I'm a graduated engineer from ENAC, the French Civil Aviation University, with a specialization in Air Traffic and computer science.
http://www.enac.fr/
So, what do you do already for a living?
- Thread starter Yeeek
- Start date
http://www.enac.fr/
TopDog
Prince
Professional College Student... Mummy pays me when i do well!
Yeah, I know that time will come too, but I'm a bit idealistic - or naive - at the moment. But I really need to get a kick in the ass, have had now around 5 weeks of holidays and haven't done much...
Any tips?
hmm well I never spend to much, so my money lasted about around 18 months (I came out with about 4,5k) - but as I can get absotely nothing without pressure I really shouldn't give any advice..
De Lorimier
North American Scum
I lay down the law at the international airport here in Montréal. Customs law that is. Come on by and get your passport stamp and your bags searched by the weirdest officer on the job!
RedWolf
Deity
Are you guys as grouchy as the guys at Toronto Pearson? They're the most miserable people I've ever met.
Yeeek
Seizing The Day
Good to know, now we know who we'll have to ask to smuggle stuff uncheked. Out of canada!
De Lorimier
North American Scum
We don't get as much traffic as Pearson does, but it depends on the type of passengers and wether or not I just started my shift. At first I'm usually very cool, I smile and joke with people. After a few hours of stupid questions about the weather from people flying back from the South who want to be told that we were miserable while they were under the sun, I get grumpish. Just like the guys in Clerks, I sometimes feel that my job would be great if it wasn't for the fukcing passengers!
I work international arrivals, so technically it's into Canada!Good to know, now we know who we'll have to ask to smuggle stuff uncheked. Out of canada!
Masquerouge
Deity
Project manager at a software company.
GoodEnoughForMe
n.m.s.s.
I'm a professional student. I am also good at procrastinating and being lazy towards work.
RedWolf
Deity
We don't get as much traffic as Pearson does, but it depends on the type of passengers and wether or not I just started my shift. At first I'm usually very cool, I smile and joke with people. After a few hours of stupid questions about the weather from people flying back from the South who want to be told that we were miserable while they were under the sun, I get grumpish. Just like the guys in Clerks, I sometimes feel that my job would be great if it wasn't for the fukcing passengers!
I understand and I hate those types of stupid comments too. But I don't care if the customs agents make small talk with me - I just wish they could avoid snarling instructions at me.
Project manager. So what are your specific tasks?
Maths student and occasional part-time dull job worker.
Raisin Bran
Cereal Killer
Im a salesman. I recently changed job, I was working in retail selling home appliances but now Im in B to B selling compressors for refrigeration systems and A/C systems.
I now have my own office
I now have my own office
warpus
Sommerswerd asked me to change this
I am in charge of a bunch of financial web applications @ the office of the registrar @ a big University.. among other things.
So I'm basically a web developer / sql guru.
I specialize in dynamic web applications.. and I love what I do
Why? Well, I might have 5-15 projects on my plate at any given time. All the projects on my plate are mine - I have full creative control over how the project evolves and what functionality gets implemented. I meet with the "functionals" (ie. people in our office, academic counsellors) when needed and determine what they need.. then I decide what they're going to get and what they aren't.. within limits, of course, but I have a lot of creative power.. and this creative power is really what makes work so enjoyable.. I run my own little world here
We have 5 web develolpers here and 1 database/server/developer guy, and so each one of us has our own projects to worry about.. these get shifted around though.. if one of us gets bored of something, there is usually no problem in passing it to someone else.. Our boss actually likes to do this - it is a good way to inject new ideas and get a fresh point of view on a process.
In any case, I do most of my work in a ColdFusion/msSQL environment, although we do have some pages that use ASP.. even some PHP. we are basically free to use whatever technologies we feel will help us do the job. Our boss gives us an incredible amount of flexibility.. Flex hours, we control most parameters of the projects we run, etc. It is a fairly relaxed atmosphere, and everyone is very sarcastic, but at the same time there are huge responsibilities and incredible challenges. These two things put together make this the best job I have ever had.
