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Weekend Open Forum: Do you like your job?

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On March 2, 2012, 7:00 PM

It's hard enough to find a job in a slow economy, let alone one that you truly find enjoyable and fulfilling. But you have to make a living somehow. Thus often times people stay put in jobs that they don’t necessarily like, while others turn to self-employment, which can be as stressful when you struggle to make ends meet or several times more rewarding when you can make a living doing something you love.

Today we want to ask you: Do you like your job? Tell us a little bit about what you do. For the younger crowd still going through their studies, are you looking forward to a stable job that you like enough, regular income, and benefits, or will you take the road less traveled and venture in starting a project of your own?

Image courtesy of xkcd

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User Comments: 67

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  1. I love what I do... it has been 20 years of fun!!! Can't see myself doing anything else... Finance.

  2. US Army - Reserves (88M - Motor Transport Operator) and Grounds Keeper for zoo.

    Can't say I enjoy being a reservist, but it beats having to work three jobs to support my family. Hate being a grounds keeper. Glad I am deploying March 12th. I will be talking to a retention officer when I get back from deployment about going Active duty.

  3. I'm a 17 year old Tech Writer for Kitguru and Android Mobile NZ; still looking for a "real-world" part time job but I'm not complaining!

  4. Guest said:

    Wish I had a job to love/hate...

    For truth.

    If I apply for any generic job, I never get called back. If I apply for anything else, "not enough experience".

    I live in the middle of nowhere with cities 12 miles from me or more, and I'm not spending a quarter of a tank just so I can "volunteer" my time and gas money.

  5. Hoping to get the job I want someday, still studying and trying to give my best at it.

  6. I'm a senior computer science major in college. I plan to graduate this December. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with my life.

    Every job I look at says they want a guy with 5+ years experience or there's some kind of requirement that I know nothing about that I haven't been taught in college. 4 years ago I thought I was making a smart choice in picking Computer Science, but it looks like it may be difficult to find anything.

  7. Just started at Intel and love it.

  8. I am a Solution Engineer and my job is to fix computers.not the hardware but software part.more like the troubleshooting.sometimes it seems frustrating cuz there are so many complicated issue with computer which takes hours to be fixed but at last its the part of this job.So I like it.

  9. Same bro, I have a year left in my computer and network technician course and all jobs I see need tons of experience

  10. I'm a software developer for a major aircraft manufacturer. Monday - Friday 7AM - 4PM. Great pay and great benefits. I love my job.

  11. Love my job - can't say it gives me a lot of room for growth, but it has a bit and is incredibly stable. I know that my employer isn't going anywhere tomorrow and I'm pretty good at what I do so I feel safe/comfortable where I'm at. I make enough to take care of my family and provide all the things they need and most of what they want so I can't complain.

  12. Staff

    I play with hardware every day - what's not to love? heh

  13. I'm still in college working on my computer science degree. Working part time in a hospital kitchen to pay for it, and I hate it. You can only see so many naked old men while delivering dinner before your eyes start to bleed. Fortunately, I've made friends with the director of the IT department there so I should be able to get a real job working for him once I graduate.

  14. I work in a semiconductor factory. 12 hour shifts days and night... This is the only thing I hate in my life - my job. There is no such thing as "career" or "growing" in such a job and perspectives are next to none. The hardest part is that you are surrounded by people who already "know everything" and have already achieved everything they could. But it's a dead end for me. I need space to grow... Sad ((

  15. To put it simply, No. I'm working on it though.

  16. I'm probably older than most at 58. I've been in engineering since 1980. Lucky choice so long ago. It's been a good career but to be honest, I've never loved it. Some parts, yes, but in general, not really. Management or customers seem always to take whatever joy there is out of it. Still, it's better than most jobs and I'll be retiring in a year. I still recommend engineering/math/computer science with advanced degrees to those that can walk that path.

  17. Coder for a big 3D CAD company.. They let me loose most of the time to do as I please, And they pay me!!! Love my job (Its more a hobby than a job)

  18. Been 6 years in the semi-conductor industry. Hate it and love it at the same time. Looking forward to advancing to an Electrical Engineer or Electrical Technologist and perhaps one day land a job at Nvidia.

  19. Guest said:

    I'm a senior computer science major in college. I plan to graduate this December. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with my life.

    Every job I look at says they want a guy with 5+ years experience or there's some kind of requirement that I know nothing about that I haven't been taught in college. 4 years ago I thought I was making a smart choice in picking Computer Science, but it looks like it may be difficult to find anything.

    Once you finish, the key is to never give up looking regardless how long it might take. I say this because of experience with friends who's graduated with BS and Master degrees but end up staying job less because they give up. However, other friends who never let up have landed some pretty stout careers, some making $100,000 a year starting.

  20. Infrastructure manager for the Belgian part of a big European corporation. Have to say i love my job, tinkering around with SAN's, servers, now in a big consolidation project, loads of overtime, but can't say i don't enjoy it :-)

  21. ramonsterns said:

    Guest said:

    Wish I had a job to love/hate...

    For truth.

    If I apply for any generic job, I never get called back. If I apply for anything else, "not enough experience".

    I live in the middle of nowhere with cities 12 miles from me or more, and I'm not spending a quarter of a tank just so I can "volunteer" my time and gas money.

    True that, I hate the "not enough experience" people ... Sure they try to get best for their jobs to minimize costs and maximize profit but you aren't helping the society. Shame money is driving this world, not progression.

  22. Hate it.

  23. Guest said:

    I'm a senior computer science major in college. I plan to graduate this December. I have absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with my life.

    Every job I look at says they want a guy with 5+ years experience or there's some kind of requirement that I know nothing about that I haven't been taught in college. 4 years ago I thought I was making a smart choice in picking Computer Science, but it looks like it may be difficult to find anything.

    No reason to worry in my opinion. Although the fact that you do worry just shows that you care about your future job - which is good, of course. Anyways, it's better to expect your first job to be something 'not as good' as you'd like it to be - everyone has to start somewhere. There are exceptions, I admit, e.g., many programmers land a great job pretty soon - often during studies. Just keep looking, something will pop up eventually. + It's always good to start working, even if only part-time, during your studies.

    Also, don't rely on college/university to teach you everything. From my experience, these institutions mainly just shape the way you think and the way you go on about solving things. The rest often has to be self-taught.

  24. unemployed here, ~40yo, still living with my parents

    if i could roll back 12 years of my life, i would have preferred working in a hospital as a medical technologist, or laboratory technician, or doctor.

  25. I'm 27, i graduated 4 years ago as an economist in the faculty of IT and Eco. Since then I worked in a Bank in Eastern Europe (subsidiary of one of the biggest companies in the world). I started in IT development as a develepoer, then as a system analyst. I loved it.

    Currently I'm in the Information Security department which love even more, though i struggle some extreme hard projects.

    Salary is very good compared to local conditions, but are bad compared to western europe and US.

    Expectations are high, i am overwhelmed with tasks, but I still love it as I'm developing rapidly and learning a lot from it.

    Planning on going to the US soon for a couple of years to work in the field of Information Security.

    My only advice to starters is to find the company that you want to work for and apply for any kind of position there. If you are already in it will be much easier to get better positions of your taste!!! ;-) And till you get your desired position you are still developing a better CV and gaining a lot of work experience.

    Never be afraid, always be initiative and stick to your idealism!!!

    Best luck for everyone,

    Peter

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