Does everyone hate their job?

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’ve been reading through old posts recently and have been shocked to realize the degree of dislike or even outright hate some people seem to have for their own professions. Professors can’t get tenure, have no job security, grad school is horrible. Lawyers are overworked, miserable, disillusioned, have endless tedious work, can’t get good pay with “preferred” law areas. Doctors are overworked, get sued frequently, have crippling debts, pay an arm and a leg for insurance, etc. The pharmacy profession will soon be taken over by robots (no joke). Journalists are underpaid and often relegated to “grunt work” for years upon years. Teachers don’t get paid much at all, have to deal with helicopter parents and “bad” kids and test prep. And that’s just off the top of my head…</p>

<p>It’s not that I mind people telling about the downsides of differennt professions (quite the contray), but it strikes me how much everyone seems to regret their choice of profession, even and especially “highly desirable” ones like law, journalism, and medicine. Are all these professions really so soul draining, evaporating into thin air, and/or just miserable?</p>

<p>Discuss.</p>

2

<p>Maybe people are getting into these professions for the wrong reasons and that is why they do not like it.</p>

3

<p>my husband really likes his job- so much that he has refused any advancement that would require him to do something else.
He works with composite materials and has built the prototype for the 787, worked on shuttles and satelittes and is the only one that special projects are sent to if it is a high priority.
He does get frustrated that some projects that he is told have high priority and he busts his butt to finish them are then put on the back burner when * another* high priorty job comes up, but for the most part he enjoys his work.
HIs pay isn’t great, it hasn’t really gone up for years, and because he is in a union job, layoffs are dependent on seniority, so there are downsides, but as far as the actual work goes, he is well suited to it, if he didn’t like it, he would do something else.</p>

4

<p>OK, I’ll bite - I HATE my job, I also love my job. I find it exhilarating, and incredibly depressing; boring and mundane, and infinitely interesting - in other words, it depends on the time of day/year and what I’m doing and a thousand other inputs to determine how I feel about my job at any given time.</p>

<p>I note that most of the jobs you list, Wolfpiper, are what we would consider the traditional professions - occupations that require a considerable amount of education or training - even teachers today have to have Masters degrees. Most of us in one of these professions feels trapped from time to time, maybe trapped all the time, and that is the source of some of the dissatisfaction. Garland’s husband notwithstanding, it is hard for an MD to walk away from his profession, given the time and money put in - I think some of these other professionals feel the same.</p>

<p>Also when you ask us about our jobs, I think there is some tendency to emphasize the negative, rather than the positive. I can only speak to medicine, but, on a public forum like this there are many starry eyed young folks who think they want to be MDs, but know little or nothing about the profession, and, frankly, may have a hard time learning anything substantive about medicine - I really knew very little when I started med school.
I could paint a rosy picture on this forum, make medicine sound very attractive, BUT, I think what makes you content with your calling is not how you feel about the “fun” or glamorous parts of your career, but how you deal with the challenges, with the boring and mundane days, with the disappointments.</p>

<p>That brings me to another reason why lots of parents here sound as if they hate their jobs - burnout. Medicine, law, pharmacy, teaching, many of these careers are extremely intense, and changing very rapidly. A lot of people who have put in years of post-graduate work find themselves at 40-45, heavily invested in a career that is signficantly different than what it was 20 years earlier when they began their education. It is the “I didn’t sign up for THIS!” syndrome. A corollary is that many of us were drawn to a profession because of the combination of job security plus having some control over work, in medicine at least, we have lost both.</p>

<p>As someone who is beginning to see the future of growing old, and needing a doc myself, we need students to do medicine and pharmacy and nursing who feel drawn to these professions despite all the crap. Who have a desire to help that goes beyond job security and certainty. Just as in a long marriage, the full passion may have cooled, but the participants still have to have a love for the job and a need to do the job - that is more rare.</p>

