Ask Lemmy

Software developer

I thought there'd be more of us...

I'm herding electrons. AKA I design chips for isosychronous low-latency networks.

Mechanical Engineer. 14 years in automotive interiors. I design tooling for instrument panel toppers, door uppers, arm rests, etc.

Primarily, the type of tooling I specialize in is known as edge wrapping or edge folding. Basically, you have the plastic "substrate" and the leather or vinyl "skin" that is either vacuum formed or press laminated to it. Extra material is left around the edges, and that is heated, wrapped, and glued around the back of the part with a number of metal fingers. I do the wrapping tooling, as well as the lamination tooling.

The most complicated tool I ever designed was for a large, flat component behind the back seat of a car, by the rear window. Let me walk you through the sequence for it.

• Operator loads plastic substrate in tool upper
• Operator loads flat skin pattern in the lower on skin pins, and a clamp in the rear
• The infrared heating shuttle moves in and the upper closes to the heating position, where the skin and substrate are blasted with tens of thousands of watts of IR heat to activate the glue
• The IR shuttle retracts, and the tool fully closes to the lamination position, and the skin pins all retract. In the case of this tool, it had (I think) 0.25mm of compression a-side of the part.
• Seven slides extend to laminated areas that were either undercut in tool draw, or protruded in a way that prohibited skin loading.
• Three 200C hot air heaters extend down from the upper to heat the back edge of the part, and around the two speaker openings.
• Once those retracts, 25 edgefolding pieces wipe the skin around the back, and up through the speaker openings (that's the coolest part)
• The edgefolders retract in the reverse sequence of which they extended
• The slides retracts
• The tool opens, and the skin pins extend
• the Operator can now step in the light curtain to remove the part, then return with the new substrate and skin.

So far, I would say it is the pinnacle of my career. But car parts are getting more complicated all the time. My design focuses lately have been focused on simplicity over that level of complexity. Where can we use a guided cylinder where we used to use linear rails? Can this detail be made in multiple pieces to reduce waste material? What components can be 3D printed? It's great fun, really. I do love my job.

Opened a consulting business a couple years ago, a solo thing. Before that 15 years in energy tech product.

Geographer, I make maps

Translator and proofreader. I've translated everything from HSE manuals to emails used in a divorce case.

Maintenance engineer for a major window manufacturer.

Previously I worked in Healthcare in various different roles.

Legal analyst

Warehouse worker. I mainly do labeling and loading/unloading etc but I do any other task as needed. I am also full-time uni student in CS.

I was in tech, both IT and business enablement roles. I got replaced by AI so now I'm a professional curmudgeon.

Software dev and in privat game dev/modder

Electrical engineer. I primarily do work on water treatment plants, but because my company has few electrical engineers, I work on a variety of jobs

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

Former rock star, now retired, living on my private island, occasional public speaker, industry leader consultant when bored.

Just kidding. IT of course.

I have no idea what is called in English. I just work at a car park. Just above minimal wage, it pays my bills, finances my hobbies, is stable and once I'm out of the door at the end of my shift it is not my problem anymore.

My profession is whatever job I can get with a HS diploma. Right now it's a crane operator, I climb 1-3 stories to troubleshoot problems for a warehouse in 34f or -15f. Actually not bad, coworkers on my shift are pretty cool, pay is good, benefits not bad. Just allot to learn with the program and system they use. Still in training, wish my luck keeping this job till I get a college degree or trade.

I am a caregiver for high functioning adults with special needs. The pay isn't very good and there's no benefits. I love my clients, they are hilarious and they like to tell me how awesome I am. I don't let it get to my head because that's one of the behaviors they do to get what they want or need.

“AROO!! AROO!! AROO!!”

No, not really. I’m an English teacher & childcare provider.

Used to work in IT, but preschoolers are generally easier to please.

I make things look nice by covering up blemishes with an explosion or skin from a foot or a piece of furniture. I'm a compositor.

I'm a cashier. Are you proud of me mom and dad?

Welcome to the IT help desk, im here because you broke something.

And I cosplay as a sysadmin at home for fun. Would like to make the jump professionally, but being able to turn work off at home and not be on-call is too important.

I'm a credit card number distributor.

I used to teach, now I wait tables. I've also been a computer tech, event security, summer camp counselor, and lay minister.

I'm thinking about switching it up again. Maybe electrician?

IT support for a non-profit. We are a small IT dept so I do everything from installing printers to managing our network. I've been at this job for 20yrs. But worked in IT for 25ish.

Environmental health officer, aka health inspector.

Most people don't know who we are, but we play a huge role in the background on education and prevention for public health issues like food safety, communicable diseases (gastro, outbreaks, pandemic, tattooing, beauty parlours, mosquitoes, rodents, flu, covid, etc.), health of the environment (soil, air, water),... We are a jack of all trades kind of profession.

I make knives. I write about knives.

What? Those are totally some of my professions.

I used to be a scientist, lived the startup (hardware) dream, now thinking about next moves - world needs housing, right? Maybe reskill to civil engineering?

Surprising thing: hardware startups face so much upfront capital cost that they're almost impossible these days, also, I'm starting to wonder if we maybe have enough Science/Tech and that investment could be better directed to short term material needs of people and the planet

Lawyer and engineer. I manage the IP and help spin out start ups for a large robotics research institution.

I’m a professional do-nothinger!

I used to work in IT, got fed up with that and switched to trades (joiner, tiler, and such), started doing property renovations, then covid & lockdown stopped that.

Then my parents got ill and I pretty much have to take care of them.

I used to work for a city school during the summer to get school books ready for the year/ recycle old ones, retail, bike mechanic, 3rd party labor builder for various companies, mostly bikes and furniture, and most recently at a factory cutting aluminum.

Nowadays I mostly look for jobs.

I have a nonsense job title which doesn’t describe what I do, so on linked in I self title as a digital accessibility specialist. Prior to getting into this field, I was a physical therapist (technically I maintain my license so I still am, but feels weird to claim when I’m not practicing)

Automate stuff, fix stuff that does not automate.

Scheduling and event organizing at a small college.