Don't quit your day job

[Chip Donaho]

Work full time in a factory/warehouse that builds shooting ranges. I owned a roofing company for several years. Once in a while I'll still do a little of that. Play in 3 bands....One band plays regular gigs every week. I sometimes  freelance doing studio work. The other band is just starting to get gigs. I also work at motocross tracks during the spring/summer as a racing official. The warehouse job covers medical insurance, but it's just another job.   :P  I'd rather play music all the time, but couldn't afford medical coverage for the wife and myself. I couldn't afford the fistfull of medicine she takes. I'm pretty much a workaholic that does several jobs.
"Work sucks, and then you die."    ;D      :-X

[JamesC]

Wow, lots of engineers here!

I'm a mechanical design engineer.  I love drumming, but fortunately I love engineering also.  A year ago I went out completely on my own, doing freelance mechanical design / engineering consulting work.

check me out at www.precisionmechanicaldesign.com

Doing freelance engineering work seems to be a happy medium for me between the drumming lifestyle and engineering lifestyle.  I'm caught between these sort of two extremes.

I haven't done nearly as much drumming as I'd like to lately, but I'm happy to say I have a beautiful baby boy and wonderful wife, and the engineering life is going well.

I seem to drum just enough to make it seem like the funnest (I know, that's not a word) thing in the world every time I sit down behind my drums.  Lately, that's been about once/month on Sundays at church.

I may be getting together with a pre-existing group shortly, however.  They're professionals (not professional musicans) also, so they have similar musical aspirations (some good quality playing, with once/month or so gigs).

[sleepybrIghteyez]

I paint.

[Louis Russell]

Louis- what style BBQ do you favor?  I'm a Kansas City boy, and I like a full slab of pork, wood smoked for 3 to 5 hours, with a little spicy (NOT SWEET) sauce at the very end,

Yep, but I put the sauce on after cooking and the sauce is a little spicy with a little sweet.

[Steve Phelps (Shoeless)]

I spend my entire day lurking at the the Drummer Cafe :)
Now if I could just figure out how to get paid for it.

No, I work in the Video Production arm of a Multimedia Center on an Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio. Today is a 16-hour day.

I've been teaching myself home recording and have been recording a CD of my own music, where I play just about all the instruments. I've been at this since September.

I am in between gigs as drummer, although I had an audition last week for band and am still waiting to hear back from them.

[JeepnDrummer]

International playboy billionaire.

And here I was thinking I was the only international playboy billionaire at the Drummer Cafe!  :P

[JeepnDrummer]

I run a 25-man avionics sensor shop in S. Korea, maintaining laser/infrared targeting pods.  I've been at this job for nearly 20 years except for a 5.5 year dream job building interactive training.

No, I work in the Video Production arm of a Multimedia Center on an Air Force Base in Dayton Ohio. Today is a 16-hour day.

Then I'd imagine you've heard of the 367th TRSS at Hill AFB?  That's my old unit.  I didn't work in the video side of the house.  Instead I designed interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) for AMC and ACC personnel.  Heck, you probably know some of the video guys there.  And one of the producers is a drummer......a cool guy.

[Larry Lawless]

Me and my 15  kids live in the back of a VW minibus on the streets. Between welfare checks and food stamps, we make out OK, but I get my beer money by playing drums on a plastic bucket in the subway.

[jcar0725]

I'm an electrical engineer, and design integrated circuits all day.   Drumming is much more satisfying and fun, but engineering sure does get the bills paid...  Plus, I'm probably a better engineer than I am a drummer.    But sometimes I wonder!

I'm an Engineer also, Mechanical, without a degree.  I go to school at night for Psychology, and play in a band in my spare time - which honestly is the only thing I'm good at doing.  Been doing it for 20+ years and it NEVER gets old.

John

[Clint]

Conversion/project manager for a GIS software company. Our software is specific to the electric utility industry.

