day job thread again - need inspiration

[sklebil]

Hi all,
I am wondering what are your ***real*** day jobs? Please don't tell me you are in charge of the earth rotation or things like that, let's be serious. I'll be soon looking for a job and I need inspiration. I am currently finishing my phd, but I am not sure whether being a hardcore scientist all my life is the best choice. One reason is you have to move every 2 or 3 years and  I would like to buy a real grand at some point...
So, give me some ideas!

-Skl

[pianistimo]

shuttle driver (my kids have to go here and there a lot).  chef (when i feel like cooking), laundress (seems like the only thing i do with 5 int he family), domestic housecleaning service (never get paid), and occasional piano teacher (had to stop for awhile after broken leg).  forgot about park ranger (take four year old to the park so much that we are a fixture). 

actually, in real life, i'd love to be a park ranger.  i have this innate curiousity about the environment. 

perhaps as a scientist you can get into environmental science, too.  a friend of my mom's is into it and gets paid well and free trips here and there.  my neighbor works at a drug company wyeth and gets paid well too.  She owns her own home.  plus health, dental, and retirement benefits and probably stock options and stuff that go with the co.  that's where the benefit of a day job comes in.  you have medical stuff covered.  it's a bummer to work for a company or for yourself where the insurance isn't a large enough company to actually free you from most of the costs.  for instance, i was just at the doctor's office and one guy had this little known insurance co. and he was told they simply don't accept that insurance company and he had to get refunds from the insurance after he payed out-of-pocket.  another lady at the dental office had to pay $300. on her own suddenly because she wasn't insured at all.  emergencies like this come up all the time and eat a hole in your pocket.  we only pay $10. co-payments through aetna.  we've been self-employed at various times and had to pay much more on policy for much less service than when we were employed outside. 

i think you set yourself up to have a reliable means of sustaining yourself when you opt for a day job that might not be all music related.  especially if you plan to have a family.  and, yet, there are jobs that some do with ease (that take a lot of physical energy) as with conductors, choral teachers, symphony and jazz band cond., piano teachers, theory teachers.  the more you do in music, the more money you make i think.  not sure how many benefits you get in public schools and colleges.  it's the first thing i would check out (ask someone who works at the uni you want to teach at) - what the benefits package is? 

my hubby has used all five of his various degree areas and recently got a sixth one (through villanova uni - management class).  he has a degree in library science which he used at two libraries and for professional writing and scholarly research which he got paid for at one point.  then, when budgets were tight, he switched to using his computer skills (which may be somehow related to his good memory from taking physics?), anyway, he has remained in computer field and has been paid there much more than doing research and writing.  he also sings (and could professionally if he wanted).  and, he taught in a private school a long time a go - so he has an education degree, too.  basically, the more you know - you can just switch around to whatever job suits you at the time and what you are asked to do there (including learning new info).

for me, i variously tutored reading, taught piano, sewed (professional - for weddings, home decor), played a few 'gigs,' and at one point worked for a piano store and also as piano teacher at a piano store.  passed the C-best test in california so that i could start doing more teaching (substitute), but never really did any.  anyhew, have found that none of these jobs that i love could i support myself with - because they are mostly self-employment.  on various months i've made income in the past - but my husbands income has been more regular.  we were self-employed at the time of my son's birth and whew!  that was a lot of money up front.  for the second two at least we had insurance (which really helps!).

[shasta]

I am currently finishing my phd, but I am not sure whether being a hardcore scientist all my life is the best choice. One reason is you have to move every 2 or 3 years...

??  Huh?  Why would you have to move every 2-3 years?  (I'm a researcher, too).  Ideally, once you finish your PhD you would either enter the private sector (industry, government) or obtain a post-doc maybe with the goals of a tenured position at a college/university/think-tank.

[thalbergmad]

I am a deckhand on a submarine.

[Kassaa]

I am a deckhand on a submarine.

Sheeyaat
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,17003.0.html

[BoliverAllmon]

music minister at church

[thalbergmad]

Sheeyaat
https://www.pianostreet.com/smf/index.php/topic,17003.0.html

Part time 

[Kassaa]

Part time 

Thalbergmad is

at day,






and
at night .

[thalbergmad]

Thalbergmad is by day



And by night.

[pianistimo]

   how did you get your shadow to be a black cat? 

[sklebil]

Hey pianistimo, is there something you cannot do?

Thank you guys for your input, but I think I've found something:

https://www.diskussionsforen.ch/Bilder/dilbert-job-perfect.gif

[pianistimo]

i cannot keep up with the cost of living on my own.  i rely on my husband's income.  you know - the check comes, i grab it.  actually, it goes into the bank account.  but, then again i write out all the bills.  that takes a good hour (writing all the account numbers down, etc). 

if i had known what i know now, i would say my parents were right.  it's harder to make a livable FAMILY income on music alone - unless you're really talented - but probably a decent second job after hours.  for instance, orchestras/chorales are usually mostly volunteers in the evening - but get paid for performances.  with the arts programs always on the line - it's better to use it as your form of relaxation unless you LOVE teaching and don't care about remuneration on a regular basis.  there's always the students that go on vacation in the summer, etc. etc. so you don't have as regular of income in the summer (as with school teachers).

i think the more jobs you can do, the better.  stretch yourself in a lot of different directions and don't say 'i'm soley a musician.'  you can be several things and actually enjoy the changes of direction.  and, as you say - if you're not 'up front' in a job - you can quietly get it done at go home at 5pm. 

ps i can bake bread, too, but don't tell anyone.

[donjuan]

I am a university student, trying to get into the pharmacy program.  I have a back up plan; BSc general with a major in science psychology and minor in sociology. 

I just started working at Sears in the electronics and hardware departments.  Yes, I am that useless guy on the phone who doesn't know anything.  But hopefully by the end of the summer, that'll change and I'll be able to do everything and deal with all the situations. 

[anekdote]

I work at a grocery store. 

In a year or so I may quit and take up one of a few job opportunities available to me (ranging from fishing to working in a medical firm).

I'm not in college yet, but I'm not even sure what exactly I should do. I want to do something in academics (biological anthropology or history), but I'm worried about how much pay that will afford me.

I will probably never do music as a career. It will remain a hobby and past-time.