...
Luck has played a huge role in my success, no doubt. I'm healthy, had a great upbringing with wonderful parents, great professional mentors, and by chance became interested in a lucrative field.
How much actual work do you do?
- Thread starter HGoat1
- Start date
Luck has played a huge role in my success, no doubt. I'm healthy, had a great upbringing with wonderful parents, great professional mentors, and by chance became interested in a lucrative field.
The bolded is what gets me. I could pretty easily do a lot of my job on the go. If I were in the office 3-4 days a week, that would be plenty. But the mentality of butt in the seat is so pervasive. Meanwhile, as access to your email/phone/files outside of the office has increased - there's no give back on less time in the office. It's just more more more. Work (in general, not just mine) is a greedy institution.
Yeah I think there's a balance and I knew what you were going for. Imposter syndrome is so common and I've definitely felt it. Sometimes you need to give yourself that confidence boost to know that yes, there has been luck, circumstance, and help along the way - but you also have skills, and knowledge and competencies that allowed you to take advantage of those things.
Sometimes the job can feel like less work and easy because the workers' skills and talents match the needs of the job so well.
I've worked in jobs that were generally very easy, and didn't feel like I needed to put in much effort to be effective in the position because it was a good fit overall.
Meanwhile others in the same general position created their own stress to make the job more difficult, but seem more fulfilling at the end because they got to the same exact result as I did.
I think part of it might be like my story. I graduated high school, went to college, went to graduate school, and got a career-type job. I have been gainfully employed since the day I graduated. I save for retirement, pay my mortgage, and keep my debts low. Model story, right. I have given my time and energy to make those things happen when it would have been easier to not do all of those things. When you look at it that way, it's a feel-good story.
But if you change the way it's said just a little bit the impostor-syndrome really comes out. I went to a high school where 100% of graduates went to the military or college. My parents made sure I was set to go to college, helped me sign up for classes and get my dorm ready, paid for my room and board. I drank a lot in college and generally was a selfish ******* but was too immature to realize it at the time. My parents forced me to stay in school. I was able to take lower-paying but "fun" jobs because I didn't have to worry about paying for my rent (only tuition). I got an unpaid internship for this same reason. When my car broke down in the highway my parents came and picked me up and gave me some of the money to get a more reliable car. I got a job out of college because of that unpaid internship I couldn't have gotten without the financial support of my parents. I screwed off a lot at the job. I met some people and used those connections to get a better job. I maybe only really worked 20 hours per week but the company decided to raise wages across the board for everyone in that role. I got a raise by default. Then I used connections there and my higher wage to get an even better job elsewhere.
Point is the base safety net I had was to go to a high school where college was a given, have parents who helped me in college, and used that help to parlay it into a career were all outside of my control. That's impostor syndrome.
For those of you who say you are getting all of your work done in less than 40 hours. Would you rather keep the current status quo or get paid hourly at your current rate? Let's assume you are automatically clocked in/out as you enter and leave the building, nothing else is monitored, other than your work is getting done on time.
Based on the responses in this thread it sounds like a lot of companies have a lot of room to downsize.
Don't even get me started how this conversation will change once AI will impact this
Based on the responses in this thread it sounds like a lot of companies have a lot of room to downsize.
Don't even get me started how this conversation will change once AI will impact this
I wrote a 50 page RFP response this week. Basically by myself.
And that was for an easy one that was wired for me/us.
CF keeps me sane.
And that was for an easy one that was wired for me/us.
CF keeps me sane.
For those of you who say you are getting all of your work done in less than 40 hours. Would you rather keep the current status quo or get paid hourly at your current rate? Let's assume you are automatically clocked in/out as you enter and leave the building, nothing else is monitored, other than your work is getting done on time.
Based on the responses in this thread it sounds like a lot of companies have a lot of room to downsize.
Don't even get me started how this conversation will change once AI will impact this
You're really asking if people would take a pay cut for more time off. Ever heard of just-in-time scheduling? It's ruining (mostly) low-wage workers schedules because employers are giving workers sporadic schedules and requiring them to be available when they're needed which makes getting a second job tough. In my line of work that's what it would be. I have hours of work on a project then I wait a few hours for it to come back, then a few more hours of work. For me to do my job I need to be ready when it comes in. Your question, at least for me, would basically be "send mtown home unpaid for a few hours until we need him again". Why would I do that if I'm salaried and can basically do that now anyway?
