A few weeks ago CB and I attended a lecture by Dr. Sir Harold Kroto (Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry for his discovery of Buckminsterfullerene) at the Orlando Science Center. It was kind of a rambly pep-talk, life story and description of his work. I'm not entirely sure if it was supposed to encourage people to study science or demonstrate that studying science will drive you mad, mad I tell you, stark raving mad!
One of the things that struck me in his lecture was his descriptions of his various hobbies and how they had impacted his life work. Most notably he was a collector of architectural photography and studying the geodesic dome helped him understand the structure of C60. Specifically that the carbon atoms, though mostly spaced hexagonaly, would have to occasionally form into a pentagon the same as the geodesic dome (or a soccer ball.)
That made me think about one of my first assignments at GE. We have a product which allows trains in the yard to be moved about remotely, like a remote control car. Usually we have a dedicated radio system for this, but in one yard we couldn't get this; so we were looking at going over the cellular network. The issue with this is that there must be little latency (the time between the command given at the remote and received at the train.) I was given the task of determining what the latency would be.
Coming from a cellular background I knew that the carrier's latency figures were suspect. Having hung out on gamer(-ish) forums like Languish, though, I knew that gamers are heavily impacted by latency. So I went to a couple World of Warcraft forums and got each carriers actual latency down to the hundredths of a millisecond.
So Languish helped my career. :)
I was curious if any of the other professionals on the board had experiences like this; where a seemingly unrelated hobby helped with a work assignment.
My hobbies have always been used as escapes from my occupations.
Well, I guess that playing pen and pencil RPGs made getting into theatre easier for me, and that in turn made talking in public easier as well. Given how so many people seem to be paralyzed if they have to talk to an audience, I'd say that being able to do so with little effort is a plus. :)
Messing around with computer/network stuff as a hobby has helped me in my job. My role is not strictly a technical role but I do some technical troubleshooting sometimes when nobody else seems willing or able. Plus it helps me sound almost like I know what I'm talking about when I have to get tech support, datacomm, or programming people involved.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 01:21:58 PM
My hobbies have always been used as escapes from my occupations.
This.
What first attracted me to my current occupation was that it combined one of my hobbies (computers) and my engineering training.
I guess you could say I get paid to dedicate time to my hobby.
Quote from: The Larch on May 23, 2014, 01:28:11 PM
Well, I guess that playing pen and pencil RPGs made getting into theatre easier for me, and that in turn made talking in public easier as well. Given how so many people seem to be paralyzed if they have to talk to an audience, I'd say that being able to do so with little effort is a plus. :)
Doctor Sir Kroto told us when he was in high school (or whatever it's called in the UK) he was in a school production of Henry V. The lead in the play was none other than Ian McKellan. I don't think theater actually helped Doctor Sir in his profession; he just wanted to tell us that he knew Gandalf personally.
Quote from: derspiess on May 23, 2014, 01:40:42 PM
Messing around with computer/network stuff as a hobby has helped me in my job. My role is not strictly a technical role but I do some technical troubleshooting sometimes when nobody else seems willing or able. Plus it helps me sound almost like I know what I'm talking about when I have to get tech support, datacomm, or programming people involved.
Yeah hacking my PC to run MOM and MOO properly made me learn my professional skills. At least the seeds of them.
The stress relief has kept me from going berserk.
yes
My occupations have always been hobbies. :smarty:
....
...
..:Embarrass:
My beer drinking hobby has helped my career more than any other. No lie.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 01:21:58 PM
My hobbies have always been used as escapes from my occupations.
... and the sole occupation of the
subject of your hobbies is to escape. ;)
War gaming and computer gaming have taught me a lot about resource optimization and time prioritization that's useful in virtually any job and in life in general.
Singing karaoke has, I imagine, helped with communicating with groups.
Model building has taught me to follow printed instructions, and to notice when they're shit.
Learning extensively about drugs of abuse has been very helpful for my occupation. :)
No, not really. But then I've always kept them separate.
None.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 01:21:58 PM
My hobbies have always been used as escapes from my occupations.
Exactly the opposite for me.
i.e
I knew the OOB for Russian Tank and Motor Rifle Divsions from Platoon to division level.
Most soviet combat vehicles
by age 16.
