this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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[–] Asclepiaz@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago (2 children)

Ya I'm still lying about being laid off almost 2 years ago, so it's kinda rough

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[–] m4xie@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 6 months ago

I am a clerk in a bakery.

I mostly put bread in bags, and those bags on shelves.

[–] JadenSmith@sh.itjust.works 4 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My friend had this problem, I knew him for a while and couldn't figure it out. I believe he was a "Transpondster".

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[–] kraftpudding@lemmy.world 10 points 6 months ago

I'm a florist. People understand what I do, they usually just don't think it's worth doing or paying me for my labor.

[–] pixelscript@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I'm a software developer. My default explanation to people who don't know what that means is, "I whisper to computers, and sometimes they do what I ask".

[–] monkeyman512@lemmy.world 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

My experience is that it almost always does what I ask. The problem is that some times I don't ask it to do what I want it to do in the exact way it will understand.

[–] pixelscript@lemm.ee 9 points 6 months ago

"Stop doing what I told you to do and start doing what I want you to do!" has been uttered in my office a few times.

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[–] neidu2@feddit.nl 3 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Yes, definitely. It's easier now that I'm part of operational support and can oversimplify it by referring to myself as an IT dude, but back when I was part of the field rotation, when I tried to sum up what "offshore seismic survey technician" is, I was sometimes asked "so, how's it like working on an oil rig?".
I wouldn't know, I've never been on one. I've been on ships around them, but never on the rigs themselves.

[–] Matriks404@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

It's hard to explain a job where I watch YouTube most of the time, and then I do random when I am asked to do some stuff.

[–] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 1 points 6 months ago

Yes, sometimes.

I basically move and transform data.

[–] Wutchilli@feddit.org 2 points 6 months ago

Nope, building prototypes, running experiments and develop stuff is rather easy to explain.

Explaining where i work is the harder part.

[–] Centaur@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

I don't have a job, so no trouble at all.

[–] ieatmeat@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago (3 children)

Oh yes, I usually end up saying "I work in insurance" because any more specific than that and people look at me with question marks in their faces

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[–] xc2215x@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

No. I do not.

[–] naticus@lemmy.world 2 points 6 months ago

Explaining that I'm a systems and infrastructure admin is actually easier for me than explaining my organization to people lol. Because it's a local government agency that provides services to school districts, and people don't really know we exist if they aren't a district staff member themselves (and even then sometimes they don't know!), and we're a bit niche in our specific services, I usually just end up saying "school ISP" despite that only being a small part of it. 😂

[–] USSEthernet@startrek.website 23 points 6 months ago (4 children)

Me: I'm in IT (trying to keep it simple)

Them: OK, but what do you do in IT?

Me: I'm a system administrator (again trying to keep it simple)

Them: I don't know what that means. What does a system administrator do?

Me: I work on servers (again, trying to keep it simple)

Them: What's a server?

Me: I'm in IT...

[–] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 2 points 6 months ago

So you keep the computer engine running.

[–] ramsgrl909@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago (2 children)

I'm a salesforce admin and I feel the same way

[–] Volkditty@lemmy.world 6 points 6 months ago

Ooo, my brother-in-law is in sales. What kind of commission do you make?

[–] USSEthernet@startrek.website 10 points 6 months ago (1 children)

I'm a salesforce admin

I'm sorry

[–] ramsgrl909@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Tis a thankless job!

[–] wizardbeard@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago) (1 children)

That's a combination of too simple/short in your sentences, mixed with too specific jargon with no clarification. It's dumb as hell that people don't know stuff like what a server is, but if they don't you have to abstract it more.

My go to is some form of: I'm in IT, I do systems administration. I help keep all the things behind the scenes working so that everyone's stuff works at my workplace. Less of making your email work, more of making everyone's email work.

Obviously I work with a hell of a lot more than just email. I'm mostly scripting out custom automation jobs to bridge gaps in the integrations between different systems. But like you said, keep it simple.

[–] USSEthernet@startrek.website 4 points 6 months ago

Oh hello fellow email admin. What platform?

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[–] 93maddie94@lemm.ee 10 points 6 months ago

When I say I’m a school librarian, most people can make a connection and have an understanding. And as long as their next comment isn’t some Fox News bullshit (which was real fun at my grandmother’s funeral), I can usually leave it at that.

