Job Satisfaction (1 Viewer)

[antipop]

i have come to the realization that i only work here because i have to...i guess i am pretty good at my job but if i had a real choice in the matter, i'd probably do something else...i really only chose this field because i knew it would be an easy way for me to make decent money and have health insurance(amurika!!!)...it helps that i ended up working for a pretty awesome company

i still have some desire to pursue something more fulfilling....but i strive for mediocrity so i'll likely just sit at this desk for a few more years

the one job i had that i actually loved was land surveying...unfortunately, it's not a great field to make money in and technology has mostly taken over the field work that used to be fun

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

Oh man this thread is so appropriate for me right now.

At age 35 I was pretty much burned out from 10 years as a 911 dispatcher. So my wife and I downsized our house so I could quit work and go back to school to finish my bachelor's degree in Engineering. I was a nerdy smart math kid in high school, but super lazy and undisciplined, so I flunked out of college the first go round.

At age 40 I graduated with my degree. I felt like I could take on the world and do/learn anything.

I was job hunting during the height of COVID. I was lucky to get any job at all, but I got a job at a small engineering firm making GPS satellite receivers. Interesting stuff. I had to take a REALLY low salary
Less than I made at 911. Everyone had a hiring freeze...it was this or nothing.

Except this company was running some kind of ponzi scheme. I was the only engineer on staff and they never gave me any work. I just sat there doing nothing. So I also learned nothing, and actively started to lose skills because I wasn't using them. Finally, after 6 or 7 months paychecks stopped coming and they revealed to us the company was bankrupt, but not closing. I started job hunting immediately. It took 5 months to find something else.

The 2nd job I got is where I still work. The salary is still really low....about the same as I made at 911.

I asked for more money last year...they said no. Actually, I asked for a performance review. All positive...all good we are glad to have you....etc. so THEN I asked for more money. Suddenly, they say I make tons of mistakes and cost the company a lot of extra money to fix my mistakes...etc. funny, no one ever mentioned a specific mistake to me and still hasn't. No raise given. So I still make a COVID salary years after COVID. They made me feel incredibly small and dumb...now I question my abilities and have lost all confidence. I have so stagnated here....i am not learning anything because I perform the same basic level tasks over and over for years now. Unfortunately I am too old to pivot again to another career. I have to make this work...we put all our eggs in this basket.

So, now I am job searching again, looking for a better work environment where I can learn a proper engineering skillset. I have a degree and 4 years experience and can't even get any interviews after over 40 job applications. Yet everyone is supposedly hiring and there is a shortage of engineers. Someone somewhere is lying.

Also, I hate engineering as much as I did 911. It's just the workplace....it's miserable. We aren't meant to sit at a desk for 8 hours and stare at a computer screen. I would rather do anything else, really.

At this point I am totally disillusioned with professional life. It feels like there is no path forward and each time I make more money, everything on the planet increases in price so I don't actually get anywhere. I feel like I made a huge mistake and should have stuck it out at 911. I could have retired in another 10 years with full benefits.


Honestly my favorite job ever was as a dog poop scooper. You get to be outside....and most of the dogs are out and you get to pet them, play with them, give treatos during your work. Unfortunately the salary smells as bad as the sheet.

I could literally feel the discouragement in your post as i read it.. that sucks.. the one thing id say is dont beat yourself up to much for leaving your 911 job; you said you were burnt out, and you made the best decision you knew at the time with the information you had…. That’s all any of us can do.. i think your situation and disillusionment says more about the system that is set up than it does about you … i think we all struggle to find meaning and purpose at one time or another.. when i first began my most recent journey a few years ago, during Covid, it all began with a simple thought that i have since repeated to myself a thousand times : “There has GOT to be a better way… There just has to .”

 

[Mr. Blue Sky]

i have come to the realization that i only work here because i have to...i guess i am pretty good at my job but if i had a real choice in the matter, i'd probably do something else...i really only chose this field because i knew it would be an easy way for me to make decent money and have health insurance(amurika!!!)...it helps that i ended up working for a pretty awesome company

i still have some desire to pursue something more fulfilling....but i strive for mediocrity so i'll likely just sit at this desk for a few more years

the one job i had that i actually loved was land surveying...unfortunately, it's not a great field to make money in and technology has mostly taken over the field work that used to be fun

What i think you need is, i think you need to start a fight club……..

 

[Bayouboy]

This is really what I'm getting at. Working in America feels like modern day slavery. I hate it and I am convinced that I would hate any job.

This is a reason to stay. All jobs suck - at least this one pays well. Stick it out for two more years then reassess.

 

[SWJJ]

I say leave and find something else.

The funny thing about regret is it's better to regret something you did, than to regret something you didn't do.

