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Another IT Project Manager. Feed pretty much sums it up.
That said, it took me a fair number of years to get to the stage where I’d consider myself “good” at it. Maybe I’m a slow learner.
Nope it's not get the qualification and away you go, it takes a while to be able to practice confidently especially in the face of people who don't understand the role or see the value of a good PM. The soft skills you mention are essential, particularly keeping your head while everyone else is losing it. Which is why not everyone can do it. 🙂
I’ve been a school teacher, which a lot of people assume is easy but it isn’t
Every teacher who contributes to any thread tells us how difficult it is, so I think we all know by now.
Edit: to add context to this - I used to work in a lab and there was one girl who, when asked if she was busy, would always reply 'Rushed off my feet, Jon, rushed off. Bois bach, haven't got time to talk.' And off she'd go. Guess who the laziest person in the place was?
😀
Guess who the laziest person in the place was?
I am going to say you. Your username presumably means something, after all.
Every teacher who contributes to any thread tells us how difficult it is, so I think we all know by now.
Well we all know they like a good moan, but come on, how hard can it really be?
😉
I am going to say you. Your username presumably means something, after all.
Idleness is not laziness, I'll have you know! (Well, not always.)
😀
Well we all know they like a good moan, but come on, how hard can it really be?
And the holidays... 😀
Im work in the wider HR team in a very large company. I agree we are there to protect the companies interests more than the employee. If you don’t know what you are doing however, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll end up costing your company a lot of money in double quick time
Other than knowledge of policy, process and legislation it doesn’t require any specific skill set, however you need to have half a brain to actually add any value to what you do. I imagine it’s no different than any other office job. Certainly I’ve worked with hundreds of other professionals in my time and never once (with the exception of some accountants) have I thought that they had a particular unique skill set beyond the job specific knowledge that was required
The reason I’m an ex-teacher, IdleJon, is that it took too much out of me. I’m sure that as with any job there were some that did as little as they could, but I wanted to do the job well and found the workload too high.
I’ve had many jobs, and I’d happily return to most of them if circumstance required, but I’d never go back to state school teaching. It takes everything out of you and demands more.
I've spoken to enough teachers to see a pattern of over-work, which I think is exacerbated by the results-at-all-costs culture in some schools, and the way they are run as mini-empires by "high performing" heads.
I suspect the sector has a huge bullying problem, which may come to light in future.
And the holidays… 😀
...knock off at 3.30pm too - in the pub by 4.00pm 'marking'! 🙂
HR, policeman, teacher, and bike mechanic all go into a bar.
Fun was had all round.
My job is really easy. Seamstress (not for the band), soft furnisher.
Actually making a product, that one can look back at and see something for your efforts is rewarding.
However the Money is dreadful, some customers want something for nothing and expect a silk purse made out of a sows ear. Often there is quite a bit of unpaid work involved (giving out quotes, measuring up) before the job is actually given the 'go ahead'.
It is work that's undervalued, looked at as low paid, even though there is a skill involved. I'm really not sure if Millennials will be taking over this kind of work in the future.
My Mrs is a teacher and today they got the dreaded, but way overdue, news. Ofsted on Monday.
It's now red alert. All hands on deck all weekend.
Luckily we've got family commitments 200 miles away.
The reason I’m an ex-teacher, IdleJon, is that it took too much out of me.
The reason I made that comment is that there are a lot of clever people on this thread being very self-deprecating about the difficulties of their jobs, the amount of training or experience needed, and calling themselves idiots. And then teachers arrive to tell us how difficult the job is, how overworked, etc. I wasn't making a comment on that, but basing it on the quote, the lady doth protest too much. Maybe a poor attempt at humour, but an attempt nevertheless.
My brother has just thrown in teaching, after 30 years. My aunt was a head teacher, my step-mother head of year, my cousin teaches. I applied to teach, was offered a place and then realised what a stupid idea it was because I don't like children. You don't need to tell me that it's a difficult job, but also, you don't really need to tell everyone all the time that it's a difficult job. We know. You've told us already, many times.
I shall add 'thin-skinned' and possibly 'humourless' to the list of qualities needed to be a teacher. 😀
I shall add ‘thin-skinned’ and possibly ‘humourless’ to the list of qualities needed to be a teacher
I think you need to look a bit closer to home tbh. Are you a physician?
I’m really not sure if Millennials will be taking over this kind of work in the future.
You do realise that millennials are either in or fast approaching their forties by now and many will have kids who are now out in the workplace.
Strangely I have 4 friends who are teachers. They all do the usual moaning about the workload but all are happy in their job, more than happy with the wage, love the holidays and get really annoyed when the subject of their lovely pensions comes up. Two have climbed the ladder to become Deputy Heads so they can't have too much to do that it stops them furthering their career.
