Occupational Thread!

[Lex]

I was thinking it might be interesting to find out what jobs [or courses, I suppose] people have, and what they are presently doing in those jobs!

I work at the University Of Waterloo as a temporary worker (though hoping to make it a little less temporary) in the Computer Science Computing Facility. I work in the infrastructure section for now. Right now, since it's the summer before the students give a major comeback in the autumn, we have been having to take apart two PC computer labs in the math building because we're replacing the workstations in those labs with Macintoshes.

For the past week, I have had a mountain of a hundred or so PCs to go through, doing the following steps to each of them.:
Remove security screws from the case. This takes a while due to the security screws being really long and quite tight compared to normal PC screws. They also have a strange head that requires a rare screwdriver end.
Open the case and blow everything on the inside with an air compressor. This bit is the worst bit. The air compressor is a machine which compresses air with a very very loud motor and has a gun attached to a hose with which to release air in the pointed direction. The motor is so loud that earplugs are recommended, and the clouds of dust from the old PCs are very dense, so I wear a facial mask. If I didn't wear the mask, I would be likely to suffocate on the dust. Haha. My eyes don't have any sort of protection, so I often get dry, dusty eyes.
Connect a hard drive containing a hard drive image to the secondary IDE cable.
Connect the power, monitor, and keyboard to the machine.
Turn on the machine and enter the BIOS using the BIOS password.
Reset the BIOS to factory defaults.
Change the boot order to floppy drive, CD drive, hard drive.
Before leaving the BIOS, insert a Windows 98 DOS boot CD which contains some hard drive image software.
Boot with the boot CD and run the image software (PowerQuest Image Center).
Delete the current partition on the machine's normal hard drive.
Write a new partition based on the image file on the image drive. During this process, I usually go off and start unscrewing some other machines' security screws to save myself some time, instead of watching the progress bar of the image-writing.
Reboot the machine, take out CD and image drive, and when the Windows setup stupp appears, write the barcode number of the PC (all the University's stuff is inventoried by barcode number) as the hostname.
Close up the machine with ordinary PC screws.
Turn off the machine, disconnect the power and peripherals, and put it in the "done" pile. Repeat with the next machine.

Each machine takes about 20 minutes if I do it as quickly as I can, and it's quite dull work. Today, I was listening to an album by Air called "Talkie Walkie" on repeat while I was doing this. It was quite nice. :)

Each of these machines is faster than my home PC. What I'm doing here is rejuvenating them so they can be sold at surplus sales, I think. I'm not quite sure where they're going to go. My dad works in the same place I do, but he's a technical guy rather than an infrastructure guy. He took one of the PCs I rejuvenated home, and it's faster than any PC he owns, and he owns at least 10 throughout the house.

[Vader]

I am a Quality Assurance Technician.

Basically I test PC, console and mobile phone games but it yields very few hours and very little pay. The rewards include being treated like dirt. Oh, the perks of working in the industry.

[Lex]

Can you show us some of your bug logs or something like that? Is it really detailed? Do the programmers get ticked off at you? My mother works as a quality assurance tester for printer software, and the programmers hate her attention to detail. She's really good at getting software to break. :p However, the programmers at her company are morons anyway, so there are loads of bugs which are findable just-about-instantly.

[Vader]

Can you show us some of your bug logs or something like that?
That would be breach of NDA.

Is it really detailed?
A bug report gives as much detail as is necessary to demonstrate a bug.

Do the programmers get ticked off at you?
Of course. ;)

[Macobsession]

Well currently i'm a college student at Saint Joseph's University in Philadelphia.(Computer Science Major, Japanese Minor)

My current job is at Quiznos Sub in Audubon. I currently have the rank of Sub Master, i'm trying for Team Captain but i have to go back to college and i dont know how much longer i'll work there. My job entails pretty much everything imaginable, including cleaning everything and washing dishes and so on.

