Let's play a game, teach us something!

mexicolombiana

Presumably, everyone here works.  So teach us something interesting about your job or your specialty, or tell us something people don't know about your job, or tell us a funny story.

I'm a bankruptcy lawyer and most people think I deal with really poor people every day.  While some clients are very poor, most are middle class/upper middle class and many of my clients earn more money than I do and almost ALL drive much nicer cars.  Such is the life of a lowly bankruptcy lawyer.

One big misconception is that people have to hit rock bottom before they file for bankruptcy and cash out all their assets and retirement.  Not true.  Most people should consider filing for bankruptcy before they even talk about cashing out retirement money.  One of the saddest cases I had was an older woman who thought it was the "right thing to do" to cash out her $100K retirement to pay her credit card debt. Then she had a heart attack, had no insurance and ended up filing bankruptcy anyway because she STILL had debt!

Now she lives in a basement apartment and lives off of $1,000 social security each month.  She made the WORST financial decision of her entire life by cashing out her retirement at age 60 to pay off her credit card debt.

So now someone teach me something about their job! 

jlaOK

I'll play.

I'm a hydraulic engineer.  I spend my days in front of a computer designing bridges and running them under different flooding scenarios to determine the "best" design.  This is a balance of flood resistance and cost.

I work from home, so I literally sit at the computer all day, listening to music, and working.  My ocassional bump breaks keep me sane.

jamima757@yahoo.com

I'll play! I work in the agriculture co-op. I do AR & HR among other things. I love it when employees complain about their benfits to me or tell me how much money they can make else where. We pay 100% of the employee insurance and only charge 18% for any dependents, have a 50% match, profit sharing after a year, and several other things. AND I only drive 7 miles to work, and work for a man that will let me off work about anytime I need. That sort of covers the HR part. Accounts receivable is where the fun is though. I have heard so many lies it's not even funny. And then people think that if they just avoid me it will all go away- when really if they just keep in contact with me and follow though with what they say- I won't send them to collections. I have one lady that sends me $20 a month- yeah it'll take her two years to pay off at this rate- but at least she's trying and keeping her word. This only covers a small portion of my job- but I am lucky to say that I enjoy coming to work 'most' days.

mben1119

I work in banking, and my paycheck comes from the fees we charge our customers, not necessarily from the balance in your checkbook. Also, the nicer you are, the more likely I am to waive those fees for you. Threaten to move your account, and unless you're rolling in dough, we don't care.

bumpuser511563

I'll play.

I work at the college helping students fill out FAFSA applications.

And there is a population of students who are married and come into my office saying they are separating from their spouse. I tell them they are considered married until they file for divorce and have legal documentation of separation.

I proceed on through the application and after submitting it they still qualify for grants whether they are married or not.

I told this one student whether you are married or not you qualify and then I gave the phone number for a legal separation to do before they apply for the next school year.

Oh and everybody does not get more than $5,550 a school year if you qualify for grants.

cedenton

I am an instructional designer for a Fortune 300 transportation company.  My job is to design training (instructor-led and computer/web based - mostly the latter) so that it is instructionally sound and meets the objectives, as well as interesting and engaging.  I develop both managerial/professional training as well as technical training for our field operations people.

I love my company.  I always say that you shouldn't be allowed to work here unless you've worked somewhere else before so you can appreciate the benefits. 

katieh1017

I am a Compensation Analyst. Basically what I do is whenever a manager wants to post a new or replacement job the job description is sent to me for approval. I read the descr and ensure they are placed the right job code and salary level. We have an index of thousands of descr. This is mostly to ensure we follow the law and FLSA (fair labor standards act) in that employees who are hourly are getting paid hourly and getting OT. I also approve offers. An offer is made, I then approve the salary based off of the survey data to ensure they qualify and are in a certain range. I have to often decline and question many of these transactions. Managers HATE paying people OT and they always seem to need a salaried level employee. The majority are here but I feel they sometimes know what to write and are deceptive.