None of them have had 'proper' jobs outside of teaching. It shows massively in their attitude to people outside of the teaching world.
Would I do their job? No way in hell. Could they do my job of driving a truck? It would kill them all in a matter of hours. It's all about finding whatever suits your skillet.
Can any idiot do my job ?
You need to be one to get involved in the trade in the first place 😆 But at least you get to take your work home with you.mmmmm delicious 😀 Watching this I do sometimes regret leaving the trade.
Interesting watch, fascinating to those unfamiliar of the process.
Its the apprenticeship thats important. You learn the shape of the bones while trimming them of their scraps, so when you eventually go on to butchery proper, you know the feel of the bone on the tip of the blade even when its buried deep in the meat.
It's mostly halfwits and numbskulls who go round disparaging other people's jobs but it's very popular in the rw press. Generally a case of too thick to know your own limitations, let alone other people's. Loads of easy jobs going at the moment, get one, hang your hat up and watch those sovs rolling in. Let us know how you get on.
It’s all about finding whatever suits your skillet.
Chef then? 😉
Professional bum wiper.
Don't need a degree to do my job and I'm just a hand maiden to the Dr.
Etc etc.
Could anyone do it? Seen enough people try and fail.
I'm constantly amazed at the knowledge that some people have in the field when they know nothing else outside of the role beyond love island and lip fillers so I suppose anyone could have a go.
It’s all about finding whatever suits your skillet
We're all stake holders
Developing a spell-checker must be tricky, but everyone knows how to do it 🙂
Did have a laugh at a facebook thread the other day, in our area the binmen are on strike, so we've got the usual whining that folks bins are overflowing, and how lucky they are doing a simple job that anyone can do, and how easy it is finishing at 3 in the afternoon, when you look at who's posting this type of comment is coming from 'management consultants', 'full time mums' and so on who would collapse in a heap on day 1 of chasing a bin lorry around for 8 hours in all weathers 😂
Yep, same for a lot of these "low skilled jobs".
They're not at all, they're just low-paid.
The barista at my local cafe can conduct a conversation with the customer, interact with the other staff, remember several orders, make them quickly, efficiently and to a very high standard, usually knows the name of each customer they're going to and can do all this in a tiny serving area.
I'd fall apart doing all that. Also I'd want a rest after the second coffee. 😂
R&D scientist. If you say “the drug won’t work” you’ll be right 80% of the time. Who wouldn’t want to be right four out of five times? Anyone can do that, surely. Of course if you’re wrong then it costs the company a few billion in ten years time, but you’ll be gone by then.
Surely if you can't learn how to serve a great coffee after maybe two weeks watching the job is not for you, the squiggly bit on the flat white maybe after a month
Bin folk just walk over wheel the bin to the lorry, it gets tipped and they wheel it back sometimes near to where it was previous. Some more skilled ones can double task playing with their phone at the same time
As above, the money and respect that people get for different jobs often isn’t proportional to the value of the job or the level of service they provide.
Qualifications, job title and salary are also frequently disconnected from ability and general intelligence.
We are all different, some are generally good at lots of things, some brilliant at a more narrow range, some at thinking ahead and working out potential results and some people just care and have a real passion for what they do. And there are lots of “lower skilled” jobs that “intelligent” high flying people couldn’t do for a whole variety of reasons.
As a slight aside, one of the post grads I did also had two rocket scientists on it, both failed a relatively simple assessment, well, because, it wasn’t rocket science 🙂
Train driving. They just go where the rails/points go.
Come to think of it, they're not even worthy of being called drivers for that reason.
As above, the money and respect that people get for different jobs often isn’t proportional to the value of the job or the level of service they provide.
Who decides the value and who decides to pay what they pay. All supply and demand isn't it.
You could pay same amount for refuse collection as you could for IT analyst but I would not give up my job and do refuse collection even though I would be able to do refuse collection..
Could the typical refuse collector do my job, I would say no they couldn't.
Is my job of more value to society than a refuse collector, absolutely not. I am well aware of that which is why I give as much/more respect to a refuse collector than those that I work with...
Who decides the value and who decides to pay what they pay. All supply and demand isn’t it.
Unless, somewhat ironically, your pay is decided by the Tory government.
Still supply and demand. If every single refuse collector left and did something else what do you think would happen?
Still supply and demand. If every single refuse collector left and did something else what do you think would happen?
Why are we massively short of nurses? Teachers?
You do realise that millennials are either in or fast approaching their forties by now and many will have kids who are now out in the workplace.
My reasonable assumption was that millennials were born in this new Millennium, so no I didn't realise.
