ELI5: Employment History Edition

My kids got curious about what I’ve done for work. The explain like I’m 5 goes something like this:

In high school I spent my summers watching people swim so they didn’t drown. I also taught people how to swim so that they didn’t drown.

Also while in high school, I made sure that the grocery store shelves were full of food so that people could take it home to eat. Occassionally, I’d help put food in bags and help those in need bring the bags to their car, or house.

During college I sat in a room full of computers, putting paper in the printer when it was empty, and helping people when they needed help. I built new computers for those rooms, repaired broken ones, and made sure that the teachers and office workers had working computers and access to their email.

Also while in college, I helped a professor grade homework, and taught people how to use programs on the computer to do that homework.

When I was in graduate school, my job was to be a detective and figure out if my boss had good ideas or not. We were trying to teach robots to make maps so that we could plan where they were going.

After I left graduate school, I joined a company that helped other companies sell things on the Internet.

I then wrote programs that helped teachers choose students that, they thought, would make the best new doctors.

Next, I worked at a company that helped others make blogs, which are kind of like Internet magazines.

Then I got a job making programs that would buy advertisements on web sites. We tried to make sure that kids saw ads for toys, and boring stuff like pots and pans if you were an adult.

The next company I worked for wanted, and still wants, to help you find people close by that like the same things you do. We’ve gone to lots of potlucks in parks with other vegan families because of them.

I tried something new next. We tried to make brand new things on the Internet that would help people learn about each other.

When that didn’t work, I joined a company that wanted to make learning better. If you asked for help learning to multiply, we’d make sure you definitely knew how to add first.

For the company I work at now, I help make it easy for people to rent computers on the Internet so they can make online magazines, stores, games, and other things. I also spend time trying to dream up ways to make it easier for us to help our customers.

- 2019/10/18