Don't you get that and other things if you press and hold the O key?Yep, but it's missing on my virtual smartphone keyboard.
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What is your daily job ? ... any hobbies ?
- Thread starter solderdude
- Start date
A nice thread for an introduction. My current day job is software developer. I’ve done almost everything in the computing business, from designing hardware to writing Javascript toolkits over OS design and implementation, database management, people management, query language design, network management and system administration. And a stint as computer salesman in the late 1970ies. My hobbies are music making (I play the tuba in the village band and try my hand at composing), and listening (I’m a great fan of the Berliner Philharmoniker’s Digital Concert Hall), gardening, and reading. l also collect recordings (LPs, CDs, etc.). Currently, l am spending too much time pondering which speakers would make a real upgrade for my Infinity Primus 360 floorstanders without cleaning out my savings account, but I can’t make up my mind, largely because they sound really good to me. Especially with some room correction courtesy of my Marantz SR5013. I live in a small village in Luxembourg, but until I settled down here nearly 30 years ago, worked in South Africa and the USA after growing up in the Democratic Republic of Congo (then known as Zaïre) and studying in Belgium.
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I do some networking and server maintenance for high end production printers. I also work
on the printers.
Hobbies are electronics, swl/ham radio, photography, weather prediction and high end Aneroid Barometers,
and lasers/physics.
Photography is the most expensive hobby by far. Good lenses are quite expensive. I use Nikon DSLR's.
I like to think of myself as a balanced geek!
on the printers.
Hobbies are electronics, swl/ham radio, photography, weather prediction and high end Aneroid Barometers,
and lasers/physics.
Photography is the most expensive hobby by far. Good lenses are quite expensive. I use Nikon DSLR's.
I like to think of myself as a balanced geek!
My main job is embedded programming. Mainly DSP code in the field of SDR and Radar.
My other (not audio) hobbies are: Drag racing (and tuning of my cars ecu to get the most out of it) and motorbike riding
My other (not audio) hobbies are: Drag racing (and tuning of my cars ecu to get the most out of it) and motorbike riding
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Hard job...
That's surprising, I would think HiFi would far surpass it but I know nothing about photography.
Michael YYZ
Member
Profession: Licensed Civil (Structural) Engineer in consulting, plus University Professor
Hobbies: Electronics, photography, audio and home theatre, computers, reading, travelling...
Hobbies: Electronics, photography, audio and home theatre, computers, reading, travelling...
Unemployed Tech Product Manager, but lots of new hobbies. Moved into a new house this January, lots of DIY projects, including networking, wiring for speakers in media room. I’m also trying to build a fence, good with wood, but have to put a few posts in concrete, so my new hobby is drilling holes in the driveway, or so that’s what the neighbors must think.
I’m enjoying the manual labor part of my unemployment.
I’m enjoying the manual labor part of my unemployment.
digicidal
Major Contributor
Depending on the nature and quality of glass... it's definitely up there. Although some of the esoteric audiophile gear (especially for vinyl) is a bit pricier. I've been very conservative in my spending on photo gear and still spent around what my whole theater setup cost me.That's surprising, I would think HiFi would far surpass it but I know nothing about photography.
This 3 prime Zeiss kit is something I've drooled over but could never justify for a hobby.
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Depending on the nature and quality of glass... it's definitely up there. Although some of the esoteric audiophile gear (especially for vinyl) is a bit pricier. I've been very conservative in my spending on photo gear and still spent around what my whole theater setup cost me.
This 3 prime Zeiss kit is something I've drooled over but could never justify for a hobby.
One of my Nikon exotics cost more than all my audio gear. I like Nikon glass and especially pro level for good
auto focus performance, weather sealing, ruggedness, and optical performance.
But, to be honest I don't have that much audio gear. A big pair of JBL speakers and a Crown amp...a rolls mixer
and a CD player. But I have 5 camera bodies and a decent set of glass for them. I don't even shoot full frame, I
shoot DX format. I have 2 of my favorite body the Nikon D500 which is absolutely fantastic. Great for action/sports
as well as family stuff. All of my glass is pro Nikon FX glass so it really nuked the account.
The Zeiss OTUS lens series is epic. All manual focus though...and so sharp missing focus is easy to do!
They are worth the price. They are amazing.