Other then that, I'm also a part time and sort of struggling web designer for my own start up design company, Rimefire Designs. I currently only have one paying customer and they're a church so i'm not making a whole lot off them. The rest of my clients are my friends and such. I plan to eventually make it more profitable but i dont have much time right now.
Examples of my work:
http://trinitylarp.info
http://rimefire.com
http://rimefire.com/kasaryufune
http://gwfanatix.com
http://gwfanatix.com/indabon
http://calvarybaptistchurchnorristown.org
http://krakken.comicgenesis.com

Umm I'm also a part-time comic/manga writer, author, a rp maker. I plan to eventually get some d20 based rp books published once i get time to sit down and really work on them. I also have fantasy novel that i'm working on. The comics and such i'm trying to get back to working on but dont have much time.

Basically I'm involved in way too much and none of them are very profitable....

[Pigbuster]

I'm not doing much.
Though if I actually get my game to work and put enough work into it to get what I want it to be, that would be something. That would probably from now, through college, and beyond. At least 4 years, but I'm willing to put that much work into something.
I just really want to independently make a flash game, and not just a little one, but full-length. The plans I have for it are epic. Literally. The plotline I have going deals with sin, demons, the four 'D's- Death, Destruction, Doom, Despair; the three attributes of being- Mind, Body and Soul, etc. FUN FUN WHEE.
I don't think anyone really knows it but myself, but I feel like I have a knack for storylines and dialogue. I hope I can actually pull this thing off.

So... guess I'll see if that works. Then I could sell cafépress T-shirts or something. :p

Apologies if I sound sorta pretentious. I can do that, sometimes.

[bonz]

I'm studying molecular biology at Institute of Molecular Biosciences (http://www.kfunigraz.ac.at/imbmwww/index_e.html) of the University of Graz.
I'm trying to finish my bachelor degree in the next 2 semesters to get my started with my master studies.

For a year I have been working 8 hours a week at Oridis Biomed (http://www.oridis-biomed.com) (Origin of Disease; research of therapeutics for liver cancer & liver diseases) petting the laboratory mice under near-sterile conditions and doing various laboratory work (animal tests, RNA extraction, protein purification, histologic preparation).
This is soon to be upgraded to 16 hours a week.
In summer I'm doing this job full-time.

Note: laboratory mice are all Pinkys; no Brains.

[Pigbuster]

Note: laboratory mice are all Pinkys; no Brains.
How do you know that they aren't just acting like Pinkys so you won't think that they're brains? ;)

[bonz]

How do you know that they aren't just acting like Pinkys so you won't think that they're brains? ;)
Does Brain ever act like Pinky? :)

[MtlAngelus]

My job as pointed out before is as Customer Care(Hah, yeah right...) for Sprint togheter with Nextel. I basicly take calls and resolve customer's issues.
90% of the customers hate sprint, 9% doesn't care, 1% loves sprint.
I win an equivalent of $600 US a month, plust whatever I sell.
We get quality check and it affects how much we get for each sale, my current ranking is the lowest (D), my quality score is around 60%(should be 80%), my average call handling time is around 500 secs(should be 410>), my adherency(or how well I keep to my schedule, that means going out to break/lunch at an exact time) is around 60%(should be 90%)(I keep forgetting or get stupidly long calls right before going to break/lunch -.-), and my MAXimize(how much I sell) is around 5%(should be 10%)...
Of course I'm technically new, so I have time to improve, but it's hard meeting the quality requirements, one little bit of missinformation or anything you forgot to tell the customer is an instant 20% less. And I must say the training process was quite lacking of information. Also most things happend to change right while I was in training so most of the things I learned no longer apply...:mad:
I also keep having questions on how to resolve things, and my supervisor keeps dissapearing whenever I need her :p
edit: Forgot to mention I take calls from spanish speaking people(and sometimes portuguese, but I can't understand a thing they say :p)
I could switch to english, and I would get paid $900 US, but I'm afraid my english isn't that good(judging by the few english calls I've received)
So... yeah, that's pretty much it, so thanks for calling Sprint and have a nice day!

[Pigbuster]

Does Brain ever act like Pinky? :)
No, but really, he's not all that smart either.
Yes, he has a big brain, but he seems to have certain traits which always make his plans backfire.

