“Be thankful you’re employed.”
If you work smarter, not harder, you can do more with less.
It is a coincidence that we are carrying out a skills assessment survey at the same time the union negotiations are going badly. We’re not trying to figure out if we could use management and technical staff to cover critical tasks if there’s a strike.
I told my staff this today:
“Part of my job is to help you manage your career growth.”
I actually don’t give a shit about their career growth! The only job for them to grow into is mine and it’s already taken!
I have been living my life with the assumption that the freedom of doing (relatively) meaningless, interchangeable low-paying jobs is better than getting an advanced degree in something I’m not passionate about so that I can make more money and have the sense I’m fulfilling my potential (because a career-like job would require a brain).
Why? Because of the formidable debt that getting an advanced degree necessitates. Because an advanced degree these days doesn’t even guarantee a career-job. Because spending a lot of time and money and brain-energy on a subject I’m not passionate about sounds miserable to me.
As it is I flit from menial job to menial job, making anywhere from $10-12 an hour, carless, but with the freedom to take seasonal work in other states. Traveling, making new friends. Feeling kinda shitty when I really think about my friends from high school who’ve achieved their full potential in their careers, and how adult they are, and how far I am from that at age 27.
I’m sure there’s a third path but I’m not sure what it is.
This does not follow the format of the other posts so please ignore if this annoys you/ if you view this as a threadjack.
Just, reading everyone’s one-liner replies got me re-wondering if I am right to prize the freedom of no career and no money over the freedom of career and money. I don’t want to do this forever but I’m not sure what else I should do.
Don’t take what is being said here too seriously, as I think everyone enjoy’s poking fun at our masters. There is a sense of irony in many of these long, dear idioms we hear during our work lives.
Most people would rather be doing something else with their time and energy. However, the shackles of responsibility usually trump our personal goals (adding a spouse, children, financial commitments, etc.) and thus require a steady and growing income, which is usually had by commiting to a career. Sure, you can avoid all that and just live and work for yourself without any big commitments, there is nothing wrong with that. The risk is that you may not grow very much and you will not have a very predictable future, income-wise. A lot of people find that level of insecurity unacceptable and trade their freedom for a predictable and secure career. It is a choice we all made at some point.
I look at it this way - I have to give up some of my time for my and my family’s security, the job and career I have is not intolerable, and I have evenings and weekends to pursue my real passions. The career is a means to an end, with some sacrifice of time, of course. The job is only one thing I choose to do with my time, and it does not define me as a person. It is a matter of getting the balance right - everyone is different.
Eventually, you will come across something you can tolerate and the upside (more $$, health benefits, security, etc.) will make you reconsider your footloose and fancy-free ways.
- Your humble, cubicle-dwelling corporate drone.
Dear cubicle-dwelling corporate drone,
You hit the nail on the head.
CDCD II
I think my favorite is some bs that our dear leader spouted recently about this craptastic reorganization that we’re going through.
“We only grow when we’re uncomfortable.”
Yeah… but sometimes you’re just uncomfortable and things just suck, which is my suspicion about what’s going on, unless you’re sitting in a corner office.
Management will always support you in your decisions you make in the best interest of the client.
Hahahahahahaha
Wait.
Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha
I worked a lot of low-level jobs when I was younger. The difference was that I got paid a shitload less money and my idiot bosses were a lot dumber and less educated.
You’re far from alone in your struggles with this decision. You’re not wrong - education is very expensive, and no guarantee of making your more employable or getting a higher wage. On the other hand, no education does tend to lead to a lifetime of minimum wage jobs and not really getting ahead. A third path might be taking a short, less expensive course and working at a better job while working your way towards more education (or just enjoying the better jobs and calling that good enough).
So, in closing, I wish you the best of luck figuring this out. 
FYI, the third path is getting an advanced degree and STILL proceeding from one low paying menial job to another. There are tons of cab drivers, bartenders and retail clerks in Madison with Master degrees.
I worked shit jobs and my boss was an idiot and I’ve worked well paying jobs and my boss was an idiot. All other things being equal, I’d rather have an idiot boss, plus a house and a dental plan, than an idiot boss and a name tag. But, I didn’t figure out what I wanted to do until my mid-twenties, then I went back to school to get it started.
Third path would be getting skilled but not going into debt to do so. Become a plumber or a bricklayer or an electrician.
People still lay bricks, right? Anyway, pick a trade and do it well. You get paid to be an apprentice, and once you’re skilled you can join a union and make megabuxxx.
How about: “‘WE’ don’t do it THAT way.”
You are not nearly devious enough. You find people at your level, and you arrange for them to get promoted into their jobs. Then you have a whole group of managers who owe you.
Then you go after your boss.
Getting some advanced degrees pays. Not a bunch, but you don’t leave in debt. And new graduates with advanced degrees in my specialty earn a shitload of money right out of school.
On the other hand, if you hate the subject and are not good in it, you are probably right. And id you don’t like the subject and the degree costs money and it doesn’t guarantee a decent job, you are definitely right.
Ever get assigned stretch goals? Stretch goals are goals that are nearly impossible to attain with the resources they give you. Instead of giving you the resources, they say rah rah while you are supposed to work extra hours to make the goal. Then when you don’t meet it, they say good try, and you get nothing.
I’ve never seen an honest stretch goal in my life.
Haven’t seen this one (maybe I missed it):
“This is just a temporary thing, plenty of interesting stuff will come your way pretty soon!”
“It’s better to be a big fish in a small pond!”
Fuck that! You know what happens to big fish in small ponds? They outgrow them. And if you aren’t the biggest fish, what does it matter? You’re still a middle fish but you just have this small shitty pond to play in every day.