# If you weren't working in this industry, what would you rather be doing?



## MannDude (Dec 12, 2013)

Just curious what others would be doing if the industry did not exist, or if you had a shot at doing something else. Me? I'd rather be outside doing actual physical labor. I miss working on an orchard and would love to run a greenhouse or operate a farm.

So, if you weren't doing what you are doing now, what would you do? Why?


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## MartinD (Dec 12, 2013)

Psychology, more specifically in the field of self harm and suicide. It's an area that's always interested me and apparently something I'm good at!


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## MannDude (Dec 12, 2013)

MartinD said:


> Psychology, more specifically in the field of self harm and suicide. It's an area that's always interested me and apparently something I'm good at!


Why would you want someone to harm themselves? 

(jk)


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## fapvps (Dec 12, 2013)

Physics, to better understand existence as we experience it and contribute something to our civilizations knowledge of it.


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## WebSearchingPro (Dec 12, 2013)

Pastry Chef, I studied food for many years and had a knack for baking since it was more chemistry, trial and error type stuff.


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## Amitz (Dec 12, 2013)

With my physiognomy, I would surely be an actor in the adult industry. Niche films that have extraordinarily large genitalia as topic, probably. Well, I guess not everybody is made for Psychology, Physics or doing Pastries...


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## concerto49 (Dec 12, 2013)

How about a paid pension?


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## drmike (Dec 12, 2013)

I vote farmer.  Tough going these days unless niche, but never should go hungry.  

ROI is often proportional to work ethic and strategic investment.   Plus is kind of a long haul commitment.


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## BuyCPanel-Kevin (Dec 12, 2013)

Being a politician would be cool, I've always been highly politically motivated


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## SkylarM (Dec 12, 2013)

Pilot most likely.


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## switsys (Dec 12, 2013)

I guess I'm too much of a computer geek to even imagine this industry's non-existence.

I would probably be one of MartinD's patients...


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## MartinD (Dec 12, 2013)

MannDude said:


> Why would you want someone to harm themselves?
> 
> 
> (jk)


Hah.


In all seriousness though, it's quite an interesting area to study. From body language and personality traits and how they change, it's sometimess possible to see a suicide attempt coming before the person even knows it themselves.


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## NodePacket (Dec 12, 2013)

Pilot... Oh wait, thats my hobby. I guess I win


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## blergh (Dec 12, 2013)

Sales or motorcycles.


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## KuJoe (Dec 12, 2013)

I'd want to be in law enforcement. If I weren't married that's what I'd be doing.


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## Aldryic C'boas (Dec 12, 2013)

My desires run similar to KuJoe's.  Of all the things I've done, some of the Army wetwork as a 97E was my favourite.  Though what I enjoyed most wasn't always guaranteed to be the task of the day... I suppose bounty hunting would be my choice.


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## Alto (Dec 12, 2013)

I'd be a postman. All the fresh air and exercise you could need, no ridiculous corporate complexity, you do your day's work and go home. The complete opposite of the shithouse I currently occupy physically for 8 hours a day and mentally for 18.


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## Erawan (Dec 12, 2013)

Hm.. Except in the Internet, for my daily life, I work as a technician.

Maybe I could farm too, or become a psychic


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## GVH-Jon (Dec 12, 2013)

Probably be working in a steakhouse because I love steaks.


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## dano (Dec 12, 2013)

I would love to be a farmer also -- it's something that my family(couple generations both sides) has been doing for a long time, and it makes me very happy. I would never be able to support myself and family as a farmer, but it's something I have wanted to do -- these days, I pretend to be a farmer, and have my tiny sandy backyard growing whatever can be sustained organically(no miracle grow, no gmo seeds, no petro chem based pest/herbicides/fertilizers, etc).


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## Awmusic12635 (Dec 12, 2013)

Still would be in college


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## KuJoe (Dec 12, 2013)

Alto said:


> I'd be a postman. All the fresh air and exercise you could need, no ridiculous corporate complexity, you do your day's work and go home. The complete opposite of the shithouse I currently occupy physically for 8 hours a day and mentally for 18.


