What do you do for a living?

I am a program manager for the Department of Youth and Community Development for a major U.S City.

How would you describe what you do?

That means that we use tax-levied money to support programs throughout the city.  Those programs range from things like the YMCA, initiatives to help young people up to the age of 24 get a job. They might be mentoring programs where people try and help get them into the work force.  The bulk of what we do is fund after school programs and what are called “Beacon Centers”.  Beacon Centers are like community centers, generally in high-needs neighborhoods.  Those places will generally have a gym, some classroom spaces.  They might be dual use – like during the day senior citizens might use them for a rec area, and then after school hours it kind of turns over to the young people.

What does your work entail?

My role as a program manager is to manage the individual contracts.  They are generally contracts that are three years guaranteed and then renewed depending on a variety of factors after that.  So, a couple of times a year, I visit all of those programs and give them a rating.  Generally, my role is to be supportive of them.  If a program is trying to find a good basketball coach, or a good literacy curriculum, then I can make recommendations.  With over 500 after school programs, it’s rare that we would move to shut one down.  That’s a last resort.

It’s neat to see kids who may not enjoy school from 8-3, go to an after school program where they can do robotics, or they can do sports, or they can do community building. Some of our programs do some really good community works projects where they’re converting empty lots into gardens, or painting murals. It’s neat to see young people having a positive impact on their community.

Also I work on their budgets.  These programs have a contract with us for a dollar amount and that amount is pretty much the same year to year, unless there’s a budget cut and they send a year plan of what they’re going to do with that budget so I can see what staff they’re going to cover, how many staff, what hours of operation they’re going to have, what they’re going to spend money on for supplies.

A program can buy a flat screen TV, they don’t need to buy ten flat screen TVs. So, I just make sure that they’re using the money appropriately.  Some of what you hear about working for governments is true. It’s bureaucratic, there’s paperwork, and sometimes things move slow.

So when I go visit a program, that generates a report that I write up and that gets approved by two or three people, and gets sent out to the provider so they know if they’re on good-standing or not, so some of that is a lot of “back and forth”.

On the other hand our agency received some of the Obama money, so we definitely got to see that money at work helping people here.

What does a typical workweek look like for you?

One of the good things about my job is that it is 9-5 or 10-6. We have flex-time that I come in between 9 and 10, and prior to working here, I worked for an after school program where I was always dealing with parents and kids, and while it was rewarding, it was also challenging, because I always needed to be available.  One thing I like about my job now is that when I go home, I generally don’t think about it until the next day. That’s a lifestyle thing. Would I go back to the other way? Yeah, if it was the right job, but I do value having a life after work.

What a general work week is like, Monday through Friday, mornings, taking care of paperwork and checking up on email, doing requests for information from providers or colleagues, etc.  I spend about three days a week going out to visit programs and they’re in all the boroughs of New York.  I’ll check out a City car if the programs are far from the subway, go visit the program for two hours, go home, come back the next day, fill out that paperwork, load it into the computer, and do more of the same.

One of the great things about the unit that I work in is that if you want to work on other projects, there are opportunities to do so.  I’ve been able to advance the FIRST Robotics within DYCD.  We were able to get funding for 40 Lego teams and that’s been something that I’ve helped carry on for three or four years now.  It’s challenging because funding is tough to get, but I think technology is kind of a buzzword right now for working with kids.  It’s been neat to be able to carry over some of my own experience plus what I’ve been able to do with a wider range of people.

How did you get started with this career?

I was going to graduate school in here and there was an after school program around the corner from my apartment.  I was looking for a part-time job, and went there.  I started working as an administrative assistant essentially, and part-time lead to full-time, and when I went to full-time I worked there for four years, and then I met someone who worked for DYCD, which was actually funding the program I worked for.  I made that connection and thought it would be interesting to go work for the city agency and to see the youth development field from a different perspective. It’s not something I planned on, but something that naturally progressed.

What do you like about what you do?

I like seeing programs that are effective.  It’s not easy to work with teenagers and young people, especially if they’re going to schools that are not top notch.  There are a lot of things going against that population, so it’s neat to see kids who may not enjoy school from 8-3, go to an after school program where they can do robotics, or they can do sports, or they can do just community building.  Some of our programs do some really good community works projects where they’re converting empty lots into gardens, or painting murals.  It’s neat to see young people having a positive impact on their community.

The advice that I would have for somebody looking for this kind of position is to go work for a non-profit for a year or two and find out what it’s like to really be in an environment where resources are slim and there’s a lot of need. You’ll learn a lot from it and you’ll be able to prioritize what agencies need.

What do you dislike about the job?

Sometimes it’s difficult to stay motivated whenever you know that, as working for a city agency, there’s not a lot of reward for going above and beyond.  Your pay scale is pretty much set in stone and so the only way to really advance is to move up, and that’s well and good but it can be difficult because it can be very political, and be based less on merit and more on factors that are outside your control.

How do you make money or how are you compensated for this job?

I’m paid a salary.

How much money do you make as the City Manager for Youth Programs?

$60,000

How much money do you make starting out in this job?

All city employees start off in my role at $53,000 and after two years, you get a bump, so now I’m making the same amount as somebody in my position who has been here for 5 or 10 years more than I have.

Would you say that there are any perks associated with your job?

There are holidays I get off like Columbus Day.  I think a perk is not having to worry about my work when I’m not here.  Being able to drive a city car is a perk.

I definitely visit neighborhoods I wouldn’t have seen otherwise. And, because it is related to the city, there are times when there are perks – like for special events.  Sometimes, very occasionally it will be tickets to a baseball game, or you’ll get a special invite to a special event, things like that.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

It really ranges.  Generally, you need to have a college degree.  It would help if you had a Master’s in either social work or public administration.

You have to be able to use a computer.  You have to be comfortable going online and pulling information, using spreadsheets, additional skills.  I’m finding more and more that there are people who are comfortable being in front of a group of people and others who are not.  If you’re not, you can only go so far in this job because you’re going to be asked to be in front of a group of people at one point or another.

When people are advocating for government funding to be cut, keep in mind that those cuts can have some very real effects. Here that could mean that potentially 80,000 kids won’t have a summer program. Either their parents will be staying home from work, or those kids will be running around. So just realize when you are cutting budgets, there are real repercussions to that, so you want to be clear about what you’re saying should be cut because if you’re cutting programs we can use, you’re setting up the future, both immediate and long-term, to be jeopardized.

What is most challenging about what you do?

The pace, you can go to a meeting and people will be in agreement about what needs to happen, but it can still take two weeks for a report to get approved, because it has to go to people who are outside that meeting and run up the channels that usually go all the way up to the Mayor. And when it goes that high there are a lot of other things that have priority.  And that can be challenging because a priority to us at the agency might not be a priority at that level, so it can be challenging to wait.

What would you say is the most rewarding about what you do?

When you visit a summer camp and there’s 150 kids there on a beautiful July afternoon, and they’re just getting back from going on a field trip that they would not have gotten to take otherwise.  You can tell that they’re appreciative of it, and the program is taking pride in what they’re doing. That’s a nice thing to see.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

The advice that I would have for somebody looking for this kind of position is to go work for a non-profit for a year or two and find out what it’s like to really be in an environment where resources are slim and there’s a lot of need.  You’ll learn a lot from it and you’ll be able to prioritize what agencies need.

How much time off do you get or take with this job?

