Why don't people want to say what they do for a living?

[anonymous-user]

Impasse said:

I think we've found another good reason not to ask what someone does for a living. The answers are, almost without exception, terminally dull.

Maybe to you, but the How's and Why's of business fascinate me.

I met a really nice guy at a garden party the other day and when we asked each other about work, he explained he did industrial and commercial time lapse photography and we then spent a while discussing the advancement in drone photography and the methods use to capture entire construction projects in time lapse. It was really pretty interesting for someone like me who loves gadgets and tech.

[PurpleTurtle]

Blown2CV said:

PurpleTurtle said:

I'm an IT Contractor if we meet at someone's party. That's usually end of convo! Do you want to know about support/development on mainframes? Probably not. Can I fix your laptop? Well I'm happy to try, but am probably no better than you can, have you tried Google?

Having said that, I've met loads of really interesting people in the IT game, but interesting for the things they do outside oif work rather than in it.

Generally I find that people who are "in business" with no follow-on description are either doing something borderline illegal/would prefer the taxman not to know/thought they'd hit on the next .com revolution but are struggling to make ends meet.

why would you say "contractor" and not "consultant"? Why is it relevant that you're freelance? I find that the type of people who describe themselves as contractors are desperate to be asked what their daily rate is.

Because:
1) the client I do a lot of work for makes a specific distinction between 'permanent' and 'contract' people
, it's just the nature of our site. "Old Dave over there, is he a contractor or a permie?"
2) because it makes a clear statement that I would never go back to being a permie to anyone wanting to hire me
3) because I work 'on contract', and do not 'consult' - client gives me a brief, I do it how I see fit, within their recognised standards
4) because of the old adage "Consultants? Kind of people who borrow your watch to tell you the time". Probably the kind of people who call themselves Purple Xylophone Solutions. Absolutely must have a colour in their name to make them stand out.

I've got no wish to boast or complain about my daily rate, I've never discussed it with anyone other than my agent in 20+yrs.

Perhaps you're hanging round the wrong 'type of people'?


ETA: colours in usernames are TOTALLY fine!

[Buzz84]

Mrs Buzz has a good job and there are very few females at that level or industry in general and its seen as job for men. Because of this it tends to surprise people and will always lead to loads of questions and remarks along the line "OMG, how on earth did you get into that?", "that must be hard work?". "why did you want to do that?", "whats it like?" etc etc etc. So she just prefers to play it down and not really say what she does to avoid this

I on the other hand am very proud and tend to drop her in it by telling people, she's not impressed when I do...

---

The company I work for actually prefers its employees to not identify themselves as working for them, especially on the net.

[JonRB]

Blown2CV said:

I find that the type of people who describe themselves as contractors are desperate to be asked what their daily rate is.

Just to add that this comment is a good illustration as to why many people don't like answering the question as to what they do for a living - you never know how the other person is going to react, and if it will be negatively and/or with hostility. You also never know what chip they have on their shoulder which your response might inadvertently aggravate.

[lukefreeman]

If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

[rohrl]

lukefreeman said:

If I told you, I'd have to kill you.

Jizz mopper?

[anonymous-user]

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

We can do it 7.5 Hours using Lean. (Mini Factories, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, one piece flow)

As a former draughtsman and current civil engineer, I use pencils all the time and prefer them to pens. And the wooden, hand-sharpened ones over self propelling.

I'd be interested in hearing more about the process. Are you willing to divulge the maker/employer? I may have to sample your brand...

[Exige77]

OpulentBob said:

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

We can do it 7.5 Hours using Lean. (Mini Factories, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, one piece flow)

As a former draughtsman and current civil engineer, I use pencils all the time and prefer them to pens. And the wooden, hand-sharpened ones over self propelling.

I'd be interested in hearing more about the process. Are you willing to divulge the maker/employer? I may have to sample your brand...

Might be a bit boring for some people.

PM your address and I will send you some samples (for testing purposes)

[anonymous-user]

Exige77 said:

OpulentBob said:

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

We can do it 7.5 Hours using Lean. (Mini Factories, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, one piece flow)

As a former draughtsman and current civil engineer, I use pencils all the time and prefer them to pens. And the wooden, hand-sharpened ones over self propelling.

I'd be interested in hearing more about the process. Are you willing to divulge the maker/employer? I may have to sample your brand...

Might be a bit boring for some people.

