So, what do you do for a living?

It's really a simple question. However it can be a very hard one to answer.

It's a question I dread when I am in a social situation meeting people who are not familiar with my particular specialty in the technology field. But it always comes up:

So Mike, What is it that you do?

Sigh

I'm a sales engineer.

Interested look

Oh, what do you sell?

Gulp.

I design and sell network solutions for customers.

Blank stare.

Uh huh.

Oh-oh.

I deal with the parts that connect all the computers together.

Look of realization.

Oh, you work with computers!

Resignation (on my part).

Kind of.

The conversation topic usually changes at this point.

I guess that's what you get when you get into a high level of abstraction in any field. Unless you are in the networking field, networks are hard to understand (and pretty boring for most normal people). And when you start to add wireless, telephony and security on top of plain old routing and switching into the conversation, most people will find somewhere else (anywhere) to be.

So, I long ago resigned myself that unless I am with people in the same line of work I should never try to talk about what I do in anything but very abstract terms (usually an analogy to plumbing). I have family that work in cosmetic manufacturing, automotive manufacturing, utilities, and even a University biology lab. They can hold people enthralled by stories of their work and what they have to do.

Me, I can talk about current events, politics the latest jokes, gardening, sports - whatever - and I can hold up my side of a conversation. But if I try to talk about work to someone not intimately familiar with the internetworking field I start to hear the crickets chirping.

So I smile and say:

Yeah, I work with computers.