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Being happy at work is more important than compensation

6 (25%)

Good compensation is worth being unhappy at work

1 (4.2%)

You must find harmony in the balance, Grasshopper

13 (54.2%)

Chuck it all, live under a bridge and snarl at people. Get your manifesto published.

4 (16.7%)

Total Members Voted: 23

Voting closed: October 13, 2005, 07:19:54 pm

[Bozack]

August, simply the fact that you said Fnord makes me love you even more. I'm willing to bet dollars to donuts that you'll pull through and find something, simply because you are AugustWest.
Aloha, the exact same thing goes for you. I don't know if I'm a great judge of character, and board postings are inexact, but both of you seem like such intelligent, resilient and resourceful people, I'm sure that things will work out.  
Useless platitudes, I know, but it's just what I think. Y'all are alright.

[AlohaDawg]

Aug - that's not a thread hijack. It's a perfect contribution - I'm not alone in this question.  I'm lucky in that I, at least in the short term, have a job that will keep us all fed, shod, and housed. What I don't have is a specifically credentialed career path like, say, Law. (With all that comes with it, good and bad)

 I have <most> of an MPH and 14 years in public health management. And I real desire to help people.

My friend Mark Norseth (the painter from the other thread) had me write down all the things I want from a job. I made a list of about 7 things. He looked at the list for about 5 seconds and wrote something at the bottom and gave it back.

It said "Pastor".

It certainly did fit what I wrote - but working with, in and among people doing outreach for public health is probably a lot closer to my  heart (I don't feel called to ministry in a way that makes me believe Pastor is the way to go) although I can't deny a real change in my spiritual life over the past 6 months or so.

I guess what I'm getting to in a long and odd way is that, like Bozack, I am pretty confident in August and me landing on our feet with smiles on our faces. I just don't know when and the waiting is a lot worse when you aren't working and you feel responsible for your family and Christmas is coming (not to mention old age, dotage, and so on). I think maybe this is your opportunity to work on other aspects of your life - relationships, education, your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual health. You're being prepared for something, the task is to find what that is maybe...That's how I've looked at the wildnerness walks of my life.

Anyhow, like I said, Zack's right and in a few years time, your family and mine will be toasting with Mai Tais at Tiki's on Waikiki Beach, a Hawaiian sunset over the ocean right behind. Consider that as much an order as an invitation.

[V-Adore]

I wish I had networking to help you, August. Unfortunately, I think even at my fancy-schmancy Ivy League college, the only person I met who ever really had more money than God I managed to alienate pretty fast.

(Or maybe he auto-alienated. Dude thought that financial-aid students were stealing from him just by being at college.)

Best of luck, and my hopes to you and yours.

[wombat]

What I'm looking for is destiny.  Fate.  Kismet.  Dare I say it... Networking.  42.  Fnord.  Make something weird and wonderful happen to me.

This is the position I'm in.  I've done everything I can on my own to set things in motion, lay the groundwork, have a finger in pies, milk the old girls network...  and now all I can do is wait.  Hope that all the stuff that didn't work out was so I'd be free for the great thing that Fate has in store.

It's so frustrating - I am the kind of person who likes to be doing something, to take action, to be in control.  But right now everything depends on other people's decisions.

[pmcd9]

What I'm looking for is destiny.  Fate.  Kismet.  Dare I say it... Networking.  42.  Fnord.  Make something weird and wonderful happen to me.

This is the position I'm in.  I've done everything I can on my own to set things in motion, lay the groundwork, have a finger in pies, milk the old girls network...  and now all I can do is wait.  Hope that all the stuff that didn't work out was so I'd be free for the great thing that Fate has in store.

I've just been polishing my guns.

~Paul

[AlohaDawg]

So I hand-delivered my resume and cover letter yesterday (didn't get past the receptionist, but still) for the 'Ice' job and we'll see where that goes.

I'm digging this thread.

[jough]

No time for a lengthy post today, but I don't think it's any secret here that I've been technically unemployed for over three years now.

At first job hunting was difficult, demoralizing, and unsuccessful.  So many people with way more experience in the field were being let go while I was trying to look for more work.  I started doing odd jobs and worked on my own web sites, which at the time were not only not earning me money, but costing me increasing amounts of money to keep up every month.  I'm not sure why I kept going with it, but I think throwing myself into building web sites was really more due to hell of depression than any desire to earn income.

However, after my sites got ridiculously popular and I couldn't afford to keep them running, I took down the one that cost the most and put up a notice that said I couldn't afford to run the site, and asked for donations to keep it up.  I got enough donations that week to keep the site running for another six months.

