Do you enjoy your job?

[Bill of Rights]

So I was talking to someone on the phone yesterday and something she said got me thinking. She told me that she, her husband, and both of her adult sons are in situations where they don't like what they do... to the point that her sons might take a job, but even so, are always looking for something else. All of the men she mentioned are professional people with graduate degrees and she is a teacher... I'm not sure if she went for a Masters or not.

My first response was, "How sad!" I couldn't and still can't wrap my head around even seeking, let alone accepting a job I hated badly enough to be immediately and constantly looking for something else while I did it.

Then I got to wondering, so I'm going to pose the above question to INGO: Please respond with the type of work and whether you enjoy it or not, and how many years you've done it. I am aware that some of you are very public about your jobs. If you want to answer and don't want to post, I promise confidentiality if you PM

Blessings,
Bill

 

[SEIndSAM]

I love my job. I am Sales Manager of a company that sells building materials...

I have been in the Lumber & Building materials business and outside sales since 1985.

There have been a couple of jobs where I liked the company, but worked for a slimy character (my supervisor). Both times I changed jobs for something better.

 

[ChristianPatriot]

I like getting paid well enough so that my wife can, by her own choice, stay home with our children and teach them right and wrong. Going out and fixing crap equipment for penny-pinching customers? That part sucks.

 

[PapaScout]

If money was not part of the equation I would be doing something else. I'm not dispassionate about what I do but sometimes I have to dig to find it.

 

[JettaKnight]

Embedded systems engineer (Elec. Engr.) for almost twenty years now. I've done work in many sectors, everything from satellites down to miniature cameras.

And yes.

 

[ArcadiaGP]

Systems Admin. About 5 years for this company, and other IT positions for 5-6 years before it.

I very much enjoy it. I'm the only one in my position, only my boss above me. No one below or to the sides... it's got a lot of freedom to it. For the most part, I like my users.

 

[snorko]

All things considered, I do very much like my job. There are certain aspects which can be trying and if I got a do-over I would manage some aspects of my career development differently. But overall I actually enjoy the challenges it brings.

Reflecting on Papascout's comment though, I would NOT do something else for the same or even marginally more money.

However, the true test is the Lottery Question. If you won say $50 million tomorrow, would you still work the same job?

I have to admit that I would finish out the calendar year to settle commitments already made but that would be it.

 

[jd4320t]

If money was not part of the equation I would be doing something else. I'm not dispassionate about what I do but sometimes I have to dig to find it.

I agree with this.

My job is boring, monotonous and rarely challenges me. It's the nature of the beast that things must be done the same way every time without deviation.

The positives are definitely enough to outweigh the negatives though....for now

 

[1911ly]

I have always been in the electronics business. Service, sales and even owning my own business. I haven't change jobs very many times, When I have it was always for better pay, benefits etc. I have always loved my job(s). I have liked some more then others. But I haven't been stuck in a job.

 

[Rookie]

I do not like my job. Factory work, boring, same thing every day, no challenge. I've done it for 18 years and have 20 to go.

 

[RobbyMaQ]

Graphic Design/Technical Illustration. 25 years in so far. Couldn't imagine doing anything else for a living.
Pro's: Unique environment, every job is different. Challenging.
Con's: Tight deadlines/mental pressure.
Overall I love it, but I'd be lying if I didn't say somedays I wish I had a mindless repetitive task type job.

 

[Cameramonkey]

Computer Networking. LOVE IT. I especially love my company and my job. I could make more elsewhere, but with the flexibility and control I have, I wouldnt have it any other way. I coudlnt have more control unless I went back to being self employed.

I now know firsthand why women tend to make less than men. I'm in one of those job situations where the perks fit my life better than more money ever could. I could possibly make half again as much as I do with a few more certs and moving to a larger company or consulting firm. But then I'd be on the road, long hours, inflexible schedules, and insufferable bosses and "customers". Nooooo thanks!

They say if you truly enjoy what you do you wont work a day in your life. I dont think I've done a day of work in 15 years.

