Employment Dilemma

[NightKids]

Basically I think I need a change. I've been in the payroll/hr field for about 4 years now and just recently started a new job in the same area. I don't think i particularly enjoy it anymore, it's just the same repetitive stuff everyday. I know a job aren't supposed to be fun but i'm just sick of this field.

I have an advanced diploma in IT, which I decided wasn't for me after i finished school. Now i'm seriously considering having a crack at IT as another option. I'm even considering starting my own business, but it always seems like sucha long shot...

I think the biggest problem is that I don't even know what I want to do as a career. All my interests are not practical career wise! I'm not sure if I'm naturally a lazy person or I just haven't found a job I love. I've always thought it's weird when people say "Man I love my job!" cause I've never felt that way about any job & I only do it cause I have to...

If anyone can give me any advice/suggestions on what I should do that would be greatly appreciated. (I have a mortgage if that changes anything).

I've once worked at a company where they just come in, sit down and crunch timesheets. The people there don't talk to anyone, have lunch at their desk by themselves, etc. They will even walk faster when they see me so they don't have to say HI. Is this how a work environment is supposed to be? Cause I'm sucha sociable person it just seemed so weird to me...

Is there such a thing as a dream job? I've never felt like that's possible or maybe I haven't found it yet. When I get depressed over my job I think of get rich quick ideas or I dream about winning lotto or a big poker tournament.

 

[jtr1962]

Well, I went through the stage you did for a while, and pretty much came to the conclusion work in general stinks, at least the type of work typically available to anyone without either multiple degrees in a field they like, or abilities which most don't have. That being said, some jobs are worse than others. In my opinion, a job which offers some flexibility in hours or days worked, and halfway decent pay, goes a long way towards making otherwise unpleasant work more palateable. Another thing to consider is anything done 40+ hours per week is likely to be boring after a while, even if it's a hobby you love now. For example, I love trains. It's fun to play with train simulators when the mood strikes me. By the same token, I know doing it for a living it would get old very fast, and the unforgiving hours would wear me down. Same thing with cycling. Nice doing it a couple of hundred miles a month, maybe even a little more if I'm up to it. I wouldn't want to train hours a day like the pros do.

You can try to turn one of your hobbies into a business on the side while you're still working a job to pay the bills. Sometimes there might be enough of a niche market to make it worth your while. The best thing is to reinvent yourself periodically, try a new field. Easier said than done to be sure, but moving to a different line of work when you get bored is really the only way to keep work interesting. On a practical note, maybe that's why it's called "work". If it was pleasant, you wouldn't have to pay people to do it.

Another random thought-I really think part of the dissatisfaction with work in the USA stems from the long hours people here put in. I think they have it right in Europe with their frequent holidays and six weeks off in the summers. It's not so much boredom as burnout which seems prevalent here. Having a job where you get a lousy week or two vacation per year ( and often can only take one week of the two at a time ) is a recipe for burnout. You need a week just to recoup from the grind of working before you can even begin to enjoy yourself. I really think we would all be happier and healthier is we first went to 3 or 4 day work weeks ( longer but fewer days spent working ), and allowed employees 4 to 6 weeks vacation, preferably all at once if they choose. My guess is productivity would soar enough to more than make up for the fewer days worked. So would job satisfaction. The really perverse part was I remember reading how the work week was going to keep getting shorter as machines improved worker productivity. It unfortunately didn't quite turn out that way. Many of us are working longer hours than our grandparents just to keep our heads above water.

 

[NightKids]

Thanks for the insight, so how did you get yourself over this hurdle and stay motivated to come into work everyday? I've had a few career changes and I kinda feel like I should be settling down a lil. I'm 27 btw. With a mortgage and everything it hurts me to put financial pressure on my fiancée.

Sometimes I feel is it because i'm in a different generation. How do my parents do factory work with crazy repetitiveness day in day out for 20+ years without calling in sick or something. This still intrigues me till this day. What motivates them? The thought of their kids and family? Have they accepted that it's their life or do they actually enjoy it cause I don't see them complain about boredom ever.