I also approve all salary increases, promotions and job code changes. HR has to send me the basic info and then I pull the data, compare what others are making and make recommendations. Most of the time I do not decline things but do point things out. .

I believe most larger companies have a Compensation department but sometimes HR takes on some of this instead. Our Compensation model is only a few years old.

I love this job. The drawback is that I have to wait for people to send me things to review and approve. Sometimes it's slow and boring as there is really nothing I can do to be proactive.

LoCarb

I'm an Accountant.  Accounting is not all about taxes. In fact, I don't do any taxes including my own; I send them to a Tax Accountant. My busy season is not Jan-Apr 15.   I work in corporate accounting maintaining the General Ledger. I go through month end close and I work late one week of each month.

There are several sectors to Accounting. Not all require degrees and some require additional and higher education.

Like the conception, it is boring.

NatnDyl

I am a bankruptcy paralegal, but we represent mortgage lenders. Sometimes we deal with people like the OP mentioned, who have come on tough times and are using bankruptcy to get their financial life back in order. These are the norm and these files go pretty smoothly.

Sometimes we deal with debtors who have made a handful of payments on a mortgage, but haven't made a payment in years and are trying to game the system into a free house.

 

rubber_chicken

I work in adops (advertising operations) for a large network of websites.  I build, maintain and track banner ad campaigns.

Most people have some sense that their online activity is tracked, but the scope of it is pretty amazing.  On this compose page, there are 6 separate tracking tags and pixels reporting back to not only thebump, but to the advertisers.  And those tracking tags are probably redirecting through multiple ad servers and tracking services.

If you're curious about who's following you online, you can join the Ghostery web panel - you install it on your browser, and it will tell you what companies have trackers on the page, what data they're collecting, and give you the option of blocking them.  But be warned, that data is also going to Ghostery! They aggregate the data to provide their clients with a view of what's happening on the web.

There is no anonymity on the internet. 

TheNewMrsCfont

LoCarb:

I'm an Accountant.  Accounting is not all about taxes. In fact, I don't do any taxes including my own; I send them to a Tax Accountant. My busy season is not Jan-Apr 15.   I work in corporate accounting maintaining the General Ledger. I go through month end close and I work late one week of each month.

There are several sectors to Accounting. Not all require degrees and some require additional and higher education.

Like the conception, it is boring.

lol... I am a tax accountant.  I have a working knowledge of  "accounting" and general ledgers.  If you are wise you will not ask me for any advice about journal entries and the like.  I specialize in state and local corporate income tax and my busy season is not Jan-Apr either. 

The reason why your individual taxes are due Apr 15 is bc the Internal Revenue code says that your taxes are due 3.5 months after your "year end," which in most cases for individuals is 12/31.  For corporate tax it's 2.5 months after year-end- but everyone and their Mom extends this out 6 months.

mexicolombiana

rubber_chicken:

I work in adops (advertising operations) for a large network of websites.  I build, maintain and track banner ad campaigns.

Most people have some sense that their online activity is tracked, but the scope of it is pretty amazing.  On this compose page, there are 6 separate tracking tags and pixels reporting back to not only thebump, but to the advertisers.  And those tracking tags are probably redirecting through multiple ad servers and tracking services.

If you're curious about who's following you online, you can join the Ghostery web panel - you install it on your browser, and it will tell you what companies have trackers on the page, what data they're collecting, and give you the option of blocking them.  But be warned, that data is also going to Ghostery! They aggregate the data to provide their clients with a view of what's happening on the web.

There is no anonymity on the internet. 

Excellent points!

I sort of learned some of this when we recently did a newsletter for the first time to past clients.  We used "campaign monitor" and when we log in to our account we can track the emails that opened the newsletter, those that clicked on certain parts of it, those that forwarded it, those that opened it multiple times, what ISP they are using, what email providers they are using, what part of the world they are from, etc.  Pretty cool stuff.  

 

rubber_chicken

mexicolombiana:

Excellent points!

