What do you do for a living?

I’m a State Trooper.

How would you describe what you do?

I enforce the state laws.

What does your work entail?

Most of my work entails work in traffic accidents, heading patrols on DWI’s, and speed enforcement.

What’s a typical work week look like for you?

We work eight hours a day on the highways enforcing the traffic laws.  I patrol 4 counties working traffic accidents, enforcing speeding laws, and working DWI’s.

How did you get started in this career?

My father was a long time State Trooper and it was something I was brought up with. The State Police has a great tradition and it was something that I always wanted to do.

…there’s a huge history of becoming a State Trooper. It’s a big, big achievement, and I think that we’ve set ourselves above the rest. And I think that that’s what they are looking for when they go to hire a person is somebody that stands out above the rest, that has honesty, integrity, and is willing to work hard and treat people fairly in the world.

What do you like about your job?

I like helping the citizens of this state by serving and protecting them.

I really enjoy getting people who don’t belong on the roads at the time, the ones that have been out drinking and driving, off the roads before they hurt somebody.

What do you dislike about what you do?

To tell you the truth, I really can’t think of anything that I really dislike about what I do. I really enjoy every aspect of it, and it’s a really good career.

How do you make money or how are you paid?

I’m paid on a forty-hour workweek schedule from the State.

How much money do you make starting out as a State Trooper?

Starting out, you make close $40,000 a year.

How much do you make as a state trooper?

About $40,000 a year.

Are there any perks associated with this job?

I would say that a perk could be getting to go and do different stuff around the State such as work in the State Fairs or getting to work football or basketball games.

What education or skills are needed to become a State Trooper?

The education required is a high school degree and you can also have military time to be hired on here.  You don’t have to have a college education to get hired with the State Police.

I think the college degree would be helpful to have, it would help you get hired easier, but it’s not a requirement.

Then you have to get accepted into and pass trooper school.

It’s actually a really long process. You send in your initial application and they’ll contact you and you’ll go down for physical assessment test, and you’ll do the physical assessment.

Then, if you pass that portion of the test, you will come back and do a polygraph test. If you pass that portion then you’ll have interviews with the Majors and different people that sit on the Board.

And if you pass that, then you get invited to trooper school and you’ll go through trooper school for however long they have it scheduled.  I think most of the time they’re twenty-two weeks, and then you go through a vigorous physical tests and numerous classes.

As far as specific skills I can’t think of any in particular.  They train you in school really well.

…the most challenging thing that a police officer has to do is when someone loses a loved one in a car accident. To be there and see that, and then go speak to the family…that’s something that’s real tough.

They teach you about accident investigation, and what you’re supposed to do in certain situations.  You learn how to shoot, you know to qualify with a gun, and they train you in different situations like that. So they’ll teach you the skills that you need to know to be a state trooper.

You do need to be somebody that has honesty, integrity, and is someone that’s willing to be a good police officer out there.  Those are the type of people they look to hire as State Troopers.

What is most challenging about what you do?

I would say the most challenging thing that a police officer has to do is when someone loses a loved one in a car accident. To be there and see that, and then go speak to the family.  Having to deal with that is probably the most challenging part about this job..

It’s very, very hard to go to a household in the middle of the night and wake them up and let them know that their family member just passed away in a car wreck. That’s – that’s something that’s real tough.

What is most rewarding about what you do?

I would say would just be the fact that you’re actually out here saving lives, and that if you can help one person, if you can save one person’s life then you’re doing good.

Knowing, I took that guy off the road that shouldn’t have been behind the wheel that night and I could possibly have just saved a life because he’s not going to go down the road and hit a family.  I would say that would be the most rewarding part of my job.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I would say that this is a real good career to get into. I’d say that if you really enjoy helping people and being around people then it’s a good career to get into, but if you’re not into that kind of thing then it’s probably not the career for you.  Because you’re dealing with the public, and if you’re not good speaking to people, or don’t enjoy being around them then you’re probably not going to be somebody that really helps people out.

How much time off do you get or take off?

You just get your regular two days a week, just like everybody else. Our days off are different depending on shift schedules.  So my days off are constantly changing because we’re on a rotation in our schedule.  And some people, after a while, get a set schedule if the Sergeant allows it.

And then it’s about eight hours up a month that you build up for vacation.

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

I would say the common misconception about what we do is that we’re out here harassing people and writing speeding tickets.  We’re not out here harassing people, we’re trying to enforce the law and actually save somebody.

People think that we’re just picking on them because they’ve got a tail light out, or if they were running a little bit over the speed limit.

Enforcing speeding laws, DWI’s, state statutes and that sort of thing does help save lives.

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

I would say right now to just keep enjoying what I’m doing, enjoy my career, enjoy my work, and continue doing what I’m doing. But I would like to promote within a few years and one day maybe become a post sergeant and then see how far I could go. I would like to be a captain of the State Police one day.

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

Like I said earlier, we’re not our here to harass people, we’re here to serve and protect.

Also, the main difference between the city police and state police is our tradition.

We started with thirteen original rangers and there’s a huge history of becoming a State Trooper.  It’s a big, big achievement, and I think that we’ve set ourselves above the rest. And I think that that’s what they are looking for when they go to hire a person is somebody that stands out above the rest, that has honesty, integrity, is willing to work hard and treat people fairly in the world.

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.

Senator Boozman of Arkansas was kind of enough to take some time sharing about his career.  You can contact Senator Boozman’s office here.

What do you do for a living?

I’m one of the United States Senators from the State of Arkansas.

How would you describe what you do?

What I do is represent the people of Arkansas in the United States Senate. Each State has two Senators that represent them and so myself and Senator Pryor were chosen by the people of Arkansas.

What does your work entail?

It entails all kinds of things; a lot of legislation, initiatives, and trying to be supportive of different projects in Arkansas.

When at home, I’m meeting with a lot of people and hearing a lot of constituents’ problems. We work with people that are having problems with various types of benefits, social security, veteran’s problems, etc.

Being a Senator or being a Congressman, these are public service jobs and it’s no different than any other area where you’re trying to help the public. I understand that the public doesn’t work for me, I work for them. So we work very, very hard to do just that.

We try to help them get through the paperwork and the bureaucracy so that they can get an answer. I can’t determine if they’re going to get that benefit or not but sometimes these things drag on for years so I’m just trying to make sure that that’s done in a speedy way.

In Washington it’s dealing with the legislation that comes before Congress and that involves all kinds of things, whether it’s health care, tax policy, energy policy, all of the things that really do make a huge difference to the average person living in Arkansas.

Right now one of our major focuses is job creation.

What’s a typical work week look like for you?

It’s really divided. I’ll spend 2 or 3 days in Arkansas and then 3 or 4 days in Washington. When I’m in Arkansas I’m all over the state visiting with people about various problems that they’re having or hearing them communicate what they’d like for me to do while in Washington. When I’m here in Washington it’s more legislatively focused in the sense of trying to determine how we can influence the particular bills that are on the floor during that particular week.

How did you get started in this career?

Well, I’m an optometrist by trade and I was part of a clinic in Rogers, Arkansas. I was really active locally on the fair board, the school board, and things like that, just trying to be helpful. Asa Hutchinson was the Congressman from the third district of Arkansas and he decided to accept the position to become the head of the DEA under President Bush. So there was a vacancy and I was visiting with friends and family and I just kind of jumped in and ran for it and was elected. Then, later on, I decided to pursue running for Senate.

