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What I do
Today my niece asked me what I do for a living. I explained to her that I am a website manager for a non-profit in Lansing called EduGuide (and then I needed to explain what a non profit is). When I describe what I do, I often say that I wear many hats. I am a project manager, quality assurance technician, user experience consultant, document writer, and user testing coordinator all rolled into one person. I didnt start off with a position like this. Originally when I first started to work for EduGuide in 2007, I was the Community Coordinator. This was before there was much of a community, so I helped out by doing a variety of odd jobs. Soon, I became involved in many aspects of maintaining the website, including content production. It was right around a year or two when my title changed to Web Services Coordinator. Even then, I had a lot of responsibilities but because there were so many others on staff I didnt need cover quite as many areas. My manager, when I had one, would cover a lot of the planning and project management side of things. I was more of a gofer, still doing the odd jobs. No matter how multifaceted my job can seem, I am always sure to give a precise answer about what I do. Years ago when I still worked for Michigan State Medical Society and was sitting in a conference room waiting for a meeting to begin, the director of finances turned to me and asked me what I do. I had been working there for a while, and it seemed like everybody knew what I did so I was surprised and unprepared for her question. Im not sure what I answered, but I am sure that it included building web pages. Back then, though, the Internet and websites were not as integral to organizations and business strategy as they are now. My guess is that it was a luxury to have a dedicated web person on staff. Eventually, my position was outsourced, and I found myself looking for a new job. What do you do? Post your response as a comment.