What Do You Do?

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Armed Dragon Fantasy Villgust
This post’s screen shot is from the NES game Armed Dragon Fantasy Villgust. This guy is reading the first chapter of Adventuring for Dummies.

What you call yourself? What do you say when someone asks what you do for a living?

Many people say: a student. A student of what? That sends many into a flurry. If you’re a student of everything, aren’t we all? And aren’t you forever a student of your field(s)? You don’t wear a cap and gown and quit learning…

Many people cite what they do to make money. However, what you currently do for money may have nothing to do with it. Working at Dunkin Donuts is a means to an end, not a living. Have the confidence to associate yourself with your longterm goals and dreams. Little sister would say she’s a musician. And she is. She was when she worked at KFC and she still is serving donuts and coffee. Her ability at the oboe doesn’t diminish as she uses the cash register.

Money has nothing to do with it. Was Ray Charles not a musician until he got his first paid gig, or signed his first record deal?

It has everything to do with passion.

What would you still be doing even if no one were paying you to do it? There may lie your answer.

  • The Cowboy

    I’m a musician and a geek. Luckily I get to do one of them for a living.

  • It would appear you, at least, are still a student in the field of spelling.

    I just say “software engineer” and that stops the conversation in its tracks.

    But then again, I don’t equate who I am, with what I do, so it’s less of a hassle for me.

  • @Massif

    “It would appear you, at least, are still a student in the field of spelling.”

    Oh, so I switch one i and e in all the blogland of The Seize, and suddenly Massif get’s all clever.

    So clever that I’m in awe.

    “I just say “software engineer” and that stops the conversation in its tracks.”

    It’s the awe. Total jealousy and awe…

    “But then again, I don’t equate who I am, with what I do, so it’s less of a hassle for me.”

    Most people do (and maybe they shouldn’t) which was kind of what I was getting at. There’s much more to people than what they do to make money. It shouldn’t be the end all and be all of identity, but we are are kind of pushed to think that it is.

  • @Cowboy

    “I’m a musician and a geek. Luckily I get to do one of them for a living.”

    Cowboy goes into work at 9am and sits down. The boss sees him sitting asks him what he’s doing and he says, “I’m being a geek, and you’re paying me for it dammit.”

  • “Software geek” … “startup CTO” … “software engineer” … “attendant to two cats and a dog” … all depends on the company.

    I’d be more interested in knowing, what do YOU expect people to answer when you ask? Back in college, everyone asking this seemed to mean it in terms of your major. Being out in the field a bit earlier than my peers always made asking and answering this question a bit tougher than usual.

    Instead of asking people what they do, I try to ask something more like, “What do you do with yourself?” Trying to leave the question open to something more interesting than the person’s job. All too often though, it’s assumed that I’m simply asking, “What’s your job?”

  • “…what do YOU expect people to answer when you ask?”

    I’d hope for a list. I always give a list of stuff I do. It tells me a lot more about who I’m trying to get to know than, ‘I work at Staples … .. .’.

    Even, “I’m trying to get the hell out of retail” would be a better identifying description.

    Hey! You gave a list. You win a prize!

  • peter

    Simple answer for me.

    I put in a lot of hours as a founder of a startup during the week and get to play guitar in a cover band over the weekend. That just about sucks up all my hours. Not sure if that’s living or just passing time yet. ;-)

  • @peter

    Sounds like living to me- especially that you work a lot during the week and still find time for music. Good for you!

    I remember watching game shows when I was young and they’d go around asking people what they did, and expected a few word answer. I think that would be tough stuff for me at this point in my life.

    (said really fast) Writer go to my blog at the seize.com, also ceramic artist working out of my basement studio (see ccceramics.com), also am a web developer and looking to move into general IT cuz I’ve been doing contracts since college- I take classes at night and am getting my MCSA (microsoft sys admin) cert hopefully this weekend…

    Yeah, I do a lot. I also do not a lot now that I’m looking for work again. Even then, I’m not sure how much of this says about who I am.

  • peter

    What we do is an interesting question – clearly why you posed it. ;-)

    I think its pertinent – where we spend our time says an awful lot about who we are in some way. After all, ultimately, the currency of life is time. I just think I’m programmed to give a brief answer and then expound as the conversation unfolds (or doesn’t).

    You definitely do a lot. would you say you love it all?

  • @peter

    “would you say you love it all?”

    I think I love it all, but not all of the time. :) Another related question is where does work end and play begin?

    Most of the things I do for recreation are also work. I don’t really know why say working on one website is play and other is work, but it feels distinctly different. It is motivation, work is when you’re being forced, and play is when you’re doing it of your own accord. It’s silly, though, because sometimes I feel like if someone were to use that psychology on me… like tell me to stop working, but then I keep going anyways- is it suddenly play?

    Also, about the brief answer, if you could only said you did a single thing, what would you answer?

    Would it be what takes up most of your time presently, or what you wish you could spend all of your time doing, or a generic cryptic response that begs for further elaboration?

    I know most of the readers here like the term ‘geek’. :) We know it’s what Cowboy does for a living, after all.

  • peter

    I think the quote “Do what you love & you won’t have to work a day in your life” if apropos. I like both things I do. I also think that they’re largely polar opposites helps keep me balanced (though some would debate that I have any degree of balance ;-)).

    For giving a single answer, I go with the ‘day job’. It takes up the majority of my time and wins if there’s a time conflict. At some level, practicality always wins for better or worse.

  • I think maybe another reason why sometimes I feel like it’s work when it’s something I’d be doing anyways is the timing. I’m an afternoon-evening person, and most jobs make you rise very early. We do what we have to. :) I guess it is a bit picky too, because nothing is perfect. It seems to me that if you have a job you don’t hate, you’re already doing better than most.