What do you do for a living and does it help with your hobbies?

[guest325]

I design Gas and Electric fires that a predominantly used in Holiday homes (Static Caravans) but also venture into products developed by other sections of the group of Companies I work for. My current projects are 1) A new pretty revolutionary design Gas fire 2) A portable Welding Fume extractor.
My job helps with my hobbies because using 3D CAD allows me to have a more educated design process when I have a go at designing a model. It helps to make sure bits fit together and gives me best layout for determining COG, i.e. removes some of the guesswork!
Anyone else care to share?

[robshaw]

I commission robots which paint, assemble and seal cars for a large German firm called Dürr. I have worked at vauxhall, Aston martin, jaguar land rover and BMW putting our robots in. My job includes electrical and mechanical engineering, robot path programming, paint and sealer application, training customers on our equipment and more. I spend a lot of time working away from home and so I';m in the process of changing my job for something I can spend a bit more time at home messing about with my multirotors, oh and seeing the girlfriend. ^-^

[fruitsalad]

im ipc qualified for cable looming,electrical soldering weapons systems.
cant say what my job involves other than that,im not allowed too..

[Loiner]

Not what I do now, Self employed Electrician but what I use to do in the dim distant past. I was an Weapons Electrical Artificer in the Royal Navy and through 1961 to about 1965 was given an excellent training, hand skills and theory. That set me up to "modify" most things, even if ill advised to do so! Still trying and yes the Self Employed bit helps with "time Management".

Regards

John

[Ross]

Well, I spent 35 years in aviation..7 in the Fleet Air Arm and the rest in the National Air  Traffic Control Service of the CAA.

Flying, in  itself, is not inherently dangerous but it is terribly unforgiving of negligence and stupidity 

[Gaza07]

My normal work is Plumbing but at the moment there is nothing about no one seems to have any money to spend except Multi Rotor flyers, but they keep sending all their cash to china   

[Col_M]

I';m a database administrator, I suppose not getting frustrated with users will serve me well if I run into any problems elsewhere in my life due to learning how to restrain my temper and improve my patience

But in all seriousness, I did mechanical design at uni so I have a pretty good grasp of structural stuff and also a reasonable foundation in electronics as there were compulsary modules in that too.
While at school I also did a few weeks work experience at British Aerospace Systems and Equipment as it was called then, they had me doing tons of soldering, I must have been reasonably good as they invited me back to do a few more weeks in the summer hols.

[benchmark]

I am a surgeon, as regards to how it helps my hobbies? .well... i guess i like to tinker with my hands.  Oh i nearly forgot, it also pays the hobby bills.

[firey1]

Im a terminal operator at a chemical plant
we supply chemicals for the dairy industry approx 3 million liters a month for the south island 
all the good stuff
Caustic soda ,Nitric acid , sulphuric acid and others like that
my main position is running a chlorine plant making sodium hypochlorite

only thing my job does for my hobby is help fund it 

[Allanm]

Started in Graphic design, joined BT ( or Post Office Telephones as it was then) and spent 18 yrs as a technician. Got made redundant and joined the Police ( West Mids) then moved to Kent and became a Coastguard Watch officer.
Managed to cadge a flight with almost anything that landed at the station as well as the fixed wing SAR plane.
Now semi retired and working for the County Council.
So, no.
Allan

[AKA Biggles]

For me the question (or the answer) is kinda reversed; the flying hobby helped the job along.
I have been flying ROV';s subsea since 1982, and I was flying R/C models 25 years before that, so the hobby experience made the job so much easier.  Working freelance offshore and almost anywhere in the world has given me plenty of time in between contracts to pursue whatever hobby I felt like, and although model flying was on the back burner for a while, it';s a case of ';once it';s in the blood'; etc, so here I am having a go at hexacopters. As far as the job helping the hobby is concerned, I do get to see modern materials and methods from other areas that could apply to our hobby, and also I meet people from all disciplines with new ideas and solutions to problems which have parallels to my own difficulties in flying. I think it';s great to be able to cross pollinate in this way.

[Gav]

Electronics engineer. I work in the quality and R & D sector of the electronics / Semiconductor industry.  Helping to sell, install, fix and train peeps how to use Acoustic microscopes, all across Europe, Russia and India.  Having an interest in electronics and anything that flies makes multirotors a fascinating hobby for myself! 

