubleshooting and mediating between the guy who writes the code for the database and the people who do the project work).

Kara

[Gardenarian]

Goddess of Wisdom :)


(reference librarian)

[lhamo]

On a good day, ensuring the long-term peace and prosperity of our planet by helping people better understand each other and forge meaningful, long-term relationships.

On a bad day, averting international diplomatic incidents and making sure i still have a job tomorrow.

[Blackdog Lin]

Ok, lhamo, I've liked yours the best so far. Great condensing.

I want to try again: facilitating human interaction toward a goal of world peace and prosperity by sorting and moving items from one part of a building to another.

Yeah, that sounds cool.

[Dhiana]

Cook, maid, ironman triathlon trainer, nutritionist, interpreter, financial manager, cheerleader, mergers & acquisitions, shipping & receiving, etc, etc, etc which is all just being an expat housewife while pursuing a career as an international fiber & metalsmith artist.

[herbgeek]

I herd cats.aka software project manager.

[Fawn]

I am a white-water river guide helping people negotiate around the big rocks, eddies, back-currents of the process of dying.

[cdttmm]

I'm loving this thread -- it's so much fun to read how people describe their jobs when posed this question!

[Sparrow]

Babysitter and referee. I manage a lab full of twenty-something grad students and all the perceived drama that seems to engulf that age group. My nickname is "lab mom," :D

[Tussiemussies]

Am a homemaker and manage all the aspects of our home (except the tile grout next to the toilet but I am working on it).:)

[frugal-one]

"Officially" retired investigator.

[Life_is_Simple]

I have a wide variety of superpowers which enable me to predict who wants to buy what kind of home decor.

[early morning]

My job is to find the kid-who-could-have-been (or kid-who-used-to-be) in the kid-as-he-is-now, and try to put kid 1 in control for a while. Also to find ways for kid to learn, when he hasn't/won't, and document said process.

[citrine]

I find knots and dissolve them so people can move better and listen to all of their problems. I also plan all the home improvements, cook, clean, and do laundry :)

[Spartana]

I was a dominatrix. A government environmental compliance officer who basicly had to whip people who behaved badly and make them behave well. Ve haf vays uf making you comply!

[BayouGirl]

I spin articles, gator hunt, harvest pecans, and help care for my gram who is in her 90's. I manage to make BayouBoy (who is the crankiest man alive) happy on a daily basis. I tend to my herd of cats (really!) and enjoy feeding them vienna sausages with a Hello Kitty fork on rainy days for amusement.