In a funk. Curious who loves their jobs.

So as some of you know, I am a Mechanical Engineering Technologist (think 3 year college Engineer) and work for a consulting engineering firm as a Mechanical Designer doing design and AutoCad for HVAC, plumbing and fire protection in buildings.

I don't like my job.

So who here actually enjoys going to work and is in a field they actually want to be in?

I'm getting too old to go back to school for anything but debating a change (maybe to Project Management) in my field.

I am a regional industry relations manager for a large used/aftermarket parts company and I love my job. The only down side is the amount of traveling I have to do.

I don't like my job either but honestly I just don't like working. I am one of those guys that if I won the lottery I am quitting my job and will have a daily tee time.

What makes working easier for me is I work for a great company with lots of vacation time and I get to work from home which has allowed me to see my kids grow and I have not missed much.

I like my job, never thought I would be working for the county water department but its a good job. I am currently a cheif operator at one of the water plants, not at all what I went to school for (fisheries management). I never know what my day is going to be like or what is going to break or how I am going to help someone. It is kinda scarry that I have soo many peoples lives in my hands, they may not know it but I do and I also take that very seriously. It helps working with good people as thats why I left my state job with the NC Marine Fisheries (crappy people and politics).

I'm working on becoming self employed so, I definitely hear you Carl. Right now I sell airtime for a broadcasting company, but it's not something I want to be doing past 50. I am also a real estate investor specializing in urban residential rehabs. My plan is to get to 100 units by the age of 50, and then I can just sit back and collect rents from the beach.

If the real estate market is ripe in your market, it's something to consider. It's a good time to be a buyer.

I love my job, just hate my place of current employment. Nothing more satisfying than seeing someone smile and feel normal again after fixing years of neglect or repairing their face that has been caved in by an accident.

Hope you find what you are looking for. BTW how much to exotic dancers get in Canada? You may be able to make a living doing that. DoCanadian rules require you wear pasties over your naughty bits?

carlmuir wrote:

So as some of you know, I am a Mechanical Engineering Technologist (think 3 year college Engineer) and work for a consulting engineering firm as a Mechanical Designer doing design and AutoCad for HVAC, plumbing and fire protection in buildings.

I don't like my job.

So who here actually enjoys going to work and is in a field they actually want to be in?

I'm getting too old to go back to school for anything but debating a change (maybe to Project Management) in my field.

I'm a mechanical engineer w/ a P.E (or P. Eng as you Canadia dwellers call it). I'm currently the "Chief Systems Engineer". My background in sanitary process design for pharmaceutical systems. I work for smallish family owned company which employs about 150 people and has sale revenues of 30MM+. I've also done project management as you've indicated.

Why don't you like your job? Is it not challenging or does the subject matter not interest you? I've worked with and interviewed for engineering firms, and my opinion is that it's very easy to get stuffed into a cubicle doing the same work. Are you actually doing design work, or are you putting someone else's design into ACAD?

That said, have you looked outside your firm for different employment, perhaps at a smaller, family owned firm? With a smaller firm, you will typically get tasked with more opportunities (that can be good and bad), but it's not often dull.

Project management is (typically) less technical and more about being a liason between your company and the client. This can lead to relationship building as well as getting stuck in the middle (having to manage a project that was poorly designed or executed).

In the end, what makes you happy?

Thanks for the vote of confidence should I become a stripper Nathan....

Just looking for something more than "just a job" to pay the endless bills.

My hats off to those that love or enjoy their jobs even if it doesn't mean every single day.



I shall be Captain Carl Loooongshanks (for the ladies)

I'm not sure whether I'm turned on or horrified. I'm so confused.

I hate my job, run CNC mills in a machine shop. I chose it because the town I live in is the "tool and die capital" of the world. It pays good and is pretty lenient on a lot of things. At the same time very stressful, think working on an exotic piece of metal that is hard as hell to cut and costs 25,000 and fucking something up on it. Its just not "fun" to me anymore and it's just one of those "it pays the bills" things now. I'd love to change careers but now with all the bills, no way I could go to school.

DEATH-THREAT-HxC wrote:

Its just not "fun" to me anymore and it's just one of those "it pays the bills" things now. I'd love to change careers but now with all the bills, no way I could go to school.

I'm in the same boat. My jobs pays the bills and allows my wife to be a stay at home mom and gives her a lot of free time in her life to do fun things and do a lot of charity work (which she loves).

Yeah, that'd be nice savvy. My wife makes jewelry and lots of little crafty things. I keep trying to get her to take it seriously so she could work from home. We have a lot of little shops and artsy places that will sell stuff for people and not charge them a fortune to do so.

work is not where any of us really want to be at, but it pays the bills and allows us to buy toys and allows me to keep the wife happy

Mrs. FBD retired last Feb when we had our 3rd child. She had a good gig too...veteran pharma rep. Pay was great, especially for second income, but so much stress and BS with that job. I'm in sales, and what she did was catering, not selling. Lunches every day, dinner programs every week, travel, etc. I'm glad she is home with the kids now. It's great to have them get off the bus and have their mom waiting for them.

ME here as well. Been in engineering for a lil over 10 years and although there are times where I get bored, I still love it.