[philby4000]

I've no proper job, but I do occasional electrical work with my dad.

Installing Data cables for use in telephone systems and internet access mostly.

[Zero72]

I'm a machine operator at the only current USA plant for Leclerc Foods ( www.leclerc.ca , not that it says much). As you may have guessed, the plant manufactures snack foods; I work on the granola bar line. Specifically, the very end of the line, where the product is already all complete and in boxes ready to be plunked onto store shelves; my job is to run the machines that put the boxes into cardboard cases, which then go onto a pallet for shipping.

I run:

A case former. This takes flat cases, folds them out and glues them on the bottom so boxes can be loaded into them. It requires to be frequently loaded, by hand, with new cases, and also that a glue pot on its side be kept fairly full with these little M&M-sized glue chips. It is very temperamental and will not behave properly if it doesn't like the cases it has for whatever the reason. And sometimes the cases are just complete crap, which just cheeses me off to utterly no end.

The "SLS". I don't know what it stands for, if anything intelligible. The boxes coming down the conveyor shoot into this thing, which divides them evenly into 12 new channels, to be packed by the robots, which we'll be getting to shortly. This requires no maintenance, but on the rare occasion that it breaks down, it's a big deal. It can jam if it's configured wildly improperly (rare) or sometimes if a bad box gets into it. Unjamming is a pain in the ass because you have to lean the entire upper half of your being into a very confined space full of things to hit your head on very hard.

Two robots. They're apparently really state-of-the-art, and I've even heard them called the most advanced on the whole east coast. Well, doesn't that make me special? The reason the SLS divides the boxes up into those channels are so the robots can grab 12 boxes at a time and place them with loving precision into a case, which just rolled on down a lower conveyor belt fresh out of the case former. These are the most reliable machines in the plant, although they often still suck. They were named Gollum and Gandalf after some sort of random hat drawing in which I wasn't included for some stupid reason. :mad: Granted, the names I gave them weren't very nice. I think I named one "Communist Ass-Spelunking Necrophile," and I forget the other.

Sometimes, an inkjet code-date-printing thing which prints a bunch of dumb information and a bar code on two sides of the case. It works pretty well, but is rather delicate. Maintenance includes occasional ink refills (swift and lovably painless) and occasional wiping of the print heads with these special cloths.

A case closer. Pretty much the case former's sister, from the same makers and all that. Glues the open tops of the cases shut. The position of the four flaps it folds in is fairly important, or it won't work right. Generally fairly reliable, but will jam spectacularly if a box doesn't go into it quite right. It is a serious pain in the ass to un-jam and will, more often than not, result in small cuts and scrapes to the hands and forearms. Requires a lot less glue than the former.

When the code date printer doowacky isn't being used, there is a label-printer-and-on-case-putting machine that we have to use instead. This thing is the bane of my existence. It is going to kill me some day. Messily. And I will be glad. I hate it. Everybody hates it. It hates everybody.

A palletizer, the "Top Tier." A very large machine to say the least. This takes the closed-up and marked and everything else and ready to go cases and stacks them neatly on a pallet, and even stretch-wraps them, to be shipped off. It can also place a slipsheet on a pallet before any cases are, if necessary. I'd say it's perfectly reliable about half the time and a horrible pain in the rump the other half. Due just to the size and nature of the thing, there are many different things that can go wrong with it, most of which aren't hugely serious, but can be a lot for a newcomer to handle. I often say that you really can't be taught everything about it, and just have to use it and learn how it thinks. Guess that's true of all of my machines, as I think of it.

All of the above suck in their own lovable little ways.

And, as I said, I'm right in the middle of all of these things, and it's my job to make sure they're all working right. Sometimes everything works fine and my job is all good and well. Sometimes nothing at all works right and I'm reduced to a jabbering mess who can do little but jump up and down and throw fistfuls of his own excrement in all directions.

I kid you not when I say that I thoroughly believe that this job has changed who I am as a human being. I used to be very quiet, calm and mild-mannered, but working here has seriously quickened my temper. It tends to physically and mentally beat the hell out of me. I often say that my job is actually just to swear at inanimate objects for 10 hours straight, which is more true than it probably sounds.