No disrespect but that's the cost of a midrange set of speakers
Just noticed this thread, so ...
I'm retired, have been for a decade. I worked for "The Man", i.e. a life insurance company for 41 years, mostly as a so-called business systems analyst and for a while as an accountant.
As for hobbies, well there's hi-fi. There's a little rifle & pistol shooting at the range. Also a little photography mainly of the travel variety though we don't get to travel as much as we'd like.
I used to be pretty big reader but, sadly, not any more due to failing eyesight. Instead I stream movies & TV series on Netflix, et al. I've view hundreds of 'The Great Courses' courses -- enlightening those; I especially like history and economics.
I'm retired, have been for a decade. I worked for "The Man", i.e. a life insurance company for 41 years, mostly as a so-called business systems analyst and for a while as an accountant.
As for hobbies, well there's hi-fi. There's a little rifle & pistol shooting at the range. Also a little photography mainly of the travel variety though we don't get to travel as much as we'd like.
I used to be pretty big reader but, sadly, not any more due to failing eyesight. Instead I stream movies & TV series on Netflix, et al. I've view hundreds of 'The Great Courses' courses -- enlightening those; I especially like history and economics.
Hey neighbour - sort of
Worked at first insurance company for 22 years and currently at another, just finished 10 years - retirement in a couple years. I'm an accountant, held a variety of roles.
Mixed bag from me.
I spent my youth from the age of 11 renovating houses with my dad. Fitting doors, kitchens etc. I found it boring, but my dad would pay me £10 a day, so I spent most weekends and school holidays doing this.
I left school early feeling education, let alone academia was not for me. Dyslexia and memory issues were seemingly too large a hurdle to overcome. My family actively discouraged education anyway as they are members of a 'cult' or cult like group. This did not help. It did not help at all.
Having a family that renovate houses was a big influence, so from there I went into electrical engineering, but to progress, it required more education....ugh. 2 years of college on a apprentiship. I hated the job as I was treated poorly generally (mostly my fault, as I was rediculously passive due to my upbringing, and working with what I later found was a building full of ex cons) and as for education, I liked it even less than before. I had lost all confidence in myself.
So, I became an estate agent. No idea why.
As part of that work, I had a car crash that ended with a serious court case that was unusual to say the least. An old chap with terminal cancer decided to drive his car from the hospital while on oxygen..IN THE CAR, and passed out at the wheel, driving into me.
The police decided it was my fault by default without listening or investigating, (young driver in a sports car
)
The old man died subsequently.
My insurance company (a small niche company) decided that my insurance was void, as they could not find the evidence that I had transferred my insurance to them from a previous company.
Under the threat of vehicular manslaughter at 18.
Over a year later, I won the court case, with the judge even going as far as to say I should sue for damages by the police for negligence. I didn't. I just wanted out of there ASAP.
The insurance company 'found' my insurance documents..just after the court case.
I was broken.
The saving grace was my girlfriend at the time was weirdly interested in getting involved in any way she could. No idea what she saw in me....apart from a challenge!
She went out and worked out all the distances for the incident, angles for vehicles, speed traveling etc, everything! Even the legal stuff, she knew more than the solicitors did, and corrected them several times.
After all this finally finished, I was a nervous wreck but still, I needed a job. A quiet, secluded, simple job, where I could disappear into the background, and just 'survive'. I had developed various nervous issues and was generally a bit 'hyper-aware' of danger.
I married the girl (at 19!) And am still happily married to this day 15 years later. At the time, she was at uni gaining a degree in English, and worked part time in a school. The school she worked for was looking for a technology technician. It was perfect, and the start of things going right for once.
9 years later, I had a degree in engineering that I gained in my evenings and weekends online. (Learning to read, write and spell to a reasonable level at the same time as completing degree level work was a bit of a baptism of fire in year 1)
Parallel with Uni, I started running... A lot. I listened to music while doing it. This helped keep me calm and focused, but also was great for loosing some weight I had gained through some poor habits for managing stress. A year after finishing uni, I was running 10 miles a day in preparation for a 30 mile run over a mountain range. People thought I was gifted. Truth be told, I was fueled by pure rage while training.
Once I ran the marathon, I didn't feel I needed to run anymore (a bit forest gump no?). I felt better.
