What did you do in the real world?

Before you became a net freak.

[King_Fisher]

Was in the retail business for twenty years. Shaved and put on a tie
every work day for over 6,000 days(approx). Finally said enough and
quit the same day! Tried the real estate business for awhile but it
wasn't for me.

About that time Web 1.01 was booming. It fascinated me and I read
every article on it that I could find. It was way beyond my limited
tech abilities, so I stayed on the side lines. Along came Web 2.00
and it was an eureka moment for me. This was something I could do!

I have two affiliate web sites and am making a good living. Best of
all I haven't put a tie since I started! King Fisher

How about you?

[karamkshetra]

I worked for 3 months as a sales person... in a reseller company.

Sold laptops and printers of HP and IBM.....

Than heard of an Internet marketing company... got interested to work there as "Internet Marketing" was a chapter in my ecommerce book of my syllabus in PG...

Jumped into it... started managing PPc accounts and currently I am lead for PPC and I am also involved in SEO and API thingy....

So here I am in Webmasterworld to improve my IQ ;)

Karamkshetra

[lawman]

Retail from 1972 - 1987

Law School from 1987 - 1990

Legal Services from 1990 - present

Only web work I do is for my own two sites.

[jatar_k]

mechanic, roofer to name my trades, some construction

worked at a skihill for a couple years, a bunch of other random things

[stever]

Trained and worked as a journalist.

Then became a ski and climbing bum for quite a few years.

Went into the travel business.

Still do a bit of mountain guiding to keep me away from the office.

[Green_Grass]

Worked for 8 years with various textile firms selling Home Textiles, Yarns. Got Asthma, working in close proximity to various fibre. Switched to international trading 5 years ago, working from home. Currently selling yarns, textile spare parts, textile machines.

Google got me hooked to the net. Now this 'internet' thing seems to occupy 60% of my working time.

E-commerce website keeps me grounded in the real world. Other websites 'surprisingly' make more money than e commerce, but e commerce is more fun and hands on...

[simonuk]

Worked in a video shop for a couple of years after I left school.

For a number of years I ran a restaurant.

I started an internet cafe in 1997 and dived straight into web design.

My 10 year web design anniversary is this August and I love it even more now than I did then :)

[LifeinAsia]

I was a member of Nigerian royalty who was deposed and exiled. I have much money hidden in bank accounts in my country that I could not get out. Now with the Net, I can seek out good contacts who can help me this transfer. My friend, please send me your bank account number and I promise to share in the proceeds if you help me!

;)

[Terabytes]

wow life!
sounds like a great opportunity...
is there any way I can get you to contact me?
email is preferred...:)

I just don't seem to be winning the nigerian lottery lately...:)

[rocker]

LifeInAsia, you should have attended the Nigerian Email Conference :)
[j-walk.com...]

[netchicken1]

I was sailing around the world on a racing yacht when I ended up stuck on a strange island.

I can't get off.

But there is a bunker here fully equipped that I found, where I spend my time on the net on an old green screen 286 computer, however every 180 minutes I have to enter some stupid numbers to save the world.

BTW there is a polar bear roaming around outside who seems really annoyed - as I would be if I had such a heavy coat on a desert island.

Also there are people who seem to want to kill me.

other than that its a little boring...

[httpwebwitch]

I was pianist/arranger in a jazz quartet.

[akmac]

Commercial fishing in Alaska mostly. Trolling, seining, gillnetting, longlining... a bit of most of it. Haven't fished commercially since 2000, but I did spend yesterday afternoon cutting the cheeks out of halibut heads that would've been otherwise discarded. Yum!

[grandpa]

In no real order

Parent - I always will be

High school dropout - got a GED and eventually some college

Alcoholic/Addict - no longer active

Warehouse manager - from bottom to top

Poet - I miss writing

Musician/Composer - Piano, trumpet, bass, drum

Corporate programmer - no more neckties for me

Hippy - another always will be

Swabby - communications repair tech

Even spent a few years as a bhakta, living in an ashram and learning a few things along the way.

That covers about 30 years before I fell into my web job. What a Long and Winding Road that was. And yes, I would change a few things if I could. It might also explain why I have no idea what's next :)

[rocknbil]

Grease monkey (auto repair apprentice,) waiter, dishwasher, tree planting crew for USFS (Best Job Ever,) sheetrocker, mill worker, fiberglas boat quality control technician (uhh . . . repair for assemblers who lose control of their screw guns and saws,) student/BFA/art, paste-up, cameraman, stripper and press operator in printing (film stripper you dogs,) DTP technician, drum scanner operator, color control expert, digital photographer, web developer.

I was sailing around the world on a racing yacht when I ended up stuck on a strange island.

Hi Desmond, see you in the next life eh?! :-) lol . . .

[ann]

Profession:
Income tax instructor and consultant.

Off season:
Waitress
Bartender (not beer tender)
Bookkeeper
owned my own video rental store
Owned gift shop
Full time Mom (always will be)

Then my Youngest gave me a used computer and a dummies how to book and I never looked back.

Ann

[Essex_boy]

Wrote computer games mid - late 80's sold Pc's for a store in Cambridge realised I was wrong with regard sto education and went back to study IT.

Worked in the Antiques trade while studying met some some really amazing people who had a massive influence on me.

Worked as a part Q accountantfor around 5 years hated it, jacked it in and found work as a rent collector in Hackney (!). A near suicidal move - I thought that at the time as well.

Found I had an ability to deal with people going through a crisis which was all so noticed by my employer.

Soooo I went self employed and do it on a contract basis.

Now looking for something else to do.

[Patrick Taylor]

Architect (1974-2000).

[edit_g]

Never worked for a company (apart from student jobs) which didn't have .com in it's name. :)

[Sarah Atkinson]

I first got a taste of computer in 1st grade and the internet in 7th. of course the internet at that time consisted of a couple of school computers with green screens connected to each other via a modem. I think I'm one of the first generation that was sort of born into the computer age

[gopi]

Enterprise Unix Administrator

[lawman]

Enterprise Unix Administrator

NCC-1701A or NCC-1701D?

[gopi]

LOL, Lawman...BTB i was never into Startrek (maybe because i am not that old?)

[maximillianos]

Chalk me up as a serial software engineer.

Funny story... back in the early 90's in college I got my bike stolen from my house. My insurance covered it and I ended up buying a computer with the cash instead of a new bike...

Built my first "homepage" shortly after that... and I was hooked...

Still loving it after all these years... great field to be in...

[nippi]

Head of SEO, Online publishing company. Currently managing 1500 sites, all adsensed.

Software developer, having managed building of accommodation booking, real estate, employment, dating, online school and classifieds applications.

Previously a lawyer, and a jeweller.

Live in an alternative comunity currently,

Father of four, 1 from first marriage, 2 from 2nd(ongoing) and now foster parent to a 4th.

[dreamcatcher]

I worked in quality control for a small engineering company.

dc

[Lilliabeth]

Live in an alternative comunity currently

What do y'all alternate between? just kidding.

Seriously, though... alternative to what?

[donovanh]

I did a year as an e-mail customer service rep, having been burned by some now-offline web design companies.

My turning point was taking a year after that to study, and found out about affiliate marketing then. :)

I have one decent affiliate site, a few that are slow, and I spend a few hours per week freelancing as a PHP developer. Beats working!

[nippi]

Hippy, ragneeshy, surfy town.

In my town arabs and jews are friends.

people have no colour or religion.

alternative to the rest of the world.

anyone guessing?

[King_Fisher]

No where in this world!

you've must of died and proceeded to the after life!