I guess I shouldn't complain, though, because it's a steady and stable source of healthy income, and in times like this, anybody with a job should be grateful for it. It's worth $9.45 an hour to them, which amounts to... Hell, more than $1200 a month, I guess. What I bring home, I mean.

The job is second-shift, from 5 PM to almost always after 3 AM, 4 days a week. Second-shift life has not been kind to me.

My coworkers, especially my supervisor, are all great folks, although I do occasionally still find myself forgotten.

Oh yeah, I knew I forgot something. All the people who actually matter seem to think I'm doing a pretty good job at it, so there's something.

[MtlAngelus]

I might end up crossing that river after all.:-/

[Zero72]

We have openings. :p

[KamikazeBananze]

I'm a second year Computer Science (BA mod) student. Technically.

I failed one of my Junior Freshman (first year) end-of-year exams, and now I have to sit a supplemental. If I pass this, I get into Senior Freshman, and remain the Trinity Gamers Society Librarian. If I fail, I fail the year, and will have to pay to repeat JF.

The reason why the "pay" bit is mentioned is because secondary education over here is free for Irish citizens. Not sure what it's like in other places, I'll admit.

As a result, I'm busily trying to study. I don't know when the exam actually IS. All I know is that it's between the 11th and the 22nd of September. Same period as my birthday. Won't that be fun: my birthday AND an exam that will determine if I remain in Trinity. Woo. I'm so lucky.

Before then, I've been, essentially, a bum. I play PC games and go out with friends. I don't have much experience with working, so I don't get hired. So I can't get more experience, etc.

[bloopy]

I'm a software developer at Bilfinger Berger Services (http://bbsaa.com.au) (BBS). Sold my soul to a major corporation. I have mixed thoughts about corporations but that doesn't get in the way of my actions. Got the job in June 2005 but didn't start working full time until November, because I was doing the last stages of my 4 year IT degree in software engineering. I enjoy programming because I'm good at it. Working full time is hard enough on the spirit as it is, so I doubt I could withstand a job if I didn't enjoy it.

BBS does the maintenance of the water supply for a couple of councils around this area. The software development is done by just a few people across the whole company. It's madly ad hoc and there's all kinds of bits and pieces for all the different processes required. BBS has not had the maintenance contract with these councils for much more than a year, and there is quite a lot of changes and confusion to the technical specifications of the maintenance work and all that sort of thing going on too. So the whole thing's ad hoc really, it's fascinating.

I'm usually found programming C# in Visual Studio, or programming SQL and running reports, where a report sometimes means a table of numbers. I also get to do a bit of IT support, because there's nobody else at this office to do that.

I wrote a poem about my job. (http://www.deviantart.com/deviation/34697110/) :p

The maintenance work that the guys do out on the job is quite interesting too. When I started, I didn't know that there was maintenance guys, or what the software I was working on was for. I didn't know what a reinstatement was... it means filling the hole in the ground back up and resurfacing it after a job is done. They sure do a lot of digging holes, it seems kind of inefficient. Like software with bugs in it, the water supply pipes constantly have leaks somewhere (and occasionally geysers). I didn't know what a toby was... that's what they call a stoptap/service valve here, the tap usually somewhere around your driveway you use to turn the water off.

I've learnt a hell of a lot in a short time, including a lot about programming and business processes. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what this thingymajig does? :D

[MrBunsy]

Interesting, measures water pressure by any chance?

[bloopy]

Nope, it doesn't measure something, but you're right that it has something to do with pressure. :cool:

[M3ntal]

There is clearly a measuring device of sorts on the top left there, Bloopy :P. Is it a pump?

[Vader]

Is it the bilge pump from a Shoremaster 3300?

[bonz]

Nope, it doesn't measure something, but you're right that it has something to do with pressure. :cool:
Is it some kind of automatic valve that can open/close itself at specific pressures?

