It's a great phrase to know in French 'Qu-est ce que tu fait dans la vie?', fits well with most aliens you come across. But in as much as we are interested in others and try to be friendly, to be honest isn't this a reflection of how we compare one another? By putting labels and titles we can group people and ourselves easily on the scale of success.
I'm a linguist in training, I love what I get to do, work with exotic languages and learn lots of things everyday. And the people I work with who appreciate the things I do when I try to figure out how their language works, they just wonder why it takes so long to write a thesis. So to be honest, I don't think I'm the best at it, it is not well paid, I had to put up with Malaria and Typhoid last time I was working in Lagos. No, it is not the most comfortable thing I could do in life. And while there must be many others, smarter than me out there, they didn't take the chance, maybe they never got it. Well I did get the chance and I took it.
Today my supervisor asked me what my plans are after having finished my PhD. My answer; plan 1) survive this PhD, 2) secure myself a house somewhere on the continent of Africa 3) live happily ever after. I should probably have said something but I ended up just smiling and I guess he wouldn't understand anyway if I told him my plans. I think if you really want to know someone better, don't just ask what they are doing, but rather why they are doing what they are doing.