What do you like about what you do?

Well, it’s a great honor serving the people of Arkansas and representing them. Every day is a different day and every day is a challenge. But the nicest thing about what I do is you get to help a lot of people and you can do that by using the power of the office for good and listening to people and trying to help them with their various problems. I’ve got a very good staff that works really hard to solve the various problems people are having.

What do you dislike about the job?

I think the hardest thing about my job is the travel going back and forth. You certainly need to be in Washington voting and representing there. But also you do need to get home to keep that vital link with what’s going on in Arkansas. So I’m home almost every weekend and traveling throughout the state. But it is difficult traveling back and forth to Washington, it’s hard on families. So I think that’s the hardest thing, the travel and the extended periods when you’re away with your family.

Editors note, follow up question- I’m just curious, do Congressmen and Senators fly commercial?

We fly commercial. I’m subject to random screening and go through security just like everybody else.

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

I’m paid on salary by the government. I’m a government employee so I’m under the same system as every other government employee. I pay social security. My health benefit is the same as the person that works in the social security office.

How much money do you make as a US Senator?

$174,000 a year.

How much money do you make starting out as a Senator?

Each senator gets the same amount so there’s no seniority or graduated pay scale.

The only exception to that would be the Speaker of the House and the majority leader of the Senate. These are people that are essentially the highest ranking officers in the House of Representatives and the Senate. They get paid a little bit more.

Each Senator is paid the same though. They’re also paid the same as the House of Representatives and the Congressmen from those districts.

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

Well, I think that the job in itself is a great honor to represent the people of Arkansas and so I think that’s the major thing. There’s a lot of work involved and a lot of responsibility but it truly is a great honor.

I think the most challenging thing right now is we’re in a difficult time in our country’s history with the economy, the deficit, and all that’s going on throughout the world. So the decisions that we’re making are very, very important. It’s a challenge as we’re trying to work diligently to figure out what’s best for Arkansas and what’s best for our country.

What education and/or skills would you say are needed to be a US Senator?

I’m asked that a lot by young people that would like to go on to politics or would like to become the next Congressman or the next Senator. I think that the main thing is as you get into the working world do a very, very good job of what you’re doing. There are a number of different professions represented in Congress. There are accountants. There are lawyers. There are doctors, sheriffs, you name it.

But I think that probably all of them did a good job in their respective professions and were respected in their community. You have to be in a situation where you’re out trying to be active in the community.  So I think the most important things are helping people, being active in the community, and then having the positive reputation that you’ll need in order to win these higher offices.

As far as skills, I think that one of the most important skills that you need to have is to be a good listener. I visit with essentially everybody who wants to visit with me and some people you can help, others you can’t. But you help everybody by listening to them and that’s very, very important. And I think you have to be willing to get out and be with people you serve. Being a Senator or being a Congressman, these are public service jobs and it’s no different than any other area where you’re trying to help the public. And I understand that the public doesn’t work for me, I work for them. So we work very, very hard to do just that.

I think you need to be somebody that’s comfortable with the public and is willing to kind of roll up your sleeves and listen and then follow through and do your best to solve their problems.

What is most challenging about what you do?

I think the most challenging thing right now is we’re in a difficult time in our country’s history with the economy and the deficit and all that’s going on throughout the world.

So the decisions that we’re making are very, very important. It’s a challenge as we’re trying to work diligently to figure out what’s best for Arkansas and what’s best for our country. And I think the challenge that we have right now is trying to get the confidence back in the system so that the average American is confident that the country is going to do well and in doing so that will create an atmosphere where people start hiring people, people will start spending money again, all of which will help the economy and help our country.

What’s most rewarding about what you do?

I think your greatest reward is the fact that you’re in a position that the office has great power. I don’t have any power personally but the office has power and so using that notoriety in trying to help people is very rewarding.

I get a lot of mail about people that had paid into the system all their life and maybe have become very, very ill, to the point that they were disabled. Everyone agrees that they are disabled and yet almost on their deathbed nobody in the particular agencies can decide that. And so they might be in the process of losing their homes and facing really difficult situations and we’re able to just get somebody to look at it and cut through the red tape and get those benefits. That’s just a little example but there are many, many other things that we’re able to do to help people and so that’s very rewarding.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

I think anybody that would like to get into public service in general, the key is to get involved in their community and to be very good at what they do. And you have to be somebody that’s honest and has integrity. And then again, I think for these kinds of jobs, you have to be a servant and leader. It’s easy to talk about that we need to do this and that but you have to demonstrate it too.

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

Not very much time. This job is pretty much all day every day. You get to do a number of different things that make it very interesting, you’re dealing with interesting people, you’re dealing with really significant problems so that’s what allows you to be able go all day every day.

I think one of the problems that you have in this position is literally every minute of my day can be filled up every day of the year from very early in the morning until very late at night. So you have to control that because if you don’t, like anything else, it can get away from you and that’s hard on families. Like everything you kind of have to balance things out. If not then it really does make it very difficult on families.

I’m blessed because the situation I’m in now all my daughters are grown. They’re not just dependent on me so that makes it easier. And because our kids are grown my wife is able to kind of go back and forth with me so we’re able to spend time together that way as opposed to having a young family with all of those demands in addition to the demands of the job.

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

I think that’s a good question and to be honest I don’t really know what that would be. There’s a lot of talk about full retirement after two years of service and all those kinds of things, or Senators not having to pay social security.

I would like is to see us get going again economically, get people working, get rid of the uncertainty about job future and just kind of restore America in that regard. And there’s a lot of work going on to try and make that happen. You do that by empowering people though. You can’t do that through government. You do it by empowering small businesses and reducing the unnecessary regulation.

And I think that’s one of the most common misconceptions. People like Congressmen and Senators are under the same retirement program as the person that works at the IRS office or the social security office. And so now I think I can retire at age 59 ½ with the benefits figured the same way that it’s figured for every other government employee. So I think there’s misconceptions in the way that works.

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

I would like to see us get going again economically, get people working, get rid of the uncertainty about job future and just kind of restore America in that regard. And there’s a lot of work going on to try and make that happen.

You do that by empowering people though. You can’t do that through government. You do it by empowering small businesses and reducing the unnecessary regulation. We need some regulation but the unnecessary regulation needs to come out. We need a fair and simple tax policy and a reasonable energy policy. Those are the kind of things that that I’m really interested in seeing happening. Working on and accomplishing that would benefit America.

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

Well, I think that pretty much sums it up. The other thing is certainly that if people are in need or if they’re having a problem and need to contact us, they can go to the website. We have a newsletter that they can sign up for and get information as to what’s going in Washington. You can go to our website, or just Google John Boozman and you’ll find the official government site.

That’s a way that they can communicate their thoughts if they have ideas as to how we can do things better or if they’re having a particular problem then we can get in touch with them.

What do you do for a living?

I’m basically in sales. My title is business development manager. I work for an integration firm where we do electronic security for large companies.

How would you describe your job to someone?

We take care of the electronic security for our clients’ facilities. I tell people I’ve got the coolest job of all jobs. I get to visit some of the coolest companies in the country. They show me what they do everyday, and obviously I’m looking for security weaknesses and vulnerabilities to identify where their risks would be. And then we devise solutions to mitigate that risk.

What does your work entail?

