[Closed] Do you enjoy your job?

"Well the hours are good...but now you come to mention it, most of the actual minutes are pretty lousy."

Not usually. You just have to throw yourself into it and crack on. it makes the day go faster, and you enjoy it more.

Not that I spend all day on STW.... 😳

Never once dreaded going in to current job. Lots of unique, complex, interesting work, with good people. Get to travel enough to keep it interesting, but not so much that it interferes with my life. Work/life balance is brilliant, I'm really looked after.

Used to feel sick and had diarrhoea for weeks on end at the last one. Days without sleep. Coming off long haul flights and straight to the office. Working away for months at a time. Treated like a bit of meat. Bullying was common. Too much work, too few hours.

The difference is night and day. Changing jobs changed my life, despite doing pretty much the same thing.

I'm one of the Hate my Job for the first few days, then fall into the routine & get on with it & enjoy it keep busy & the time fly's by, month on month of in the Oil & gas industry over seas, the month of is spot on, tother half is at work & I'm out on the bike or digging of piste trails in dalby.

I've done it all my lif offshore & couldn't ever see my self doing anything else plus I intend to pack it in soon, fingers crossed buy a little place in Keswick & enjoy walking riding and just enjoying life oh and a few beers in the Dog & Gun and the George, top grub & beer.

It's pretty boring, but I get time to chat with all my buddies on STW ( 😉 ) so it could be worse.
The days I hate it are usually down to politics or poor management rather than the actual work.

Yes 🙂

Field engineer for Openreach, 4 day 36hr week, can be fustrating when you are on the receiving end at the customer but then again, often you end up being 'the one that cared/took ownership and sorted out an ongoing issue'.

Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of frustrations, like coming back from Christmas and finding we have no work as they have awarded thousands of hours to external contract, constant business change and performance management, but overall, I like being outside with varied work, and doing it well 🙂

very much so.

good wage, good work mates, customers know what they want and what they are doing.
job has good longterm future.
I can build bikes all day, I can sit talking boolax on here all day, I get free carriage on all stuff I sell and send out.

even the boss is a nice decent bloke.

Used to love it, but changes in legislation, decline in work levels and 10 years in same role doing my head in.

Love mine. Apart from when I get in, and realise I've forgotten to put the lids back on all my felt tips the night before, and have to use my crayons instead 😳

Nope. Rat race, innit.

Yes. Managed to get a decent job with fairly poor qualifications. Love the work and more than happy with the role I'm in. My only issue is that should I lose my job I would have absolutely no experience in any other career so would have to emigrate to pursue the same job abroad.

I had 33 years in the one company so, mostly, yes. Of course there were times that the workload was excessive or the office politics got a bit oppressive but I enjoyed the various roles I had, I got to meet (and work with) lots of nice folk. It maybe helped that I was (casting modesty aside) bloody good at what I did and therefore got recognition for that. My main reason for getting out was that I got fed up of applying for my own job every 2/3 years as outsourcing, insourcing, re-shuffles, mergers and consolidations carried on apace. I don't think I'd have stuck it out if I'd really really hated it.

Yes, mostly love my job. Great workmates, pay and benefits are good and get to work on really interesting stuff. Hours can be long and things can get stressful but I don't dread going to work like I did my last job.

If you dread going to work you need to change jobs.

Not my current one, but it's ok... I resigned last week 🙂

Had a few contracts, I've been very glad to finish, but now working for different customers, not having any staff to look after, not chasing work, working from home mostly and actually finding a sector that feels worth trying to make a little difference in works for me.

I'd still rather not work, but if I have to, what I've fallen into suits me fine 😉 I've been in that 'can I find any reason not to walk through the office doors today' situation and it's horrible.

I like my job - that's why I do it.

I've had jobs I didn't like so I left or got sacked from them.

Like is short, so don't do stuff you don't like.

No. Corporate grist to the mill.

Anyone want a bespoke artisan hand made focaccia holder? (Welsh people I'm looking at you.)

38 years, loved my job.

No!! Can't wait for my escape plan to come together, then I will be happy.

I enjoy mine. Im a self employed landscaper, own the business, have one guy working for me. Nice. I dont enjoy the periods of no work, waiting for the phone to ring etc, but they get less and less. I do worry about the future, and having enough money to retire / pay for the kids stuff / spend on bikes, but its all outweighed by the quality of life.
I learned early that we are only here for a short while, and could be gone in a instant, so why waste it doing something you hate.

