Ways to ask "What do you do for a living?"

Question

What are the most common ways to say someone what do they do for a living?

The only one I know is "¿A qué te dedicas?"

To the question, How do you earn a living? My answer is "I'm retired, so very poorly!" - Jubilado, Jun 4, 2013

Answer 1

¿a qué te dedicas? (tú) ¿a qué se dedica? (usted) ¿cómo te ganas la vida? (tú) ¿cómo se gana la vida? (usted)

And the classic: ¿estudias o trabajas?

Though I'm American, I heard the phrase in British English (rather informal of course): "And how do you earn a crust?" I thought it was funny. - Jubilado, Jun 4, 2013

Answer 2

You can say "¿cómo te ganas la vida?" or of course in most cases "¿cómo se gana la vida?" since you'd probably ask that question to someone you didn't know that well.

Answer 3

"A qué te dedicas?" o "A qué se dedica"? es lo más común. A veces la gente usa: "En qué industria trabajas?"

¡Pero qué padre estar en la compañía de alguien que sepa bien! - 005faa61, Jun 5, 2013

Gracias! :-) - 00e46f15, Jun 5, 2013

SyLyon, You've been helpful on many post answers today! We are grateful for the good help. - katydew, Jun 6, 2013

Answer 4

This is a good question. I'm just bumping it up by writing an answer. Nice to meet LondonSpanishGuy another native speaker. Why not "bloke" or is "guy" used as much now? I was in London 41 years ago. Things change.

The expression "How do you earn a living?" is also quite common though I suspect it is the same in Spanish.

Answer 5

I've seen, "Cuál es su trabajo?" and, "Cuál es su profesión?", but I don't know if they are common ways to ask or not.

Answer 6

¿Que haces por trabajo?