David Lock

I was in reflective mood the other evening and looking back over my life and especially the varied jobs I had done. I kicked off as an engineer working on site and then working overseas, USA to Africa included. I then moved to a sales/business development role for a major group before getting fed up with long hours and started working for myself doing a whole variety of things.

Now I concluded that I hated most of the engineering roles aside from time overseas where I was out and about and in Africa particularly, actually doing some good for people (building rural water supply schemes). I had been pushed into engineering by parents who thought that males should become engineers and girls should be nurses and find a doctor to marry and all live happily ever after.

It took me years to find out what work I enjoyed and I am not sure I ever had a job that I was completely comfortable with. The big lesson I learnt was not to push my own kids in any particular direction. Suggest a variety of options by all means and help them all you can when they finally decide on something.

So do you do, or have you done, a job that you really enjoyed or is working just a means to an end for you?

d

The Zohan

Interesting David.

I do not think that many of us get the chance to do something work-wise we really enjoy and feel rewarded for doing said job. All sorts of reasons for this of course including necessity pay bills and buy stuff (we think we need to make us happy?), peer and parent pressure also play big parts - i think.

bulldogtwy

sound like you have had a intresting life so far mate must have been quite and experiance. i know im only a young wiiper snapper but i really enjoy my current job and my previous, my current is im a parts advisor for a subaru garage and i have such a laugh doing lol and my previous was something similar at halfords which was most fun ive ever had working in one place got to meet some great people there but my current jobis far better lol

Trout

iTrader: (1)

There are two key factors to being happy - a sense of achievement and a sense of fulfilment.

Many people, as you described David, get some achievement out of their jobs through pay, promotion, empire building, or whatever. Making your parents/peers/partners happy with what you do is a form of achievement.

The challenge is that many people lack a sense of personal fulfilment in their work/career.

You do mention that there was a time you were happier, was it because by building rural water schemes you also got a sense of fulfilment?

Anyway enough of the 'counselling' stuff as I will mention closure soon and really ruin your day!

Personally in over 25 years of working - I have only ever had one job for one year that I did not enjoy. Now I am not sure that I work at all as I really enjoy what I do. In a sense I have retired as I have stopped working and started doing things because I enjoy them.

Final tree huggy comment comes from Richard Branson - There is NOTHING in business worth worrying about.

David Lock

I agree with what you say. I think a lot of satisfaction comes from working where you really get on with the people around you. And yes fulfilment is critical. In my water supply work there were so many challenging but enjoyable aspects and a hugely satisfying learning curve. What I did made a real difference to villagers and getting to know and work with local people was a completely new experience. This was up country Sierra Leone and, of course, when they started hacking each other's limbs off a few years later was a sad chapter for me (and them ).

Anyway, enough nostalgia. My real "counselling" bit is to highlight the need for parents to give their kids a chance to decide what they want to do with no overdue influence. Actually I think that probably happens more these days than in my time. David


Branson is good on sound bites but I think he is right

dpb

Sounds like youve done well to me , maybe you wouldnt have if your parents hadnt of pushed you !

David Lock

May be? I guess I'll never know. But certainly I hated engineering office work, design and engineering drawing etc. Mostly because I wasn't very good at it Rural water supply, just as an example, is not exactly heavy engineering but all about dealing with people which I am much better at

d

tony de wonderful

Work is just a means to an end for me.

I work on rigs doing a hands on Engineering type job.

It's hard work but I only work half the year and I don't take work home. There is a total split between my real life and work life.

I like it that way.

The money is ok too but of course it'd not as much as 200k a year for a Doctor.

I started off quite pious towards the idea of 'career' when I graduated having been through the usual sheep dip. Now I'm more concerned about my whole life so to speak and finding a balance. What I do outside of work and who my friends are is more important I think...trying to find a stable contentement.

I've seen the inside of the corporate world and to me there is not much I care about there. I like to stay on its periphery. I find it difficult to adopt the corporate mentality - which I see as a kind of pious pose - and still retain personal integrity.

Ideally I'd work for myself or own my own business. That is more the sort of thing I aspire to rather than middle-class corporate/professional safety.

Trout

iTrader: (1)

And owning a business isn't middle class?

Brun

Lock, taking stock and two........

Somewhere there is a movie title???????

njkmrs

The big lesson I learnt was not to push my own kids in any particular direction. Suggest a variety of options by all means and help them all you can when they finally decide on something.


This is the difficult bit .My Dad went berserk when I served my time as an Aircraft Engineer ,then walked away from the job because it was boring .

Then I worked my way up to a Warehouse manager responsible for 230 staff ,but again changed jobs due to it being repetitive ,to something which allowed me more free time ,albeit on less pay .

No regrets about any of the decisions and doing Ok ,but my quandry now is how much do I push my children of 11 and 14 .I hit the roof the other night when my 11 year old son told me he was not on the school football team .He plays for very good local team, week in, week out and won the league and Cup competition last year with them but did not make the school team !!
Now he has much more skill than I ever had ,but im not expecting him to play professional or anything ,but to me it was a lack of effort that made him not get a place on the school team .

Its just difficult to decide on how strongly to put your own encouragement to the children .Without becoming the parent from hell .!!!!!!

David Lock

No - that's my book title "Lock, Stock & Two Barrels of Whisky"

d

Leslie

I was very lucky with my parents' attitude. They left it entirely to me to do whatever job I wanted and when I decided to join the RAF to fly, even though they were a bit worried since in those days people seemed to kill themselves in aeroplanes every week, they just went along with it.

I think that is how parents should act, let your children make their own choices and give advice if they ask for it.

I think it is so much better if you really enjoy your job. Job satisfaction is much more important than so many think. If you make your own choices, then it is all down to you.

Les

tony de wonderful

Depends.

The middle class ethos is mediocrity and stability and being more than wage workers.

Starting a business is high risk.

Strictly speaking as a Capitalist also you are not middle class economically but otoh class distinctions are blurred in this age.