 

[SFG2Lman]

do something challenging, the harder you have to work every day on it the more you will enjoy it, whether it be physically or mentally, I happened upon my dream job in the army, the high stress, mental acrobatics, and physical training honestly let me enjoy every second of work. My suggestion is that if you don't like what you do, dabble. Take up a random part time job, quit and try a different one. I would keep your main source of income until you find something more suitable, but taking joy and pride in what you do is worth roughly a 50% pay difference. (Trust me, i have filed taxes for income below the poverty line with my current employer) but loving what you do will show through, you'll be the best at it, and your bosses will notice, and you will succeed. If part-time jobs aren't for you, take some classes at a community college, or go get a technical certification in HVAC or something random. The only box holding you back is the one you put yourself in. (wow that sounded cheesy!) but its very true

 

[blasterman]

I do contract work in IT, and stay mostly to corporate arenas. While I'd happily prefer to work for small business or go on my own and get away from enterprise 'hamster cubes', the problem is steady pay. If you open a small business doing IT/computer work you'll likely spend half your resources chasing down people and suing customers to pay up. Simply not worth my time. The bad side of corporate is unelss you're a hig level developer, most large compaines are increasingly treating IT as a support level function and no higher in status than the janitorial staff.

I've stayed contract because in my mind *any* full time job now, unless it's a govt position, is a contract. "Job security" is as mythical as a unicorn in my mind. I've also noted that the best companies to work for tend to be private (no shareholders to make sacrificial layoffs to) and preferably global.

The cool thing about contract work is I've been in pretty much every industry and seen almost every angle of business culture there is. I've also taken note of people that are happy with their jobs, and why.

For the most part, I've noted that the more intelligent somebody is, the more restless they tend to get with their job because they desire increasing and diverse challenge. Especially true with men. The exception to this are jobs that tend to be highly compensated (sales) and/or where the job itself is the challenge; Chemists, physicians, ministers, etc. Engineers of any sort, unless they are dealing with a specialty they love, tend to get restless very, very easy.

The only suggestion I have, and this is also my current goal, is to get a job doing what you do with a company that does something 'interesting'.

 

[jtr1962]

Thanks for the insight, so how did you get yourself over this hurdle and stay motivated to come into work everyday?

I've been self-employed, working at home, since 1991. The longest I held any single job prior to that was almost 2 years, but that was long enough for me to get to the point you are now. I HATED hearing the alarm clock on Monday morning. The only thing which motivated me was knowing the more I banked, the fewer years I would have to do this. The goal was to save enough so I would no longer be forced to work any job just because I needed the money. I did accomplish this goal working a couple of years. What happened in mid 1990 was the company closed the NYC branch and we all got laid off. It was a blessing in disguise. At the time, my carpal tunnel syndrome was bad enough that I had planned to quit the job by the end of the year anyway. Getting laid off meant unemployment benefits for a while instead. My former boss bought the company, and I worked for him from home part-time as an independent contractor. Later on, I ended up with a few more customers. I'm still not making as much as I would like, but it's partly on account of not really activing seeking new customers, partly on account of my CTS which keeps me from working close to anything resembling full-time, and also partly on account of the way the tax system is set up. Any incremental income I make is subject to 15.3% FICA tax, at least 10% federal income tax, plus about the same state and local tax. Add in the fact that I start losing EIC which covers most of the FICA tax if I make much over 7K, and I have an effective incremental tax rate of around 45%. In short, unless I can make a lot more, not just a little more, then it doesn't pay for me to get more customers. For example, making $6K - $7K I effectively pay just about no taxes thanks to EIC. If I made, for example $12K, I would be stuck paying about $2500 in taxes. In other words, $2500 more in taxes for making about $5K or $6K more. Not worth it given the way the tax system is set up.

Sometimes I feel is it because i'm in a different generation. How do my parents do factory work with crazy repetitiveness day in day out for 20+ years without calling in sick or something. This still intrigues me till this day. What motivates them? The thought of their kids and family? Have they accepted that it's their life or do they actually enjoy it cause I don't see them complain about boredom ever.

