I'd say 8 or 9 out of 10 just depends on the day. Been in the job 9 years this year, security itself for 19 years. Frankly the security industry doesn't change much so it's getting mundane. Even if it changes it's ehh.. neat cameras out nowdays compared to even when I started. That and my bosses doesn't want to "rock the boat" since their retiring in 5ish years. Have 3 pretty good coworkers which makes the major difference or I'd left along time ago. I'd like to move over to IT again but that's mostly what I do now so wouldn't be much of a change. I only have 10 years before hitting the road so I might ride it out.
How happy are you in your profession ?
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I'm a rides mechanic/electrician at a small kid's amusement park outside Philly. Once you strip the cartoons and fiberglass off, it's the same as any other industrial maintenance job with electrical, pneumatic and hydraulic systems. With two small 30-35MPH roller coasters thrown in. I'm still new at hydraulics and pneumatics but love learning it all. Love the people I work with and my immediate supervision. Constant shifts don't exist, close 2-10:30 one day then open 6-2:30 the next and repeat five times for a 10 day stretch. Time off is good and benefits aren't bad. Could use more pay compared to other parks. But the killer is higher management, the "'Why didn't you get this done yet?' while I've been telling them for weeks I need materials" type. That drags it down a LOT. But overall, 6/10. Waiting until May when I'm done journeyman classes before I start casually job searching again.
My last job I kind of fell into, started just as a busser for a tourist railroad over the holidays one year for extra money. They found out I'm an electrician by trade and needed one and a helper for the crossing signal maintainer, four months later I was laid off and started working there doing electrical in the railcars and helping the maintainer. A year later the maintainer was fired and I was in charge of it all making his pay plus mine. Again, liked what I did, every day was puzzle. Great people, made a lot of friends I still keep in touch with and see frequently. My shift was Monday to Friday plus 24/7 on call for railroad crossings false-activating or railcar generators dying (95% of the time I showed up and said "Call the diesel guys" and billed two hours). Had no paid time off, healthcare I paid 60%, no dental/vision/retirement. Manager asked me on multiple occasions to break FRA Hours of Service Laws, my FRA guy told me "Yeah if he asks you to break it and you do, it's you we come after. If you say no and they fire you, we can't help." Left there for my current job at that time, go back on my days off to do the electrical work in the old Reading Railroad cars. Overall 5/10.
My last job I kind of fell into, started just as a busser for a tourist railroad over the holidays one year for extra money. They found out I'm an electrician by trade and needed one and a helper for the crossing signal maintainer, four months later I was laid off and started working there doing electrical in the railcars and helping the maintainer. A year later the maintainer was fired and I was in charge of it all making his pay plus mine. Again, liked what I did, every day was puzzle. Great people, made a lot of friends I still keep in touch with and see frequently. My shift was Monday to Friday plus 24/7 on call for railroad crossings false-activating or railcar generators dying (95% of the time I showed up and said "Call the diesel guys" and billed two hours). Had no paid time off, healthcare I paid 60%, no dental/vision/retirement. Manager asked me on multiple occasions to break FRA Hours of Service Laws, my FRA guy told me "Yeah if he asks you to break it and you do, it's you we come after. If you say no and they fire you, we can't help." Left there for my current job at that time, go back on my days off to do the electrical work in the old Reading Railroad cars. Overall 5/10.
JHZR2
Staff member
9/10
There's always something that can be better....
There's always something that can be better....
I'm probably at the best im going to get, reached the top of the hill and on my way down. I should probably stick to this as long as my body allows. I work on transit Busses. rating? 7? [censored] of a lot better than working on cars, and especially the dealer
Originally Posted by zzyzzx
Love the job.
Hate the company that I work for.
Same. Pay is OK, not great. Hate the people I work with, can't trust them. Students keep getting more entitled and lazy, on the whole. Administration has major problems with their priorities; it is all about showing how woke the university is, to [censored] with supporting faculty, staff, and students to allow for better learning and skill development. But it is in the location I want, and my field is very hard to be choosy about location. But lots of time off and a very flexible schedule. I'm a professor. To put a number... maybe 2/10 for the employer and 7/10 for the profession.
Love the job.
Hate the company that I work for.
Same. Pay is OK, not great. Hate the people I work with, can't trust them. Students keep getting more entitled and lazy, on the whole. Administration has major problems with their priorities; it is all about showing how woke the university is, to [censored] with supporting faculty, staff, and students to allow for better learning and skill development. But it is in the location I want, and my field is very hard to be choosy about location. But lots of time off and a very flexible schedule. I'm a professor. To put a number... maybe 2/10 for the employer and 7/10 for the profession.