For example, a couple weeks ago I was designing a new online Intent to Register system. We've had one for a couple years, but it was always a huge pain in the ass and nobody really liked it. What it is: it's a tool that allows students to pre-register for.. say.. a double-major in the faculty of science, with a bachelor of arts in a 3 year program... and then pick what 2 majors they want. All this data is then compiled and the University uses it for various things, such as determining how many sections will be needed for this and this class, as well as funding considerations.
So my boss sat me down and said.. Tom.. please make this from scratch. Which I was more than delighted to tackle.. the old system wasn't designed very well.. I pride myself on being a data formatting guru.. So it took me a while to wrap my head around all the different programs/modules/etc. and the various codes associated with each.. basically, I had to figure out how the University codes what program a specific student is in.. Each student has a code, which corresponds to what program they're in, degree, 3/4 year, fulltime/partitme, etc. So I had to create an interface that would allow the student to select their choices in a simple way without seeing all the behind the scenes codes that nobody really understands (well.. i do now).. and then convert their choices into a code that could be imported into our master database.
It was a huge challenge but I dove right into it and made the best Intent to Register application this University has ever seen. It was incredibly satisfying.
Right now I'm working on a couple financial applications as well as putting together some ITR stats. I basically work on whatever I think is important, within reason. I can say "No, this project won't get done by next friday", for example. It's all up to me.
I have a couple pet projects that I dedicate a couple hours of my time on each week. It's stuff that I think will be useful.. so I do it.. even though nobody even requested it..
This sort of flexibility is very important for me, and although I don't make huge bucks (the job pays well though), the satisfaction I get from all this is so important that I don't see myself leaving anytime soon for a higher paying job. I am also getting a lot of experience that will come in handy. I basically feel like I could take on any sort of project now, with all the BS that is associated with University politics
A while ago I put way too much time into a particular project.. It was something the financial people needed to track 'tagged' students, when they were coming in to pick up their OSAP. I decided that it was a good time to learn AJAX, so I made the whole thing really fancy.. dynamic pop-up menus, pages that dont' refresh to get data from the database, etc.
I am learning a lot at my job and I am also contributing tons and making lots of people's lives much much easier.
That is what I do for a living
Oh and on top of that I do freelance work, too. So if anyone needs a dynamic webpage..
So I'm basically a web developer / sql guru.
I specialize in dynamic web applications.. and I love what I do
Why? Well, I might have 5-15 projects on my plate at any given time. All the projects on my plate are mine - I have full creative control over how the project evolves and what functionality gets implemented. I meet with the "functionals" (ie. people in our office, academic counsellors) when needed and determine what they need.. then I decide what they're going to get and what they aren't.. within limits, of course, but I have a lot of creative power.. and this creative power is really what makes work so enjoyable.. I run my own little world here
We have 5 web develolpers here and 1 database/server/developer guy, and so each one of us has our own projects to worry about.. these get shifted around though.. if one of us gets bored of something, there is usually no problem in passing it to someone else.. Our boss actually likes to do this - it is a good way to inject new ideas and get a fresh point of view on a process.
In any case, I do most of my work in a ColdFusion/msSQL environment, although we do have some pages that use ASP.. even some PHP. we are basically free to use whatever technologies we feel will help us do the job. Our boss gives us an incredible amount of flexibility.. Flex hours, we control most parameters of the projects we run, etc. It is a fairly relaxed atmosphere, and everyone is very sarcastic, but at the same time there are huge responsibilities and incredible challenges. These two things put together make this the best job I have ever had.
For example, a couple weeks ago I was designing a new online Intent to Register system. We've had one for a couple years, but it was always a huge pain in the ass and nobody really liked it. What it is: it's a tool that allows students to pre-register for.. say.. a double-major in the faculty of science, with a bachelor of arts in a 3 year program... and then pick what 2 majors they want. All this data is then compiled and the University uses it for various things, such as determining how many sections will be needed for this and this class, as well as funding considerations.