When you start off, it’s two weeks a year, and goes up gradually after that.  That’s probably one of the downsides of working for the City, is that they track every minute. You can get overtime, but it can be hard to get. At a non-profit, there would be plenty of times that I would work 60 hour weeks for a while and then say, “I’m taking a week off”, and that was accepted and encouraged, whereas here, every week you go to check your spreadsheet of your City time and it tells you to the minute how much vacation time you have. It’s kind of a micromanaged thing. If I thought I could work more and get off more, I would. But that’s not the system.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

I think there is a lot of misconception right now about public service workers and that everybody is overpaid and has a great pension, and everybody has great benefits, and that people aren’t even working.

There is some truth to every joke, but for the most part, 98% of the people I work with care about what they’re doing and are dedicated to it and work very very hard. I think the misconception is the opposite – that people are just sitting around and doing nothing.

I really don’t think it’s much different than an average corporate setting.

What are your goals and dreams for the future in this career?

In the short term, I’m looking for opportunities to move up within the agency. After that, I would like to be in a leadership position in either another government agency, or within a non-profit that is working in the community to make it improve, so maybe an executive director position in an average-sized community based organization.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

When people are advocating for government funding to be cut, keep in mind that those cuts can have some very real effects.  Here that could mean that potentially 80,000 kids won’t have a summer program. Either their parents will be staying home from work, or those kids will be running around.

So just realize when you are cutting budgets, there are real repercussions to that, so you want to be clear about what you’re saying should be cut because if you’re cutting programs we can use, you’re setting up the future, both immediate and long-term, to be jeopardized.

What do you do for a living?

I am security consultant that specializes in regulatory security, more specifically in the energy sector.

How would you describe what you do?

If it turns on, for example, the gas in your car, the lights in your house, anything like that, it is regulated by the Department of Homeland Security.  So we help clients stay compliant with the regulations.

What does your work entail?

I mainly do a lot of threat assessments, security vulnerability assessments, and mitigate risk.  So I tell you how you are vulnerable, and how to fix it, and assist you with fixing it.

Our threats are generally more directed towards terrorism.  The regulations that Department of Homeland Security has implemented are more specific to terrorists.  They’re not directed to a 16-year old kid that’s shooting his .22.  They’re directed towards terrorism.

For example, you have a rig offshore, there’s probably, I don’t know the exact number, 1,000 to 1,200 rigs offshore.  These rigs are either producing oil or pumping oil into the United States. 

I like the fact that what I do protects the United States of America’s critical infrastructure.

There are several rigs off the Gulf of Mexico that hold or push 9% of natural gas back to the mainland.  If you take that rig out, you have just lost 9% of your natural gas.  Think if you lost that 9% during the wintertime, the economic impact of losing that rig.  It would be very significant.

We help people like that do risk assessments and stay compliant with Government security regulations.

What does a typical workweek look like for you as security consultant?

There is really no typical workweek for me.  For example, this week is a little bit slow, I’m managing the Gulf of Mexico assets for one of my clients this week. The following week I’ll be in Trinidad, the week after that, I will be in Canada.  So, there is no “typical” workweek.  I did an executive protection detail on Monday that I found out about on Saturday.  That’s what I really enjoy about this job actually.  There is no sitting in an office, staring at a computer.

I travel frequently.  I would say 35-40% of the time.  I can go an entire month without traveling and then the next month I’ll be gone constantly.

How did you get started in this career?

I was taking a class – and interview and interrogation class – in college and we had a guest speaker come in who was a deputy sheriff.  I asked to speak to him after class.  The next day I was at the sheriff’s department interviewing, and the week after that, I was hired by them as a deputy sheriff.  So it was kind of a progression – a very strange progression, but a progression nonetheless, from law enforcement to security manager for a Fortune 500 company, into the consulting world.

What do you like about what you do?

My favorite thing about what I do and the company I work for is the flexibility, and the change of pace.  It’s very dynamic.  It is not static at all.  I’m constantly sending my wife my Outlook calendar because I can’t keep up with myself and she can’t keep up with me, so it’s fun in the sense that I’m doing different things.  A lot of times, I’m not away from home, I’m able to come home every night and spend time with my family, but the change of pace is just astronomical.  I deal with multiple clients and they’re all, for the most part, Fortune 500 clients, so you get a lot of different personalities and backgrounds with the people that you work with.

What do you dislike about the job?

I cannot stand going offshore.  The first time I went offshore, I was very excited because it was my first time in a helicopter.  You fly out there, but what you don’t think about is, once you leave the mainland, there’s nothing to look at except for water.  The chances of you seeing a dolphin flying through the water, or a whale are slim to none. So, you fly out there and I feel like you’re flying to jail because once you fly to this rig, the helicopter leaves and you’re sitting there doing the work and you’re confined, you stay the night and the helicopter picks you up the next day.  So offshore work is my least favorite.

How do you make money or how are you compensated?

Salary plus quarterly bonuses.

How much money do you make as a security consultant ?

In our industry, depending on your experience and your background, and your specialty.  There are some consultants that write nothing but high level security plans.  There are consultants that specialize in the regulatory security.  For example, my company specializes in about five areas.  So we have to know the regulations of CTFATS, CFATS, MTSA, TSA Pipeline Security, Canadian Security Standards.  You have to have the experience, about 13-15 years of experience at a bare minimum.  So that salary range would start at about $100,000 and up, and fortunately for my company, we are set up as having a quarterly bonus.  In my company, you can make typically anywhere from $100,000 plus to $200,000, depending on how well the company does, and your experience and background.  Right now I’m closer to the $130,000 mark.

Would you say there are any perks associated with this career?

Personally, my perk is not necessary a perk in vacation time or benefits.  My perk is working with multiple people and their different backgrounds.  I’m working with the best of the best people, and the best of the best in the security industry, from high ranking security officials in government to a director of security of for a major oil company.  That’s a perk for me because I’m able to learn from these different experiences and different backgrounds.

What education or skills are needed to be a security consultant?

If you can get into this without having some type of military or law enforcement background, in our industry, you either know somebody or you’ve done good for yourself.

Obviously you need to have a Bachelor’s Degree.  It doesn’t necessarily need to be in law enforcement or criminal justice, but a law enforcement background or a military background is going to help you.  Right now, I’m in graduate school and I’m taking graduate school to get a Master’s in security management for executives.  There are certifications you can get within our industry that definitely help out.  The American Society for Industrial Security has multiple certifications.  Without the military or law enforcement experience, then you’ll want to get these certifications and maybe even some graduate school.  That’s been my route, at least.

As far as skills, I wouldn’t say there are any specific skills needed.  You can latch on to a mentor, that has proved vital to me.  I have been fortunate enough to be mentored by multiple people.  To give you an example, my boss right now has been a long-time friend of mine and actually a co-worker at a previous company.

I would say anybody who is coming up and wants to be in this industry, and it’s a very big industry, with a lot of people and a lot of money in it, the best way to improve yourself very quickly without having to go back to school, is to shadow a mentor.

What is the most challenging about what you do?

I would say juggling clients and keeping up on clients.  The work is challenging in itself, but I would say you need some organizational skills.  In the consulting world if you have one client you might be doomed.  Your life expectancy in the consulting in world is going to be hurt.  You need multiple clients and these multiple clients demand that you be available for them.  That’s my challenge.  It’s like, “Man, this guy wants me in Trinidad this week, while the other guy wants me in Canada the following week”.  Juggling that can be a challenge.

What is most rewarding about what you do?

I like the fact that what I do protects the United States of America’s critical infrastructure.  I loved law enforcement, and that was fun and I enjoyed every second of it.  I thought that was where I was headed to and I found a different route.  So, I feel like I’m doing something very similar to that and still protecting the U.S. critical infrastructure and I feel like what I do counts.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I would strongly recommend an internship.  I think internships are vital.  That’s how I started with the sheriff’s department, as an intern.  That has pushed me leaps and bounds further down the road in my career.  Once you get into the industry, get that mentor. Find that mentor, find somebody who is willing to take some extra time out of their day to say “this is how it’s done, this is why it’s done that way and here’s the end result” and you’re going to learn a ton.

