OT: What's your job/career??

[narf poit chez BOOM]

My job is trying not to go crazy (or lazy, either). In my spare time, I code stuff that will hopefully, eventually, get me money and off of welfare.

[Atrocities]

narf poit chez BOOM said:
My job is trying not to go crazy (or lazy, either). In my spare time, I code stuff that will hopefully, eventually, get me money and off of welfare.

I will drink to that. And when you do, write a book so the rest of us can learn how you did it and employ your process.

[dogscoff]

Work in IT support, taking calls all day from ppl who don't know how to install the software my company produces. Also do all kinds of other stuff around the office as and when required (in between games of slashem). I've produced websites, fixed PCs, made graphical user guides, done translations (English/French/ Italian), chased cutsomers for money, written promotional material... all sorts. I've found myself dragged more and more in to the sales side of things lately though, as one of those Dilberts that sales ppl like to leach credibility from when trying to sell tech stuff. Actually had to do a solo presentation to try to land a big contract the other week, it went fairly well- People have often told me I should be in sales, and I've always told them to shove their heads up their arses, but it turns out they might have been right- I could do it pretty well if I wanted to.

Trouble is, I don't particularly want to. There's money to be made, but quite apart from the fact that I don't like the idea of convincing ppl to buy stuff they might not actually want, I have a more interesting ambition: I want to write crazy-*** science fiction stories and get paid for that. Currently a few chapters into my first real attmempt at a publishable novel. It definitely has potential. Wish me luck=-)

[DarkAnt]

I'm just a highschool student, but I hope to become a computer engineer so I can do cool stuff with robots.

[Atrocities]

If had to give any ten peaces of advise to a high school student they would be:

1. Never get fat
2. Trust No One At Work
3. ALWAYS get it in writing
4. Document everything you do
5. Buy Property, not sports cars
6. Enjoy life while your young if you can
7. Plan for your future by saving money now.
8. NEVER spend your money before you have it.
9. AVOID the Credit Card trap and always pay them off.
10. Read the fine print, and keep your lawyers card in your wallet.

[TerranC]

Atrocities said:
If had to give any ten peaces of advise to a high school student they would be:

1. Never get fat

Poppycock. Getting fat is fun and fulfilling.

[Kamog]

Another thing is, you should exercise at least three times a week.

When I was in high school, I didn't exercise. I took gym class until Grade 10 because it was mandatory, and that was the only exercise I got. After Grade 10, I participated in no physical activities at all. I just sat in front of the computer or read all day. Many years later, I was completely out of shape. It wasn't until partway through university that I started exercising. It's difficult to develop strength or flexibility when you're older if you didn't do anything when you were younger.

[tesco samoa]

dark ant that would be mechanical engineer
Systems engineer would be good but not for that line of work.

if You really wanna do some cool stuff with robots I suggest you start looking at the big manufacturing companies. especially the automotive industry if you wish to do cool stuff with robots.

And learn lots of PLC , fluids and electrical.

I also suggest a minor in chemistry or biology to round off your education.

If you get into GM or any large company like that ... After a few years inform them that you wish for them to pay for your MBA. And round off your education that way.

Professional Degrees are very important and will help you later on in life when you need a change of pace from the world of manufacturing.

But you will learn more about robots there than anywhere else.

[Will]

Actually, Comp Engineering is a field you can go in for robotics... as long as you're only doing research. Right now, the "real" jobs in robotics are in manufacturing, like tesco said, companies like GM, Toyota, Honda... car makers, pretty much. There are a few others, but I don't remember them at the moment. Basically, they make robots for assembly line manufacturing processes. But these are mostly Mech Engineers, who have gotten a little extra training in computers, basically MEs who took CS courses for tech electives at university.

As I said, Comp Engineers going into robotics are usually doing research, and there are only a few places in the private sector where this is currently done (mainly in Japan, with companies like Honda and Sony), a few places in government (NASA/AMES, ESA), and... academia. Unless you're really stellar or become the protege of someone, you'll most likely either end up in academia, or decide you want to do something else. Academia means four years at least for the BS, plus one if the university offers a 5-year master's program, plus 1 and a half to 2 if the university doesn't or you go somewhere else for grad work. Then there is usually about 5 more years doing PhD work, then about 7 years in a rush to get tenure somewhere. So, conservatively, you're looking at 18 more years of "school" after high school. Although some people have done it in about 10. YMMV.

For now, most of the "cool" stuff with robots is happening in Japan, and at universities. Japan has Asimo (Honda), and Aibo and its ilk (Sony). Universities mainly have government defense grants, for things like little black helicopters to look in windows, distributed "bug bots" for mapping a building (before storming it), and a bunch of projects focused on active vision (processing visual data in real time and acting on it, rather than recording for human operators) happening at my school specifically.

Academia could be the best place to go -- if there is an explosion in the robotics industry, where all of a sudden someone comes up with the working killer app for robotics (such as Asimo becoming feasible to care for the elderly, both in performance and in cost). If/when that happens, there will be lots of companies grabbing to get anyone from university robotics departments that they can, and paying very well for them to do... well, basically the same stuff they were doing in academia, only applied a bit more to a specific product.

[Thermodyne]

I’m a network specialist with a state government agency. I work with almost nothing that I covered in school. Its 90 percent picked up on the fly as you bump into the hardware/software. Right now it’s a state wide domain migration, but nothing close to what was covered in any of my courses. After that it’s IP security cameras and building access control. Then we move to IP trunking (all of which we are testing as we now). Then toss in 300K worth of new desktop systems for December and another 50K for January along with an Exchange Server upgrade and an Office 2003 deployment just to make sure we stay busy. Also toss in a couple of new office setups just to make sure that no one makes all of their deadlines.

If you want to break into this line of work, study WAN IP data systems. Frame Rely and PVC know how will get your foot into a lot of doors. VOIP or IP trunking skill will some times get you hired on the spot. If you want to work server side, then being able to develop scripts is becoming a must have skill. Not to mention that a few good scripts can turn an 80 man hour project into a few hours of easy work. And if you are in school, stay there and get your Masters. Do an internship some where, anywhere, even if it’s unpaid. It’s getting imposable to break into this line of work. A company I work with advertised a 28K a year Helpdesk trainee position and got 1500 apps with about 20 percent of them being people with master’s degrees. And incase you don’t already know, first tier helpdesk sucks big ones! In this line of work everyone has to do some of it, but it is not something that most people will want to do 40 hours a week.