5

<p>I’m pleased but look for every opportunity to improve myself. I’m not sure if the reward is in doing my job well or in achieving the next goal I’ve made for myself. I suppose when I run out challenges, I’ll become uneasy. In my 3rd profession, all by choice, I’ve found one constant. It is NOT the job that I enjoy but the team or people who I work with. I don’t miss my first career but I miss the friend I made while there, Likewise with the second. So this time around, I’m just enjoying the commraderie that goes along with being part of a productive group and sharing the accolades that are so rarely handed out. I doesn’t cost anything to say thanks, or good job… but is sure goes a long way.</p>

6

<p>fatherofthe reminds me of something very insightful that SBMom said a while ago about having “serial” careers. Whether by luck or just due to my ADD, I’m the same way. I’ve had several very interesting and different careers that have just sort of morphed from each other. I’ve also never really considered my career to be the source of my self-identity; my job was just one of the many things I happened to do and enjoy. On the other hand, My husband always knew, from childhood on, that he wanted to be a doctor. He still loves it, the sense of being a scientist and a healer are still important to him, and being a physician is still an important part of his self-identity. He’s also found ways to satisfy his entrepreneurial urges within the field. But I have to say, doing what he does every day would drive me up a wall.</p>

<p>Liking what you do is the key to being successful at it, and if you stop liking it, it may be time to move on. Which is why you should keep your educational horizons broad, and avoid going into too much debt.</p>

7

<p>cangel, great post!</p>

<p>I love what I do - and somedays I hate it, too. My profession (HR) has changed dramatically since the 70’s when I entered. Regulation and compliance issues seem to take precedence over quality. We analyze metrics and depending on the organization, the numbers can be more important than results. There are days I feel like I live in a Dilbert cartoon strip. Then again, there are days that I know I’m making my company a better place to work and playing a part in having employees reach their own career goals. </p>

<p>Corporate America is not the same place as it used to be. But if you can find the intellectual stimulation and laugh at some of the nonsense, and don’t get caught up in the negatives, you’ll find the rewards you originally wanted.</p>

8

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<p>Very good points, driver.</p>

9

<p>I do sales and marketing for an online residential architectural and design magazine that is directed toward builders/developers, architects and interior designers and I would say that most of the time I really enjoy my job. It’s challenging and creative which makes it fun. I’m self-employed and only work 6 hours a day which to me is perfect. There are negatives, of course, with being self-employed (paying my own very expensive health insurance :frowning: ) but overall I feel very lucky to do the work I do.</p>

10

<p>I am relatively happy with my job, but the world of work is rapidly losing its appeal. I think I picked a field I enjoy and matched my needs, but it has not all been smooth:
Job 1, State 1
Within a few months I realized that my job was at risk. My job depended on renewal of a Federal contract and after 7 years of renewals that was in doubt. I left after 18 months for a better opportunity.
Job 2, State 2
I enjoyed this job. It was a good learning opportunity but the finances of the organization were bad and I left after 12 months for a different type of job within the same field.
Job 3, State 3
Absolutely the best job and the best company I ever worked for. I earned a major promotion and was transferred out of State to Job 4.
Job 4, State 4
My boss was really difficult to work for but I felt I had support from the main corporate HQ and would succeed and eventually be promoted and transferred again. After 2 years, the company was sold. I had a tough year working for the old boss. The new company cut back and fired a lot of really good employees throughout the country. After another year, the company was sold again. Our site was scheduled to be closed. I got out before the end.
Job 5, State 5
This was a young, new organization. I worked hard along with some other great people and we built the organization and were doing well. Upper management was changed prior to a merger and I was fired.<br>
Job 6, State 6
I joined a very successful, but cutthroat and marginally ethical company. Work was really hard, but the company changed into a high quality and ethical organization. After about 5 years that was undone, when a past mistake resulted in legal action. The company was sold and my site was scheduled to be closed. I did work for the new company for a year but I guess I can still call it job 6, since my work was not changed. It was however a miserable year working for a really bad company.
Job 7, State 6
Since my position was being closed, I accepted a transfer with the company but would have had to move across the country to a new location. At the last minute I found a great job close to home. Five years later the organization is still struggling financially. Raises and opportunities are thin.</p>