How much time off do you get or take with this job?

We’re given four weeks up front.  We have four weeks and we’re able to carry one week over.  For example, this year I have four weeks plus an additional carryover week, so I have five weeks.  Plus all the national holidays and Christmas and that type of thing.  Do I take it all?  Not really.  I consider some of my slow days as a vacation day.  Like today for example, I’m not 100% busy, so I don’t take all of my vacation days, my company is very lenient as long as your getting your work done.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

It’s funny that you ask that.  I was a director of security for Enron, through the bankruptcy.  I managed their global security through the bankruptcy, and I wore the typical slacks and dress shirt to work, business casual every day.  I remember coming home one day.  I got out of the car.  I walked to the sidewalk and picked up the newspaper and two houses down, my neighbor says to me, “Hey, where you coming from?” and I said, “I’m coming from work”.  She said, “I thought you were a security guard?”  There’s nothing wrong with being a security guard but you tell people, “I’m in the security industry” and the first thing they think about is the security guard.

What are your goals and dreams for the future in this career?

For me, I like the international side.  It’s intriguing and different, so my goal is to do more international work.  I don’t necessarily want to be a director of security at a major company, I think that’s restrictive and I like the flexibility I have right now.  I like where I’m at, it’s only going forward.  Regulatory security will be around for a long time, because there’s always going to be terrorism.  I wouldn’t mind owning my own security firm, but I don’t see that happening right now.  I’m pretty happy where I am.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

There’s a lot of potential in our industry for people.  It’s a very dynamic industry.  For me, I just want people to know that, you see these levels of government and law enforcement, but there’s thousands of people under them that are protecting the company as well.  The industry is so dynamic that there is room for growth, tons of potential worldwide, so I would encourage someone who is interested in law enforcement to at least look at the security aspect of it as well.  Do your career in law enforcement, 5-6-8-10 years or whatever you want to do, but know that there is a whole other industry that is completely dynamic.  It’s a lot of fun, I enjoy myself.

What do you do for a living?

I am the state judicial sign language interpreter interpreting in state and local courts.

How would you describe what you do?

I am an officer of the court and there to serve at the pleasure of the court to ensure that communication services are provided between the court and citizens who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind and who use sign language, oral interpreting services or who need real time captioning if they don’t sign.

What does your work entail?

I perform interpreting services during court proceedings for persons who are deaf, hard of hearing or deaf-blind.  I interpret along a sign language continuum from ASL to Contact Language or English to match the communication skills and style that the consumer uses.

Sometimes we employ the services of a Deaf Interpreter to team with to ensure the court and consumer have the best possible linguistic match.  Intermediary Deaf interpreters are often used in cases where juveniles are involved because they sometimes use different signs or slang or in cases where the consumer may have minimal language or no formal language development using gestures.  Deaf people grow up in a visual world and are skilled on picking up on all the nuances of a nonverbal language whereas as a hearing interpreter, I might miss something.

How did you get started in your job?

Years ago, I worked in the legal field as a paralegal while at the same time I was interpreting at church.  Later I met the wonderful lady who actually held this position at the time and aspired to do the same thing.  I decided to enroll in an Interpreter Educational Program at a local university to become a professional interpreter and put my legal skills to good use.  However, after a little exposure and training, I realized I was far from ready to work in this specialized field.  I went on to graduate school to get my master’s in a deaf related field and worked in the counseling field in several capacities.   I never gave up on my first loves of the law and interpreting and later decided to apply for this position.

What do you like most about being an interpreter?

What I like most about being an interpreter is the variety of experiences I have had over the years.  As a freelance interpreter, one can be up at the crack of dawn working in a restaurant kitchen interpreting for someone learning how to make biscuits while flour is flying off their fingers or the interpreter can be strapped into a harness and jumping out of an airplane with a student and flying through the air.

Interpreters sometimes have the honor to meet movie and television stars, famous performers and authors, popular athletes and important politicians who run our country.  Interpreters also have the opportunity to learn so much while working from biscuits or turbines to the latest research on stem cells or crime scene processing.  Because we know sign language, we are placed in countless milieus acquiring so much fascinating information that otherwise we would not have had the opportunity to learn.

What do you dislike?

Scheduling conflicts can be problematic because each court needs an interpreter and while we hire other interpreters to fill additional assignments, sometimes it’s hard to find someone available.

How do you make money or how you compensated as an interpreter?

I am on a salary but freelance interpreters are paid an hourly wage with travel time and sometimes mileage.

How much money do you make as a sign language interpreter?

My salary is approximately $49,000 and we pay $40 per hour with a two hour minimum to freelance interpreters.  All states pay differently and there is a huge disparity in pay levels across the nation, so it would behoove an aspiring interpreter to check pay rates in the state in which they live.

What education or skills are needed to be a sign language interpreter?

To become a certified interpreter with our professional organization, the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf or RID, the interpreter must have an associate’s degree to be eligible to sit for the certification exam.  In 2012, the educational requirement will be raised to a bachelor’s degree.

To become a good interpreter, you must have a lot of knowledge about a lot of things, so the more education one gets only increases their ability to interpret well.  There are many interpreters for the deaf with higher education and have Ph.D.s, Masters degrees and even some with law and medical degrees.  Many interpreters are on a mission to gain more education and knowledge so they can provide an efficacy of services to their consumers whether they are working in a courtroom, surgical room or a classroom.

What is the most challenging about what you do?

The most challenging situations usually involve interpreting for someone without a formal language or for a deaf person from another country.

What is the most rewarding?

When an interpreter leaves an assignment and they feel they’ve done a good job, they are on “cloud nine.”  However, if an interpreter leaves an assignment feeling uncertain about the service rendered, it can be gut wrenching.

What advice that you would offer someone considering this career?

Be patient because it takes a lot of time to develop language skills to become fluent enough to become a professional interpreter and even if the person already knows the language, they must still develop interpreting skills.   It is important to understand that just because a person is bilingual, that doesn’t automatically make them an interpreter.  They must develop interpreting skills, ethics and professionalism.

Stay in school because no one would want to have an ignorant interpreter.  There is no excuse to avoid school because there are college programs offering scholarships and grants for persons aspiring to be sign language interpreters.

After you’ve learned ASL and ethics and developed professional behavior and interpreting skills, stay in school or keep learning.  The more you learn about everything will only help you personally and professionally and help you be a better interpreter.

Are there any common misconceptions people have about what you do?

In court, interpreters are not supposed to interpret everything that is going on prior to their case being called because the assignment is not about equal access.  The assignment in court is about being called to do a specific case and if the interpreter were to interpret all the cases before theirs is called, they might not be able to do the best job possible because they would be fatigued and run the risk of injury.  The common comment from deaf people is that they feel they are not getting equal access and they aren’t, but if the assignment was about access, we would have to hire a team of interpreters to switch out so that fatigue and repetitive motion injuries would not be a factor.  Unfortunately, we don’t have the resources available to send two interpreters to an assignment that might only last fifteen minutes.

What are your goals and dreams for the future?

I want to be the best legal interpreter that I can be.

Is there anything else you would like people to know about what you do?

It is an honor to work in the legal field, to work with deaf people and to be allowed to be a part of the process.  The legal system is something I have always been fascinated with and every case is different.  It’s a fascinating field wherein I can continue to learn.

What do you do for a living?

Technically you would call it a stream restoration engineer. It falls under the broader category of environmental engineering.

How would you describe what you do to someone?

