Day Job

An aspect of consulting which I find fascinating is learning about what other people do for a living. Doing internet project work for different companies allows me to peer thru a temporary portal into the daily working life of someone from a different industry. Ultimately what we learn is that we are all facing the same archetypal challenges every day, whether we are a doctor, an electronics technician or a drug dealer. But every trade has it's own set of secrets.

I've recently devoured some media on this subject. Check out the stuff below to learn how to spy on other people's day jobs.

Online magazine The Morning News has a great article by Seattle writer Matthew Baldwin called Tricks of the Trade. "For every occupation, there is a catalog of secrets only its employees are aware of—such as how waiters with heavy platters know to look straight ahead, and never down."

I loved reading "Gig, Americans Talk About their Jobs" which is 650 pages worth of 3-page stories, each from a different profession. Learn the secrets of a Wal-Mart greeter, a bookie and a smokehouse pit cook, among many others.

Of course, Studs Terkel did an amazing job of chronicling people's work lives as a historian, writer and expert interviewer. Read his fabulous book, "Working: People Talk About What They Do All Day and How They Feel About What They Do". Listen to an NPR story about the 30th anniversary of the book, including some of the original recordings Studs made.

And remember, next time you see someone at work (no matter what they are doing) understand that they know something you don't. But maybe if you ask them nicely, they'll tell you.