I'd like to one day open up a photo studio (been a hobby since I was a kid) when I get close to retirement. I couldn't afford to do that now. Engineering pays way more than a photo studio would.

I hate my job. Been moving drilling rigs since I was 18. Never have done anything else. Pay is the Shit though, guess that's y I have never quit. Lol

Common theme here. "I don't like what I do, but it pays good money and I can't afford to change careers" I think that is the mantra of the middle aged male and one of the great challenges of middle life.

I loved throwing my ass out of planes, humping thru the desert/mountains, and blowing shit up with my team of knuckle-dragging alpha males. I made the choice after the last time I got wounded to get out of that line of work in order to preserve my marriage and be around to see my kids grow up/get married/produce little shits of their own. All I can say is that I left a job I loved and got paid more to do for new career and that its the best decision I have ever made.

I hope you all find a career that fulfills you and that on your deathbed you can look back on your life and be proud of what you accomplished. And Carl, I think you are onto something there with the Captain Longshanks. Who knows, you might make 5 or 10 dollars at a bachelorette party.

BigDaddyN8 wrote:

I hope you all find a career that fulfills you and that on your deathbed you can look back on your life and be proud of what you accomplished.

If my work situation stays the same I will look back and say at the very least I was able to be at home to see my kids grow up and I gave my wife the best gift I could through my career which was that she can have a life of leisure.

I am an EMS Chief for my local fire dept. I hate it. Was much better as a fire capt/paramedic. Miss working with the guys, but can't take the pay cut to go back to the floor since my wife quit to stay home with the kids. I miss my 20 days off a month too. Lots of game time then, not so much now working the 40 hour daily grind. sux

LOCKEdnLOADed22 wrote:

ME here as well. Been in engineering for a lil over 10 years and although there are times where I get bored, I still love it.

I'd like to one day open up a photo studio (been a hobby since I was a kid) when I get close to retirement. I couldn't afford to do that now. Engineering pays way more than a photo studio would.

Sounds like we have lots in common. I ran a (mostly) motorsports photography business for about seven years (2003-2010) as a second income when my bride began to stay home with the kids.

I like my job. As most of you know I am a child and family therapist. When I have to hear about siblings having sex with each other it is kind of a bummer, but I have helped some people keep their kids when they would not have otherwise; I have kept some kids from parents that have no business using kids as ashtrays and whipping posts; I have worked with schools to figure out how to keep a kid in a classroom; and I have moved a great deal of paper in the process.

Some days I want to make an effigy of the Bureaucracy and punch it in the face, but once you learn to deal with the government/insurance oversight the job is the most rewarding thing I have ever been around.

This is my second career. I finished my masters in '05. I am not liking the debt, but I like my job. It also allows me to be around for my family as well, which in the end is the real reason we are all here in the first place.

Find what you like Carl and do it.

As for the picture, for some reason I already knew Carl looked like that....

Some of the careers mention so far sounds like they are nice. But I'm not the one showing up everyday for them. I've been driving fork lifts and loading trailers after leaving the maintenance field in the military. Had it all planned out....hit the books again, get a degree, make lost of cash.....instead it was get married, buy a house, keep paying the bills without ever owning anything. But all in all its not a bad job and i don't have the student loans to payoff. I often wonder where the humans messed up and invented the whole currency idea. Damn natives had the right idea all along, kill what you need to eat and use the rest of it for you clothes, timber for you home, kids for the chores, rinse and repeat. There are a lot of others that are worse off than I. It's like George Carlin said " The rich get all of the money, do none of the work. The middle class do all of the work but none of the money. The poor are there just to scare the shit out of the middle class, keeps them showing up at their jobs."

[youtube][/youtube]

At this point I hate my job. I have been working in prison for the last 11 years. I promoted to Sgt. two years ago and it SUCKS. When I was an officer I had an awesome job with excellent partners. Now I am a supervisor so I lost all my seniority so I'm back to not getting the good vacation time. I was told Lieutenant is where it is at, so I'm pushing to get there as fast as I can. Pelican Bay is a good place to work even though the inmates are the worst. I have worked at three prisons. I would like to go back to the Level II in Blythe and live in Lake Havasu City again. I just dread that commute 110 miles one way, but way less violence there. when you respond to an alarm its not a stabbing or a beating, it's a pillow fight. Supervisors there have it made, just a little more political.

[youtube][/youtube]

suprised to see this on youtube. they used to show us this in training.

I have always believed that if you don't like what you do then change. I'd rather work for less and be happy than be miserable for a few more dollars. I've probably changed careers more than most people. I started out from high school and then university into the RCMP. After spending almost 2 years doing that I became frustrated with the terrible postings, terrible shifts and terrible duties. I went back to school and graduated from Biological Sciences specializing in air quality. I got a job doing source emission sampling with a engineering firm (essentially sampling and analyzing crap coming from stacks at various types of plants). Spending your days 500ft in the air on a pole for 8 hours a day in minus 30 weather was not what I desired. I then worked with a car rental firm for a while doing operations and now I've been in disaster restoration doing emergency project management for the past 6 years and absolutely love it. Sure there are some odd hours and busy and slow times but the pay is excellent, love everyone I work with and benefits are outstanding.

I have always believed that regardless of the employment climate good people are hard to find. If you are one then finding work will always be easy. No one will pass up the right person.