I was a judge for nearly three decades, I'd rate it 8/10. I took early retirement and 18 months later took a job as product specialist at a new car dealer. Again 8/10. I loved the work but hated the hours. Next I spent a year as a municipal attorney for a medium sized city.- 8.5/10; worked out of my home 80% of the time. Great people to work for. I'm currently a felony prosecutor; I really enjoy it- and I give it 9.5/10. I get to choose my assistants and support staff and I'm out and retired for good in five years when I turn 68.
I think its a mixed bag..its like trading in a car you have that still runs okay but has its quirks but maybe not worth risking a trade in onto another vehicle with not knowing how it will turn out. Id say a 6 or 7 on 10.
50 years next month, 66 and still going to work everyday. I found my career at 16, and have never strayed.
I was lucky working early as a schoolboy in interesting customer sales positions that taught me a lot about human behavior. Later as an adult in aviation and engineering work that was both interesting and challenging while working with many high quality people. My compensation was good and helped to allow me to retire early. I doubt that those decades could be replicated in today's world.
I really like my job as a service engineer. Everyday is a different issue to resolve.
In healthcare, 8/10 overall.
Enjoy what I do, able to life relatively comfortably, long hours however and lots of student loans to repay.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
Enjoy what I do, able to life relatively comfortably, long hours however and lots of student loans to repay.
I would do it again in a heartbeat.
My second profession is retired. I give it a 10/10. The money isn't so good but it's also not important either. Not having to go somewhere and listen to and try to fix other people's problems is what makes retirement so rewarding. Too bad most everybody can't do it sooner.
Literally hate it. Parts department of a dealership for about the last 20 some years. I've tried to do something else but this seems to be all I know how to do. Used to be fun in the 90's, but has progressively gotten worse. Numerous reasons, from manufacturer created problems to second and third generation dealer owners that only care about how much profit we can make for them without them spending anything to invest back in us or the building we are in.
My job keeps sending me a paycheck, so I'm happy.
I'm not the type of guy that needs satisfaction in my professional life. I don't care about what I do, but whatever I'm doing I do the best I can. Work is work. I do it because simply because it provides the life I have outside of it.
10/10
I'm not the type of guy that needs satisfaction in my professional life. I don't care about what I do, but whatever I'm doing I do the best I can. Work is work. I do it because simply because it provides the life I have outside of it.
10/10
So-so. Pay is good, the hours can be excessive at times, but then I'm not on a clock, so the perk is that sometimes I have short days. The people are ok, the mental challenges are stimulating, all around I'm fine with it. So 8/10? 9/10?
I do look forward to retirement as I'm finding no lack of other things I could be doing. Working on my house, car, or working on things for friends, or travel, or ...
I do look forward to retirement as I'm finding no lack of other things I could be doing. Working on my house, car, or working on things for friends, or travel, or ...
Originally Posted by rat
Literally hate it. Parts department of a dealership for about the last 20 some years. I've tried to do something else but this seems to be all I know how to do. Used to be fun in the 90's, but has progressively gotten worse. Numerous reasons, from manufacturer created problems to second and third generation dealer owners that only care about how much profit we can make for them without them spending anything to invest back in us or the building we are in.
That was starting when I left my dealership; most all of the sales staff were leaving or had already left.
Literally hate it. Parts department of a dealership for about the last 20 some years. I've tried to do something else but this seems to be all I know how to do. Used to be fun in the 90's, but has progressively gotten worse. Numerous reasons, from manufacturer created problems to second and third generation dealer owners that only care about how much profit we can make for them without them spending anything to invest back in us or the building we are in.
That was starting when I left my dealership; most all of the sales staff were leaving or had already left.
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I am at 4 points out of 10 right now with 31 years in. I am more or less sticking around to net maximum retirement benefit. I do my job and accomplish the goals, objectives, and responsibilities thereof, I just don't like it much anymore and I don't go the extra mile i.e. above and beyond, like used to be my norm. I have other interests outside of the job and the job has become for me somewhere I have to show up 8 hrs a day and do the prescribed work, but the work has become rewardless and meaningless, and there is a generally toxic culture within the organization. The latter can be laid at the feet of the executive management.
At my age and health issues , I am reaching the end of my professional career . I would say 10 out of 10 .
I have been blessed !
I have been blessed !
Can we use negative numbers?
I already vented about the hours I have to work in the "are you working Christmas Week" thread a while back so I won't go into that again, other than to say that I worked in I/T for over 25 years and while I had to work nights/weekends/holidays then, I've worked more of that sort of unpaid OT in the last 3 years then I did in all of my time in I/T. Upper management says this is the 'new normal' and deal with it. I am currently not in I/T which makes it more frustrating.
Positives: pay is ok. Could be better but it is what it is. I know my job, do it well, and that's acknowledged. We still have a pension plan, in which I am fully vested.
Neutrals: insurance offered is mediocre. My immediate boss is OK - there when I need help but leaves me alone otherwise. I almost put this as a positive, but I'm going to leave it here, and state that it's a high-neutral because I've noticed some changes there.
