Do you know or friends have (or HAD) an unusual/cool job?

[halik]

Here's my office when I'm on console:

I work for NASA on the International Space Station program.

Holy fuck, mad respect.

 

[Markbnj]

Now I'm in software development. In the past... boatswain on a square-rigged sailing vessel, first mate on a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, deckhand on a coastal tug, drove a semi.

 

[janas19]

Holy fuck, mad respect.

Ditto

 

[mmntech]

I've worked as a director and camera operator for local sports. I've just gotten a job working the editors desk at a cable station.

 

[lxskllr]

Now I'm in software development. In the past... boatswain on a square-rigged sailing vessel, first mate on a Chesapeake Bay skipjack, deckhand on a coastal tug, drove a semi.

Why the hell would you go inside when you get to sail for a job?!

 

[halik]

I had a really random job in undergrad (~2004) - local newspaper was somehow still running a circa 1978 mainframe to get AP feeds from the satellite. They had that POS hooked up to an OS/2 warp machine with some $5K ISA adapters to interface with the mainframe and get the AP news stories into text format. On top of that, they had a 24-7 crew of people (7 in total) to watch the mainframe and make sure it didn't get in a fucked state and once a week you had to swap out 40mb backup media size of a hat box that was housed in a washing machine sized drive. Needless to say, the place went bankrupt a year later.

Currently I work in front of this:

 

[manimal]

I had a really random job in undergrad (~2004) - local newspaper was somehow still running a circa 1978 mainframe to get AP feeds from the satellite. They had that POS hooked up to an OS/2 warp machine with some $5K ISA adapters to interface with the mainframe and get the AP news stories into text format. On top of that, they had a 24-7 crew of people (7 in total) to watch the mainframe and make sure it didn't get in a fucked state and once a week you had to swap out 40mb backup media size of a hat box that was housed in a washing machine sized drive. Needless to say, the place went bankrupt a year later.

Currently I work in front of this:

World of Warcraft gold botter?

jk

 

[amish]

ugh, all the "i've got a cool job, but i can't talk about it" is such a cock-tease.

it is like having a girl walk up to you and state, "i've got really cute underwear on. it is a little..." and then walking away.

 

[unokitty]

Unusual job, definitely.

Cool job, definitely not.

In '70 and '71, I spent my nights walking a Dog trained to kill everyone in the world, except me, around 3.2 mile perimeter in Chibana, Okinawa. Inside the perimeter was enough chemical munitions to kill everyone in the world three times. (Stored in violation of the 1934 Hague Convention.)

Eventually, the munitions were moved to an uninhabited atoll called Johnson Island. The move was given the name "Operation Red Hat." I was one of the original 247 "Red Hats."

Not all of the local nationals were happy with our presence. Note, the linked article mistakenly refers to our Company Compound as the "Storage Depot". It also mistakenly refers to "Marines".

Our munitions storage perimeter was never compromised. On the other hand, the Company Compound with our barracks was ... Nothing like waking up to find a few hundred local nationals all chanting "GI Mother Fracker" and snake dancing around your flag pole...

Another riot, with music, that took place 4 blocks from my in town apartment. (Though, my unit didn't cause this one...)

Recently, there have been some oblique reports concerning the health and life expectancy of the "Red Hats." C'est la vie, no?

Uno

 

[amish]

I spent my nights walking a Dog trained to kill everyone in the world, except me, around 3.2 mile perimeter in Chibana, Okinawa.

i've got a buddy that does that right now with 3rd SFG. after seeing that dog in action, i'd say it was a cool job.

 

[jupiter57]

Not really a paying job, but:




I'm an amateur Gynecologist.
:biggrin:

 

[SaDiZTiKStyLeZ]

Delivering & installing mac's in Chicago-land schools. I suppose.
It was a lot of fun seeing new places & meeting new people every day.

Everything other than that aspect was shit.

 

[iRONic]

I was a banner tow pilot for a few years; it was unusual and I thought it was cool.
It was as close to barnstorming as you could get, snagging signs off the ground with a 6 pound steel treble hook at 60 MPH, flying as slow as possible in specially modified aircraft, and bringing the signs back with a flight path looking like a lawn dart on re-entry.

