I am a middle manager in IT for a big “blue chip” and drive an Audi. I think the answers to the follow up questions are blindingly obvious.

For the STW bingo full house, do you actually have a 5?

I am a middle manager in IT for a big “blue chip” and drive an Audi. I think the answers to the follow up questions are blindingly obvious.

Well that’s two of us, although I have a Honda. Looks to me like most STWers so far are in the health service. Bizarre that the stereotype continues.

Sub-contract window designer, trying to put architect’s designs into practice (or telling them it can’t be done).

Always busy and at times very frustrating, generally enjoyable though and learning every day.

Rope access technician. Mainly on the Spinnaker tower in Portsmouth, dangling up to 170m in the air either cleaning or fixing stuff. The jobs themselves are pretty mundane but the setting and getting to them is really interesting and good fun.
Only been doing it for 6 weeks but so happy I made the change. Was a big jump and involved a fair financial commitment for the training and kit but it’s been well worth it.
Pay is pretty good but I guess it reflects the job.
Was given my way into the industry by a good friend, otherwise I’d more than likely be scraping pigeon poo out of gutters or cleaning inside grain silos…

aerial satellite and cctv salesman on a trade counter.

love it to bits, spend my day supping tea with customers, watching porn and sport on the latest free media receiver, or talking utter bollox on here all day.

good wage for not much effort.

break into networks and computers, mostly banks/insurance companies and e-commerce stuff.

mostly varied and good fun, but some boring paperwork

yeah it’s better then average as we know magic stuff.

I sell this software

and consult in it, moved from the UK to Oz and now work for the Oz distributor. Currently part time working from home which suits me though it’s taken me to NZ, and around Australia doing training and consulting.

Done stuff with food manufacturers, hospitals and heaps more

It has the usual work issues but generally good.

Earn enough but not loads currently

My job is to try to make the contracts we have more profitable, I try to find ways to bill for things the client hasn’t paid for (or turn it off and save money) and find cheaper ways of doing what they have paid for.

When you find something that hasn’t been thought of before it’s a buzz.

Not all of my salary is taxed a basic rate, but if I got a 5% share of the savings I’ve found this year I would be very happy.

Oil industry

Design new techniques for Enhanced Oil Recovery. Work closely with numerous (funded) university departments all over the world visiting each at least yearly. Work with some service companies and get to give “Blue” a regular kicking which is always a pleasure.

Oil company staff so can be embarrassingly generous compared to “normal” and possibly more worthwhile jobs.

Dickyboy – Member
Principal Mining Engineer for an international consultancy
where & when did you start out? I rather stupidly turned down a sponsored position at nottingham uni to study mining eng, always wondered what I’d be up to now if I’d stuck it out.

Started out in the late eighties in County Durham. It has taken me all over the world, and still does.

I have two jobs, nights I work for Bosch in one of their factories, by day I sell wood and do gardening work

Estimator
I can’t escape the feeling that you stand and look at things and say ‘It’ll be about that much’….

That’s about right……just with plans, elevations and specifications. It can be good, I worked on one of the buildings in the Olympic village, but most often it’s dealing with mundane minutiae that’s hard to give a toss about.

Pik n Mix – I used to do similar before teaching. I studied meiofauna (freshwater) 63-1000 microns which included some ostracods at the lower range. After my PhD I decided enough was enough and moved to the macrofauna!

After picking 63µm today with a stonking hangover and after pinging 3 really nice forams as soon as I tried to pick them, macrofauna seem very appealing! That being said microfossils really float my boat.

Self employed Carpenter , Roofer. ,general builder
Money’s shit
Conditions are shit

Wouldn’t change for the world 😉

Nice to see the IT middle management demographic make a late entry 😉 I used to do that before now selling my soul to the highest bidder in the hired-gun world of the interim/contractor. It’s not always enjoyable/risk-free/unstressful but at least I’m no longer making money for people I despised.

Anyone whoever worked for a large consultancy will probably share my pain!

It goes family, bikes, work. In that order. Took me a while to work that out.

I’ve got a job that’s hard to describe even to people that I work with and tends to send them to sleep when I even try 😉 . The job title’s even worse so I won’t even go into that!

Basically I’m an SAP process specialist, which consists of IT systems support, project work, training, business analysis and development.

Been with the same company for long time mainly cause the company’s been good to me and I’ve genuinely liked working with my colleagues. Unfortunately the organisation has shrunk so much in the last few years that I’m now working remotely from home with occasional trips to meet colleagues in London and overseas.

Love working from home because of the work/life balance and the time it gives me with my family, but hate the isolation. Love the challenge of making a difference to the business but my god it can also be tedious at times too.

The pay’s alright but I’d never say no to a rise either!

What do you guys do for work?

Do you enjoy it?

Some of it

How much do you get paid?

Can’t grumble

Talk to me.

Just one more thing…

Anyone whoever worked for a large consultancy will probably share my pain!

Yep, been there and done that. The only difference being they despised me more than me them and they kicked me out. Probably the best thing that ever happened but god knows how many years later and I am still in IT.

I lurk around A&E departments and the like meeting lots of folk who have self harmed or attempted suicide. I only do this part time, so have my fingers in a bit of property, appear to be a joint owner of a bar/ nightclub and I’m the process of setting up a micro-brewery with 2 others.

I love the nursing and the brewing, but the number of hours I have to put in overall wouldn’t be great if I wanted to be a family man, or wanted proper sleep for that matter.

