Your Job. Love it or hate it?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I like my job, and I think I’m well-suited for it. But my imemdiate boss and the Managing Partner of this office drive me crazy. The former means well but just doesn’t know how to manage people, and the latter…well, he’s a diehard capitalist, and I honestly don’t think he gives a damn about us as human beings in the least.

The management of the firm overall is pretty sensible, though, but sometimes that doesn’t have enough of an effect of my daily happiness rating. I’ve been thinking about making a change for a while now, but there’s the devil you know vs. the devil you don’t. Plus I’ll be fully vested in my 401(k) in a few weeks.

22

I’m a programmer.

I hated my last job. I had a very controlling boss, who made us do very stupid things. Like when I spent a month scrolling through thousands of stored procedures to make sure that the keywords were in allcaps. I thought about chucking the whole career in and going to nursing school.

Then I got laid off, and thought again about going to nursing school, but figured I should get a good paying job in the meantime…at least while I was taking my pre-req courses. I got a job and found out how much fun a programming could be. I love what I do now. Environment really does matter.

23

I love my job, even though the skill set necessary to do it have nothing to do with my formal education. Even though I am pursuing a higher degree, I will likely stay in the same field. I work for a University, doing special events/ conferences, etc. I get to play a lot, have all sorts of gadgets, have a staff of really cool kids, and because it’s a project-oriented job, I have super flexible hours (I was able to take off a good month after my wife had our baby with no trouble).
My boss is really cool- she works with Student Activities and the residence life program - we act a lot more like peers than supervisor/supervisee, mostly because our areas of expertise do not overlap. And because we both have families, I never feel bad if I have to stay at home with the baby, or want to attend a field trip with my older sons.

I’ll never get rich doing this, but it’s comfortable, steady, and the benefits are great.

24

The job I have now is great. I do printer testing for a major manufacturer. I’ve been here for over three years now and I have no plans to move on to anything else. After working for twelve years in fast food and retail jobs, I finally have a job in which I only work in the daytime and I get weekends off. I’m paid over twice the amount I ever earned at the previous jobs. I don’t have to deal with rude customers asking stupid questions and making absurd demands. I can wear my casual clothes to work. The people I work with are great, too, including supervisors and managers. I know there are politics here just like anyplace else, but I manage to stay away from these situations and I just do what people expect me to do here. Oh, and I can also read the SDMB and listen to MP3s while doing my tests. :slight_smile:

25

'nother code monkey here. For the most part I like it. Last couple of projects were a cut and dried set of new interface routines, and a database API. No user interface, not building on existing code. User interfaces are a pain and so is supporting other people’s code. Designing and writing shiny new code is usually fun*.

A downside is occasionally there’s a lot of pressure to finish a project which is in trouble, on a couple of occasions I’ve been handed projects that are in deep doodoo and where the lead programmer has run away - leaving and unfinished pile of crap behind. Oh wait not a couple of occasions, this has happened to me at least four times. Last time the project took a team of four of us six months to (sort of) debug/finish it, then it got dumped and two of the team laid off. That was less than fun.

*Not with XSLT tho’, learning that was like pulling teeth. I’ve forgotton it all now and touch wood will never have to suffer it again

26

Love and hate it, depending upon when you ask. :wink:

I am President of CRG, a telephone directory distribution company in Knoxville. I took over this company after I left my parents business after 12 years… did the whole thing: bought enough stock, called a board meeting, removed the sitting President and put myself in his place. Of course, if the company wasn’t teetering on the edge, such a thing wouldn’t have been possible… but it was, so it was. If you’re interested in how such a thing works, read this thread. (warning: takes you out of the snuggy confines of the SDMB).

The thing I “hate” is the constant money issues. Since the company was doing pretty poorly when I took over (no financing(!), current partners in debt up to their eyeballs, etc), I’ve been dealing with the financials mostly. We now have the financing to cover our cash flow (in this business your cash flows are very very very important, more so than most) and now am exploring the option of raising another $50-100k with some private stock placements. I’ve never been much of a finance guy, but the demands of the job don’t really care about that, so I do what I have to.

What I “love” is marketing and sales. For example, tomorrow I am going to Louisiana to make a couple of presentations for two separate companies, totalling about 2,000,000 directories (in the New Orleans and Louisville KY markets). I have yet to make an unsuccessful presentation, one that didn’t result in more business, though I think that I might have that streak broken this week (one of the companies is VERY happy with their current vendor… I gotta razzle-dazzle those people, something I’m not the best at.)