I sort of learned some of this when we recently did a newsletter for the first time to past clients.  We used "campaign monitor" and when we log in to our account we can track the emails that opened the newsletter, those that clicked on certain parts of it, those that forwarded it, those that opened it multiple times, what ISP they are using, what email providers they are using, what part of the world they are from, etc.  Pretty cool stuff.  

 

Yup - newsletters and subject lines are regularly segmented by audience - so Mac users will get one version, outlook users will get another, people who haven't opened an email in months will get a third etc.  We do this with banner ads on websites too.  There's an awful lot of data out there, being aggregated and sold by third parties, so advertisers can target, say, childless women between 30-40 with an income over $75,000 who are currently planning a vacation, etc. 

A lot of this data is inferred from location and previous browsing history.  No personally identifiable information is supposed to be tracked, but it's not like anyone is really policing that. 

pc150805

I work for a university administering their undergraduate program in Information Systems. My job is pretty boring but I love my students.

Interesting fact, I work for one of the highest ranked technical universities. However, our administrative systems predate the joystick and mouse! Luckily, they are moving to a new system but it is slow going! 

jnealet

I work in Healthcare IT. 

I've learned that doctors are human, a good one will practice medicine in conjunction with you. 

I've also learned that there are certain aspects of HIPPA that are extremely important but really, 99% of the information in charts is 100% uninteresting.  And for the interesting stuff, I'd rather watch Mystery Diagnosis than slog through anyone's chart.

Lahardy96

Nice question. I am an accountant, and as pp said, there is a lot to accounting. My specialty is technical accounting at a large pharmaceutical company. My job is primarily research and reviewing contracts to advise the company on either how we have to account for something, or advise on structures/wording to ensure we get the accounting treatment expected (if possible) and training - I hardly look at numbers. I love it because I get to figure out puzzles, be creative, and work with different people all the time. Even for the accounting field, I not your typical accountant.

lovebug33

I teach 5th grade. My job  so much more than what most people think. Yes, I teach kids, but it takes a lot of work to get to the point that I am ready to actually teach the students. Then, there is all the behind the scenes work. Putting kids through the RTI process for special ed, the stress of figuring out standards so kids will pass tests, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. And, then there is getting 32 kids to all behave. The worst part are parents who yell and scream at you for no reason at all. However, I love working with the kids!

Breezy8407

I'll play...

I'm an architect. It's a common misconception that we are well paid. The engineers I work with are higher paid. Sure there are some wealthy architects out there, but they aren't running rampant.

It's also a misconception that we design houses. I have never designed a house, nor would I know enough about it to design my own. 

I always get a kick out of architects portrayed on TV. I spend 99% of my time on the computer. I don't have a drafting table or fun colored pencils or markers at my desk. (I did in school though!)

mexicolombiana

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

thespianlawyer

I'll play.  I'm an attorney working in-house for a music licensing company.  I work in a field of music that most people don't even know exists - production music.  What that means is that my company hires composers to create music that is intended to go into tv shows, trailers, movies, etc. and then we have a library of music for producers to choose from for licensing in those productions.  It's not nearly as glamorous as many people imagine, though I have met a few celebrities: Hans Zimmer, Snoop Dogg, Xzibit, Macy Gray.

Something most people don't know is how convoluted music law can be.  There are so many different rights bundled into one song (master, sync, performance, etc.). One of the common misconceptions that the general public has regarding music is that if they only use a sample up to "X" number of seconds of a song, it doesn't need to be licensed - or if they are not making any profit, it doesn't need to be licensed.  Those are both wrong - they might mitigate damages if you are sued, but it still constitutes copyright infringement.

 

lovebug33

I can give you a teacher secret. Never, ever, ever call the principal to complain about the teacher before you call the teacher. That automatically will get us to hate you with a passion. And, be polite to the teacher. Screaming and yelling gets you nothing.

thespianlawyer

Oh, and OP - I completely agree with you re: credit cards and student loans.  I used to think student loans = "good debt." hahaha.  The fact that Donald Trump can declare bankruptcy (multiple times) on a bad business decision, but someone can't declare bankruptcy on student debt (especially as high as law school student debt) just kills me . . . though perhaps this is a conversation for a whole separate topic.