[AlexEssex]

I work for a very well known German retailer and It has had absolutely no impact on my hobby whatsoever, it hasn';t helped in anyway, shape or form, I cant think of one thing! lol (Maybe more of an urge to go flying after work perhaps)!

[pheasant_plucker]

Technical administrator.
No use at all really...

Gerry

[Rocket_Col]

I am a CNC operator at the moment. Have been all the way up to MD but could not stand the in office back stabbing and also love being able to produce parts at the end of the day and have some pride in what I make. Doing a lot of fast turn around AOG (Aircraft On Ground). It helps me in my hobbied as I have access to CAD/CAM and a shop full of CNC mills and lathes. Also lots of metal offcuts 

[Dans]

I';ve been an aerial photographer for a few years now, but only recently woke up to the fact that in the very near future multi-copters are going to make my job either much harder, or much easier. My choice, evolve or become extinct. So, I have chosen the evolve route and jumped onto a steep learning curve. However, as good as they are, there are quite a few things that multi-copters are not able to do as a matter of course (yet), such as high altitude (3000m+), large scale landscape photography, involving 6 - 8 high res (36mp) images, carefully taken and stitched together in post.
So for the time being, I consider this as another tool in my box; to get my camera to where I need it to be and when I need it to be. Thing is, I just wasn';t expecting it to be this much fun, and sooo addictive ::)

Dan

ps I';m kind of hoping that someone will pipe up and tell me I';m wrong, that you can take these types of photos with multicopters, ';cause I';ve gotta tell you it';s not to be taken lightly being so high up in the air and around 4km out to sea, whilst sitting in a deck chair with the equivalent of a big duvet above my head  :huh (example below)

[VinHex]

I work in IT well someone has too.. Programmer, database developer.. I uses to be a car mechanic on American muscle cars dragsters but hated getting hands dirty lol.. Love the tech stuff  and working with hands but no grease..  Passion is photography so next step up, like buying a macro lens and seeing the world from a different angle.

[robshaw]

Stunning photo Dans.    Seems theres a few keen photographers on here.  Doing it for a hobby or like yourself for a living.

[SimonS]

Weekends, I get to go and FPV.  The rest of the week it';s TPV (two person view).

A Quick Flight

[Gaza07]

wow   

[Ross]

Nice one Hoskins 

[felixrising]

I';d guess that doesn';t help you with your job too much :p Learning bad habits trying to fly a A300 like a FPV Quad isn';t going to make your passengers very happy 

To the question, I';m a Linux systems engineer and really like putting some skills into the physical world than just shuffling around data and virtual servers in a farm and storage array. I don';t think it helps a lot, but then more exposure to things like multiwii code can';t hurt!

[Ross]

I knew several airline pilots who flew the big jets who could never master their kids RC plane when it was  flying towards them.........Guess if your an electronic  guy it helps with this side of the hobby...but a bricklayer?

[guest325]

I';d guess that doesn';t help you with your job too much :p Learning bad habits trying to fly a A300 like a FPV Quad isn';t going to make your passengers very happy 

To the question, I';m a Linux systems engineer and really like putting some skills into the physical world than just shuffling around data and virtual servers in a farm and storage array. I don';t think it helps a lot, but then more exposure to things like multiwii code can';t hurt!

I';m a big Linux fan, much prefer it to Windoze - been using it now for the past 20 years in one form or another. Currently using Fedora on my Laptop and Ubuntu dual boot with XP (for Flight manager and Solidworks) on my PC. Never got into the systems side of things, just a happy user!

[guest325]

I knew several airline pilots who flew the big jets who could never master their kids RC plane whenit was  flying towards them.........Guess if your an electronic  guy it helps with this side of the hobby...but a bricklayer?

They should try simple mode 

[Cozp83]

well i think ive got the wierdest job. Im a body piercer in camden town, and do the odd bit of body modification aswell;) pays enough for me to play enough;)

[Gaza07]

I cant help but wonder what is body modification   

[teslahed]

I cant help but wonder what is body modification   

A fairly extreme example.

[guest325]

OMG that';s bl@@dy scary ;-)

[Cozp83]

I think the correct term for that is body mutilation!!;-)