What do you do for a living?

[Jcurl02]

Hey, 

I'm considering my second build and I was attempting to understand those of us who seem to have this bug of building our own guitars.  So I thought, what is it in our background that may be similar?  I personally am an engineer and like to think / plan / research / spec and maybe even draw what I want over and over again until I am certain what I want.

So, what profession are the rest of you?  Please pick the closest or reply and I'll add other options.

Thanks!

btw.....  What is GAS in terms of this forum?

 

[Cagey]

I'm retired now, an electrical engineer/computer programmer before that.

GAS=Gear (or Guitar) Acquisition Syndrome

 

[kboman]

Optometrist, so you need to add an "other" category

 

[Soylent]

Sales so.. I...

I'm just so tired..

 

[bagman67]

Surprisingly, perhaps, to most folks, lawyers do not have it made in the shade.  There is a fraction of the profession that lives mighty high on the hog, but the bulk are working stiffs - down-the-middle-of-middle-class.  Most are in one-or-two-lawyer practices ('small businessmen' is the jargon), or are government workers.  The really rich ones - and it really should not surprise anyone to learn this - are comparatively rare.  They just get the most airtime.


For every George Clooney, there's hundreds of actors who are trying to get a commercial, or do a play in a local theater company.  So it is with lawyers, albeit to a less dramatic (ahem) extent.


Myself, I'm a recovering lawyer who now does legal technology project management and consults on managing large document corpora in connection with big-ticket litigation or three-letter-agency investigations.  I get paid better than I used to as a lawyer, and I can live with myself.


Bagman

 

[AutoBat]

Optometrist, so you need to add an "other" category

Optometrist isn't a doctor?

 

[mgaut051]

Pediatric Resident, year 1.5 out of 4 to 5.

So I have my MD (makes me a Dr.  :headbang1 but I don't get paid much (even in Canada, look it up ) and have a MONSTROUS study debt to pay off, with about 30% of my net income going to debt "repayment" (only interest really  :binkybaby: ). At the end of the day (in 3-4 years), I'll make great money, nowhere near as much as the majority of docs - but you don't go into peds for the money - it's about the people you get to work with/for, the diseases of childhood, the inspiring way kids are so stoic about illness, and the work environment in general. Hours are long, studying is hard, but I love what I do.
I also have a bachelor's in Biochemistry and most of a Bachelor's in Chemical Engineering.
Put those 3 together and yes, I like to think, plan, research, work with my hands etc.

Guitars for me is an obsession, I like it because it's a blank slate - you can come up with anything. I like making something from nothing, I like the tweaking of the plan to perfection, the hunt for the parts, the thrill of plugging it in for the first time. I love the smell of wood, the satisfying feeling of a hand plane, router, table saw or whatever cutting through wood. I like the problem solving (i.e. how am I going to make my cavity wider without changing the top? How am I going to use this piece of wood that is 0.25" too narrow?...) I like the change the wood undergoes when you put some oil or finish on it. I like buying tools and lumber (it makes me feel like my projects are moving forward when I do, and takes less time than actually working on one of my many projects).

No time, no cash. That will change some day.

And GAS is a terrible incurable expensive disease that no health insurance will cover because the prognosis is so poor.

 

[B3Guy]

Film Student, unemployed, family unemployed . . . but my dream neck literally showed up in the showcase one day, so . . . now I'm a BROKE unemployed film student  :help:

 

[Mor Paul]

Student, no "real job," but I do advertisement design and run sound on the side.

 

[mayfly]

didn't we have another poll about this awhile back?

In any case, I herd cats.

 

[TBurst Std]

There is nothing suitable for me to choose,
I am a SixSigma business process manager for 60% of my income. I am a PW guitarist for 20% of my income. The remaining 20% I am a PW consultant to other churches.

Where is the just " business" group? I could check that

 

[crash]

My degree is in Chemical engineering.  Now, I guess you could say, I am working as an Electrical engineer.  Mainly I perform safety testing on medical equipment and performance testing on security systems.

 

[Cagey]

In any case, I herd cats.

See him at work.

 

[Jusatele]

I kept looking for the option of Bum :cool01:

 

[nexrex]

I am a computer technician by trade (you know fixing, repairing and upgrading pc's/servers). Work in that industry is fairly dead end, so I have been doing software support for a company that markets fundraising systems.

 

[mullyman]

I'm a school teacher. I teach English as a second language in Japan. 1 month shy of 21 years.
MULLY

 

[baskruit]

I voted Engineer/Architect.

I work in IT as a systems engineer. Being hired for periods of usually 1-9 months I've seen a lot of different companies from the inside the last 10 years. Government, research, education, senior care, advertising, car industry, pharmaceutical industry, law. While the commutes can be longer than ideal and I don't always find it all that intellectual stimulating, I love the diversity that comes with my job.

I finished my first year in aerospace engineering a generation ago but found the upcoming internet much more intriguing so I gradually slipped into this career.
I've taken a stab at IT project management and consulting a couple of years ago (a logical next step in a career in IT) and passed several related exams but I'm just too hands-on, analytical and introvert for that to enjoy it and (therefore) be any good at it. I'd love to teach though. I really see me do that one day.

 

[pabloman]

I chose medical. I am a licensed psych tech. Currently I work in an emancipation program for teenage boys. We work on transition back into the community. I am also a job/behavior/transition coach. At this facility I do case management as well as tracking/mentoring. It's a pretty interesting field. One day I have an 18 year old gangster crying because his family is so screwed up the next day I have him in a physical hold because he tried to assault me for only letting him have 2 waffles instead of 4. But then the day after that we are shooting hoops at the YMCA. Plus I have 5 kids and their mom at home. I try hard to maintain my rule of more guitars than family members ratio. With 5 kids sometimes that can be difficult.

 

[Cagey]

I chose medical. I am a licensed psych tech. Currently I work in an emancipation program for teenage boys. We work on transition back into the community. I am also a job/behavior/transition coach.

That's a helluva job.

Many, many moons ago I did a teaching gig for "troubled" teens who were working toward their GED after having been more or less rejected from the system, but actually wanted to complete at least that level of education. Of course, a little willingness on the student's part goes a long way when you're trying to teach, but there were often so many extra-curricular difficulties in their lives that it was a real uphill battle. That, and often a surprisingly small amount of pre-req work had ever been done so very basic concepts weren't there to build on. Tough to teach math to guys who can barely read or don't know there are 360 degrees in a circle.

I didn't last long at it. Ate me alive. Made me want to cry too often, in between being angry and frustrated with the reality those poor kids lived in.

 

[Eric Banjitar]

I am Junior High (7th and 8th grade) Technology Education Teacher.  I teach Engineering to kids.

Why is Luthier not one of the jobs listed? Don't any of us build guitars for a living?