<p>Maybe my story is a bit too long, but it is not at all unusual. Businesses come and go and there have been lots of mergers and downsizing. I have actually been pretty lucky in finding good jobs and working with and for good people. Even so you eventually realize that as an employee you are expendable. I have also learned that when times are tough in a company, everyone suffers. I have learned that we live in a world full of incompetent people. I have also learned that big organizations are not smart. Most of us end up at least part of our lives working in the corporate world with Dilbert. It is not that funny when your finances and job satisfaction depend on it.</p>

<p>I may not be burned out yet, but I am singed on the edges.</p>

11

<p>It’s also possible that the people who really love their jobs are out there doing them and not fooling around reading and writing on CC. ;)</p>

12

<p>My first job was as a postal clerk, and I admit, I hated it, but needed the money. After that I did tutoring, which I loved, and substitute teaching, which I found a little too challenging for me. Then, for 16 years or so, I was a fulltime homeschool teacher/part-time writer, which I really did love. Teaching my boys was extremely challenging, but also extremely satisfying.</p>

<p>Now my jobs are reading (grading essays online) and writing (test questions, Sunday school curriculum, essays and personal experience stories, children’s books). Some parts of it can get boring, but I love working out of the home (sure saves gas on the commute!), love the people I work with, and feel satisfaction when I get a chance to do my own writing.</p>

<p>Any job or profession has its good and its bad points. Which points we tend to stress often depends on how that particular day or week is going.</p>

13

<p>I spent a couple of hours at the bike shop today and the guy working on my bike really seemed to enjoy his job! :)</p>

<p>Found it! This thread reminded me of an old thread… I guess I have been here too long!!!</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=38801&highlight=job[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=38801&highlight=job&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

14

<p>Parents are always giving advice, so here’s the key thing I tell my son: When you have decisions to make, some will close off options and some will keep options open. Keep your options open! For example, graduating without a large student loan will then allow you to take jobs you love without worrying about the money you’ll need to pay off the loan.</p>

<p>With many of my jobs, I ended up either taking a pay cut (sometimes drastic) or taking a job that paid little but looked like a fantastic opportunity to do something different.</p>

<p>Here are a couple of key highlights:</p>

<p>I took a HUGE cut in pay - poverty level really - to take advantage of an opportunity that would never knock again: a research staff position in the AI Lab of the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon University. It was a pure coincidental happening and I was in the right place at the right time. I dropped everything to go there, and the two years I was there changed my entire career path.</p>

<p>I was also ready to up and move to DC when I got an opportunity to work for an AI group within the Federal Judicial Center of the Supreme Court. I got to travel across the USA, working with Federal Courts on exciting projects and loved it.</p>

<p>And out of the blue came a chance to take an AI position at Bell Laboratories. No moaning and groaning - just up and left DC and moved to New Jersey. Fantastic work.</p>

<p>And then I also jumped at an opportunity to live in Colorado for one year (that was lots of years ago and I’m still here!). The work was challenging and I liked it a lot.</p>

<p>And then just recently, I got an opportunity to help with a small startup in the Caribbean (Haiti) and I commuted from Colorado. Unbelieveable challenges and lots of opportunity to make a huge difference in an entire country. That lasted 5 years.</p>

<p>Now I’m getting close to retirement and have a job that supplies a paycheck. I suppose I’ve gotten lazy in my old age, but I am now really looking forward to retirement.</p>

15

<p>No job is fun all the time. Even if you’re in a position that ideally suits your abilities, and satisfies your material needs, there will be days when you get up in the morning and don’t view the prospect of going to work with pleasant anticipation. When the ratio of those days to the good days tips creeps too high, it’s time to start thinking about making a change.</p>