My company does everything from design, service, install, and maintaining high level security systems. Obviously I don’t do all of those things. My role is more of a customer service liaison.

What I really like about my job is that I get to deal with people 24/7. I really enjoy people. There are a number of people out there that don’t, they’re just not a people person by nature. But people amaze me, they intrigue me, in a positive way.

That’s really what a typical sales guy is going to do. Obviously, in the business development role, it is to define new customers that we can actually court and build a relationship with, and quickly identify is there a need for what we actually provide?

I also have to identify are they the one that would make the decision to purchase or take it to a committee and develop that long term strategy and relationship.

What does a typical workweek look like for you?

Obviously Monday through Friday, 8-5, and then a whole bunch more. When I say a whole bunch more, it’s feast and famine. I have had my fair share of 60-70 hour weeks, and I’ve had my fair share of 30 hour weeks.

Like any other person in my field[sales], I can stop to get my car washed, pick up my dry cleaning, or escort the kids back and forth from school.

But I attend tons meetings and teleconferences. I sit in on many web access meetings, and answer to clients that are in every country on the globe for the most part. So obviously, while it’s an 8-5 gig, it’s also one of those where when I’m talking to somebody in Paris I have to work my day around theirs. I may wake up at 4:00 in the morning to be on a conference call. Or I may finish my day at 9:00 PM on a conference call.

How did you get started in this career?

I started installing these systems back in 1982. So I learned the technology and moved into a customer service role, then moved into a sales role. I’ve been in the sales role for probably 14-15 years.

What do you like about what you do?

It’s always changing, never constant. Since a lot of our products are IT related there are always new products and new toys on the marketplace. So that’s both exciting and challenging at the same time.

What I really like about my job is that I get to deal with people 24/7. I really enjoy people. There are a number of people out there that don’t, they’re just not a people person by nature. But people amaze me, they intrigue me, in a positive way.

So I really enjoy that part of my job.

What do you dislike about this job?

Probably the pressures of hitting your business goals and revenue generation. And I wouldn’t say it’s really a pressure thing, but I wish I didn’t even have to keep score. I wish I could just go help these people and leave it at that.

And I’ve always passed my goals that the company sets out for me, and those are basically right in line with my personal goals, but if there’s anything I don’t like about this job it’s that there’s a lot of pressure to perform. Each year, where you have consistent success, they expect nothing less than success once again. So it’s like the bar continues to get raised, even when you think you can’t do it anymore, it still happens.

Another thing I don’t like is we obviously don’t win every single project. There are potentially folks out there, every once in awhile, that are a nickel less than we are, or didn’t like how I combed my hair, or didn’t like the fact I drive a Nissan, there’s all kinds of reasons people don’t buy. None of us like losing, it’s human nature not to like to lose.

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

I’ve got a base salary but then I’ve also get compensation based on sales commission. It’s about half base and half commission.

How much money do you make in security sales?

It’s about $220-250,000. But again, that’s not the norm. I think the norm for what I do is somewhere between $100-150,000.

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

Since I started out installing systems, I was making minimum wage, which at that time was $4.25 an hour. But that really wasn’t this job, if that makes sense, that was actually installing.

When I started selling, it was probably $50,000-ish in my first sales year. Incentive plus salary, it wasn’t a whole lot. But year after year, I learned a little bit more skill and picked up some additional education along the way as well.

Are there any perks associated with what you do?

I rarely ever buy my own lunch. I rarely ever buy my own dinner. I’m always expensing meals and taking potential clients out to eat trying to build relationships. When I want to travel, I’m traveling on someone else’s nickel. It doesn’t get any better than that. The hotels are a little bit nicer. The rental cars are a nicer. Those are perks that come with success in sales.

Then there are also other benefits that you don’t really think of. We get the employee discount at an auto manufacturer we work for. We do work with an ice cream company, so we get free ice cream. We get perks for the places where we do work, which is quite interesting. We obviously are selling them products and providing contract services but we’re treated almost like their employee.

I also get to see the inner workings of all types of businesses and companies. I love that show “How It’s Made” on Discovery and I get to do that live and in person without a camera.

What education or skills are needed to do this job?

When I first started in this I didn’t have my undergraduate degree. I picked that up later on, but my job doesn’t require a degree at all.  I’ve got my Master’s degree now but it’s not required, but I think that’s something that separates me from the rest of the pack that’s out there.

But a lot of folks who do what I do don’t even have a degree.

[The misconception is}That I do nothing but burglar alarms. The funny thing is I may do five burglar alarms a year, but that would be like a burglar alarm for a billionaire's home, those are a little bit different.

As far as skills, I think it’s all about attitude. Can someone be tenacious in a nice way and not be pushy?

I’m eager to learn about my clients needs and I’m eager to help. But I tell my clients, I don’t care if you guys buy anything from me, there’s going to be enough folks out there buying stuff and my numbers are going to be met, but I’m here to help you guys.

But I think it’s a given that anyone in sales needs to understand human psychology and understand when they say ‘no’ that sometimes does mean ‘no’, and sometimes when they say no it doesn’t mean ‘no’. You have to know when you need to continue to explore or invest time or energy into an opportunity.

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

It’s a little bit challenging trying to keep up with all of the technology as it continues to change, but that’s also one of the things that makes it attractive.

It’s also challenging in a tough economy. Some sectors have slowed down dramatically but there are other markets still buying. So you’ve got to be able to shift and be nimble as to where those opportunities are and where the market would take you based on who has money to spend.

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

Nice expense checks and great pay. But the most rewarding for me is being able to mentor. Taking young sales studs and teaching them the ropes and showing them how they can be successful as well. That’s more of a mental reward than it is a financial reward.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

It’s a great place to be and it’s not going away. We’ve been fighting this battle since the age of caveman. Someone stole somebody’s stuff. The industry continues to grow. It’s continued to get bigger with no decrease in size, revenue, etc.

The advice I guess, it’s a great place to be, it’s a growth industry, so it’s a good career vehicle for the long term.

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

The typical is two weeks every year up to five years, then you get three weeks. Then after ten years, you get four weeks. You get an extra week every five years or something like that. I get that but I don’t really keep track of my vacation if that makes sense. They don’t keep track of my vacation as well.

When you’re a big producer they don’t care what the hell you do for the most part. Obviously, if I wasn’t meeting the numbers, they’re probably going to cut you back and say, ‘don’t take more than two weeks you’re allotted’.

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

That I do nothing but burglar alarms. The funny thing is I may do five burglar alarms a year, but that would be like a burglar alarm for a billionaire’s home, those are a little bit different.

We do a lot of biometrics, whether it’s voice, retinal, vascular – I was looking at some stuff the other day with a vascular reader which reads the blood patterns on the back of your hand, facial recognition. There’s a lot of stuff out there that’s like CSI and James Bond that’s real but it’s not mainstream because it’s so expensive.

And then while we could use that stuff to make a place secure as we got this problem about how fast can we get folks through this door so they can go to work? So checks and balance – we want to be as secure as we can, but still don’t want to slow our people down.

But yeah, the misconception is that I do burglar alarms.

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

My ultimate goal is that I want to be able to teach. Besides trying to put kids through college, that’s the main reason I’m working my ass off and throwing some money back towards retirement so I can actually officially say, “ok I’m still going to work, but I’m not going to work in this career field”. I may still teach in the security, but teaching’s where my passion is.

