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It is true 
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My mom knows I'm a developer, that I write codes, even made a game. And she always ask me about facebook. 
My boyfriend is a gamer and a RadTech. He knows I'm a developer. But doesn't have the courage to ask me what I really do. He thinks he will suffer from nose bleeding if I explain everything I do.
PS. When someone (not a member of the family or my boyfriend) ask me what I really do, I always say that I'm the one who makes coffee at the office.
That, makes my career easier to explain to others and avoid people who thinks I am a computer genius who can fix all of their computer problems.
PPS. Sometimes, some high school students go to our house and ask if I can proofread their essays, project documentation, etc..
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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Karen Mitchelle wrote: He thinks he will suffer from nose bleeding if I explain everything I do.
like this?
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Na uh. Can't see. Wait 'til I get home. 
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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Karen Mitchelle wrote: He thinks he will suffer from nose bleeding if I explain everything I do
At least he has the balls to admit it, be thankful he is not a fellow geek, can you imagine the fights over coding practices, like taking the Lounge home gak!.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Yes he's that courageous to say that. But he's also willing to take a crash course (even a basic programming) for him to understand what I am saying.
He even visited CodeProject. I warned him not to visit the Lounge and just go straight to the Soapbox.
Don't mind those people who say you're not HOT. At least you know you're COOL.
I'm not afraid of falling, I'm afraid of the sudden stop at the end of the fall! - Richard Andrew x64
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Go home and try and discuss your work in detail with them, makes for a fascinating monologue at the dinner table and it is fascinating watching their eyes glaze over. I used this as weapon to get the kids to talk to me, you talk or I will
While they know precisely what I do thay have no idea how it is achieved.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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Them: I was telling Jim at work about what you do and I gave him your contact info, he's looking for a Web Designer.
Me: Oh. Ummm. I'm not a web designer.
Them: Yeah, but you do web pages.
Me: Actually, I'm an Integrated Technology Solutions Consultant. I solve business problems by engineering custom hardware and software to automa---
Them: ---BUT I've seen you do web pages, and you did that nice site for XYZ Inc.
Me: Well, yeah, but that was part of a bigger project, I was creating an extranet to expose an e-commerce component that I integrated with their legacy back-end information system.
Them: Yeah THAT ONE, that's what I mean, you made it look really nice.
Me: Actually I outsourced the design for that project, I just assembled their---
Them: ---AND you designed that site for ABC Ltd. and it looks nice.
Me: Yeah I guess, but that project had a slim margin and I just made do with my own---
Them: ---PERFECT. I'm sure that would be fine for Jim.
Me: I'm really trying to focus on Industrial Automation. What sort of business is Jim in again?
Them: I think mousetraps..., or maybe its metal scrap...
Me: Uh huh---
Them: ---It might have been house wrap... I wasn't really paying attention.
Me: Right.
Them: He was wondering what it would cost.
Me: Well, I usually don't touch anything for under $5000--
Them: WHOA why does it cost so---
Me: --- well, there are a lot of factors to consider, is it data-driven, there's the cost of writing a proposal, I write a project plan, analyse his needs, define the scope, stakeholders, risks, define metrics for success, I need to hire a designer and a photographer, the content needs to be written and proofread, I do A/B testing and penetration tests, there's documentation to be written, and of course I have to cover the overhead of rent, my assistant, insurance, etc.
Them: No, no, he just needs something simple, can't you just whip something up?
Me: Well, projects that seem simple have a way of bloating into megaproject---
Them: BUT he said a guy from the Yellow Pages called and said they'd do one for $70/month if he bought an ad, and it would have Flash, and---
Me: Well I've seen some of those sites... umm... if that's all he needs I'd say go for---
Them: ---But then he said his nephew was good at computers and he could do it cheap.
Me: Actually that's a great way for young people who are learning to gain experience, he should take him up on---
Them: ---but he wants it to look professional.
Me: Uh huh.
