OT - What's your full-time job?

[Ben One]

Writer and managing editor in the news office of a federal science agency. 

[stoken6]

17 hours ago, JazzPiano88 said:

Dream would be to do something with AI /Machine Learning in the audio/keyboard world in retirement.

Would be great for AI/ML to bring something meaningful to music - in the way that diffusion-based models have expanded the possibilities of visual art. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Docbop]

37 minutes ago, stoken6 said:

Would be great for AI/ML to bring something meaningful to music - in the way that diffusion-based models have expanded the possibilities of visual art. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

More formula Pop music no thanks,  perfect is boring.  

[ElmerJFudd]

Teacher of music, director of choirs and bands, piano teacher, player of gigs.  29 years. 

[MrVegas]

accountant, financial analyst, CPA for 40+ years

still  working to support my keyboard hobby

have worked in real estate, tech and biotech industries in the D.C. area

currently doing consulting work in Tysons Corner

[stoken6]

1 hour ago, Docbop said:

2 hours ago, stoken6 said:

Would be great for AI/ML to bring something meaningful to music - in the way that diffusion-based models have expanded the possibilities of visual art. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

 

More formula Pop music no thanks,  perfect is boring.  

I'm not looking for perfection/formula in pop either. Perfection from a composition perspective is arguably meaningless (it's an art form, and therefore subjective), while perfection in production was probably achieved the moment Auto-Tune and Beat Detective became available. 

 

Cheers, Mike.

[Stephen S]

Co-founder/co-owner/president of professional loudspeaker manufacturer www.fulcrum-acoustic.com 

[Rod S]

Regional Engineering Manager (Latin America) for an American multinational company in the Agriculture industry.    My team builds / expands all the industrial facilities / labs / research facilities across  5 countries in LA.  

 

Dad for a wonderful 4 year old (my favorite almost full time job). 

[ElmerJFudd]

2 hours ago, Rod S said:

 

Dad for a wonderful 4 year old (my favorite almost full time job). 

100%. The most important gig I’ve ever done. That’s for sure.  Trying to do it properly everyday the last 11 years. ❤️

[KeyMoe]

Retired IT guy for 4 years now. Before that, CIO for American Eagle Airline for about 20 years and part of the technology group for American Airlines for 15 years prior to that. Managed to retire in my late 50s (blessed). 
 

Just doing music and sound now….

[HSS]

Interesting that there's a lot of successful tech folks who play keys, unlike ne'er-do-well guitar heroes and drummers 😉.  I was a "rock jock" geologist for 35 years, so I don't know where that leaves me other than with a bad back and knees from too much crawling around in wild caves (i.e. "spelunking") when I was a young guy.  

[Cliffk]

Teacher/researcher, trying (without much success at the moment 😅) to at least slow down on the hamster wheel of academia. This is mainly to focus on my amazing 2.5 year-old daughter (a mid-life surprise!) and my lovely wife. 

[Sam Mullins]

Telecom engineer for entire career..although somehow ended up in product management (Cisco) the last couple years.  I’ll probably do it a couple more years and then call it a career.  Looking forward to having more time and energy for music. Energy is really the bigger part…after staring at a computer for 10 hours I don’t want to fire up the DAW.  

[Michael W]

I've been retired since 2019 due to health issues and the pandemic, but spent my entire career in the live event ticketing industry.  18 years at Ticketmaster as a manager regional VP, and EVP.  Started in San Francisco working for Ticketron (anyone remember them?) handling accounts like the Giants, 49ers, theaters, tourist attractions, etc.  I miss working very much, but alas, health issues persist.

 

[stillearning]

Owned a film developing and printing lab way back when (remember those?) that processed both retail and commercial film. When that suddenly dried up overnight, switched to digital imaging and custom framing.
 

Always played in local rock bands while working my day job, and still do fill-in work with local bands when called upon. Now happily retired, but teach keyboards 1 evening a week at a local School of Rock cause it’s fun working with kids (and adults)!

