Sometimes on Lemmy these seem like the only jobs that actually exist, but I’m sure there’s a lot of people here with different and unusual lines of work.

  • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    94·
    6 months ago

    Wastewater-based epidemiology. Basically we track infectious diseases in wastewater, and the results guide public health decisions.

    • philpo@feddit.de
      46·
      6 months ago

      As someone who is doing disaster response consulting for healthcare and public health: I fucking love you guys. You make my job sooo much easier.

      Seriously.

      The surveillance you folks do is pretty much indisputable and far more incorruptible compared to everything else we do, in healthcare especially.

      Very often you are my “discussion ending gun” when decision makers endlessly want me to prove their (flawed) point of view. A “nope, here are validated wastewater based numbers, you are wrong” is extremely satisfying sometimes.

      Thanks folks!

      • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        26·
        6 months ago

        Love to hear it! 2 years ago I had no idea that I’d be working with wastewater but here I am now!

        Anyone out here reading this, write to your senator about increasing funding to public health!

          • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
            2·
            6 months ago

            Great question! For the US, you will need a degree in Molecular Biology/Microbiology or a Medical (Laboratory) Technologist. You’ll then either need to live near the city where one of the few private companies that do wastewater testing ar e(my case), or live near a public health lab that does ww. Pretty much all state public health labs do it, but city/county level varies immensely. For the government route, look at APHL or NACCHO to find information on your local public health labs. There are a few universities that also do ww testing, for example I know University of Illinois, University of Missouri and Michigan State are all doing a bunch of wastewater work.

            Feel free to DM me if you want more information.

      • philpo@feddit.de
        11·
        6 months ago

        Actually COVID is one of the most used tests they do, at least around here. But you can do things like drug use, cancer epidemiology (for some cancers), etc. as well - and that is incredibly helpful from a public health point of view.

        Because it’s just like with Covid - we can’t get proper data from patient sided tests because we can’t test everyone. And even if we could,not everyone would.

        But everybody poops/pees. And guys like OP interpolate from that.

      • runner_g@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
        5·
        6 months ago

        As Philpo said, we mainly do covid, but we can do Norovirus, which is a common GI virus that can give you the shits.

    • sunzu@kbin.run
      32·
      6 months ago

      Ain’t that how all professional service are nowadays.

      Doctors is the last gig and it is getting gutted as we speak.

      • Bearbie@lemmy.worldEnglish
        24·
        6 months ago

        Facts. I was talking to my doctor who is moving to Denver for another job soon. He was telling me how bad it was getting.

        The hospital+clinics are forcing them to spend less time with patients,overbooking their schedules, and ordering tests that aren’t medically necessary to get the most out of a patient.

        He’s leaving for a private practice job that’ll allow him to have more say so, it’s sad those who have been with him for the last 10+ years won’t benefit from him being around anymore.

    • criticon@lemmy.ca
      181·
      6 months ago

      I disagree, I’m an engineer and I prefer it over not engineering positions. My only ragret is not keeping up with coding since it was my favorite subject in college

      • Karmmah@lemmy.world
        6·
        6 months ago

        Do you feel like you could use coding in your daily business or is it just an interest you would like to pursue?

        • Zonetrooper@lemmy.world
          3·
          6 months ago

          Not that guy, but also a (not-software) engineer. Coding is really great for a few things:

          • Software stuff is in really vogue right now. Like there’s demand for all engineering disciplines in my area, but software guys are the hot position, with pay to match.
          • Even if you’re not software, knowing a little is helpful for other stuff - e.g., whipping up some quick and dirty test interfaces, or interacting with older systems with non
          • It also really, really helps for little things at home.

          Unfortunately I cannot actually write code to save my life, but it’d be real useful if I could!

      • NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world
        2·
        6 months ago

        Maybe it’s my job, but I feel like I haven’t had a job in the last decade that I really enjoyed. I might just be getting older and jaded.

    • some_guy@lemmy.sdf.org
      9·
      6 months ago

      That’s why I went backwards from SE back to IT. I enjoy working with people directly and helping them. It’s also a hell of a lot easier in terms of hours and crunches (we have no crunches).

