Is anyone else bitter about work? 37

[shadow401]

I don’t know if it’s the engineering field, Corporate America, or just me but does anyone really love being an engineer anymore? Sure, it pays the bills but is anyone actually excited to show up to work in the morning?

Most of the people I work with have become cynical and are more interested in making themselves look good then completing a project. Engineers, developers, government agencies, inspectors, contractor, and sub-contractors are all on different teams and only looking out for their own interests. Even within my own company different departments try to push each other down to appear more profitable. Lazy employees get promoted over hard working employees and it feels like some fundamental rule that we learned in kindergarten about being fair and doing what’s right has been lost. I used to love the though of becoming an engineer but after 7 years of the real world, I just don’t care anymore. Am I alone?

 

[zdas04]

TDAA,
I don't know you. You don't know me. Looking at your profile I see you've been around a while and have gotten and given some little purple stars. That doesn't qualify you to tell me or anyone else to go away and certainly doesn't qualify you to tell me to do something obscene with an abstract concept. Not sure that I would even know how to "stick my passion" any particular place.

Life is short. We're only sure of doing it once. Why would you spend 1/3 of your day being unhappy and miserable? If you can't love it (and you do have absolute control over your attitude) then you should stop doing it. Simple as that. I had two careers prior to this one, and didn't love either one so I changed. Found one I loved. I'm sticking with it.

Have a nice life.

David

 

[apsix]

zdas04

Yet you believe you are qualified to say "go the hell away" while other are not?

How does that work?

 

[IRstuff]

There seems to be a lot of overinterpretation going. What most people are saying is not that you should be happy being an engineer, it's that you should be happy doing something that makes you happy.


If engineering doesn't make you happy, at least reasonably often, then, yes, you're in the wrong job, simply because it's making you miserable. I can't imagine wanting to do something for the rest of my life that makes me miserable. That just does not compute.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[zdas04]

Apsix,
Pretty well, I think.

David

 

[SNORGY]

I admire my wife. At 16, she couldn't have a dog. She moved out from home and the neighbourhood and got a dog, then put herself through school. She has trained, bred, shown and competed with dogs as a profession for the past thirty years. She has never known what "work" is in the negative sense - she just found her passion and spent every day thereafter living it. She's not rich but she's not bitter.

After being embittered for a few days over all of the obscene hours I was working recently, I took my own dogs out and did a practice. They both ran flawlessly as if it was the day after a Nationals, and were both quite happy to accept a chunk of Rollover and chase a Frisbee for their efforts. In fact, *they* thanked *me* for letting *them* play (or "work", depending on your definition).

Then I drove to the audio store and blew a couple of paycheques on mid-to-high-end audio components. Earlier this week, we looked at acreages for sale.

I guess that has grounded me somewhat over the past week or two, and reminded me of why I "work". But a good marriage, dogs, space, and Pink Floyd - with beer, of course - do combine to take some of the edge off of the bitterness I feel.

So, engineering may never be among my "passions", but at least it has contributed towards funding the other things that are.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[ajack1]

If anyone expects everyday to be perfect and nothing to annoy them then they will always be bitter no matter what.

Two thirds of the world population live in poverty, many without even the basic needs like running water, food and sanitation let alone large salaries. So already we are “lucky”, being an engineer will put you well up the final third, even if you don’t like the job you do or the people you work for.

Happiness or bitterness are a state of your mind, we all earn more in a week than entire towns or villages in some countries but probably less than Bill Gates earns every time he passes wind, who you choose to measure yourself against will go a long way to determine how content you are.

We all on here have an education and the ability to change our lives if we so desire, if people still feel bitter chances are they always will no matter what else they have.

 

[ImminentCollapse]

PERSPECTIVE

Having a somewhat annoying day at work when I get the call that the one year old had eaten one of the dog's hip medicene tablets. Go to the children's emergency room, all is fine no stomach pump or even the charcoal bottle required.

While bidding our time during the observation period, we see a 5 year old come in who we later learn has a brain tumor saying "Mommy, I don't want another IV".

I am not bitter.

IC

 

[SNORGY]

One thing is apparent.

For a rather honest and not in any way offensive original post by shadow401, the ensuing thread has attracted a lot of attention and passion from the embittered and non-embittered alike. Curiously enough, the "non-bitter" population within this thread appear to be the most passionate and, in my opinion, at times some of them border on being needlessly defensive and adversarial; certainly judgemental. Hence - presumably - the moderating that has been stated to have already occurred within this discussion.

Again - just my opinion - maybe those who are bitter can reflect a bit more and try just a bit harder to put a spin on things that helps make them less bitter. When that fails - as in some instances it evidently has - perhaps those who are not bitter can try just a bit harder to be empathetic and help those who are experiencing some bitterness and are only asking for feedback from their peers.

