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I usually say I work with my husband as graphic designer/web developer because it's easier to explain than brand designer/developer/consultant which is still only a small explanation of what I do lol
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I am a senior accountant (just got promoted a couple of days ago
) at a large homebuilding company.Most people say, "Wow, you must be good at math," when I tell them that I am an accountant. My response to that remark is, "I am good at using Excel and a calculator." I am good at math, but Accounting is mostly simple math.
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I'm a CPA in industry...I keep track of the numbers.
Funny thing is I don't actually "do" any of the accounting anymore, just systems and processes management, but that just opens a whole 'nother can of worms.
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Hospital social worker. The usual response is "Wow. That must be so hard." Or "Wow. You must be a really nice person."
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I hate this question too because my job always requires a lot of explanation. I haven't quite figured out the one word answer that's the equivalent of your "in software" answer!
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I'm an elementary intervention specialist (aka a special education teacher).
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@swansong- I work in financial aid at a large private university! Student loans is not a fun out of work topic, but I do love talking about saving and financial literacy. I try to be helpful
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I'm proud to be a librarian and I love my job, but I sort of hate the question, too. The type of people who ask that question (educated, with plenty of resources, and often without children) always want to debate the relevance of libraries in the Internet age. It drives me nuts having to defend the thousands and thousands of people with fewer resources (or people who simply appreciate the library as a free community space) who use the library every day.
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@DesertDreams88: lol
Simply put..
"On the surface, the difference between interpreting and translation is only the difference in the medium: the interpreter translates orally, while a translator interprets written text. Both interpreting and translation presuppose a certain love of language and deep knowledge of more than one language"
So - I am the person that interprets in court (live). I do not translate the written records.
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Intellectual property. People were a lot more interested when I worked in weapons
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I'm an inpatient hospital pharmacist. To which most people just hear "pharmacist" and ask if I can fill their prescriptions. No, no I cannot. Unless you are admitted to the hopsital where I work. Then I fill all your meds until you leave. That is it. I can however answer the questions they have about their meds.
My grandma still doesn't believe that I'm a pharmacist because she's "been to every pharmacy in town" and asked about me, and they all say I don't work there. Of course! That's becuase the pharmacy I work in isn't open to the public!
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@RLCeigh: I co-chair the financial literacy program for incoming freshman and really enjoy that aspect too.
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@swansong- just noticed you are from MA, do you go to MASFAA in the fall?
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@Reese: What languages? I would love to be an interpreter but I don't have any experience, and it seems like it's hard to get started. I'm a translator, but people often don't understand the difference between translator and interpreter.
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I usually say I'm a software designer. It's actually more complicated than that, as I design the user experience of software.
I used to get really blank stares when I was in grad school and people would ask what I was studying and I'd tell them Human-Computer Interaction
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Thats a complicated question for me too... I am a graphic designer, but I also manage a catalog company. Its a small company so I wear many hats!
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"I work at the College"
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@Reese: I assumed you meant a sign language interpreter. I have a deaf cousin and that's what it usually means in my family.
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I work as a credit analyst in banking. People than that means I work at the branch. Nope!
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@mrbee: Wow! I had no idea how many people hated this question!
I'm an elementary school teacher.
I love the 'what do you do' question. I'm passionate about what I do, and I'm proud of myself for how hard I worked to get where I am. -
I didn't realize how many people hated that question. I feel like when you meet new people, there are only so many acceptable conversation starters and "What do you do" is a common and (what I thought was) easy question.
I'm a civil engineer in the transportation field and I typically do roadway design. So my answer varies from vague to detailed depending on who I am talking to:
Engineer -> civil engineer -> transportation -> roadway design. -
I teach ESOL in an elementary school in a troubled urban district. Follow-up replies: what grades do you teach? (preK-8), how do you speak ALL those languages? (I don't, just English, French and Spanish but you only need to speak English to be a good ESOL teacher), are you scared teaching where you do? (no), wow, that's impressive (yes, I'm awesome
).@sometimesshesings: My husband is a public librarian and I used to be one, too. Ugh, the people you're talking about are so annoying! Comments such as, "do people still even USE libraries?" drive me up the wall! Glad to see another librarian on the board!
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I'm a La Leche League leader & Lactation Educator ... I'm only ever really asked what I do when I'm out with my husband at his company events and it's usually a conversation killer (I guess talking about boobs make things awkward?)
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I stay home for now. But other mums typically ask what I used to do, and I just say journalist. That usually leads to lots of questions. Everyone usually thinks it sounds glamorous and are very interested. And it was brilliant! But I was mostly in print, which is not in a good place right now, so I find it hard to get excited talking about what I "used" to do.
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@sometimesshesings: I'm a librarian too. When I say that people tell me they hate reading. Umm OK?
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I am a writer and developmental editor.
Basically, I help people write books, or I do it for them.
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I'm a psychologist. Usually people follow up and ask where I work, and I say I have both a private practice and I also work in a hospital in the field of child maltreatment. That either causes people to ask me a ton more questions or it shuts them down entirely. Or, they proceed to tell me about their problems.
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@aprild: this is exactly my situation as a SAHM! I sometimes feel the need to elaborate and go on about my previous occupation (marketing & sales) prior to LO arriving, but that usually ends up in me ranting - haha. I wish I could own it more!
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I actually quite like this question.
I am a supervisor for the customer service team for a major online stationery company, and I help develop and teach our training for seasonal and corporate hires.
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@mrs.shinerbock: I also work in Quality. Other engineers say "oh" like I'm some substandard engineer because I don't design products. People who aren't familiar with manufacturing or engineering always ask "Quality? What does that mean?" So now my canned answer is "I work for a safety device company".
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@ShootingStar: My husband is also a UX designer and people never get it. I usually boil it down to "he designs the way computer programs look and feel" which is obviously *really* simplified. Then people usually follow up with, "Isn't that the same thing you do?" and I have to explain that strategy and engagement is a totally different job, even though, yes, we both work on software applications (albeit in very different industries). They're usually pretty glazed over by then.
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@Finfan: weird! I don't think I've ever had that response. I've definitely had people ask how I like reading all day at work (ha!)
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@Katrocap: hi librarian family!
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Sahm!
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I'm a stage manager!
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I say I work in Telecommunications at a police department ie: a 911 dispatcher.
ALWAYS get a follow up question and 99% of the time it's, "what's the craziest call you've ever had!?!"
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I'm a photographer, then people ask me what kind (weddings and portraits, anything with people!) or if I do something else besides that.... Half the time I think my friend's parents think I do it only for fun/free and I'm not a professional.
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@ms.line: LOL DH is a UX Designer/Front-end Dev. I don't even think trying to explain UX to anyone who doesn't normally hear the term can be done in a minute. So many questions!
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I work in juvenile corrections, and am very passionate about what I do, so I love this question. I inevitably get stories about the other person's misspent youth or questions about high profile local crimes (which I can't answer) in response.
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@namaste: Ooh he's a unicorn. (That's what we call people that do UX and front end dev).
@ms.line: I think people end up thinking I'm a visual designer, making icons and stuff.
) at a large homebuilding company.
).
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