RoxyLynn

WOW everyone has such interesting jobs!

I'm a lobbyist.  If you feel strongly about something, pick up the phone and call your legislator or send an email that you wrote yourself.  Even better, fax* a letter with a signature to your legislator's office.  Online petitions are beyond worthless, and sending an organization's pre-fab email is really just spam.

What gets attention is knowing about your subject, using a professional and non-confrontational tone, and a BRIEF personal story is always good.  So if you want to talk to your mayor about, say, requiring every school to have a crossing guard, you might try:

"Mayor Smith, I live in Anytown and I appreciate the work you did on the community parks issue.  Our toddler will play on those swingsets for years to come!

As Anytown's population has gone up, so has the traffic.  I've spoken with a number of parents at Main Street Elementary, and we're concerned about the lack of a crossing guard at the beginning and end of the school day.  We want to encourage walking to and from school, but the lack of a crossing guard has become a prohibitive safety issue.

How can we work with you to address this public safety concern for our children?"

*Why fax a letter?  Because most governments' already-convoluted mail systems got even moreso after the 9/11 anthrax.

saraboston

I'm a medical Speech Pathologist, that means I have absolutely nothing to do with children. I'm all about old people. The majority of my patients fit into 3 categories: (1) Stroke/Brain Injury, (2) Respiratory Failure with ventilator dependence >2 weeks, (2) Old sick people who can't swallow because they're old and sick.

90% of my job is assessing swallow function and it's awesome. I also do a LOT with patients who are stuck on a vent and trying to get off. Trachs/Vents can really mess up swallow function and I do training to try to get people eating again.

The other 10% of my job is language and cognition. So, loss of language after stroke or cognitive impairments following right-sided strokes or brain injuries. I only like the cog/language part of the job, swallowing is so much more interesting. 

financialdiva

TheNewMrsCfont:

LoCarb:

I'm an Accountant.  Accounting is not all about taxes. In fact, I don't do any taxes including my own; I send them to a Tax Accountant. My busy season is not Jan-Apr 15.   I work in corporate accounting maintaining the General Ledger. I go through month end close and I work late one week of each month.

There are several sectors to Accounting. Not all require degrees and some require additional and higher education.

Like the conception, it is boring.

lol... I am a tax accountant.  I have a working knowledge of  "accounting" and general ledgers.  If you are wise you will not ask me for any advice about journal entries and the like.  I specialize in state and local corporate income tax and my busy season is not Jan-Apr either. 

The reason why your individual taxes are due Apr 15 is bc the Internal Revenue code says that your taxes are due 3.5 months after your "year end," which in most cases for individuals is 12/31.  For corporate tax it's 2.5 months after year-end- but everyone and their Mom extends this out 6 months.

I am late to the game but its good bc MrsCfont explained my job perfectly. I also prepare federal corporate returns as well as states.

 My secret? Do not ask for tax advice on a public forum. Spend the money and go to a tax accountant. Seriously. There are way too many exceptions to the exception that no one on a internet message board can give you accurate advice. 

honkytonk_kid

mexicolombiana:

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

Eh. I won't flame you as I would be the first to admit I know nothing about bankruptcy-

but it seems like a really blas? way to talk about cheating, stealing, and screwing others over.

pitterpatter129

lovebug33:

I teach 5th grade. My job  so much more than what most people think. Yes, I teach kids, but it takes a lot of work to get to the point that I am ready to actually teach the students. Then, there is all the behind the scenes work. Putting kids through the RTI process for special ed, the stress of figuring out standards so kids will pass tests, paperwork, paperwork, paperwork. And, then there is getting 32 kids to all behave. The worst part are parents who yell and scream at you for no reason at all. However, I love working with the kids!

