I'm a massage and aquatic therapist for people with physical disabilities (and sometimes accompanying intellectual disabilities)
I provide intensive in home behavioral and life skills support to a woman with a physical disability, an intellectal disability and major behavioral challenges
I work with adolescent boys with autism and asperger's fostering social skills, broadening their scopes of interest and focusing on dealing with stress and anxiety.
And I also babysit a man who is blind and has autism a few times a month. He's my super buddy.

My job is awesome cause it allows me to tap into the things I'm best at in life. I don't have to sit in anyone place for very long, I go somewhere different everyday and do something different everyday and have creative control over the activities. I basically have no "boss", I have set of standards and am accountable to the state for proper documentation and following ethical guidelines, but I don't have to "check in" with anyone. My schedule is between me and my clients. As a single mom, that's something thats invaluable to me. If my kids get sick, I just call my clients and reschedule, there are no "write ups" or "attendance policies" and "tardiness" isn't an issue. If I get stuck in traffic I just call and say "hey, give me 5 minutes". I will never be written up for being 5 minutes late 3 times within 3 months ever again. I also, the most appropriate thing to wear just happens to be sweat pants and tshirt. fuck yes!! i work in my pajamas.

down sides: It doesn't pay enough and I have no benefits package or worker's compensation insurance.

I love my job. Developing games and apps for iphone, it's creative and stimulating but pays like shit right now. Hopefully after new years I'll get a proper salary.

I like how most, so far, love their job.

I'm a 5th year ~junior at Georgia Tech. I just (at 10:30am) finished my first semester studying mechanical engineering.

Anyway, I have a job in a lab doing research and product testing. My boss has always allowed me to put school first, i.e. I sent them an email monday saying I wouldn't be coming in this week for finals.

So it's flexible and field related. HOT DAMN! Employed consecutively for 5 years.

On the downside, they sort of fired my dad.

I am currently a contract laborer.

I am a PS3 and 360 video game coder.

I'm temporarily unemployed as I moved from NY to MO last month, but I went ahead and chose #2 since I'll be working again in a few weeks.

I've been in IT and Network Administration for 14 years now. I enjoy it so long as things are moving forward. The downside to IT is that you're almost always in a power struggle of sorts. The users hate the system and blame you for everything that goes wrong but they also fight you on everything you try to do to improve things. Management is also an issue as they rarely have any understanding of the decisions that IT faces, but they also tend to ignore the input you give them. The end result is that someone makes a decision with no knowledge of the situation and then you spend all your time putting out fires.

The one significant regret I have in my line of work is the lack of creativity. I like doing design, drawing, painting, photography, etc and there's almost no place for any of those skills in IT. I really always wanted to be a game designer, but could never find the road to take me there.

My contract ran out about two weeks ago and of all the jobs I've had during these first 28 years of my life (more than the previous two generations of my family combined), I liked none. The folks were alright for the most part though.

I don't have an education in IT, and neither am I extremely knowledgeable in programming and actual administrating, and yet I think I can relate, at least somewhat - I've dabbled in some types of languages and databases, and am on first-name terms with hardware and software in general, and as a result I have just wound up as an "IT Project Implementation Lead" in a nationalized bank (don't assume I'm loaded though - my monthly salary is 3 figures in USD). I like what I currently do and I like working in general, in part because every day is full of validation, since I've discovered that the majority of people, especially those in middle-management, are a terrible mix of incredibly lazy, incompetent and ineffective (i.e. I chose the second answer in the poll), so it's rather easy to stand out for your work-ethics. Anyway, thought you (and other IT folks) might enjoy this one, if you haven't heard it already:


A man is flying in a hot air balloon and realizes he is lost. He reduces altitude and spots a man down below. He lowers the balloon further and shouts: "Excuse me, can you tell me where I am?"

The man below says: "Yes, you're in a hot air balloon, hovering 30 feet above this field."

"You must work in Information Technology" says the balloonist.

"I do" replies the man. "How did you know?"

"Well" says the balloonist, "everything you have told me is technically correct, but it's of no use to anyone."

The man below says "You must work in business."

"I do" replies the balloonist, "but how did you know?"

"Well", says the man, "you don't know where you are, or where you're going, but you expect me to be able to help. You're in the same position you were before we met, but now it's my fault."

In reply to this comment by xxovercastxx:
I'm temporarily unemployed as I moved from NY to MO last month, but I went ahead and chose #2 since I'll be working again in a few weeks.

