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Show us your day job!

FORGER (by day)

Also, founding member of
C.L.A.P.A (Chunky, Lard *** Pilot's Association)

Yes, we do discriminate - Membership is based on strict entry requirements and is by invitation only.

Terry, CFI
RV9A N323TP
 
Wow, what a great group of people

I'm humbled to be a part of such a talented a diverse group of professionals.

Spent 22 years in the Navy. Smokey I hate to disagree with you about flying the "coolest airplane on the planet" :D I was blessed to fly this aircraft for a better part of my career.

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Taught students for a while in this aircraft.

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Now, I'm thankful to be flying for a very successful airline.
 
Software guy..

I make my living by writing software. Years ago, I wrote a plate tectonics simulator for a professor I was working for in college. One of my first jobs involved writing functions to assemble packets to command satellite transmitters and receivers. That was a challenging job because the manual was not up to date with hardware.

These days my job is pretty easy. I just write web sites for various types of clients. We show their customers statements in the form of a pdf for various things. Today we use c# and the latest version of .Net framework.

I'm lucky. I can work remotely...at home or the cabin. I usually go into the office 2-3 times a week (or when the boss tells me to come in) to get out of the house. I live 5 miles from the airport, so I go there and do airplane stuff when I get the Boss's stuff done.

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Well first I flew this for five years.... It didn't excite me enough.


Then I switched jobs. Now I fly these on a regular basis. Much more excitement!
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At work.
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A couple of my students working a sheet metal project. "Get your freakin safety glasses on!"
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I have been an Aircraft Structural Technology instructor at Middle Georgia Technical College since 2004. We teach aircraft blueprints, sealants, composites, fabrication, tech data, corrosion, metallurgy, and aerodynamics. Our students work for Boeing, Lockheed, Gulfstream, and Robins Air Force Base. It is a great job for me because I can combine my masters in education with my A&P license. This is my niche in life - only took 38 years to find it!
 
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worked in the back of this.
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Then in the front of this.
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and now I work for these guys as an inspector.
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I used to drive this with banners on the back.
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Then I drove this with sight seeing pax in the front.
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I also drove this with jumpers in the back.
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Now I drive this with all kinds of different stuff in the back.
The money and schedule is better than the other jobs.
The work is easier and cleaner the boss treats me better (i.e. like a human being)
and the boxes in the back never complain.
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Sorry, I can’t post pictures from my day job because I’m a photographer for
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Just kidding…

I’m an independent business consultant that specializes in IT and Project Management process improvement. My current client is a large regional bank in the South East. The developers and software support group as well as the Project Management Office currently report to me.

This came about after I helped my client develop the PMO and reorganize the software development and support group.

Great group of people and I have really enjoyed this assignment. Unfortunately, this contract is about to come to an end so I’m currently looking for something else.
 
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So, what is it???

Dave, computer game?

Something for a new Star Trek movie?

Looks like some weird distortion of a normal EFIS???
 
wow, must be one of the fastest growing threads on vaf, ever!

i work as an Air Traffic Controller with a company called "skyguide", the ANSP (Air Navigation Service Provider) of Switzerland.

Got a "best of both worlds" job at Z?rich (LSZH or ZRH) Tower and Approach. Glad we never made the mistake of splitting into two units and fortunately management realizes that this wouldn't be such a good idea after all...

Ground working position in the TWR
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Tower Cab (Top Floor)
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Approach/Departure Radar "banana" in Duebendorf, about 10min from the airport.
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Me, during a slow moment
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rgds, bernie
 
I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I write award-winning operas, I manage time efficiently.

Occasionally, I tread water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging speed, and I cook Thirty-Minute Brownies in twenty minutes. I am an expert in stucco, a veteran in love, and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of ferocious army ants. I play bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Mets, I am the subject of numerous documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard. I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after school, I repair electrical appliances free of charge.

I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst, and a ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I receive fan mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last summer I toured New Jersey with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration. I bat 400.

My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international botany circles. Children trust me. I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick, and David Copperfield in one day and still had time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several covert operations with the CIA.

I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep in a chair. While on vacation in Canada, I successfully negotiated with a group of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic, and my bills are all paid.

On weekends, to let off steam, I participate in full-contact origami. Years ago I discovered the meaning of life but forgot to write it down. I have made extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed prize-winning clams. I have won bullfights in San Juan, cliff-diving competitions in Sri Lanka, and spelling bees at the Kremlin.

I have played Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery, and I have spoken with Elvis.

Ok, none of this is true and I stole the text from the Internet. But geez you guys make me feel inadequate.

Erich
 
My 'day" job is my NIGHT job ...

Nothing to do with aviation, really impressed by the talent and variety here. Envious somewhat of the guys who fly for a living.