I just love the thrill of being able to say here’s what I learned that I want to be able to pass down. Here’s some wisdom, here’s some mistakes that I made and I’ll tell you about them so you make sure you don’t do these cause they were painful. As well as I did these three things right, and this is the result of that, and it’s a huge dividend whether it was emotional, monetary, or whatever. Being able to pass along that knowledge and that information, as well as being able to motivate and get those folks moving the right direction is a passion of mine.

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

I’m out there helping folks solve problems. We’re not there to sell them anything, we’re there to help but the result ends in a sale.

What do you do for a living?

I am an associate professor of educational leadership at a public university.

How would you describe what you do?

I teach educators who would like to become school principals and school superintendents.

What does your work entail?

It involves everything from recruiting, screening, admitting, and teaching aspiring school administrators.  It’s a two-year graduate program where the students will complete a Master’s Degree by the time they complete the program.  I am the program director of the department, so I have a few more administrative tasks than some of the other professors, but essentially, we recruit, we screen, and then we work with graduate students for a two year period prior to them graduating with a Master’s.

What does a typical workweek look like for you?

My typical workweek is not unlike anyone else’s.  I go into work about 9:00 and I stay until 5:00 on most days.  All the classes I teach, I teach at night.  I typically teach three courses per semester, and each of them is three credit hours, I actually end up teaching two nights a week from 5:00 until 9:00 at night.  It’s a little different teaching schedule than teaching undergrads because all of my students have day jobs.

How did you get started in this career?

Well, I started out in education 38 years ago. During the time that I was teaching high school band.  I got my Master’s Degree and my Specialist Degree, and then moved into being a high school principal.  I was a high school principal for two years and then I became school superintendent.  I was a school superintendent for 19 years, and that gave me a total of 31 years before I retired in Missouri.

Your success[as a teacher] is determined by the success of the people that you teach.

I was only 52 years old after I retired and I had taught 31 years, so I didn’t want to quit working. So I moved out here and got a job teaching at this university.

What do you like about what you do?

It’s the best job ever.  I truly enjoyed being a school leader, I really did.  I enjoyed being a principal and enjoyed my 19 years as a school superintendent.  But I think that my true love has always been teaching.

What do you dislike about your job?

Like any job, universities have a good deal of bureaucracy. And I would say really, the only downside to the job I have right now is just the bureaucracy involved.  That’s a necessary evil.  It’s just required because of the way that the system works.

There’s very little to dislike about teaching at the university level.

There are probably different pressures that you have to deal with on a university level, of course.  If you plan to stay there, then you have to go through the process of promotion and tenure.  That can be challenging because you are required to publish in not only state but national journals.  You’re required to present on a regional, national, and international level.

You have to do a good deal of service in the university in order for you to achieve tenure.  Once you achieve tenure, all that really means is that the university will continue to employ you beyond your six years.  I just got promoted and tenured in May of this last year, which is pretty typical.  Generally, most professors have to work six years before they are considered an associate professor and get tenure status.

So, while the track to get tenured may be difficult it’s definitely not something that I dislike it’s just something people may find challenging.

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

It’s a salaried position, much like any other job.  We’re paid off a single salary schedule.  There are merit increases that you can get.  We haven’t had any in several years because of the economic situations that have been going on.  Higher education does not pay well in comparison to most places.  A beginning salary at a university, even a Division 1 university, for my particular job would be somewhere in the mid-50s for a nine-month contract.  So it’s not a tremendous pay.

The advantage of it is the flexibility you have as far as your schedule and the flexibility as far as your teaching.  It’s a good gig, even though it doesn’t pay very much.

How much money do you make as an associate professor?

$80,000.

How much money do you make starting out?

If you want to back 38 years, my first teaching job paid $9,411 for a 12-month contract, and that was in 1974.  As superintendent, my salary was over $100,000 a year, but when I started at the university, my salary was $53,000, and then by the beginning of my seventh year I’m now making $80,000.

Are there any perks associated with this job?

We function off the university calendar, so we get all our major holidays and fall and spring breaks. Of course we have benefits, but the flexibility of what we do and how we work is one of the biggest perks.

To me, the biggest perk, and I’m not trying to be hammy or anything, but the biggest perk is being able to teach the students I’m teaching. I’m doing this job for fun, I’m not doing this job actually to try and make a living.

So the biggest perk I have are the graduate students that I get to work with.  These people are top notch and we’re teaching leadership, and those things to me are very important.

It’s like anything else. It doesn’t seem like work if you have passion about what you’re doing. I really love teaching and that’s really what I do best.

It’s like anything else. It doesn’t seem like work if you have passion about what you’re doing.  I really love teaching and that’s really what I do best.

What education or skills are needed to be an associate professor?

A lot of education. Your nationally accredited universities will not have professors in education that do not have doctorate degrees.  I have a Bachelor’s, a Master’s Degree, I have a Specialist Degree, and I have a Doctoral Degree.  So there is a lot of schooling involved.

As far as skills you really need to be an expert in the area you teach.  I would hesitate saying I’m an expert because that sounds arrogant, but to me, my proficiencies are in school law, school personnel, and school finance.

There is a lot of post graduate work that you have to continually participate in.  One of the perks about working at the university is that they are very good about providing you with opportunities for professional development.  They have been very good to me in allowing me to continue to upgrade my knowledge base while I’ve been here at the university.  I get to do a lot of law conferences, I present all over the United States, in the area of school bullying and prevention of school sexual abuse, and a variety of other things.  The university is supportive of those things because it does add to your knowledge base, which you in turn can then pass on to your students.

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

Making sure that your current with what is happening in education today.  I am a practitioner, so when I teach a graduate class, I teach it from a practitioner’s viewpoint.  The most important thing to me is that when my students graduate from the program they understand exactly what they’re supposed to do when they get out into the field.

So the most challenging part is keeping the relationship between the university and the public schools open so that we know that we’re teaching the latest and greatest so that when our students get out there, they have shortened their learning curve.  When they hit the ground as new principal or new school superintendent, we want them to know more and be better than anyone else.  So, our challenge is to make sure that we stay current and that we provide state of the art information to our students.

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

Watching our students become successful school leaders. And this is really our department’s slogan, and that’s the fact that your success is determined by the success of the people that you teach.  If our students graduate from the department and become successful school administrators then that’s very rewarding for me.  If they get out and fall on their nose, then that means I failed too.

What advice would offer someone considering this career?

School leadership and teaching is something you have to have a passion for.  You are never going to be wealthy.  Your rewards are going to be largely intrinsic.  Successful leadership is entirely based on your ability to build relationships with other people and your ability to recognize the talents of other people.

In the 21st century, there is no room for an arrogant leader.  You have to be humble and have humility, and if you don’t possess those things or you’re not willing to take on those behaviors then school leadership or leadership in general is not the place for you to be.

You have to recognize that you’re never going to be the end-all to what you’re doing. You have to continually learn and have to continually admit your mistakes.

It really becomes something that if you don’t have a passion for doing this, or you’re doing it for the money, or you’re doing this because of the schedule, or if you’re doing it for any other reason than you have a passion for seeing schools and children getting a better education, it’s going to be hard to succeed.

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

As a college professor, you have such a flexible schedule, that that’s a difficult question to answer.  If you don’t want to teach during the summer, then of course, you get all summer off.  If I don’t teach in the summer then I get three months off there, I get Thanksgiving, a fall break of five days, I get a winter vacation of about a month, and I get a spring break.

