what we do
 

Having hung around here for a little over a year I have a good idea about what some of you do (artists, technicians, web designers, and so on) but not what projects others are engaged with. So, I thought this poll might be interesting ... at least to me.

FWIW, I'm a critical psychologist (the political end of social psychology) in Higher Education in the UK and have used macs for over ten years. I'm obliged to use a PC at work but do a reasonable amount of work from home (writing, web stuff, image manipulation, etc).

By the way, if I've missed a vital category off the list just let me know and we can start over.

[edit] I realise that these categories are not exclusive, i.e. many people would be able to quite easily select more than one of them ... just pick the one that's nearest to what you do, or maybe what you'd like to be doing for most of the time. [/edit]

Where is 'rodeo clown'??

Just kidding, good idea djn! This won't end up in a paper on the statistical job metrics of mac geeks will it?

No, but it's not a bad idea. Now, who would be interested in publishing it? Err ... no, can't think of anyone ... damn, there's always a catch ;)

By the way, the idea, if you include a message, is to say which item you ticked :rolleyes: :D

Systems administrator by day, cat wrangler by night.. sociopath on the weekends.

Simpsons junkie, 24/7

I'm a photographer, so I clicked "other"...although I do some Mac setup/training/maintenance as a side job.

I realised that I should have included photography after I posted the poll ... never mind.

I am a sysadmin for a webhosting company and do some consulting on the side.

- Chris

What I Do
 

I'm the manager of the US Social Security Office on Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. I started out with FORTRAN and PL1 on mainframes in the late 60's, bought my first Mac in 1984 and spent much of my career writing software in IBM Business BASIC on an old System/23 -- which I bet no one has ever heard of....

Re: What I Do
 

have one in my closet. turned it into a rolling bar :D

and...

http://www.seattlewireless.net/index.cgi/VaxBar

Re: Re: What I Do
 

Ha! Now I wish we'd saved ours. Only got a dollar each at auction!

bookkeeper/office manager working within the limitations of AppleWorks because I'm never going back!

That's twice you've edited your post, pretty soon we'll know everything about you ;)

djn1 isn't the only Psych prof here, though I'm in a *completely* different area of psychology: Cognitive/Human Factors. In particular, I do work on computational modeling of human cognition and performance. (I also have a master's in CS and, long ago, used to work for Apple.)

Interesting, what did you do?

Great idea Dave!

I checked "web designer" as it is what I have been immersed in for the last few years.

Technically (as far as the IRS is concerned) I'm a self employed consultant and web designer. I consult with photographers working digitally with Photoshop, Epsons, and Macs (though the OS isn't necessarily important when it comes to finessing Photoshop). As for the web design, I try to target artists to help get their work exposed, but I will accept other clients. (This is all on my web site if anyone is curious.)

I am also a Photographer, and hopefully, someday, that will be my only profession.

Dave, I noticed that 'Professional Forum Attendee' , and 'Post Stockpiler' were not options in the poll... ;)

Ah, yes ... good point, ... I used to have a life ... now where did I put it? ;)

Re: Re: What I Do
 

Thats pretty funny, VAX machines were huge gateways or switches which connected networks overseas correct? Those are a bit before my time, but I just recently read "Masters of Deception" (which by the way was an excellent book) and they talked about vaxes in there. They also mention COSMOS and a few other larger computers people used to hack.

One other thing isn't service/repair and technician almost the same job?

I'm the webmaster for Integrated Pest Management at the University of Illinois. In a few months I switch jobs (sort of). I'll still take care of the website that I oversee now, but my main focus will be the North Central Pest Management Center website.

Oh, and I do some freelance typesetting on the side for a past employer.

G.--

I work in service for a company that does sales/service with computers. I am the lead tech right now repairing laptops, desktops, printers (both laser and inkjet), and other peripherals from all manufacturers (ie HP, compaq, apple, sony, toshiba, etc etc). Also I do some side work for a buddy of mine setting up small networks for people's buisness, or sometimes their homes; I also do a bit of consulting for the same friend.

I also drink beer and play darts or pool (which should be my real profession: drinking and bar games). When I'm rich I drink guiness, when I'm broke I drink Pabst Blue ribbon.

Science Geek
 

I'm a product designer for a biotech company, mostly in immunology and molecular biology. Disgruntled Windows user by day, Mac enthusiast by night/weekend.

Unless..... (my favorite ubiquitous Homer Simpson quote)

I get a G4 Powerbook for my new laptop. Would that be sweet or what?!

I'm a software tester by day, and a web designer/programmer by night.

On the weekends, you may catch me slurping fresh coffee through to the small hours and churning out various AppleScripts and websites. And posting on here...

I put web design but I dabble in a lot of other things on my computer. But it's web design that brings in a bit of income, along with a few other jobs I have unrelated to computers.

other...
 

I chose other, not because I didn't fit those categories, but that I fit too many of them.

I believe my business cards say "Sales Representative"... but that doesn't explain nearly what I do anymore. I believe a more proper title now would probably be "Apple Product Professional"; or dare I say "Non-Apple Employed Mac Genius". ;)

I work for an Apple Specialist (mac only, sales, support, service), and do sales, tech support over the phone and in the store, and repair. I manage our in-house Xserve (which runs our web site, email, listserv, filemaker server, and a few other goodies) and a good chunk of our network. My coworkers say that I bleed six colors, and leak RDF rays.

At home, I program, and do basic web design.

I put in system/network administration, although I think 'all of the above' may be the most correct answer.

Except maybe graphic artist/designer. We don't seem to get along very well. :D

Doctorate in Developmental Pychology
 

RE: I have Doctorate in Developmental Pychology 1996....

I had been playing with Computers, helping people do their Stats, when I was in Grad School etc.

