A bunch of nobodies
 | For historical context: shortly after Lila was named as the Executive Director for the Wikimedia Foundation, she was referred to in a piece in a major media outlet as a "former waitress" - a characterization that dove far into her past and ignored her far more recent work as a tech industry executive and engineer. In response, members of the Foundation staff joined other editors in naming their previous occupations, because - clearly - that's the style required for news stories now. So without further ado, we present The unexpected previous jobs of Wikipedia editors. --Philippe (talk) 05:50, 19 January 2016 (UTC) |
- The unexpected previous jobs of Wikipedia editors...
- Amir E. Aharoni, cleaner in Burger Ranch (the branch is now closed, and I am now vegetarian), librarian (this is actually related!), wedding pianist, OpenVMS system administrator, Digital Restriction Management equipment tester. --Amir E. Aharoni (talk) 22:42, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
- James Alexander, Dunkin Donuts Counter Agent/Shift Supervisor/Interim Manager, University Security Jamesofur/Jalexander21:57, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Philippe Beaudette, Call center telephone operator/supervisor/manager, newspaper clerk, political activist, and bar manager. Philippe Beaudette, Wikimedia Foundation (talk) 11:57, 12 May 2014 (UTC)
- Erlend Bjørtvedt, farm boy, lorry hand, security clerk, museum night guard, newspaper dealer. Bjoertvedt (talk) 20:18, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- David Gerard, former burger cook, civil servant, music journalist, office administrator - David Gerard (talk) 20:26, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Victor Grigas, cashier, construction gopher, after-school aide, candle maker, railyard gate attendant, apartment building manager[1] Victorgrigas (talk) 21:24, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Lennart Guldbrandsson, former sausage maker, swim teacher and ice cream seller Hannibal (talk) 20:14, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Brandon Harris, fry cook, golf cart maintainer, bouncer, and Christian radio disk jockey. - --Jorm (WMF) (talk) 20:44, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Andrew Lih, ice cream telemarketer, mud flap regulation data entry technician -- Fuzheado (talk) 20:33, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Hubert Laska, pig breeder, window washer, grape picker, mendicant, traffic superintendent, graphic designer, former slave of my customers, and indeed, my employees --Hubertl (talk) 01:39, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
- Katherine Maher, dog sitter, stablehand, snowboard and mountainbike salesperson, lifeguard, assistant art teacher, EMT, personal assistant, cocktail waitress -- Maherkr (talk) 18:29, 3 June 2014 (UTC)
- Chris McKenna, dogsbody at motorway services restaurant, waiter in fish and chips restaurant, branch administrator for a pre-schools charity, civil service cartographer, rural development advisory (=answering phonecalls from farmers), Wikimania support associate, ... Thryduulf (en.wikt,en.wp,commons) 12:43, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
- Jernej Polajnar, label printer, software tester, cargo unloader, translator, furniture mover, ditch digger. — Yerpo Eh? 06:40, 7 May 2014 (UTC)
- Srikanth Ramakrishnan, former milk delivery boy, PC service person. ----Rsrikanth05 (talk) 07:37, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
- James Salsman - former: automatic speech recognition systems for pronunciation assessment for language learning at Education First Language Learning Labs in Shanghai, China.
- Richard Symonds, bolt packager, man who puts plastic bungs in the ends of toilet rolls, ski instructor, NHS worker, congestion charge charger, solicitor regulator, sailor... Chase me ladies, I'm the Cavalry (talk) 23:00, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Leigh Thelmadatter, newspaper delivery girl, telemarketing, supermarket clerk (got fired from that job), pizza maker, plasma donation, McDonalds night shift (in the days of polyester uniforms), hotel night clerk, in home day care. (And I wouldnt trade the experience I got from these.)Thelmadatter (talk) 21:47, 13 August 2014 (UTC)
- Alison Wheeler - former: shop assistant, waitress, barmaid, van driver, coach driver, sound engineer, lighting designer, tour manager, bra model, telemarketing phonebanker, DJ, Radio station manager, chief engineer (radio), cook, politician, shopping trolley attendant, secretary, PA, audio typist, WP demonstrator, confidential police transcription typist, receptionist, stage hand, chief electrician, television sound engineer, camera operator, dominatrix, contracting electrician, conference organiser, professional photographer, graphic designer, offset litho printer, lgbt national pride organiser, stage manager, singer, actress, plus lots of computer industry jobs. Currently retired hurt. --Alison Wheeler (talk) 23:23, 6 May 2014 (UTC)
- Erik Zachte - former: tulip bulb harvester, mailman, caregiver for lab rabbits and axolotls, screen printer, warehouse employee, ticket taker at the movies, kitchen assistent, nightwatchman, restaurant aid at KLM (only employer who ever sacked me, for making silly jokes to flight attendants, only to see me return years later and stay for 27 years in misc. IT roles), inventor and worldwide distributor of first offline Wikipedia Erik Zachte (talk) 00:18, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
- Andrea Zanni: juggler and teacher of juggling in high school, now digital librarian. --Aubrey (talk) 11:30, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
- Muzammiluddin Syed - former programme officer, access to knowledge program, center for internet and society, bangalore, now photocopying machine operator, so-called web content writer, part-time janitor, sometimes wikimedia foundation blogger, trying hard to reach out to communities remotely reached so far in his blogs (or at least he thinks that in his weird way) --Muzammil (talk) 10:20, 14 August 2014 (UTC)
(Add yourself sorted by last name.)