[Macobsession]

The reason why the "pay" bit is mentioned is because secondary education over here is free for Irish citizens. Not sure what it's like in other places, I'll admit.

hahaha....free secondary education? I wish...Yeh in the US we have to pay...lots... especially if we have parents that make us pay for alot of it ourselves. Also tuition goes up about every year now. I'm so freaking broke now...thank god for scholarships.

[Lex]

No, secondary educaiton is completely free in the USA. You're thinking of post-secondary education, Macobsession.

Zero, your writing style is supreme. I loved reading your post. It was quite entertaining.

[Macobsession]

No, secondary educaiton is comrletely free in the USA. You're thinking of post-secondary education, Macobsession.

Zero, your writing style is supreme. I loved reading your post. It was quite entertaining.

Oh yeh...i forgot that they have a different education system in most other countries. Since K-12 is manditory here i always consider college secondary education.
But still i've heard that the we have some of the highest tuition rates around.
Mines like $28,960(not including room and board).

[Star Worms]

I'm a lazy bum doing nothing:-/

[MtlAngelus]

I've learnt a hell of a lot in a short time, including a lot about programming and business processes. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what this thingymajig does? :D
Does it explode? :D

[thomasp]

I've got a summer holiday job at my local intergalactic airport, directing pax to the appropriate buses in the coach station, and generally keeping an eye on things down there. Been a bit busy recently with the terrorist threats, but its calmed down now.

Two downsides are that you work outside so you either get sunburnt or absolutely soaked (like today) when it rains.

[AndrewTaylor]

Today, I Designed An Interfece, and perfected by Stain Finding Algorithm, which detects which dark parts of teeth are stained and which are just in shadow, or naturally darker. I'm quite pleased with it because this time last week I'd have thought it would be impossible.

This happens a lot at work these days. I'm asked to do something, I have a think, and decide it's impossible. But I have eight hours in which to do sod all else, and I generally end up cracking it sooner or later.

Either I'm a genius or a fatalist or both. I wonder...
I've learnt a hell of a lot in a short time, including a lot about programming and business processes. Anyone wanna take a guess as to what this thingymajig does? :D
Looks to me like an ammeter but for pipes.

[Lex]

Wow, Andrew. That's pretty impressive. Does that stain-detecting algorithm work 100% of the time with the right images? What sort of image has to be used? It can't just work on any picture of someone with teeth showing, can it?

[AndrewTaylor]

No, it's fairly good, but if the image is poor it'll get things wrong. If there's a lot of stain it can't get a good baseline and misses bits, for example. But yes, it is pretty impressive ;)

It works on QLF images. You get a tiny camera with a big blue light on and put it in someone's mouth. Apparently, and here's something you'd think someone would have noticed sooner, teeth glow green in visible light. Only faintly, mark you, but they do. Blue light makes them glow a rather eerie shade of green. And that's what QLF looks at.

[Vader]

Today, I Designed An Interfece

Interfaeces? I don't even want to think about what that might involve.

[bloopy]

There is clearly a measuring device of sorts on the top left there, Bloopy :P. Is it a pump?

That's the top right, the thing is sitting on its side. :p I believe that bit gives a reading of what setting the device is set to. It's not a pump.

Is it some kind of automatic valve that can open/close itself at specific pressures?

Nope, but it is a valve of some sort.

Does it explode? :D

That might depend on what kind of substance you put through it I suppose. :p

Looks to me like an ammeter but for pipes.

The purpose of the device is not to measure something. Also, wouldn't it be better to say that volts are more like pressure, as amps are like flow?

[Zero72]

Zero, your writing style is supreme. Hardly, but thanks anyway. :p

I need to stop overusing certain things.

[Lex]

If it entertains, it is good writing.

[KamikazeBananze]

Bloopy: I think it might be a tap of some kind. There are two tap-deelies, connected to the pressure gauge, and that blue thing is a pipe. It appears to be a normal connection, with the capabilities to divert water so that the pressure can be checked. As a result, it doesn't measure. The measuring is an additional function.

It takes water from one pipe to another.

I think. That's a hell of a loophole to climb into...

