Five more
I cribbed these from 
fallenpegasus
1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I'm a 'Professional Services Engineer', or, er, maybe 'Technical Services Engineer' (depends on who you ask), for Cyphermint, Inc., an online payments company.
In the big picture, yeah, this is what I chose to be doing - being a geek, working with technology, and learning new things. More specifically, no, it isn't like I set out to work for Cyphermint. I'd never heard of them before I saw their job posting. I'd been out of work for 16 months and had applied to countless openings in that time. The job sounded interesting and I was fortunate enough to get it. I enjoy the job, the work I do is interesting and enjoyable overall, and I like the people I work with.
My plans from a few years ago included buying a home by now, living in a nicer place, and making a little more than I am now. But I'm good at rolling with things as they come, I made it through being laid off and I'm rebuilding again. It set me back probably a few years, but I'm sure I can make it back to where I'd like to be.
2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
If I didn't have to worry about money, then I'd probably go back to school for a while. Maybe go for a Masters in CS, learn some of the techniques I've seen but haven't really grasped. I'd want to be involved in standards bodies again - get back into the W3C to work on new web standards, maybe the IETF to work on something like DIAMETER. I liked editing the HTML book for Osborne/McGraw-Hill, so I wouldn't mind doing that kind of work. Working on some open source projects, personal coding projects, spending more time writing. I'd like to do these things because I could take time to travel when I want to.
3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
My entire life my parents have owned and run Appolo Heating, Inc., (no idea who does their website now) which is a fairly large heating company in upstate NY. Several years ago they moved to Florida and are now full time residents there. My father still commutes back to NY for a week or two each month. One of my older cousins also ran a heating company in Florida (ok, so there it is mostly a cooling company) called Bikowicz Heating. My father bought into it since my cousin isn't the best at running a business, and he's building that up now. My dad doesn't know how to retire - he's tried.
I don't think my parents' careers have really influenced mine, the work I do is rather unlike what they've done.
4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
Nope. Though I think my workaholic nature has harmed past relationships.
5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
I don't know, sitting at home and collecting lottery payouts? :-) Hardest - it depends on the criteria and the person. Some jobs are physically taxing, others are stressful, etc.
fallenpegasus1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I'm a 'Professional Services Engineer', or, er, maybe 'Technical Services Engineer' (depends on who you ask), for Cyphermint, Inc., an online payments company.
In the big picture, yeah, this is what I chose to be doing - being a geek, working with technology, and learning new things. More specifically, no, it isn't like I set out to work for Cyphermint. I'd never heard of them before I saw their job posting. I'd been out of work for 16 months and had applied to countless openings in that time. The job sounded interesting and I was fortunate enough to get it. I enjoy the job, the work I do is interesting and enjoyable overall, and I like the people I work with.
My plans from a few years ago included buying a home by now, living in a nicer place, and making a little more than I am now. But I'm good at rolling with things as they come, I made it through being laid off and I'm rebuilding again. It set me back probably a few years, but I'm sure I can make it back to where I'd like to be.
2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
If I didn't have to worry about money, then I'd probably go back to school for a while. Maybe go for a Masters in CS, learn some of the techniques I've seen but haven't really grasped. I'd want to be involved in standards bodies again - get back into the W3C to work on new web standards, maybe the IETF to work on something like DIAMETER. I liked editing the HTML book for Osborne/McGraw-Hill, so I wouldn't mind doing that kind of work. Working on some open source projects, personal coding projects, spending more time writing. I'd like to do these things because I could take time to travel when I want to.
3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
My entire life my parents have owned and run Appolo Heating, Inc., (no idea who does their website now) which is a fairly large heating company in upstate NY. Several years ago they moved to Florida and are now full time residents there. My father still commutes back to NY for a week or two each month. One of my older cousins also ran a heating company in Florida (ok, so there it is mostly a cooling company) called Bikowicz Heating. My father bought into it since my cousin isn't the best at running a business, and he's building that up now. My dad doesn't know how to retire - he's tried.
I don't think my parents' careers have really influenced mine, the work I do is rather unlike what they've done.
4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
Nope. Though I think my workaholic nature has harmed past relationships.
5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
I don't know, sitting at home and collecting lottery payouts? :-) Hardest - it depends on the criteria and the person. Some jobs are physically taxing, others are stressful, etc.
