I can so relate to that @T1000 . In my case, it's a lot of professional folks who have a hard time understanding what I do, but most of the time, it's just lack of interest on their part. For family and friends, I'm cool with them thinking about me in terms of the lowest denominator, and I will keep helping them buy and fix computers.
In my wife's case, for the first two years of her job, we kept explaining to ppl how she's not an accountant and she can't help you with your taxes just because she works at the Canada Revenue Agency. No one seemed to understand that she's in "Human Resources" :D
during the summer, i work on the farm and for the rest of the year i work for a university. when people hear that, they can NOT comprehend as to how that is possible…especially, when i tell them that i work on my hands and knees on the farm…lol…gaaoN men aksar log mujhe DR saaHab bhii kahte ahaiN to log aur parishaan ho jaate haiN lol
In most of the cases they have a couple of busted laptops which they want you to fix. Building computers is out of fashion for desi folks , the new status symbol is not computer it is having one or more laptops. They have stopped fessing to owning a computer long time ago.
I can so relate to that @T1000 . In my case, it's a lot of professional folks who have a hard time understanding what I do, but most of the time, it's just lack of interest on their part. For family and friends, I'm cool with them thinking about me in terms of the lowest denominator, and I will keep helping them buy and fix computers.
In my wife's case, for the first two years of her job, we kept explaining to ppl how she's not an accountant and she can't help you with your taxes just because she works at the Canada Revenue Agency. No one seemed to understand that she's in "Human Resources" :D
So did they say "well she can't do our accounts, but she should be able to hire us someone who can" LOL
same with me. Miost of my family isn't that educated .. so when i started my job. my discussion was somewhat like this
They: so what do you do
me: I am a software developer
they: what is it
me: i develop and code softwares for computers
they: so you works in computers
me: urgggg!! .. G Uncle
they: acha beta meray beta ka computer khrab ho gya hai .. on hi nahi ho raha .. aaa kr us ki "taarain" to dekh dena. Now since you know this so you can help us out
me: g uncle .. :@
Discussion now
they: what you do
me: i work in computers
they: can you fix computers
me: g
they: can you fix ours
me: sure uncle .. I will see when ever i will be free i will drop by ..
(and i never drop by) .
Have you noticed how desi uncles always have busted computers in the house .... ???
They usually have single daughters waiting to be married as well ... I bet you when the girls come of age for marriage the uncles run over to the tip pick up an old computer and wait until they can convince some young desi munda to come along and fix their computer ... When the PC is fixed then they call their daughters to serve you a glass of coke ... I call it the PC fix rishta test ...
Back in the day when laptops weren’t so affordable/popular, it was all about building them/fixing them.. Now I get asked if I can help and aunty/uncle jee choose a laptop or fix one as they’ve not got a clue how to use them and they’ve gone and downloaded some malware/virus..
So did they say "well she can't do our accounts, but she should be able to hire us someone who can" LOL
Only if desi uncles thought that far man... they just get offended at the thought that we might be making an excuse not to do their taxes.
I bet you when the girls come of age for marriage the uncles run over to the tip pick up an old computer and wait until they can convince some young desi munda to come along and fix their computer ... When the PC is fixed then they call their daughters to serve you a glass of coke ... I call it the PC fix rishta test ...
Seriously it is such a difficult question to answer!!!
I work for Securities (finance) Business and once an Uncle asked, the conversation went like this:
Uncle: where do you work?
Me: I work for XYZ Securities
Uncle: Ajkal Pakistan main security k haalaat bohat khrab hain, aap loug kuch kertay kyun nae?
Me: Uncle woh wali security nae iss ka matlab hai Bonds, Stock etc
Hahahahaha, I guess everyone who has ‘security’ in their job title is considered to be working with guns, police, etc…
For me, an intro goes something like this
**Uncle: haan, bhai ajj kal kia horaha hai?
Me: nothing much uncle jee, working as an Information Security Consultant
Uncle: Acha, SEKKUURRIITTYY ka kaam kartay ho? magar tumaray aba nay tou tumein engineer banwaya tha!! tsk tsk tsk … wasay ajj kal konsay chowkidar zyada reliable hain?
Me: … nahin nahin uncle, security guard wali security nahin hai, we primarily address security concerns in large scale computing environments, e.g. banks…
Uncle: ohh acha acha… woh CCTV camera lagatay ho tum??
Me: ummmmmm… well, CCTV camera tou nahin, bas apkay internet banking ki safety dekhtay hain
Uncle: oohhhhh.. hacker say bachatay ho!!
**
Though one time I had this very memorable incident that I’d like to share:
I was at this wedding and along comes an uncle in his 60’s or late 50’s… we start with the usuals like aboo kaisay hain, chacha kaisay hain, etc… and then he moves to the dreaded, “what do you do” part … I take a long sigh thinking that here we go again… Given that this gentleman was a business guy, I proceeded with my layman introduction
**Me: Infosec consultant
Innocuous looking non techie Uncle: acha Woh kia hota hai?
Me: (repeats the same old securing banking networks and systems story thinking everything is going over the elderly gentleman’s head)
Innocuous looking non techie Uncle: ok, then tell me, how can I stop a SYN Flood attack and suggest some countermeasures for thwarting a 400 Mbits DDoS spike ..
Since i just graduated from HS earlier this year, aunties are killing me with this question. and i HATE it!
Some aunty: acha to beta ab kya irada hai? kya ker rahi ho aaj kal?
(so instead of explaining that im preparing for this and that test and increasing my chances in this and that way so I get in to med.school in the city bla bla.. I tell them..)
me: nahin aunty bas abhi kuch socha nahin hai, koshish ker rahi houn medicine ke liye smile
Doing my first two degree, it was a real headache, because it was related to a combination of pharmacology/medical science field, so when I had to explain, some were like "Oh so u are nurse"... erm no! .. or they would be like "oh so u are a technician at the lab/pharmacy" .. erm noo! .. Some would just look confused at me and one aunty even said to another "lagta hai bata nahin chahti" .. WTH! .. I think my current degree (md) is going to be so much easier to tell hahah :D
Uncle woh wali security nae iss ka matlab hai Bonds, Stock etc
tsk tsk tsk … wasay ajj kal konsay chowkidar zyada reliable hain?
..