Occupations; Is this really What We Want to Be Doing?

[cardero]

Do we do our jobs because we want to or are we doing them because there is a pavcheck at the end of a work week?

If getting paid is ones’s main priority, would admitting this interfere with your occupation?

For example, would you want to be treated by a doctor who is in it because they care about people first or because they liked how much the job paid?

Is your job fulfilling or purposeful? Do you feel it has to be?

Employment wise, is there something else you feel you should be doing?

Were there any other occupations other people suggested you get into?

 

[rojse]

Do we do our jobs because we want to or are we doing them because there is a pavcheck at the end of a work week?

Second right now. It always has been for me, and I know it is the same for those that I work with.

If getting paid is ones’s main priority, would admitting this interfere with your occupation?

Not really - I don't have the sort of job a person wishes for when they are a kid. I have the sort of job that serves people that have the job they want to do.

For example, would you want to be treated by a doctor who is in it because they care about people first or because they liked how much the job paid?

No, because I want someone who is performing work critical on me (such as a doctor) not to be there simply for the paycheck. A shop assistant, though...

Is your job fulfilling or purposeful?

No, but I don't really derive any purpose from the work that I do other than the purpose of living and self-perpetuation.

Employment wise, is there something else you feel you should be doing?

I have some long-term ideas, but that is all they really are - ideas.

Were there any other occupations other people suggested you get into?

Yes. They didn't work out.

 

[MSizer]

I think this question is a bit broad, since so many factors are different for different individuals. I know in my case I was under the illusion that getting a steady paycheck was the most important thing to achieve when I left college, but man I sure don't believe that now. I've left the industry I was trained in to try to figure out what really matters in life, almost went homeless in the process (well, technically I did but thanks to loved ones didn't have to live on the street) and completely re-evaluated myself during that period. Now I'm working again in "my field" to pay the bills, but I'm in transition as well to a different career altogether that I know for sure will be far mor rewarding, and I'm very anxious to have transitioned. I think I will feel much more free. I have taken steps to empower myself over my own life in ways I previously didn't know were possible, and I'm thankful I've had that insight.

 

[Enoch07]

Is your job fulfilling or purposeful? Do you feel it has to be?

Employment wise, is there something else you feel you should be doing?

Were there any other occupations other people suggested you get into?

My job is fulfilling and purposeful otherwise I would not be happy. I have worked at other places where I was fulfilled more, but the pay was never enough to live on. I have found a good balance between fulfillment and pay.

I would like to start my own business and be my own boss though. With any luck in the next few years it will become a reality.

Yes. I have quite a few hours racked up for my pilot license, with a little more work or if I had joined the air force I would have been a pilot. Flying lessons are expensive when they have to come out of your own pocket though.

 

[Alceste]

My job is boring, pointless and stupid and I hate it. What I want to do and enjoy doing (writing and music) is not particularly lucrative - I have to pour in thousands of hours of effort before seeing a dime. I did write full time for about 3 months once and that was great, but then my savings ran out and I hadn't finished any of my novels. I have quite a few gigs coming up, but not enough to quit the day job. I often feel my real life is being thwarted by economics. I'd happily live in a shack and eat dandelions if I could do what I love full time, but in my country there's nothing between "rent that consumes a third or more of the income from a full time job" (or 100 % of a welfare check) and "sleeping in a puddle of pee in the gutter", so I'm trapped unless I want to move to somewhere people live in shacks and eat dandelions.

When I was in high school people suggested things like "doctor" and "lawyer". Utterly unsuitable professions for me, but the sort of thing people always recommend for smart kids regardless of their actual interests.

On the bright side, I make my own hours, wear whatever I want, take a day off whenever I want, take as long as I want for lunch, get fairly decent pay and the people I work with are really nice and laid back. I've had a lot of worse jobs by far, so I still think I'm pretty lucky all things considered.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I work to make money, because it is necessary for life. What I really love doing (music, art, writing), I do because I love. I have never seriously tried pursuing a career in any of these things, but knowing my personality, if I had a permanent job doing something I loved, it would simply become a job after awhile.

My job has enough aspects for me to tolerate it. It provides me with a fairly decent income which allows me to do other things I actually want to do.

I've never had a strong drive to make money, but when I need more, I put in more effort and make more. I would enjoy the freedom of having a lot of money, but I see life as something you live everyday, not just at some point in the future after you've reached a certain goal.

 

[MissAlice]

I hate my job. Not that I don't feel like I've accomplished anything but I've always had trouble operating from the pragmatic side of the brain. Music and painting seem to be the only two things that give some meaning in my life aside from volunteer work. As for my job, even the pay isn't enough for me to live on my own no matter how long and hard I work.

Just goes to show you, it takes a rich or really well off person to get the job that even pays enough to live. At least this is what I see all to common in my life right now.....people working hard but not getting their dream jobs or even a job that pays well enough to support a family. I guess that's one thing I should be thankful for, not having a family to support.

 

[Smoke]

I hate my job. I like almost all of my students and the vast majority of our clients, and the job is interesting and potentially rewarding in many ways, but the corporate administration makes it all tedium and mind-numbing frustration. I try to do right by my students and I find it somewhat satisfying when I'm actually allowed to do so, but if it weren't for the paycheck I wouldn't even go back to clean out my locker.

 

[Nepenthe]

I'm definitely not pursuing the career I set out for nor is it particularly fulfilling beyond the decent pay. But it's hard to compare any career against my dreams of being a professional performance artist/cyborg gorilla programmer/financial analyst. It's just too much to live up to.

 

[Alceste]

Seems like this should have been a poll.