You could probably boil everything that I do down to the main concept that we want rivers to transport dirt correctly. Now that sounds pretty boring but it entails a river depositing too much sediment or eroding away too much sediment from the banks so what we do is we take the stream systems in urban or in rural settings and we rebuild them to reflect what they would have been had they been left natural.

What does your work entail?

We do all of the site analysis, the initial data collection. We do a lot of surveying with laser survey gear or aerial survey gear if we get flown. We do the request for proposals. We do the scope of work, all the paperwork associated with getting the project, then once we get the initial data we do the design. We do the contracting too and we use a lot of computer system design software. After the design is done we move into the construction that we oversee. And then afterwards, there’s usually some period of monitoring involved where we say OK how has the habitat improved or not improved since we did this restoration so we can learn a little bit more.

A lot of the misconception[about engineers] people get in school is that engineering is just strictly math, science, and formulas and is very boring and you’re always at a computer with a bunch of nerds. But a lot of what we do is outdoors. A lot of it is data collection. A lot of it is site visits. It’s not just the applying of the formulas. There’s a lot of creativity. To design a stream and make it flow wherever you want it is very fun and it’s usually with a lot of outdoorsy and outgoing people.

What is a typical work week like for you?

There is no typical work week. Some weeks in the summer, because we have or we do all our construction during the summer, we can be working straight for ten days. Obviously since we’re working in rivers it’s very dependent on weather so you can be working straight for ten days and then have seven days of rain where you have to get everything out of the river because you don’t want everything washed away so it’s heavily dependent on the weather in the summer. In the winter you’re doing all your extra work and getting things ready for the construction period. But I think it’s probably the same with most jobs these days you could expect to work a 40 or 50 hour week every week on average.

In the summertime it’s mainly outdoors during the day but I’ve done projects in the winter months where we’re in streams in November/December/January where you’re wearing a 5/8 inches or ¾ inch thick wetsuit just to keep yourself warm. There’s blocks of ice hitting you so it is kind of intense. So these projects can be done during the winter but it’s not ideal. Usually in the winter it’s a lot of computer work.

How did you get started in this career?

My dad is an engineer so I’ve been doing engineering since I was just about a knee high and so I’ve kind of had this engrained in my brain. I love being outside. I love getting my hands dirty. I like collecting my own data and then doing the analysis. I guess I just kind of defaulted into it by not wanting to do anything else.

What do you like about what you do?

I like that it improves habitat. I like that it’s good for the environment. I like that you get involved with communities. Plus most of people are usually really happy with the work that we are doing, that we have done, or that we will do for them. It’s also just fun managing people, time, and budgets and seeing your initial site go from something that you designed, to something you constructed, and then to something that people can enjoy.

What do you dislike about it?

The variability in the hours is sometimes very hard to handle. Like when you are trying to work the 60 or 70 hour weeks. Those get you exhausted, you’re tired and your back hurts, your knees hurt, and your hands hurt so it’s not as much fun. You miss out on Friday and Saturday nights sometimes. It’s definitely worth it but maybe not to you at the time.

Also a lot of times we are involved with many, many, many different groups, government and private agencies, and towns so there is a lot of communication that needs to be done.  A lot of people have their hands in these projects a lot of the time and so it’s annoying sometimes to have to report to 50 different people and agencies who aren’t always sure of what they’re talking about even though they’re the ones making the decision.

How do you make money or how are you compensated in this job?

We put out a whatever request for proposal and draft up a scope of work. Whatever we budget for our time for the project is usually what we have to get paid so sometimes you make a bunch, sometimes you lose your shirt but you usually have a good idea of how you’re going to come out so it’s not hourly it’s sort of project by project.

How much money do you make in this job or career?

Well it’s very variable depending on what projects we get and how much we think that we are going to need for each one which can obviously vary greatly from project to project but I would say on average right now I probably make around $50-55 a year.

How much money did you make starting out in this career?

My first job I was paid $42,500 and it was doing more civil engineering. I was doing parking lots designs and things like that. That was with my Bachelor’s straight out of college.

Are there any perks associated with this job?

The fast cars and women are great. Joking. It takes a certain person to want to be an engineer. Usually the first two years of engineering school you see about half the kids dropout and go somewhere else. So it definitely takes a certain type of person but you feel really good about the work that you’ve done and the work that you’ve done hopefully helping people and helping the environment . I think that that would probably be the biggest perk that we see.

Also, you do get to set your own hours. Yes, the work needs to get done but if it rains and you can’t get out there then you don’t have to work that day. Or if you are ahead of schedule you can take a few days off so setting your own schedule and working outside and being very physical in the work that you do is nice. It’s not monotonous, the site is always changing, the people are always changing, it’s very dynamic.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

Again the hardworking thing definitely comes into play and you really have to be a critical thinker. You’ve got to be able to think ahead and be willing to sort of work outside of any scope that people might normally expect to work in. As far as backgrounds it’s a lot of math, a lot of science and engineering classes. People do tend to have a lot of different backgrounds in this field; people can be biologists, zoologists, entomologists as well as engineers. There’s a bunch of different reasons to do stream restoration and so really you want to know a lot about flowers, plants, sediment transport, hydrology, hydraulics, all of that different stuff.

As far as schooling is concerned, as with any degree that you get these days you don’t learn much about the real world in school. You take a lot of engineering classes and they tell you a lot of math and formulas and science and then you get out in the real world and you sort of learn that there are programs to do that or you can’t just apply something. You have to go out and get your hands dirty and figure it out for yourself and how to apply it.

If you’re specifically interested in stream restoration or environmental engineering I would say definitely enroll in engineering your freshmen year of college because you can’t really transfer into it unless you’re coming from something with a heavy math and science background. I would say do internships, get out and volunteer, things like that. That all gives you incredibly valuable experience. But as far as college, just takes your chance in engineering. Who knows, you might like it and if not you can always switch out and you’re already ahead for whatever else you might want to do.

What is most challenging about what you do?

The interaction between project managers, town officials, the public, the outreach to the public—all of that. It’s a very, it can be a sensitive process. It can be time consuming. It can be frustrating. So dealing with the different branches of the people who are involved with the project, it’s a difficult task as well as just the sheer planning that is involved with a lot of these things. You don’t want to flood people. You don’t want to make anybody angry so there’s a lot of thinking ahead and really seeing your projects as a whole.  Those are probably two of the toughest things.

What would you say is most rewarding about it?

Like I mentioned earlier being outside is great. I think it’s really rewarding being able to go from breaking ground or standing on a site doing the survey, taking the existing data, coming up with a design, building it sort of with your own two hands, and then seeing the results afterwards. The entire process is just—it’s a lot of fun to be able to build something like that. That’s one of the more rewarding things and the community responses are usually pretty positive and that’s always fun to see.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Stick with your classes and stick with engineering in school. They try and weed people out in engineering by making you take hard classes and boring and general classes your first two years before you start getting into the interesting stuff. A lot of people think that engineering of any sort, not just environmental engineering, is all just math and science and formulas and books and reading and that type of thing and it’s not. It’s very visible these days in the things that you do. It makes a difference and it’s a lot of fun once you are out of school.

Also with engineering there’s always going to be jobs. Engineers do everything to do in the city like transportation, water, communications, roads, anything like that and so there’s probably always going to be jobs as long as there are humans.

How much time off do you get or take?

Standard one week of sick, two weeks of vacation but really you can take off as much time as you want as long as you get your work done. If you are able to complete it in one day, great then you’ve got the rest of the time of the project off but that’s probably not going to happen. Overall though I would say that I get more than the average person at about four weeks a year.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

Well like I was saying earlier a lot of the misconception people get in school is that engineering is just strictly math, science, and formulas and is very boring and you’re always at a computer with a bunch of nerds. But a lot of what we do is outdoors. A lot of it is data collection. A lot of it is site visits. It’s not just the applying of the formulas. There’s a lot of creativity. To design a stream, make it flow wherever you want it is very fun and it’s usually with a lot of outdoorsy and outgoing people.