[awkward silence]
Me: Hey! I heard an ad for SquareSpace on TWiT -- it actually sounded like you can make some pretty nice sites from their templates and it's only like $8 a month.
Them: Yeah, I think his business is really going to take off. It's going to be BIG. You know, you need to take these small jobs to build up a reputation---
Me: Actually I'm really well respected among my peers. Remember all those articles I wrote and how well received they were? And I've never had to look for work since I started the business, my skills are actually specialized and there is a lot of demand---
Them: ---look, if you don't want to do it just say so.
Me: I don't want to do---
Them: ---I was just trying to help, and Jim's such a nice guy and I just thought---
Me: Fine. Tell him to email me.
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99% of my development work is on classified systems of one nature or another, so I really can't discuss details of what I do. Fortunately that also means that once I leave the vault I work in, I can't do any work. So no after-hours or weekend work for me!
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So long as I bring home the check, they Don't Care what I do*
<EDIT>
Theydo remember to call me when they're PC or router is sick
</EDIT>
*KSS - or I'd be a very rich gigolo by now
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "As far as we know, our computer has never had an undetected error." - Weisert | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you are seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos wrote: call me when they're PC or router is sick
Wife: "Unlike you, the computer is hung."
You'll never get very far if all you do is follow instructions.
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Ouch!
"the debugger doesn't tell me anything because this code compiles just fine" - random QA comment
"Facebook is where you tell lies to your friends. Twitter is where you tell the truth to strangers." - chriselst
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PIEBALDconsult wrote: Wife: "Unlike you, the computer is hung."
Him: "Well, did you try diddling with its extension?"
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W∴ Balboos wrote: Theydo remember to call me when they're PC or router is sick
Bingo! and I have been called 7+ time since Xmas, its like once a month from different relatives.
You can have all the tools in the world but if you don't genuinely believe in yourself, it's useless.
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some family members will probably say that I just work with computers and then others will say that I am a computer programmer.
but do they really know or understand what it is I do? probably not with any great amount of detail but I think only another developer can really know what that is.
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It's just me and techie wife.
She knows all too well.
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You can discuss inheritance with ambiguity
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Yup we are lost at social gatherings where normals go on and on about just drivel.
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The majority of my family thinks they know what I do, while only a handful of them really know. For most of them, I simply "write codes".
djj55: Nice but may have a permission problem
Pete O'Hanlon: He has my permission to run it.
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as it is that when a friend/etc with a non-zero amount of technical knowledge is able to ask meaningful followup questions to my standard dumbed down to the level of the hopeless default answers, despite not understanding a word of what I said, they get upset that I told someone else more than I told them.
Did you ever see history portrayed as an old man with a wise brow and pulseless heart, waging all things in the balance of reason?
Is not rather the genius of history like an eternal, imploring maiden, full of fire, with a burning heart and flaming soul, humanly warm and humanly beautiful?
--Zachris Topelius
Training a telescope on one’s own belly button will only reveal lint. You like that? You go right on staring at it. I prefer looking at galaxies.
-- Sarah Hoyt
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I have no idea what my work involves.
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... but they know I play Zerg. (My wife played Zerg as well, while junior sticked to Protoss).
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My fiancee calls me a transponster, she knows sometimes I make websites but that's about it she doesn't understand databases or services or APIs or any of that malarky; my parents know I 'do computers'.
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I've been called Chandler Bing by my family many a times.
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My baby bot and 5 years old girl do not care what dad does...or even comes home or not. The two bigger are think dad plays all day long with an extremely boring game...
My wife pretends to understand the what but can't get why...
My dad and mom thinks I'm wasting my time instead of doing some decent work...
My boss do not understand a bit of my work, but keep paying me as long as the customers do not complain...
My coworkers do understand everything as long as I have no questions...
I'm not questioning your powers of observation; I'm merely remarking upon the paradox of asking a masked man who he is. (V)
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