Then I was approached by an advertising firm and the rest is history.  But I'm still living far beneath my desired standard of living.  My ends and means are still diverged.

But lately I've been making almost enough to live on, and so I'm sticking with it to try to make it work.  Sure, I work more hours than I would with a regular job, but I also make money while I sleep, or if I take a day or two off.  But I have illusions about my businesses ever sustaining themselves.  It's a constant update and work thing.

Anyway, I'm not sure how marketable my experience is.  I could probably get an editing job, or work for a web design firm, but at this point the market is so flooded with people who do my kind of work that I may be unemployable.  I'm trying to learn new things, to find a niche, but employers just want to look at a resume and see that you have 5 years experience using whatever, doing whatever, and practical experience that comes from self-employment is seen as not "real" experience.
 
But I didn't go to law school.  I studied English, Philosophy, and Creative Writing.  These things don't necessarily make me employable (although neither does Math or Biology these days, it seems).

I can be a bohemian and not die because I don't have a wife or child to support.  I don't know what the hell I'd do if I did.  I'm in the Catch 22 of needing experience to get experience "on the job."

No employer seems to be impressed that I write and publish things that get seen by over a million eyeballs every month.

[jough]

P.S. A big hearty FUCK YOU to those who chose the "Chuck it all, live under a bridge and snarl at people. Get your manifesto published." option.

Fuck you, and everybody that looks like you, you fuck*ng fuck.

[sjlimmer]

P.S. A big hearty FUCK YOU to those who chose the "Chuck it all, live under a bridge and snarl at people. Get your manifesto published." option.

Fuck you, and everybody that looks like you, you fuck*ng fuck.

As 1/3 (at time of posting) of the people who selected this option, I'd just like to say that:

a) Someone always has to choose the snarky last option (unless there is a surreal last option).  

b) None of the other answers really worked for me.  Everyone has to figure out what is best for them. I'm guessing that in AD's case, having the family not starve tops the list, while for me I'd give up most anything to keep on in my line of work.

But we've talked about this many times, and there's more to life (for some) than work, and other routes to happiness.

[Imperator Severn]

Well, I personally have no life beyond my work, but I'd like to be a hermit.

[pmcd9]

But we've talked about this many times,

That was fun.

~Paul

[aparrish]

As 1/3 (at time of posting) of the people who selected this option, I'd just like to say that:

I'm one of the other 1/3s.  I guess I've just been looking around for a way to capitalize on my snarling skills.

[AlohaDawg]

b) None of the other answers really worked for me.  Everyone has to figure out what is best for them. I'm guessing that in AD's case, having the family not starve tops the list, while for me I'd give up most anything to keep on in my line of work.

That's putting a high value on your work. So I guess I'm wondering, what answers can you think of that might work?

[miles]

b) None of the other answers really worked for me.  Everyone has to figure out what is best for them. I'm guessing that in AD's case, having the family not starve tops the list, while for me I'd give up most anything to keep on in my line of work.

That's putting a high value on your work. So I guess I'm wondering, what answers can you think of that might work?

I'm wondering, what's your line of work?

[sjlimmer]

b) None of the other answers really worked for me.  Everyone has to figure out what is best for them. I'm guessing that in AD's case, having the family not starve tops the list, while for me I'd give up most anything to keep on in my line of work.

That's putting a high value on your work. So I guess I'm wondering, what answers can you think of that might work?

I'm wondering, what's your line of work?

Ok, so I exaggerate a bit.

I'm a postdoctoral researcher. I do about the same work as the grad students in my lab, but I get paid (ever so slightly) more, because I already have the PhD. Basically, I'm like a research chemist, but without the fancy title (or paycheck). With my degree, I could easily be making $85k+ a year in the semiconductor industry. I'd also be on call 24/7, put in 80 hr weeks, and not actually be doing any research. To me, that sounds miserable (even though I work 6-7 days/wk in the lab anyway).

As a grad student, I lived in Seattle, which I loved. It wasn't the perfect city for me, but it was close. But I gave that up to move to a tiny hick town in the center of nowhere, so that I could work for a well-regarded boss and do interesting research. I make barely more money than I did as a TA, and I HATE HATE HATE this town. But most days I'm pretty happy, because I love what I do.

But see, I don't have a wife and kids to support. My gf makes enough money at what she does to support herself, and she's not the type to let me "support" her anyway. So for me, doing what I love (at work) pays enough to let me do what I love (eat, drink, be with my gf) when I'm not at work. But that's just me.

Of course, this job is only temporary (~ 9 mo left), so eventually I'll have to either take an industry job, or look for a research position. Guess which I plan on doing?