The next question is what are your goals and dreams for the future in this job?

Right now a buddy of mine and myself are working to develop a program. It’s a program that we will hopefully turn into a software program one of these days that will take your existing data and all your parameters that you can find into this spreadsheet program and it’ll output all the information that you need for your design. It will take a lot of the danger and human error out of the work.

It will make it so that everyone can do this because we want people to be doing it who are not only engineers but who are biologists or somebody who wants to make a river more healthy for the fish habitat, for butterflies, for anything, even worms. So we want to make it more available for the public to be able to do without having to know what the engineering and math and science is behind it.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Stream restoration is a growing field. It’s a dynamic field. There are practices that we did five years ago that we don’t use anymore because they’re debunked. They don’t work as well as other things and it’s fun working in a field that is growing. You get to come up with new stuff and new ways to do these things. It’s sort of a playground and it’s creative and you don’t always have a boss telling you what to do and how to do it because we’re always pushing the envelope to come up with a better way to do things.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a statistical geneticist.

How would you describe what you do to someone?

I’m in charge of analyzing and delivering technology that implement DNA into an animal breeding program. I’m also responsible for describing genetics or identifying the uniqueness of different lines and different breeds of chickens that we have in the company.

What does your work entail?

My job entails a large portion of analysis so I would be in charge of analyzing genomic sequences where you sequence the genome of an animal and you analyze it for mutations that could be used to associate with certain traits.

We’ll sequence animals and we’ll look for things like positive selection, looking for evidence of say a selection event due to an altercation such as increased meat production in a chicken or increased milk production in a cow.

[The misconception is]That the work that we do is genetically modifying DNA or genetically engineering chickens and that we’re creating some Frankenstein chicken. There’s not a lot of monkeying around with any of that. We’re very interested in having the bird healthy and we’re not trying to do anything to them that is out of the ordinary.

We’ll look for the genome that has changed due to a positive selection. We’ll also sequence and genome type animals that are diseased.  So we’ll sequence or genome type the animals that die and the animals that survived and look for certain mutations that are specific to either population and see if those can be associated with that disease due to susceptibility.

We’re also doing a lot of gene mapping projects where we’ll look for certain genes involved with economic traits like feed efficiency.  We also look at environmental things that try to reduce the impact of farming on the environment such as nitrogen production so those would be some of the gene mapping things that we do.

Then we’ll also have to look at how chickens are all related to each other so wild ancestors like green jungle fowl that are all based in China and Indonesia and red jungle fowl, turkeys. We’ll look at how their genomes are arranged into chromosomes and how they’ve changed over time to see really how evolution is shaped with natural selection as opposed to domestication.

The ultimate goal is to reduce the impact on the environment, produce a better quality and more robust chicken. We’re trying to make one that is less susceptible to disease that has less issues and something that really reduces its ecological footprints on the Earth.

What’s a typical workweek look like for you?

Typically I’ll go in and I will do a lot of programming really. I’ll get info from various sources and external partners that do a lot of the lab work for us or from lab techs that we have in house.  So I don’t do a lot of lab work myself except on special occasions.  I analyze those data sets for quality control and remove any curious results or anything. We’ll then analyze the data and apply this to try and determine whether or not we’ve got genetics. I’m usually sitting in front of the computer, not too much lab work.

How did you get started in this career?

I started off with a basic biology degree. I then went on to conservation genetics which I found very interesting. Evolutionary genetics was something I was in to.  And then I got into working with domestic animals which allowed me to apply some of those same theories to a more relevant population.

What do you like about what you do?

It’s a challenging field. There’s a lot of advancing going on in genetics at the moment. It’s really changing from a lab-based discipline to more of an information science so you have to be multidisciplinary. You have to know interior programming. You have to know your basic biology and it allows you to ask questions that are fundamental how we change and how animals evolve, what happens when you apply certain pressures to animals and how animals adapt to environmental challenges or challenges by viruses.  The fact that it’s so intellectually stimulating really attracted me to it.

What do you dislike about it?

It can be fairly high pressure. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of people that can do the analysis so there’s a lot of work to be done and a pretty demanding work load so it can be fairly stressful at times.

The ultimate goal is to reduce the impact on the environment, produce a better quality and more robust chicken. We’re trying to make one that is less susceptible to disease that has less issues and something that really reduces its ecological footprints on the Earth.

How do you make money or how are you compensated in this job?

I’m a salaried employee and that comes with benefits and things like that.

How much money do you make as a geneticist?

I make $115,000 a year.

How much money did you make starting out?

When I first started my first job it was about $65,000 and then I probably when to $85,000 and now I’m making $114,000.

Are there any perks associated with this job?

A lot are overseas travel. You get to go to national and international conferences. You are paid pretty well and I think it’s good work.

What education or skills are needed to do be a geneticist?

Education would be a PhD in genetics or statistics or animal breeding.

As far as skills I would say probably computational—computer programming would be desired like programming in some sort of language like python or pearl, knowledge of the Linux operating system, statistics, and obviously a biology background.

What would you say is most challenging about what you do?

I’m working for a very large company you know that is pretty much in 50% of the world markets. The challenge in a field like genetics where your company is trying to swap their breeding program over from a traditional approach to a more modern approach is that things could go wrong quite quickly. If, for instance, the wrong gene is selected or say the genes that you identify in one population don’t seem to do the same thing in the next population and if people aren’t monitoring what’s happening very quickly on the ground you could quite rapidly shift the animals the wrong direction where they’re less healthy instead of more, or at least as healthy as they were.

You don’t really want to mess that up.

What would you say is most rewarding about what you do?

Well if everything works out accordingly then you’re responsible for changing the way that we breed animals and that has a very large impact on reducing the environmental impact and making food more accessible and potentially more affordable to people that are malnourished or in poor countries.  So that would have a big social impact and potentially an environmental one on the reduced impact on the environment associated with high production farming.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Do some work in companies that work in animal breeding or in genetics whether it be some summer work or volunteer work if possible. There’s always internships available so really proactive with that.  Going that extra yard will really put you ahead because a little bit of experience and getting to know people on a face-to-face in a very small industry like animal breeding is going to have a pretty big impact.

How much time do you get or take off in this job?

Pretty flexible, I get two weeks off per year but work it can be flexible with days off here and there as long as you get your work done.

What would you say is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That the work that we do is genetically modifying DNA or genetically engineering chickens and that we’re creating some Frankenstein chicken. There’s not a lot of monkeying around with any of that. We’re very interested in having the bird healthy and we’re not trying to do anything to them that is out of the ordinary.  We’re just trying to identify the bad genes that are associated with diseases or good genes associated with increased efficiency in the population.  Really all we’re doing is trying to identify what currently is in the bird and trying to essentially increase the frequency of that as they’ve done over thousands of years of traditional animal breeding. The only difference is that we’re becoming more accurate in our ability to identify which animal is the best and really increase the accuracy in which we carry out selection.

What are your goals and dreams for the future in this career?

To really change the way we do animal breeding, to further my knowledge, to challenge myself as far as science and as far as my career is concerned, to grow myself intellectually, and to make an impact on the breeding program.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

It’s a fun job, it’s challenging but there are a lot of rewards. It’s fun and you’ll have a blast.  Biologists and geneticists like to get down.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a professional bass fisherman.

How would you describe what you do?

My job really consists of two ways for me to make a living. Number one is to catch fish in tournaments and the prize money is a big way that I pay my bills. And the second way that I make a living is through sponsorships and representing a whole host of different companies with my main sponsor being Kellogg’s.