Agree.  I teach first grade (have taught 3rd ,4th , and 5th too though!)  I spend a lot of my day counseling students, changing wet pants, tying shoes, and answering six million questions at once, in between the math and reading instruction.  On my "break" time, I make phone calls to parents and answer emails.   I get to the school at 7am and have my first bathroom break at 1:30pm.  I do a lot of work at home after my own child is in bed.  My day is not a 7 hour day!  Keep in mind how much I love your children and how hard I work for them before you come in screaming for no real reason (for example, don't scream at me because your child tends to leave their folder at school each day in the middle of the hallway...)

 

 

carig63

I'm a research scientist and build transgenic bacteria to make corn hybrids. Contrary to what hysterical media outlets would have you believe, there are LOTS of regulations in place and hoops to jump through before a new product goes to research fields, let alone customers. And we're not splicing in any old thing! They are genes that benefit the crop, nutrition, etc.

driveshorses

I'm a pharmacy technician in a large grocery store pharmacy (NOT Walmart..WM isn't a grocery store). I do data entry, count pills, answer questions about medications and bend over backwards for everyone to get their meds covered or to find a solution. I will call your dr. office to get a rx refilled, call another pharmacy to transfer your medicines and deal with you when you are sick and crabby. 

I really enjoy my job, I'm busy all day and my benefits are awesome. There's really no "secrets". Except that when anyones  class 2 or 3 meds come through and there's 180 pills...we are not amused. They get counted twice to make sure we didn't give too many. Class 2 are counted twice and remainder of the pills are counted and marked on the bottle. There's a ton of counting when those things come through and makes things go to a screeching halt. Heaven help the person who distracts you while counting.

KJKNAJ

I currently work in the toy business. I try to guess what the 'hit' toy will be for Xmas next year, oh, and also make sure that your child cannot choke/strangle/die with any of them

sharksfan

lovebug33:

I can give you a teacher secret. Never, ever, ever call the principal to complain about the teacher before you call the teacher. 

As a principal, I'll second this!  Most parent complaints that I see stem from a misunderstanding between the student and teacher or parent and teacher.  A simple phone conversation with the teacher solves most problems and eliminates the need to complain. 

groovygrl

sharksfan:

lovebug33:

I can give you a teacher secret. Never, ever, ever call the principal to complain about the teacher before you call the teacher. 

As a principal, I'll second this!  Most parent complaints that I see stem from a misunderstanding between the student and teacher or parent and teacher.  A simple phone conversation with the teacher solves most problems and eliminates the need to complain. 

I'll tap onto this- I work in higher ed. Same goes for calling, only parents- please don't call about your child's work/classes/admission to a program/etc. We can't legally talk to you because of FERPA, your child has to talk to us & give us permission, and even then, though I realize you're often the one paying the bill, please let your child be an adult and take responsibility for their education. That goes for spouses/significant others too.

Also while there are lots of nice things schedule wise about teaching at this level, normally instructors do not 'just' show up for the classes they were assigned, they sit on multiple committees, work on special projects, are involved in admissions of students,interviewing candidates, review and work on curriculum,  often advise a decent number of students, develop new courses, etc. (plus research, a whole other bag of worms, if on that track) . One difficult student situation can suck up the entire semester and it is stressful. Lastly, teaching online (IMO) is a lot more work than teaching in a classroom if done well & effectively. Obviously there are some that rarely 'show up' in the online classroom, but I think a lot of ppl would be surprised at how long it takes to organize/develop/set up an online course from scratch, come up with activities that are not all just reading something & writing a response, and then how long it can take to read all those posts, try to respond regularly, grade the assignments/papers, provide useful feedback, etc.

 

jlaOK

mexicolombiana:

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

I disagree with you opinion, but I would say that college students needs to be more informed about taking out student loans and not just sign up for them as "easy money."

mexicolombiana

jlaOK:

mexicolombiana:

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

I disagree with you opinion, but I would say that college students needs to be more informed about taking out student loans and not just sign up for them as "easy money."

