Current Mixed Feelings

[Jubbers]

I never came right out and said it, but yep, that's where I work. A couple of the applications I have work on directly dealt with Labatt even, and I currently have a weekly conference call with Canada.

[Jubbers]

my personal inclination would be to take the higher-paying job and grin and bear the unpleasantness. More often than not, life boils down to unpleasantness, but getting paid nicely to put up with it does take the sting out a bit.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

More often than not, life boils down to unpleasantness, but getting paid nicely to put up with it does take the sting out a bit.

Life is pain. Get paid.

[Dalty]

Mal is right. Fuck it, if I didn't HAVE to get up and go to work every day I wouldn't but I do, and it sure does pay for some purty things and super-sweet holidays!! And the higher you climb the better the money and the more rewarding it feels because you can genuinely see where your direction and influence yields the results. But when you first start...... it can be kinda hard to see.

There are adverts on TV right now that sell some of my company's differentiating features vs the competition and I led the project teams that implemented the technology that makes those features work.

That's pretty cool. You just have to stick with it.

Also, a very close friend of mine once bemoaned the fact that I had a career and was comparatively (to him) well rewarded. But this is because I picked an industry and a career and stuck with it. So now 20 years later I have experience and skills that people are willing to pay for. He, on the other hand, jumped ship from job to job to job and switched industries and career paths every time he got a bit miserable at work.

I am certainly no smarter than him, nor do I probably work harder than him.

Anyway, that's just the benefit of my experience. Hope it helps.

[Space Tycoon]

Also, a very close friend of mine once bemoaned the fact that I had a career and was comparatively (to him) well rewarded. But this is because I picked an industry and a career and stuck with it. So now 20 years later I have experience and skills that people are willing to pay for. He, on the other hand, jumped ship from job to job to job and switched industries and career paths every time he got a bit miserable at work.

I am certainly no smarter than him, nor do I probably work harder than him.

Sounds a lot like me.

It's all about me, of course.

[Dalty]

The biggest advice I can ever give people is, when they find themselves building a body of industry or role experience, to stick with it. Then when it comes to time to move companies but to a competitor or alternative in the same industry you just build and build on what you know. In that direction lays the seniority and the rewards that come with it.

Of course, if you detest things so much you feel physically down just walking into your office and dread sleeping every night because it means that morning, and a return to that job, is coming then for Christ's sake go and do something else.

However that is the extreme. Very few people love every second of every day at work. Just don't let a little negativity make you screw over your long term career because you will be running from job to job your entire life and still get the shit, with none of the reward.

You will also remain in that beginning space where you are learning and finding your way (which is the root cause of a lot of the job anxiety) and never reach that nirvana of getting to the place where you are the subject matter expert, leader and experienced guide and coach that others look up to which is when it starts to get both personally and financially rewarding.

[Mal Shot First]

Again, it might be the case that this teaching position would be less stressful than the IT position you currently have, but I doubt it. Teachers have to put up with a lot of crap - you know that - and they don't get paid nearly as much as they should for it. The way I see it, you have the benefit of a versatile skill set and aren't as strictly defined by your graduate education as most of your colleagues. Yes, you aren't working in a job that lets you use the knowledge and skills you specifically went to school for, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. You should ask yourself if you feel like you "should" take the teaching job (if it's offered to you) simply because you think you would otherwise have wasted your time getting a degree in German and obtaining a teaching certificate. If the attempt at avoiding this potential regret is what's driving your interest in the teaching position, then I would strongly encourage you to consider not taking it.

From personal experience, I can say that not occupying a job related to my degree hasn't made me regret getting that degree. I still came out of the whole thing with valuable life experience and I still get to put it on my resume (with an explanation of the skills I acquired as a graduate student).

[Dalty]

Also, clever and personable and conscientious people with knowledge and experience who can code and take personal responsibility for just fixing IT that is used in 'The Business' - Jubbers, it may not seem that way today, but tomorrow there are a lot of people who will pay you a metric (or if you prefer - imperial) shit ton of money to do that!

[Jubbers]

Jesus, would you guys tell Negs to switch from her MFA program to an MBA just because it would make more goddamn money, the joy she gets from children's literature be damned?

It isn't about wasted time. It's about pleasurable time. I got my degree in what I got it in because I legitimately enjoy the subject matter. I had the choice to be a computer science major in college, and I would have been good at it, but conflicting time schedules meant that I had to make a choice and I chose to major in something that I enjoyed more. I may not have enjoyed graduate school as much as I wanted, but it was never the subject matter's fault. I still love German pop culture, humor, literature, and philosophy, despite all the douchebaggery that surrounds the graduate department. There's a reason why I pursued the teaching certification instead of jumping straight into IT last year. I genuinely like teaching, when I'm allowed to do it.

The choice, should it even come down to being a choice (I could not be offered the other job at all, after all), isn't between amounts of stress, but types of stress. I have experienced both kinds, after all. The choice is about getting to work in a field that I enjoy, doing something that I enjoy vs. being caught up more and more in something that I don't find pleasure in. Dalty mentioned above how "more rewarding it feels because you can genuinely see where your direction and influence yields the results" - that is more important to me than the money. I care about education and German and kids. I don't care about beer. And ultimately, when I finish my dissertation, I want to apply for my absolute dream job, which will be easier for me to get if I have been teaching (any level) recently and which will be more in line, salary-wise, to what I would be getting as a teacher.