I have changed companies within industries, and changed industries altogether multiple times in my life. 6 or 7 years is about the longest I have ever worked for the same company. The most fulfilling job I ever had was being a high school teacher, however my love for the job changed when my administration changed. It was also the least amount of money I ever made as a professional. Actually, I was moonlighting as a bartender while I was teaching and made more money bartending 3-4 days a week than I was making teaching full time.

Currently, I am making great money, doing unfulfilling work, but my management is truly the best people I have ever worked for. I know how incredibly fortunate I am with this role. Toxic bosses are the worst. I have worked in middle management in several industries and one thing that stuck with me from a "manager training" I once attended was "Most people don't quit jobs, they quit managers" or something to that effect. All the jobs I have ever dreaded to go into had poor or toxic management.

If you don't leave, don't follow Hitler.

Good luck!~

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

If you don't leave, don't follow Hitler.

I didn’t. Jan 1, she moved to her new business unit.

My boss now has technically always been my boss since I started here. I have reported directly to him (he’s a VP) at various points in time for different reasons. I like him. For the most part, I like my team. I just find that management consulting in biotech is boring as hell to me and my company - while overall decent (used to be wayyy better) is succumbing to the standard corporate greed operating model and squeezing every last bit of juice out of employees and then some.

I don’t know why but I have so much anxiety around work every day and I just don’t want to do this ish. Adding to that, I have to accommodate mfa’s on the east coast & hit the ground running with a daily meeting that I lead at the azzzz crack of dawn

 

[SWJJ]

I didn’t. Jan 1, she moved to her new business unit.

My boss now has technically always been my boss since I started here. I have reported directly to him (he’s a VP) at various points in time for different reasons. I like him. For the most part, I like my team. I just find that management consulting in biotech is boring as hell to me and my company - while overall decent (used to be wayyy better) is succumbing to the standard corporate greed operating model and squeezing every last bit of juice out of employees and then some.

I don’t know why but I have so much anxiety around work every day and I just don’t want to do this ish. Adding to that, I have to accommodate mfa’s on the east coast & hit the ground running with a daily meeting that I lead at the azzzz crack of dawn

That sucks! While my job is not fulfilling, I wouldn't say it's boring. Tho I am stuck to a desk all day, and I don't love that part, there is some creativity involved. Maybe a sabbatical (if available) could reset your ability to tolerate the hamster wheel.

Perhaps a new hobby or some new life interest that gave you something to look forward to at the end of the work day could help, but it sounds like burnout to me.

Twice I have felt like you describe, with anxiety centered around work. Both times I left the industry altogether. Once was a lateral move, and once was a advancement (monetarily anyway)

Maybe change your Linked-In to Open for Work, visit with a Headhunter or two, discuss your skill set, and see what's out there. You can just dip your toes into "looking for another job" and if something comes along that compels you to leave biotech corporate hell, then great! If not, at least the hope and search can distract you from the mundane for a while.

Going to work dreading work drains my soul. I always felt better after I moved on.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

This is a reason to stay. All jobs suck - at least this one pays well. Stick it out for two more years then reassess.

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

That sucks! While my job is not fulfilling, I wouldn't say it's boring. Tho I am stuck to a desk all day, and I don't love that part, there is some creativity involved. Maybe a sabbatical (if available) could reset your ability to tolerate the hamster wheel.

Perhaps a new hobby or some new life interest that gave you something to look forward to at the end of the work day could help, but it sounds like burnout to me.

Twice I have felt like you describe, with anxiety centered around work. Both times I left the industry altogether. Once was a lateral move, and once was a advancement (monetarily anyway)

Maybe change your Linked-In to Open for Work, visit with a Headhunter or two, discuss your skill set, and see what's out there. You can just dip your toes into "looking for another job" and if something comes along that compels you to leave biotech corporate hell, then great! If not, at least the hope and search can distract you from the mundane for a while.

Going to work dreading work drains my soul. I always felt better after I moved on.

When I've discussed some frustrations with my boss - like how I always just have to do all the jobs on my former team, etc., he is like "no this is great, actually". For consulting, that's a really important thing because every project is so different so a jack of all trades, master of none is really good to have. I just despise the more traditional aspects of consulting work. Building powerpoint decks, trying to make bullshirt sound like silk, talk about things out of my depth. When I hear the other consultants talking I am like oh my gawdddd.

I really enjoyed all the business development stuff I was doing when my most recent last team was still funded as well as my client projects because it was just me and the clients and I was exceeding targets, hitting milestones and doing great.

Now I have to collaborate with all these azzz kissers trying to climb the corporate ladder and suck-ups to clients. The reason I've done really well with clients is that I am no nonsense and provide more consultative sales. Consultants and our traditional BD people badger people and talk out of their depths.

I work well as a lone ranger as long as I have expertise I can rely upon when I hit roadblocks. In consulting, everything is decision by committee and I forking hate it.

 

[CapitalCitySaint]

Perhaps a new hobby or some new life interest that gave you something to look forward to at the end of the work day could help, but it sounds like burnout to me.

