POLL: How's Your Job?

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In a perfect world, we'd all have jobs we enjoyed doing, and we'd all make a lot of money doing them. Unfortunately, that doesn't happen all that often. More often than not, due to financial factors, and realistic career choices, we are forced to take a job we either don't like as much, or make less money doing it.

So two questions. The first is to rate how you feel about your current job, along with how you feel about your compensation (as compared to others in your field - you can't say that you're a janitor and are unhappy with your salary as compared to a professional basketball player).

The second question is how you rate happiness at the workplace as it relates to your compensation - in other words, would you be OK with receiving more/less money for a job you liked more/less.

For those of you not yet in the workforce, who are still in school, university, etc., answer as best as you can based on your expected future career.

For me, I don't love my job, but I find it tolerable, and I also consider my level of compensation to be about the average in my field. I could probably find a job that I enjoyed more, but if meant earning less than I am now, I wouldn't accept it. Sadly, I'm all about the Benjamins, and I would take a job I liked less than what I currently have if it meant making significantly more than I presently do.

Poll Information
This poll contains 2 question(s). 35 user(s) have voted.
You may not view the results of this poll without voting.

Poll Results: How's Your Job? (35 votes.)

How's Your Job? (Choose 1)
* I enjoy my work and feel I receive more compensation than others in my field (ideal scenario) - 11% (4)
* I enjoy my work and feel my compensation is average for my field - 26% (9)
* I enjoy my work, but I feel my compensation is less than others in my field - 14% (5)
* I tolerate my work and feel I receive more compensation than others in my field - 9% (3)
* I tolerate my work and feel my compensation is average for my field - 14% (5)
* I tolerate my work, but I feel my compensation is less than others in my field - 9% (3)
* I dislike my work but I feel I receive more compensation than others in my field - 3% (1)
* I dislike my work and feel my compensation is average for my field - 11% (4)
* I dislike my work, and I feel my compensation is less than others in my field (worst case scenario) - 3% (1)

And would you consider leaving your job for... (Choose 1)
* I would take a new job I enjoyed more, even if it paid significantly less money - 6% (2)
* I would take a new job I enjoyed more, but only for a little less money - 51% (18)
* I would take a new job I liked less, even if it was for a relatively small increase in pay - 0% (0)
* I would take a new job I enjoyed less, but only if the pay increase was significant - 43% (15)

 

i like the work i'm doing,but i hate the company.i've never worked for a factory that's so dirty it wouldn't give breaks.they did change a few months ago.they give us a 6 minute break they won't pay us for,and cut our lunch to 20 minutes.it would be illegal in any state but this god-cursed florida

 

I like my job (software engineer) and am well paid. Are there other things that I would like to do? Sure. It is not realistic though.

 

I certainly enjoy my current job a lot, the only thing that would make it even better would be if it was a very similar job, but across the border (I've wanted to work in a foreign country ever since my internship at Volkswagen). As far as money goes, I'm not generally very much concerned with how much I earn. I don't really care much about money, as long as I have enough. It's much more important to have an enjoyable job. I mean, what good is a lot of money if you have to feel miserable at least 8 hours a day for it?

 

8 hours?!?! I wish I only worked 8 hours a day...

I like/tolerate my job, but I think I would be happier if I were self employed. Maybe in a few years - we'll see.

 

Love my job.

It's the biggest design firm in the city, and very prestigious (for my field, that is). It's definitely a tough gig and there's often a lot of pressure (especially during annual report season...ugh), but I work with great people and have regular opportunities to work with big-name companies that would be extremely hard to come by if I worked at a smaller agency or freelanced. The pay is great (again, for my field) but modest*. I didn't exactly choose a rollin'-in-the-bucks career, but that wasn't as important to me as following my passion.

*this will of course increase over time, beyond "entry-level" land.

 

My job pays extremely well but is a dead end job -- I have no room for growth in this company. I would trade it for a job with future growth that paid reasonable close to what I currently make.

I really like the work I do, but the politics in the office are almost enough to make me leave.

 

I took this job with the promise of better prospects (which is true) but I dislike it rather strongly, despite the better pay. I would definately take a job I liked more, but not for a great deal less pay. A sucky job is worth it for the extra creature comforts

 

I don't like my job even though the pay's decent for the field. It's boring and the senior managment likes to micromanage which makes it frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I would take any job even if it paid less. In reality though, I would be reluctant to trade for any lower paying job unless I really, really liked it and there were plenty of advancement opportunities.

 

I used to get paid quite handsomely for a job that I just HATED to do, to the extent that I was starting to develop serious health problems due to stress.

Now I work at a job I like many times more, but is quite meager by comparison to the old - though my employer is fair and equitable for wages & benefits and things compared to the field in general.

However, since I came home about an hour ago, and found my wife sitting on the floor sobbing and convinced that she's just a curse to other people and only bring bad things to those she cares about; after having a "we want the full debt paid *now*; any amount you have offered is insufficient for us" stonewall conversation with a debt collector, I'm beginning to wonder if chronic abdominal cramps and an eventual peptic ulcer might be worth it to at least fend off the wolves nipping at our heels...

