Do any of us actually enjoy the job they commute to

Matt the Tester

no i hate it

cee

i really like my job...

good team. good atmosphere. learn every day. get to play with the newest technology before it comes out...

happy with salary....

richk

Yes, I do. Currently IT related & we've got some interesting developments taking place.

Hasn't always been like that though...

asprilla

I contract and I've set myself some pretty strict rules:

1. I don't factor in the loss of earnings when planning holidays - I contract because it gives me the opportunity to take more days off.

2. If I'm bored and not learning something new then it's time to look for a new job.

3. I don't mind answering emails rf the phone in an evening (in fact if it avoids a mistake that I'm going to have to clean up later I'm all for it) but I will not 'review documents' or other such.

4. Only take contracts which have the opportunity to work from home, if required (I'm crap at working from home but it does have it's uses).

5. Arrive at 8.30 and leave at 5 every day, unless there are exceptional circumstances and only then stay late a maximum of twice a month.

6. If staying late ony do so help out the peons, not the management.

Following these rules mean that I always enjoy my job, and if I don't it's only for a short time until I find something else.

I've got another mate who hates his contract, which is 7 days a week, 12 hours a day and based in Khazakstan. However, he really loves the fact that he's getting paid shed loads and is working 28 days on / 28 days off which gives him a lot of time to play in his home music studio (and his wife works from home). Overall I think he's happy with the balance.

Tonymufc

fossyant wrote:

jedster wrote:

However, if I could get paid 80% for working a 4 day week I would be very tempted to take that. I suspect that's true for quite a lot of relatively well paid people.

I've often thought that......fancy 4 days a week.....

Dude I work 4 days on 4 days off with 25 days holiday a year. Best job I've ever had.

mtb-idle

An American businessman was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large yellowfin tuna.

The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them. The Mexican replied, "only a little while".

The American then asked why didn't he stay out longer and catch more fish? The Mexican said he had enough to support his family's immediate needs. The American then asked, but what do you do with the rest of your time?

The Mexican fisherman said, "I sleep late, fish a little, play with my children, take siesta with my wife, Maria, stroll into the village each evening where I enjoy cerveza and play guitar with my amigos, I have a full and busy life, senor."

The American scoffed, "I am a Harvard MBA and could help you. You should spend more time fishing and with the proceeds buy a bigger boat with those proceeds from the bigger boat you could buy several boats, eventually you would have a fleet of fishing boats. Instead of selling your catch to a middleman you would sell directly to the processor, eventually opening your own cannery. You would control the product, processing and distribution. You would need to leave this small coastal fishing village and move to Mexico City, then LA and eventually NYC where you will run you expanding enterprise."

The Mexican fisherman asked, "But senor, how long will this all take?" to which the American replied, "15-20 years."

But what then, senor?

The American laughed and said, "that's the best part". When the time is right you would announce an IPO and sell your company stock to the public and become very rich, you would make millions.

Millions, senor? Then what?

The American said, "Then you would retire. Move to a small coastal fishing village where you would sleep late, fish a little, play with your grandchildren, take siesta with you wife, stroll to the village in the evenings where you could enjoy cerveza and play your guitar with your amigos."

jedster

But there's a balance here:

I did a job for six years that was very demanding - intense, 60hrs+ per week, travel - but very interesting, sometimes exciting and taught me a lot. Then we had kids. Because of the time I wanted to spend with the kids, I only has time to work, sleep and be a Dad. I had almost no time for friends, sport, reading, etc. I realised that I could survive like that for a bit longer but not forever. So I changed to a less demanding job - still pretty responsible, good money. I now have a much better balance to my life.

But do I regret those 6 years working really hard? No not at all. I enjoyed it most of the time, met some great people, etc. On top of that, I wouldn't have to kind of income I have now without that experience, track record, etc. You could call it an investment.

Another example, I'd been seeing a girl for about 18 months and it was serious. She was offered a really good job in Australia for a year. I told her she should go for it. I didn't want her to look back and regret having not taken the opportunity, to have missed the experience. She went, she came back, we've been married for 12 years.

Sometimes it is worth getting out of your conmfort zone, making the difficult choices, afterall it's not forever.

J

fungus_the_muffin_man

redddraggon wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

I had a part time job from 16 - 23yrs old, Saturday and Sunday. Sure I had a mobile phone and some independence, money to do things but very nearly never free time to do things in th day and I often felt like I was missing out on a lot.

I promised myself when working full-time I never want to work compulsory weekends, I don't want to be on-call and I don't want to work late unless I choose to.

One of the reasons why I work is to have money to do things during my free time. For me work should supplement my ability to enjoy my free time not intrude upon it.

I agree. But I think it does depend on the job. I wouldn't do something like an office job 7 days a week.

But I could go and join the RAF (I started applying over summer), and spend 6 months on deployment doing 12+hours a day for 7 days a week.

Even on deployment you get days off :roll: You wouldn't be working 7 day weeks

redddraggon

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Even on deployment you get days off :roll: You wouldn't be working 7 day weeks

You don't get to go home though on the days "off", so it's not really the same as a day "off". It's not as though you can go to the pub.

fungus_the_muffin_man

Tonymufc wrote:

fossyant wrote:

jedster wrote:

However, if I could get paid 80% for working a 4 day week I would be very tempted to take that. I suspect that's true for quite a lot of relatively well paid people.

I've often thought that......fancy 4 days a week.....

Dude I work 4 days on 4 days off with 25 days holiday a year. Best job I've ever had.

I get 8 weeks of paid holidays a year

gtvlusso

I love my job, just hate the n*bjockeys that I work for.

evil_breakfast

gtvlusso wrote:

I love my job, just hate the n*bjockeys that I work for.

Tell me about it.
the section of the civil service is which i work is all about stats and precious little else.
so, basically we all work our nads off for management to get plaudits.
Theres no progression, no promotion (unless you're the type that doesn't have a problem with brown nosing) and thats it.
So, No.
I don't enjoy the job to which i commute to.