If I were not a programmer...

...an engine driver, me?

Unfortunately work seems to be No Fun Anymore. Not because of the work itself, but because after four years or so of working with RSI at varying levels of pain and productivity I'm just fed up of:

• constant low level aching
• not having any decent way to get stuff out of my brain and into the computer
• not being able to concentrate on work for useful, long, productive lengths of time (due to both of the above and to worrying about whether I'm making things worse)
• having to force myself to do even the limited number of hours I'm currently working (due to all of the above); if I don't want to work then something is definitely wrong.

But if not this then what? I'd like a job with the following characteristics:

• no (or very minimal) keyboard use (duh!)
• requires use of the brain
• a reasonable degree of autonomy to do things the way I think best; I don't want to just be carrying out somebody else's todo list
• I'd rather have one big thing to deal with that I can concentrate on for two weeks than fifteen different little things to prioritise/complete every day
• not customer facing
• not something requiring extensive use of the telephone

While I'm here I'll throw in the Escapist Fantasy: buggering off to Japan and spending six months full time continuing to learn the language.