On Oct 9, 8:24*am, Ecnerwal
wrote:
In article
,
*"Denis G." wrote:

I'm casting about looking for a job. *I've been an R&D tech and
engineer skewed to the material sciences, but I've never had a
business card of my own because I've never felt that what I was doing
was building a career. *I've had lots of ups and downs (probably like
everyone else here), but I was just looking for ideas for a business
card when I network and meet people. *I've read some good suggestions
here, but I'll have to chew on the ideas a bit and see if something
really makes sense to me.

My "not entirely a joke" moonlighting tagline is:
Electronics, Databases, Woodworking, Earthmoving
I have done (and will do) the first two for money. I keep playing with
the third one but have been leery of turning a hobby I like into a job I
might not, and the last I only do for me (backhoe, yes - giant truck to
haul giant trailer to haul backhoe, and license to drive said giant
truck, and desire to get mired in other people's noisome underground
messes, no. I'm also a good pick and shovel man, but nobody's going to
pay my rates for pick and shovel work, most likely - though it has
certainly come in handy on parts of my own jobs where the backhoe is not
the right tool for the job.)

As for moonlighting more directly in what I spend all day doing - not
interested, already tired of it. If I was more seriously trying to work
the first two I might remove the last two, but I'm not, and there is a
deliberate intent to point out broadness of scope. So far nobody's
called wanting an earthmoving job - they look for the folks who
advertise that in the paper and yellow pages.

...but, that's moonlighting. I can afford to miss a bunch, because it is
not my day job.

The woodworking "not quite a business" is itself also not confined to
woodworking, and I've borrowed a moniker from one of my 1860's lathes
that describes it better: "Maker"

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

A friend of mine who was an engineer once told me that when times are
good and there's lots of demand for workers, it's good to specialize.
When jobs are scarce and times are bad, you generalize and take on
many roles. He has his own company now teaching people how to kayak
and leading tours. He's now his own employer.