QOTD

What do you do for a living, do you like your job and why did you pick to work in this field?

Most of you know I am a behavioralist, but I dont know what the rest of you do.. I know some of you are teachers.. I thought it would be fun to find out why we choose these paths in life. I told you I was an only child; that is partically true.. I did have a brother who was developmentally challenged.. he lived in a facility here in california except for a few breif stays at home when I was very young. He died when I was 9 years old from seizures. Because of him I think I was always able to see past the disability and see the person they were inside. People tend to give the developmentally chanllenge their pity and not do what is really needed to make them successful.. I could go on and on about this but I dont want to bore you with my passion in this area. I deal with mothers who are still putting their 15 year olds in a high chair and feed them when you go to the school and see them being totally self sufficient. This drives me crazy. than the parent says the child is so much work.. well I always say.. give a man a fish he can eat for a day.. teach him to fish he will eat for a lifetime.. People need to not pity these guys but teach them like any other child how to do it... As a behavioralist I visit people all the time like this that cant figure out why their child is doing something at 25 years old that an infant is doing.. well.. you let them.. I picked this career.. no I think it picked me.. I went to school to be an interpreter for the deaf.. actually got my RID cert in the area.. than I went to school to be a psyciatric technician and ended up at the place my brother actually died.. I went to school and became an assistive technology specialist.. Later in life I went to school and got my BA in communicative disorders and am working on going back for speech and language pathology. I want to continue working with developmentally challenged individuals when I am done.. I truely believe that language is the main problem with behaviors and the individuals ability to progress. Through assistive technology and communication I believe we can help these individuals become more independent and sucessful in life.. yes it is a passion with me..

Wow, I applaud you for your career path Carla! It takes a very kind and patient person to do what you do and I know you must be very good at it! There needs to be more people like you in this world! Deanna

Carla I'm right with you and agree totally that all too often sadly people are not given the opportunity to reach their own potential and are held back by those caring for them who do not help them 'reach for their stars' (no matter how high or low those stars might seem to us). 'Tough love' is not the easy option and is difficult, but the rewards are more than worth it. I appluad (sp) you, your dedication and the work you do.

I'm a Stay at Home Mom. I actually have a degree in Graphic Design but I never actually worked as a designer. I ended up working as an Executive Assistant at a Graphic Design firm ... found out I have a real knack as a Secretary and I really enjoy office work. I could type all day long and be happy as a clam! But for now I'm a stay at home Mom and I love it. There are days when I live by the commercial "Calgon, take me away!" I get frazzled and tired but I wouldn't change it for anything. I have seen every single scrape, bump, bruise, watched every step, given millions of hugs and kisses, and I live for all of these moments! I feel very fortunate that we can scrape by enough so that I can stay home with my kids. But there is a part of me that feels "left out" of the work force ... some day when my kids are in school full time, I'd like to get back into office work and get hired on with the school district so that I can keep similar schedules as my kids. I'd like to have something "adult" to do during the day, to earn some income, and not miss out on time with my kids. So hopefully this will be something that could work for in the future! Deanna

I'm a 3rd grade teacher. My certification is to PreK-5th which means I can teach any subject in any of those grades. This is my 4th year teaching. It has its good days and it has its bad days. With so many demands and expectations being put on us now, I really wonder if its worth it all. I'm getting my Masters Degree in Instructional Technology with certification as a Media Specialist (I'll finish in June ). I always wanted to be a teacher. My mom is a teacher along with 3 of my aunts. I did go through a stage in highschool when I wanted to be an accountant. I love math in all forms. Part of me wishes I had gone that direction and part of me wishes I had gone into some form of business with working with data and spreadsheets and so forth. I do love my job. I can't really imagine doing anything else right now. I do want to get my 6 year (Education Specialist) degree in Leadership and Administration and maybe on day get a job dealing with data in the education world. Mandy

I am a medical biller/certified professional coder. Working for our local hospital right now doing commercial insurance follow-up. I make sure the insurance companies pay!! Medical coding is my passion just put me in a room with my coding books & peoples medical records & I would be happy!! but alas there is not many openings in this area (Southeast). I got my foot in the door at the hospital so maybe there will be an opening one day!! I have one more test I need to take!! That was one of my New Years res. to complete this test this year!!! I tell you all so maybe by the end of the year you can hold me accountable!!! I think this field picked me due to the fact I would probably be some type of nurse but I have a medical condition (genetic blood disorder)that makes me suseptible(sp?) to infections so I cannot work near anyone with serious infections!! So no ER work for me!! My husband just shakes his head at me because I can watch all those shows on T.V. where they are doing surgery & it doesn't even phase me. I think I was a Nurse/DR in another life!! Just want to help people anyway I can. ~Missy~

now THIS is an interesting question for me. Right now i'm a "cardiac outreach coordinator" which is a nifty title for the queen of party planning! What i do is plan activities (usually heart health related) that will get the public to acknowledge that in our area we need more and better cardiac health care. We just opened a whole cardiac unit and that's pretty exciting. February is heart health month so i'm busy as a bumble bee in a field of flowers! I used to be a wedding caterer with Marriott and I worked for home depot for (7) years. I've got my bachelor's in marketing, an associate's in international marketing and an associate's in culinary fine arts. I'll be going back to school eventually i'm just not really sure for what yet. Hugs, ANDI

This is SO interesting. As I am basically nosey, I've always wondered what you guys do in your lives away from the board. I now work part time as a Bursar's Assistant responsible for Payroll and Personnel in a private school. I love my job and particularly love working with spreadsheets, data bases, computers, numbers, calculations and stuff (very sad I know!). I have considered studying to become an accountant but it's not practical at the moment. Plus I have negotiated my hours so that I am home with Millie and only have to work a few weeks in School break times, so am home during most of the holidays. Millie goes to this school so I sometimes get to see her during the day and know the staff well (which helps!). I 'fell' into payroll and personnel. I have a very varied cqareer history. I trained as a Nursery Nurse and worked in Neonatal ICU, and Post Natal wards, also as a nanny. I retrained as an interior decorator, then retrained in ICT and got a temp job in Payroll which turned into a permanent position! Ron (husband) and I were foster parents while we lived in Dallas, caring for new borns, so I stayed home to do that. I miss fostering and hopefully in the future we will do it again.

I am the Executive Director for a not-for-profit Agency serving low-income people and families in housing issues. I like you Carla have a passion for this. Our goal is to help people achieve and sustain self-sufficieny. I find that this is a very heated topic for some so I usually choose not to go on the boards with it as some people cannot understand poverty or the root causes of poverty. Its very easy for someone to say just go out and get a job when they have never had to experience the situations that my customers have been in. Nor do they realize that the 6.75 an hour job without benefits is going to cause them to lose numerous other services they need to survive. Its a visicious cycle for some, and I beleieve it is one way our government tries successfully to keep people in poverty. Ok I am on my soapbox 'nuf said.