But the actual day-to-day complexities of what I do isn’t going to be understood. Most days I am checking out over 400 books to students, which means my volunteers, me, and my para (assistant) are checking in and reshelving over 400 books each morning. That’s over 800 books scanned each day. Then, I am also teaching six 45-minute classes every day and I see each student in our school (over 700) twice a week in those classes. So I am planning and prepping for those classes, teaching those classes, and running the book checkout. Not to mention managing behaviors and helping some of our new students (especially kindergarten) understand the expectations of the library. I am currently planning our book fair happening in a few weeks, getting ready to start my after school club, facilitating a $500 per grade level order for books and supplies, fielding sales phone calls, balancing my ~$10K budget, and being the team lead which involves monthly meetings to attend, twice a month meetings to run, and many additional emails. So yes, I do read to kids and let them take books home, but that’s nowhere near the end of my to-do list.

[–] zxqwas@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Automation for mainly the mining industry.

[–] Kerb@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 6 months ago

yes and no.

I work as an it support in a small software company, so i do lots of stuff:
data integration / migration, fixes in our legacy products & websites, and of course fixing printers.

thats way to complicated explain in detail,
but just saying IT support doesn't do it justice (people just think im the guy that tells people to "turn it of and on again" if i leave it at that)

Instead of telling people directly what i do,
i just tell them i work in IT, this is what my company does, and i work on these products.

[–] traches@sh.itjust.works 2 points 6 months ago

i build websites

[–] Mighty@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago

i have problems explaining my job to myself. As I sit on the floor, painting a wall or scrubbing the floor or as I'm trying to repair a door... yeah that's not my job description

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 1 points 6 months ago

No. I've long given up to even bother trying.

[–] steeznson@lemmy.world 3 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Not really. I tell them it's like a Black Mirror episode and they give me a sympathetic grimace. Then we talk about something else.

[–] ericatty@infosec.pub 1 points 6 months ago

Ugh, why did I immediately jump to working with pigs? I'm still scarred.

[–] Skunk@jlai.lu 3 points 6 months ago

AFTN/AMHS expert at an ANSP so definitely yes.

When people understand that it is about air traffic control and say "Oh so you work in the airport tower" you just answer yes.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 5 points 6 months ago

Nope, most people are fine with "I'm a programmer", the few times someone asked me what exactly did I program, I answered with the ELI5 version of what I do and that's always been enough, e.g.

  • I make computers see and understand what they're seeing.
  • You now site X? I work there
  • You know game X? I work in the servers for it
[–] thelsim@sh.itjust.works 3 points 6 months ago

I have two ways of explaining. The first one is just saying “I work with data” followed by some hand waving and shrugging.
The other is where I really go into detail and explain everything. Going gaga over some minute aspect that I find awesome but couldn’t even interest one of my coworkers.
Neither seems to really work, but I don’t get follow up questions which suits me just fine :)

[–] cyberpunk007@lemmy.ca 36 points 6 months ago (11 children)

Reading the first several posts... Is everyone here in IT? 🤣🤣

[–] ninjaturtle@lemmy.today 8 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Given you are using niche forum software. Yes, most likely.

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[–] meekah@lemmy.world 23 points 6 months ago

Mostly, yeah

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[–] sasquash@sopuli.xyz 2 points 6 months ago (1 children)

Yes, if they are really interested and don't have IT background. My mother once thought I look up codes in books and type it into the computer.

[–] Diplomjodler3@lemmy.world 4 points 6 months ago

Someone needs to tell her about Stack Overflow.

[–] slazer2au@lemmy.world 16 points 6 months ago

Nope. I keep the internet working.

People seem happy when I say that. Unless my internet at home craps out and my wife makes a cheeky joke about it.

[–] then_three_more@lemmy.world 7 points 6 months ago
[–] scytale@lemm.ee 14 points 6 months ago* (last edited 6 months ago)

Information Security is so hard to explain to old people who don’t know much about technology. My grandparents back then (late 2000s) never understood it no matter how I explained it, and they thought I was a security guard at the bank I worked at. You could also see the disappointment in their faces thinking how someone who took IT in college ended up as a security guard.

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