By year 4 of uni, I was 'good enough' and completed my course top in my year.
I then became a teacher.
We bought a deralict house and I now either spend my spare time working on it, or trying to give my 4 year old daughter the life I never had. She loves building with dad, so the HiFi room under construction as we speak!
My first year of teaching, I had to take a final year group for the last 6 months of their course as their teacher quit due to their behaviour. No one wanted them. I did.
The school had nothing to loose giving them to a trainee teacher. It was my in.
So I worked my ass off. I marked every students work every lesson giving them each step by step instructions to improve. When they couldn't be bothered, I would get them in on the weekend or holidays (so the parents knew I was that crazy), when they didn't understand, I recorded videos explaining what to do step by step and sent it to them and their parents. I was utterly relentless.
They all passed with excellent grades.
The school couldn't decide if I was gifted, the subject is easy, or can't teach because I don't follow all the pointless rules they think make a good teacher.
Year after year I have got top 10 grades in the country with my classes, but the school just couldn't accept I could be any good unless I had a formal seating plan or set a mock paper in Feb every year??
So that was enough of that.
After a move to find a school with management that don't just play Simon says, I now run the engineering department for a specialist engineering school as well as writing qualifications and setting up/designing new schools and uni's.
My favourite thing to do now is watch the various trades ppl try and pull a fast one on the school with overcharging etc, and calling them on it. The confused look on their faces when the teacher in the sharp suit tells them 'you don't need a new RCD for that' or 'there's no need for an isolator there.', or 'I spec'd EPDM' - that's not EPDM'. Little did they know the humble beginnings.
I spent my youth from the age of 11 renovating houses with my dad. Fitting doors, kitchens etc. I found it boring, but my dad would pay me £10 a day, so I spent most weekends and school holidays doing this.
I left school early feeling education, let alone academia was not for me. Dyslexia and memory issues were seemingly too large a hurdle to overcome. My family actively discouraged education anyway as they are members of a 'cult' or cult like group. This did not help. It did not help at all.
Having a family that renovate houses was a big influence, so from there I went into electrical engineering, but to progress, it required more education....ugh. 2 years of college on a apprentiship. I hated the job as I was treated poorly generally (mostly my fault, as I was rediculously passive due to my upbringing, and working with what I later found was a building full of ex cons) and as for education, I liked it even less than before. I had lost all confidence in myself.
So, I became an estate agent. No idea why.
As part of that work, I had a car crash that ended with a serious court case that was unusual to say the least. An old chap with terminal cancer decided to drive his car from the hospital while on oxygen..IN THE CAR, and passed out at the wheel, driving into me.
The police decided it was my fault by default without listening or investigating, (young driver in a sports car
)The old man died subsequently.
My insurance company (a small niche company) decided that my insurance was void, as they could not find the evidence that I had transferred my insurance to them from a previous company.
Under the threat of vehicular manslaughter at 18.
Over a year later, I won the court case, with the judge even going as far as to say I should sue for damages by the police for negligence. I didn't. I just wanted out of there ASAP.
The insurance company 'found' my insurance documents..just after the court case.
I was broken.
The saving grace was my girlfriend at the time was weirdly interested in getting involved in any way she could. No idea what she saw in me....apart from a challenge!
She went out and worked out all the distances for the incident, angles for vehicles, speed traveling etc, everything! Even the legal stuff, she knew more than the solicitors did, and corrected them several times.
After all this finally finished, I was a nervous wreck but still, I needed a job. A quiet, secluded, simple job, where I could disappear into the background, and just 'survive'. I had developed various nervous issues and was generally a bit 'hyper-aware' of danger.
I married the girl (at 19!) And am still happily married to this day 15 years later.
At the time, she was at uni gaining a degree in English, and worked part time in a school. The school she worked for was looking for a technology technician. It was perfect, and the start of things going right for once.9 years later, I had a degree in engineering that I gained in my evenings and weekends online. (Learning to read, write and spell to a reasonable level at the same time as completing degree level work was a bit of a baptism of fire in year 1)
Parallel with Uni, I started running... A lot. I listened to music while doing it. This helped keep me calm and focused, but also was great for loosing some weight I had gained through some poor habits for managing stress. A year after finishing uni, I was running 10 miles a day in preparation for a 30 mile run over a mountain range. People thought I was gifted. Truth be told, I was fueled by pure rage while training.
