Following on from the school, university results thread, who is working in their chosen career? Also who would change and if so what would you do. Rock stars and footballers not excepted!!
For me, my career has taken many turns (I am a Project Manager for a publishing company), but at the moment it is not creative enough for me. If I were to change I would love to work on restoring old military vehicles, bringing something back from the scrapheap which is kinda creative I guess!! And of course gets me out the bloody office.
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However a year working full time and seeing the money rolling in, coupled with being out of education for a year saw me dump the uni idea. I've been at Sainsbury's for 5 and half years now (4 of those full time) in a very important role (price controller - make sure all prices and advertising is correct in store...very legal and can cost me and the store a lot if it's wrong).
Been offered management countless times (same pay band as I'm currently on but with less sh*t and better hours (up at 4:15am but home at 1), plus I get every other Saturday off so I can still watch Charlton). But my daily routines (having to count money, making sure everything is legal etc) gives me a good basis for a better paid job in the future.
So am I happy? Yes. Would I like better hours and more money? Of course I would. But then again we can't have everything!
(Sorry for the essay!)
Happy....far from it in fact every day i go to work seems to erode another bit of my soul. However as FOD says grateful to have a career in the current client and hopefully in a couple of years it'll earn me enough to pay for more than just the bills and the odd Charlton game.
Would like to get a trade and work in building but am appallingly shocking at most aspects of it. Ideally i would like to write books and films/ tv dramas earn shed loads of money then retire in my 40s and live on a beach selling snorkelling gear and then fritter away my millions.
Problem is, the way the market is at the moment, I really much doubt I will move on for a while as everyone is applying for the same job. I did get a job offer very local to me but the hours are way too short so I need longer hours, even if its just Monday to Wednesday 9 to 5 for now. As long as I am happy then that's all there is to it.
I think you kind of already know if I am happy or not lol :-(
On the plus, my job is quite flexible in the sense that I can work from home when necessary & have early finishes somedays.
God, I'm depressed!
Had you asked me this question yesterday I probably wouldn't have been quite so positive but, as the company I work for announced today that they intend to float, my previous worthless shares might be worth more than the paper they're written on after all.
Despise my job, as for the fine detail I can't go into here. But a brief precis.....
Love working at the job, but my direct manager is the worse kind of manager. She is deeply un-intelligent, only making a decision at what she thinks is a crisis point; metaphorically waving her arms for her managers to see how amazing she is in a crisis. She proves her analysis by drawing a circle around all the failures, and doesn't even analyse the factors/antecedents to these 'failures'. Whereas when I holistically present a full analysis/appraisal of both successes and failures, with proactive and positive structural changes she refuses to attempt them. Even worse she will not let me attend senior management meetings as my opinion is more proactive and enlightened than hers. I couldn't really care less about that, only that she'd ruminate on my thorough and succinct recommendations. All her crisis solutions create more irrelevant work for everyone and solve none of the structural issues.
Coupled to this she takes time off whenever she wants. When she works at the 'coalface' she only works with one team where all the problems are, and thus draws her wholly inaccurate picture from that. My Great Uncle, who looked after me as a kid at the weekend when my Mum was at Great Ormond Street with my brother for months on end, has just been diagnosed with fast onset Motor Neurone Disease; Lou Gehrig's disease. Some days he can't move and speak, and is stuck in hospital with no stimulation, unless we visit. Yet my boss has told me I'm not allowed time off unless someone can do my job. So my opinion is not valued, but my presence is demanded.
Fuck 'em my resignation went in yesterday. I'll spend all the time I can with my Uncle, reading to him his favourite books/poems when he can't speak/move. I've never felt so positive about a decision in my life. I've started writing hundreds of short-stories and short radio plays but never finished them. But this week I've just come up with my most brilliant book idea, and written the opening to the book and plot synopsis. Now I have ideas for ten's of other characters some inter-related some connected loosely through cellular like organisations. I also have the outline for two more books which each bring out a much vaster scale all hidden in the back story; one where the Chicago Boys of Chile are gathered one by one and flown out to the Pacific Ocean and pushed out the plane to drown below, just like the 100's if not thousands who suffered under their economic revolution backed by Pinochet and the CIA. One is set in Afghanistan, a modern take on the Great Game and geographically influenced by George Macdonald Fraser.
Anyway I'm not saying resign from your job Rodney but you'll get round to writing something. When it hits me I can't stop. And in the middle of human misery, I've found something I've been the most proud of in years. I couldn't care less if it ever gets published, the book is my world and if others don't like it so be it.