On balance, yes. There's quite a lot of boring bits to be fair but boring's not so bad. And it's sometimes brilliant, often good, and never terrible. I'd not do it if I wasn't paid, mind!

It's alright. I (mostly) like the people I work with, I (mostly) find the work tolerable. It pays well, which is kind of a golden handcuff.

[i]Field engineer for Openreach, 4 day 36hr week, can be fustrating when you are on the receiving end at the customer but then again, often you end up being 'the one that cared/took ownership and sorted out an ongoing issue'.

[/i]

I'd quite fancy something like that. Out and about, helping people, seeing (fairly) immediate results of my efforts. *sigh*

6 months in so far and I can confidently say that this isn't where I'll be working in a few years time. I'm hoping that things change in the next few months otherwise I might go mad.

Yes,compared to my previous job I don't even consider this working.
It's all turned out rather nicely.

On balance, yes. It's very stressful but I get to go to the Houses of Parliament, stride around Whitehall, meet Secretaries of State and Ambassadors and see stuff I'm working on appear on the news all the time.

Get paid f*** all though.

My job is currently lying in bed putting off going out and getting a job....its notsobad.

My job flip flops between dullage and interesting, when I get onto Capex stuff I like it but that only comes round every couple of years. OTOH I pretty much decide what I want to do and when, my boss has never interfered in 5 years, with anything I've done and since I turned round a loss making enterprise they like me. It could do with being more exciting though and I doubt I'll be here next year, but sometimes I think it's better the devil you know.

does anyone enjoy their job that much they would continue to do it even if they didnt have to?

[quote=jaffejoffer ]does anyone enjoy their job that much they would continue to do it even if they didnt have to?I've been lucky enough to be in that position. My current (summer seasonal) job is really enjoyable. I work for a bike hire and transport business in Inverness and love it.

Love my new job! Moved in November from a very quiet LBS with terrible staff management to a smaller busier place where I can use my specific skills (and keep expanding them) working for a decent bloke.

Perks of the job include trade price bike stuff, free bike stuff, demoing bike stuff, talking about bikes, allowing people to enjoy riding their bikes more, and helping those that want to go faster win races!

It's all good apart from I now have a driving commute (40 miles) rather than a bike commute (3 miles).

EDIT- I would definitely do parts of my job unpaid (if I could afford it). It would mean I could charge less and more people would benefit.

I feel I have the 'right' job for me, which I suppose its as good as its going to get. I would still sack it all off if I won the lottery though.
As the owner of a small geotechnical consultancy I get a good mix of outside work, technical office work and meetings. I work on a range of projects from constructing new roads, infilling mine workings beneath 11 storey blocks of flats to performance of foundations beneath new machines for Rolls Royce / Mercedes F1. I work from an office at the end of my garden, my wife takes care of all the tedious paperwork (accounts) and I can pick and choose the jobs / clients I work for. I have enough experience that 75% of jobs are relatively straight forward, but there are still enough complicated ones to make it interesting. Downside is that I am very rarely 'on holiday'.

I used to enjoy it, but in the last two years after Arriva have taken over it's gone from bad to worse. So after alot of thinking and talking to my partner i;ve decided to do what i've always wanted and join the Army.

It's so good ,I don't even like to talk about it in case I jinx it 🙂

I was way ahead of the curve on this whole work/life balance thang.*

* [i]I never,ever take it for granted though[/i] 😉

Struggling to enjoy it.

On the whole yes, very much. I get to fly business class around Africa, meet some great people, drink loads of good beer (if I'm forced to drink lager the locally brewed ones are very considerably better than keg Europiss like Stella, Heineken and the rest) and my boss leaves me alone to do the job exactly as I wish. When in the office life moves at an easy pace dictated by email enquiries and by preparations for the next trip so it's generally not stressful. My agents are on the whole satisfied and compliant and don't cause me much bother. I get a good car and have valuable shares in the company.

No, but I'm trying to do something else.

jaffejoffer - Member

does anyone enjoy their job that much they would continue to do it even if they didnt have to?

Hmm. If I didn't have to work at all, there's still parts of this job that I'd be totally happy doing for free. But other bits I could not be bothered with. And it'd be pretty hard to separate them. But yeah, I reckon I could put in a day a week of good stuff working with good people to do good things

Nope. I do, however, enjoy the things I can afford to do as a result of doing my job, so I keep doing it.

at first it was 'ok'

i didn't notice it becoming 'meh'

and now it's just catastrophically dull and pointless - an utter waste of my life.

but i hear that worse things happen at sea, so i really do try to keep my grumbling under control.

