Do you love you job? 6

[bradpa77]

I was just curious. How many of us engineers actually love our jobs. Just take a second of your time to post if you love your job. Let us all know what percent of the time you believe you love your job.

They say that loving your job is a pre-requisite for success. In other words, success actually requires you to love what you do. I have only experienced a love for my job for a short amount of time. I once had a project here that I loved. I thought about the project on the weekends. I looked forward to mondays so I could start working again. But once that project was finished after a half year, it was back to the grind. I always thought that a career would come naturally. I thought that it would be work, but work that you looked forward to. That hasn't been the case for the last 4 years. I usually need to muster up a significant amount of discipline to keep me focused on my daily tasks. I am easily distracted and I certainly don't look forward to being here everyday. This is a job for me. It pays the bills, it's alot better than alot of other jobs out there, I am very grateful for being employed, but I'm not feeling the love. I realize that no one could love their job all the time but do the rest of you feel a passion for your work at least most of the time? Does it come naturally or do you have to muster up a passion for your work?

Am I being naive in thinking that a job exists that I could truley be passionate about?

 

[bradpa77]

Oops. Just caught the mispelling on the subject of the thread. That will teach me to preview my posts before submitting.

Obviously it's supposed to say "Do you love your job".

 

[wes616]

Bradpa -

Jobs are cyclic. Sometimes I love mine, sometimes I can barely stand to be here. I work as a contractor, so usually when i get to the down end of the cycle, I start looking for a new job. It's the only think that keeps me interested. Some people really hate job shoppers/hoppers - but if I worked at the same company for the last 10 years, and was deeply involved in the politics, and stepping on others (being stepped on) for advancement, internal squabbles, etc... well, lets just say, I understand why postal workers do it

Anyway, right now, I'm at about a 6 to 7 on the scale... thats about what I cam into this job with, and it's kind of stayed there...

Right now, I'm trying to enjoy the Life part of living... and I'd probablly like my job better if I didn't need to be here so much.... but, well, that's contracting for you.!

Wes C.
------------------------------
When they broke open molecules, they found they were only stuffed with atoms. But when they broke open atoms, they found them stuffed with explosions...

 

[ivymike]

Love my job? Heck no. It does pay the bills, though, and it's not as bad as some others I've done. Once in a while something enjoyable comes along, but it's usually a matter of minutes before someone pisses all over it with unneccessary procedures and paperwork ("be sure to use the buzzword-of-the-day method!").

 

[EngJW]

No way. I enjoy the work but at 8 hours it ends and I do things I like more, like practicing on my drum set or just watching the birds in the back yard. I feel reasonably successful even without a big paycheck and fancy title.

You can still get ahead without loving your job. You can hate the job but as long as you put in long hours, nothing else matters.

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

I love my job as much as I will ever love work. There are a hundred things I love more then my job, but none of them pay me...

Keith

 

[macmet]

Some days I love my job, some day I hate it. I think I have the chance for great experience here and that keeps me going.
Having said that, I feel often that I'm not getting out of it what I should for various reasons.

I have only been working for a little bit, but if I had gone four years here and no longer liked it as much, that would be my sign to start the new job search.

Cheers

 

[Ussuri]

I'm with Ivymike, it's definitely a bills thing. If I didn't need to pay for stuff, I wouldn't be here.

That said, there are worse things I could be doing. But if I had my time again I think I would have studied archaeology at university, or maybe naval architecture...

 

[Ashereng]

They say that loving your job is a pre-requisite for success.

Who are "They"?

I disagree. I don't think it is a prerequisite. It definitely helps. I know lots of people where are good at something, and are successful, and not necessarily "love" their job.



"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater." Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[waskillywabbit]

I am thankful to have a well paying job...one that is a love/hate relationship. Pick a day/hour/minute and the relationship changes. Some people just hate theirs all the time, so I am blessed. I love fabrication...I do the "paper stuff" all day long poised in front of a illuminated screen and get let out of my cubicle sometimes. I long to be outside in the springtime, but I am thankful for my cubicle in the cold of winter. Many nights I go home and fabricate my own stuff for my hobby after the boys have gone to bed. If I could do more of the latter and pay the bills, I'd quit working for someone else in a heartbeat. Maybe some day I will.

Never live to work, only work to live. If your work to you is "play"...then you got it made!

Brian

 

[bradpa77]

Who are "They"?

"They" are the CIA and alien life forms. B-)

No, but seriously, I read it in a book. "The 5 patterns of extraordinary careers" (which is a good book by the way, go to

http://www.5patterns.com

to take a quiz and see if you have the 5 patterns).

I guess by saying "they" I was just saying it was a general comment I've heard. I'm not quite sure I buy into the quote either.

 

[bradpa77]

Never live to work, only work to live. If your work to you is "play"...then you got it made!

I gave you a star for this. Great quote. I've heard something similar to it once and I have done my best to live by it to this day.

 

[Ashereng]

If "work" was meant to be fun, they'd call it "play".

Not get back to "work" and be miserable!!!

(Tongue firmly in cheek.)

"Do not worry about your problems with mathematics, I assure you mine are far greater."
Albert Einstein
Have you read FAQ731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[ziggi]

Do I enjoy mine...sometimes. They never said you'd be filling in so much paperwork (I hate paperwork, I nearly throttled some Indian guy over his paperwork requirements, bloody bureaucrats). Unfortunately I recently realised that engineering is too narrow for me, which has caused a significant dent in my motivation, but I keep plugging away, I keep subtly moving in the direction I want. Certain aspects are fun, but it's been a while since I've actually thought about work at home.

I keep myself going by developing good relationships w/ my co-workers and clients, it's amazing how much more motivated you are to work, if you work among friends, and a client's paperwork seems more doable when you know the person you are doing it for and genuinely like them.

If I had done it all again I would have followed my mother's advice and gone into international relations and economics, but then again it's possible that in that case I could be on the international relations and economics forum complaining about not going into engineering.

 

[metengr]

Love your job? Loving your job = success?

Success is a relative term. Jobs are a necessary function, but should require moderation.

Success = well balanced life style.

I don't know how many times I have seen career people either "burn out" or loose precious family time because they ALWAYS place company interests before family or close friends. For what, a chance to move up for more prestige or money that you can’t take with you after you depart from this world. When you look back, one would hope that at the end of the day you enjoyed what you did on the job but more importantly, focused on relationships between family, friends or co-workers.

 

[SWhit]

I don't love my job. Sometimes it is great, most times it is good, sometimes it is miserable. When it is miserable I remind myself how much I like the life it makes possible.

 

[SomptingGuy]

I sometimes get a lot of technical satisfaction from my job and those times are really good. However, I realise that if I didn't have to go to work I probably wouldn't. And I'd not experience those moments of satisfaction.

 

[lostsailor]

I consider myself fortunate in that I don't dislike my job. I have a high level of autonomy, am fairly well compensated, ,generally come and go as I please, and sometimes work is even interesting. Things could be a lot worse.
Regards,
RLS

 

[bradpa77]

So far it seems to be the general consensus that we like our jobs sometimes, we hate them sometimes, and if we won the lottery we'd quit at the drop of a hat and pursue our outside interests.

That definitely describes me in a nutshell. I'm glad I asked the question then. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels this way.

 

[EngJW]

If I won the lottery, I would still go to work for a while just to have the feeling I could walk out anytime they piss me off. ha ha