For the last 11 months I've been studying the London Knowledge. It the hardest thing I've ever done. I have done part time study before but nothing on this level. Approximately 40+ a week on top of my full time job and helping my fiance organise our wedding. It's very tough.
My reasons for changing? Independence, being my own boss, work when I want, earn what I want, take holidays when I want. Everything I can't do under the corporate umbrella. So I'm getting out. It's gonna take another 2+ years but I'll get there... eventually.
I'm also director of a travel company that Mr Weegie runs day to day (tailormade holidays in Scotland and Ireland.)
If I were to do anything else, it would either be property development (enjoyed doing up our house in Kintyre) or writing books. Bibble - if you are in publishing, perhaps I should have a word, along with a few others on here, as seems it's a popular option? ;-)
After getting a PCV license working on the buses got me into a fantastic job at TFL as a fraud investigator but after a few years the nature of the job changed and the team was demotivated. During that time I moved house and in the process managed to free up some cash which enabled me to purchase equipment and start a part time DJ business on a small scale which was great because it was something I was good at, genuinely enjoyed and could earn money from. Over the course of time the business evolved onto the wedding and corporate scale so I finished the full time job to concentrate on the business which has survived to date with 5 other DJs on the books that I give regualar work to throughout the busy times.
I wouldnt change things as its enjoyable and it pays the bills, gives me flexibility to get to football midweek and most weekends (after the wedding season tails off) and it has also ensured that I have seen my kids grow up, take them/collect from school which a lot of dads arnt lucky enough to do. It also gives me the time to concentrate on my video editing projects during the week when my wifes at work and the kids are at school so it works perfectly really in those respects. It doesnt pay major money and I do go through quieter months like Nov, Jan, Feb & March but it compensates in many other ways.
However im still trying to beat the bookies...."One day we will be millionaires"
couldn't do anything else now and earn the money I do and sadly I couldn't be without the money with a mortgage, daughter and probably soon to be ex wife to finance!
I feel literally 'stuck' in something i've not enjoyed for a very long time, with neither the qualifications, transferrable experience, balls or financial position to start again. Have no idea what the answer is, i just know i have to get on with it to pay the bills and support the family.
Good luck to all those who are in a good place with their careers, but I cant help feeling that I am wasting time!!
*Checks online jobs*
I was v. close to a change to the career or my dreams a few months back but this has been thrown on the backburner recently. However It is still in my mind and even though it means I will have to go back to university I still plan to do it, I just need to wait a year. It took the death of my father-in-law to make me sit up and realise what I really wanted to do. as a result I have made some new friends and am involved in an interesting and useful (I think) voluntary role that should help me get to where I want to be in a few years time.
In the meantime I have progressed another dream I have had and will be having a go at stand-up comedy in the new year. I am looking forward to it and it has given me the inspiration to get back to writing again. I am looking forward to it but slightly terrified as well.
My advice would be look in detail at what you want to do, talk to others about your options, but most of all. If you are sure of what you want to do then go for it.
I think if you do not enjoy your job it must be soul destroying. I was very lucky I chose a profession graphic design, at it's embronic stage, and having spent a yearish as a very junior reporter, got to work on the music magazines at the time, freelance and this helped me through art college. Having been made redundant now 3 times, because of magazine closures, at times it has been very difficult, especially with a young family. Unfortunatly it comes with the job, or seems to, Only 2 of my college year are working in any form of graphics and one of them is part time!. There is a real ageism barrier I am finding late in my 50s. In 6 months I have not even had an interview!....... I have always had a belief in my talents such as they are, and boy do you need to have that in this game!. I have been lucky and worked on some really good magazines/newspapers and enjoyed my work. Of course I feel that I have only been paid a fraction of what I think I am worth, and some of my contemporaries have gone on to make bucket loads comparred to me, but I cannot complain I have enjoyed the ride so far. Will I ever work full time again, probably not!...... but I will still keep applying, and trying to keep positive.
I find driving to London everyday a massive drag, but i do enjoy what i do and I do not have any real pressure as such.
I have started to do a little bit of my own work but have found that in these times getting your money out of people isnt always the easiest.
I stumbled upon this job and have a good living out of it but gone are the days of big bonus's it just about retaining your job. Which is frustrating when you know the company is like a sive and effecting your personal salary.
