Does your career influence your thinking?

I know that certain personality types might gravitate towards work that fits their personality. But we spend such a large part of our day doing whatever it is that we do – it seems that the influence of our work will have an effect on the way we think.

For example, I’m a software engineer/developer/programmer. I’ve been doing this crap for 15 years. When I’m approaching a non-work problem, I often find myself tackling it the way I do a software problem (objects, methods, relational dbs, etc.). Sometimes my wife calls me on it. I’ve inadvertently sent her emails of pseudocode.

But what about police officers? They are often dealing with people who are trying to deceive, and they are forced to be an authority. How does that influence their personal life?

What do you do, and does the actual work influence the way you think and interact?

** Additionally – if you are raising children, this sure as hell counts as a career.