Mary Stenhouse (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
laughingstone) wrote2011-01-19 11:09 am
laughingstone) wrote2011-01-19 11:09 am
Entry tags:
New Job Directions
The writing is on the wall. I've begun dusting off ye old resume. But before I can get my laser focus on and begin to manifest my destiny, I need to search my mind. There are doubts, detritus, questions.
I've done so many different jobs, in so many different industries, to varying degrees of success and happiness. I keep trying to get closer and closer to something that will be sustainable for me. Even though sustainability is, in many cases, a thing of the past in our job industry.
And for all the jobs I've done, I've wondered about tons more. I've read that NYC garbage workers are reportedly some of the most satisfied with their jobs.
I've also worked for myself a fair bit. I like the flexibility. And I love working with and for friends. It's so fulfilling to work in community.
Soome cataloging is in order. Starting from the beginning.
Things I've gotten paid to do:
Retail: Always meet new people. Active. Physically tiring. Fast-paced. Low wages. Have boss, but they are usually peripheral.
Self employment/marketing & writing: Challenging to keep a full pipeline. Relationship-building. Project based. Feels helpful. Unsteady pay. No boss. Flexible.
Self employment/house cleaning: Active, project-based. Satisfying. Good pay. Physically tiring. Love doing it for friends. No boss. Flexible.
Self employment/house renovation: Loved the physical part of it. Loved the problem solving aspect of it. Gave me a new confidence in my abilities.
Self employment/music: Just started getting paid to sing vocals for a musician's recordings. I love it so far! The pay is good.
Higher education/student services: Typically boring with lots of paperwork. Only occasionally interesting. Non-flexible hours. Offices usually have fluorescent lighting which I hate. Okay pay.
Preschool/parent involvement: LOVED speaking Spanish and working with Latino parents. They're such sweet people. Hated my corrupt supervisor. Low pay.
Digital newspaper/video producer: Still my fave job so far. But I felt the company was moving too slow, lacked accountability, and sales employees were being treated unfairly. Didn't feel like the company listened to me. Creative. Relationship-building. Believed in the product. Flexible. Low pay.
Yahoo!/Online editor: Lots of flexibility. Not an editor type, so didn't quite fit with the group. Boring work. Didn't believe in the product. Like working for a technology company.
Current company: Company does listen to me somewhat. Have lost faith in product. Social environment is tense, which is harder when there are so few employees. Can't get funding. Like some things I do: creating webinars. Don't like others: cold-calling. Generally like working around social media and in technology though. Somewhat flexible, but that flexibility is frowned upon by the CEO's daughter, who works harder than everyone else, but probably has hella stock. Sucky pay.
So my doubts right now are:
1. Will I ever find anything I enjoy and that pays well?
2. Should I keep trying to create a "career" or should I try to work for myself?
3. Should I write a book on my endless career search and make a lot of money? :)
4. If I feel that my purpose is to add beauty and spread happiness to the world, what is my career?
I've done so many different jobs, in so many different industries, to varying degrees of success and happiness. I keep trying to get closer and closer to something that will be sustainable for me. Even though sustainability is, in many cases, a thing of the past in our job industry.
And for all the jobs I've done, I've wondered about tons more. I've read that NYC garbage workers are reportedly some of the most satisfied with their jobs.
I've also worked for myself a fair bit. I like the flexibility. And I love working with and for friends. It's so fulfilling to work in community.
Soome cataloging is in order. Starting from the beginning.
Things I've gotten paid to do:
Retail: Always meet new people. Active. Physically tiring. Fast-paced. Low wages. Have boss, but they are usually peripheral.
Self employment/marketing & writing: Challenging to keep a full pipeline. Relationship-building. Project based. Feels helpful. Unsteady pay. No boss. Flexible.
Self employment/house cleaning: Active, project-based. Satisfying. Good pay. Physically tiring. Love doing it for friends. No boss. Flexible.
Self employment/house renovation: Loved the physical part of it. Loved the problem solving aspect of it. Gave me a new confidence in my abilities.
Self employment/music: Just started getting paid to sing vocals for a musician's recordings. I love it so far! The pay is good.
Higher education/student services: Typically boring with lots of paperwork. Only occasionally interesting. Non-flexible hours. Offices usually have fluorescent lighting which I hate. Okay pay.
Preschool/parent involvement: LOVED speaking Spanish and working with Latino parents. They're such sweet people. Hated my corrupt supervisor. Low pay.
Digital newspaper/video producer: Still my fave job so far. But I felt the company was moving too slow, lacked accountability, and sales employees were being treated unfairly. Didn't feel like the company listened to me. Creative. Relationship-building. Believed in the product. Flexible. Low pay.
Yahoo!/Online editor: Lots of flexibility. Not an editor type, so didn't quite fit with the group. Boring work. Didn't believe in the product. Like working for a technology company.
Current company: Company does listen to me somewhat. Have lost faith in product. Social environment is tense, which is harder when there are so few employees. Can't get funding. Like some things I do: creating webinars. Don't like others: cold-calling. Generally like working around social media and in technology though. Somewhat flexible, but that flexibility is frowned upon by the CEO's daughter, who works harder than everyone else, but probably has hella stock. Sucky pay.
So my doubts right now are:
1. Will I ever find anything I enjoy and that pays well?
2. Should I keep trying to create a "career" or should I try to work for myself?
3. Should I write a book on my endless career search and make a lot of money? :)
4. If I feel that my purpose is to add beauty and spread happiness to the world, what is my career?
no subject
I'm currently the sole person doing software engineering (which I have experience doing, but no formal educational qualifications) for a department of about 50 people at Apple.
I really enjoy what I'm doing every day; the problems are fun, and they give me insight into the questions that underlie my super-secret research project. The existence of a super-secret research project is what makes it less a job, and more of an adventure. That's been key a to my happiness. I'm working my way toward a deep understanding of how information flows through systems made up of both humans and machines. At this point, I experience many aspects of my day-to-day job as the actions of an archaeologist, sifting through the dirt, finding the intriguing clues.
Working for oneself is awesome, but there are things that have to be in place to make it work well. It requires either excellent marketing skills or an existing network of people who appreciate your work and have the desire and means to procure it. That's the part that I've never been good at manufacturing, so I don't have anything useful to say about it. But I've always leaned toward the types of work that people I knew needed, and that's helped tremendously.
The only other thing I'd say is this: if you don't have the freedom to not earn any money for six months to a year, it's very hard to start any kind of self-employment. If you don't have that freedom, then it's really very much a matter of cold, hard dollars. How low can you make all of your expenses. As anyone in the startup world will tell you, the main factor for success is the length of your runway. How long can you spend gathering customers before you run out of money.
It's a problem I've spent a lot of years thinking about, working within the confines of, and restructuring my life to better address the realities of. It's not easy, especially at first, but in my case, the upsides have proven to be huge.
Good Luck. Let me know what I can do to help.
no subject
That is really interesting. Not just the specifics of your project but that fact that there is a larger mission that floats your job satisfaction outside of anything the actual job provides you. I imagine this is a very valuable approach to coping with the annoying stresses of every job.
Apes attempting to organize can be so complicated.
I am curious to hear everything you have to say about how you developed your concept, not just the specifics, but the general.
I have okay marketing skills but a fabulous network. My cost of living is very low so that is a good thing for starting my own business.