Friday Five:
Random answers today. These are deep questions and I haven’t had any coffee.

1. What is your current occupation? Is this what you chose to be doing at this point in your life? Why or why not?
I’m doing web development contracting from home right now. I just sort of fell into this work during college, mostly because it made more money than anything else I might do. I do enjoy the work, but I hate the industry. I have ethical problems with the way “consultancy” works in practice, like charging the client extra for something frivolous that they should’ve been talked out of in the first place. It’s hard. It can also be pretty soul-destroying to put all your effort into a pointless site that dies six months later. When a carpenter builds something or a teacher instructs somebody, the results of their work matter. Not much of what we do in this industry matters. I don’t want to do this forever.

2. If time/talent/money were no object, what would your dream occupation be?
Being famous. I’d be a general all-purpose celebrity. I’d get paid to work on my websites, and I’d probably host some sort of TV show too. I might even be in some movies. It’s ridiculous some of the people that are on TV these days. I’d be better than 90% of them. I am completely and utterly serious.

3. What did/do your parents do for a living? Has this had any influence on your career choices?
They both started out working in manufacturing but eventually wound up in white-collar desk jobs. My mom is a computer systems administrator (and webmaster), and my dad is the manager in charge of service at an RV dealership. I guess Mom’s job had more influence on me, since she was always bringing home computers and that’s how I got involved with them. At the same time, her tales of office bureaucracy and politics pretty much convinced me that this isn’t what I want to do long-term.

4. Have you ever had to choose between having a career and having a family?
Nope. That’s one of the advantages of being a completely self-absorbed Generation Xer. 🙂

5. In your opinion, what is the easiest job in the world? What is the hardest? Why?
What a random question. Shall I be all philosophical? The easiest is one that you love, the hardest is one that you have to force yourself to do. In my own case, the hardest is whatever job I currently have, and the easiest is whatever job I currently want.