On the whole, yes. There are a few stressful periods but it's generally interesting work, in a fairly pleasant environment, with nice, bright people to work with. Big downside is that contracts are rarely longer than 2 years (FE) and I hate job hunting!

I count myself pretty lucky though compared to some people I know who really hate their time at work and seem to be surrounded by idiots while they're there.

Hate my current job, but I am being made redundant this Friday and start a new job, which I should enjoy much more, on either 19th or 26th of January with a nice payoff!

Self employed 🙂

Ace whats not to like!

Such a tough question to answer, I suspect we all moan plenty about our jobs, but I really am well rewarded for some of the hassle I get.

At the moment we have been absorbed into a massive global organisation and while I have work to do it's not very clear exactly what I *should* be doing, so I'm keeping myself busy enough and keeping my team busy.

It's also left me in a position where I am able to let my wife work part time and spend more time on the things she loves while still be able to afford to travel and overpay the mortgage (although to a slightly lesser extent than before).

Is it my dream job, no but I'm not really sure what that is anyway.

If it was really bad I'd move, but my boss is a nice guy, my team are all pretty easy to get on with and work with so it could be loads worse than it is.

The nuts and bolts of it are OK but the associated crap I could do without - especially the long periods of silence from upon high interspersed with occasional bouts of "why are you doing it like that".

On the whole, I'd much rather not be working for a living, but as the alternative is death, I guess I'm stuck with it.

I did 20 years in boring building industry jobs. Good money but 55 hour weeks.

Now I get to fix bikes all day and it still doesn't actually seem like work at all. In general I love it!
Currently finishing off a batch of 12 custom built ambulance bikes for Heathrow Airport, so soon, if you see a new looking bike being ridden round the airport, that'll be one of mine. 🙂

I've tried office work and detested it. How anyone can get anything at all out of sitting behind a desk or in a meeting all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring.

tomhoward - Member
Nope. I do, however, enjoy the things I can afford to do as a result of doing my job, so I keep doing it.

+1

I reckon I'm just a slave to a final salary pension scheme.
25 years in. Hanging in for the next 7 or 8 and hoping that it'll still be there by then.

How anyone can get anything at all out of sitting behind a desk or in a meeting all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring

The pay packet makes it all OK 🙂

Yup, gave up my proper job nearly 3 years ago and opened up an indoor climbing wall, havent looked back.

Pay's shit though ! 😀

How anyone can get anything at all out of sitting behind a desk or in a meeting all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring.

PP, how you can come on here every day and spout the same repetitive nonsense about working in an office all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring.

It sort of depends what you're doing, no?

Love it.....but then I do work as a Cycling Development Officer for CTC.
Spend a great deal of time, planning routes, leading rides, running bike related courses, advising on cycling infrastructure and legislation and generally talking about and riding bikes 5-6 days a week.
The pay is good (Enough for me), colleagues are mint, environment is great and I always look forward to going to work......there isnt a day goes by that I don't count my lucky stars for landing this job.
I used to work with young people, in a different role and when giving career advice I always said if ou can make your hobby your job, then you've cracked it......I know this isnt always acheivable or practical but if you're gonna spend that many hours doing it, try and find something you enjoy doing.

Yup, gave up my proper job nearly 3 years ago and opened up an indoor climbing wall, havent looked back.

Pay's shit though !

when people ask "how it's going", do you say "looking up" ?

Yes I do, the work is interesting, I get to use my brain on occasion, and the people I work with are, for the most part, very nice and helpful...
No job is perfect, there are some less enjoyable days, and I'd like to be outside more often, but you have to take the rough with the smooth and I couldn't earn as much if I switched to a more outsidey job...

Previous job was a similar role at a much worse company, the company culture, management attitudes od matter and significantly affect how enjoyable the job is IMO.

I will say this, my general demeanour has been variously commented on as "Relaxed", "Laid Back", "Un-phased" and "Unusually positive" in the past couple of years, I think my temparement suits the job,
this is all since I decided to consciously not let work based anxiety get hold of me, Nothing is worth getting unduly stressed over IMO, it seldom resolves the issues, that might not be the attitude of a high flier but it's actually serving me OK for now.

I've seen others come in and wear themselves out with frustration/angst and worry over things they can't change/didn't cause, the one's who shout the loudest, wave their arms and vent their frustrations frequently, don't often last more than 12 months...

@turq - How did you land that role then?
Sounds like something I'd love to do.

PP, how you can come on here every day and spout the same repetitive nonsense about working in an office all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring.

