What do you do?

IntoxicatedPuma

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Feb 26, 2016
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Just curious what everyone here does or has done in the past - is your job related to your passion for SFF?

When I lived in the US I worked in administration for a hospital in SW Missouri. I started building computers during that time because it was something I was interested in and didn't have money/get paid enough to tinker with cars.

Now I work for a video game company. I enjoy SFF because I noticed many people associate big computers with running cool and being powerful. I like to show people they can do more with less. Many people in our studio build a new computer when we release a new game so they can play it, and they're always shocked to see you can get a powerful PC in a small case.
 

GuilleAcoustic

Chief Procrastination Officer
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I did work for 2.5 years as a game developper. Then 2.5 years as an IT consultant in the bank industry.

I ran away as I had the opportunity to work in the railway industry, as a real time embedded system developper (which is what I studied at the university). Sadly, the 2008 crisis came and that job didn't last long before projects got cancelled. Back to the bank industry as I had to work and have kids to feed. It has been 7 years now and that job is trully killing me. Looking for something else, where human is more than a gear inside a machinery.

I do have many hobbies: designing, tinkering, coding, music, drawing .... just need a job where my soul is not eaten alive.
 
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jtd871

SFF Guru
Jun 22, 2015
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I am and have pretty much always been a civil engineer with a specialization in geotechnical work. I started out with a consultancy specializing in mining waste impoundments. After a brief hiatus due to the 90's economy crash in the Pacific Rim, I moved to the US midwest and have been with a few consulting firms learning some new tricks along the way. About 10 years ago, I moved to working for a relatively small family-owned (currently 2nd-generation owner) contracting firm specializing in deep foundations, heavy highway (i.e., bridges) and earth retention. I do most of the design work (except for actual bridge design or unusually heavy structural stuff) and even my own CAD work!
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
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May 9, 2015
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I've been in IT sales for over a decade, when I figured out I was missing challenges in my life, I studied for general system and network admin. I got so bored during my studies (when I was unchallenged) that I spent part time rebuilding the abandoned server racks next door, learning NAS, SAN, hardware, Linux, etc etc.
While I don't hold certificates, I'm part of a two-man IT team that needs to do everything that looks like a PC for >300 people, from telling someone to push the power button to turn their printer on, to implement an entire VMware vCenter cluster, network, hardware and software.

I love my job because it is challenging and I matter for the company. My boss is an awesome guy who respects and trusts us, which we repay in doing our best possible job.

Related to SFF: any new PC we buy is either an Intel NUC or a laptop (only if mobility demands it). People were used to all PCs being 40L cases (which had about 36L of air in them).
 

GuilleAcoustic

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...While I don't hold certificates...

If you aren't affraid of learning and working hard, I see no issue with that :D. Certificates are only important when you have no experience, then your hard work and experience is what matter.

I love my job because it is challenging and I matter for the company. My boss is an awesome guy who respects and trusts us, which we repay in doing our best possible job.

Nothing to add. This is how things should always be :)
 

Ceros_X

King of Cable Management
Mar 8, 2016
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I also work for the Govt, as a US Marine fixing Uncle Sam's stuff - tactical radios, computers, printers, power supplies, etc etc.

I've been interested in portable technologys ever since I started deploying - one of the only photos in my float book is me getting on an LCACs with two metal cases, carrying some giant Lacie 1TB external hdds. I got into SFF PCs when I was traveling all over the country staying in hotels - I got a Shuttle SX48P2 and a flat screen Shuttle monitor and a Pelican case.

Looking to do another portable gaming rig for the first time in several years for another upcoming deployment.
 

EdZ

Virtual Realist
May 11, 2015
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I corral PC hardware for a large bank's HQ building. In theory it's just looking after hardware failures for the ~7,000 workstations and laptops, but in practice it's "something weird is happening, why?" third-line-but-without-the-admin-privelages.
On the side, I do freelance VR engineering, mainly hardware and general VR theory consulting.
 
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iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
Feb 28, 2015
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Me, I'm a working student for NavVis, a startup specialising on 3D Indoor Cartography and Indoor Navigation, mainly as a system designer, partially as a programmer.

My job is to put as much computer as possible and feasible into a device that looks nothing like a computer and make it take up as little space as I can, so it definitely is SFF related.
 
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iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
Feb 28, 2015
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I actually talked to John about those boards after lowvolume #5 before you came to pay a visit, and would absolutely love to get one for an overpowered build myself, but I can't tell you whether we're using boards like this or similar to them or smaller ones without breaking my contract. :/
 
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IntoxicatedPuma

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I guess an X99E + Xeon 8 core would also cost about the same price - not that they have the same intended use...
 

iFreilicht

FlexATX Authority
Feb 28, 2015
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Not only that, the X99 board only supports 32GB of RAM, while the Supermicro X10SDV series support up to 128GB with RDIMMs, which is pretty beastly.
 

Phuncz

Lord of the Boards
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May 9, 2015
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Don't forget the dual 10Gbit Ethernet connections and the 45W TDP, the TDP is just insane for the amount of performance.
 
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GuilleAcoustic

Chief Procrastination Officer
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Jun 29, 2015
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Add an M.2 raid PCIe board and you have a damn insane computing node (rendering, crunching, simulation, data server, etc.)

My universe simulator project would trully benefits from such a beast. Imagine as SFF cluster built from those beauties :p
 
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