So if you stop to think about it, the schedule that we have and the time off that we have makes for a very nice job.

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

That it’s not work.  They believe that if you’re a college professor, you’re somewhere up in the ivory tower, smoking a pipe and being philosophical.  When in reality, I believe good college professors are highly motivated individuals with a passion to make the world a better place.  It is a great job, but I think the misconception is how easy it is.

It takes a lot of training, it takes a lot of experience, it requires a lot of education, and it also requires a lot study.

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

I just want to keep doing what I’m doing.  I’m 59 years old.  I will probably teach another three to ten years.  My guess is that I will retire sometime in the next few years and then I plan on traveling and enjoying myself.

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

That it can either be the best job on earth, or it can be the worst job on earth.  If you want it to be the best job on earth you have to have a passion to want to do it.

We’re all on the earth for a very long period of time, so while we’re here, we need to see if we can make it a better place for folks.  If we’re not, we need to re-evaluate what we’re doing.

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’m a reporter and humor columnist for a large daily newspaper.

How would you describe what you do?

In any given day, I can cover anything - closing of a school health clinic, birth of an elephant at the zoo, political protesters, a medical discovery. It’s fantastically fun for someone who’s curious.

What does your work entail?

I’m responsible for almost all my story ideas, so I spend a lot of time talking to people and reading. Then I’m responsible for researching, interviewing and reporting. Then I write up my stories.

What’s a typical work week like?

Every week I’m responsible for one humor column. My goal is to be funny without making fun of people, unless they really deserve it. I have to come up with all my own ideas.

The best perk is that I get to go out and do really fun things during my regular work day. Who else gets to go to an alpaca farm or the zoo or a pastry festival for work?

I try to find things that are quirky and weird or things that wouldn’t normally be written about in the daily course of news coverage. In addition to that, I write news stories – maybe a dozen or so week depending on what’s happening. I also try to have one major project every month.

How did you get started?

I’m interested in so many things, so it was hard for me to choose a major before I went to college. My mom was a high school guidance counselor, so she told me to major in whatever was my favorite class. My absolute favorite class was newspaper, so I decided to major in journalism. I was lucky because I never changed my major and I got a job right away in my field of work. I’m so, so lucky.

What do you like about what you do?

Every day I get to do something that I feel like makes a difference in the world. I get to be a voice for people who don’t have access to money or power. I also serve as a watchdog of our government.

What do you dislike?

As a columnist, readers are really free and harsh with their criticism. I’ve been called all kinds of things – stupid, fat, worthless. It hurts. I’m a regular person. But I’ve stopped reading those emails and listening to those voicemails. I don’t want to let strangers take away what I love to do.

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

I’m on salary.

How much money do you make as a reporter?

$33,000

How much money do you make starting out?

$30,000

Are there any perks associated with what you do?

The best perk is that I get to go out and do really fun things during my regular work day. Who else gets to go to an alpaca farm or the zoo or a pastry festival for work?

What education or skills are needed to be a reporter?

I have a bachelor’s degree in journalism, but I work with people who have degrees in all kinds of fields. For example, our fine arts reporter is a former band director.

What is most challenging about what you do?

Right now, the biggest challenge is to stay positive and motivated during a time when everyone says print is dying. It makes my heart ache to think that newspapers might not exist one day, but the world will always need storytellers. As a reporter, what you do is about the story – not you. So whether the story is told in ink or online doesn’t matter. The point is to tell the story.

What is most rewarding?

Making a difference. I love when something I write stirs people to action. Even a short story about a homeless shelter fundraiser can help connect volunteers and money to a group that could use the help.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

Don’t listen to the hacks. If you’re a storyteller, do that. There are still jobs in journalism to be had. It’s not like you’re going into carriage making or Model T manufacturing.

How much time off do you get/take?

I get three weeks off a year, but my company is great about given me extra unpaid time off for volunteer work I do overseas.

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

Everybody thinks we only report negative news. This is absolutely not true. We can only write about what we know about. If people want to see a story written, call or email the newspaper. Let us know. We want to know about good things.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

I have two big goals: to run the paper where I work and to become a syndicated columnist. I also have two books in the works, but I really need to quit slacking and get on it.

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

One Christmas, I went home to visit my parents and on the bulletin board in our laundry room was a laminated newspaper clipping from 1985. I was 3 years old and my photograph ran in our local paper. I was watching the fair parade. My mom cut that out and kept it for decades. That’s what I love about my job. People cut out what I do every day and save it for their rest of their lives. That’s really special. I try to remember that every day. That’s why I want to get every single thing right.

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?

Hospital medicine, and it’s a new division of internal medicine which focuses on patients admitted to the hospital only.  The term hospitalist is now often used to describe this career.

How would you describe what you do?

I’d just say we take care of adult patients that are sick enough to be in the hospital, and that ranges from one-night stays to some element of critical care.

What all does your work entail?

Basically, it involves, at this point, shift work – where we’ll work several days in a row for the sake of continuity in managing people’s illnesses while they’re in the hospital.  Most patients are in, on average, three to four days, that we take care of them.

One part is managing people with medical illnesses that we manage by ourselves or with specialists consulting on our patients, and then maybe the more desirable part of our work is doing consults for surgeons.  So while surgeons, be it orthopedic, or general surgeons, or plastic surgeons, or ENT etc manage the surgical aspects of care, we manage the people’s chronic and acute medical problems.

What does a typical workweek look like for you?

We actually are on a rotation of nineteen days on and nine off.  Formerly, we did fourteen on and seven off.  In the nineteen on/nine off, there are fourteen days where we manage a census of in-patients, admits, and consults..  Then there are five days of night coverage at the end to round out the nineteen, we cover five 12-hour night shifts, and then have a weekend, the intermittent week and the following weekend off, to make nine days off.  But the customary hospital schedule is turning into a seven days on/seven days off, or ten days on/ten days off kind of thing, so that it’s becoming more in vogue for you to have about the same amount of work days as you do days off.

How did you get started in this career?

Hospital medicine is simply internal medicine residency applied over a career.  Internal medicine residency is 6 1/2 days a week of managing hospitalized patients and a half a day of clinic, and so all we’ve done is trim out the half day of clinic and manage hospitalized patients.  This is actually, to me, the simplest and purest adaptation for a career from what residency is.

What do you like about what you do?

I’ll answer that 180 degrees to the opposite.  I really don’t like clinic.  I like the fact that there no appointments, people are sick and you can make a difference hopefully.  And I don’t have to worry with the staffing and the major overhead concerns of the clinic practice.

What do you dislike about this job?

I have no control over the time that people come in.  So you may have a day like today, where you go in at 9:00 or 10:00, and you run for three or four hours, and then at 1:00, 2:00, you’re kind of done, sitting around twiddling your thumbs and then you get busy again at 4:30 or 5:00, after you’ve had some down time in the middle of the day.  That’s also common with emergency medicine.  Parts of your shift are hopelessly slow and then all of a sudden, somebody pulls back the curtain and you’re overwhelmed.

And basically, we have a deal where you take what gets put on your plate during your assigned shift.  So on the slow days at the end of your shift, you’re done.  On a very different day, you may stay several hours after your shift. So that’s one of the dislikes, the lack of predictability.  On the other hand, as long as people are sick and needing to be in the hospital, it’s interesting enough to stay. You’re just done when the job is done.