So my boss sat me down and said.. Tom.. please make this from scratch. Which I was more than delighted to tackle.. the old system wasn't designed very well.. I pride myself on being a data formatting guru.. So it took me a while to wrap my head around all the different programs/modules/etc. and the various codes associated with each.. basically, I had to figure out how the University codes what program a specific student is in.. Each student has a code, which corresponds to what program they're in, degree, 3/4 year, fulltime/partitme, etc. So I had to create an interface that would allow the student to select their choices in a simple way without seeing all the behind the scenes codes that nobody really understands (well.. i do now).. and then convert their choices into a code that could be imported into our master database.
It was a huge challenge but I dove right into it and made the best Intent to Register application this University has ever seen. It was incredibly satisfying.
Right now I'm working on a couple financial applications as well as putting together some ITR stats. I basically work on whatever I think is important, within reason. I can say "No, this project won't get done by next friday", for example. It's all up to me.
I have a couple pet projects that I dedicate a couple hours of my time on each week. It's stuff that I think will be useful.. so I do it.. even though nobody even requested it..
This sort of flexibility is very important for me, and although I don't make huge bucks (the job pays well though), the satisfaction I get from all this is so important that I don't see myself leaving anytime soon for a higher paying job. I am also getting a lot of experience that will come in handy. I basically feel like I could take on any sort of project now, with all the BS that is associated with University politics
A while ago I put way too much time into a particular project.. It was something the financial people needed to track 'tagged' students, when they were coming in to pick up their OSAP. I decided that it was a good time to learn AJAX, so I made the whole thing really fancy.. dynamic pop-up menus, pages that dont' refresh to get data from the database, etc.
I am learning a lot at my job and I am also contributing tons and making lots of people's lives much much easier.
That is what I do for a living
Oh and on top of that I do freelance work, too. So if anyone needs a dynamic webpage.. Leifmk
Deity
I work as a programmer. I help maintain, by hook or by crook, various tailor-made database applications (and sometimes the underlying databases themselves) for a government agency which is responsible for supervising the financial sector. It's a good job; sometimes stressful, sometimes boring, but usually quite pleasant (especially since, being a nerd, I rather enjoy fiddling around with software and figuring out logical problems). I have my own office and a good deal of freedom in organizing my working day. The general mood of the place is quite friendly (which you might not expect from a building mostly full of economists and lawyers) and since I'm a computer guy nobody ever expects me to wear a suit and a tie.
Masquerouge
Deity
- coordinate the different teams involved on a given product: QA, Dev, sustaining, Pubs, Marketing, Manufacturing, etc, making sure everybody's on the same page and aware of eventual dependencies
- plan functional and maintenance releases, along with patches and hotfixes, in terms of content, deliverables, deadlines, milestones and owners
- track and document changes in codelines, from version to version: new features, fixes, supported platforms, etc. Codeline management is a *****.
- keep the teams up to date on new versions of products available or not(Oh Noes Attunity will not support 64-bit platforms until mid-2007 TEH HORROR!11!)
That's the core. At any given time I have on average 5-6 projects on my plate.
De Lorimier
North American Scum
I hear ya. We have a lot of fake-police walking around on powertrips on a daily basis. Most of us are good people, but the douches are the loudest ones. I roll my eyes at coworkers all the time.
CartesianFart
Deity
Was a supervisor/maintenance at a small plastic factory that uses Blow/mold press machine till i had a drunken quarrel with the owner over a past feud we had when we were younger.
Now unemployed and figuring that life is becoming peculiar funny by being stuckkkkkk in this godforsaken hell-hole of a town in live in!
Now unemployed and figuring that life is becoming peculiar funny by being stuckkkkkk in this godforsaken hell-hole of a town in live in!
Hotpoint
Rome Treaty Legions
Contracts and Performance Manager for an NHS Hospital Trust (I crunch numbers, play with databases and produce reports on activity).
I'm also the Data Quality Manager which means I also get to chair meetings and berate people for not doing their jobs properly which is a lot more fun than running the database queries.
I'm also the Data Quality Manager which means I also get to chair meetings and berate people for not doing their jobs properly which is a lot more fun than running the database queries.
RedWolf
Deity
You forgot:
- Demand free stuff from software vendors/consulting companies until everybody gets angry at each other and the environment becomes poisoned
AND
- Ask miracles (over and over) of your IT staff regardless of how terrible it is for morale to have people working themselves into the ground
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