Negatives: I know my job and do it well; this gives coworkers license to not have to think or remember anything because they can always ask me. Even if it's the same question that they asked me yesterday, last week, and at this time of year every year for 10 years. When people have been around longer than I have, in the same position, and they are asking me how to do their work, that's just wrong. I've made the observation that someone could be walking in the hall, trip, and will ask me a) should they fall or should they try to catch themself? b) if it's the latter should they grab a desk or wall or some other object? c)if it's the former, should they fall forward or backward? d) if
they fall, should they try not to get hurt? e) if they get hurt, should it be minor or serious? f)if serious, how serious?
Upper management got the bright idea to outsource a major software component we had in-house and since then my job has been made much harder. Things take longer to accomplish than when they were in-house, and the software is a bigger black-box than it was when we had a version in-house - basically we stage our data, push a button, and pray that it works so we can do the reporting we need to do. If it fails, all we know is that it failed, we report it, and get told it's been fixed at some point and redo our processing. Never get any answers because "it's proprietary." And, of course, our deadlines don't change due to upper-management's decision to use this software.
Performance-review process is a joke. We were already told in December that no one will be getting above a 3 - edict from upper management. Makes all those extra hours and going above/beyond worth it when I find out that the deadwood will get the same rating... [/sarcasm] And the problem is that I can't cut back on my effort because then I will be the one trimmed despite the fact that a reduced effort on my part would still outperform 95% of the department.
I'm too close to retirement to pack up and start over, but if the company ever ends the pension plan, I'm taking the payout and will leave since I won't be accruing anything more towards that. Whether I work or coast into age 65 depends on how close I am.
Final assessment: 3/10 And that's me being generous.
I already vented about the hours I have to work in the "are you working Christmas Week" thread a while back so I won't go into that again, other than to say that I worked in I/T for over 25 years and while I had to work nights/weekends/holidays then, I've worked more of that sort of unpaid OT in the last 3 years then I did in all of my time in I/T. Upper management says this is the 'new normal' and deal with it. I am currently not in I/T which makes it more frustrating.
Positives: pay is ok. Could be better but it is what it is. I know my job, do it well, and that's acknowledged. We still have a pension plan, in which I am fully vested.
Neutrals: insurance offered is mediocre. My immediate boss is OK - there when I need help but leaves me alone otherwise. I almost put this as a positive, but I'm going to leave it here, and state that it's a high-neutral because I've noticed some changes there.
Negatives: I know my job and do it well; this gives coworkers license to not have to think or remember anything because they can always ask me. Even if it's the same question that they asked me yesterday, last week, and at this time of year every year for 10 years. When people have been around longer than I have, in the same position, and they are asking me how to do their work, that's just wrong. I've made the observation that someone could be walking in the hall, trip, and will ask me a) should they fall or should they try to catch themself? b) if it's the latter should they grab a desk or wall or some other object? c)if it's the former, should they fall forward or backward? d) if
they fall, should they try not to get hurt? e) if they get hurt, should it be minor or serious? f)if serious, how serious?
Upper management got the bright idea to outsource a major software component we had in-house and since then my job has been made much harder. Things take longer to accomplish than when they were in-house, and the software is a bigger black-box than it was when we had a version in-house - basically we stage our data, push a button, and pray that it works so we can do the reporting we need to do. If it fails, all we know is that it failed, we report it, and get told it's been fixed at some point and redo our processing. Never get any answers because "it's proprietary." And, of course, our deadlines don't change due to upper-management's decision to use this software.
Performance-review process is a joke. We were already told in December that no one will be getting above a 3 - edict from upper management. Makes all those extra hours and going above/beyond worth it when I find out that the deadwood will get the same rating... [/sarcasm] And the problem is that I can't cut back on my effort because then I will be the one trimmed despite the fact that a reduced effort on my part would still outperform 95% of the department.
I'm too close to retirement to pack up and start over, but if the company ever ends the pension plan, I'm taking the payout and will leave since I won't be accruing anything more towards that. Whether I work or coast into age 65 depends on how close I am.
Final assessment: 3/10 And that's me being generous.
Originally Posted by emmett442
My job keeps sending me a paycheck, so I'm happy.
I'm not the type of guy that needs satisfaction in my professional life. I don't care about what I do, but whatever I'm doing I do the best I can. Work is work. I do it because simply because it provides the life I have outside of it.
10/10
Well summed up! I feel the same way, except 4/10, because the question was about work, not what it allows me to do/why I work.
My job keeps sending me a paycheck, so I'm happy.
I'm not the type of guy that needs satisfaction in my professional life. I don't care about what I do, but whatever I'm doing I do the best I can. Work is work. I do it because simply because it provides the life I have outside of it.
10/10
Well summed up! I feel the same way, except 4/10, because the question was about work, not what it allows me to do/why I work.
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