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

Hospitalists in general are paid two ways.  One, are employees and have a guaranteed salary and benefits package, and then the others are fee for service.  So you show up, take care of what’s there, and you bill and live off the collections, minus overhead.  And then there are a few people that have kind of blended that, and this is us, where you have a guaranteed base, not a whole lot, but then you have a productivity type bonus structure, so that if you see hardly anyone, up to whatever the agreed amount of patients is, then you make the guaranteed minimum.  But if you see more than that, then you share in the profits or the collections for the patients above the minimum amount.  We have a guaranteed amount of money that we’re going to make every year, and then we have productivity model and it’s a month-to-month thing, so for the month of September, if we see X number of patients and X is below the hard deck, then we make a guaranteed amount of money, and if X is above the agreed upon number, then we’ll get paid on the productivity.

How much money do you make as a hospitalist?

The guaranteed is about $250,000 and the productivity above and beyond that is variable depending on numbers, but in this job, I’ve made as little as $180,000 and as much as $450,000.  It just depends on volume.  When you’re making $450,000, you hate your job.

You’re basically working like a pack mule so, there’s a happy medium somewhere between $275,000 and $325,000, where we feel like we’re making a good living and we’re doing a reasonable amount of work, where you can really take care of people.  All those years where we’re making north of $400,000, we’re so busy the quality suffers.

How much money do you make starting out as a hospitalist?

I think you can expect to come out of residency and sign a contract around $200,000.  It’ll be better in competitive markets and a little less in academic markets that are saturated.  As a general rule, you should anticipate or hope for, and not settle for anything that doesn’t have a 2 in front of it.

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

Sure.  The flexibility of making our own schedule is a real perk, even though it’s pretty inflexible after we set it up.  We can set it up – with partners, I own the company.  I get the pride and feel of ownership there, so that’s kind of a perk.

What education or skills are needed to become a Hospitalist?

For internal medicine, it’s four years in college, four years in medical school and a minimum three year residency.  As far as skills, it’s mostly a cognitive profession.  It’s not very procedural, so while we do some minor procedures, the skill set is mostly cognitive.

We’re mainly thinking, planning, managing cases, working through diagnostic dilemmas, but not scopes and scalpels and that sort of stuff.

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

For us, it is how sick the patients are.  The days are gone where you can put someone in the hospital just because they have something minor wrong.  So by the time now that anybody qualifies for admission, they tend to be very sick, so managing a multiplicity of disease and very sick patients is a big challenge,

What would you say is most rewarding about you do?

Watching people get better, absolutely.  Watching a plan come together – making a diagnosis, putting the treatment plan together, and watching somebody get well.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

To do dentistry instead. (laughs)

Within the whole field of medicine, don’t pick your specialty based on the hours, the procedures, or the reimbursement.  Pick it based on what you think you can dedicate a lot of time to, because nobody in this profession that does it well, does it a little bit.

How much time off do you get or take?

Basically, we have 12 weeks off a year right now. But that’s 12 weeks, and not weekends on the other weeks.  That’s 12 seven to nine day runs, but you don’t get 12 weeks vacation plus all the weekends and holidays and everything else like a normal job.  So all the days just kind of run together and the calendar day doesn’t really matter.  If I employ you right now, you’re going to work all but 84 days of the year.

And arguably, you get 104 days off if you just take weekends, and then if you take holidays, that’s probably another 14 more, and if you take two weeks of vacation, that’s 10 more, and you get to 140-150 pretty quick.  We work all but 84.

In a small group, trading out a call for a day or two is very, very difficult, so I pretty much say “If it’s important to you for me to be at the wedding, then call and ask me what day I’m off.”  If it doesn’t matter, then just tell me what the day is and I’ll tell if you if I’ll be there or not.

With some of the practice guys, it’s work four days a week, and they might complain about not having much vacation time, and how nice it must be to have nine days off at a time.  I always ask them when the last time they pulled 19 straight days was and tell them I’m going to do that 16 times this year.

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

That you make a ton of money right out of the gate.  Truth is, they start low on the pay scale with a lot of student debt.  That’s probably one.  Another is that we’re supposed to get it right all the time.  A lot of things are, in my profession at least, are very much trial and error. There’s some diagnostic dilemmas that baffle us and I think people maybe don’t understand sometimes that we have to work through that.

And then maybe a misconception that a doctor is a doctor is a doctor, whereas I know very little about the surgical subspecialties and some of the things like cosmetic surgery and ophthalmology.  Hopefully, when it comes to diabetes, heart failure and internal medicine, I know a whole lot, where the eye doctor doesn’t have any idea. So I think the idea is that “because you all went to med school, you all have the same fund of knowledge” and certainly you learn how to be a doctor in residency, not in med school, and your fund of knowledge is dependent on your residency and experience, not on the anatomy course you took in your first year of med school.

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

I have a couple.  One is to grow my practice to be big and successful, and respected.  Another is to have a management or administrative arm of the practice in the career so it’s not all bedside.  And then, I’d like to be one of those guys who plays his whole career for one team, so I can start and finish in the same place, and that’s really uncommon.  About 50% of the physicians in this specialty switch their place of practice in the first four years.

And I think that’s because for the last ten years, this career has been kind of sexy and so the offers are bigger and better in other places. So if you’re willing to move, you can change your pay scale.  And the other thing is that people change because they start in small groups and the demand of call in a small group is very taxing, and so there is a significant allure of a bigger group, which more shared calls.

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

Specific to the profession, it is the fastest growing specialty in medicine ever.  The next closest is emergency medicine, which was kind of championed in the ‘70s, and we’re really at a clip of 400% faster than emergency medicine grew.  There’s somewhere between 25,000-30,000 hospitalists in a specialty that’s 10 years old and that takes several years to train somebody.  So it’s really, really kind of a rocketship past the moon as far as the growth of this particular sector.

I don’t know where the demand curve is going to plateau, but the supply is being met by a whole lot of people who would normally specialize, but because the money and the lifestyle are fairly attractive, instead of doing a GI fellowship,or rheumatology, or cardiology, if you have the opportunity to get out after three years and become a hospitalist and have a decent lifestyle and decent salary and good opportunities to grow in the field.  So, I have a feeling that the rush to this specialty is probably over.  We’re starting to hear that in some of the big cities, a really desirable job is hard to find. That’s new in the last couple of years. There’s a few markets that are very desirable – jobs in very desirable locations are starting to be full.  But for the most part, there is still lots of need.

What do you do for a living?

I am the middle school Band Director at a middle school in the Southeast U.S. Basically I teach sixth through eighth grade band.  And I also teach eighth grade general music. This is my first year of teaching.

How would you describe what you do?

I teach students on various levels how to play band instruments. I have about 52 sixth graders and about 25 of them are woodwind players; I start teaching band so that all the woodwind players are going to either play flute or clarinet and then later I switch them to the other woodwind instruments during an audition process, as an education sound-play, to make sure that they stay with band. I teach the fundamental techniques and concepts necessary to play a school instrument.

A big part of the job is helping students to be successful, because it is very difficult to learn to play a band instrument. A sixth-grader who learns he or she can make progress quickly when they practice and are taught appropriately, is likely to stay with the band for a long time.