[bloopy]

Heh, it does something rather more useful than that. Any valve is a tap of some kind. ;)

[KamikazeBananze]

Meh.

Water Pressure Regulator?

[AndrewTaylor]

Also, wouldn't it be better to say that volts are more like pressure, as amps are like flow?
Yes. It looked like it measured flow to me. But that's probably because I know nothing about plumbing.

I'm siding with KB on it, now. Is it a pressure regulator that you put in a pipe and it bleeds off enough of whatever's in the pipe to set the pressure back where it should be? Or would that count as a tap?

Edit: Hmm, looks like you covered that.

[Vader]

Is it a custard cannon like they used on British submarines in WWII?

[SupSuper]

I'm staying the hell away from this thread, it makes me feel worthless.

[BetongÅsna]

The copper pipes on that thing lead me to suspect there's some sort of hot water involved. Could it be a pressure boiler of some kind, maybe for a central heating system? Bit small, like.

I do nothing at the minute, but from next year will be studying Japanese at the University of London.

[Vader]

Is it the slowly deteriorating sanity of a man whose sole sanctuary is the use of mind-altering narcotics in a world where help comes second to punishment?

[MtlAngelus]

It's quite obviously a mechanical hearth.

I'm staying the hell away from this thread, it makes me feel worthless.
You do make porn websites for a living don't you? :p

[SupSuper]

You do make porn websites for a living don't you? :pLiving? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAha... gawd no, I'd be dead then. I make websites so that I can actually afford to buy, well, stuff, ever since my parents cut off my allowance and I can't just rely on holiday money.

Plus I don't make JUST porn websites. Blame Ben for that, he was the one that got me that customer. :p

[bloopy]

I'm siding with KB on it, now. Is it a pressure regulator that you put in a pipe and it bleeds off enough of whatever's in the pipe to set the pressure back where it should be? Or would that count as a tap?

You and KB are about right I think. It's a pressure reducing/refrain valve. So you can control the pressure of the water that comes out of it, if the pressure going in is too high.

[Lex]

Finally, the thread-stealing topic is over. Now someone else can post about what they're currently doing at work and be listened to! :p

[Vader]

I have resigned from my current job. I have work tomorrow and Tuesday and after that... well, let's just say I've applied places but I'm uncertain of how it'll all go.

[Lex]

Well, good luck on getting a more-exciting job! Do you think you have a good reference from your (current/previous) job?

[Vader]

I'd better do, I worked bloody hard and got good results. :)

Oh, and the job I'm leaving is the most exciting job I've ever had. I would be in my element when I was testing but now it's time to move on and (hopefully) test other, less interesting things.

*sigh*

[MtlAngelus]

I've won a keychain and a mug at work, but they have yet to give me my prizes. Suposedly tomorrow.:cool: :p

[bonz]

I've won a keychain and a mug at work, but they have yet to give me my prizes. Suposedly tomorrow.:cool: :p
That's a trick so you always come to work again "tomorrow" and not quit and run.

[MtlAngelus]

Yeah. But they're too awesome at it. Disco Ball keychain! :p
It's actually more of a promotion to encourage selling, we get a ticket for every "x" sales depending on what you're selling, and in said tickets you can either win an instant prize(stuff like the mug and keychain), you can get letters, or an entry to a weekly drawing.
The letters is for one of those "collect letters to shape words and win things" competitions, they're giving away Xbox 360's, ipod's, etc. :D :p

[Slick]

Well I currently work at Arby's fast food. However I put in my two weeks notice last Thursday. Hopefully I can get this job at Best Buy...or a job painting if the guy is willing to wait untill this friday for me to find out.
Whichever one I get, it will be A LOT better than that place.

Oh and I do a side job as a amiture comedian on some of the weekends for the fun of it.

[KamikazeBananze]

I do have a sort-of occupation.

I'm a GM for Paranoia. I don't get paid, or asked to do a 9-to-5 shift. I just get some players, sit down, and kill their characters.

Oh, and if you look it up on Wikipedia, it's the role-playing game. And please don't look at the sections entitled "Spoiler warning: This section contains information intended only for gamemasters."