I am stuck in 2 minds if i should go it alone now but due to the nature of the market, this could be very tricky or stick picking up a wage and slowly building on what i have got until it is big enough to support me full time.
I am cheating slightly by doing a course run by an established comic. I am arrogant enough to think I can write funny material but want a bit of guidance on the practical elements. Debut will be at Up the creek sometime in February along with a bunch of other wannabe funny people.
After that I did look at buying a small company( had someone prepare to put the money in) never found one that was right. Should have kept on looking. I not sure if I could change career now, don't mind where I am at the moment, expect being at the end of the process within the company, all the shite that others don't deal with ends up on my desk. People earning more than me with cars, just shovelling thier crap my way.
I'm at the age where I got one maybe two moves left before I retire, I want to use my experience and qualifications to get the best for my family.
I often say that " it's every ( wo ) man's duty to escape " and do the best for themselves and thier family.
- Weigh up the risks of making a change: if it all goes wrong, where will that leave you/ what's the "get out" plan? I appreciate that it is much easier to make a leap if you don't have the commitments of mortgage, kids etc...
- Remember, this is the real thing - life is not a dress rehearsal.
I've made some decisions in the past that haven't worked out as planned, but I would still make the same decisions again rather than getting stuck in something deeply unfulfilling. The worst kind of regrets tend to be about the things you DON'T do.
My job is as dull as ditch water. But training as a youthful legal secy gave me the opportunity to work in Australia and HK as everyone loves a British legal bubble something i dont regret.
Now i run the office of a very lucrative US law firm... and it is very quiet just 6 of us. I miss the banter of big firms and being a bit more busier but I do not miss the office politics and listening to peoples bullshit.. .i read enough of it on here. I adore my boss - he is one of the nicest men i've ever met and so even tho Im a bit bored i would never leave as I am too loyal to him. I get paid very well for doing feck all and as an added bonus this year, after 10 years this office being open they are sending all six of us to the office Xmas party in New York. bingo.
So im going nowhere... im too old to look now for stress of another job and i wouldnt get more money anywhere else. So you could say i've settled with no ambition. But im happy like that for now.
There are hundreds of businesses on the site sale, some cheap and some not so cheap. Most people I know who are stuck in a rut would happily go self-employed but haven't the foggiest about what to do or how to go about doing it. The problem is most people's work experience is only useful in a commercial setting and breaking free and going it alone is difficult if not impossible unless you have some reasonably serious financial backing. Anyway, have a look at that site and others that are related and maybe something will jump out that's right for you. If it doessn't, then you won't have lost much by looking.
Recently the hairdresser rang up to say she had the flu and couldn't make it so would I let everyone know, when I told the ladies you could tell they were really disappointed but they all asked after the hairdresser and hoped she'd be back for next week...
When I told the carers they said 'Good, we don't have to mess around washing hairs now', the activities coordinator said 'Good, I don't have to fill in all the activity files', the handyman said 'Good, I don't have to get out and put away the hairdryers', the domestic said 'Good, saves me having to hoover the mess up afterwards', the laudry worker said 'Good, saves me having to wash all those towels', the cook said 'Good, I don't have mess about plating up late meals', the administrator said 'Good, I don't have to chase up relatives for money'...
I stood there thinking to myself 'WTF is going on here...!!!'
I could feel a rage building up inside of me so I went to see the manager, I told her the hairdresser wasn't coming in today and before I could explain to her about the staff apathy and total lack of 'person centred' care I encountered she butted in with 'Oh Good, I don't have to mess around counting out the pocket money now'...
I stood there open mouthed for about ten seconds and called her a 'Fat, horrible, selfish bitch', I gave a weeks notice and walked out...
I'm now working for an agency, working the hours I want, where I want for a lot more pay, if I see something I don't like I report it, any lip from staff they get tanked good style, any abuse to residents and the staff are toast, not what I really wanted but there comes a time that if you don't make that change when you need to things will only get worse...
I'm lucky in the sense that in the job I do I will always be in demand so I can afford to chuck my notice in when I feel like it as I will always easily get another job, for others it can be a lot more difficult, my advice is it's never to late to change or start a new career...
Try popping into the local job centre and ask about 'job's fairs', check out 'open days' at uni's and colleges, take a good long look at what is really out there and have a go, no-ones gonna come looking for you, fact. I did it, and I can tell you it's really worth it in the end...
I also like choice tv know I can beat the bookies and it's only a matter of time before i'm a stinking rich gambler