In the general music class I begin with the music they are familiar with today, and work backward to the classics. The first week of class we do exercises on some certain type of music. For example, the first week I try to find what’s most popular for them, so I cover pop music and we listen to everything from Lady Gaga to Michael Jackson to The Rolling Stones. Just last week we covered Rock and Roll, and this week is country, so the kids learn a new song every week, and along with that they learn how to notate rhythms and how to identify pitches on a musical staff. They learn not just how to listen to it, but also how to write it and how to play it.

What does your work entail as a band director?

Probably the most time consuming aspect of my job is the lesson planning. I spend a lot of time planning 45-minute lessons for each class.  But they’re just now learning on how to put their instruments together, they just got their instruments so I’m literally teaching them proper maintenance, how to piece the instruments together. The clarinet, for instance, has seven different pieces that have to be assembled before it can be playable.

When you’re handing it to a sixth grader you have to be careful, because if they start going to town on it goodness knows what you’re going to have at the end of the class period. So, we are very slow and systematic about that process, so that they take care of their instruments. On the average. beginning band instruments cost between $400-$500, so we really try to prepare them not to only be good musicians but to take care of their instruments.

I just knew that I was going to be a band director. I love music, it’s my passion and it was hard for me to imagine a single day that I didn’t play my trumpet or give somebody a lesson or show somebody how to play his or her instrument.

Another aspect of my job is fund raising. Nowadays we get so little support financially from the state and our county that a lot of my job is spent raising money.  We’ve raised almost $2,000 so far, and that is just in the first four or five weeks of school. For a band program, that is pretty good. The band program needs that kind of monetary support because we need to buy instruments, have money to take the kids on trips, and other items to keep the band in working order.

What’s a typical workweek like?

I teach the same 45-minute periods every day. I usually come to work in the morning around 7:00 or 7:30 and at that point I start planning some lessons and doing some other things to keep the program running. At 7:45 I let my band students come in to practice in the mornings and they’re in there until 8:10. At 8:10 I dismiss them to head back out so I can take care of some things, get my room back in order and then at 8:20 I let them come back into the room and begin the first class.

My band classes are broken down by grade, and also according to type of instrument. I teach woodwinds together, and then I have classes in brass instruments. In between, I have a 15-minute break where I reset my classroom for the next section. Every day we do 45-minute lessons on the various instruments, where we do a warm-up routine and cover fundamentals, and then we get into our method book, which has four and eight-bar exercises.  Then we actually pull out full pieces of band music and the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders all love that.

The exercises help them to build technical ability, and are a necessary part of learning, so that they can perform the actual music. For example, we have a piece called “The Volcano.”  Much of the band music for middle school students have names like that, interesting pieces that bring the music alive for them, and teach them a concept, and then they understand how the music is supposed to sound. My band classes are by far my favorite classes, hands down.  I have a break for lunch, 20 to 30 minutes to eat and then an hour of planning. I usually eat while I plan, so I have extra time for planning, because there is so much that has to be done.  These are the instructional things that I do every day that are part of my job description. After school, I spend time planning for the next day, and do a lot of other things in the band room. Sometimes I work until 7 p.m. Then, I also work on Saturdays, at least an hour or so, and some Sundays, here by myself.

How did you get started?

I was always an active band student. I’m a trumpet player. My dad was a band director for ten years and then became a school principal and a school superintendent for the better part of his career for more than 20 years, and he had a lot to do with it because he was also a trumpet player. My brother is also a musician, working on a degree in music education.  We’re both music lovers and we wanted to progress on our instruments.

But when we lived in another state, the school we were in was not really helping us develop into the musicians we wanted to be. When we came to the East Coast, my dad set us up with lessons, and I started taking trumpet lessons with the principal trumpet player of the local symphony – a really phenomenal trumpet player. He really did a lot of things for my playing and I kept taking lessons when I was a junior in high school. And as a senior in high school I just knew that I was going to be a band director.

That’s the most rewarding part of the career. To help students be successful, because when they are you’ll feel like you’re successful.

I love music, it’s my passion and it was hard for me to imagine a single day that I didn’t play my trumpet or give somebody a lesson or show somebody how to play his or her instrument. I started giving private lessons to kids over at the middle school  – 30 minute trumpet lessons for five bucks apiece, when I was still in high school, and while I wasn’t a professional, I felt like I was good enough to help beginners to play the trumpet. And it’s funny now to look back and see where those students are because most of them are very good. I think probably one of my biggest strengths, as a teacher is that I’m really enthusiastic about what I do and I love seeing kids get excited about music and about playing their instrument. I think that’s what it really takes to propel a student through.  I know what it is like to come from a school where the band directors are not very good, either because they are burned out or having other problems.  When I really started to improve was when my dad and I would sit down in the living room and start playing trumpet duets. He taught me about things that I was not getting at school. When we moved to this part of the U.S.,  it was surprising to me on how much I had been missing out on because I came from a program that wasn’t very good into a program that was renowned – a really great band and music program. I spent a lot of time in the band room and getting better with my instrument and I had friends that were in band. I practiced a lot, did a lot of concerts and just knew it was what I wanted to do.

What do you like about your job?

I really enjoy students being successful on their instruments. For example I’ve got the sixth grade trumpet players, and there are sixth grade trombone players. They’ve gotten to the point where they can put their instruments together and they’re starting to play their very first note. And at first, none of them have any idea what they’re doing, so when you tell them to buzz at the end of the instrument, they wonder, “what is he talking about?”  If you tell them the right thing, then it isn’t long before they are making that first note on their instrument, and it is thrilling to experience their excitement. For example, we go around the room, and one student will play a note, and I’ll say, “it’s not quite right,” and then I play it back to them, and they hear it. I remind them that this is a process, and before you know it, they are playing a note and they just can’t believe it. To watch a sixth grader freak out about that is really fun. It’s like giving them a coat of armor and saying they are some sort or king or something. It’s just really cool.  I think the kids feel very empowered when they start to take control of their instruments and realize “Hey, I can be good at this, this might be my thing.”

What do you dislike about your job?

The thing I dislike the most is the complaints I hear from teachers who have been doing this for a while. I’m not sure if it’s just that they don’t make very much money or they think they have to work way too hard for what they make. I mean there’s no doubt about it this is not a job where you are gratified with the salary that is appropriate for what you do. But it could be that not all teaching jobs are as much fun as mine. Of course, we are working with middle schoolers everyday and they can be annoying as hell, no doubt about it. But if you train them up the right way and explain your expectations there is really no reason your class can’t go very smoothly.

Yes, every day you have problems.  I’ve heard teachers complain about the fact they have to deal with parents,  and that’s not always a fun thing because parents are kind of irritable, and they think they know the best for their child.  You can’t argue with that because it’s their kid. But by the same token,  in my field I’m the music professional and I don’t believe that there can be many parents out there that can call me and claim they know more about the music curriculum than I do. And that’s not to sound pompus or arrogant, it’s just to say “Gee, I’ve got that professonal degree in this, and I know.” But you have to be very careful about what you say, because you need parent involvement.  I really haven’t had that many issues with parents so far,  but I know it’s something that’s going to happen.  I have found that if you tell a parent that you just want their child to be successful,  most of the time you get a pretty big attitude change because no parent is going to argue with that.  I work to develop a rapport with parents, so that the lines of communication are open but they let me do my job.

What is most challenging?

