I've always had a difficult time explaining my jobs to my family. None of them work in tech or have ever developed, and almost none of them went to a university. So the context about what my job consists of (or that there are even jobs like mine) just doesn't exist for most of my family.
When I was fresh out of undergrad, it was easier. I could just tell them that I built software, but, if they probed deeper, like what software I build or what part of it I work on, the train came off the rails. It's gotten even more difficult as I've progressed in my career.
How do you describe your job to your family or your parents or, even better, your grandparents?
Cover photo by Nielson Caetano-Salmeron on Unsplash.
Top comments (23)
yeah, interesting. When I don't want to continue the conversation, I usually say something like "I build websites" and end with that. Even my least tech savvy relatives have used websites before.
For my more technically inclined relatives, I go a bit deeper and try to give a relevant example like "...when you deposit a check, I run some validations to make sure the check is valid, make sure this matches that, and issue a transaction to another system that does additional processing"....that's usually enough.
I always, always always, stay away from answers that might make me sound like some expert in setting up smart TVs, fixing printers, setting up a home wifi network, or being a zoom call expert etc. lol
TVs, check. Printers, check. Wifi, check. Zoom,... Damn it. That's a new one. I'm telling everyone I use WebEx. Nobody will ask anything about that.
I just make stuff up so that they don't ask me for help with those things
Just say you build software, when they ask for specifics just throw some random term like "CI/CD, Kubernetes, Containerization, Virtualization, Keras, Tensorflow" or some other dangerously sounding word. Now watch them say "aha" and change topics. But if they insist on explaining more, say it's a trade secret and you cannot go into specifics.
That solves for ending the conversation. But what if you actually want to describe what you do, not just move on to the next topic?
Talking about tech with non-tech people is kinda cringe :D
I think talking about tech with non-tech people is super important. Breaking down the nitty-gritty of your job into layman's terms that are easy for non-tech folks to digest is a soft skill that I think a lot of devs gloss over.
In a professional setting, it's important to be able to communicate about a project to stakeholders that aren't necessarily tech savvy - project managers, customer support teams, C-level employees (CEO, CFO, etc), IT folks that are more hardware fluent, and other folks that want/need to know about your role and duties.
Talking to friends and family that aren't tech-minded is a great way to build this skill!
Me [opening a beer]: I work with computers
[5 beers later]: It's called "serverless." You write code to run on a computer but not a computer you own and not really even a computer when you think about it and Amazon owns all the computers. Yeah, the store.
For me it really depends on the target audience.
if I don't want much conversation I just say
I get payed to hack stuff but no I won't help you hack your partner's facebookIf its more business targeted or a deeper convo about jobs then I would describe the various scopes, security, project management, company scale up and more.
Heh, I just ran into this today, trying to describe to family what Tugboat is. "It's like carbon copies for websites."
When my day-to-day job was architecture consulting and devops, I would say things like, "I help build the internet," which at least seemed to avoid the, "oh, my friend wants to do The Blog™, can you help?"
"I create solutions for increasing business value for companies using binary technology."
If they ever find out I work with computers, I'd constantly be fixing everyone's wifi, installing Office and advising which phones to buy...
I tell my family that I develop the internet. Shape its existence such that their lives are made easier and more convenient.
Although it does backfire sometimes in a "smartphones make people dumb" kinda way, but this has been the most relevant way for me to tell my family what makes my employer provide my paycheque.
I explain to my parents with construction analogies.. like we're the "developers" and theirs an "architect".. and we "design" a software.. and then "build" it.. even "bugs" and "fixes".. It's easier and I think they get it too
I like this approach.
I always start with an ELI5 version, something like “I take the boring processes and automate them so people aren’t bored”, lol. If they probe deeper I give an example: “well every time we release software, we publish this document. We used to copy & paste data into that document manually. I wrote some code to do it semi-autonomously”. At that point if they’re still thirsty for more then I just nerd out. 🤷🏽
I just say that I build/maintain website(s) that serve some specific purpose. People generally understand the purpose/goal and the business/operational processes behind achieving that goal. I tend not to delve into the specifics of tech unless the audience has some relevant technical knowledge.