Don't think I've said that before have I? Maybe. Can't recall.
Chill dude. 🙂
Or did I touch a nerve there perhaps? 😛

Yes. I get to mince about in a suit, paid for commuting to work and the work itself is varied.

That said I often work 13hour days; luckily I have no life.

Not especially, it has its moments but most of the time its like watching paint dry..

Yes, sometimes when things are going badly or it's quiet it's a drag but for the most part I enjoy it - I certainly don't get 'the dread' on Sunday nights.

It's interesting, I meet lots of people and, certainly at the moment, the industry is moving at a very quick pace.

I'm in charge of sales for an IT Support provider, but I also do hardware, software and 'solutions' sales to existing clients - I'm involved with building hardware and whatever else I can get my hands on - stops me stagnating.

Do you enjoy your job?

No.

The only thing that brings satisfaction is completing stuff, doing it well and getting it off my desk.

So, basically the only thing that I like about it is when I've finished it for the day.

Anyway, there's still the lottery.......

Do you enjoy your job and if so why?

Yes, on the whole.

I like making stuff, and fixing stuff, and taking stuff apart and putting it back together. I make stuff when I'm not a work, if I can. Getting paid to make stuff is kind of ideal.

OTOH whilst I make software for a living, I'd prefer to make stuff from wood. So not quite my utopian dream occupation. But, SW pays better than wood. C'est la vie.

Apart from re-wiring local authority housing, I've enjoyed all the jobs I've had.

The training for my current job was some of the hardest work I've had to do but was worth it in the long run. Work/life balance is great, as is the financial benefits.

Don't think I've said that before have I? Maybe. Can't recall.
Chill dude.
Or did I touch a nerve there perhaps?

Every time there's an opportunity to mention it, you do 🙂

Last time I recall was a whole week ago though...

Oh my heart bleeds for all you office bound workaholics.
No it really does, I wouldn't do it for 10 times my salary. Can't think of any place I'd rather work less. Wasting your lives in front of computers, in meetings and boring PowerPoint presentations. Nooooo thanks. Not for me.

No nerve to touch, you wouldn't catch me labouring away for peanuts, getting my hands dirty etc 😉

Use to but not much now days.

I have been writing software for 25 years now and I am feeling pretty 'burnt out'.
Fortunately I am taking voluntary redundancy at the end of the month to do something completely different.

I have enjoyed the software game, but being bought out by an Indian company and finding myself face to face with the reality of programmers prepared to work 70-80 hours a week for half my salary suggests that the end is approaching.
(Just don't talk about Indian management.)

Cookeaa

Stroke of luck or my stars aligned, whichever way you want to look at it.

I was at a conference for my previous employer and the job was advertised during the lunch break - CTC at the time were in partnership with a training organisation (Who were delivering the conference) to deliver a project.
Luckily I was listening at the time and spoke to the facilitator during the break.....long story short I completed the application, went through a rigorous assesment day, formal interview and then got offered the job......the day I got the call is still remembered with a hige smile.

The jobs come up very occaisionally but for cycling related jobs check out Bikebiz, most are mechanic based roles but others do come up.

I have two part time jobs, well there no part time more as and when, but I love them both.
One is in a sector I've wanted to work in for years and the clients seem to like me more than most in the office which is always pleasing, the downside is it's zero hours so very much as and when, if it was full time hours I'd be over the moon.
The other gets me outside in all weathers, and is hard on the body but I love it, I'd love to go solo but the cost to start up is huge, but the look on a clients face when you've just put on a cracking display is brilliant.

How anyone can get anything at all out of sitting behind a desk or in a meeting all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring.

a shit job is a shit job, regardless of whether its behind a desk, behind a wheel or in a workshop.

No. I'm sad enough that I quite like spreadsheets but I've recently come to the realisation that although I care about the spreadsheet and occasionally feel pleased with a whizzy formula I don't actually care about what the numbers [i]mean[/i]. Which makes it all feel rather pointless.

I've stuck with it for so long due to some ingrained feeling that this is what you're supposed to do. The same reason I did A-levels, the same reason I did a degree. I didn't [i]want[/i] a degree and I certainly didn't have a clue what I was going to do with it. Very little as it turns out. It just kind of happened because that's what everyone around me was doing.

I've also stuck with it for so long because it pays me money and I didn't have any better ideas of what to do. I don't get paid loads but TBH I get paid pretty well for the little work I do. That is truly and honestly the only reason I do my job.

