What is your profession/occupation?

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i long have envied the folks with the plum easy high-paying jobs.

I'm a deckhand for a dredging company. Awesome hands-on job that never gets boring, all the guys are pretty rough around the edges so being a sarcastic blunt as*hole is about the social norm around here. Only job I've ever had where your skill is truly more important than how much ass you kiss.

^^^Hiya DB Willy and welcome to WP!

I am a independent oilman

Mental health difficulties prevented me from studying so I went to work in the registry of a busy courthouse. It was never me to start off with but I've stayed there and it's paid the bills. In the meantime I've got a degree in counselling and am now volunteering hoping that will help me break into the social welfare field.

I do computers.
I have a Computer Science Bachelor's degree - which was really hard to get - time management and organization skills are rather poor - ADHD - made the upper level classes increasing difficult - the only way I knew to "cope" was to wait until the fear kicked in as the deadline approached and then hyperfocus in an all-nighter. As classes got harder the "stay up to midnight" became "stay up to 3 am" then "stay up to 6 am" then "stay up to the start of class and go hand in the work" then "stay up to 5 minutes before the end of class and go hand in the work" then "stay up past class and send a whiny e-mail to the prof apologizing" - then getting hospitalized 4 times in my senior year because my immune system was shot from not sleeping most of the time and I was making stupid mistakes like stepping on nails. But in the end I got that piece of paper. People skills were poor too. And writing was like chewing ground glass. I took some extra science classes to avoid writing and that was fun. I did theater because the theater teacher never gave writing assignments longer than one page (but you hat to either act in or do tech for the shows).

I started out as a "programmer" then did some "dot.com" stuff - then was a DBA then more coding plus system integration then troubleshooting "production code" other people wrote - then more coding - now I am doing "DevOps" which half way between "Writing Code" and "Systems Operations".

I hyperfocus and perseverate a lot - when it is work stuff I do great - when it is not I get off on tangets and have a hard time getting back on my boss's stuff - then it isn't so good. Sometimes the work is fun like solving a puzzle or a maze - sometimes it is boring and is like being the plumber or maintenance guy - no-one notices you until something breaks or there is a mess. "Computer Guys" have both good and bad reputations in popular movies and tv shows.

The good news is I get paid well - the bad news is that everything is always changing and the employer may (will) have more layoffs at any time. And I have this irrational fear that I will never get another job. It is a very high risk job - in terms of job stability.

One other idea:

"[ . . . ] If you compare yourself to others - you may become vain and bitter - for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself. [ . . . ]" - The Desiderata

^^i wish i was smart as you and could do that tough stuff also. my life woulda been totally different had i 30 more iq points to play with. my shrink told me about a guy, a soldier at ft. lewis [washington] who got shot in the head, and when he recovered from the surgery he was found to have 30 more points IQ. his life went in another direction and i think he became a doctor.