What I’m also good at are operational improvements, which is something that CRG needed. I haven’t spent as much time on those issues as I would like to, but then, those weren’t the biggest issues facing this company over the past nine months.

Things still aren’t totally rosy yet, but they are better. When I took over last September, CRG had a mere 900,000 directories on the schedule for 2004, now we’re looking at 2.5 million by the end of the year. My marketing campaign is doing very well… we just got offered the right to bid on a 8 million directory contract in California, the Louisiana presentations tomorrow, and a few other people whom I’m scheduled to speak with next week.

27

I absolutely despised my old job. My hatred had nothing to do with what I was doing (I was actually learning a lot, which I liked) and everything to do with the jackasses I was doing it for. I was constantly inundated with conflicting requests from my manager and her higher-up; irritable attorneys throwing tantrums over very small things such as photo placement on our Web site (no offense to the lawyers on this board, of course; however, when you’re an associate and throw a tantrum because your photo is below a senior partner’s who is also a member of the nation’s social security task force and demand I move it without the other individual’s consent or knowledge, we have a serious problem); being asked to do the job of three people with no additional compensation; and all the other usual problems a lot of people face.

Anyway, I hated it so much I finally snapped and quit. I started working as a freelance copywriter, which is much more satisfying - my income is directly related to the merit of my work and the effort I put into it. I can work in pajamas if I want to. Also, I can take three weeks off for my wedding and honeymoon if I want to without being swamped with calls to my cell phone every five minutes since all of my projects are complete and my clients are happy. Of course, there are downsides - no insurance, much longer hours than my previous full-time job, plus working project-to-project can be stressful - however, it’s all been worth it so far.

28

…I was talking with a friend yesterday. (I swear Straight Dope is always on time)
I love my job. As a couple of you stated its what I’ve been school (IT). I’m sure the reason why I love it so much is because its so new and exciting now. I just hope I still feel the same in a year.

29

In my 20 years of working for a living, I’ve had one job that I didn’t hate. I still haven’t figured out if the problem is me or the jobs. I’ve had an extremely difficult time deciding what I want to be when I grow up, so I’ve tried my hand at a lot of different careers, and (to paraphrase U2) still haven’t found what I’m looking for.

Well, actually, there’s one career that I really, really want to do - buy old, run-down houses, fix them up, and sell them. Unfortunately, I haven’t figured out a way to do that without money yet. If anybody knows, please tell me, so I can stop selling my soul to heartless big businesses for $12 an hour.

30

I certainly enjoy my job (film visual effects.)

It’s a weird sort of enjoyment though… I’ve been doing it for quite a few years and now it’s sort of a relaxed familiar enjoyment, rather than the complete blinding excitment of the first year or so…

Honestly, I think having a job that you can be totally content with is even better than having a job you simply enjoy. :slight_smile:

The cash is cool too. Woohoo!

-n

31

I love it.

I am a small town newspaper editor. And I believe it is probably the best job in the world (at least for me).

I get to edit, take photos, write stories, columns and editorials, design the paper and the publisher is about 90 miles away.

I have a small staff who are pretty good at what they do. We’ve taken a paper tottering on the edge of collapse and brought it back to a healthy life.

I spend between 14 and 20 hours a day working but it’s work I love, so I doubt that I could be happier.

Granted my doctor keeps warning me about working myself to death, but hey, I’m happy.

Well, I’ve got to go cover some opera.

TV

32

I help people get benefits they are entitled to, and also audit their accounts to be sure that their money isn’t being misused.

I love my job and I’d do it for free if I could afford it; unfortunately, I may have to leave it because the pay is so low and there are no benefits.

Anyone ever hear of a job like this that actually pays a living wage?

33

Love my job!

This morning I got up at 8:30, showered and all that. Wandered in and checked the email. About 9:30 drove down to the Nugget (a local casino) for their breakfast special. Spent an hour reading “Wuthering Heights” and drinking coffee. Went over to the Harley shop to check on a new and more comfortable seat, forgot it was Monday and they weren’t open. Drove over and had a cup or two with a friend while we talked about our next run to CA for lunch (looks like Thursday, supposed to be in the 70’s. So that day’s agenda won’t look nearly as busy.). Went home and looked at the yard and decided it could wait a few more days for a mowing. Decided to go ahead and order some more chrome stuff for the bike so got on-line and took care of that (got a chrome eagle claw kick stand, a chrome cover for the rear break resivor, and a chrome cover for the swing-arm nut - must have items as I’m sure you’ll agree). Took a dump, got in some reading on “WH” which will probably be the most boring book I ever actually finished without it being required. The garbage ran so I went out and put ours and the neighbors (they went over to the coast for a few days) garbage cans up. While in the back yard took a look at the fruit trees. The plums will be needing a spraying, aphids. Everything else looked pretty good though. Talked to a guy on the phone I was in Vietnam with, we’ll be seeing him this August at the company reunion. Son came home from work, chatted with him a bit. Opened a bottle of wine. Wife came home, hit her up for a BJ and she suggested I just finish the wine.