 

[Kilgore Trout]

I'm definitely not pursuing the career I set out for nor is it particularly fulfilling beyond the decent pay. But it's hard to compare any career against my dreams of being a professional performance artist/cyborg gorilla programmer/financial analyst. It's just too much to live up to.

Hey, at least you have the gorilla part down.

 

[Atreyu]

I find my occupation quite entertaining. I enjoy internal combustion engines and I have enjoyed working on cars since childhood. So being a service manager at car dealership suits me quite well. However I am currently attending school and I plane to graduate with degree in Art History. If you don't enjoy what you do, then do why do it. Most of us spend more time at our jobs than we do at home, so better make it enjoyable if you can.

 

[Ringer]

My position wouldn't be terrible if it wasn't for the corprorate environment that goes along with any huge, global company. I had no idea what field I wanted to concentrate on when I was in college so I chose what I thought we give me the best advantage when looking for a job. I'll admit, most of the decision was based on how much money I'd be making. I've only been out of school for 3 years and already realize that I need to focus on a major career change because, while my co-workers are great to work with, have three women looking over my shoulder and nagging at such petty things is starting to take its toll. I'm like Alceste at this point - screw the money, I just wanna be doing something that is fulfilling enough that I'm not daydreaming about getting my next paycheck. I have a few things I'd like to look into but, of course, it requires training, money and time. I seem to be short of all of those as of late.

 

[MissAlice]

If you don't enjoy what you do, then do why do it.

Well some of us don't get much of a choice in the matter....

Even getting a degree can be pretty costly depending upon where you sit financially.

 

[Atreyu]

Well some of us don't get much of a choice in the matter....

Even getting a degree can be pretty costly depending upon where you sit financially.

Really, I don't mean to sound petty, but i was raised on a poor Indian reservation. My dad is an alcoholic and my mom traded our food stamps for pot. At the end of the month there was no food. We often had no water or electricity. We never had an automobile or a phone and we lived in one of the most poverty stricken locations you possibly be in. No local jobs for miles.

But by my own will I found my way out without any help from anyone but myself. I worked 60 plus hours a week detailing cars and never missed a day . I did what it took to work my way up to a better position. After only a year I was promoted to the service manager with a modest salary of $60,000 a year. Oh and I will add that I had never graduated from highschool and I now earn more than many college grads do. I then got my GED and decided to go back to school simply because I love the arts.

 

[Alceste]

Really, I don't mean to sound petty, but i was raised on a poor Indian reservation. My dad is an alcoholic and my mom traded our food stamps for pot. At the end of the month there was no food. We often had no water or electricity. We never had an automobile or a phone and we lived in one of the most poverty stricken locations you possibly be in. No local jobs for miles.

But by my own will I found my way out without any help from anyone but myself. I worked 60 plus hours a week detailing cars and never missed a day . I did what it took to work my way up to a better position. After only a year I was promoted to the service manager with a modest salary of $60,000 a year. Oh and I will add that I had never graduated from highschool and I now earn more than many college grads do. I then got my GED and decided to go back to school simply because I love the arts.

That's a great story of accomplishment, but not all of us can rate our job satisfaction entirely on the amount of money we earn. It's nice to earn a living, but it's not particularly satisfying, especially for people who have never really had to worry about money. There's no frame of reference, like you have with your background. You could say the children of middle class parents take the basic material necessities of life for granted, and - just like you - yearn for something "more" that has been missing. (Coincidentally, that often turns out to be something poor people have got, like spare time.)

Personally, I have a violent allergy to being told what to do. That's just part of who I am. There is no "job" in the world I'm going to enjoy, unless I am completely autonomous and unsupervised - and there aren't many jobs like that. That's just the way things are. At some point I will become an entrepreneur of some kind in the arts but for now I have bills to pay (and you can't start a business without startup capital). So that's why I am currently doing something I don't enjoy.

 

[sandy whitelinger]

I'm a self employed sign painter and I love what I do. Yet if I were to win the lottery today I would spend more time doing fine art.




For money of course!

 

[MissAlice]

That's great Atreyu and I'm glad you accomplished what almost seems impossible. I think it takes a certain drive and motivation to be as strong as you were.

However I don't think poverty is the only factor in why it's hard for people to get the job and education they want...or deserve. There is of course the education system and the way its government treats its people. It also depends on that person's capabilities and whether those capabilites could be put to use or repressed because society doesn't permit them to be productive or capable.

In short, I believe for the most part people have their own talents but talents don't always get you a job depending upon how much it will make. I agree in part of your statement but I still dont' think people get the job they do out of a choice but rather a means to survive depending upon where they're living and how much opportunity they're allowed without having to pay from hand.

 

[jam.bar]

Do we do our jobs because we want to or are we doing them because there is a pavcheck at the end of a work week?

If getting paid is ones’s main priority, would admitting this interfere with your occupation?

For example, would you want to be treated by a doctor who is in it because they care about people first or because they liked how much the job paid?

Is your job fulfilling or purposeful? Do you feel it has to be?

Employment wise, is there something else you feel you should be doing?

Were there any other occupations other people suggested you get into?

I'm currently unemployed so I would take most jobs just for the paycheck at the moment.
The area of work i'd like to get into long term is something i can and am always doing in my spare time thankfully so i'm never out of touch with it. My main priority for now is moving out so I can't afford to pick and choose right now.
As for the doctor question, i'd have to go for the first option every time if I had a choice. I'd feel much more comfortable with someone who wants to do their job rather than with someone whoes it because they have to.
People have suggested a few things to me but there is only one area I want to be involved with career wise. You should always want to do something you love. Always.