But I'm starting to see everything that is wrong in this picture and heading into a bit of a midlife crisis. Maybe if you post this question again in 12-18 months' time I'll have a more chirpy answer 🙂

Yes, yes I do.
Last job was best job (for a single person, not with family life) as chief instructor of outdoor centre. Massive hours, physically hard work in the season, but the most rewarding job seeing folk learn, develop and enjoy being outside, a brilliant team of people and an amazing place(s) to work.
Now, toned down some, but I still get to work with teachers (who are just fabulous, creative folk), in the outdoors, inspiring people to get outside and learn while encouraging kids into a love for the outdoors. I also work with a massively motivated team, under a boss who does treating folk like responsible adults well.

Yes there are stresses, mainly due to working for ickle charity the resources and pay are somewhat slim.

[i]How anyone can get anything at all out of sitting behind a desk or in a meeting all day amazes me. It's just deathly boring. [/i]

That's pretty immature view of what 'an office job' entails. I guess if you're 'sitting behind a desk' doing a repetitive task then yes that could be boring, or in a meeting all day not contributing but generally that doesn't happen often in business unless you're doing something like processing invoices.

[quote="turq"]...for cycling related jobs check out Bikebiz, most are mechanic based roles but others do come up.
I've looked at those. Mechanics are not paid very well !

No. Not completely office based but significantly, so too inactive and soul distroying. Average pay for a full time job but above average skills requirements. Little chance of setting up on my own freelance style due to the type of industry. Somethin I never considered when I started down this road. I though any job would be easy(ish) to set up on your own.

The other gets me outside in all weathers, and is hard on the body but I love it, I'd love to go solo but the cost to start up is huge, but the look on a clients face when you've just put on a cracking display is brilliant.

Outdoors pole dancer?

It's ok.
Been here a year having moved from a large, horrendously busy ad agency in the Esat Midlands. Was there 7 years getting more and more pissed off. Had enough and moved to a much smaller place - clients dull in comparison. It's easy, the people are nice, the commute can be an arse if the M1 isn't playing, there's no pressure. But I'm bored to tears with the work I'm doing.
So much so I asked for a 'job chat' yesterday with a view to doing more engaging creative work.
I might have forced their hand a little - I think it works well for them but they know they have an unhappy-ish employee now. We shall see.

I quite enjoy mine, everyday is different and quite often you don't know what you're going to be told when you answer the phone.

(We design/build/support refrigeration/HVAC kit for Navy ships and submarines - the 'support' bit can be manic)

I've been here 8 years, and not currently looking elsewhere.
I get paid reasonably well for what I do, am part of a pretty tight team, and go to some interesting places/do cool stuff (Shock testing is cool)

I like the concept of my job in IT, I like the guys I've worked with for the past 17 years, I like that I can cycle to work (weather and on-call permitting)
I don't like the actual work or the global corporation I work for nor the numpties (I'm looking at you Senior Management) I have to deal with.

So if they could just stump up my golden handcuff redundancy I'll get my coat.

95% of the time - yes

Want to come in early, get things done and look forward to the weekend

Been doing it 13 years and it is very interesting and enjoyable

However, i'm beginning to notice an itch to take me in another direction - but when your happy 95% of the time - that might be a little foolish.....

boltonjon - you lucky barsteward 😉

I did enjoy it until a few years ago when we were restructured and merged with another organisation. Slowly I've had any free thinking/initiative and will power sucked out of me by micro management, petty bureaucracy and ludicrous levels of paperwork (why do it with 3 sheets of A4 when you can do it with 11!).

I was supposed to be re-skilled but actually I've been de-skilled which is why I'm looking for another job at the moment.

Interesting question:

My last job was stressful, full of muppets, ran by idiots, but I was in control of most things with asome manipulation and planning.

I couldn't have managed a third year with them, but it taught me a lot to take my new job,

Which is pedestrian, more responsibility but less control, hugely frustrating, and I've seen my motivation being zapped, as there is no point in driving things as hard as I was trying to.

I need to stick this out for more than the inital two year contract, so I can hopefully move onto something better in the future.

Am I unhappy, no. Frustrated, tired, but then I am getting to see my daughter everyday, and be home before midnight. Ride my bike again and lose weight. Stop drinking so much due to the stress.

So I think it is good for me, my current job.

Outdoors pole dancer?

Nope, I play with fireworks

 

I love working as a software type bod. I work for a little start-up with big ambitions and have a decent stake in what we are doing. All day at a desk is not so bad if you enjoy what you are doing and have a comfy chair.