That's only for 6 months a year though, the other 6 months you're stuck behind a desk or at a sorting facility.


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## dano (Dec 12, 2013)

I wanted to be postman when I was 7 years old -- mom gave me the "low down" on the postal service around that time and changed my mind.


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## Nett (Dec 13, 2013)

Farming could be a good job, unless you don't want others to call you "redneck".


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## Coastercraze (Dec 13, 2013)

I would rather work for Intamin. The sweet success knowing you've helped create a scream machine!


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## drmike (Dec 13, 2013)

Alto said:


> I'd be a postman. All the fresh air and exercise you could need, no ridiculous corporate complexity, you do your day's work and go home. The complete opposite of the shithouse I currently occupy physically for 8 hours a day and mentally for 18.


Tell that to my postman...

I asked what was up with this weird barcode the postal service put inside my mailbox.  He said, oh don't worry about that, it's not for you.

Who is it for?  It's to monitor him.   No joke.   They are installed inside random boxes along his route and needs to gun scan them daily.  That data goes back to the borg and they use it to micromanage carriers.


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## drmike (Dec 13, 2013)

dano said:


> I would love to be a farmer also -- it's something that my family(couple generations both sides) has been doing for a long time, and it makes me very happy.


Pre-growing season here in the northern hemisphere we'll have a group growing thread.   There are a few us with serious garden/growing issues


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## HalfEatenPie (Dec 13, 2013)

drmike said:


> Tell that to my postman...
> 
> I asked what was up with this weird barcode the postal service put inside my mailbox.  He said, oh don't worry about that, it's not for you.
> 
> Who is it for?  It's to monitor him.   No joke.   They are installed inside random boxes along his route and needs to gun scan them daily.  That data goes back to the borg and they use it to micromanage carriers.


True story, they do similar things in Grocery store.  A friend of mine used to be the guy that mopped the aisles and such.  Every once in a while when he's cleaning he has to go through and scan the barcode to say he cleaned it at this time.  It's all data mining but dang is it tedious. 

As for me, well... I guess I'd love to be a corporate business guy (more administration side though).  Right now I'm all water resources engineering (besides for Catalyst that is...).  I always hear Business majors are easier and personally I'd love to work in an office building with highly sociable people.  

And of course I'd like to get into the actual Industry instead of living in the Academic side.  Actually applying my knowledge to practice would be lovely, granted the Academic side is part of the reason why the Industry side actually exists


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## MannDude (Dec 13, 2013)

drmike said:


> Tell that to my postman...
> 
> I asked what was up with this weird barcode the postal service put inside my mailbox.  He said, oh don't worry about that, it's not for you.
> 
> Who is it for?  It's to monitor him.   No joke.   They are installed inside random boxes along his route and needs to gun scan them daily.  That data goes back to the borg and they use it to micromanage carriers.


No shit? There was this conspiracy theory a while back that was comical, was debunked and super far fetched to begin with but it had to do with different colored sticker dots being randomly placed on mailboxes... I won't spoil the fun, and will let you look it up.


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## peterw (Dec 13, 2013)

Professor at university. I want to kick my back everytime when I remember why I stopped doing my PhD.


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## mikho (Dec 13, 2013)

Test subject on a medical firm


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## Aldryic C'boas (Dec 13, 2013)

MannDude said:


> No shit? There was this conspiracy theory a while back that was comical, was debunked and super far fetched to begin with but it had to do with different colored sticker dots being randomly placed on mailboxes... I won't spoil the fun, and will let you look it up.


I've seen different coloured stickers placed on newspaper boxes (attached to mailboxes)... but those served the practical application of letting the paperman know what days said box received a paper.


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## HostUS-Alexander (Dec 13, 2013)

Law enforcement, something to do with drugs and knife crime on our streets. As I have very strong views on the subject.


