Software Engineer - Weapons systems / Commercial Aircraft control software.

Par time hydro-macgyver.

--chris

I'm and IT (Computer) consultant. Been working with computers nearly my whole life.

Here is a link that might be useful: My website!

Software engineer. MRI/brain research.

Hydroponic E-tailer and also General Contractor

Electric motor sales, motor testing, thermography (born from the testing, but using it in other markets). Specialize in commercial pump motor market.

I work in a call center for one of the major cellphone companies.

I'm 57, I've had 4 careers.
Educated as architect - big deal!
Industrial design and prototyping - lots of fun
Areospace engineer and tradeshow design - XX
for the past 15 years, I been doing animation and graphics for patent litigation - interesting
. . . but I do it for my greenhouse addiction.

I'm a 24 year old plant biology student at a public university in the Midwest. If everything moves to plan my undergraduate degree will be completed in a year and I will be moving onto graduate school.

Worked as a chemical technician in one of the Big Three factories for maybe a year. Then worked in a hydroponic retail store after that for another year and spent a short time at a place that bottled hydroponic nutrients, cloning solutions, etc.

Currently looking for work in a lab at my school for the summer.

25 Years old. U.S. Air Force SSgt. F-16 Avionics Technician. Used to work the F-15; much better airframe in my opninion. But got moved out by the F-22. Now getting ready to be moved out by the F-35.

Puter nerd. Work at Microsoft off and on as a contractor doing Database Development for Business Intelligence. I work about half the year, play the other half.

Computer Repair Specialist. Part-time gardener, currently unemployed due to a nasty accident.

I'm 73; I'm unemployed as in retired. During my working life I was a metallurgical-manufacturing R&D engineer/professor. I got into hydroponics because I needed a challenging project--I don't do golf--and wanted some decent tasting tomatoes. It is and I am, but those tomatoes don't come cheap.

like you al i started in cabinets at 15 and this is the only thing that i have done for the past 58 years and i
am still doing at this time. work has been slow for the
past 1 year.

I build log furniture and cabinets up in the High Country of Colorado

Just browsing the forum-- it's amazing how techy/engineery you guys are over here!

"i am just a road labourer in the u.k." Maybe you should consider becoming a Web master; the site looks great!

Been a printer for 22 years. I now own a commercial shop where I do hydro on a few industrial racks I cleared. It's odd having a glowing section of racks between all the paper. Right now nothing is growing due to attention given to my outdoor garden and the free sunlight.

I run website and on some of them I have forums, you wouldn't believe how pi$$ed off I get with the amount of spam. Would almost go as far as flying to San Diego and starting a little log fire >:D if you spammed one of my sites.

I'm 26 soon to be 27 in roughly two hours. I'm also former Active Duty Air Force TSGT for security forces (shout out to rock0nman). Now serving time in the Air National Guard with a civilian life. I'm also a professional photographer and a photoshop wizard. Mainly work with models of all ages and weddings. I also tend bar on the side. Great post BTW!!!

Union electrician. It's neet to see that there's a lot of tradesmen on here!

I have had many interesting jobs. Taco bell was my first job, then I worked for VONS in the meat department for about 2 years. Then the interesting jobs started, I worked at SEARS auto center as a mechanic doing breaks and front end work for about 5 years. Then I drove a flatbed tow truck doing AAA, as well as police and fire calls for about 1 1/2 years. They told me you couldn't flip a car right side up with a flatbed truck, but I did it twice (You don't keep PD waiting for another truck). If I couldn't flip it, I just pulled it up upside down (there usually totaled anyway).

Then I drove a Big Rig (tractor trailers) thought the 11 western states delivering new cars to dealerships for over 4 years. Then I decided to take a pay cut in order to have a home life. So I worked for a RV dealership here in town picking up and delivering boats, fifth wheels, class A's, etc. for customers. As well as helping the tech's with fixing and fabricating boats and RV with what ever they needed (for about 2 years). Even taking them to the river to test drive the boats when they needed to. During the summer we were at the lake multiple times daily with everything from pontoons to the occasional $500,000 speed boat.

However, the economy dried up and people didn't seem to have, or want to spend the money on toys anymore. With no pay raises coming, I learned how to get into the website game so I could work from home for myself, and on my own terms. But with that going slower than I want, I also do carpet cleaning (with a machine I bought a while ago) on the side when I can get it. But my ultimate goal is to continue the websites, and also grow hydroponic produce year round for the local community (farmers market etc.).

I design and general contract homes in the Durango, Co. area and have done so since 1978 (lindmarkhomes.com). Given the total lack of projects the last 2 years, I've turned a much loved hobby into a business.

Linda, my wife of 35 years (college sweetheart) and I have been avidly field collecting San Juan Mountain, Colorado minerals and crystals for several years and now sell them at various venues. We will spend next week at space #200 in Quartzsite, Az. participating in the annual QIA Pow Wow. Linda is an addictions counselor who finds our gardening to be very therapeutic.

Mark

markmahlum
I don't think I will be able to get down to Quartzsite then, but if you plan to go through Lake Havasu and have a few minutes, stop by and say Hi. e-mail me at rocketman1022000@yahoo.com and I can give you info.

Hello homehydro,

We'll probably go through Prescott and then Wickenburg. If that changes I'll contact you.

Regards,
Mark

Degree in Computer Science, work as a Project Manager on various technical / software projects.

Software Engineer...maybe we need to get together and write some open source crop management sw or something cool like that. I would love to hook my machine up to my injectors, cooling system, etc. The commercial systems are a bit pricey!

I blow glass and I etch glass by sandblasting.