What would you say your work entails?

Well, it entails, number one, working hard and going to numerous lakes all over the country and meeting some of the best fishermen in the world and really trying to figure out the fish.

You’re competing against 150 of the best fishermen in the world. To compete at the highest level like that is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life.

I have to pattern fish going into an event and then make good decisions and catch those fish during events so you can place high. If you do that you get paid well. The second part of that is promoting products everywhere I go.

What’s a typical workweek look like for you?

If it’s a tournament week it gets pretty hectic. We have three official practice days on the FLW tour. We have an off day where we get equipment ready and we also do things for sponsors. Then our events starts. We have two days of events then they cut the top 20 the third day and down to the top 10 on the last day. So if I don’t make those last two days, I have to work an outdoor expo show that I do at a convention center.

So I’m usually tied up for about 7 days on a tournament week.   And then between tournaments I spend a lot of working out physically. I do a lot of annual quarterly reports for sponsors and then just do some computer work. So it’s really different from a tournament workweek. I spend a lot of time with my son and wife at home between these two.

How did you get started in this career?

I got started by competing at the lower levels and I qualified my way up to a tour level in 2008.

But I really got started first as a young boy growing up on a farm; hunting and fishing and spending a tremendous amount of time outdoors fishing in creeks and ponds and that kind of thing. And then when I got into High School I had a really close family friend of ours, named Danny Sincoat, take me to a tournament and he did pretty well.  I really got bit by the bug after that competition.

So that’s really all I wanted to do. I’ve wanted to be a professional fisherman ever since I was probably 10-years-old.

I went to college and got an Ag/Business degree from Arkansas Tech. I actually worked for Tyson Foods, where I started as a supervisor trainee in one of the plants and then worked my way up. I became a plant manager when I was about 28 and then did that job for about 6 years. And at the end of that, about ’07, I actually started working my way towards qualifying for the FLW tour. I had to make a decision there to continue working for Tyson Foods and pursue that career long-term or fish full time. So I chose, with the help of my wife, to be able to pursue my real dream of bass fishing.

What do you like about what you do?

Number one I love to be outdoors. I like to be out in God’s creation all the time and be outdoors. I also love the competition. I’ve been a competitive person and involved in competitive sports my whole life, so I just love the competition.  I love getting to work with people and kids too. I get to speak to a lot of different schools so I really enjoy that portion of it as well.

What do you dislike about this job?

Probably the travel. My family gets to go with me about half the time. I’m away from home some. So I don’t like being away from my wife and my little boy. But on the other part of that, I get a lot of quality time, 2 and 3 weeks at a time solid with them so it probably evens out. But I hate being away from home.

How do you make money or how are you compensated in this job?

Two ways; prize money in the tournaments and sponsorships money.  And some sponsors are product sponsors only. Some sponsors are product and pay, and some sponsors are just pay. It varies across the board.

How much money do you make as a pro bass fisherman?

It varies from year to year. My first three years in the sport were around $130,000 a year. The last couple have been kind of tough, they were in the $50,000 range. So it varies for me between $130,000 down to $50,000, depending on the year.

How much money did you make starting out?

I was very fortunate in 07’ my first year on the FLW tour.  I think I won about $130,000 that year. So having that happen on my first year out was a big blessing.

What education or skills would say are needed to do this?

I would say definitely a college degree. When I speak at schools, I always tell people if you want to be a professional bass fisherman you really need a college degree.  I think you’ve got to have a degree, especially nowadays. There’s a lot of competition. A lot of people try to do it and there’s only so many sponsor dollars. And really a marketing degree is a big part. Marketing and public speaking are a really big part of being professional fisherman as well.

As far as skills, you’ve got to be blessed with some outdoor skills because you’re going up against guys that are just unbelievably good.  You’ve got to have a really positive attitude and you’ve got to be willing to work really hard.

What would say is the most challenging about what you do?

You’re competing against 150 of the best fishermen in the world.  To compete at the highest level like that is the most challenging thing I’ve ever done in my life.

What would you say is most rewarding?

No doubt about it, it’s when you make a top 10 or win in a tour event and you have success against the top guys in the world, and have success against some of the guys you’ve grown up reading about and have so much respect for.  It doesn’t get a whole lot better than that.

What advice would offer someone considering this career?

A couple things. Number one, there’s no substitute for time on the water. Experience is a huge thing. So I would spend as much time in the outdoors as you can.  Number two is start off as co-angler in some of the lower levels. When you’re first starting off, try to fish with as many different people as you can and it’ll give you a different look. Each angler is going to fish a little bit different. I would really recommend someone spend some time in a coangler’s division or as an amateur in the back of the boat first.

How much time off do you get or take?

Three solid months off at the end of the year and then there’s sporadic weeks throughout the year that I’m off.  I fish about 16 events a year. There is quite a bit time off as far as when you’re not actually having an event.

What’s a common misconception people have about what you do?

That it’s really easy and you just go out there and fish and it’s really relaxing. It’s the farthest thing from that as you can be. There’s nothing relaxing about it.

You’re trying to represent your sponsor and you’re trying to do well.  If you have some periods when you don’t do well, you probably start losing sponsors. That hurts the pocketbook.  There’s a lot of pressure to perform just like any other professionally athlete.

What are your goals and dreams for the future in this career?

Number one, I’ve won every level except the tour level, so I want to win at the tour level. Number two, I want to make as many championships as I can.

What else would like people to know about what you do?

What I would encourage everybody to do is really look into the sport more and see really how big it is. If you’re not familiar with professional bass fishing, go to www.flwoutdoors.com. Go to my website, www.gregbohannan.com or watch it on TV on Sunday on the Versus station and take a minute to see really how big the sport is. I think there’s 70 million people that fish. So that’s a big portion of the people out there.

What do you do for a living?

I’m an allergist and immunologist.

How would you describe what you do?

We treat and diagnose diseases that are produced by disorders of the immune system.  And they include conditions such as respiratory allergies, which are allergic and non-allergic rhinitis and asthma, acute systemic allergic reactions known as anaphylaxis, and also patients who have immune deficiency disorders.  So it is a very broad based sub-specialty of the specialties known as internal medicine and pediatrics.

What does your work entail?

It entails seeing patients on a daily basis who suffer from the above diseases.  90% of our work is in office, and perhaps 10% is involved in hospital for the majority of allergists and immunologists.

In our discipline….we have very little to do with our hands, but a great deal to do with our minds.

We do have emergencies, we do admit asthmatics, and people who go into anaphylactic or allergic shock, and we do get called for consultations in hospitals as well when we are on call.

What does a typical workweek look like?

A work week can vary from anywhere about forty hours to a maximum of seventy to eighty hours a week, depending upon the work load and the number of consults that we receive.

How did you get started in this career?

Going into this career one has to follow the following path.  First of all you go to college and take pre-med courses, and then you are accepted into medical school.  The usual time that it takes to complete that stage of your training is about eight years.  After medical school, one then enrolls in an internship and a residency and that usually is three to four years.  To get into allergy one has to do either an internal medicine residency, or a pediatric residency.  My own personal duration in residency was four years.  After completion of residency, one enters what is called a fellowship program.  The fellowship program runs for another two to three years.  After completion of the fellowship and passing ones board examinations in internal medicine, pediatrics, or both and then allergy and immunology, one becomes a board certified allergist immunologist.

I chose immunology because it is a fascinating subject and it covers diseases of all organs.  For example, there are immunologic diseases of the heart, lungs, kidneys, and the skin.  So it is a fascinating disorder, and allergists are trained in all of these disciplines.

What do you like about what you do?