This seems boring compared to other people's jobs described here, but I'm an ICU / CCU / ED nurse (predominantly ICU). I work "agency" which means I work on a sub-contract basis in a variety of hospitals. I do nights by choice, almost exclusively 12 hr shifts and its not unusual to do 6/week, which is the only way I can pay for the RV-8 parts, but also means I'm still plodding on emp after a year or so, although I hope to crack open the wing kit real soon now.

While I started off in ICU nursing, I did get bored and completed a Grad Dip in Computing and worked in IT for about 10 years in a hospital computer department (Help Desk support and then Cold Fusion based web development with SQL Server back-end), but I've come back to ICU for a number of reasons. Also did some semi-professional photography along the way (but this pic is just a low-light environment iPhone snap).

This is one of the "cockpits" I normally fly (pt face obscurred for obvious reasons):

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If anyone is interested, working L-R my "glass panel displays" are (1) CRRT - Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy (aka kidney dialysis machine); (2) Ventilator (connected via the white and blue tubing to the pt, breathing for him; (3) Cardiac output monitor; (4) multiple infusion pumps; (5) Primary monitor with ECG (EKG for US cousins) + arterial blood pressure + central venous pressure + pulse oximetry etc. Couple of 'steam gauges' in the mix - suction dials, O2 flow meters, and a good old sphygmomanometer. Pts get cold quick with CRRT when you're dragging their entire blood volume out of them in a matter of minutes and running it through the machine and tubing exposed to air-conditioned temp environment. Hence the insulated head cap, several layers of blankets and a heated-air warming device underneath.
 
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What do you expect?

"wow, must be one of the fastest growing threads on vaf, ever!"

What do you expect when you ask a bunch of Type A pilots and engineers to talk about themselves?:D
 
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What ever pays the bills

I merchandise high energy feeds (bakery meal, feed fat and cottonseed) to these:
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, poultry and beef growing operations in the western southwest.

So have a cheese omelet for breakfast,
fried chicken and pizza for lunch,
and beef, it's what's for dinner.........
oh, and don't forget the milk and cookies at bedtime. So I can build
another airplane :D

This is my 30th year........ and it has financed two RV builds and put
two sons through college. At 27 giving up my aviation career seemed
like a mistake...... but it worked out in the long run.
 
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I'll post a picture once I clean my office :)

In the meantime, I take "?" and get "!". In short, I take a whole lot of unknown and devise an answer. My employer seems to like what I do ... To an extent. The greater reality is they don't know what to do with a generalist but then again they tend not to know what to do without one. I call it insecure job security.

Thankfully, the 400k employee company let me build a great home office and work from it :)
 
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Thanks

To all the people who "feel inadequate" from these threads...let me thank YOU for farming the cows, taking care of the patients, drafting the designs, engineering the products we use, running the threads we read, repair the roads we drive on...

Everyone here is why I am so proud to be an American!
 
Great Job!

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I am a retired police officer, pilot. Spent over half my career flying police helicopters and fixed wing aircraft. Was very happy being retired, until this job came along, flying medevac. This photo was taken just the other day when I took a news photographer up for a flight. She was a great photographer, have to give Beatrice Richardson the photo credit. Air Evac 22 from Ft. Huachuca/Libby Army Airfield, AZ
 
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Following the lead of "SHOW US YOUR DAY JOB THREAD"

I am a General Contractor, re-invented as a Mini-Warehouse Self Storage Facility owner due to the ecomomy. Go figure. Just making ends meet I began to study the concept of Internet Income and came up with this:

http://yourfamilysurvival.com/

Just launched last Friday! This is what happens with a lot of time on your hands!

Check it out and let me know if you think it will work. I had to figure out a way to make a better living or at least supplement my income. I am determined to remain a part of my new Van's RV Family, but its got to be affordable.

Fire away and don't hold back.

Tango
 
Hungry?

I feed you people.

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I am the one on the left, I think.... (This is our most recent location)
Come on by and I'll buy you lunch, if you'll gimmy a ride!! (No RV YET!)
 
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Wow, what a diverse group......

Been fascinating reading.....:cool:

The wife reckons I don't work

A flying instructor, and spend a bit of time upside down teaching/showing others the fun part of aviation.... tough getting up each morning, but someone's gotta do it I guess....:D

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Mad Scientist

I'm a fairly recently retired government scientist (a toxicologist). The interesting part of my job was emergency planning and response. The other part was writing reports that were so boring that I couldn't even read them.

Enough about moi. My daughter is a Navy Pilot, and she flies airships somewhat similar to these...

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(public domain image from Wiki Commons)

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Ossie,

(gidday Ken!)