[Iconoclast]

For 24 years I was an F-16 pilot in the USAF in the Active Duty and then my last 4 years in the Reserve. Retired in 2011

Since 2007 I've been a Pilot for the largest domestic US airline

I wish I had more time to play and gig.
 

[HammondDave]

Live entertainment stage designer... and Professor of Stage Design.

[NewImprov]

Really great reading all this, we have a bunch of smart and creative people in this forum.

 

My "career" path has been crooked as hell, and I still never really know what to answer when people politely ask what I do. I dropped out of a Computer Science program in college to go on the road full-time with a band in the mid-80's, when that fell apart, I went back to school to get a degree in jazz piano and composition.

 

Worked at used record stores on and off from the 90's to the present, still do a few afternoons a week, but it's really a hobby at this point.

 

Worked in radio for a bit, spent 10 years designing educational software for a textbook publisher as a free-lance. At 40, I joined a jazz/funk/jam band that toured the West Coast pretty extensively for about 8 years, did free-lance IT work for a few Universities in my off-the-road time, and started working as a freelance live and studio sound engineer, had always had a home studio, and had connections to get into a few of the better studios in the NW.

 

From 2010 to March of 2020, I was pretty much a full time live-sound engineer and installer, I co-owned a company that did sound systems, lights, and stages for outdoor festivals of up to 20,000 people. In 2018, I opened a commercial recording facility, as a way to extend the utility of a lot of the gear that we used for shows in the off-season, and to have a place to set up all my keyboard gear. Covid shut the sound business for over a year. I turned 60 this summer, and, after going back to work for a few big shows this summer, I got really sick with what was probably Covid, and realized that I was just getting too old and out of shape for the 18+ hour shifts, and retired from the live-sound business.

 

Odd thing, though, during the pandemic, I started getting studio work fairly regularly, and that has held up ever since, and now it's my primary gig.

 

I feel like my life has been one of making bad, impractical, financially unsound decisions, and still, somehow, having stuff work out. I feel pretty lucky.

[Key hairman]

I own a window cleaning business. Definitely not what I thought my real job would be after college, but it’s been 30 years now! 
 

[TommyRude]

15 hours ago, Iconoclast said:

For 24 years I was an F-16 pilot in the USAF in the Active Duty and then my last 4 years in the Reserve. Retired in 2011

Since 2007 I've been a Pilot for the largest domestic US airline

I wish I had more time to play and gig.
 

Nominating Iconoclast for the most badass job

[Adan]

3 hours ago, TommyRude said:

Nominating Iconoclast for the most badass job

Not to diminish Iconoclast, but the federal government's a place where you can be badass because there are 20,000 people supporting you.  I have a lot of admiration for people who strike out on their own or in small companies.

[MathOfInsects]

On 12/23/2022 at 9:39 AM, Adan said:

I've been a government environmental lawyer for 25+ years, most of that time working on air pollution regulation.  Currently my job is with the EPA in DC working on national air pollution issues.  Thankfully, I don't have to live in DC, only have to go there occasionally.  As a regulator I self-describe as "fair and balanced." I like to say I've been on the wrong side of many battles but the right side of history.

 

I never had the itch to be a full time musician.  Mostly untrained but plenty of mojo.  Probably could have taken a shot at it early on but just didn't feel it in my gut.  The summer before law school there were two (2) San Diego rock bands wanting me to move to LA with them where they were certain to "go big."  I didn't, they didn't, no regrets.

Who/which bands?

[LarsHarner2]

I work a lot on Excel spreadsheets as a  accountant/financial analyst. I always loved numbers since I was 7

[LarsHarner2]

On 12/25/2022 at 9:31 PM, Michael W said:

I've been retired since 2019 due to health issues and the pandemic, but spent my entire career in the live event ticketing industry.  18 years at Ticketmaster as a manager regional VP, and EVP.  Started in San Francisco working for Ticketron (anyone remember them?) handling accounts like the Giants, 49ers, theaters, tourist attractions, etc.  I miss working very much, but alas, health issues persist.

