You are not your job, you are a person (Robert's Rule #8)

[Tweeted 2011-05-04]

Like many people, I get asked "what do you do" quite often. At times it's been rather difficult to explain to people who "don't get" computers. In fact, one person went so far as to say I didn't really work because I didn't "make" anything. It took me a while to determine that, in his mind, unless you contribute to the production of a physical item in a meaningful way, you aren't really working and you shouldn't get paid. Thankfully, there have never been very many in my circles who have held the same belief.

Another problem I've had in responding to the question is until recently "what do you do" has been a little vague, or imprecise, rather because I've always done several things simultaneously. When I started out in the industry, I was an "Installer". As an Installer, I traveled a region and installed payment systems, trained the users, performed any troubleshooting required, made sure the customers had the supplies they needed, wrote customer service utility software, et cetera, et cetera. After I moved on from that job to client/server development and became a "Systems Programmer". However, 'programmer' jobs were usually more analysis and design than actual development, and then added to that were DBA duties, managerial duties, et cetera, et cetera. When I moved from the client/server environment to the web and became a "ColdFusion Developer" or a "Web Developer", it generally didn't reduce the scope of work much as there were design duties, development duties, network/server administration duties, DBA duties, et cetera, et cetera. Basically, there generally has been more 'et cetera' than distinct role duties.

All of this poses a problem more for existentialists than essentialists, I suppose, so perhaps it's only a problem because of my perspective, but perhaps not

I guess you might say at certain points in my past I've been an Installer-Trainer-CS Representative-Field Engineer-Programmer or Systems Programmer-Data Analyst-DBA-User Interface Designer-Technical Writer-Manager or System Administrator-Web Server Administrator-Programmer-DBA-Web Developer-Web Designer. All of that sounds really complicated and imprecise simultaneously. Besides, I noticed that any time I've been 'between jobs' I've never stopped 'being', so a change in perspective was required and I came to the startling revelation that you are not your job, you are a person (Robert's Rule #8).

As a result, when people ask "what do you do" I no longer respond "I'm a [insert title here]", I generally clarify whether they inquiring in what capacity I'm employed or if they mean something else. If they're inquiring about my work, I say "the majority of my work is as a [insert title here]"; if they mean something else, then I answer their real question to the best of my ability.

There are a few side-effects that I've noticed when verbally recognizing this small truth. First, people generally take a moment to consider what they're asking, which tends to move the conversation quickly out of the in-one-ear-out-the-other chat (that drives me mad) into a realm of real conversation. The second side-effect that I've noticed is that I feel more free to balance work and non-work life. For example, the majority of my "outside-the-home work" may be as a system administrator and that may entail thwarting network attacks, but the majority of my "inside-the-home work" is as a husband and father and in both inside and outside the home I am a person. That means, for example, that there are some meetings I don't take (such as those scheduled during my daughter's bedtime when I'm supposed to be reading her a story or singing a lullaby) and some job opportunities I will never pursue (because they would require me to sacrifice some portion of my humanity).

As far as I can tell, we all have only one life to live. At the end of mine I hope that my wife and daughter say "he was a good man"...anything else just won't do.