Which do you have - a job, or a career?

In My Humble Opinion
1

Assuming you are gainfully employed, how would you describe your employment? Is it a job, or a career?

Some helpful definitions to guide your input:

A “job” is work you do to earn money. The work may or may not be satisfying on a day-to-day basis, but the primary purpose of your job is to bring home money to keep your household afloat. You’re not particularly interested in achievement at work; you don’t pursue awards/recognition, you don’t seek out opportunities for advancement to positions of greater responsibility/authority/pay (or if you do, it’s primarily because you need a bigger paycheck to support your chosen lifestyle).

A “career” brings a paycheck to your household, but a large part of your motivation is the fact that you derive a sense of achievement from your activities at work. You strive to excel, and you are always on the lookout for opportunities to advance to positions of greater responsibility/authority/pay (primarily because you want to exert greater influence on the organization).

So what do you have? If you are now retired, what did you have before you retired?

2

Currently, I have a job. It’s a good job. It has decent pay, good benefits, and a cozy environment. If I wanted, I could push for a career path. Yet, it’s not a career for me. It’s an IT job, and it’s something I’m good at, but I have little interest in it outside of work.

My career is teaching, and between moves, the economy, and my health issues, I haven’t been able to hold down a full time teaching position in years. I can’t survive on a part-time teaching position, though that may change in another few years.

3

I have a career. I plan to stay in the same line of work for the rest of my working life (though I’ll never say never) and have continued my education in support of my current career trajectory. Though I may move to be a subject matter expert in different niches of my primary role, I’ll most likely always be in this discipline (Environment in Oil and Gas).

I enjoy my job, have a well defined long term career plan, and the pay/benefits/scope of influence will increase as I advance.

4

I get more satisfaction from scratching my itchy crotch than from my work. It’s a job.

5

Career. I am too single minded to have a job and a separate life. Luckily, teaching lends itself to that.

6

Once you’ve been doing a job long enough, it IS a career. Might not be the one you wanted, but it’s still a career.

7

Not according to the definition in the OP (or by mine).

I have a job.

8

Job. By day I am a cubicle-dwelling corporate drone. Nights and weekends I am something else.

Years ago I was in an entreprenurial environment and I felt a lot of passion for the work, great satisfaction, and sense of accomplishment. I eventually got into something more practical and better paying, and I am able to support my family and commitments fairly well. The job is good and stable, and that is what I need right now.

Maybe it was my youth, but I have not felt passion, satisfaction, or accomplishment at work in a long time (I developed interests and passion for things outside of work).

9

In theory career, but it seems like a job most of the time.

10

I am 60 years old. I have been a software developer for 26 years. For much of that time, I had a career, but at this stage in my career, it’s just a job. I still do it pretty well, but I don’t care anymore.

11

Based on your definition, neither/both. I seek recognition and strive for excellence, but I shun advancement/greater responsibility/authority.

12

Career, in that I do lots of career related things outside of my official work. Plus I mostly decide what I’m doing myself.

When I retire, soon now, I’ll probably still be doing career related stuff even though I don’t get paid.

13

From 1970 to 1995, I had many jobs, none of which used all my talents.

Then, at the age of 50, I decided to work on my art, regardless of my decreased income. It’s my career and my love. I could never stand going back to working for someone else.

14

Same. I have a perfectly fine job in a field that is also one of my major hobbies (IT, Systems Analysis) but it is very corporate and restricted in what I can actually choose to do at work even though I am one of the people that has the most latitude. I only do it for the money and I try to maximize the curve between more pay/shorter hours/less responsibility in my favor whenever possible. I am certainly not aiming to be CEO or even Director of anything and don’t understand why anyone else would either but I am thankful some people do. I will have personal money that will allow me to retire early if I play my cards right and I just play the game in the way that best works in my favor and cuts into my personal time the least amount possible until then.

I do have a tremendous amount of knowledge built up from working on similar things for many years and I always try to do the best job possible but it just isn’t fun or rewarding on its own anymore besides the money and benefits. If I change jobs again, one of my strict requirements is that the new company has to match my current 5+ weeks of paid vacation because that is what I really get my enjoyment from these days.

15

I also have different definitions of job v. career

Job: No need for advanced training, no likely advancement

Career: Advanced training necessary, advancement likely

16

According to the OP’s definition, a job: I work to earn money, and if someone put five or ten million in my bank account, I’d be sleeping in tomorrow.

That said, I’m interested in achievement at work because I take pride in doing things well, and I seek advancement for the challenge and responsibility. If I need to make the money, I’m going to do it as well as possible and I want it to be as interesting as possible. A director level position at some point is pretty likely, something like CFO is on the board for 10-15 years from now, and I’d enjoy doing that work. But if you gave me the money, I wouldn’t do them in lieu of more personally satisfying things that don’t pay that I could be doing for 50+ hours a week (once you take the commute into account).

17

Oh, it’s a job. It’s a good job, and I find it interesting and some of the work makes me happy.

And yeah, I get satisfaction from doing it well. And yes, I like to move up – because the field I’m in is interesting.

But like Kiros, I’d sleep in if a few million were donated to me.

18

I consider what I do (school librarian) a career, even though I have no desire to advance. Can being looked at as a mentor make it a career?

19

I worked for 25+ years as a software developer at a VERY large computer company. The first 15 years were a career - lots of freedom in doing the job you wanted to do and how you wanted to get it done. The last ten years were a job - here’s what you’re going to do this month and now get it done - and don’t think about going beyond that. It all finally ended with a massive company-wide layoff, so now…

I’m teaching computer programming classes at a community college. It’s back to being a career - freedom in course design and classroom management, flexible time (except for classroom schedules), respect from peers and even administrators, enough of out-of-the box jobs if you’d want to do them. I’m so glad I got out of the corporate rat race and feel lucky that I found my current position.

20

Yep, that describes me! I do my job solely for money and benefits (not really that great but there’s a lot worse out there). What I really want to do isn’t gonna pay the rent, at least not at this stage. What I really want to do is be a history professor. Yes, I know, the chances of landing a tenure track position are exceedingly microscopic but I’m working on it in terms of preparation to attempt a doctorate.

This commencement speech Jim Carrey made that’s been circulating the internet of late really clinched it for me. There is no “safe” career decision. I could lose my cushy little cubicle job tomorrow. We’re all gonna die no matter what, so we may as well aim to spend as much of our valuable time as possible doing what we want to do. And so what if I fail? I just go back to cubicle land again. At least I will have tried. A lot of people don’t even bother to do that.