I could afford to give up the nursing, and at present the brewery is still costing me money, so I consider myself a very lucky chap.

micro brewery eh smell it? tell us more

Yeah, let STW take your brewery into profit. I presume you have an ‘Orange 5’ and ‘Mincer’ beer in the line up?

16 years as a research scientist, worked on the genome sequencing project at the sanger centre, then 10 years in cancer research,now cardiovascual science, contributed to really interesting work that will hopefully benefit people in the future.
Consider myself very lucky that I get to constantly learn new stuff and spend a chunk of my day reading scientific papers which I actually find fascinating. Attend seminars by some very clever people and for the most part the atmosphere is casual and relaxed. the work can be stressfull but I enjoy it.

The salary is a bit above national average, but recent cuts to science and NHS funding mean the usual merrygoround of 1-3 year rolling grants has got an awful lot harder – unemployed for 6mths this year and long term contracts are very hard to come by.
Not to mention loosing 7 yrs of pension contributions when the institute scheme went bust.
Id love to become an archaeologist but being a dad and homeowner thats not gonna cut it.
So im looking at starting teacher training next year in the hope of finding a more stable career.

Im a Registered Nurse and Offshore Medic. I worked the NHS for 10 years – A+E, Coronary Care and management, realised it was shit and thought there must be an easier way to earn a buck. So i went offshore. 7 years later Ive worked all round the world, i earn more money than i ever dreamed possible, and pay no tax as well. So frankly its pretty damn good.I get 6 months a year at home in Blighty with the wife and kids, get to work in Australia which i love, fed, clothed and watered for the other 6 months. I have nigh-on zero stress, able to afford a beautiful house, a nice new Beemer in the drive, all the mantoys i could wish for, 2 great kids, a truly gorgeous better half and a few quid in the bank. Frankly life aint gonna get much better!

I work for a music education charity, and I run my own photography business, and I do some support work for a guy with special needs (and a few other bits and bobs).

Don’t earn much at all by STW standards but I don’t work full time. No pension/security either but mostly great fun and very rewarding.

smogmonster – am I reading that right, you only spend 6 months a year with your family?

Mechanical Design Engineer – just finished first year of work after uni.

Love it, completely out of my depth but really enjoy the process.

Enough to get me by, but less than market rates. I figure I’m getting better than average training at the moment though, so it’s a long term strategy, although will be arguing for a payrise shortly.

Master Production Scheduler for a Hi-Fi company, a bit like playing Sim Factory.

Love the products that we make and thoroughly enjoy the job.

Pay is ok, perks of the job are good, canteen makes me fat but happy 🙂

Teach outdoor ed.
When you’re getting paid to go climbing, canoeing, biking, gorge exploring etc, with kids who enjoy it, you can never argue with the pay.

My office is where most people play and, yes, I am quite smug about it

[video]http://vimeo.com/53796327[/video]

You should try our Sim Factory stuff then!

Mining consultant
When I am in the office I hate it, when I am out on site I love it.
Not enough for what I have to put up with.

What do you guys do for work?
Another NHS employee: Hand & Wrist surgeon: Fix broken hands and wrists (trauma), treat others that have worn out (elective)

Do you enjoy it?
Love it! Varied, challenging, interesting patients with technically challenging operations and great team to work with.

How much do you get paid?
Can’t complain but its been a long (and expensive) road to get here!

Talk to me.
I’m in London during the week, my family are in Suffolk and part of my heart will always be in the Lake District…

the place seems to have it’s fair share of mining consultants!

Where in WA longmover, doing more with the east coast offices currently

Graduated in sport and exercise science this summer. Walked straight into a job, now finding said job is massively underpaid as I am being dumped with my managers responsibilities while he moves to Australia. I do enjoy the work, but not the city centre location.

Currently on the look out for a change, possibly TA officer and cyclist is the best combination I can come up with to get more time in the countryside and less time placating rich clients.

Instructional Designerd for a Software company.
i work from home in Northumberland, my boss lives in Detroit. it’s all ok
Yes, lots

Cycle industry…been in it for far to long its got all silly !

Ex Exploration Geo…. hunting for work 😀

Currently wrench monkey paid and volunteer, and cookie baker 8)

Pays the bills

R.O.V. Pilot in the oil industry.
Norwegian sector of the North Sea mostly.
Interesting work and brilliant time off.
Get to play with one of these 😀

Grum, yes thats right, i spend a month at home and a month away. When im home i have no daily commute to mess with, no daily work, 9-5 rubbish plus commute. Im not knackered trying to squeeze in an hour each night before the kids go to bed. It genuinely works out a whole lot better. Make no mistake the day i leave is rarely much fun but the build up to me getting home is always brilliant, and we always do allsorts when im home – museums, holidays, days out, weekend breaks, parks, family bike rides, all that stuff.

RichPenny » Master Production Scheduler for a Hi-Fi company, a bit like playing Sim Factory.
Love the products that we make and thoroughly enjoy the job.
Pay is ok, perks of the job are good, canteen makes me fat but happy

You should try our Sim Factory stuff then!

I did raise an eyebrow 🙂 Email me some details please.

@mikewsmith based in Perth at the moment, i haven’t had anything to do with the east coast so far. I spent a couple of years in West Africa and really enjoyed that.

I draw stuff using photoshop and illustrator.

Yep, love doing it

Pay varies as I freelance/contract – but usually 300 odd a day.