4 ms·
A lot of us in tech can relate. Q: What do you do ? A: I am a Computer Networking Engineer Q: Sounds great. So you build websites ? A: Umm not exactly but I
by codegeek 9y ago
A lot of us in tech can relate.
Q: What do you do ?
A: I am a Computer Networking Engineer
Q: Sounds great. So you build websites ?
A: Umm not exactly but I am aware of how websites work.
Q: So you can build a website ? Like one of those Godaddy ads ?
A: I can surely help you find someone to build that for you. I am just an IT guy.
Q: Oh you mean IT guy who fixes computers/printers etc ?
A: Kinda. The weather is really great today, isn't it (subject changed)
- walrus01 9y agoQ: network engineer? A: that series of tubes you use, I make sure they don't suck.
- tspike 9y agoQ: What do you do? A: Computer shit. These fires have been crazy huh?
- amelius 9y agoThat's nothing: Q: What do you do? A: I'm a doctor. Q: I have this hemorrhoid, could you have a quick look at it? A: I love this wedding-cake.
- taternuts 9y agoYeah, I'll reluctantly reveal I'm a 'programmer' sometimes, but most the times I'll avoid the question. It's especially true in certain cities, where the first thing people ask you is "Where do you work/What do you do?". DC and SF are terrible with this, and if the wrong person finds out you can program they'll bother you all night with terrible ideas they want you to implement for them when all you want to do is get drunk.
- alsetmusic 9y agoI had an eye exam where the receptionist / salesperson read that I worked at Company X on my insurance. As we made polite conversation, I relayed that I worked on Project Y (a popular consumer product). A couple of weeks later, she used my patient info to call my private phone at 6:30am to ask for tech support. I was appalled, but politely informed her that this was inappropriate and how to seek support through the designated channels. I thought about contacting the office to inform her superiors about the privacy violation, but didn’t. I sometimes wish I had. I always wonder if I dropped an opportunity to protect others from similar abuse of patient records.
- tonyedgecombe 9y ago6:30 am, I don't think I would have been polite.
- toomanybeersies 9y agoI'm surprised that they answered. I had a recruiter try calling me before 9 the other day. As far as anyone but friends and family, whose numbers I have saved, I don't exist outside the hours of 0900-1730.
- rublev 9y ago>DC and SF are terrible with this, and if the wrong person finds out you can program they'll bother you all night with terrible ideas they want you to implement for them when all you want to do is get drunk. So? Take them for an equal ride. It's a lot of fun.
- 0xJRS 9y agoOr follow it up with "Sounds awesome, lets start! I'll need 40 grand up front and 5k/m every month after that :)" they usually respond to that with some sort of "idk if it would be worth doing that".
- khedoros1 9y agoMy wife's former coworker tried to pitch me on her super-secret idea a few years ago, which was basically an AR/VR system. She and her husband were convinced that billions were being left on the table, and that I could write the necessary software and build the necessary hardware solo in just a couple of months. I got them to stop asking me about it, but I don't think that either of them ever believed my assertion that I wasn't a technology magician.
- binarymax 9y agoQ: What do you do? A: Software Architect Q: Oh! Great! Can you please fix my laptop?! ...
- w0m 9y agoThis.
- gsich 9y agoYeah why not. I get paid most of the time when I do this for friends/neighbors/XYZ. Either cash or beer, which is fine.
- amelius 9y agoNot restricted to IT: Q: What do you do? A: I'm a physics professor. I'm teaching a thermodynamics class. Q: That's great! Can you please fix my radiator?
- jordanlev 9y ago> I am a Computer Networking Engineer > Sounds great. So you build websites ? That's funny -- I am a web developer, and when people ask what I do I say "I build websites"... which is invariably followed up with "oh so you're a designer". (Then I follow up with "no, I'm more involved in the plumbing and wiring", and by then they are usually bored).
- NotQuantum 9y agoComing out of college I was surprised just how big of a separation there is from web designer / developer, since I was so accustomed to doing both for school projects.
- ufmace 9y agoI've been responding to this type of thing with "I make websites do things. Send email, show blog posts, that sort of thing."
- codegeek 9y agoyea. I also remember the classic "webmaster" from the 90s and early 2000s.
- iakitao 9y agoMade me laugh, I'd forgotten that term. Such gravitas... the Webmaster. Reminds me of IE 2 and Java applets (and trenchcoat wearing tragics that thought they'd found power).
- illegalsmile 9y agoQ: What do you do ? A: Science Response: Oh... ok. You can mostly tell when people are actually engaged in your answer and when they're just making small talk.
- ergothus 9y agoThis covers the awkward half of the conversation, but not the "I professionally tell people they are soon going to die" part. He doesn't want to think about it and they don't want him to share that...but they keep digging against any evasion, just as you have posted.
- whipoodle 9y agoI actually do build websites but I don’t really feel the need to have strangers understand my job perfectly. Or at all. “I program computers” or “computer stuff” often works fine.