To those who would say 'money isn't as important as happiness' or even resort to the aphorism "money can't buy happiness" (and most of the time, I'd be one of those people), I retort with:

Maybe so, but a LACK of money will assuredly deny you happiness...

 

Being in general labour, I'm not fond of my work, and may reach a point where I can't do it any more. With a bad back and joint problems, this could be a lot sooner for me than for most.

I'd give this up for something I enjoyed as long as I could keep a roof over my head and food in my belly. It's not just about money...

 

Well, given that I'm still studying, this doesn't completely apply for me - but my ideal career path, if things go according to plan, will be more for fun than for money. I mean, the first step is teaching, which certainly isn't the highest paid job in the world, especially for the qualifications I'm hoping to come out of university with (once again, if things go as planned). So yes, it's certainly more for enjoyment and education than income.

Currently how ever, I think it's somewhere in the middle. It's certainly an enjoyable job, but if the pay was much less or the hours less flexible I wouldn't be able to keep it up while studying and trying to keep a roof over my head.

 

My current job is very much a short term thing, but I work for a dear friend who knows how to balance a work relationship with a friendship.
My pay is pretty low, but honestly, I spend most of my work day surfing the net and doing my homework, so I can't complain.

 

My job is one of those lame, pointless jobs that you get in order to survive for a semester at uni. Sure - it's tolerable - but it's not worthwhile. I don't know whether it's good pay for the field or not, but it's certainly not making me rich...

My ideal job is more than likely at the low end of the pay rate and extremely high at the satisfaction end, and with very little guarantees. I intend to avoid wage slavery by any means possible, even though it'll probably screw me over in the end

 

I wish I had one...

 

I work for a major American IT outsourcing company. The job is OK enough, can piss me off sometimes, other days can be enjoyable. So I'd say I fall in the 'I tolerate it' field.

The pay is pretty average for what I do I'd say.

I could probably get more money if I moved to a new company. However, I don't feel I want to leave, not out of loyalty or love for my job, but I have met so many great people and have loads of great friends at work. The company is huge, the building I work in is massive. I have been there about 15-16 months and still see people I don't know. I get on with pretty much anyone (apart from a certain line manager I'd very much like to shin, but we don't go into that).

I feel as if, for my career, I should take this company as far as I can (I do 2nd line remote resolution work) then move and try and get a field support engineer position in another company, but I don't think that will happen soon. My firm is a good place to work, I can tolerate the work and really enjoy the company of the people I work with. That, in my experience, is rare.

 

I've landed a job in a computer shop as computer tech... and I despise it.

This ain't a bad job... but this cold, logical, robotic job is a total hell for me. Building rigs from parts is fun, but it gets old quickly. Don't get me started about OS installation - many of you know how much I *love* Winblows ( ), and 99.9% of the time I have to fix/install either that blue monstrosity XP or the Resourcezilla Vista. Most of the time I hunt malware/viruses and patch up Average Joe's stupidity.

That might doesen't seem too bad to you guys, but to me, it's total hell. I'm an artistic type with an hyperactive creative muse and I need to find a way to express that creativity - cold, logical jobs just kill the mind of an artist.

My job in the paint shop didn't paid well. My job in the paint job was dirty. My job in the paint shop wasn't always pleasent. But this job allowed me to freely express my creativity, because I was sometimes given white card for a project, and without wanting to sound big-headed, those projects were probably my greatest masterpieces. At the end of a day of work in this place, I was glad of what I did during the day, and I took pride and plesure into seeing my vision come to life.

Nowadays, going to work is drudgery. What do I have to be proud of? Installing a crappy f****** OS I totally abhor? Fixing Average Joe's stupidity? Oh please.

This job is killing my mind. It pays well, but I hate it. If an artist-type friendly job offers shows up, I'm taking it, even if the price to pay is once again be poor and eat ramen noodles 7 days a week like in the college days. Life is too short to be wasted doing something you hate.

I take it you're talking about your days as phone monkey for Robbers? Last I heard, it didn't paid very well.

 

Lets see, it is Sunday and I am in the office...

I mostly enjoy my work, but they don't pay me enough. I've been hanging round for the promotion as it'll improve prospects for the next step in my career (just received) and as we intend moving house in Spring (The house location will influence where I move job to)
Unless there's a major change in pay at Christmas, (i.e. at least a 25% pay increase which is extremely unlikely) I'll be leaving as soon as we've moved house - I can probably get a 40-50% uplift by going back into London.

I would't take a large cut in salary, but if a really good job came along that paid a little less (don't actually know what it would entail, but probably a change in industry) I'd take it.
If a job came along that paid significantly more but I probably wouldn't like (Again not sure what this would be or why it would be offered to me!) I'd probably still take it, at least for the short term. I've put up with some absolute stinkers in the past and I could do so again.

 

Dislike the answers to question 2. I like my job and don't intend to change at any point in the near future. I know that I'm paid less than others in my field but that's all part of being in the military. I have a great medical/dental plan, life insurance, and housing. Plus I'm serving my country and if I shop at the right places I get a 10-30% discount.

 

I wouldn't put up with a job that made me work more than 8 hours a day. With unemployment at all-time lows here, there is no reason why anyone here should put up with a job where you have to work too many hours.

[ July 30, 2007, 12:01: Message edited by: Taluntain ]