When I worked at HFD we had a picnic table beside the hangar that fronted the grass strip where they laid out the banners for pick up. We would watch this guy in an old Luscombe snag. We started holding up manila file folders with numbers on 'em as scores ala the Olympic diver judges. Good times.

 

[ichy]

Why the hell would you go inside when you get to sail for a job?!

I can't speak for him, but in general jobs that involve sailing pay absolute shit.

 

[iRONic]

The mid 80's... Helicopter mechanic on an oil & NG platform 150 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

Approach

Short final

Good day

Funky day

Bad day

 

[Markbnj]

Why the hell would you go inside when you get to sail for a job?!

It's fun and adventurous (for the first week at least), but as someone above said it's barely a subsistence living. Even if you sail union there are so few U.S. flag jobs available you're lucky if you work a couple of months a year.

There are still good marine careers, but not many that will pay what software development pays. I'm glad I did it when I was younger, though.

 

[lxskllr]

It's fun and adventurous (for the first week at least), but as someone above said it's barely a subsistence living. Even if you sail union there are so few U.S. flag jobs available you're lucky if you work a couple of months a year.

There are still good marine careers, but not many that will pay what software development pays. I'm glad I did it when I was younger, though.

Makes sense. One of my regrets was not getting in the Coast Guard. I was interested in the military early on, then lost the notion. Once I hit 30 or so, Coast Guard seemed really appealing, but I was too old, and already had a kid, so it was inconvenient. I'm sure for every person that gets to work on the water, there's 1,000 more that don't, but being on the water almost every day would be a great way to spend my time. I don't need to be rich. I'm already used to that :^D

 

[bonkers325]

member of the design team that engineered the transportation of the Willis Avenue Bridge bridge down the Hudson river, around the tip of Manhattan, and up the East River to it's final site spanning the Harlem River.

 

[unokitty]

i've got a buddy that does that right now with 3rd SFG. after seeing that dog in action, i'd say it was a cool job.

Thanks for the comment. And you are correct.

The experience of being a military dog handler is way cool.

Click for Military Dog Photos.

Uno

 

[Markbnj]

Makes sense. One of my regrets was not getting in the Coast Guard. I was interested in the military early on, then lost the notion. Once I hit 30 or so, Coast Guard seemed really appealing, but I was too old, and already had a kid, so it was inconvenient. I'm sure for every person that gets to work on the water, there's 1,000 more that don't, but being on the water almost every day would be a great way to spend my time. I don't need to be rich. I'm already used to that :^D

USCG was my original interest as well. My grandfather was a Lt. Cmdr in his early years, and then later a master of bulk freighters on the great lakes. My Dad and his brothers all sailed as well. But an industrial accident in my teens ruled out the CG, so I just spent five years grabbing ships wherever I could get one. Ended up sailing the Caribbean, east coast, and St. Lawrence Seaway on various ships.

 

[skyking]

When I worked at HFD we had a picnic table beside the hangar that fronted the grass strip where they laid out the banners for pick up. We would watch this guy in an old Luscombe snag. We started holding up manila file folders with numbers on 'em as scores ala the Olympic diver judges. Good times.

Everybody has a thousand stories, but this one is good. The airport is on the shore of a big lake and infested with Canadian geese. The airport management spent a lot of time scaring them off with fireworks, noisemakers, etc. with out a lot of success.
Somebody spooked a bunch of those big bastiges up right in front of me. They can do some serious damage!
I stabbed the throttle and maneuvered up over them, then continued in to snag the banner. Apparently when I pulled up the hook swung down and beaned one, direct hit. It went into the lake like a toolbox with a broken handle, according to the ground crew.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

I'm currently working at a very popular cable network doing program development. Absolutely love it.

 

[roguerower]

In HS I was a dispatcher for a military flying club. Interesting enough work, but got to see all manner of military aircraft come and go. Only really bad day was when the club Seneca decided to do a gear up landing...

Now I do commercial construction management as a contractor for the federal government. Every once in a while you get a fun job (like the one I'm on now), i.e. hangers, operations centers, headquarters, etc.

 

[zmaster]

been working in the fashion industry as an IT personnel for a few years...
the parties and the beautiful women definitely make the job interesting
oh and i met liz hurley at one of the events...she has an accent that made my knees buckle...

 

[Oil]

The mid 80's... Helicopter mechanic on an oil & NG platform 150 miles out in the Gulf of Mexico.

What platform?