I've been in IT and Network Administration for 14 years now. I enjoy it so long as things are moving forward. The downside to IT is that you're almost always in a power struggle of sorts. The users hate the system and blame you for everything that goes wrong but they also fight you on everything you try to do to improve things. Management is also an issue as they rarely have any understanding of the decisions that IT faces, but they also tend to ignore the input you give them. The end result is that someone makes a decision with no knowledge of the situation and then you spend all your time putting out fires.

The one significant regret I have in my line of work is the lack of creativity. I like doing design, drawing, painting, photography, etc and there's almost no place for any of those skills in IT. I really always wanted to be a game designer, but could never find the road to take me there.

I love playing (and occasionally writing) music for a living. Downside is that the arts really suffer in a large scale economic meltdown. One of my employers went bankrupt this year and another is teetering on the edge of oblivion. I'm grabbing a teaching credential next year as insurance.

>> ^Hybrid:

I am a PS3 and 360 video game coder.


Which games did you code in the past and which ones currently (if you can tell us)?


For me, I am a software quality assurance (SQA) tester/analyst with a well known security company. I pick on developers', coders, managers, etc. for their booboos.

I get paid to make things happen on your computer screens. I don't much care for this job, but it pays fairly well. As of 2011, I may have my first ever paying gig to write for a studio, but I won't know until January at the earliest. And it looks like I just picked up a manager, unofficially. If this pans out then I will be a happy little girl.

While I don't love what I do, it's pretty good job and I don't mind going to work. I love the people I work with though. All of this leaves me not knowing where to cast my vote.

I'm a lab tech and I work for the nation's leading environmental testing laboratory.

I'm an fine artist working mainly in oil painting and silkscreening and gave a great interest in graphic design. I've worked freelance for years designing everything from logos to packaging design.

I used to run a small web design company which was lucrative in its day but I opted out when websites started to become less design and more about programming and data-basing. I am technical minded and could have done it, I just chose not to so I could focus on the design side of things

I worked for several years in the Newspaper industry designing ads for just about every company out there from WalMart and Canadian Tire to large oil and gas companies, local mom & pop stores and even government.

I now work full time as the designer for a large college in my area, where I design all sorts of marketing pieces, brochures, newsprint ads, magazines, posters, postcards, logo and concept designs as well as web content.

I like my job, I wish it paid a bit more as living costs in my area are high. I also wish I had more time for my personal creative work. I should be working for myself but I'm lousy at business.

I'm a ward of the welfare state. I take tax money from hard-working Real Americans and use it to buy donuts.

I'm a full time undergrad, studying physics, no job. I was thinking about getting a job next summer as a masseur, but then I found out you first have to study for a year at a cost of around $7000. I might still do that eventually, but for this coming summer I'll have to find something else to do.

I'm a SharePoint consultant. I've got a background in "traditional" .net development, but SharePoint is where it's at right now. Everyone wants SharePoint but few know what it is, or what it's capable of.

I work for a small consulting company of ~10 people.

Was an unemployed student.

Now, I'm sportin' the title: Cupcake Delivery Boy.

W00T!

Voting for this poll ended with the majority of users voting I have no job.

I work in construction although I lack the testosterone and mechanical inclination to be an actual construction worker, so I'm stuck in the office with you sad saps. In the office I work under the guide of an engineer (as I'm aspiring and going to school to be an engineer, myself), I work on network administration and all other IT needs, and do some project management to top it all off. Oh yea and I'm a Computer Aided Drafter as well. I don't get paid enough, so I get cranky about my job, however, I've found ways to stick it to my company. I like to take extended poop breaks. There's nothing like getting paid to poop. It's the American dream. It's what unions had in mind when they first formed.

I lost my job as a bartender two weeks ago because of new management. I'm also a full-time student studying journalism. I liked selling booze but I loathed the corporate bullshit. I'm looking for internships and jobs in my field.

Full-time university lecturer in Japan (I teach English). My job is a bit unconventional. I work long hours during the semester (12-hour days not uncommon). However, I get up to four months off during semester breaks so it evens out a little. Still, I can't really take the full four months off, because I need to keep doing research year-round. National health insurance and pension are pretty good benefits.

On the other hand, I'm on a two-year contract that will expire in 2013. Management occasionally does some wacky things that make my job more difficult. Work load is most definitely not distributed evenly. There are definitely things to complain about, but overall I'm happy here. I'll be sad to leave when the contract ends.

I sell weed. business is good

What is a job?