Once I ran the marathon, I didn't feel I needed to run anymore (a bit forest gump no?
). I felt better.By year 4 of uni, I was 'good enough' and completed my course top in my year.
I then became a teacher.
We bought a deralict house and I now either spend my spare time working on it, or trying to give my 4 year old daughter the life I never had. She loves building with dad, so the HiFi room under construction as we speak!
My first year of teaching, I had to take a final year group for the last 6 months of their course as their teacher quit due to their behaviour. No one wanted them. I did.
The school had nothing to loose giving them to a trainee teacher. It was my in.
So I worked my ass off. I marked every students work every lesson giving them each step by step instructions to improve. When they couldn't be bothered, I would get them in on the weekend or holidays (so the parents knew I was that crazy), when they didn't understand, I recorded videos explaining what to do step by step and sent it to them and their parents. I was utterly relentless.
They all passed with excellent grades.
The school couldn't decide if I was gifted, the subject is easy, or can't teach because I don't follow all the pointless rules they think make a good teacher.
Year after year I have got top 10 grades in the country with my classes, but the school just couldn't accept I could be any good unless I had a formal seating plan or set a mock paper in Feb every year??
So that was enough of that.
After a move to find a school with management that don't just play Simon says, I now run the engineering department for a specialist engineering school as well as writing qualifications and setting up/designing new schools and uni's.
My favourite thing to do now is watch the various trades ppl try and pull a fast one on the school with overcharging etc, and calling them on it. The confused look on their faces when the teacher in the sharp suit tells them 'you don't need a new RCD for that' or 'there's no need for an isolator there.', or 'I spec'd EPDM' - that's not EPDM'. Little did they know the humble beginnings.
Last edited:
Mixed bag from me.
I spent my youth from the age of 11 renovating houses with my dad. Fitting doors, kitchens etc. I found it boring, but my dad would pay me £10 a day, so I spent most weekends and school holidays doing this.
I left school early feeling education, let alone academia was not for me. Dyslexia and memory issues were seemingly too large a hurdle to overcome. My family actively discouraged education anyway as they are members of a 'cult' or cult like group. This did not help. It did not help at all.
Having a family that renovate houses was a big influence, so from there I went into electrical engineering, but to progress, it required more education....ugh. 2 years of college on a apprentiship. I hated the job as I was treated poorly generally (mostly my fault, as I was rediculously passive due to my upbringing, and working with what I later found was a building full of ex cons) and as for education, I liked it even less than before. I had lost all confidence in myself.
So, I became an estate agent. No idea why.
As part of that work, I had a car crash that ended with a serious court case that was unusual to say the least. An old chap with terminal cancer decided to drive his car from the hospital while on oxygen..IN THE CAR, and passed out at the wheel, driving into me.
The police decided it was my fault by default without listening or investigating, (young driver in a sports car
The old man died subsequently.
My insurance company (a small niche company) decided that my insurance was void, as they could not find the evidence that I had transferred my insurance to them from a previous company.
Under the threat of vehicular manslaughter at 18.
Over a year later, I won the court case, with the judge even going as far as to say I should sue for damages by the police for negligence. I didn't. I just wanted out of there ASAP.
The insurance company 'found' my insurance documents..just after the court case.
I was broken.
The saving grace was my girlfriend at the time was weirdly interested in getting involved in any way she could. No idea what she saw in me....apart from a challenge!
She went out and worked out all the distances for the incident, angles for vehicles, speed traveling etc, everything! Even the legal stuff, she knew more than the solicitors did, and corrected them several times.
After all this finally finished, I was a nervous wreck but still, I needed a job. A quiet, secluded, simple job, where I could disappear into the background, and just 'servive'. I had developed various nervous issues and was generally a bit 'hyper-aware' of danger.
I married the girl (at 19!) And am still happily married to this day 15 years later.
9 years later, I had a degree in engineering that I gained in my evenings and weekends online. (Learning to read, write and spell to a reasonable level at the same time as completing degree level work was a bit of a baptism of fire in year 1)
Parallel with Uni, I started running... A lot. I listened to music while doing it. This helped keep me calm and focused, but also was great for loosing some weight I had gained through some poor habits for managing stress. A year after finishing uni, I was running 10 miles a day in preparation for a 30 mile run over a mountain range. People thought I was gifted. Truth be told, I was fueled by pure rage while training.