Yes ultimately that is the goal to educate students into not taking out so many student loans.  Don't mind my cynical opinions, I'm just a bitter bankruptcy lawyer with too much debt that is ironically NOT dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Anyway the cost of education is out of control but that is a WHOLE other post.

We have some awesome ladies on this board.  If I could do life over I would be a Dr.   

Sigir

mexicolombiana:

jlaOK:

mexicolombiana:

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

I disagree with you opinion, but I would say that college students needs to be more informed about taking out student loans and not just sign up for them as "easy money."

Yes ultimately that is the goal to educate students into not taking out so many student loans.  Don't mind my cynical opinions, I'm just a bitter bankruptcy lawyer with too much debt that is ironically NOT dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Anyway the cost of education is out of control but that is a WHOLE other post.

We have some awesome ladies on this board.  If I could do life over I would be a Dr.   

Haha being a dr is not what it used to be, with the new healthcare reform! Most doctors I talk to are advising their kids not to be doctors, because its going to change so much for the bad over the next couple of years.

I am a marketing person for a pharma company. My brands are sold to and used in hospitals, not at home. Over my career, I have learned so much about the really shady practices of many hospitals across the country. I tell all my family and friends that if they have to go in for a procedure, talk to me first so I can advise them where to go... And if I don't know, I'll find out!

Unfortunately choosing the right hospital can make such a big difference to your outcome. And the differences really come down to what the hospital values more, profit or patient care. Too many value profit above all else! I remember one hospital I was working in, the nurse told me that they are not able to order a certain test bc of cost, so if they suspect a certain condition they just intubate the patient 'to be safe'. So they are intubating countless patients who don't need it... And intubation is a serious thing, w a lot of risks, such as infection, ventilator dependency, etc. I said to the manager, what if it was your grandmother needing the test? She said "I would tell my grandmother to go up the street to the other hospital". Scary!

Even scarier is that with healthcare reform, profit and money is going to become even more important to hospitals, so care is going to go down even more, across the board. There was a study out that abdominal surgeons are going to stop using robotics, even though they improve outcomes, because it is going to cost them too much money to do it. Another part of the law states that if you are in the hospital, get discharged, and then get readmitted within 30 days, the hospital will get zero reimbursement for any of the treatment you need during your second stay. So, even if it is no fault of the hospital why you were readmitted, they will have to cover the costs. It may come down to hospitals turning patients away, because their financial balance sheets can not bear putting out free care to re admissions and where can the ill patients go then?

A dr friend of mine said we are entering "7 years of famine" in our healthcare system. He feels that it is going to get really bad, and then eventually the public wont stand for it anymore and some of the law will be reversed.

My only advice would be, try to keep your families healthy for the next 10 yrs or so!

mexicolombiana

Sigir:

mexicolombiana:

jlaOK:

mexicolombiana:

You know, I should have asked "teach us all the secrets in your specialty".  I love the hotel answer above. 

My bankruptcy secret is (and I wish I would have known this years ago):

Is that if you really wanted to get away with murder, so to speak, in bankruptcy law, you would have paid off your college and masters education with credit cards.  Keep pristine credit, and rack up as much credit card debt by paying tuition with your credit cards.  If done correctly you could possibly finance your education by not taking out student loans or taking out very few.

Then pay minimum payments on the cards for a few years, then BOOM file for bankruptcy.

If I could re-do my life I would have done this in a heartbeat.  I remember in college I was offered a bank of america credit card with a $20K limit.  I could have paid for a year of college or more with that money.  

Yes I know it's not nice, but you know what't not nice? That student loan debt is at the ridiculous point it's at now.  You graduate law school with $150k of debt, yet many lawyers start out making $50K a year.  You do the math.

Anyway I'm just bitter about student loans and someone very intelligent would finance their college education with credit cards or other forms of unsecured debt then discharge it all in BK rather than taking out student loans.