I've got a few pics and iPhone video clips of you doing the start-up / early taxiing part of "A flying instructor, and spend a bit of time upside down teaching/showing others the fun part of aviation...." and one day you're going to have to add me to your list of "others", but in the meantime Jim's been doing the same to me in the Citabria's. Had a bit of a break over xmas etc but will be back out there to YSCN soon.
 
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Come On Man!!

There are a lot of people missing from this thread.

Come on guys/girls, lay it on the line and tell us what "fuels" your RV flying/building fun.
 
My day job has to do with flying the wingless heavy iron (petrochemical refinery)...
Well I used to fly it years ago. I kept screwing up so they promoted me to a desk job. Now I manage the pilots.

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A recent addition to the complex going up, both pictures taken were from the RV.

Like with some of you,
pics of the inside are a no, no... sorry.

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second job...

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I write software for a very small software consulting company. The smaller the company, the more you do, right? I'm also the project manager, graphic designer, database gal, quality assurance and tech support. :eek: Most of the time, it runs pretty smoothly (knock on wood) and I can spend my evenings in the shop working on the -10.
 
Cake Boss

Short version:
Immigrated from Switzerland in 1980, hoping to become a pilot.
I did, but the Baking/Pastry chef profession always paid for the flying.
In other words, I always made a lot more dough in the baking business.:D
I spent most of my spare time in my twenties flying skydivers and eventually
decided to keep flying as a hobby and pursue a business opportunity in baking.
It's been a great ride for my family and I wouldn't have it any other way.

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Once again, I feel like the underachiever in this group....

For 11 years, I fixed and flew on these:

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Then I got my A&P, and work on these (among others):

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I also joined the Air Force Reserve, and do this a few times a month:

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Hopefully, at some point I'll have enough time/money to go from RV dreaming to rivet-pounding...........
 
Most beautiful aircraft in the world!

Sitting in the left seat of the most beautiful aircraft in the world!
I guess I have to change my username ;-)
Picture made by my son when I returned at Amsterdam Schiphol Airport.

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It's not aviation related, but it's still a very fun job:

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As a part of a fortune 400 company I help leverage technology to achieve the business' goals. Sometimes it looks a bit like this:

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Ken Peck
RV-10 - tail cone in progress
Deland, FL
 
Forensic Engineer

The overwhelmingly common thread is the excitement most of you have for your jobs. While your job may not hold the same interest for me and vice versa, your enthusiasm is absolutely CAVU.

After 24+ years of design, test and development work in the auto/truck transportation industries, I have been blessed to be self-employed as a forensic engineer for the past 17+ years. Which means that I am tasked with figuring out what happened after the fact using the Laws of Physics and Engineering Science. 85+% of what I do is motor vehicle accident investigation. Cars v. cars, cars v. trucks, cars v. motorcycles, cars v. peds, etc, etc.

For the train drivers out there, I have even done a number of RR grade crossing collisions. Guess who wins?

From my perspective, every job is different and I look forward to going to work every day.

Sometimes I get jobs with so little information, I initially think that I won't be able to determine what happened. After I let things percolate in "background" for a while, I often figure out an analytical means that works.

More recently I have become involved using computer animation to illustrate my opinions. It is pretty cool to be able to put a camera at the driver's eye location to show what he could or couldn't have seen.

Like many self-employed people, business is a cyclical roller coaster, which has made it difficult to make progress on the RV-7 I'm (mostly not) building. Either I have an overwhelming amount of work and no time for RV-7 construction, or not enough work and I'm worried about spending money on the -7 and I'm spending the down time trying to dredge up paying work.

Until last year I thought I had a recession-proof job. People crash their cars regardless of the economy, right? But, I learned that was not necessarily the case the first 6 months of 2011. At this time, I will probably put off working on the -7 until I see if I can semi-retire in 3+ years.

I hope more of you will submit. It has been fascinating reading.

Larry Tompkins
N544WB -6A purchased flying
-7 tail and wings complete QB fuselage not started
W52 Battle Ground, WA
 
Aerospace

if you have flown behind a jet engine then we helped you get there. rated #3 in the world by our peers twin manufacturing co is a top MRO.

Twin Manufacturing Co., Inc., an aerospace company, engages in gas turbine engine component repair. It overhauls components and assemblies, including cases, supports, bearing housings, heatshields, carbon seals, bleed valves, spacers, and air seals.

there you have it. pics of a few of our big machines.
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Just another day at the office as a Paramedic....

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I do have a pretty awesome job but hoping to make the leap into full time aviation someday soon :)

^^^ btw... to this day I don't understand how that Mercedes "tank" was sliced cleanly in half by a Saturn doing 100+ :confused:
 
I am a pizza cook to pay for the gas to and from the airport and lunch for whoever I bum a ride off of:p. And it puts money in my savings account so I can move up to bigger and better things... :cool:
 
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