What do you guys do for a living? (Page 3)

I manage a hedge fund. It's just me and one other guy sitting at a computer all day, buying and selling stocks....

Mine seems pretty boring compared to most of these... Mortgage Loan Officer.

General hours are 8-5 with a few saturdays thrown in for appointments. A little extra time in the winter months for training, which doesn't help with this sport. Spring/summer get pretty hectic, so I am relegated to early morning and possible after work training.

I work as a network administrator for a fairly large school district in my area.  They have about 7 buildings and approx. 20 servers that I manage, not to mention the 1200 workstations and 4000+ users (including kids).  The job is good, BUT I HATE SITTING HERE ALL DAY!  I cant stand it.  Every hour or so I have to take a break and do some laps around the school just to move.   I work about 40 hours a week, but I usually skip out a little sooner and get training a little earlier.  The job is also good cause my boss is pretty flexible with my schedule.  I usually come in for 7am, but on Mon and Thurs he lets me come in at 8 so I can get my swim in during the morning.

Sales for THE largest Network equipment provider...usually work out in the evening and go long on weekends...sales funds the every increasing need to buy gadgets for this sport...

In the Coast Guard. Right now, my job sched is PERFECT. Work M-F, 7-3 with the occasional 1 or 2 night out-of-town work trips. This gives me time to get to the gym at 5am, and still time to bike after work.

Much better than my last job: sailing around the Atlantic for 2 months at a time. We had an excercise bike, but the trick was not falling off the damn thing...

High School teacher and coach two sports...basketball and track. I get in about 9 hours of training a week. A lot of it is before school and late in the evening after the kids are in bed. It's is surprising how much easier it is to get my workouts in during the school year. Everything is so scheduled and I can stick to it pretty good. In the summer I have more free time (still stay busy with various sports camps and other projects) but find it can be harder to stick to a good training routine.

I work for a very large medical device company(which just purchased a very large CRM company). I sell Peripheral Vascular Stents. If you know what that is and your on this site, your probably not going to be seeing me with your Doctor. I make more money the more people smoke, eat fried chicken and pound Krispy Kreams. I'm in cases from 0730 till afternoon or traveling to cases. When I'm done at the hospital I too am drained. I usually try and sneak out of work for an hour or so. I have to train late!

Wildlife Biologist working with migratory bird management - primarily population management of migratory gamebirds (waterfowl, doves, woodcock).

Up at 4:15 AM weekdays for my 1 hour commute to the Twin Cities. So, morning workouts during the week are pretty much out. We don't have kids so getting in training hours isn't hard.

Dammit, all you guys made serious posts after my silly post and put me to shame.

I'm actually an assistant professor of history and political science at a small liberal arts college. Flexible hours, but I'm working (reading, grading, researching, writing) pretty much all the time, not just "work hours" (actually being on campus, in my office or in the classroom). I'm looking forward to this summer, during which I won't be teaching but will be working on a manuscript -- in between trips to the pool and bike rides and runs and races. Heaven.

Has anyone noticed that we're seriously into "white collar" jobs here at BT? I've noticed this about triathlons: it seems to be an upper-income bracket (or aspiring upper-income-bracket) hobby for most. You're more likely to see a BMW in the parking lot of a tri than, say, a contractor's Ford F-150.

My current theories to explain this: High cost of triathlons combined with the need for white-collar workers to get a physical and mental catharsis in a short time due to their sedentary but high-pressure jobs.

Business Analyst for a major brokerage firm.  I create and automate reports using various databases.

I'm a financial analyst for a very large company. I hate math, analysis and yes, my job. I got this job because I labeled my resume on monster.com as "Excel Expert" and the next thing I know I was getting calls left and right - which means I had to be one. So yes, now I'm an Excel expert! I aspire to work for Barnes & Noble and/or Starbucks one day when I quit this job but It's hard to hate it so much when my boss, the CFO, lets me do whatever I want just as long as I finish my analysis - which I do.

I'm also a screenwriter (we all are in Los Angeles) with a certificate in Screenwriting from UCLA, a producer of indie films and I own my own production company (Squint Productions) which I'd like to do full time one day. We just shot a horror/action short this past weekend. A 16 hour day followed by a 12 hour day, this after a four mile run. LOL. I was whooped!

I have three kids, 14, 5 & 3 and a wife who works the 12 hour night shift at the hospital as an RN. So training is very tough to fit in - thank goodness for my mom who comes to LA quite often (from Alabama) to visit the kids which makes training at night something I can fit in.

I love coffee.