      Basically, I had to decide whether I wanted the money and “glamour” of working on a well-known hot project or to be generally happy with my life. I’m a lot happier now.

    • Bilbo_Haggins@lemm.ee
      2·
      6 months ago

      I think it depends on your field of engineering and how much you enjoy the work. I find environmental engineering to be satisfying and a very dependable/lucrative income compared to many other non-engineering fields I might have been interested in.

      Add to that most other fields that pay similarly or higher (doctor, lawyer, etc) require more/costlier schooling and it’s a pretty sweet deal to be able to go into the job market with only a bachelor’s or masters and making a decent wage right off the bat.

      Of course the same enshittification/race to the bottom for prices affects us too but I don’t know if there’s any career that escapes that entirely.

      I would also think maybe certain engineering fields are more stable than others. Mine is particularly recession-proof since we’re driven by regulation (and bipartisan-supported regulation at that), not the economy. Massive layoffs are not that common in many of the other more “physical” engineering fields like structural, electrical, or mechanical either and even if you are laid off there is usually another company hiring. The skills are pretty portable as well so if you want to change careers you have a pretty good chance at being successful.

      Is it a field of rainbows and butterflies? No, but it’s a hell of a lot better than plenty of other jobs out there and it pays the bills.

  • lechatron@lemmy.todayEnglish
    44·
    6 months ago

    OP clearly just wanted an excuse to show off their vast collection of response images…

  • Tar_Alcaran@sh.itjust.works
    39·
    6 months ago

    When people work with hazardous materials, they hire me to make sure they do it safely or legally. I mostly work in waste handling, soil remediations and laboratories.

    It’s pretty fun and interesting, but it’s been very bad for my enjoyment of homegrown food, swimming outdoors or going downwind of any industrial sites.

  • QuarterSwede@lemmy.world
    342·
    6 months ago

    Branch manager at a 3 trade business (HVAC, Plumbing, Electrical). Very much enjoy beating the competition and taking all of their great talent because they can’t treat them well. It’s not hard to actually give a damn about your people. Turns out, if you do that they like working for you and end up performing even more.

  • Shelbyeileen@lemmy.world
    29·
    6 months ago

    I do cosplay erotica for a living. I make awesome costumes, I take them off, and just post to Patreon. I suppose it’s kindof retail, as I’m giving the photos to people, as a reward for subscribing, but I set my own schedule and choose what goes out. The freedom is incredible

      • tektite@slrpnk.net
        12·
        6 months ago

        Did anyone else notice that every single one of those business cards had “acquisitions” spelled incorrectly?

        • SSTF@lemmy.worldOP
          15·
          6 months ago

          And it doesn’t have a watermark, or most of the other stuff described. Bateman and everyone else at that table are a bunch of idiots who have no clue what they are talking about.

      • kitnaht@lemmy.world
        4·
        6 months ago

        PETG just is a pain in the ass sometimes. Really sensitive to moisture, and it loves to stick to hot metal. So it has a tendency to overextrude because of the steam, and bunch up on the nozzle, causing all sorts of havok.

        The key to printing it is just keeping it dry – the latest batches I’ve held feel like they’re way softer than I remember, so I suspect mfgs are putting more glycol in it than before.

        Also, do a sanity check and go back and print PLA from time to time. Sometimes you won’t realize something else is wrong and you’ll blame it on the filament, but something like the idler arm on the extruder is broken, etc.

        You can print it on Textured PEI, or Glass - but I suggest putting a little glue stick down to act as a release agent on the PEI - PETG and PEI bond together too well in some instances (ESPECIALLY on smooth PEI)

  • jordanlund@lemmy.world
    22·
    6 months ago

    I used to work at a place that made envelopes and printed forms.

    Fascinating seeing 12 foot tall stacks of rolls of paper.

      • Blackout@kbin.run
        7·
        6 months ago

        Me too, right when the digital age was taking over. I was young so they had me help design display ads in illustrator. We’d print out the ads with the articles on a laser printer. Cut them and arrange on a page that was then photographed. It was the future back then lol.