Before I joined the hitech market, I worked at all kinds of office and manual labor jobs that fit to people with no higher education.

I wasn't looking for satisfaction at work, I enjoyed the lack of responsibility (comparing to more serious jobs), the steady hours, working from 9 to 5, overtime was rarely needed, not having to think on work after you leave for home.

I earned about 1/3-1/4 of what I earn today in hitech.

In hitech however, I spend more time at work, sometimes work remains in my head also when I leave for home, there's much more responsibility on you, and overtime isn't that rare at all.

I'm wondering, is money worth all that?

Wouldn't you be happier with lower salary but more free time?

 

Interesting subject!!

Work where you don't have to think is horrible! Time doesn't pass, because your mind is not occupied. First thing for me at work is satisfaction, like developping/repairing something, second important thing is the money.

I did a few jobs that didn't require ANY education, and it really sucked! If I don't need to, NEVER AGAIN.

 

depends on the person. only you can answer that. My job (maintenance electrical technician in a production plant) requires both. I have to troubleshoot machines, occasionally upgrade stuff, and very rarely I get to design something from scratch. This is the category I like. The other category is parts inventory, parts ordering, paper work, and preventative maintenance; this category bores me and the days when I'm doing this seem about twice as long (which is why I'm on this forum at work often; don't tell on me).

Theres a guy who works right outside my office (machine operator) who just sits there and watches a wire go through a hole for 12 hour shifts. He has been doing it for 35 years and I've never heard him complain about it. I would have quit his job after about a week.

I think if you have the capacity for technical thinking, you will never be satisfied working at mundane tasks.

notice I never mentioned money

 

Happy to hear you comments.

I find satisfaction from having the managers pleased by my work.
I'd rather find challenge and satisfaction outside work.

What about more leisure time, less pressure at work, less expectations from you, aren't these important?

Working in hitech is important for me mainly because the class it puts me in society.

 

What about more leisure time, less pressure at work, less expectations from you, aren't these important?

Well, if you are a simple employee, then more leisure time is unfortunately not an option
I have now a "zero pressure" job, well paid, but I'm going to change, because it's extremely boring. There are days where there is nothing to do and you have to invent something just not to be sitting there doing nothing when the CEO passes by.
I like jobs with lots of pressure, well paid of course, but I like also my work to be recognized.

Even though, it's kind of hard to give up a boring but well paid job to find something interesting but with less salary...

 

Happy to hear you comments.

I find satisfaction from having the managers pleased by my work.
I'd rather find challenge and satisfaction outside work.

What about more leisure time, less pressure at work, less expectations from you, aren't these important?

Working in hitech is important for me mainly because the class it puts me in society.

Try something else if you're not happy where you are. From your other posts before and this one now, I get the feeling you might not like what you've gotten yourself into. maybe try for a less stressful job and save your "hitech" stuff for at-home.

 

Strantor,
What's your work routine, hours concerned?
like, when you normally leave home for work and get back home?
I find it a very important factor.

praondevou,
same to you.
also, you know that interesting job might include pressure, you'd rather go for it anyway?

 

Yes I would definitely go for it, maybe when we get older we want to settle down a bit and just do nothing. For now it's to early to think about it.

Work is an essential part of your life and unless you were born rich there is no other option than to work. So why should one choose a job that's boring, if you pass one third of your life there.
I also think that more often than not people are in the wrong positions and therefore don't bring the results the should, they are unhappy, stressed, unmotivated. There is for everybody the right place, and it's a shame that the extreme differences in salaries in certain countries force you to work in an area that you may not like.

 

Strantor,
What's your work routine, hours concerned?
like, when you normally leave home for work and get back home?
?

Well, in the job I am working now, I alternate from day shift to night shift every month. one month days, one month nights, and so on. My official schedule is that I work mon-thu on 10hr shifts, but for the past 6 months we have been swamped and I've been working 6 days/week 10hr shifts. I live 10 min from my work, so 10hrs and 20min away from the house.

In the overseas job I used to have (the one we were talking about a while back in your other post) I was on call. I might sit at the house for 2 weeks doing nothing (doing nothing, but you can't drink) , then get sent out for anywhere from 1 day to a few months. Typically when I was on the job I was working 12-16hrs/day, 6 or 7 days/week. I worked a 4 month span in 2009 16hrs/day 7 days/week(maximum allowable by the company).

Now that I am married and have a life I find that I need & want more time off, but I can't afford it (see my thread about bankruptcy).

 

When I was machine maintenance it was a job I loved. Overtime is not a problem if you enjoy your work. Everyday was different with new challenges.

Now I am an operator. I am not happy. Nuff Said.

 

When I was machine maintenance it was a job I loved. Overtime is not a problem if you enjoy your work. Everyday was different with new challenges.

Yeah it's great! just wish it payed a little more

 

A sad part of working for a living is we forget we are already living, with or without a job.
Every so often we need to focus on where we want to be five years from now.
Rarely does the ultimate job tap us on the shoulder. We need to fix on a plan and work towards it.

Those of us with the knack or the gift are extremely fortunate for we can decide where to take our careers and are flexible enough to change course and steer to a different goal to suit our needs when the opportunity presents itself.

Others have to sit for 35 years staring at a wire going into a hole. Or worse yet,
sitting in the office outside the wire in the hole machine for 35 years.

