this post was submitted on 06 Jul 2026
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Just curious, what do you guys actually do for a living?

Scrolling through comments here, you can tell there's a huge mix of people, some clearly technical, some more creative, some who sound like they've been in the working world for decades, others who feel like students or early in their career.

No particular reason for asking, just genuinely curious what kind of professions make up this community. Feel free to keep it as vague or specific as you're comfortable with.

Drop your profession below, and if you want, one thing about it people usually don't expect.

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[–] philpo@feddit.org 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

CEO. Disaster/healthcare management consultant. Critical care paramedic.

Well. Technically I am a CEO. My company is smallish, but we are a proper joint stock company (who I am the sole owner)m I founded it in 2020 and we consult in disaster management and healthcare management so for the "hot end" of healthcare.

I am still qualified as a critical care paramedic but only work in that field part time now.

[–] sandhu@thelemmy.club 1 points 4 hours ago

pretty good , keep goin sir

[–] josephc@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Former machine learning researcher. Worked on image search, then language modeling for general search. But then VC started throwing money at it and the landscape just kinda' changed. The research was still great in academia, but a bunch of dipshits took a useful technology and decided to use it as a way to funnel money from everyone into their own coffers.

Now I build stuff to monitor power lines and prevent wildfires.

One thing people don't usually expect: machine learning isn't magic. The computer doesn't just "do the work for you". There's a lot of planning, theory, and experimentation around seeing if and why something works.

[–] HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world 1 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

But then VC started throwing money at it

I had no idea the Viet Cong was still active in 2026.

[–] josephc@lemmy.ml 2 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

After the Kháng chiến chống Mỹ, I can't say I blame them.

[–] HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

I don't know what that is, but it looks like Vietnamese script so I'm inclined to agree that's probably relevant.

[–] josephc@lemmy.ml 1 points 13 hours ago (1 children)

I was just playing off your joke. It's the term for the Vietnam War in Vietnamese. "Resistance War Against America."

[–] HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

Ah okay. Barely related but I read recently that Vietnam is one of the countries that thinks highest about the US. Super strange, considering.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

i assume AI, since its related.

[–] melsaskca@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 day ago

Was a wage slave all my life until I retired. The best I could do in life is sell my time for money. I didn't care who I sold it to.

I studied bioinformatics, got into IT, got pushed into sales, got out cause I hated that. Now I'm a barkeeper. Not yet sure what I'll do next. Maybe IT again, if I find a company that sucks less.

Also the sysadmin for a small non-profit, which is a lot more fun than any corporate job I had.

[–] Meatwagon@lemmy.dbzer0.com 15 points 2 days ago

I'm in education. It's pretty alright. The kids aren't alright, though.

[–] n3on_Navigat0r@lemmy.dbzer0.com 9 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Railway signal maintainer.

I take care of crossing warning devices, switch machines, signals, track circuits, and wayside hazard detectors.

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[–] mlg@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago
[–] Allero@lemmy.today 5 points 2 days ago

Junior researcher in food microbiology, with a background in general food technology.

Figuring out cheaper ways to enrich foods using microbial producers.

[–] MintyFresh@lemmy.world 9 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

City bus driver. It's not the most exciting job I've ever had, but it's a union shop(which really kicks ass!!!), has steady hours, pension, vacation/sick days, and healthcare.

It can be infuriating dealing with people who definitely do not have their shit in a pile. But it also feels really good being there for the community. I'll probably stick with it for a bit.

[–] HCSOThrowaway@lemmy.world 11 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (8 children)

Used to be cop.

Went into a completely unrelated line of work purely because it was remote, promoted from there.

Edit for the curious who want to know why I'm not a cop any more: https://lemmy.world/post/43267939

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[–] Tiral@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

I was a special education teacher in an inner city school district for 11 years. I started in high school my first year and then went to elementary the last 10. It was to weird being 22 teaching 17 year olds.

Anyways, did 3-4 for a couple years, then 5-6 a couple years, finished in k-1. I was diagnosed with kidney failure a few years ago and retired early because I'm on dialysis. I invested very well so I'm good financially, but I miss working with kids, not so much getting fucked over by the school district, but that's a wother thing.

[–] Tollana1234567@lemmy.today 1 points 1 day ago

i had a formr coworker that refused to work for district a while back, because the pay was so low, and its a district that is very sketchy. i dont blame her, she was doing the job im doing and part time at private school, which is equal or worst than public school. she went into tech, but i dont know if has programming/coding skills, right before AI was the craze.

[–] 87Six@lemmy.zip 9 points 2 days ago

I'm a software engineer and it feels gross to say for some reason

I'm just a poser though, because I have no thigh-highs

[–] Kolanaki@pawb.social 5 points 2 days ago

I am a master of the custodial arts.

[–] xavier666@lemmy.umucat.day 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)
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[–] PeriodicallyPedantic@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 days ago

Nice try, FBI.

I'm a professional pedant, but it's only seasonal part time work.

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 8 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Freelance artist. Make 2D and 3D digital art.

Commissions are mostly furry. Because of course. But I'm working on a sci-fi universe, and I practice a lot of 3D modelling with Bionicles.

[–] sandhu@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

nicee bro , could u show some of them ??

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Sure thing. I'll be keeping it SFW.

2D:

3D:

[–] sandhu@thelemmy.club 2 points 15 hours ago (1 children)

thanks for sharing this with me , its amazing keep it up bro , do u have some favourite 2d or 3d models like some superheroes or something like that ...

[–] Tattorack@lemmy.world 1 points 12 hours ago

You mean art or artists that inspire me? Not Sure if you'll know them, but what has inspired me the most (besides Star Trek, Lord of the Rings, and Bionicle) are sci-fi and fantasy Franco-Belgian graphic novels.

Lanfuest of Troy (and all its sequels), Sillage, Travis, The Golden City.

[–] Olgratin_Magmatoe@slrpnk.net 5 points 2 days ago

Full stack developer. Our stack is soggy cheese.

[–] Abyssian@lemmy.world 10 points 2 days ago (2 children)
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[–] Witchfire@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

In the middle running away from tech (10+ years) to join the circus. That's not hyperbole

[–] sandhu@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 day ago

interesting , good luck buddy ...

[–] betterdeadthanreddit@lemmy.world 68 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Space shuttle door gunner. It's a surprisingly easy lateral move from my old job as a submarine screen window repairman.

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