[Tony]

I'm a career cop, having spent 10 years with a major municipal police department; I spent 3 years in patrol and 7 years as a detective.  3 years in the Homicide, Rape and Robbery Bureau and 4 in Internal Affairs.  7 years ago I was recruited into the Attroney General's Office of Special Investigtion, where I spend my days investigating political and police corruption.  

As a result of my love of all things music and gadgetry, I have recieved trainng in audio and video post processing, recording, etc.  (I'm a tech agent, as the term goes), and co-own a small project studio on the side.  Which basically means my buddy and I have a place for our bands to practice and record, and we do enough voice overe work for local TV to pay the rent and finance our habit of buying gear and toys!!!

[Manicoti]

Captain of a Boeing 737 for an airline in Canada and drum every weekend ;D
M

[Rei]

Jackass of all trades for a Photography company.  I'm in charge of workflow (design and implementation), Network Administration (Servers, Databases, Maintenance, Repair, Installation), Training, and sometimes actually doing photography.  I also am in charge of production of our marketing materials and catalogs, as well as several company websites.  

I drum during my free time, but that is few and far between recently, as I worked every single day in march and will be working 6 day weeks in april.  I am training some new photographers, and some new photochop jockeys, so I expect my workload to come back down to a respectable 5 days a week so that I can start playing drums more.

[DRWM]

I think I have the most exciting job listed so far.... are you ready........

I'm an Insurance Salesman!  

I've finally made it.  It's been my life's dream.  I'm so happy to be here.  

No not really, but at least it pays the bills.  ;)

[HDT]

CAD drafter, construction permit writer, and environmental report writer for a telephone engineering company based out of Oklahoma City.  I live in Springfield, MO and drive about 25 minute each day, back & forth (not a bad commute) to Ozark, MO, where our office is located.  These days, I'm strictly a basement drummer, but that is soon to change! ;) 8) (hopefully)

[Larry Lawless]

I think I have the most exciting job listed so far.... are you ready........

I'm an Insurance Salesman!  

Nothing to be ashamed of. Not like you're an attorney or anything. ;) ;D

Remember that Charles Ives, one of America's most famous composers, was an insurance salesman.

[mudpuppy]

Funny you should ask. I am a school principal and just today, two of the music teachers and I accompanied the 6th grade chorus while they sang "When September Ends" by Greenday. The kids flipped out when they saw me play and I have been hearing about it all day. Awsome feeling! I also play in two bands Clusterfunk (occasionally) and Mudpuppy, my regular band.
mp

[Steve Phelps (Shoeless)]

I run a 25-man avionics sensor shop in S. Korea, maintaining laser/infrared targeting pods.  I've been at this job for nearly 20 years except for a 5.5 year dream job building interactive training.Then I'd imagine you've heard of the 367th TRSS at Hill AFB?  That's my old unit.  I didn't work in the video side of the house.  Instead I designed interactive multimedia instruction (IMI) for AMC and ACC personnel.  Heck, you probably know some of the video guys there.  And one of the producers is a drummer......a cool guy.

No I haven't, but I have worked with some of the people from Vandenberg AFB, they apparently have 60 people in their Production unit. Jeep, would you mind PM'ing me about living and working in Utah at that base, opportunities for civilians, weather, cost of living, nightlife, drumlife, etc. I'm jonesing to live out west again. Thanks.

[BigBillInBoston]

Senior Risk Manager at a major New England bank.

[JamesC]

Funny you should ask. I am a school principal and just today, two of the music teachers and I accompanied the 6th grade chorus while they sang "When September Ends" by Greenday. The kids flipped out when they saw me play and I have been hearing about it all day. Awsome feeling! I also play in two bands Clusterfunk (occasionally) and Mudpuppy, my regular band.
mp

You're lying.  Everyone knows principals cannot do anything cool like play the drums.  Jeeez man, come on!   ;D

I love those moments in life - where some group of people gets to see you in a totally different way.  Awesome.