I'm a manager in a radiology department at a community hospital in the northern suburbs of Illinois. I also go to school and have a 10 month old who doesn't sleep through the night yet. My wife works too so training schedules can be a bit goofy.

Architect ..... just got my license this year. I work for a decent size firm in Baltimore currently (about 95 people).

Within the next year or two I'll establish my own firm and go completely on my own. (More time to train that way and the "company" can pay for all my race entries! )

I was a Mechanical Engineer for a couple years at the Washington Group International. But that got lame, so now I'm a Porfolio Analyst and investment banker. a slight departure from fluid mechanics and thermodynamics. but a good departure nonetheless.
~B

Retired police detective from the Las Vegas Metropolitan PD. I now work 20 hrs. a week at a specialty running store in Phoenix, AZ, a place called "Runner's Den". Great gig, crew, and discounts!!!!

Yeah, I noticed that too. It's no wonder people are buying P3s and all of the other gadgets.

I'm a project manager for a consulting firm in manufacturing IT for the pharma and biotech industries (specialized enough for ya?).

I am a computer science graduate student and also work as test engineer for slot machine testing lab - get paid to BT while the test script is hitting jackpots for me (gets boring actually...)
After I defend my thesis (hopefully next Spring) my dream job is to telecommute (ok, work from home) for an IT consulting firm, so I can get enough money for the tri gear and have flexibile schedule to train

Yep, lots of professionals on this site.

Or, a wanna-be-almost-professional like me. I finished architecture school last May which means my offical title is "Intern-Architect". Really wish they had a better term for this, it sounds like I am designing w/ training wheels!

My first undergrad experience was in psychology, and I was on a track scholarship for triple jump, long jump and sprints. I graduated and worked as a youth counselor for about a year before realizing that my childhood fascination w/ art and building was not to be just a hobby for me. I re-enrolled in school, and proceeded to lose all my athletic ability.

Before graduation, I was a walking zombie. Finishing a thesis in architecture requires you to ignore everything BUT the thesis. I actually told my husband to kindly forget I existed for about two months at the end. Yes, I have slept under my desk and lived off of red bull and vending machine food for way longer than I care to admit. After 4 years on a drafting stool, I earned my emancipation and bought a road bike w/ my first savings from my new job.

I love my job b/c it's facinating-never boring and I am surrounded by creative people. My pay is not much as I am an intern, but affords me time and $$ to train for my first tri. (and post on BT)

very pertinent observation. can empathise with the all-consuming nature of academia. even as a student i rarely took time off. no wonder i reached total burn out point academically when i was meant to be writing my masters thesis. mates of mine all have phds and all crashed and burned at least once whilst completing - a tough choice of career/passion. your subject area sounds interesting though; as a theology graduate i love liberal arts colleges!

I am a Network engineer for a large ISP. It is pretty flexible which helps me to get workouts in if I am otherwise motivated

Ad me to the list of Police Officers on this sight. I am an overnight Patrol Sergeant who works entirely too much overtime and does not sleep enough.

Stay-at-home Mom here. This is the first year that all 3 kids are in school all day, so I feel kind of liberated. No trouble filling those days though with my violin students and my online store, not to mention workouts, and as someone else mentioned -- the never ending scouts/piano lessons/school functions/band concerts etc!

With no athletic background, the hardest part of working out for me is motivation and believing I can really do this, as the time can be found if I try.

No white collar here -- I'm the proud owner of a $100 1980's Shogun roadbike, found at a used bike store. I upgraded the pedals to be clipless and they cost more than the bike! Are we having fun yet?



Edited by Redhead 2006-03-30 10:23 AM

I figured once I go back to school I will lose a lot of time that I have now for training. That's why I plan on competing in a Half IM this year and try to stick to just spirits and Olympics for the following years. Currently, I am a laboratory technician, which means I play with mice and pipette. I will be going back to school in September for my Ph.D. I have time to train because I basically plan out my own scheldule. My boss is fine with it as long as I get my work done and produce results for him. It is interesting to hear about everyone's jobs and how they make time to train and still lead a life.

I'm a father of 4 and a software development manager working for a systems management software company. I'm just biding my time until I can become a professional triathlete (yeah, right). My job is somewhat flexible and my wife is very supportive, so I manage to get my training in regularly almost without exception.

You have to also consider that most white collar workers, students, and work from home (moms, business owner, etc) have easy access to the internet, while many blue collar workers have no or limited access to the internet during the day.

But overall, the observation is right, many of the people who do tris are white collar workers.