However, after I got my Doctorate I noticed that although Universitys get an awful lot of money from Parents and Students (they started playing a nasty game of Adjunct, that is hiring out Profs. by the class (for 1 to 4k per [most do not teach more then 6 a year]).

**** Anyway ended up finding work as a computer consultant with a trio of Publishing Companies that wanted to Abolish typewriters.... Use the Internet, email, have computers, link there offices together, have websites etc. All things much more standard now.
-------------------------
Now I work as a Systems Manager at Continuum Health partenrs (an amalgam of several Hospital Chains in NYC). Their Radiology departments have their own IT deparmtent because they read all their Stuides off Dual Monitor Computer Systems. PACS (Picture Archiving and Communications Systems). The Read all their Reports into a Speech Recognition System. And all the Reports travel via the net back to a centralized Radilogy Information Systems where all the Patient Data and Scheduling occurs.
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O Yeah. Apple Person @ Heart first Computer was Xerox Memowriter, ok First Real Computer was a IIe. At the Office we use Sun, Dell, Compaq, Vax, well Alphas now I helped retire the vax when I started (and a few Macs [some of the important Rads insist on having Macs around]).

---------------

I'm the Apple support rep for Virginia Commonwealth University.

In other words, I'm the Maytag Man. ;-D

Before that, I worked at a Mac shop here in Richmond (VA). So far, I'm the only one who's clicked "service/repair". I think saint.duo's a service tech, too . . . Right? Ditto tlarkin, I believe.

What I Do
 

I picked "other"..

I manage the business end of my boyfriends drywall business. My card says I'm an adminstrative assistant. I do occasionally get to do some gruntwork (hammers and nails and brooms, oh, my!) when called upon, but we don't really 'work' well together so I don't get called upon often. We've lived together for nearly 10 years, so you'd think I'd be used to him by now. But when he's working, when he puts on his 'I'm the boss' airs for his "minions", I can't stand to be around him.

But I digress. Mostly I wrestle with this computer and printer, smile for clients, and fire people.

In my free time I usually do homework for my criminal justice degree (although lately I've plunged headstrong into the Mac world, which feels kinda like I've broken into the Double-Super-Secret Boys Club... and no one has found out yet). I'm concentrating in forensics and have added a psychology minor. It's incredibly interesting stuff but I can't wait to finish so that I can apply all this knowledge to something greater than all this*.

~Brandie

(edit:: *not that this isn't great, though)

graduate student in biochemistry ... just made the switch from PC to APPLE!

G4Man ... how about you get me a job when i graduate? :) what types of biotech are present in the midwest?

FileMaker solutions designer. Database geek.

Mac user since the 512Ke and System 3. Current axe is an accelerated WallStreet PowerBook with MacOS 8.1, 8.6, 9.0, 9.2, and Puma (10.1.5) on different partitions.

wha? so far I'm one of only three graphic artists?

thought there'd be more.


my work, if you're interested
I'm always available for freelance....heh.
I just had another illustration in Challenging Destiny , and I get to do the next color cover of the canadian scifi mag.
(this job pays less than $20, but it combines my two interests: science fiction/fantasy and art)

:)

I dunno, you and I seem to get along ok. :D

The exception that proves the rule, Lerk! :)

um i cant chgeck multipe things :(

i guess i would mainly be a web programmer/designer. thats my "other" job tho as my day job consisnts of FileMaker Pro work. i also do system admin/networking at work. fun fun.

lerk, I'm also a graphic artist (or at least in the process):

http://illusionart.com/pi/

I do web programming/admin/webmaster/any other odd job I can get. I'm studying drawing and illustration.

For fun I mess with computers, sketch/draw/paint and lately write some tutorials (in spanish, need to translate to english some time):

<http://caracasmug.org/>

(it's under tutorials, "aprendiendo Unix para Mac OS X" or learning unix for mac os x)


v

Well, technically I am a bit of an artist. I went to school to be an animator. Unfortunately I make a better living fixing computers than I would drawing cartoons. I did go to school for it, and I never took a single computer class in my life. Kind of funny how things work out I guess.

That's one of the things I do, yes.

whoa...really nice stuff! color me impressed! though I'd reduce the size of your thumbnails, that index page takes forever to load, even on broadband (I sampled just one of your thumbnails at almost 200k!)

BTW, I also saw your page before posting and I really liked your loose illustrative style, some things are really exact and others have more of a flair, very nice stuff. Because of this your opinion values very highly, thank you for your kind words lerkfish.

On the page, thanks for letting me know. I threw together a quick php hack to get my pictures to show (I put the new pictures in a dir and the page makes the thumbnails and whatnot next time it loads).

I'll try reducing the thumbnail_size and save it with lesser quality, see how that works.

v

P.D: fixed the code, i had gotten mixed up the rez of the thumb and the mid, also got rid of a few bugs. The details are still huge, but at the mid and thumbnails are now much smaller.

I checked the technician box. Technically my actual title is Lead technician. Isn't service/repair and technician almost the same thing? I guess you could be a nail technician or something at a beauty salon. Me and 4 other guys run the service dept. for my company. However, I am the only one certified to work on apple products, thus I am mainly the apple tech. I learned on PCs, and had to take up macs when our last apple guy quit. I don't mind however, I like macs, I like PCs as well. Infact I like most electronic gadjets, that serve some kind of good or neat service

I'm a Graphic Artist for a local newspaper, I also do some troubleshooting/repair work for them.

I'm still a student, but I'll be going in to construction management. One of those jobs where computers are used strictly for data entry (so, lots of cheap, crappy windows boxes). Gives me more of a reason to love my Mac.

Old war-horse (35 years) commercial photographer, bought very first computer (Pismo Powerbook) three years ago. Took first three days figuring out how to save a file. Shot 16,000 digital images last month.