 

I saved all my ticket stubs- my first concert (Rolling Stones in 1989) are my only ones from Ticketron- as ticketmaster then has become where I have spent most of my lesiure money (classic rock concerts). I enjoy the process a lot more now (going on a computer and picking tickets, vs. waiting in line or calling on the phone on the old days).

 

[MathOfInsects]

I do what I call my "triple hustle": I teach college, I teach private lessons, and I play live and in the studio. "In the studio" sometimes also means stemming parts at home. I guess there's a "fourth" hustle in that I compose too, though that's sort of an existential constant under the others.

In a past life I wrote ads and other things for agencies back in NY. 

It's sort of ridiculous, really. Every minute of every day I either get to teach others, play music in the world, or hang with my kids, which is how I would choose to spend my time in my wildest lottery dreams. 

NB to the universe, this does not mean you should withhold any lottery winnings you were planning for me. 

[Adan]

2 hours ago, MathOfInsects said:

Who/which bands?

This was 1990, I don't remember the names of the bands.  I also don't remember the names of half the women I dated.  

 

One was a prog-ishly-inclined rock group sort of in the Journey mold.  Pretty good band with good original material, but they were aiming for a niche that was already disappearing.  The other was made up of my surfer friends from high school, more straight ahead Stones-like rock and might have gone big, but didn't.  I think like most bands that move to LA looking for a break, they ended up doing some pay-to-play showcase gigs while waiting tables or chauffering for the rich and famous until giving up and moving back home.

[jarrell]

Started out as a musician: got a degree in classical composition, then played pop/rock/fusion mostly in Santa Barbara where I grew up. Then in my mid 30's got into software (CS classes but no degree) and worked as a software engineer, mostly audio - worked for Opcode Systems (where I met Aron Nelson, among many other fine people), consulted a little for Muse Research, worked at Danger (makers of the T-Mobile SideKick) doing smart phone audio (pre-iPhone). Now retired from software, and back to music full-time. I miss software, but music is where my heart is. OT but took my whole musical life to gradually come closer to jazz (as opposed to most jazz players I meet who have been into it since high school); been focusing on Brazilian music the last 8 years.

[Leroy C]

Philosophy professor.

[zxcvbnm098]

Fascinating posts indeed.

 

My career has been...weird. 

 

First 20+ years after college was as an executive at various major record labels; Warner Bros. Records, Giant Records, American Recordings, Capitol EMI, Universal. Also did a brief stint as a video games producer in there as well. When the recorded music business cratered around 2008, I stuck around and did some freelance stuff, and then..

 

....became a public high school teacher, currently teaching agriculture and managing a district farm on the campus of a continuation high school. I also manage my family organic ranch/farm growing citrus and avocados here in SoCal. I also am the board president of one of the water companies in the town I Iive in, and am involved in regional ground water management as part of that.

 

I also do a number of side hustles in radio, including hosting a syndicated show for Sound & Vision magazine for 8 years, and now do a lot of radio specials for NPR and public radio stations around the country. I also do a podcast on the "new" music business called Your Morning Coffee. 

 

Currently playing in an original band as well, and gigging whenever possible. 

 

Oh, and married and father to now adult-ish daughters...:)

 

 

 

 

[nursers]

On 12/24/2022 at 4:39 AM, Outkaster said:

Online administrator in a nursing school.  I hate it.  I want to go back to public health.

 

What's not to like about nursing  

 

Some amazing careers listed above, mine is relatively boring. 30 years in a range of nursing roles (front line, alcohol and other drugs, clinical governance, quality and safety), then after completing my PhD am now in a semi-academic role in the area of outcomes measurement in a health field.

 

I like to think my second job has been creative over that time, did a lot of freelance writing on music tech and keyboard for magazines in the 2000s, including two articles in Keyboard Magazine (thanks Ernie!). Have been podcasting since 2007 and still enjoy doing it, as well as playing in bands and composing / recording