What's your job and do you enjoy it? I'm sick of mine...

littlegreenman

I'm in specialist printing, specifically that little maroon book we all need to get from A to B around the world.

It can be very mundane, but has days where it's pretty full on and can on occasion be incredibly fulfilling when you make a real world difference to people's lives.

Being screamed at for being a jobsworth prick when you explain that laws can't be circumnavigated just because someone's spent a fortune without any foresight can be good for shits and giggles too!

Pays for guitars, bicycles and holidays so I can't complain too much.

ThePrettyDamned

littlegreenman said:

I'm in specialist printing, specifically that little maroon book we all need to get from A to B around the world.

It can be very mundane, but has days where it's pretty full on and can on occasion be incredibly fulfilling when you make a real world difference to people's lives.

Being screamed at for being a jobsworth prick when you explain that laws can't be circumnavigated just because someone's spent a fortune without any foresight can be good for shits and giggles too!

Pays for guitars, bicycles and holidays so I can't complain too much . 

I've always wondered who does this! Amazing. How did you get into it? 

Currently have lots of dealings with the exceptionally slow, unwilling-to-keep-updated visas and immigration service. We hate it, but I have to remind d myself that because of recent changes they must have literally thousands and thousands of applications that need a decision. 

monquixote

I'm head of engineering at a small high tech.
I come from a broadcast background, but I mostly do software development now. 

As @Sporky says it's like doing puzzles for a living. 

Having previously worked for an extremely bureaucratic company with 500k employees I can recommend working for a small company to those who feel disenfranchised with corporate life. There is no safety net, and nowhere to hide if you feel like slacking off, but living life without things like change boards and HR departments is highly recommended.

colourofsound

I basically would like to do puzzles for a living, or problem solving.

i like the idea of electrical engineering but I have no aptitude for maths; i think that's why I find reading music so frustrating.

i love doing mixing and pro-audio; thats like problem solving stuff. I tried to be a broadcast engineer for the BBC but failed the test at interview. Honestly feel a bit hopeless at the moment. Pathetic really! Just don't know what to do.

monquixote

colourofsound said:

I basically would like to do puzzles for a living, or problem solving.

i like the idea of electrical engineering but I have no aptitude for maths; i think that's why I find reading music so frustrating.

i love doing mixing and pro-audio; thats like problem solving stuff. I tried to be a broadcast engineer for the BBC but failed the test at interview. Honestly feel a bit hopeless at the moment. Pathetic really! Just don't know what to do.

Not sure I agree with everything in this book, but it's a really good read if you are wondering what to do with yourself and it runs counter to all the "What colour is your parachute", "follow your dreams" bollocks most books spout: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Good-They-Cant-Ignore-You/dp/1455509124

Sporky

colourofsound said:

i like the idea of electrical engineering but I have no aptitude for maths; i think that's why I find reading music so frustrating.

I do sums in my job, up to basic trigonometry, but there are online calculators that will do all of that for you, I just like the hand-cranked approach.

Lots of AV integrators want people who are good at audio - both on the design side and the commissioning.

ronnyb

Did 34 years in the 'boys in blue' retired and didn't really intend to work again but got bored and I now work on a casual basis for probation supervising people on community payback. I cover for the regular supervisors for holidays etc. The pay is pretty good for a casual job but it's quite challenging at times trying to make people work when they don't really want to be there. I work as and when I want to a great extent but I think you need a purpose in life. I can't imagine ever retiring fully.

ronnyb

Incidentally I'm not writing this post at 4.30 uk time because I'm not sleeping, bored or anything, I'm on an 8 hour time difference.

thomasross20

It's also good to work for a satellite office office of a big company. Same-ish benefits with less pressure.

Also, offices out of town centres with their own car parks are great.

fields5069

Sporky said:

24's not bad. 20 is pretty standard.

This reminds me, next year I go up to 30 after being at my current job for 10 years. It was a condition which I guess couldn't be "aligned" when Orange and T-Mobile merged, otherwise there's no question it would be gone by now.