Just posing the thought since I didn't see the vantage point mentioned. I am neither saying this should or should not be done. But with the advances in employee data collection and monitoring, machine learning, etc. I promise you companies are looking at this and will be trying to implement changes.
I agree going into an office sucks, even more so when you have nothing to do. But some may miss the 'old days' sooner rather than later.
I agree going into an office sucks, even more so when you have nothing to do. But some may miss the 'old days' sooner rather than later.
We’ve seen your posts. 50 pages should take you about a day
A single-spaced size 10 page is roughly 500 words.
= 25,000
To Kill a Mockingbird is roughly 110,000 if I remember.
You guys complain about posts that are like ~200 words -- barely a paragraph in an academic text.
Try being in outside sales where your boss lives 10 states away and works with you maybe 3 times a year...Honestly..I work maybe 5-10 hours a week..lol..but I drive 60,000 miles a year. I drive every day for hours..every time I get in my car my life is pit at risk exponentially more than the average person so I figure as much as I’m paid not a lot of people would or could do what I do.
But I’m fortunate and am paid well so feel blessed. Just need to hang on for another 6-7 years and I’m out.
Just wanted to edit: As appealing as my job may seem..I’ve spent 20 years working alone..no office..no other employees to talk to..no work social life..week after week and year after year.
But I’m fortunate and am paid well so feel blessed. Just need to hang on for another 6-7 years and I’m out.
Just wanted to edit: As appealing as my job may seem..I’ve spent 20 years working alone..no office..no other employees to talk to..no work social life..week after week and year after year.
I've quit two jobs due to boredom combined with poor management. The first time was only a few years out of college and I quit due to sheer boredom, no stress.
The second time the job was taking a serious toll on my health, but it was such a slow buildup I didn't realize how bad it had gotten. Everything had been outsourced (except me) and nothing was happening. I couldn't get any work done even if I wanted to. Exec meetings were hell - "why isn't this done???" Ummm, because I can't get anyone to do anything and everyone I knew who could do it has been let go.
I knew I was completely screwed when I started staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning. The only reason I was staying up was because I knew the moment I woke up, the hell would resume. The longer I stayed up, the further away the next day was. And I started work at 6am. Normally a pretty healthy guy and I was at the doctor at least 5 times for various ailments that year.
I quit, they begged me to stay after dangling a carrot, and I almost cracked up during that 8 month window. Got the carrot, quit again, told them forcefully to not dangle another carrot because I am bleeping done.
It messed me up pretty good. It's been seven months and I'm still working on some of the personal issues, but I'm a helluva lot better than I was before.
The second time the job was taking a serious toll on my health, but it was such a slow buildup I didn't realize how bad it had gotten. Everything had been outsourced (except me) and nothing was happening. I couldn't get any work done even if I wanted to. Exec meetings were hell - "why isn't this done???" Ummm, because I can't get anyone to do anything and everyone I knew who could do it has been let go.
I knew I was completely screwed when I started staying up until 3 or 4 in the morning. The only reason I was staying up was because I knew the moment I woke up, the hell would resume. The longer I stayed up, the further away the next day was. And I started work at 6am. Normally a pretty healthy guy and I was at the doctor at least 5 times for various ailments that year.
I quit, they begged me to stay after dangling a carrot, and I almost cracked up during that 8 month window. Got the carrot, quit again, told them forcefully to not dangle another carrot because I am bleeping done.
It messed me up pretty good. It's been seven months and I'm still working on some of the personal issues, but I'm a helluva lot better than I was before.
This is my world and I love every second of it. Perfectly clean. No chances of ******* around with a co worker. No chance of getting hammered at the happy hour and pissing yourself.
(I wish this were true for me, but I just think it’s a funny line and fitting for the thread)
I am kind of an in-house consultant. My manager doesn't give me any work to do because I get requests directly from all the other engineers. As long as I can keep them happy, he's happy. I am the only subject matter expert at our facility, and frankly the two other guys who do what I do at other divisions aren't nearly as good as I am so I get a fair amount of leeway. He also gives me the room to explore new ideas when I'm not busy or when there's an opportunity to try something new. But I usually have a short list of urgent things that take anywhere from a couple hours to a couple days, then another short list of major undertakings related to how we engineer products rather than a specific engineering question. I probably average about 30 hours of actual work during my 40 hours in the office. But I spend a lot of time thinking about work stuff while outside the office, and since all of those "major undertakings" need a lot of time to think and reflect, I'd count that as work. I count myself lucky to love my job that pays me pretty well and allows me to live in one of the most beautiful parts of the country.