I would rather have a somewhat enjoyable eight hours of stress versus a detestable 8 hours of stress per day. I would like to come home not depressed and exhausted. I also don't want to turn into my parents, where work and the pursuit of more money became such an obsession that they spent minimal time with their kids.

There are also things like job security to keep in mind. My promotion has been pushed back six months so far, so I wouldn't be surprised to see it pushed back again, for budgetary reasons, and I have already experienced one mass layoff in IT where an entire fifth of the department was suddenly let go, job performance be damned ("we are a beer company, not an IT company" - we can be and will be outsourced as much as possible).

[Dalty]

Well then, I think you have just stated a passionate case that kinda makes up your mind for you. But what I was saying is that it feels hard to see where your influence yields results at the beginning of your career.

It's about the long game.

[Mal Shot First]

Yeah, based on what you just wrote, this doesn't sound at all like a case of mixed feelings. Sounds like you're okay with taking less money - in the short run at least - for an entry level position that might lead to something more rewarding in the future (both monetarily and psychologically).

What I wrote above was merely in response to your original post, in which you made it sound as if you're frustrated with your current job and would take anything else you're qualified for just to get out.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I wasn't sure if Jubbers was laying claim to mixed feelings or if she was carrying on Adam's job crossroad conversation.

[Jubbers]

I probably should have posted in random. I like posting in random.

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

[neglet]

Jesus, would you guys tell Negs to switch from her MFA program to an MBA just because it would make more goddamn money, the joy she gets from children's literature be damned?

WHAT? I am not going to become a billionaire like JK Rowling? Then screw those kiddies, I wanna be a day trader!



What we have just witnessed is the classic male response to female venting. She vents and just wants someone to say, "wow, that is a conundrum," good luck," whereas the male response is to jump in and offer totally unnecessary solutions.

And ha, tomorrow I get to read Captain Underpants for homework. Yippee!

[Mal Shot First]

I thought the typical male response to female venting was, "That's nice, honey, but I'm trying to watch the game here."

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I doubt Mal and Dalty would have responded much differently if I had posted something similar to what Jubbers posted. Of course, I'm only half a man. Maybe it wouldn't count.

[Jubbers]

Half a man, with half a man's courage?

[The Swollen Goiter of God]

I'm nothing but a half man, and I can only half fail.

I'm a Muppety man. That's what I am.

[Dalty]

What we have just witnessed is the classic male response to female venting. She vents and just wants someone to say, "wow, that is a conundrum," good luck," whereas the male response is to jump in and offer totally unnecessary solutions.

To which a simple, straightforward Man response could be "Why the fuck are you telling me problems if you don't want me to propose solutions?"

It is that kind of response from me that has made many a Mrs Dalty decide to be an ex-Mrs Dalty.

[Adam54]

What we have just witnessed is the classic male response to female venting. She vents and just wants someone to say, "wow, that is a conundrum," good luck," whereas the male response is to jump in and offer totally unnecessary solutions.

I'm pretty sure the same cast of characters did more or less the same thing when I vented my job related dilemma a couple weeks ago, Negs. Dalty in particular was kind to offer suggestions in how to deal with it.

Just with far, FAR more blowjob jokes.

[Dalty]

You mean you didn't get blow jobs off your career advisor? Dammit, Mr Weaver, I knew you were a wrong 'un!!

[Jubbers]

Update re: jobs.

I had an interview for the teaching job, but never heard back. Applied for another teaching job and didn't even get an interview. Meanwhile, it seemed like my promotion at work (a full job offer) was stalled out again.

Then an amazing job at the university doing web development opened up this last week, and we are friends with people in that department, so I applied for it. Day before the interview for that job, the full job offer at beer company was finally offered to me. I was given the week to decide. Interviewed for the web programming job, which was down to me and one other person. I was familiar with the department and have a broad programming background, whereas this person had strong background in the specific environment used in the job. I anxiously waited for the phone call all day yesterday.

Got it today. Didn't get the web programming job. My friend at the university seemed bummed I didn't get the web programming job (and I am super bummed, because it would have been a more relaxed environment, with a variety of projects and fun people), but she said she would keep me in mind if any other openings pop up. I was a major emotional wreck this morning, being very depressed that I didn't get the web programming job, but I accepted the full position offered by my current employer. I will be (this time next week) a "senior analyst" (i.e. Excel and QlikView programming/reporting) making just under 60K with a chance for up to a 4.5K target bonus, plus insurance for all of us and other benefits.

[neglet]

A job is a good thing. Met a friend today and her company was sold on Monday and she was laid off on Tuesday. Had no clue anything was in the offing, so she was shocked to say the least.

[Jubbers]

That's the sort of thing I worry most about with my job. I've already been through one "restructuring" which led to 20% of the floor being let go.