Thooretically, I'm a contract programmer. However, I havn't written any code (computer instructions) for pay in over two years.
what I actually do:
I look at the code the other programmers submit and make sure that they don't have any obvious error and adhere to our style standards . I get to spend 9 hours saying things like "You can't promote this. It has compile errors" "How did you test this?" "That SQL won't update anything" "You're x minutes for the promotion" (we have a Crisis Du Jour everyday at 5:00).
In addition, I do minor database fixes. The system runs human services (Welfare/TANF,Food Stamps, Medi-cal(Or Medicaid)(Medical insurance for the Poor) for the nation's most populous County (over 9 million and growing!) - the system runs on 7 mainframe(server) computers, and one of my jobs to move cases from one to other so the system will perform better.
I also teach a programming class as a volunteer. The current system is written in what I call "The Rondey Dangerfield of programming languages" - COBOL, and I'm trying to update my cv by learning Java and Java stuff
I even find time to ride my bike