I own a winery and a distillery along with the orchards to supply them....Am working on building a 1 acre, total hydroponic greenhouse to supply fresh fruit and veg's. to help feed the old and poor people in my county.

38, Cad Design Draftsman, industrial and mining...Queensland, Australia... I see a few of you blokes are going through hard times, here in Oz we need more workers in the mines, so come over.

The mines are not flooded around Queensland? I've herd about all the rain you've been getting, it was in the news even over here.

@homehydro..some of them will take a while (months) to pump out and start operations again, but quite a number of them are back up and running again already :-)

I've been a structural engineer for the last 12 years or so.
Before that I worked in the oil fields. Before that was college and work was whatever paid the bills.
Personally, I 'd love to move to Australia.

@Grizzman...witha back ground in structural engineering you'll have a job in no time...check out www.seek.com.au..that ts where you'll find your job in Oz

Navy Supply Corps officer

Kinda got tired of being surrounded by steel for months at a time and my (x)wife not watering the plants, so I started into hydroponics to bring them along for the ride.

Now it's an addiction.

Full Time college student in the MidWest studying Cell and Molecular Biology. Plan on being a doctor someday, some very very far away day. Until then I study hard and of course do hydroponic gardening.

Hi, I am a mom of 3 and have recently become obsessed with hydoponics. Currently I am a 911 dispatcher for Franklin County in SE Washington.

I was a doctoral student studying decision sciences and worked for a national research laboratory on federal agriculture policy. My wife (who was a marine biologist) and I had a joint early-mid-life-crisis and both of us decided to switch careers. She became a winemaker (and her 2009 Riesling won an international competition) and I started my own horticulture company growing organic, bioponic, and hydroponic herbs and produce. Simply put - WE LOVE LIFE!!!

I grew up in the floristry business... My mom being the florist of our family business... I have always been surrounded by flowers and plants. Before my mother started her own business she worked at a greenhouse/flowershop so the smell of earth is a comforting smell... I am an architectural designer working toward my license. Now my husband and and I live in a third floor apartment and have no room for lavish gardens. Thats why I started looking into Hydroponics... and i think im hooked. Just got my system planted with some strawberries today.

I have been working in IT for the past 20 years.. I love to tinker with tings, and tend garden as a stress relief. Joe

I'm a personal care assistant in an assisted living home. I grew up gardening in eastern Nebraska where all I had to do was throw the seeds in the ground and they grew great! Up here, it is a very different story, so hydroponics has caught my attention. Hoping to do something small to start this fall.

Research Director (specialty lighting) for a multi-national horticulture company that specializes in high-yield small-space low-resource indoor farms. Quarter million heads of lettuce in a 12.5 meter X 12.5 meter building? No problem! An acre of grass in 1/8th the space using 99% less water and essentially no light minus what humans need to see? No problem, and we can rock it out in seven to fourteen days.

I love my job.

I am a full-time college student attending University in Missouri. I am currently involved with our Pre-Medical Society as Treasurer. In addition, I also am a research assistant in our biomedical sciences department doing research on the mystery behind the ability for endothelial cells in microvascular tissue to absorb CNT (carbon nanotubes).

Currently in Real Estate. But I have been and will always be an Electical Engineer.

What a fantastic question . . . and range of answers.

There's a book waiting to be written, or at least a film script hiding here, but I digress.

So, my meandering career path started out in the DOE national labs (Berkeley and Los Alamos), followed by quite a range of private sector locales and "titles", from GTE Lenkurt to Lucas Films, mostly in computing and electronics.

And why hydroponics? I'm intrigued by the concept of being able to grow plants, without soil, within a relatively small surface area footprint, utilizing recycled water, with highly purified, high density nutrients.

Efficient use of fresh water, access to locally grown food, medicinal plants, energy resources . . . these all link to hydroponics in various ways.

1/3 farmer, 1/3 journalist, 1/3 mobile DJ. My business card should read: AFB (Anything For a Buck).

Im 27 and a video game environment artist. Been working in NC for about 9 years. Originally from S. CA, moved to Idaho as a teen. Was going to community college dual enrollment in highschool when I somehow magically ended up with a video game internship that turned into 9 years of full time employment. So never got any degree besides a highschool diploma.

I have to admit I am very blessed to be in a situation where I can grow vegetables and peppers for fun. But I am also interested in learning more about sustainable living and being less dependent on others, and trying to get the best crop yields with less water/nutrients/etc.

Nice to be amongst friends!

khyberkitsune, your small space yield experiments sound AWESOME!! Do you have any more info online I could check out? That's exactly what I am interested in pursuing. I've done outdoor soil gardening since I was little with my stepdad, but now I suddely have my own family and have this desire to try my hand at some totally new techniques.

I am attempting some DWC habaneros right now (thread in the pepper forum). Next year I really want to try an ourdoor Aeroponics setup, since I just realized the RO booster pump I have is the PERFECT pump for high pressure nozzle spray :D Love finding out I already have equipment to try something!!

Cool, halfway. congrats on making it to a point where you are able to consider such moves, I hope to be so lucky down the road also.

I am also interested in setting up a greenhouse in my yard. Moving to a 1 acre plot soon, and the HOA there won't tell me how to micromanage everything, so I could even have a greehouse in the front yard if I wanted to :D

Man I salivate looking at commercial style greenhouses now...

I'm a commercial hydroponic grower in western Kentucky. We grow about 4,000 tomato plants year-round, about 400 european cucumber plants, and are expanding from 4,000 to 10,000 lettuce positions over the next few months.

Ictus, I have some videos you could check out. Not going to toss up links to my website, however. I think that would fall in the advertising rules.

Halfway, you might want to watch this video as well, it should be right up your alley.

Here is a link that might be useful: A sneak peek inside our research and testing facility.