What I do is great fun.  We have a chance to deal with people in an intimate environment in office where we have all the tools that we need to help them in a very efficient manner. We deal with diseases that impact people’s lives and we have a great opportunity to lesson the burden of disease on these people’s lives and improve their quality of life.  And in addition, the basic science that underlines what we do is fascinating and constantly changing, and there is never a day where there is a dull moment.

What do you dislike about what you do?

I assume there is no job that you can have where there isn’t some aspect that is a nuisance.  In my job, dealing with regulations set by the government, regulations set by insurance companies, and the paperwork involved in getting through this mass of rules is something that I think no one likes to do.

How do you make money or how are you compensated in this career?

90% of our compensation comes directly from insurance companies, either private insurance companies or the government, and a small percent comes from direct payments by patients.

How much money do you make?

The minimum is usually low hundred thousands and goes up to maybe $300,000.

How much money did you make starting out in this career?

The usual starting salary is close to $100,000.

What education or skills would you say are needed to do this?

You have roughly thirteen or fourteen years of your life devoted to learning the discipline, and during that time of course the intellectual activity is extremely vigorous; medical school, the residencies, passing ones board exams, and then subsequent to that one has to re-certify every ten years.  So you have to have the desire to be constantly studying and learning new things.  In our discipline, the entire difficulty is the intellectual.  We have very little to do with our hands, but a great deal to do with our minds.

What would you say is most challenging about what you do?

Well the most challenging is clearly the intellectual aspect.  We see challenging patients which require research on our part and the work therefore extends far beyond the actual work day.  Most of us spend nights and weekends learning about problems that we see during the day.

What is most rewarding about this?

Most rewarding thing is when you have been successful in helping someone through their health care difficulties.  I think all of us in medicine find that to be the most rewarding aspect.  But also rewarding to me is the fact that not a day goes by when we don’t learn something new, so we are kept on our toes and I find that a very gratifying way to live.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I think it is important to understand that you have a long way to go before you are going to be, for lack of a better term, hanging up the shingle.  Therefore you will see your friends who have taken shorter paths to earning a living already out and enjoying a full capacity life, so they should prepare themselves for that marathon that you go through, and one has to want to work hard.  One has to be prepared not to work only during the day but to work at night and be on call, both in their training and perhaps to a lesser extent in their final practice, but still it does exist. And then finally, one has to want to help people.

How much time off do you get or take with this career?

Most allergists practice five days a week and take call on the weekends and nights.  Time off varies tremendously on whether or not you work in a large group or whether or not you have a single practice or whether or not you are employed by a very large clinic.  If one works, for example, in a five man/woman group you will take call roughly every fifth weekend.  If you work by yourself you may take call every weekend that you practice, so the time off varies considerably depending on where you work, how many people are employed by your group and whether or not you are an individual practioner or work for a large clinic.

What is a common misconception that people have about what you do?

I think the most common misconception that I see in my own practice is the lack of understanding between what a dermatologist does and what an allergist does.  Dermatologists take care of multiple skin diseases. Almost 90% of allergy involves internal diseases and are the internal organs, and only a very small percent of all practices see skin diseases per se.  So each day in my practice I am referred a patient or two who really belongs at a dermatologist who takes care of the vast majority of skin diseases.

What are your goals and dreams for the future in this career?

You could not believe the advances that have occurred in our field since I began practicing, which is well over thirty years ago, and I think it is not unreasonable to assume that the same degree of advances will occur in the future.  When I began practice I had at least ten people in the hospital each and every day.  My hospital practice now is usually never more than one or at maximum two people in the hospital, and most of the time it is zero.  So we have been able to almost stamp out hospitalizations for the majority of diseases that we treat, and in the future I think we will make the same advances, because our knowledge is expanding along the way.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

I think that people should understand that we are a very capable sub-specialty, which can exert profound changes in people’s lives for the better when they suffer from allergic and immunologic disorders.

Hollywood Stuntman John Stewart was kind enough to visit with us about his career as a stuntman.  You can find more information about him at his site www.hollywoodstuntman.com

What did you do for a living?

I was a stuntman and a stunt coordinator.

How would you describe that job?

It is very physically and mentally demanding.  We are not daredevils either, we calculate and try to eliminate risk as much as possible.

What did your work entail?

It was different everyday.  One day you would go to work and pretend to be drowning in a swimming pool, the next day I could be jumping off a sixteen story building on fire, and the next day I’d be jumping a car over a train.  It was different all the time.

What does a typical workweek look like as a professional stuntman?

It is never nine to five.  You are always in a different location, different country, and different city.  It is kind of like being a rock band on tour.  You never know what you are going to be doing.  One day you are going to work and you are doing fights, the next day you stand around doing nothing all day.  Sometimes it’s a lot of hurry up and wait.

How did you get started in this career?

I doubled for Matt Dylan on a film in Boston.  I did a few films there and then moved to LA.

What do you like about being a stunt man?

It wasn’t 9 to 5, you are doing something different all the time.  You get to travel a lot, and I get to be creative, especially when I’d get the scripts and there wouldn’t be stunts in the scripts yet.  So I would get to write and direct the stunts and actions scenes.

What did you dislike about it?

When a job ends it could be your last one.  For the most part a movie would last for a month or two and then you have to start looking for work again.  In general stunt guys are always looking for work.  It is not a career where a huge percentage make it either, it’s very difficult.  It is not how good you are, it is who you know.

How do you make money or how are you paid in this career?

You’re salary is paid through the screen actors guild just like the actors.  You also get what is called a stunt adjustment, depending on how dangerous the stunt was, and then you get residual checks just like the actors.

How much money did you make as a stuntman?

Back in the 80′s and 90s I was making over $150,000-$200,000 a year.  But that didn’t happen every year after that, it all depends on how much work you get.

How much do you make starting out in this career?

$600 dollars a day or so is your daily rate.  You can find the exact figures if you go to the screen actors guild for stunt performers, they have the day-to-day and weekly work rates.  Then you get a stunt adjustment on top of that if it is a dangerous stunt, which can be anywhere from $100 to $50,000 or $100,000 depending on the stunt.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

A gymnastic background helps.  Mathematics helps for figuring jumps and stunts.  It is not a dare devil sport at all, it is very calculated.  Most stuntmen come from gymnastic backgrounds though.

What is most challenging about this career?

The most challenging thing about it is finding work.  Once you’ve you’ve found the work the next thing is to try and do something that hasn’t been done before and keep it fresh and new because the movie audiences now are really sophisticated.  It is not like the old days where you used to jump off a ten foot building and impress people.  Now it is twenty stories and on fire, and of course now they have a lot of computer CGI too(computer generated imagery).  A lot of stunts you see in movies today are not even real, it is faked.  When I was doing it in the 80s and 90s everything was real.  What you see is what they did, that is how a lot of people got hurt and killed.  Now it is a lot of  CGI in the bigger movies.  They are still using the stunt guys, but they are doing some of the stunts and they are making it look crazier with CGI.

What is most rewarding about this career?

I guess for me I broke some world records back in the 90s jumping high falls off multi-story buildings on fire.  So, setting records was rewarding. Also, it’s rewarding to see what you wrote into a script being in the final outcome of the film.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

To be honest I would say walk away.  Find another job.  Try and follow your dreams of course, you should always do that, but the reality is very few people make it in this business.  I don’t even know the stats, but probably less than 3% will come out here to try to be a stuntman and actually make a living at it.  Like I said it is not how good you are, you could be the best stunt guy in the world and never work a day.  It is all about who you know and being connected.

But, you always want to follow your dreams to so I would say have a plan B in case it didn’t work out.

How much time off or vacation would you take with this type of job?

Well it depends.  If you are shooting in Hawaii then you are on vacation.