The most challenging thing is meeting the financial hardships of my students. Band can be expensive, so the trickiest part is finding ways for students to participate in band if they can’t afford the instruments. That’s a really important thing to me. When kids get turned away from band because their parents can’t finance or pay for an instrument, that is doing the student a disservice. So this weekend I spent a lot of time at pawnshops trying out different instruments.

I actually purchased a couple and had a couple of instruments donated this week, but we are barely squeaking by. I have several sixth graders who came in today and they simply don’t have the money right now for an instrument; you can’t turn that kid away. That kid wants to be in your class because they love music and they want to learn how to play a musical instrument and so you have to find a way to make that happen. A lot of times, unfortunately, mom and dad don’t care so much about that. They’ll just say, “well you need to drop that class. “ But it’s cheap to rent an instrument. You can rent a brand new instrument from the music store here in our town for $25 a month. For some people that is a lot of money, but you think that’s less than a dollar a day – so don’t go to the pop machine and you can rent a clarinet for a month. Because many people don’t see the logic in that, instead of arguing with them I go to pawnshops and try to find an instrument for their kid. So the tricky part is making sure every kid has their necessary materials, and is prepared for class. And another really difficult part is to simply managing all the details. One needs excellent organizational skills and planning skills to be a teacher, especially a band director.

What is most rewarding?

The most rewarding part of job by far is the part where I get to get on the podium and conduct my ensemble and know everything is happening because of how I taught it. And hopefully the skills I taught them, whether or not they go on to play an instrument in college, gives students a lifelong love of music. And really that’s the true measure to me of a good band director is how many of those kids you taught however many years ago, how many of them are still doing music or at least still go to concerts and enjoy the arts. We want them to be good and we want them to achieve but at the same time the ultimate goal is to give them the love of music and fond memories of their high school and middle school days.  So the most rewarding part is definitely seeing kids perform and participate in music and knowing that you helped them to be successful. That’s the most rewarding part of the career. To help students be successful, because when they are you’ll feel like you’re successful.

How much money do you make as a Band Director?

The first year salary for a teacher in my school district is $32,595.00. If I worked an seven-hour day, five days a week, that would be something like $23.50 an hour, but teaching isn’t like that. I’m paid by the hours I’m in the classroom, but there is more to my work than being in the classroom.  I’m at work every day and most nights I don’t leave until 7:00 PM because I have a lot to do, and I have to get my work done. And so you can say they pay by the hour in the classroom,  which is 8 to 3:30, but Realistically no teacher is getting out of there before four, and then there is the preparation work to do and the extra-curricular work that all teachers do.

How much money do you make starting out?

It depends on the school district and the state, because as a public school teacher, salaries are set on a scale that includes years of experience and education level. Someone with a bachelor’s degree and no experience, straight out of college, is paid on a different scale than someone with a master’s degree and five years of teaching experience. The downside to the scale is, that most of them top out at a certain point, so that no matter how much education a person has, it will not increase your salary above the top level, unless the district imposes a new scale. Some districts pay band teachers an additional stipend on top of the salary, but this is mostly at the high school level, and is similar to the extra pay that athletic coaches receive.

What education or skills are needed to do this?

The most important skills for teachers of instrumental music and those who want to be band directors is experience with a musical instrument, starting in sixth or seventh grade, in middle school. There aren’t a whole lot of instrumental music teachers out there that don’t play an instrument. Every band director that I’ve ever met in this state has a primary instrument; they’ll play one of the band instruments or one of the string instruments. The education requirement in most states is a Bachelors of Music Education, with either an instrumental or vocal emphasis. Elementary music is a very popular field. But, getting a degree a professional Bachelors of Music in education degree is a requirement in most states.  To prepare for the degree, most students begin in high school with taking the college entrance exams, which are usually either the SAT or the ACT, depending on which test is required for the college you want to go to. There are also requirements for entering teacher education that must be met. Today most states require students to submit to background and criminal history checks, and prospective teachers must be fingerprinted in most states. This is a cost to the student.  If you have a criminal history, you will not be admitted to the program. Another requirement is a minimum GPA of, usually, about 2.5 on a 4-point scale.  After the teacher education block, you must pass state exams to obtain a teaching license in your field, both overall and in your practice area. In my case, I had to take a test for my knowledge of music and music theory, music history. And then I also as an education major I had to take another practice exam – Principals of Learning and Teaching – to see if you know how to manage a classroom, if you have different strategies for how to present curriculum, both in terms of engaging students and getting their interest. While you are in school, it is important to foster good relationships with your professors, so you are able to obtain recommendations for teaching jobs. You will need a solid resume and good references.

How much time off do you get or take?

One of the main reasons people join the teaching profession is because they like the vacation time. We get two weeks at Christmas, we get off any holiday that the kids have off, and then we get a spring break week and then in the summer time they tell us we get two months off with no pay. And everybody is on a 12-month contract which means instead of just being paid for the weeks that you’re in school those nine months you’re actually get paid year around and two of those months you’re not in school. So, that’s pretty good to get a check when you’re not teaching.

What advice would you offer someone considering this career?

If you want to be a band director you need to be a great musician because if you’re not a great musician you’re not going to create other great musicians. And that may sound like a hard piece of advice for some people but the fact of the matter is the best teachers out there and the best band directors are also compassionate musicians, and if not, then they’re not giving their kids everything that they’re due. So that would be my biggest piece of advice. Master in instruments and develop enough skill on that instrument so you feel you can play it professionally. I had several opportunities in college to do that.

I played with the city orchestra and I played with lots of different groups with professionals. Most of them were not teachers; they were professional musicians. You also need to be dedicated to your studies in college, because teaching is the only profession where you can drastically affect population. In other professions that deal with money and that kinds of thing, and yes,  you can affect population severely. But with teaching you are directly affecting people. If you are not good at your job, you are preparing others to not be good at their job. There was a philosophy in my education department that was written on top of the wall that said, “Teaching is the profession that makes all other professions possible.”  That is a very important thing to keep in mind.

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

I think the biggest misconception is that a teacher comes in and it’s a 9 to 5 job, and that’s just not the case. Also, you are not going to have a whole lot of social life the first year of teaching; you’re going to have a whole lot of personal life. You’re going to have to try and learn to balance things. Even if you try hard and you’re good at organizing, you will find it a very time-consuming job. The other thing is being realistic about salary. Some people have been doing this for very long time and make a pretty decent salary, but I think some people come in thinking the salary is going to be huge that first year and it’s not, it’s simply not. It’s enough to live on and get by and I’m not going to lie, I live comfortably,  but I’m a single guy. I rent a duplex and it’s very comfortable to me and I like it but it’s not luxurious and it’s not going to be a job where you start at $50,000 – $60,000 a year; it’s just not going to happen.

What are your goals/dreams for the future?

First, I want to have a really phenomenal program. I want to have musicians in my band who are proud to be musicians and continue to do music for the rest of their lives because it’s something they are passionate about and that they love.  I feel that if you have a good experience in learning how to play an instrument you’re going to always think back on those good experiences and they’re going to recreate those experiences in the future. My plan basically is to create a great band program that gives superior concerts and is able to travel. I want to be able to take my group to different cities. There’s a worldwide band clinic in Chicago every December at the McCormick center in Chicago, and professionals come to give sessions to students at that clinic. I would love someday to have a middle school band that was good enough to send an audition tape and be accepted to play at that clinic because for me, that would be the epitome of success.