# Are you happy in your career? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 22, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761 "2006-06-22T19:46:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/1 "2006-06-22T19:46:01Z")
A coworker and I were just kind of BSing about this and that, and he mentioned that it was his understanding that there are more people who are dissatisified with what they do for a living than there are people who are satisfied. No, I didn’t shriek “Cite?” – I just thought “Hm, I wonder where Dopers fall along that divide.” So – are you happy in your career? Note: I’m not asking “is it the best job you can imagine,” or “is it what you wanted to be when you grew up,” or “are you making as much money as you think you deserve,” or anything else – just – are you happy doing what you do for a living? Me? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![rainwalker78](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rainwalker78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rainwalker78)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/2 "2006-06-22T19:53:26Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > are you happy doing what you do for a living? Yes. For now anyway ---
**Author:** ![YaWanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/bbce88/32.png) [@YaWanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/YaWanna)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/3 "2006-06-22T19:58:47Z")
Yes. I’m good at it, and I enjoy it. ---
**Author:** ![Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/a87d85/32.png) [@Rebecca\_DiMwitter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebecca_DiMwitter)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/4 "2006-06-22T20:02:03Z")
I am significantly more at peace here, than I had been in the previous 16 years of retail management, I am significantly less stressed, & I have significantly more time to myself, and more time for my family and loved ones. Those all count for a great deal to me, so yes, I am happy not only with doing this cost-accounting gig for a living, but doing it here at this particular company. Not entirely sure it’s forever, tho, as I may want to make one more move yet in my life, if I can have my heart’s desire to live (and probably die at the end of it all) where I’d like to. –Beck ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/5 "2006-06-22T20:03:06Z")
Not really. I find the work in the field rewarding, but I am away from my wife, but I absolutely hate HQ work and when I’m hom I look for excuses to go to the field. If I could have the work in the field, with my wife, but be based in the US, then I would be happy, but those are mutually exclusive things. So, short answer: no. ---
**Author:** ![Gordon\_Urquhart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/db5fbb/32.png) [@Gordon\_Urquhart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gordon_Urquhart)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/6 "2006-06-22T20:03:11Z")
Absolutely – I’m very happy. Interestingly, I’ve got roughly the same job description currently that I did at my previous job (for a different organization) – were I still at that one, I would’ve answered in the negative. ---
**Author:** ![Indygrrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/58f4c7/32.png) [@Indygrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indygrrl)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/7 "2006-06-22T20:32:47Z")
I’m miserable at my job. If I had known this was what working life would be like I wouldn’t have busted my ass all through college. It’s depressing to think about. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/8 "2006-06-22T20:42:20Z")
Yep. I’m doing just what I want to do. The karmic payback is tremendous, and I’m damn good at what I do. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/9 "2006-06-22T20:44:12Z")
I hate not only my job but the whole concept of work as we know it in modern times. I think society took a very wrong turn at some point when we got away from livelihoods that are not self-supporting or at least close to home. Nowadays, many of us spend most of our time doing tasks that are in themselves not meaningful with people who are not part of the communities where we live. We don’t know people in our homes and neighborhoods. The very concept of a convivial community is slowly being erased before our eyes, but nobody cares because we use computers and flat-screen TV’s as surrogates for personal interaction. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/10 "2006-06-22T20:49:15Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > are you happy in your career? Yes > [@](#): > > “is it the best job you can imagine,” Yes > [@](#): > > “is it what you wanted to be when you grew up,” Yes > [@](#): > > are you making as much money as you think you deserve," Yes Sick ain’t it. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/11 "2006-06-22T20:52:52Z")
> [@Ol'Gaffer](#): > > Sick ain’t it. Nah – pretty damn cool, actually. ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/12 "2006-06-22T21:01:28Z")
I really like the work that I do, but I’m not very happy with the current management at my company. ---
**Author:** ![Dinsdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/97f17d/32.png) [@Dinsdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dinsdale)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/13 "2006-06-22T21:15:11Z")
Pays quite well, demands little, encroaches minimally on my personal life. OTOH, it is mind numbingly boring, and I derive not one jot of pleasure, satisfaction, or accomplishment out of any aspect of my work duties. ---
**Author:** ![sandra\_nz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@sandra\_nz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sandra_nz)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/14 "2006-06-22T21:17:38Z")
I’m very happy and glad I took the risk of a new career direction. ---
**Author:** ![anu-la1979](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/47e85d/32.png) [@anu-la1979](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anu-la1979)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/15 "2006-06-22T21:23:15Z")
What **Dinsdale** said except less hate, more boredom. I am torn between the fact that it pays really well and encroaches minimally on my personal life and the fact that frocking law school was more interesting than what I do. There are times when I get to do legal research again, rather than structure yet another transaction, and then I’m into it. Since I’m the youngest lawyer here, I get stuck with a lot of the grunt Lexis sleuthing and will become 2nd in command if our office gets ownership of a major program. But my fathers says familiarity breeds contempt. My sister seems about as bored by medicine as we are by law and inventing or whatever the hell my father does. Anyway, I can’t imagine doing anything else so I guess that means I’m “okay satisfied” if somewhat cured of my youthful illusions about what it meant to practice law. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/16 "2006-06-22T21:25:14Z")
I hate everything about my job with the exception of most of my co-workers and the fact that I can work at home. It is a pathetic means to an end and nothing more. ---
**Author:** ![Ol\_Gaffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Ol\_Gaffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ol_Gaffer)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/17 "2006-06-22T21:29:27Z")
> [@twickster](#): > > Nah – pretty damn cool, actually. Thanks, I think so too. I do, however, tend to get little pangs of guilt when I talk to, read about, or hear from people who don’t have quite the same job satisfaction (most of my friends would fall into this category). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/18 "2006-06-22T21:36:06Z")
I would say most people I know get virtually no satisfaction out of their jobs. I have two friends who are the exception. They’re doing what they want to do. Of course, they have to deal with personalities and commutes and all the other minutae, but they’re doing the dream job. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/19 "2006-06-22T22:07:15Z")
Yes, at both my jobs. I’m usually way overextended, and don’t get paid nearly what I 'd like, but the work is extremely rewarding. I do (mostly) exactly what I like to do. ---
**Author:** ![Wakinyan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wakinyan/32/352_2.png) [@Wakinyan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wakinyan)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761/20 "2006-06-22T22:08:23Z")
Yes. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-happy-in-your-career/361761.md?page=2)