OT: What you like and dislike about your job?

[Headwinds]

What I like:

1) I am practically my own boss
2) I have a (very) flexible schedule (lots of time to ride and play!)
3) I work in a good environment (good thinkers, open minded people)
4) I get along with most of my co-workers
5) I have a good vacation and benefits plan

What I dislike:

1) I don't work in a corporate environment, bureaucracy can be a problem at times
2) I would be making more $$$ if I worked for a corporation
3) One of my superiors can ba an arse at times (I guess everyone has one of these)
4) Sometimes it is a pain to be a manager (IT Manager, that is)

[eddief]

Get this. Next week I will start a new gig being the practice manager for a 60 person veterinary hospital open 24 hours a day; general, emergency, specialty. Know a lot about bus., people, common sense, and nothing about an animal practice.

The good from this vantage point:

1. decent pay
2. nothing but opportunity. This place is leaking so much money and efficiency e-richie could fix it with a torch in one hand and something else in the other.
3. it's about 5 miles from my house and I may choose to cycle to work for the first time since I was a paper boy.
4. 60 people are swimming in sh*t and I hope I can help them, their human customers, and their pets.

By the way, I have worked in corporations and the ones I was in were impersonal, spineless, gutless, valueless, bureaucratic bastions of bs.

Stay where you are. Or decide what you really want and get it wherever you can. Nothing like a good career consultant to help paint the picture.

[saab2000]

Likes

1. I get to fly $25,000,000 airplanes. And you don't (except Mdeeds and maybe a few others here)
2. See some cool things.
3. Always learning and always challenging.
4. Very safety concious.
5. Very little supervision - our training and licenses say that we know what we are doing.

Dislikes

1. Wild misunderstanding by the flying public for what we do and the lifestyles we have to lead.
2. Wild misunderstanding by the snot-nosed MBA managers for the what we do and the lifestyles we have to lead.
3. Low pay. That is not a joke. It is the truth.
4. Sporadically at home.
5. The job is the best ever. Ever. Period.
6. The business stinks.

[toaster]

Like: Young female who works front desk.

Dislike: The boss.

[DavidK]

Like:

1) I can work anywhere I want
2) My workmate is wonderful fun
3) I'm my own boss
4) I get to fly around the world on business

Dislike:

1) I have to work with Microsoft products
2) I have to work with Microsoft
3) I can't choose to work with *nix products
4) Have I mentioned Microsoft?

[Ray]

Likes:

1. I'm my own boss
2. I enjoy the work I do (this is HUGE - everything else comes in second)
3. I still get to work with really good people, but I don't have to deal with the jerks everyday (no offense to the Jerk, who is clearly a different kind of jerk).
4. My commute is down one flight of stairs, through the kitchen, and into the office.
5. The work and money seem to be flowing, despite having just started this 'business' a couple of months ago.
6. Extremely casual dress (pajamas would work), except when I have meetings.
7. Very flexible schedule - rare is the nice day that I can't get out and ride for at least a couple of hours.

Dislikes:

1. I'm my own boss - sometimes nice to have the buck stop somewhere else.
2. Lack of social aspects of an office (including the babes in the lunch room and that I used to run into in the hall)
3. Miss the professional perks of an office - really good people to bounce ideas off of at a moments notice.
4. Home used to be my refuge - now my bike is the only refuge. But this isn't because of working at home - this is because home is crazy right now and working here makes it worse because I'm never forced to get away. In a couple of years, I think it'll work as both an office and a refuge again. I hope.

Edit, per EF's request - I'm a land use / transportation planner. Have worked for private consulting firms and public agencies for 20+ years. Now work for my own 1-person consulting firm. I work with local governments (which thanks to PA's balkanized system of local government, there are LOADS of - 73 in my county alone) on Comprehensive Plans, zoning ordinances, traffic calming, bicycle / pedestrian planning, etc. Never a dull moment. Trying to help stop sprawl - losing the battle in new and creative ways every day!

-Ray

[kgrooney]

Likes:

I work at a University here on Long Island, 6 miles from the house. Excellent environment, and the kids keep you young, eventhough the pay is a bit less than the corporate world. But the stress is considerably less and that's worth the decreased pay.


Dislikes:


Can't think of any. Really.

[e-RICHIE]

nepotism, of course -

[eddief]

please include for curiousity sake.

[twin]

1. Summers off
2. Commute to work
3. Casual dress
4. Students really do keep you on your toes about current ideas
5. Put my bike in my office
6. Students can be a blast because they are so creative

1. Students that really do not want to be in school
2. I have been a teacher for 25 years and the pay is not the greatest however having time off makes up for it

[Tom]

Good:

- Flexible arrival and departure times and my boss understands my obsession with riding.
- Lots of new material to understand, the dinosaur is evolving into more non-trad areas
- I get to write code now and again, so a little creativity
- One of the senior guys, mostly by default, so I get to debug the weirder problems and work on the harder projects, not too much tape spinning.
- If you get yourself in trouble it's your own damn fault because you didn't plan your backout. It's not like you're a nurse and can't just restore the patient from a backup.

Bad:

- People that gravitated to corporate process and control administration because they can't actually do anything and then they judge how you do your job without comprehending how to do their own job well. They take a necessary role and manage to bugger it hopelessly.
- People that can't write or speak coherently in their native tongue.
- Overnight weekend work. I'm getting too old to pull all-nighters every week.

[e-RICHIE]

Originally Posted by Tom

Bad:
- People that can't write or speak coherently in their native tongue.

well - as long as they're bilingual!

[saab2000]

Originally Posted by e-RICHIE

well - as long as they're bilingual!

They have forked tongues.

[CNY rider]

Like: 1. I can make a profound difference in someone's life.
2. I work with incredibly talented, devoted people who make a difference in people's lives.
3. Short commute to work, often by bike.
4. I get to live in a beautiful place. If I wanted, I could live just about anywhere and find a position.
5. Good pay.

Dislike: 1. Very hard, sometimes, to leave the job at the office.
2. Sometimes ridiculous work hours (frequent 10 day stretches without a day off).
3. I make a mistake, or my nurses make a mistake, someone might die.
4. Sometimes, patients and families shoot the messenger...... (well so far luckily that's figuratively only )

[Tom]

Originally Posted by e-RICHIE

well - as long as they're bilingual!

What's the term for not having any language at all?

Other than 'middle management'.