TITLE: The Worst Kind of Job
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: April 08, 2008  9:11 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
<A HREF="http://www.nopactalent.com/category/10/10/14">
   <IMG SRC="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog-images/people/rodney-laney.jpg"
        ALT="Comedian Rodney Laney"
        ALIGN="right">
   </A>

Yesterday I was listening to comedian
<A HREF="http://www.comedycentral.com/comedians/browse/l/rodney_laney.jhtml">
   Rodney Laney</A>
do a bit called "Old Jobs".  He explained that the best kind
of job to have is a one-word job that everyone understands.
Manager, accountant, lawyer -- that's good.  But if you have
to explain what you do, then you don't have a good job.
"You know the inside of the pin has these springs?   I put
the springs on the inside of the pins."  And then you have
to explain why you matter...  "Without me, the pins wouldn't
go click."  Bad job.

Okay, computer scientists and software developers, raise
your hands if you've had to explain what you do to a new
acquaintance at a party.  To a curious relative?  I should
say "tried to explain", because my own attempts come up
short far too often.

I think good Rodney has nailed a major flaw in being a
computer scientist.

Sadly, going with the one-word job title of "programmer"
doesn't help, and the people who <EM>think</EM> know what
a programmer is often don't really know.

Even still, I like what I do and know why it's a great job.

(Thanks to the wonders of the web, you can watch another
version of Laney's routine,
<A HREF="http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=12304">
   Good Jobs</A>,
on-line at Comedy Central.  I offer no assurance that
you'll like it, but I did.)
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