PM your address and I will send you some samples (for testing purposes)

I'm working in India for the next few months so it's a bit of a non starter, but genuine thanks for the offer

[Tonsko]

Staedtler and the US guys use quite different processes. Same basic idea. The German process looks... dare I say it... more efficient. Interesting.

German:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBhl_ZP_xYs

US:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHp1fGdAWE

[Exige77]

Tonsko said:

Staedtler and the US guys use quite different processes. Same basic idea. The German process looks... dare I say it... more efficient. Interesting.

German:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBhl_ZP_xYs

US:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZHp1fGdAWE

You can't really compare the Staedtler production system (even if very inefficient) with and old world family company style production system.

Making Graphite pencils is relatively simple once you have sorted your process and systems.

The Challenge is making coloured pencils. Much bigger market and much more difficult to manage.

[CTO]

People whinge at me about the general state of affairs in the sector I work in when I tell them what it is.

Worse when a group of us go out for dinner when away with work.

Last person that asked, we told them we were a freelance human cannonball outfit,touring Europe. They asked fewer questions

[Sparkzz]

wildcat45 said:

Me too. Not the sheds bit, but I am interested in people, what they do and how they do it.

I have a job that everyone has an opinion on. Rarely a good opinion. I'm happy to talk all about it and what I do, but I often find I am asked to justify or defend what other people in my profession do and how they behave.

All estate agents are tts.
All car salesmen dishonest.
All journalists are scum.
all teachers are lazy.
All lawyers are shysters.
All politicians are corrupt.
All coppers are bds.

I am in one of the roles above.

Your a copper then?

[DoubleSix]

Sparkzz said:

wildcat45 said:

Me too. Not the sheds bit, but I am interested in people, what they do and how they do it.

I have a job that everyone has an opinion on. Rarely a good opinion. I'm happy to talk all about it and what I do, but I often find I am asked to justify or defend what other people in my profession do and how they behave.

All estate agents are tts.
All car salesmen dishonest.
All journalists are scum.
all teachers are lazy.
All lawyers are shysters.
All politicians are corrupt.
All coppers are bds.

I am in one of the roles above.

Your a copper then?

Hopefully a teacher, of English...

[Blayney]

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

We can do it 7.5 Hours using Lean. (Mini Factories, Pull, Kanban, Kaizen, one piece flow)

That surprises me that the other manufacturers take so long and haven't adopted lean. It makes so much sense in what I assume is such a high volume low variation product?

Purely out of interest do you have separate lines/cells for different colours or can you run any colour on any line (for flexibility) and just have a changeover?

I'm currently doing an MSc in Engineering and Management of Manufacturing Systems and lean principles play a big part in it so this stuff interests me.

Have you seen the slow motion of a paperclip machine? It is brilliant one feed and one rotating part to fold and cut the paper clip.

[MarshPhantom]

Exige77 said:

Monkeylegend said:

Didn't notice it till you mentioned it

I saw a short documentary on pencil mfg some time ago, thought it was fascinating. One of the everyday objects we take so much for granted without realising what goes into the making of them.

I bet you are sick of people asking you if you have any lead in your pencil

They are very complicated to make with such a low value product at the end of it.

We adopted Lean principles about 15 years ago.

There are 1000's of pencil makers around the world. Barriers to entry are low.

They get to a certain size and just can't grow any more and get stuck.

It becomes too hard to manage everything and not get in a mess.

We produce about 15M pencils each day.

The average Asian pencil maker needs around 45 days to make a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

Advanced factories like 2/3 Famous German producers need around 25 days for a pack of 12 coloured pencils.

2b or not 2b?

Edited by MarshPhantom on Tuesday 28th July 22:02

[Tonsko]

I like a good pencil. Prefer a good 2H myself.

We should start a poll. A what is your preferred grade thread?

Edited by Tonsko on Wednesday 29th July 00:50

[NNH]

Exige77 said:

I think you'll find that Argos and Ikea buy those ones.

We don't make these kind of low end pencils though.

We have made the Ikea ones in the past but no margin there.

Edited by Exige77 on Tuesday 28th July 10:09

Your margin would be higher if you made Ikea put together the pencils themselves...

[anonymous-user]

Feeling the pencil love on here

[Thankyou4calling]

Love a good pencil. There used to be a museum in Keswick, it may still be there.

Couldn't be bothered to go though,

Probably had a descent gift shop though, lots of pencils I'd imagine.