How do you make a living?

[Keroin]

Y'know, as a student, I'm curious to know what everybody's education was like. I'm primarily interested in whether your college major, if any, is related to your current job. Mostly because I am graduating in December with a B.A. in Deaf Studies, which does not, by itself, have any jobs associated with it.

I went to university on a full scholarship. Majored in English Lit, minored in psych. My plan, (*ahem* my family's plan for me), was to become an English teacher. I was bored out of my skull in school, and dissecting great works of fiction like frogs on lab table all but killed my love of reading and writing. Half way through the first semester of my third year, in the middle of lecture hall, I said, "Yep, I'm done", closed my books, walked out and never came back.

Soon after, I moved to Japan.

Best, best, best decision I ever made. I have not once regretted not getting that degree. Most writers I know have a degree but not much life experience. Personally, I'd rather have it the other way around.

 

[culloden]

I went to university on a full scholarship. Majored in English Lit, minored in psych. My plan, (*ahem* my family's plan for me), was to become an English teacher. I was bored out of my skull in school, and dissecting great works of fiction like frogs on lab table all but killed my love of reading and writing. Half way through the first semester of my third year, in the middle of lecture hall, I said, "Yep, I'm done", closed my books, walked out and never came back.

Soon after, I moved to Japan.

Best, best, best decision I ever made. I have not once regretted not getting that degree. Most writers I know have a degree but not much life experience. Personally, I'd rather have it the other way around.

Hear, hear!

I've made a living writing non-fiction for 15 years, with no degree. My 15 years of real-world experience prior to becoming a writer/editor is what mattered.

That said, I struggle with fiction. Joining a writer's group has helped tremendously, if only because its regular get- togethers force me to write.

 

[kara24]

Im a substance misuse worker working with people in police custody. Dont have a degree, have a counselling certificate but basically just job hopped in this direction! Love my job!

 

[Georgesowner1]

No degree. Do tech support. Still trying to figure out what I want to do when I grow up.

 

[richard_daily]

I make my living in real estate and graphic design.

 

[midwestyankee]

Y'know, as a student, I'm curious to know what everybody's education was like. I'm primarily interested in whether your college major, if any, is related to your current job. Mostly because I am graduating in December with a B.A. in Deaf Studies, which does not, by itself, have any jobs associated with it.

My BA is in English with a bit of specialization in American Literature. After that I moved into a federal poverty program related to VISTA and the Peace Corps called Teacher Corps, through which I earned an M.S. Ed. During that year I got stoked up about how language works so I got myself a teaching assistantship in an engineering university and did a masters degree and some further study toward a Ph.D. in linguistics with an emphasis on neurophysiology. There were no jobs in my chosen field so I bailed before completing the Piled Higher and Deeper degree and took a series of mostly unrelated jobs with companies that had one thing in common: they'd hire an over-educated east-coast snob with a penchant for bad puns.

In the early 80's I started doing some teaching, mostly adjunct work at a local community college but then took a gig at a high school in the second wealthiest school district in Illinois. It was quite a gig but the hassle of dealing with two-lawyer families whose precious little boy earned merely a B but "sure something could be done" to repair that damage to his psyche drove me a way. I turned to business where I started writing training programs. The simplest way to describe that work is to say that I learned how to do jobs that I would never choose to do so that I could teach people to do their own jobs better than they were currently doing them.

Now I'm working independently as a trainer and consultant, teaching people how to get more out of their existing job skills by applying fundamental principles of learning and mindfulness. My pet name for my newest such program is "Zen and the Art of Salesmanship."

Etoile, I echo anyone here who suggested that public policy work might be an excellent fit for you.

 

[intothewoods]

I went to university on a full scholarship. Majored in English Lit, minored in psych. My plan, (*ahem* my family's plan for me), was to become an English teacher. I was bored out of my skull in school, and dissecting great works of fiction like frogs on lab table all but killed my love of reading and writing. Half way through the first semester of my third year, in the middle of lecture hall, I said, "Yep, I'm done", closed my books, walked out and never came back.

Soon after, I moved to Japan.

Best, best, best decision I ever made. I have not once regretted not getting that degree. Most writers I know have a degree but not much life experience. Personally, I'd rather have it the other way around.

Interesting. I generally think both are important - education and real life experience. Obviously there is no one size fits all prescription. Some people are not suited for college (or certain colleges even) and some people function incredibly well in an academic environment but stumble in the real world.

Although I would have done various things differently, I value my real life past experiences and education.

On a barely related note, it makes me kind of sad that there is so much emphasis now on getting a practical degree rather than a liberal arts one. Well, in the U.S. anyway. I totally get it and I need a paycheck too, but it would be nice if schools could accomodate both the goal of career preparation/training and providing a more classic college education.

 

[taywink]

Financial Services. Pensions - to make it even less interesting!

 

[sacrificedangel]

The wonderful world of dental nursing *smiles*

 

[Douchemoron]

I play cards and gamble on random sporting events.

 

[Keroin]

Interesting. I generally think both are important - education and real life experience. Obviously there is no one size fits all prescription. Some people are not suited for college (or certain colleges even) and some people function incredibly well in an academic environment but stumble in the real world.

Although I would have done various things differently, I value my real life past experiences and education.

On a barely related note, it makes me kind of sad that there is so much emphasis now on getting a practical degree rather than a liberal arts one. Well, in the U.S. anyway. I totally get it and I need a paycheck too, but it would be nice if schools could accomodate both the goal of career preparation/training and providing a more classic college education.