You don’t really get vacations in this industry.  You work when you work and you take time off when you take the time off.  It is not a 9 to 5 job where you work and then get a vacation.  A lot of the films you do on location so it is like being on vacation.

What is a common misconception people have about this job?

That stunt guys are superheroes and that we don’t bleed or break arms. It is all real and a lot of people get killed doing it.

What else would you like people to know about this career?

Take a good look at the names on the credits on some of the older movies on stunts.  A lot of those people are not around any more, and a lot of films are dedicated to some people that were killed.  People think it is all glamour and glory and truth of the reality is people get hurt all the time.  People end up in wheelchairs for the rest of their life.  Some people die.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a production test pilot.

How would you describe what you do?

I fly and do a functional test on the aircraft to make sure that everything works.

What does your work entail?

Taking a brand new aircraft, checking everything on it, and flying it for the first time.

What does a typical work week look like?

It’s usually a four day week, ten hours a day. Come in at seven a.m. and go home at 5:30.

I usually fly anywhere from once to ten times a day.

How did you get started in that career?

I always wanted to be a pilot, so I went to college and got a degree in Aeronautical Science and flew as much as possible. And the attraction to be a test pilot was that I got to be home every night.

What do you like about what you do?

I like the fact that it’s usually not the same thing every day. I like that it requires a high level of attention to look for problems and to see if you can find them before they become real problems.

What do you dislike about what you do?

Working for a large company. There’s too much bureaucracy.

How do you make money or how are you compensated in this job?

It’s salary.

How much money do you make as a Test Pilot?

I make $73,000.

How much money did you make starting out in this job?

About $70,000.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

You need a four year degree and you need an airline transport pilot license.  Also it’s really helpful if you have an A&P(Airframe and Powerplant) mechanics license.

What is most rewarding about this job?

Finding issues and getting them stopped before they become a big issue and making sure that you deliver a safe airplane to your customer.

What is most challenging?

The job is to be picky and to find problems. And then to point those problems out to the people that can fix them and usually those people are the same people that worked on the airplane. So, it’s kinda tough to have to always be pointing out the problems to people. A lot of times they don’t like to hear the problems and a lot of times they don’t like to fix them. So I’d say the interpersonal relationships are the hardest.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I would say look for a good company and be patient. It could take a long time to find a good job and a long time to progress when you get one. Also, it’s such a niche market that first you need to be a well-rounded and experienced pilot. And then you’ve got to start seeking out test pilot jobs. An engineering and maintenance background is extremely useful as well. So if somebody wanted to do it, I would say more so than if someone wanted to do an airline pilot, they’d need to focus on the engineering and maintenance side along with the piloting side.

How much time off do you get or take with this type of job?

Usually three days a week and then vacation accrues just like at any other mid-level executive position. You start off with two weeks a year and after five years you get three weeks a year and after ten years you get four weeks a year.

What’s a common misconception people have about what you do?

That it’s extremely dangerous and we’re crashing airplanes every day.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

It’s not impossible to do. And that it is available out there. I didn’t really know about the job until I basically had the job. Had I known that this type of job existed I might have pursued it earlier.

What do you do for a living?

I’m a court reporter.

How would you describe what you do?

We go to attorneys’ offices and we write verbatim what’s being said in depositions or in hearings and go to court sometimes as well. If you ever see the person on TV sitting there with the machine writing, that’s what we do.

We are freelance here, meaning that we usually go to attorneys’ offices rather than court, but we do fill-in at court sometimes, too.

What does your work entail?

Some of the reporters are mask reporters, which means they just repeat into another recorder exactly what’s said, and some of us are writers, where we’re typing shorthand what’s said, and then the shorthand gets transcribed into English in a computer.

…you learn a lot…You can hear from an accountant talking numbers all the way to an expert in vehicle motion. So you really get to hear from a lot of interesting people.

Then you have to go back and proof it and edit it and be sure that it’s all correct, and after that’s done, then it all has to be printed and copies made along with any exhibits.

I wouldn’t call it a 9 to 5. You may have a deposition all day from 9 to 5, but if they need it the next day or in a couple of days, you’re going to have to be working evenings to get it finished.

How did you get started?

I was living in San Francisco and working as a legal secretary and started talking to the court reporter who came to our office. She had a school for court reporters so I decided to try it out and really loved it.

What do you like about what you do?

You have flexible hours. You’re not always in the office, you’re out. Everyday, it’s something new, and you meet a lot of new people and you have some really interesting cases. It’s very rarely boring.

What do you dislike?

It can be long hours sometimes where it’s not come home at 5 o’clock and you’re off.

If you see the close captioning on TV, those are reporters that are sitting there, taking it down. And you can do that from your home, do it through satellite while watching it and have it feed over. I know people who have done the Olympics just sitting in their living room taking it all down.

Your work has to be scheduled around what has to go out the next day. If you take in something they needed tomorrow, you have to work on it that night. There’s just no way around it.

How do you make money/or how are you compensated?

It’s by the typed page. So, the more pages you produce, the more you make. And the more they talk, the more you make.

How much money do you make as a court reporter?

As a court reporter, starting out, I would say, starting, you could make $30,000. And then it depends on how busy you are. You could make $80,000 if you’re really busy and really good at what you do.

Are there any perks to this career?

Well, you learn a lot, or a little about a lot of things. You can hear from an accountant talking numbers all the way to an expert in vehicle motion. So you really get to hear from a lot of interesting people.

What education or training is needed to be a court reporter?

You have to have a high school education, and then with the machine reporters, you have to go to school. The average is 2 ½ to 3 years. And you take classes learning the theory of it, but then you also take medical, legal, and English classes. And the mask reporters, I’d say 6 months to a year on theirs and they can learn that on their own. There are correspondence courses for both mask and machine, and there are no schools around here. The closest machine school is in Tulsa.

You have to take medical classes so you know what they’re talking about. If they’ve gone through all these medical terms and you have no idea what they’re talking about it’s going to make it really tough. You have to be sure that you’ve got the right spelling and know that that’s the word that they meant to say.

What is most challenging about being a court reporter?

The speed sometimes. Sometimes they get to going really fast, and you have to slow them down because you can’t get it, or they’re talking over each other and you have stop and say, one at a time. It’s a lot of things that a tape recorder wouldnt get. You really need to have a person there who can know what they’re saying and stop if you need to.

What is most rewarding?

I like to get out and meet all the people. That’s one of the things I like most about it, you get to meet so many interesting people.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

That you have to be a good listener, you have to hang in there through the training. It has to be something you want, not everybody can do it. Some get into it and just think, this is not what I want to do at all. Just look into it, you can get online and find information on it.

How much time off do you get/take?

If you’re not working that day, you don’t get paid anything. So in the beginning it was very little. Now I have more.

What is a common misconception people have about what you do?

That you just go and you write it down during the deposition, then you go home and it’s done, that’s all there is to it. All they see is you sitting there taking it down. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes that goes on.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

Just to keep building up. I started out in my extra bedroom doing it just myself and now I have seven other reporters with me, and we have video conferencing, we have transcription, and so, and that’s a fun part of it, too. Just to keep building it, but keep it small enough that it’s in control.

What else would you like people to know about what you do?

Well, you can go on from being a court reporter to being a CART(Communications Access Realtime Translator) reporter. If you see the close captioning on TV, those are reporters that are sitting there, taking it down. And you can do that from your home, do it through satellite while watching it and have it feed over. I know people who have done the Olympics just sitting in their living room taking it all down.

There are also students at universities who are deaf that they have so they have a court reporter who’s sitting there taking down what’s being said in the class and it’s coming up on the computer so that they can keep up with what’s going on.

So there are a lot of different things that you can do with that skill.