Still supply and demand. If every single refuse collector left and did something else what do you think would happen?
You'd end up with shit piled up everywhere, which occasionally happens. when the refuse collectors go on strike...
My reasonable assumption was that millennials were born in this new Millennium, so no I didn’t realise.
Millenials is anyone born sort of very early 80's to about mid 90's.
Apparently the generation who have been hit hard when it comes to university fees and buying a house but also the ones told that if they stop buying smashed avocado on toast and posh coffee and cancel their Netflix subscription they could easily save up a deposit for a house...
Why are we massively short of nurses? Teachers?
Because there are not enough of them but nobody really cares (or not enough to vote for a party that may actually do something about it).
Same question, what do you think would happen if every single teacher left and did another job?
Ex plasterer and now a teacher so both my jobs are piss easy. Some even used to tell me how long plastering would take and how much it should cost.
Ah yes the age old thing of customers telling the expert their job and what they think the estimate should be. Then not having the courtesy of letting you know why they didn't have you for the job (luckily for me this rarely happened).
Who decides the value and who decides to pay what they pay. All supply and demand isn’t it.
Yeah, the labour market is just like buying cement, just a market, not complicated at all.
duckman
Full Member
Ex plasterer and now a teacher so both my jobs are piss easy. Some even used to tell me how long plastering would take and how much it should cost.
Bloody kids these days; they think they know everything! 😉
My job isn’t hard, but it is complicated and whilst you do build skills, you often need new and completely different ones every few years. That gets harder to do year on year as age and family/life all take a toll on your ability to get up to speed and deliver.
Same as Daffy here. Slightly anxious about what I'll do when I'm over say 45.
I am 55 and still able to learn new stuff, got a certification in a new field just a few weeks ago with no more effort than it would have been when I was 25 so don't write yourself off just yet!
It would appear that the 3 jobs I've had in my life can't actually be done by anyone.
Research scientist
online shopper in sainsburys
Teacher
1 and 3 require training and a few other things. 2 requires common sense and a certain level of intelligence that I didn't see in everyone that worked in the department (they eventually got moved).
I've just passed HGV Class 1 (C+E), I don't want to be a 'proper' lorry driver though. Age 48. Need it to tow at work who paid for it. Hats off to anyone who does it full time, artics are bloody huge!
Ah yes the age old thing of customers telling the expert their job and what they think the estimate should be.
Also something project and scrum masters are fond of.
I have on a few occasions invited them to demonstrate that their time estimate is better than mine. Oddly enough never been taken up on it.
Teacher here. Though the actual teaching of my subject is a very small percentage of the job. What I actually do:
Write the course.
Write the project briefs.
Classroom management for behaviour.
Talk to parents about how their kid gets to school.
Help students get to school.
Help students get their lunch.
Carer.
Manager.
Manager for my manager.
Tech support for tech support.
Printer.
Administrator.
Recruitment manager.
Admissions manager.
Enrollment manager.
Then I teach a little. Then repeat the above.
Any idiot can fell trees apparently.
Maybe that’s why it’s so dangerous?
Among the many things my father-in-law has done, one was setting up his own selective logging operation on a remote Papua New Guinean island in the 1980s, employing local labour. It entailed sourcing the machinery to take to the island from Australia, building the hardstand to get the machinery onto a ship to get it to the island, finding local employees, finding the single tree per hectare that was felled, building the roads to get to the trees, felling and snigging them, and loading them from the shore. The only comm's was by radio at the top of a mountain and the only way to get out by sea. All with three young girls.
Getting the timber out was a massive challenge too - he tells a great story about having to 'pilot' a Japanese ship to near disaster to avoid losing a significant amount of timber.
Dangerous, but my wife remembers it as the time of her life (until she met me of course).
What I do for a living seems very boring in comparison.
On the face of things, my job is easy - research and technology. Almost anyone that’s been through some form of higher education will have done this, but living in it, in an industrial context, in a very broad field is tougher than it sounds. @Kerley - When I say completely different, I do mean completely. This years challenge was Quantum Computing - not just awareness of it, but understanding the fundamentals enough to be able to develop mathematical methods to leverage the various quantum architectures being developed by various startups. My background is engineering, not quantum physics.
Where previously I could read a research paper and “get it” on the first pass, I sometimes need 2/3 passes on critical information to keep the salient details in my head whilst I process/organise and compare to other research. Having to do this whilst doing all the things that higher level positions inevitably demand becomes…challenging.
I’d love to say I have a grasp on it, but my grasp is that of very tight hands around a very large, very wet block of soap :-/
So, to the OPs question - no, an idiot could not do my job, but a recent post-doc in a relevant field with more free time and a more absorbent mind, possibly could and they’d be much cheaper than me.