I agree with you 100%. For me, school was just sucking the life out of me. Also, I saw too many friends graduate with a piece of paper, a heap of debt and no job. Most spent years working in jobs they hated, outside of their field of study just to pay off the debt. But yes, I did not mean to devalue the benefits of a good education.

Then again, every time I pick up a novel and the protagonist is a writer/teacher/student, I cringe. LOL.

Today I am writing out resumes for L and me. Thanks to the slow economy, we are going to have to hunt for "real" jobs with steady paycheques. We'll still do our freelance stuff when we can but if we want to own a home in the next ten years...yeah, need more money. Blurg. It has been a long time since I've done up a regular resume and I'm finding it exceedingly difficult to encapsulate our various skills and experience in any coherent way. Sigh.

 

[Primalex]

I got a Master of Computer Science and I make my living in the development of complex building automation solutions in an international environment.

What does this mean?

For example, the passenger boarding bridges of the Stockholm-Arlanda airport (that's in Sweden) have an automated laser scanner system which identifies the type of aircraft and its position and then automatically moves the bridges to connect the aircraft to the terminal.

Another piece of my work can be found in Bewleys Hotel Leopardstown in Dublin. The hotel has several automated systems - f.e. when the guest leaves his room, the elevator is automatically called, so there is a good chance it's already there before the guest actually arrives at the elevator. Another system keeps the heating on during the night as long as the guest doesn't go to sleep. So he can work or ..play.. all night without worrying about a cold room.

Less sophisticated work was the air conditioning and traffic control of the San Bernardino Tunnel, Switzerland.


So yes, I will be one of the guys responsible for Skynet.

 

[rida]

College drop-out (Major was Astronomy). I probably had enough exams for the new system's "short degree", but they did not have it back then.

Still the heavy math and scientific background has been useful in my job in finance, a job I landed mostly out of sheer chance, and that I have been at for the last 14 years.

Sometime I toy with the idea to go back to college, but since I cannot decide what I want to study, it is pretty much a moot point at the moment.

 

[Xelebes]

Assured Income for the Severely Handicapped.

Love the way it sounds. It like gives me an excuse to walk up to people and act like someone below moron. It's awesome.

I write, I moderate forums, I make music. Haven't made any money off of it but someday, someday. . . .

 

[corks25]

Software development.

 

[shewantsmore]

makes me really dull then.Im a housewife and just do a part time job in a shop

 

[Cinner]

I have sex with my husband regularly, cook his meals and clean his house.

I get my bills paid in return.

I'm a staff writer and editor of books for a UK publisher.

Used to be 90% writing and 10% editing but those numbers have reversed in the last year or two. I prefer editing.

Short answer: Whatever it takes.

Someone asked me recently what I do for a living and one of my girlfriends cut in with, "It's easier to ask her what she doesn't do."

Currently: Write (short stories that occasionally get published and I'm on the second draft of a novel I would sell my soul to see published), web design, construction and handyman work, (in 1.5 hours I return to the jobsite, with my husband, to finish tearing apart the deck from hell), booking agent for trekking in Nepal, Africa & points beyond, and also hubby and I sell these physio massage units, (we liked them so much we bought the company!)

I've really only had one "career" - stunt person, 10 years - but my resume reads like an employment directory.

SW and MWY are the same, if I'm not mistaken.

Magazine editor, how-to book author.

No degree - College sucked, so I went to work in the field I now write about.

I went to university on a full scholarship. Majored in English Lit, minored in psych. My plan, (*ahem* my family's plan for me), was to become an English teacher. I was bored out of my skull in school, and dissecting great works of fiction like frogs on lab table all but killed my love of reading and writing. Half way through the first semester of my third year, in the middle of lecture hall, I said, "Yep, I'm done", closed my books, walked out and never came back.

Soon after, I moved to Japan.

Best, best, best decision I ever made. I have not once regretted not getting that degree. Most writers I know have a degree but not much life experience. Personally, I'd rather have it the other way around.

Going on the principle that the grass is always greener, I'm envious of almost everyone here. (Sigh) Frankly though, I'd almost sell me soul for the lives that I've selected. I work as a manager at a university and teach part-time there. To say that I HATE my job is the understatement of the century but it does pay my bills; and I suppose that I'd hate it even more not being able to do that.

My goal over the next year or two is to do what Jay-Z has said and become a "business"... I want to diversify my sources of income to the point where I'm earning 24/7/365 and THEN I'll tell my bosses what I REALLY think of them.

 

[ShyVixen]

Librarian.

Author.

Both of which I make money from. I have a nursing diploma which I've never used and don't intend to. I have an undergraduate degree. I regret not completing my Masters, a deep regret but circumstances intervened.

 

[brickroadray]

run my own traveling dinner theater company www.brickroadproductions.net struggling to make money, but a lot of fun!

 

[frdrcnjohn]

I am an Underground Hard rock Miner, been doing that for 34 plus years now and still love my choosen profession

 

[shewolf3003]

I work in a family practice medical clinic conveniently located between the projects and the hooker stroll. It makes for interesting clientele.. Ah.. the great unwashed masses..

 

[Sir_Winston54]

I work in a family practice medical clinic conveniently located between the projects and the hooker stroll. It makes for interesting clientele.. Ah.. the great unwashed masses..

Eewww!

 

[Etoile]

Eewww!

You think those stories are gross, you should read the body piercer horror stories...

 

[Sir_Winston54]

You think those stories are gross, you should read the body piercer horror stories...

No, thank you very little!

 

[shewolf3003]

Eewww!

We keep a jar of Vicks Vaporub... You slather it all around under your nose and then put on a mask.. It works like a charm.. (That's usually reserved for the worst ones though..lol)