If the internet didn't exist, how would your career be different?

I probably would have went into teaching straight off, hated it, and would now be working in a bookstore.

i would be a lot more bored

I would probably never have come to New York! Or if I did, I wouldn't have lasted 10 years. Prob 80% of my friends in last 12 years or so have been internet-related one way or another (at least such that the internet was somewhere in the chain of events).

i would have to file by hand

My job would be about 50 times harder without the internet.

As an internet editor, I suppose I'd be back at the radio station, threading reel tape from national advertisers.

work would be hell without the internet !!
seriously, I can't imagine how people used to work/live without the internet (and to some extent, mobile phones).
yet, I should know because both started to spread around the time I started college...

And about my work, I guess I would spend my whole time on the phone and typing hundreds of letters... brrr...

my productivity would at least double, maybe treble.

good question. i would probably/hopefully be working entirely in print design e.g. magazines or advertising artwork. or i would've become a games artist (menus/titles/type etc. rather than characters/animation).

I'd be fixing or making or designing electronic things somewhere, and would probably be happier with my lot.

if i had no ilx to read in the day? i'd probably be chairman of this company

would have to write out my Nigerian scam letters by hand.

So you're the guy.

i started in the biz a few years before internet. i used to have to walk down the hall to the reference library or make phone calls to find terminology. was probably less distracted/more productive

i wouldn't be working at home for myself though

'If ILX didn't exist, how would your career be different?' is a different question and too scary to think about

disregarding ilx then, my career would be no different as we don't use the internet at all.

We were discussing this yesterday and I was really curious how many jobs, outside of direct Web development, had been created by the internet.

Ste, your job's probably the rare one if it's not touched at all.

I'm assuming this isn't including email right?

If it is a part of your basic job description, I would assume so. I mean would you be spending a large part of your time on the phone or making face-to-face visits w/out e-mail?

I worked for the radio station before and after the internet. The differences were like this:

BEFORE: Would get a reel of national spots each week with a list of what was on it. Would have to go in order, record each spot into the system - cueing up each cut, and editing out the dead space before air.
AFTER: Select "Save As" from e-mail. Download it into template.

BEFORE: Show prep consisted of printing out what was on AP wire and cut-up sections of the USA Today sports section. Callers could fax a question if lines were tied up. Lots of sports almanacs piled up in the studio.
AFTER: Bookmarks to CNNSI, ESPN, sportingnews, etc. Fax machine unplugged after it started eating paper. Studio messy with food now.

BEFORE: Played poker with co-workers on the sly.
AFTER: Locked in office reading ILX.

I probably couldn't have fled California taking my employer's best customer with me. I guess I could still work from home, but deadlines would have to be pushed up to accommodate UPS shipping of proofs and final files on disc.

I'd be doing a lot more scanning. Five years ago, most of the magazine's photos were shipped to me and I did a couple hundred scans per issue. Now most everything is emailed to me and I average a dozen scans per issue.

i would be earning 100k a year at a top consultancy firm.

I'd be using a card index.

I don't actually have a career yet (working on that one, I swear, but it can take awhile!), but I have no idea how I would have even found information about options. Knowledgeable people are important, but if they don't happen to be around you, the internet is a good way to figure out where they are!

And how were non-regional job ads posted before the internet, anyway? Like if you wanted to know whether, say, the New England Museum Association had any good openings, would you have had to write to them and ask for a list?

I would still be in the military probably. My career is completely dependent on the existence of the internet.

i dont know that i ever wouldve gotten computer savy w/o the internet and therefor wouldntve fallen into my current line of work which is also somewhat internet dependent

I would have a career

my job would be similar but aspects of it would move at a snail's pace. also i wouldn't have to deal with copyright infringement issues on video hosting sites, which would be awesome though tbh i shouldn't have to be dealing with it now. it's like the drug war: can't win it, resources are wasted, might as well get used to the modern era.

are you WEB SHERIFF

i imagine without the internet you would just be a regular sheriff

i would be earning 100k a year at a top consultancy firm.

so true, curse you experts exchange

I wouldnt have the career I have now at all - I work at an ISP and have done so for about 10 years. But before that I was in the public service and we did fine without PC style computers let alone the internet. There was extremely rudimentary messaging on our Cobol mainframes but that wasnt even used, really. People got work done in those days, kids these days dont know what for etc.