I have plenty of hobbies, just not enough time to indulge them all!

 

[BarBar]

I could literally feel the discouragement in your post as i read it.. that sucks.. the one thing id say is dont beat yourself up to much for leaving your 911 job; you said you were burnt out, and you made the best decision you knew at the time with the information you had…. That’s all any of us can do.. i think your situation and disillusionment says more about the system that is set up than it does about you … i think we all struggle to find meaning and purpose at one time or another.. when i first began my most recent journey a few years ago, during Covid, it all began with a simple thought that i have since repeated to myself a thousand times : “There has GOT to be a better way… There just has to .”

.
Thanks...yeah I am trying to keep my head up about everything. If anyone read my other posts you know how our year went last year...this job/raise stuff all went on at the same time, so it was really a shirt year(with the great exception of getting to know our son).

I just keep trying to tell myself that these results are not typical. There are lots of good jobs out there that will pay a professional salary and actually provide a path to growth.....I just have to find one. it's in the best interest of the company to invest time into their engineers and provide a good learning environment. My guys here just don't get it and they don't care..... unfortunately for them I also no longer care. I came in wide-eyed and giving 150 percent, eager to learn everything I can and give all I can. after only 3 years they already turned me into "I dont give a crap about this."

 

[UncleTrvlingJim]

This sounds all too familiar. I think it may be age related (I'm 48), and I have kind of just been looking around and thinking "is this all that there is?" That sounds a bit more depressed than I actually feel, but it's along those lines. I actually like my job... but I've been doing it for over 25 years. I have no desire to go up to senior management, but I also dislike the way they run the business - so it's a bit of a conflict. When I was younger, I had more energy, but I was also risk averse and knew that if I just did competent technical work, through the miracle of compounding I could have a fair amount of money by my 50's. And I was right... but then I never tried to do any of my more interesting ideas. Now, I've been able to pay off my house and fund my kids college education -- but I'm kind of just too tired to try anything. Hopefully I'll pull out of it... because I've still got like 20+ years of working life if I choose, so I could still do some interesting things... but inertia is a birch to overcome.

 

[Bleu Raeder]

I think this sums it up for many, myself included.

There are so many good responses here echoing what I think and experience. My only twist is what my health issues cost (and continue to in some ways, but I am currently cancer-free and cannot complain unless it is about the overall state of healthcare in this country which is another thing altogether). When we moved to the Northeast and purchased a home here, it only solidified that I would have to work well into my 70s to maintain our current lifestyle, which is nice but not outrageous. It is uninspiring.

I have always loved what I do and even took a step back from management a few years ago to be more hands-on. It was an improvement, but my company has been gently guiding me toward management with certain assignments and projects. As I have moved in that direction, I've become more disinterested (I haven't let that affect my performance) and easily bored.

I do keep my eyes out for other opportunities that better align with things I love doing but, outside of moving to Florida or California, there is not much available - if at all.

I know there is no advice @CapitalCitySaint I can really offer outside of what others have given you. I just wanted you to know there are many in the boat with you and I hope that, somehow, helps.

I wanted to add something...

My health scare was literally life-threatening. At one point I was told to go home and get my affairs in order. I do not want my post to seem ungrateful because I am very grateful. Every day is a bonus day for me.

But I am left with questions that are more existential. And I have survivor's guilt.

I am sure that anyone who goes through such things believes they have been spared for a greater purpose and I have been on the lookout for that for a while. That is compounded by survivor's guilt which needs no explanation.

That greater purpose does not have to be equated with job satisfaction but it makes me wonder about spending so much time in my day just getting through the day.

Again, I have no advice for anyone and I want to make it clear that I am grateful to have a job and perform at a high level even if it can be mind-numbingly boring and not what I envision my dream job to be at this point.

 

[TheRealJRad]

This sounds all too familiar. I think it may be age related (I'm 48), and I have kind of just been looking around and thinking "is this all that there is?" That sounds a bit more depressed than I actually feel, but it's along those lines. I actually like my job... but I've been doing it for over 25 years. I have no desire to go up to senior management

Coming up on 42 (we really have been posting here forever), and same.

 

[Bayouboy]

This is somewhat of a tangent, but do any of you fear AI? My current job is somewhat hands on, but could definitely be impacted once AI takes off. I would think a very large number of jobs fall into that category. I just crossed the fitty barrier and I've saved well in retirement, so I think "I'll be good", just curious how the rest of you feel with this elephant in the room looming. I genuinely feel this will significantly impact a large number of Americans in the next decade. So much so, it gives you a sense of fear. I gear it more toward "can my children survive"? Both are in careers that should be able to withstand the AI onslaught.....but what about people in your sphere? Close friends and relatives. Just your general neighbor. How will gubmint adjust? How will we handle the unemployment and poor?

Will this be the industrial revolution 2.0? Maybe even more significant. Crazy times.