It's easier to do repetitive work when you have a goal and are fairly well-paid. My goal was saving money. I only missed one day of work in close to two years. Since you mentioned having a financee and a home, these are definitely goals. In my case, there is no significant other in my life, and housing prices here are so high I've long given up any thought of being on my own ( I'm also of the mindset that multigenerational households are a good thing, not a bad one ). It wasn't possible to be on my own even when I worked full-time ( rents were equal to my take-home pay, or more ), never mind on what I make now. In other words, the only goal motivating my at this point is to put enough into Roth IRAs so I won't be starving if the time comes I can't work any more. I've been living with my mom. She owns the house free and clear. I do enough home repair and other tasks to cover whatever extra I cost here ( mostly just food and a little extra electricity ). Not a perfect arrangement of course, but in truth there's not much else I could do given my physical limitations and housing prices which are lower than a few years ago, but still ridiculously high. Given the way things are, I've no plans to retire. I'll continue doing what I'm doing until I'm physically unable.

Another piece of advice I can give is to build up a nest egg, preferably equal to a couple of years take-home pay, like I did. This gives you tremendous freedom. If you have something to fall back on, you can be a little choosy about work, and or take more chances than if you're living paycheck to paycheck. I was lucky in that I was able to save because I lived at home. It might not be possible living in your own place unless you make a very good salary, or have very low housing expenses. This is why I often advise younger people starting out who are ready to "fly the coop" to stay home another 5 years, and bank most of what they make. They'll still be young 5 years later, but in much better shape than if they had left home at 22 or 23. Another thing I mention to them is man has lived in multigenerational households for most of his existence except the last century or so. Maybe we should all go back to that. It has lots of advantages in my opinion, and today's homes are easily large enough to accomodate several generations under one roof.

And I second what blasterman said about engineers getting restless very easily. I'm an EE, and I get bored very easily. I have a bunch of different hobbies I jump between just to make life interesting. Besides lighting, there is virtual railroading ( trainsimming ), model railroading ( not layout yet but hopefully in time ), cycling, playing with peltiers, gardening, probably a few others I've forgotten.

 

[jtr1962]

Another random thought regarding repetitive work. When I started working at home for my old boss, I essentially did the same thing I used to do at the shop-repairing taximeters. It was much more tolerable doing it at home on account of not having fixed hours. I really think fixed hours accounts for a lot of the negative feelings regarding work, not the work itself. I remember working the exact same schedule each day, I felt like the proverbial hamster in a wheel. I honestly think that's where most of the boredom comes from-knowing each day is almost a carbon-copy of the day before. It was even at the point where the same customers would call at roughly the same times each day. After a while, it gets to be surreal, like you're in some kind of nightmare. Flexible hours is essentially a no-cost perk which should be offered by a lot more employers, especially to back-office employees who don't interact with customers.

 

[JohnR66]

NightKids: Your job sucks. No, it really sucks. People walk away to avoid talking? What a horrible environment. I consider myself as anti social but when I was in IT, people would drop by my office to shoot the poop and when I needed a break, I'd go up stairs to the cubes and seek out someone to talk to.

I would work on some problems through remote terminal for the remote offices, but for the home office, it was more enjoyable to get out of the chair and go face to face to fix a problem because sometimes there was the opportunity to interact with people.

I did IT for 18 years and burned out. Looking back on the experience, it was mostly fun, but as with any job, it had it's moments.

If you have no certifications, get a leg up on the job seeking masses and get something. A+ and Network+ certification is a good start.

Seek out a smaller employer. The large corporations tend to be bureaucratic.

 

[Praxis]

NightKids, your job environment definitely sounds bad. Perhaps if the job environment was better you might enjoy your work more. It certainly couldn't hurt to explore other job options, but I wouldn't give up a steady full-time job in this economy unless you had a better position nailed down.

I dislike 9-to-5 jobs and enjoy the flexibility of working from home and setting my own schedule, but as someone with an advanced degree who has been looking for full-time work for about 1.5 years, I would practically kill for a full-time job right now. Fortunately, my 3+ part-time jobs basicly pay my half of the bills and my wife's job has good pay and great benefits, but it's pretty hard to plan ahead when you have no real financial security. We would like to get a house and start a family, but it's just not an option with only 1.5 incomes.

So, keep looking, but don't give up your current job just yet.

 

[NightKids]

Thanks everyone for their input. Greatly appreciate it, I will try my best to find a better job. Hopefully I can try out a different field and assess my options from there!