Once I ran the marathon, I didn't feel I needed to run anymore (a bit forest gump no?
By year 4 of uni, I was 'good enough' and completed my course top in my year.
I then became a teacher.
We bought a deralict house and I now either spend my spare time working on it, or trying to give my 4 year old daughter the life I never had. She loves building with dad, so the HiFi room under construction as we speak!
I now run the engineering department for a specialist engineering school as well as writing qualifications and setting up/designing new schools and uni's.
My favourite thing to do now is watch the various trades ppl try and pull a fast one on the school with overcharging etc, and calling them on it. The confused look on their faces when the teacher in the sharp suit tells them 'you don't need a new RCD for that' or 'there's no need for an isolator there.', or 'I spec'd EPDM' - that's not EPDM'. Little did they know the humble beginnings. Priceless!
Congratulations on overcoming all the immense difficulties throughout your life!
digicidal
Major Contributor
None taken at all... but the cost-benefit ratio is not really comparable.
First of all I'd dispute your "midrange" price assessment. Perhaps on a price only weighting that would put the median price in the $10K-$25K range... however if weighted by sales units... the median speaker price would likely be closer to $1K-2K... after all soundbars dominate speaker sales these days and soundbars costing more than $2K are incredibly scarce. Just because you could spend ~$15M for a gold and diamond encrusted smartphone doesn't mean the midrange price for one is $2.5M, $250K, or even $2.5K.
Second, one could easily argue that speakers are 90%+ (I'd say ~95%) of the system's value when it comes to hifi. Not only from the sound quality standpoint, but in breadth of applicability. Even after dropping $10K+ on glass... you still need a body to even take your first shot... and if you shoot action vs. landscapes, studio vs. outdoor, close vs. far, day vs night - you likely want more than one with features tailored to the situation.
I do understand your point however... I could point to incredibly rare glass or cameras that are well over those prices as well, but that isn't something that is part of any normal consideration... or even has much to do with photography. If you'd like this classic, the bidding starts at €200K. Makes the gold Sultan of Brunei edition seem like a bargain at less than 10% of the cost.
Like all hobbies - a huge amount of the decision comes down to subjective importance. I love driving fast, so spending far more than the median car cost (and changing cars far too often to make any fiscal sense) that's justified IMO. Although I also love photography and listening to music... I don't consider either hobby worth spending a similar amount on those. For someone else the calculus is completely different and they have no problem dropping six-figures on hifi - while driving a Prius until the wheels literally fall off, and only ever having a phone to take photographs with.
GeorgeWalk
Senior Member
- Joined
- Sep 6, 2019
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- 471
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- 792
I started into this hobby as a kid first building crystal radios then Heathkits. I always loved audio and radios. I loved building Heathkits. Other kids were out playing baseball or whatever, I was building Heathkits or models (cars balsa-wood planes,..)
I am a software engineer focused on embedded, real-time systems. I had my own consulting company for a long time and I worked in almost every industry aerospace, medical, military systems, telecom, enterprise storage, virtualization, automotive, cellular,...
Right now I am managing a team of software engineers for a company that makes ion implanters (they are used to make semiconductors) for memory, logic, and processor chips.
I have too many hobbies, besides audio, marathon runner (I ran 30 marathons and hundreds of other races), triathlete, open water swimming, motorcycles, ham radio, and instrument rated pilot. I don't get to code much any more, but on nights weekends I try to work on my own Raspberry PI coding and electronics projects.
I am a software engineer focused on embedded, real-time systems. I had my own consulting company for a long time and I worked in almost every industry aerospace, medical, military systems, telecom, enterprise storage, virtualization, automotive, cellular,...
Right now I am managing a team of software engineers for a company that makes ion implanters (they are used to make semiconductors) for memory, logic, and processor chips.
I have too many hobbies, besides audio, marathon runner (I ran 30 marathons and hundreds of other races), triathlete, open water swimming, motorcycles, ham radio, and instrument rated pilot. I don't get to code much any more, but on nights weekends I try to work on my own Raspberry PI coding and electronics projects.
I had to read that twice, I thought you were saying something else ... a letter other than "r" "hard"
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