Yep, a good job. And it pays about the same as actually working.

I would like to take the time to think all you little worker bees out there for making this possible.

Of course the down side of being retired is being substantially closer to death than most of you. But you can’t have everything I suppose.

34

Love it. See Ask the Sunglass Consultant!…

Of course, I graduate in August and then I’m probably off to law school- so sad :frowning:

35

Can’t have it all, I suppose :wink:

36

I like it. I’m a scientist employed by a sizeable public corporation, so that means a.) yes, there are annoying political issues to be dealt with, and I’m the lead scientist for my discipline so I am visible enough that I regularly appear on target lists, b.) I’m a target because I spend the money, c.) I have the money to spend so, unlike many of my underemployed colleagues, I spend much of my time hypothesizing, drawing pictures and discussing what could be with my scientist co-workers based on new data, d.) our projects generally come to fruition and e.) I just might get rich at it.

Of course, we’re publicly traded, so I could find out I work for somebody else tomorrow. And there’s no shortage of politically active assholes embedded in the terrain.

Still, it beats the crap out of my many previous occupations, and I do get to jam.

37

I love it. Even on the days when I want to beat all the animals and kill all the humans, or the ones where I come crawling home reeking of Og-knows-what-bodily-fluids and feeling like I’ve been beaten with a lead pipe, I love it. I can’t imagine doing anything else in the long term. The hours tend to be fairly long, the work is often hard, and the pay tends to be fairly crappy, but it’s a great job.

38

I enjoy my work, and I like the people I work with. I am well-compensated, and the future looks good. I don’t dread getting up in the morning, and I don’t worry about work after I go home at night.

All in all, I think I’m pretty lucky. But even as much as I like my job, I’d rather not have to work at all.

39

My last job, I loved. I worked with pregnant and parenting teens, developed the program, implimented it, marketed it. A big fish in a little pond, that was getting ready to jump into a bigger pond and swim with the big fishies. I also did some basic health screenings (blood pressure, etc.), was second in command to a once weekly food bank, and assisted people with finding housing, food, etc. (I worked in a local community center.) The pay sucked ($24,500 when I left after three years), but the clients were cool and my co-workers were even more cool. I had the Best Boss In The World. The Board President though, lost his mind and fired the Executive Director (Best Boss In The World), accousted me in the storage closet the day after he fired her and my world of employment went to hell in a hand basket pretty quick. I found another job, which enticed me with more money.

Which leads me to my current job.

I sit at a desk all day, in front of a computer. The world wide company for whom I work has a state contract handling health care for welfare eligible consumers. I work specifically with the people in the county districts who are in charge of children in substitute care, and the county workers are the ones I work with directly (not the kids). It’s repetetive, dull and incredibly slow. If not for the SDMB, I’d die of boredom. However, although I’m not making big bucks, it pays most of the bills, and I like having health coverage and a steady paycheck.

I’ll start school again in the fall for my Teaching Certification (I currently have a Bachelor’s degree, but it’s not related to teaching), and actually this job will work fine during the time I’m taking night classes. It’s so slow and boring that I’ll have LOTS of time to study and write papers and all the other stuff that comes with taking classes. I’ve thought of looking for another job, but think I’ll stay here until I get my certification.

40

Love my job, hate my colleagues. Management is everything. I used to have the best chairperson in the world. He was great, supported everyone, went out of his way to make our lives easier, everyone got along really well. Several years ago he stepped down and was replaced by a spineless weasel. This guy has taken a great department and run it into the ground. He talks about each and every faculty member behind their backs, bases evaluations on anonymous off the cuff comments made by other colleagues, and routinely lies and gets caught out doing it. Now the entire department has become a bunch of back-stabbing sub-humans, and these are still the same people who used to party together with the former chair-person, WTF.

My sole goal is to teach my classes, hide in my office and retire asap.