I'm getting to the point where I either man up, get all energetic and progress somehow, or concentrate more on my free time to provide more of a contrast between work and home. At the moment I work and then go home to do the usual evening chores and then sleep. The balance is not quite right but I reckon I have 5-10 years when I can possibly take higher stress for higher pay, before winding down into the twilight of my working life. It's either that or start chilling now, for my sanity.

fields5069

TTony said:

If we spent as much time thinking about, talking about and planning our non-work lives as we do re our work lives, we'd probably be a lot happier as work would then explicitly become just a means to the end, rather than assuming more importance than it deserves.  We'd pick work that enabled our main purpose in life.

Discuss,

Definite wiz. That's where strength of character becomes apparent, which is what I'm arriving at, at nearly 50 years of age, so it took a while. You have to snap out of the uneven employee/company relationship and realise what is really important to you.

Companies are quite clever at swaying the balance though. What most of us are engaged in is an exchange - your time for their money. It's a fair exchange, nothing more and nothing less. Many employees feel that they are being rewarded by the company they work for, they feel grateful, and this is encouraged and exploited by many companies. No one is doing you a favour, do not feel that you owe the company anything other than your contracted hours. Working outside those hours may be in your interests to solve an issue or to progress your career, but always assume that you will achieve no personal gain by doing so.

BigMonka

TTony said:

If we spent as much time thinking about, talking about and planning our non-work lives as we do re our work lives, we'd probably be a lot happier as work would then explicitly become just a means to the end, rather than assuming more importance than it deserves.  We'd pick work that enabled our main purpose in life.

Discuss,

Typically people sleep for 8hours/day, work 8hours/day, home time 8hours/day. So IMO it's a bit depressing for a third of each day to just be a means to an end, and just increases the pressure on your home time to be "fun" (when in reality it's more often chores). So I think that work does deserve to have significant importance in our lives, but even in the worst jobs you can get that bit of satisfaction by things like working with people you like, or a job that's somehow making a difference in the world etc

fields5069

Home time is usually far less than that though. I can't really count the morning, and typically I have 4 hours in the evening before I go to bed.

not_the_dj

I concept and cost automation for warehouses and distribution centers (for supermarkets, clothes retailers, online stores, that sort of thing). 

I did an engineering design degree so at least having "engineer" in my title sort of makes that worth it.

Can be stressy at times, but I've been here for years and know what I'm doing, that might mean I'm stuck in a rut but the other side of the coin is I'm confident in what I do and respected. 

underdog

Being unhappy at work is really not worth it in the long run, I done well paid jobs for over a decade just to pay the mortgage and feed the kids, and to be honest with you that's all I done. I couldn't afford a nice car or holidays etc.

Going self employed was the best thing I done, it was a huge risk but my mental well being was better for it and as a result you make time and find money to do the things you couldn't afford when you had a job you hated, just because mentally you feel you can find a way.

Honestly the best bit of my "job" now is that 99% of the time the customer leaves me feeling better about themselves than when they came in. People may look at them as some kind of freak but I helped make them feel like they are better now, it's great.

TTBZ

Definitely agree that you need to do something you can find at least a bit of joy in. I couldn't imagine having to work in a proper office environment, just seems too depressing. I'm actually looking forward to 9-5 hours though, short days fly by compared to 10-12 hour shifts I'm used to. And every weekend and bank holiday off is unheard of in my old job!

57Deluxe

I just teach guitar now as a 'job' but I sell musician support software online also.. but generally - all 'Billies' are C*&"!%

Flink_Poyd

I help to design wheat mazes for farmers/local councils etc. I like to get lost in my work.

DLM

@57Deluxe What sort of Billie are you referring to? I'm no closer to understanding: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:PrefixIndex/Billie

57Deluxe

@DLM ;; - - Billy-Bunters=Punters!    Billies=collective noun!