Us telling each other to go away and / or to insert foreign objects up their rectum might have its place - for example, during the administering of a suppository or a colonoscopy or even in some alternative lifestyle scenarios - but this might not necessarily be a place for suggestions of that nature.

Well...unless of course you're an accountant or an MBA or something...

Not that I am in any way bitter...

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[ewh]

... or banker.

"Good to know you got shoes to wear when you find the floor." - [small]Robert Hunter[/small]

 

[KENAT]

ajack, we don't always see eye to eye but nice post. I think I implied similar if not here then another post about the poor pay of engineers or something.

I don't fully understand the modern obsession with 'loving what you do'. At the end of the day we work to earn money to buy the things we need - food, shelter, clothes... If you can find something you love that you can make a living at great, however if everyone was off doing the more pleasant/enjoyable jobs we'd probably all be worse of because there'd be no one doing some of the less pleasant ones.

I wonder if cave-men had the same complaints between the hunters and the gatherers?

It seems a lot of this bitterness is caused by what we choose to compare our own situation with. Of course, in some respects if comparing with what we perceive to be 'better professions' we might start to covet them. This would be one of the big ten Judea-Christian no-no's, so anyone that claims to follow those teachings knock it off;-).

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(probably not aimed specifically at you)
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[IRstuff]

I don't know that it should be "curious," but certainly, it must be difficult to be "passionate" while bitter, so it shuold not be surprisngly that non-bitter people can be passionate. To some degree, you have to be somewhat passionate to be spending this much time here, or simply bored out of your gourd. But the latter case would not be passionate.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[IRstuff]

Oh, and as engineers, we need to be more precise about requirements. No sunshine does not specifically require insertion into a body cavity, it just needs to within the butt crack, unless you're a plumber. ;-)

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[SNORGY]

So...which is the more bitter?

The water from the black pot, or the water from the black kettle?

No matter. I prefer beer.

Sometimes I even put bitters in it.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[ctopher]

I think black pot would be bitter.


Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP4.1
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[TDAA]

OK, one last one, be cause I should.

First off, as one of the "bitters", I took zdas04's comment to "get the hell out" to be directed, at least somewhat, at me, and told those that believed that to stick it. Even IR in his call for precision missed the fact that the location to stick did not necessarily require a lack of sunshine.

If the term "stick it" is to rough for you, perhaps you should go here

http://www.eng-tips.com/viewthread.cfm?qid=268345&page=1

and answer "YES"

It was not my intention to offend though, so I apologize if I did.

The reality is that this tread turned into a US political debate, loosely following gay marriage. One side feels one way, and the other feels passionate about keeping you from feeling that way, even though it really does not effect them. No matter what, it is not an argument that someone will win.

 

[ctopher]

The way I see it, if someone is bitter at work, we are all human working together. We have the power to make our own lives better...do something about it.
We live in the 'sensitive era' now, time to put our foot down and do something about it.
If he/she is not happy, transfer to another position or find a different company. Better yet, turn off the texting/IM/email and actually 'talk' to someone to work out the issues.
My 2 cents...

Chris
SolidWorks 09 SP4.1
ctopher's home
SolidWorks Legion

 

[oneintheeye]

bitter about the job, no I love it. Bitter about the fact I have 10 years experience but get paid the same as the first year grads just out. So overall bitter about the career I am in. No jobs around my area, can't move (missis job, kids in school, house sales are flat etc etc). Thanks for ruining the economy Labour and Gordon Brown. So yes I am one of the bitter ones. If your not great but don't tell us all what we should be feeling. You can be bitter about engineering and still be enthusiastic and good at what you do.

 

[IRstuff]

My bad, but "stick it where the sun..." is an open invitation to interpretation, so the call for precision is still valid.

This issue now is really about whether one should succumb to the "nattering nabobs of negativism," to reuse a political phrase, and wallow in a morass of self-pity for choosing such a horrible profession, where everyone else but you is a simpering and lazy idiot, and all the management have built in logic-inverters. The fallacy here is in thinking that all the simps and logic inverters are concentrated in engineering; I would think that the spectacular crash of Lehman Bros, etal, proves that idiots abound in the world, and that you should divorce the people aspect from the engineering aspect.

And bear in mind that had you NOT been an engineer, you might still be trapped in a job you don't like, or worse yet, not even have a job to complain about, so you'd be up the crick no matter what.

I think this debate not a political one, but is more like the day before Thanksgiving, where some people have lost their way to seeing anything at all to be thankful for and can only see what they think they should be envious of.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[SNORGY]

Before you become a mere quitter,
Try to become just less bitter.
For proper decorum
In this esteemed forum,
Continue discussion on Twitter.

Regards,

SNORGY.

 

[btrueblood]

Have another start, Snorgy. I hear they go well with beer, by the way.