[CyberShadow]

Huuuuuuuh. What a confusing game.

So you partially play the role of the Computer? Or is the Computer an actual simulated program which you can modify? Or is it all role play?

[MonkeyforaHead]

Back end of a McDonald's, meaning I do a lot of cleaning, grilling, dropping stuff in the deep frier, and assembling burgers.

Currently swearing my fool head off because the god damn shift manager(s) can't seem to get the hang of the fact that I do not work longer than 6 hour shifts, and need to have 20 hours per week minimum. Presently my schedule for next week is one 6-hour shift and one 7-hour shift.

**** them all. I'm applying to EB Games first chance I get.

[KamikazeBananze]

Huuuuuuuh. What a confusing game.

So you partially play the role of the Computer? Or is the Computer an actual simulated program which you can modify? Or is it all role play?

Let me put it this way:

The Computer is absolutely bat s***t insane. It's a few billion sardines short of a sardine cannery. It's schizophrenic, due to the enormous amount of conflicting programs added to it over time. It means well, but seems to mess up all the time. It trusts no-one, and is premanently hunting Communists in an increasingly socialist environment.

And it'll kill you if you show any treasonous behaviour.

If you're an unregistered mutant, you're a traitor, and you're killed. If you're in one of many secret societies, you're a traitor, and you're killed.

All PCs are mutants. All PCs are in a secret society.

And all PCs are against all PCs.

Stay alert! Trust no-one! Keep your laser handy!

Oh, and being unhappy, unhygenic, uncooperative, untrustworthy or unconcerned is treason. And you'll be killed.

[CyberShadow]

TBH that doesn't make me any less confused. From "due to the enormous amount of conflicting programs added to it over time" I understand you can actually somehow program it. But how, do you actually write the code in-game?

I guess it's one of the things that you can understand only by trying it yourself. Maybe one day...

[Paul.Power]

TBH that doesn't make me any less confused. From "due to the enormous amount of conflicting programs added to it over time" I understand you can actually somehow program it. But how, do you actually write the code in-game?In short, the GM plays the Computer.

I haven't played it, but as an ex-member of CURS I know several people who have - and they keep quoting bits at me...

[Slick]

Update: Now currently jobless! :D
YAY! I HATE LIFEFLjas;dlfkja;sdlflasjdf;lakjdsf:(

[Vader]

Heh, I quit 3 Fridays ago and I'm still getting called in for work.

I mean, it's fine for now because I really need the cash but it takes the Mickey a bit.

One of my job applications fell through. For now I have most of my eggs in one remaining basket - a situation I've always tried to avoid but never quite managed to.

[KamikazeBananze]

CURS? Please explain, P.P.

No, you don't actually code it in-game. Any PC who tries is in deep trouble. You make a skill roll, and if it's under your Programming skill level, you get caught trying to program Friend Computer. If it's over, you fail to write a coherent program, and you get caught trying to program Friend Computer. Simple as that.

The three rules every PC must remember:

1) The GM is ALWAYS right. Even if he was wrong at the time, he was still right. If he changes a descision later, he was right then, and he's righter still now.

2) You don't know the rules. If you've read 1984, this is doublethink and doublespeak.

3) Entertain or die. The GM rolls everything. He decides if you live or die. Entertain, and he'll fudge some rolls or give you Perversity Points. Become boring, and every off-target laser will hit you.

If you want to play: http://www.paranoia-live.net

The above link goes to the Paranoia Live! site, where you can download jParanoia, which allows you to play a game of Paranoia online. Like a MUD.

[MtlAngelus]

I love it when a customer calls in and goes like "Yeah... I just spoke with you a while ago..." when I ask for their name... I mean, seriously.
And also those that go like "I don't want you to explain anything to me, I want you to remove the charges". Yeeeaaaah right.
edit: oh and those Puerto Ricans and their abbility to accumulate excesive charges for internet usage when they "don't even know how to use the intelnet".

[Lex]

Lol, your job sounds funny, Angel.

I am no longer working, and have been no longer working for the past week and a half or so. It's nice. Ha!

