A notable quality of Ricochet’s members is that quite some number of you are both extremely professionally accomplished — and remarkably modest about it. Few of our members brag, but since I’m a curious woman and good at reading between the lines, I’ve figured out that many of you have been quite successful at managing businesses, in particular — unsurprisingly, given the pro-business orientation of our site — and many of you have excelled in a number of other fields that demand an uncommon level of ambition, discipline, professionalism, and commitment.

As I mentioned on a recent editorial podcast, one of my favorite member posts in Ricochet history was Concretevol’s glimpse into his industry: Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Concrete (But Were Afraid To Ask). I love learning about jobs I know nothing about — that’s why I also love Dave Carter’s explanations about how the trucking industry works, and really enjoyed Bryan G. Stephens’ recent post about his experiences as a psychotherapist.

I have a sense that we have many people here who have had fascinating professional experiences — but who rarely discuss them, perhaps out of modesty or the mistaken sense that they wouldn’t be of interest. I’d personally love to hear more about what you do: about your training; about the economics of your industry; about the skills and temperamental traits required to succeed in it; about the lessons you’ve learned from it; about the way your industry has changed (if it has), and if so, how you’ve adapted. I’d love to know about the biggest challenges someone in your line of work faces, and to hear your tips for navigating them successfully.

Of course, it would also always interesting to hear how these experiences have shaped your political opinions. But even apart from that, we have such an interesting group of people here: We seem, truly, to have among us a highly qualified expert on every subject under the sun. And not everything about our lives is political, so there’s no need for every post to be about politics.

So may I invite you to tell us a bit more about what you do for a living? I’d love to see a lively discussion about this in the comments on this thread, of course, but even more: I’d love to see posts about it in the Member Feed. This morning, I put a little post on the Member Feed about a common dilemma in my own industry, to get things started. (It doesn’t make what I do sound like fun, but might give you a bit of insight into the way “the news” becomes “the news you read this morning.”) Let’s keep that as a Ricochet Member exclusive, though: If my thoughts about that go too far on the loose, they do have a bit of “You’ll never eat lunch in this town again” potential.

So tell us more about your job. And to those of you who reckon what you do is boring, I’ll bet you anything you’re wrong. For those of us who’ve never done a job like that, I wager it will be a lot more interesting than you’d ever think.