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## Alto (Dec 13, 2013)

KuJoe said:


> That's only for 6 months a year though, the other 6 months you're stuck behind a desk or at a sorting facility.


I'm the in UK, the Royal Mail isn't quite the same as the USPS by the sounds of things. The sorting office is considered a promotion, so you don't get shoved there if you don't want to; I've had the same postie for 2 years.


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## HostUS-Alexander (Dec 13, 2013)

Alto said:


> I'm the in UK, the Royal Mail isn't quite the same as the USPS by the sounds of things. The sorting office is considered a promotion, so you don't get shoved there if you don't want to; I've had the same postie for 2 years.


Here is Scotland, i get a different postie everyday lol.


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## ryanarp (Dec 13, 2013)

Before I got into this industry I was pretty steady doing Graphics Design/Video Production/Networking/IT for a decent sized church. So more than likely I would go back into that. Focus more on Video Production and live streaming of services.


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## vRozenSch00n (Dec 13, 2013)

I have a dream to be a self sufficient farmer.

Grow my own crop.

Raise some poultry and cattle in my backyard and some carp or tilapia mossambica in my pond. 

Brew my beer.

Produce my own cooking oil from my coconut in the backyard

Produce my jerky, pickled or salted food for the rainy day.

Generate methane gas from manure for cooking.

Generate wind and solar power electricity.


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## MartinD (Dec 13, 2013)

.....so why don't you?


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## Aldryic C'boas (Dec 13, 2013)

MartinD said:


> .....so why don't you?


For me, family.  Not just the spousal unit and offspring, but also BuyVM - we're a pretty tight (albiet dysfunctional at times) family that just happens to be spread out a bit.

Aye, I'm aware plenty of soldiers have families.  But the husbands in my old unit lied to their families about what they did; I value trust too highly to do the same.


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## MartinD (Dec 13, 2013)

Not you Aldryic, I meant vRozenSch00n


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## Erawan (Dec 13, 2013)

For a farmer oriented, maybe we could try FarmVille in Facebook?


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## MannDude (Dec 13, 2013)

Lots of people wanting to become a farmer...

I used to manage a 20 acre organic orchard in the desert, we grew pomegrantes, figs, plums, apricots, and some shitty pears. I'd love to do that again. I say we all pitch in, buy like 50+ acres and start the lowendcommune.


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## MCH-Phil (Dec 13, 2013)

I grew up a farmer   Hard and very rewarding work.


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## vRozenSch00n (Dec 13, 2013)

MartinD said:


> .....so why don't you?


Well, the poultry, fish, cooking oil, tomatoes, chili, spinach, beef jerky (dendeng sapi), salted fish (ikan asin) have been helping my family to survive these past few years.

If you see my Linkedin profile and wonder how much my salary was with my previous job, I earned around USD750/month, while the cost of living keeps climbing up. So we practically live from paycheck to paycheck, and without a side income, my family will barely survive.

The methane gas needs a sufficient amount of manure, which means I need to have a good amount of cattle and a vast land to graze which I don't have.  

Back in the '80s our minister of technology, B.J.Habibie, started a pilot project to have rural areas to use solar energy but it was stopped because a family member of our previous president established a private company with Payton Power and sell the electricity to government owned power company (PLN) which makes the power bill swell quite significantly.  

Solar panels and wind generators are quite expensive and must be imported directly, while the import tax and custom clearance cost is very high.  

So, some of it is still a dream, and it is hard to find a good barley supply to brew your own beer.


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## drmike (Dec 14, 2013)

Well in lieu of beer, much cheaper/easier to ferment other stuff.  Green tea/kombucha is a good one....

I also ferment at time ginger ales, wanna-be-wine and straight H2O + sugar which can be interesting mixer.  All high ABV tolerant yeasts and post filtering.


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## budi1413 (Dec 14, 2013)

MCH-Phil said:


> I grew up a farmer   Hard and very rewarding work.


You are like me. I can do any physical work like farming. You know you feel good by sweating.


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