 

[chocktaw2]

Wood working for 22 yrs. I like it by choice. As much time as I spend there, not liking it is not an option.

 

[rhino400]

Information Systems Manager. I love it. I definitely believe it has to do with the company as well. I was with my old company for 6 years and it was awful at times.
Switched jobs and companies and it's night and day. Love my job and the people I work with and that work for me.

 

[churchmouse]

I like getting paid well enough so that my wife can, by her own choice, stay home with our children and teach them right and wrong. Going out and fixing crap equipment for penny-pinching customers? That part sucks.

Before retirement I felt as you do. The penny pinching crappy customers and idiot business owners (and other reasons) made it easy to retire at 62.
Since "Retiring" I have been very busy doing HVAC work for friends/family and ingo members. I love it again.....

 

[lovemachine]

I'm a machinist and a sheet metal fabricator. I've been working at my family's shop for 20 years now. My dad and uncle own it, was started by my grandpa and great uncle. One day my cousin and I will run it. I was 13 when I started working, and my job was to pack boxes and clean the floor.

I love it. I live 3 minutes from work. So I can ride my bicycle back and forth. And I can maintain my other hobby, woodturning, on my lunch hour as well. The shop is small, and I get along great with the other employees.

I can't imagine working anywhere else. My shop has been open for 52 years now, and I hope to keep it growing.

 

[Alamo]

I like my job a lot. I wouldn't say "love," I have a high bar for "love," but it pays alright for what it is, and has some very nice non-financial bennies, among them that the owners are good people. It fits my motivations, talents, and personality very well, and I am happy to do the best I can for the owners of the business, and they treat me accordingly.

However, I do not think that "liking what you do" should be THE primary driver. I know there is lots of what seems to be fad advice to "do what you love, the money will follow," but I have my doubts as to how well that works out if what you love is trivial or outdated.

People have responsibilities in life, providing for themselves and their families is the uber-responsibility, and that may very well mean doing something not particularly likable that meets your needs financially, versus doing something more fun but less remunerative. My parents grew up in the depression era*, and learned the hard way that you do what you need to do first. I think one of the reasons that the "Greatest Generation" pulled through in WWII was they were already trained to struggle and sacrifice and work through unpleasant things without folding, a good deal of this thanks to FDR and his advisors and his prolongation of the depression by several years.

(Today's little safe-place snowflakes are going to get the same lesson in spades if their favored candidates win this fall. I read about current graduates that really gave no thought as to how they were going to pay their loans or who would hire them or even if what they were learning was worth a damn, and yet somehow expected that someone would hand them a lucrative pay check along with their degrees. Instead they're whining about they're crappy job that's going to be replace by a robot in about five years, or doing nothing sponging off their parents. I guess they get a paycheck when they show up at the BLM/Occupy Crap rallies.)

If you can find something that you like to do and more importantly that other people like you to do it, enough that they will pay you well for it, that is a happy intersection indeed. Be happy and humble about it.

*Mom quote from growing up on a depression era farm: "You can eat every part of the pig except the oink."

 

[ChristianPatriot]

Before retirement I felt as you do. The penny pinching crappy customers and idiot business owners (and other reasons) made it easy to retire at 62.
Since "Retiring" I have been very busy doing HVAC work for friends/family and ingo members. I love it again.....

Sounds like I should just go ahead and retire

 

[Double T]

I enjoy my profession. My current workplace, not as much. I'm a nurse by trade, and have been pulled into the office on several occasions for being an advocate for a patient or their well being, whether mental or physical.

I absolutely loathe the business side of my work. I do not like the amount of paperwork vs. hand on patient interaction. Yes, computers are nice...but now it seems like we have 5x as much charting to do.

 

[Leadeye]

Retired, but then went back to work, industry really didn't want me to retire. Work as a consulting chemist now, solving problems, helping people with projects, and passing on knowledge that I've picked up from 40 years of listening to old guys that I learned from.