I imagine I may get flamed for this opinion.  Oh well. 

I disagree with you opinion, but I would say that college students needs to be more informed about taking out student loans and not just sign up for them as "easy money."

Yes ultimately that is the goal to educate students into not taking out so many student loans.  Don't mind my cynical opinions, I'm just a bitter bankruptcy lawyer with too much debt that is ironically NOT dischargeable in bankruptcy.

Anyway the cost of education is out of control but that is a WHOLE other post.

We have some awesome ladies on this board.  If I could do life over I would be a Dr.   

Haha being a dr is not what it used to be, with the new healthcare reform! Most doctors I talk to are advising their kids not to be doctors, because its going to change so much for the bad over the next couple of years. I am a marketing person for a pharma company. My brands are sold to and used in hospitals, not at home. Over my career, I have learned so much about the really shady practices of many hospitals across the country. I tell all my family and friends that if they have to go in for a procedure, talk to me first so I can advise them where to go... And if I don't know, I'll find out! Unfortunately choosing the right hospital can make such a big difference to your outcome. And the differences really come down to what the hospital values more, profit or patient care. Too many value profit above all else! I remember one hospital I was working in, the nurse told me that they are not able to order a certain test bc of cost, so if they suspect a certain condition they just intubate the patient 'to be safe'. So they are intubating countless patients who don't need it... And intubation is a serious thing, w a lot of risks, such as infection, ventilator dependency, etc. I said to the manager, what if it was your grandmother needing the test? She said "I would tell my grandmother to go up the street to the other hospital". Scary! Even scarier is that with healthcare reform, profit and money is going to become even more important to hospitals, so care is going to go down even more, across the board. There was a study out that abdominal surgeons are going to stop using robotics, even though they improve outcomes, because it is going to cost them too much money to do it. Another part of the law states that if you are in the hospital, get discharged, and then get readmitted within 30 days, the hospital will get zero reimbursement for any of the treatment you need during your second stay. So, even if it is no fault of the hospital why you were readmitted, they will have to cover the costs. It may come down to hospitals turning patients away, because their financial balance sheets can not bear putting out free care to re admissions and where can the ill patients go then? A dr friend of mine said we are entering "7 years of famine" in our healthcare system. He feels that it is going to get really bad, and then eventually the public wont stand for it anymore and some of the law will be reversed. My only advice would be, try to keep your families healthy for the next 10 yrs or so!

 

wow 

Sigir

I had always told my dds to become radiologists bc I thought it is a great career for a woman w a family, given my professional experience. Not anymore... I think drs are going to become like lawyers in that they are going to come out of school w a s_load of debt and without the prospects of ever making it up. It's sad, bc most docs I talk to really do care about the patients, but the administrators handcuff them... they are not authorized to make the clinical decisions anymore.

Just stay healthy!!!!!

Netty_3

I'm a transportation engineer.

1. A lot of misconceptions is that a stop sign or a signal will fix every problem.  Those things take many studies over a few years of time to finally get one up. People think you can just throw one up on a whim.  Truth is...those tools are not right for every problem, and in some instances can actually make things less safe if implemented incorrectly.

2. I think people think most projects done are easy to do and don't realize all of the environmental and justification studies that go into them.  They also don't realize the need to maintain infrastructure before it becomes a huge expensive project, or a major hazard...and so our projects get little funding, because it's not the most exciting thing in the world...however everyone relies on the infrastructure to work and gets upset when it doesn't.

3. If you're stuck at a red light, and there is no hazard...it may be inconvenient...but it's serving it's initial purpose...to allow safe right-of-way for all modes of travel.  

4. A ped button only needs to be hit once...if it's broken, hitting it more won't help either.  These things break.

Most were about traffic this time, because that's what I mainly do these days.

 

KL777

I work as an Academic Support Coordinator at a university.  I don't think there is much that most people do not know about my field except maybe that the Rogerian counseling theory (a student centered/student has it within themselves to solve their own problems) appears to work best with most students.