What hobby you think that is related too. ;)
Helped out emensely with the bulk of my time spent in Long Range Surveillance units. Particularly the Specialist Recognition course at the International Long Range Recce Patrol School (ILRRPS). Where they taught OOB, Doctrine, Russian map symbols.....etc.
Goody for you. Wasn't much call for Sov OOB in the 'hood for me, though.
I can't think of much for right now.
But in university I was very involved in politics, Reform Party in particular. Reform's HQ was in Calgary, which led me to take a few trips out there. And so when it came time to look for a job after law school, I wound up going to Calgary since I knew and liked the city. And since 14 years later I'm still in Alberta, it's continued to influence me.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 04:05:57 PM
Goody for you. Wasn't much call for Sov OOB in the 'hood for me, though.
:P
In my teens, I ran naval campaigns for the amusement of my friends. Twenty years later, the US Navy paid me big bucks to do the same for people I didn't even know.
Quote from: grumbler on May 23, 2014, 04:17:09 PM
In my teens, I ran naval campaigns for the amusement of my friends. Twenty years later, the US Navy paid me big bucks to do the same for people I didn't even know.
And still, there's no adequate NGFS.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 04:57:47 PM
Quote from: grumbler on May 23, 2014, 04:17:09 PM
In my teens, I ran naval campaigns for the amusement of my friends. Twenty years later, the US Navy paid me big bucks to do the same for people I didn't even know.
And still, there's no adequate NGFS.
My games showed it wasn't key to beating the Soviets. :lol:
The funny thing was that the navy was so fixated on their Vestfjord strategy (getting the striking fleet into the Vestfjord and laying waste to the Soviet northern infrastructure from there) that the R&D program was pretty much oriented (this was in the mid-80s) on doing what was needed to counter the air and sub threats that things like amphibious lift were left to rot. The V-22 was developed as the SV-22, an ASW platform, with the transport version an added bonus. This in spite of the fact that the Vestfjord itself was a death trap for the Striking Fleet (I openly referred to it as Dienbienphufjord). The tactical games showed that time and again.
They still paid me, though, and damned good money. So, we ran the games, year after year. Six-hundred-ship Navy, baby.
I don't think getting women pregnant helped the 'ol career track.
Photography hasn't helped me worth a shit in Camera op.
:P
Gaming has helped me to 1) be a huge asshole; and 2) know when to shut the fuck up; and 3) have patience.
Great skills for a lawyer.
Quote from: CountDeMoney on May 23, 2014, 01:21:58 PM
My hobbies have always been used as escapes from my occupations.
:yes:
Make something a job and it ceases to be a hobby.
My hobbies have helped me immensely.
My hobbits have not helped me at all.
Quote from: Siege on May 25, 2014, 07:16:24 PM
My hobbits have not helped me at all.
That's because you work for mordor
Quote from: Tyr on May 25, 2014, 11:55:16 PM
Quote from: Siege on May 25, 2014, 07:16:24 PM
My hobbits have not helped me at all.
That's because you work for mordor
One does not simply work into Mordor.
I haven't had my hobbies helped much in work, except a bit early working on in IT support my modest knowledge of computers from gaming, tinkering and using early DOS computers helped a bit. But most of my support is application/software, not the technical/hardware side.
I had my work and hobby separated until I got my present job, when they have become more or less one and the same. :cool:
When I was a teenager I had a hobby of writing computer games in stuff like Turbo Pascal. I guess that's helped me quite a bit in my career (the programming piece, at least).
Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2014, 11:08:35 AM
I had my work and hobby separated until I got my present job, when they have become more or less one and the same. :cool:
I still don't want World War One.
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 27, 2014, 07:59:24 PM
Quote from: Tamas on May 27, 2014, 11:08:35 AM
I had my work and hobby separated until I got my present job, when they have become more or less one and the same. :cool:
I still don't want World War One.
:mad:
Be happy that even a few cents of my AMERICAN MONEY flowed into your pocket when I bought those Roman games.
(https://languish.org/forums/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fi1.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F57qE1arvo3U%2Fhqdefault.jpg&hash=6a2ad4875e6aa80b874ff13ccea196798f0a044a)
Ed Anger surrounded by Hungarian beggars
Man the temptation to murder all the natives in that game was overwhelming.