16

<p>The thing is, there is usually a financial reward for learning how to do one thing well, and then doing it over and over. And it’s usually the easiest thing to do. But it’s hard to retain your enthusiasm and enjoyment for a job if it consists of doing the same thing over and over. So you have to spend some non- or low-revenue time learning how to do something else, and then do that. If you’re good at the process, you make more money with the new job than the old. If not… well, you usually stay at or go back to the old job. Which is really boring now. And at that point you hate your job. After a few decades, it’s hard not to.</p>

<p>I’ve found that my enjoyment of my job has come from constantly learning and doing new things, even within the scope of my profession, which hasn’t technically changed. So even though I’ve been a “lawyer” for over 30 years, I’ve been doing a lot of different things. Transactional work - negotiating deals, setting up organizational structures - trial court litigation, appeals court briefing and argument, civil cases, criminal cases - they’re all different. At different points of my career I’ve concentrated on one type of work or another but I’ve never quite abandoned all the rest. And it’s a good thing, because my focus has constantly drifted from one type of work to a very different one over a five to ten year span.</p>

<p>I’ve seen some lawyers who did one thing, and when that sort of petered out they just weren’t up to learning any new tricks. So they got out of the profession. There are a lot of ex-lawyers out there. And I’ve seen a fair number of really prominent lawyers who have that “haunted” look in their eyes - almost as if they feel like they’re trapped by their success. </p>

<p>So to address the original post: Yes, I think everyone hates their job, if they feel like they have no choice but to do the same thing, year after year. And probably many people come to that stage at some point.</p>

17

<p>I absolutely love what I do and generally wake up in the morning so excited I cannot wait to get started. Broadly, I work on the “good guys” side of preventing - or at least being aware of and steering around - situations that involve terrorism, fraud, human, drug and weapons trafficking, etc., and, I’m my own boss, although accountable to others. What I love is the freedom to travel (or not), and exposure to people and cultures all over the world - at any moment I may be focused on something in Kenya or Dubai or even at some hilarious moments the office building next door. </p>

<p>Having said that, I also recognize that nothing lasts forever, and that seems to be especially true with fantastically wonderful situations. Anything can and will change, and sometimes without warning, therefore, I always know what I am going to do next, should something unexpected and undesirable happen. </p>

<p>The best career advice I’ve ever heard is “begin looking for your next job your very first day of work at your new job”. Business arrangements and conditions can change with lightening speed, and when one is responsible for the financial support of others, it is especially critical to be able to “see around corners” and have one or more contingency plans. I think everyone of my age range has probably been through one or more situations such as mergers, or jobs where the boss and the culture is wonderful but suddenly the boss changes or the terrific employees are transferred, etc. Or legislative actions cause business changes that make a once-profitable space untenable, etc. </p>

<p>Everyone of working age today should expect to have serial careers and multiple employers. But the great part of a rapidly changing global business environment is that there are so many incredibly interesting, exciting things to do. There are ALWAYS choices. The best way to be prepared to take advantage of exciting new choices is to develop skills and subject matter expertise that can be leveraged profitably in new situations.</p>

18

<p>I consider myself exceptionally lucky that I am a) self employed, so set my own hours and schedule, which I can then set around my children’s schedule, and b) paid handsomely for my expertise.</p>

<p>There are times that I find my work stressful, yes, but I am very grateful that I do something I love, am good at, and am also well compensated.</p>

19

<p>Latetoschool,</p>

<p>Do you head the NSA?</p>

20

<p>I was wondering if she knows Jack Bauer :)</p>

<p>I actually do hate my job, have been looking for something else for a couple of years without much success, and sometimes feel as if I die a little bit every time I open my office door. The job does, however, offer me the flexibility I want to be there for my family when they need me, even to the extent of being able to break off to drive my kids to dance class or the orthodontist without penalty. But I’m often bored out of my mind and there are facility and staff problems that are mine to endure but not to fix.</p>

<p>I have that flexible, part-time job so many mothers want (see the current thread about “How much time do you spend with your children?”), and I STILL hate it. There’s just no pleasing some people (blush).</p>