[MtlAngelus]

"Sir the charges are beacuse you were on Roam"
"Rome? I WAS NEVER ON ROME!!"
"..."(specialist on mute, laughing out loud)

So yeah, it's quite fun some times. :p

[Paul.Power]

CURS? Please explain, P.P.Cambridge University Roleplaying Society. Typically divides into two groups, which may be summarised as "You can do anything, but you can't do everything!" (D&D, Fading Suns, etc.) and "You can do everything, but you can't do anything!" (Exalted and so on)

[KamikazeBananze]

Sounds like us, but we tend divide into one group: "Do it, and if it works, good for you!" This applies to all roleplaying games (D'n'D, Mage, etc.), board games (Thud!, Monopoly,etc.) card games (Magic, poker, etc.), and tabletop games (Warhammer, Bloodbowl, etc.).

As a result, we've had some strange occurences. Like me killing off half my own team in Bloodbowl by getting them eaten by trolls or thrown into the crowd, yet still drawing. Or a katana and wakizashi being left in the room for nearly two years.

Why "ex-member"?

[Vader]

I've been working 9:30am-11pm for the last two days. Tomorrow is 9:30am-10pm, then Friday I'm doing 9:30am-9:30pm.

**** me, it's tiring.

[Star Worms]

I've been working 9:30am-11pm for the last two days. Tomorrow is 9:30am-10pm, then Friday I'm doing 9:30am-9:30pm.

**** me, it's tiring.On the plus side, you must be getting loads of money. On those hours I would probably end up falling asleep at work.

[Vader]

Lots of money... every penny of which is going towards rent, bills and food. :(

[Zero72]

At least you have a place to live and stuff to eat. It's a start. :p

[Paul.Power]

Sounds like us, but we tend divide into one group: "Do it, and if it works, good for you!" This applies to all roleplaying games (D'n'D, Mage, etc.), board games (Thud!, Monopoly,etc.) card games (Magic, poker, etc.), and tabletop games (Warhammer, Bloodbowl, etc.).

As a result, we've had some strange occurences. Like me killing off half my own team in Bloodbowl by getting them eaten by trolls or thrown into the crowd, yet still drawing. Or a katana and wakizashi being left in the room for nearly two years.

Why "ex-member"?Because I've left Cambridge, and I never bothered to subscribe for Life Membership, only Yearly.

[KamikazeBananze]

Meh.

TCD Gamers is open to anyone.

We've got a guy working for HP, several people who aren't in TCD and even people who haven't left secondary school yet (my fault!).

[jb.jones]

I'm a project manager for a marketing consultancy company. Basically we have a number of clients, that if they have any concerns (about market viability, new product development, why market share is declining, opportunities for improvement, general satisfaction, ad testing, predictive modelling, market/brand tracks or other specific problems), we go in and make recommendations for improvement.

This basically means that if our clients have a problem they contact us, I go in and write up a project plan of how we are going come up with recommendations for finding out opportunities for their business. We will then outsource research to another company, I then get the data back, and conduct analysis, look for trends and answers to questions that we may have. Then I write a report based on the findings and conduct a presentation.

I'm from the USA but work here in Australia. The really cool thing is sometimes I have to fly to other cities around the country for certain projects. This is kinda like free mini vacations because I can visit other cities in Australia. Its hard work but it’s a fun job and it rarely gets boring because I am always working on a project, learning about a new industry.

[AndrewTaylor]

I'm reading this post on the leftmost of the monitors connected to the largest of the six computers I've used today. My job is great.

[Vader]

Is there something especially great about computers with multiple monitors?

I'm genuinely asking.

Incidentally, I have 2 monitors, one of which is plugged into 2 PCs. I could plug my projector in, too but leave it unplugged when it's not in use.

If I could talk about some of the cool things I've been able to use at work I would. I think they're the sort of things you'd get a lot of pleasure from. Shame, that. *evil grin*

[AndrewTaylor]

No. They're intrinsically great.

[Vader]

I guess so.

My home kit is intrinsically great in that case, making your job relatively average.