Ask Lemmy

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

I am a clerk in a bakery.

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

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

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.

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".

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.

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.

Yes, sometimes.

I basically move and transform data.

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

Explaining where i work is the harder part.

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

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

No. I do not.

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. 😂

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...

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.

Automation for mainly the mining industry.

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.

i build websites

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

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

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.

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.

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

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 :)

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

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.

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.

No.

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.