 

I am a very smart person. I can't stand a job that doesn't keep me learning. I must have variety or I'll quit the employment at that place. On the other hand, I can't do every kind of hitech. I'm not THAT smart! I did put myself through 3 years of college. Calculus, chemistry, physics, computer programming, business law, accounting, and I have a state contractors license. I'm overqualified for the jobs I can get without a bachelors degree. Still, I never stop learning.

It seems that working for a corporation always puts one in a pigeon hole. Even if they have a dozen products, I learn them all in 2 or 3 years and wind up as an engineering assistant at assembly line wages. The result is that I'm self employed. I do everything from carpentry and plumbing to household appliances, computers, automobile electrical, and even automatic transmissions. With my education and experience, I can do my work without getting bogged down in the math. It's easier to say what I don't do. I don't do concrete, roofing, televisions, or business machines, and I hate painting.

I'm the last of the crew from the 1970's in my neighborhood. All the others have died, and their widows refer the customers to me. In a world where it seems everybody wants to point and click their way through life, I am the one with dirty fingernails. My life is where I want it to be. I'm old and slow, so I use a flat-rate book that took years to develop. I am never bored. I make money that I never dreamed of as an employee...sometimes as high as $150 an hour...never lower than $30 an hour, even when you figure in the time driving around gathering materials.

Nice work if you can get it. I suspect R!f@@ is similar to me in this respect.

 

Even if they have a dozen products, I learn them all in 2 or 3 years and wind up as an engineering assistant at assembly line wages. The result is that I'm self employed.

I liked that !!! The bad thing about being self employed is that you have to know how to administrate a business, and some of us are just not able to do it (like me) .

 

@ 12,It all depends on wether your contractor permit is still valid,up to
date with the state.A contractors licence is worth more than gold,with
your experience even more,you have the power to levy liens. Good work
#12 you have a good attitude on life.

 

I moved into the commercial construction industry some time ago and I would recommend it to anyone with a yen for misery. It doesn't matter whether you are a contractor, tradesman, engineer or whatever, you are always being asked to do something that seems slightly impossible.
I could make it sound pretty bad if I wanted to but there are definately high points, and it's one of the only industries that I know of where the older you get the more they want you.

 

I am a very smart person. I can't stand a job that doesn't keep me learning. I must have variety or I'll quit the employment at that place. On the other hand, I can't do every kind of hitech. I'm not THAT smart! I did put myself through 3 years of college. Calculus, chemistry, physics, computer programming, business law, accounting, and I have a state contractors license. I'm overqualified for the jobs I can get without a bachelors degree. Still, I never stop learning.

It seems that working for a corporation always puts one in a pigeon hole. Even if they have a dozen products, I learn them all in 2 or 3 years and wind up as an engineering assistant at assembly line wages. The result is that I'm self employed. I do everything from carpentry and plumbing to household appliances, computers, automobile electrical, and even automatic transmissions. With my education and experience, I can do my work without getting bogged down in the math. It's easier to say what I don't do. I don't do concrete, roofing, televisions, or business machines, and I hate painting.

I'm the last of the crew from the 1970's in my neighborhood. All the others have died, and their widows refer the customers to me. In a world where it seems everybody wants to point and click their way through life, I am the one with dirty fingernails. My life is where I want it to be. I'm old and slow, so I use a flat-rate book that took years to develop. I am never bored. I make money that I never dreamed of as an employee...sometimes as high as $150 an hour...never lower than $30 an hour, even when you figure in the time driving around gathering materials.

Nice work if you can get it. I suspect R!f@@ is similar to me in this respect.

What you just described sounds exactly like my "realistic" (I have several; the "millionaire inventor/entrepreur" is my favorite) projection of who & where I will be in 30 years (minus the TVs part; I'm quite into fixing TVs at the moment, but that will probably pass).

I really haven't felt like I'm "where I belong" at any company I've worked for. I've always dreampt of owning my own business (doesn't matter what business) some day. Do my own thing. Report to myself. one of the reasons I didn't like the military much. I don't want to be the owner of a big corporation. If my business did get big, I'd probably hire someone to run it for me so I could continue doing my own thing.

Like Praondevou mentioned, I'm not the managerial/administrative type. I dislike telling others what to do almost as much as I dislike being told what to do. In the "lead, follow, or get out of the way" scenario, I usually fall into the category "other".

 

I'm wondering, is money worth all that?

Wouldn't you be happier with lower salary but more free time?

The simple answers are ... Yes, and ... No.

The scarcity of free time is what makes it valuable and too much is a curse.

Besides, lots of free time and little money are a very bad combination.

 

Business is more than work,you have to be part of the business community.
That take valuable time when you are busy building your business. Each person
has to make that choice when you get there.

 

@ strantor

One of my personal problems is that I hyperfocus and forget that I have helper waiting for instructions. A good helper is worth way more than their wages! Mine must be special people. Not a requirement, just an observation. It takes some kind of special to keep up with me, and another kind of special to put up with my idiosyncracities. (Did I just make up a new word?) One way they deal with my forgetting them is to talk to the customer. The customer gets to feel important and I get to do what I do best...machines, methods, and materials. A good helper (for me) is patient with me and talkative with the customer. How they are different from me is what makes them valuable.

When I hire people that are similar to me is when I have a job that is too big for one person and I need people with the skills to pick a part of the job and do it with almost no supervision. I still don't end up telling them what to do because they are competent without me instructing them.

Bottom line...I tell people what to do as little as possible.