If you don't work IT, retail, or food service what do you do for work?
Sometimes on Lemmy these seem like the only jobs that actually exist, but I'm sure there's a lot of people here with different and unusual lines of work.
Branch manager at a 3 trade business (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical). Very much enjoy beating the competition and taking all of their great talent because they can’t treat them well. It’s not hard to actually give a damn about your people. Turns out, if you do that they like working for you and end up performing even more.
I'm a product development engineer in the biomedical industry. Although from what I read it seems I should have taken a few extra courses in school and gone into software engineering. However I do still enjoy my work (not more than not having to work, but still.)
After a long and lucrative IT career I got a certificate in Ecological Restoration. I now do land stewardship, monitoring and maintaining habitats. Literally outstanding in my field, or marsh, or scrubland...
Pay for basic entry level field work is low but many factors at play. Private sector generally pays better than non-profit or government. Knowing native plant and animal species and their conservation status, along with knowing invasive species and how to manage can quickly lift you above entry level. Having certifications in soil, or water quality, or CRAM will boost pay and can lead to independent consulting work. All the field data goes into reports so word processing, spreadsheet and ArcGIS skills are another boost.
Yes it can be competitive, if you don't have a science background, need experience. Many people get experience volunteering. It is a great way to get familiar with habitats and species at the same time. Volunteering is a way start networking and learning about potential employers.
Electronics RF Engineer, working with legal compliance. Loads of calculations and paperwork. Occasionally, I'll get to test something with cool expensive equipment.
I do cosplay erotica for a living. I make awesome costumes, I take them off, and just post to Patreon. I suppose it's kindof retail, as I'm giving the photos to people, as a reward for subscribing, but I set my own schedule and choose what goes out. The freedom is incredible
I specialize in powerful/domme energy characters, because unless you look like a little girl, you don't make money off the sweet/girl next door characters.
My most popular are Lady Dimitrescu (Resident Evil), Cammy (StreetFighter), Mad Moxxi (Borderlands), so video games, win!
Oh, and Velma... my most subscribers ever were for that set, but I shot with a porn star and it was my first girl on girl set. 😅
Software engineers don't really -- well, in the US anyway, might differ elsewhere -- have a formal accreditation process, which I understand is common in other areas of engineering and is a bit of a point of friction with people in some other fields. Like, you don't get to just roll up and say "I'm a civil engineer and I'm building a bridge now" the way you can a software engineer writing a software package.
I don't especially think that such a process would be incredibly practical, but...shrugs
I can't speak for other engineering trades or even other software degrees from other universities but I know my degree was ABET accredited (US) for what it's worth. A massive chunk of our education was instilling the engineer's mindset in terms of architecture, design, test-driven, development QA/QC, and coordination and integration with other specialties in the system. I really do wish there was a protection over the title, for I agree some may call themselves software engineers but were never actually trained in the engineering design process.
I'm an electrical engineer, and I've always considered any field where your design work makes you directly liable for the safety/well-being of others earns you the title of "Engineer".
"Engineering" as a verb is something most anyone can do. Working to understand a problem and then developing a solution is a universal joy for people of any age and skill.
I'm glad to see there's a few of us in the 5 figure salary club here!
I'm scientific support for a major pharma company. I tell people my job is essentially to be Hank Hill, as I'm in charge of compressed and liquid gases. I keep everyone squared away with liquid nitrogen, liquid helium, liquid argon, and any number and size of gas cylinder.
It's not a bad job. Pay is ok for what I do, people are generally nice, and most days I'm done the bulk of my work in 2-3 hours, so the rest of the time is mine unless someone needs something.
The rest of the day I'll prep and respond to posts here, study music, read comics or books, and watch cartoons. Nobody seems to care as long as the work gets done.
It's low stress and a decent environment, so I got no complaints. It's not as good as my last job, doing data analysis of hazardous chemicals. The place was generally run really well and almost all my work was doing daily reports on inventory. I made macros to do everything, so my work was done in less than half an hour most days and I got to work at home.
Being a nobody in pharma is pretty great as long as your group is cool.
Mind if I ask a work question? I purchased a cannister of CO2 for a kitchen appliance, but have another project requiring nitrogen. Are there any cleaning procedures or vacuum seal requirements before changing gases to prevent contaimination/interaction?
It's more of a warehouse job than a science job, so I'm probably not qualified to help, but I love learning, so I did some reading.
Different mixes of CO² and nitrogen are available for both carbonating/nitrogenizing beer, and further mixes designed to pressurize the lines for dispensing. Replacement beverage o-rings seem to come in a number of materials from polyurethane, silicone, teflon, and others and looking at o-ring compatibility charts, they all seem to both be listed as compatible for nitrogen and CO².
Since you're not dealing with liquid gas, I don't think you need to worry so much about material as if you're using something food safe made for beverages, it doesn't seem to be an issue what they're made of or which gas you use as far as I can find. You also shouldn't need to worry about the nitrogen freezing the CO² and forming dry ice from the amount I could imagine you using at home.
Without knowing more about what exactly you're working on, that's the best general help I can dig up. Depending on what exactly you're doing, finding a good homebrew or scuba shop/forum could probably get you the most reliable answer to what you're working on since they'll both be blending those gases in a manner safe for the human body.
Hah, thank you! I just can't see a question going unanswered! I love learning and researching, so it is usually a fun challenge if it's something I don't know.
If you'd like to see more of me doing my thing, check me out at !superbowl every day where I research and teach about more types of owl than you could ever imagine.