Are you happy with your job?

[lorraineb]

Are you happy with your current job and career choice? If you had to do it all over again, would you change anything? If you don't like your current job, what's keeping you there?

I've been thinking a lot about my job and if it's where I should be (this whole New Year thing) and I'm looking for other people's perspectives.

[corn18]

I spent 20 years doing what I dreamed of doing since I was 7 years old (fighter pilot). Retired at 42 and had to decide what to do next. I now work for a defense contractor and enjoy the challenge and the pay but it's just a job to get to where I really want to be. I want to open up a no kill pet rescue and save animals for the rest of my life. Should start that project within 5 years and I'm working on the transition plan.

So I am happy with my current job because it allows me to progress towards my life long goal.

Tom

[humandraydel]

I'm a mechanical engineer. My job isn't bad, and I like this job more than the last, but I start to get bored after a few years in a job. I've started to dream about a real career change, but I feel like I'm too invested in my current field - like maybe I should just stick it out 13 more years and then "semi-retire" at age 45. Plus, I'm not convinced I'll like another job better, but I may just be rationalizing taking the path of least resistance.

[jpham540]

I am an HVAC technician working in the Middle East, the money is good but the only bad thing is you’re in the Middle East and working 12 hr a day, 7 days a week. Only reason I am over here is the money its good so can’t complain about that. If I have to do all over again I would like to break into commercial investing and own some commercial business. I might try it when I get back home from the Middle East, not sure when though.

[breathemusic]

I'm a Contracting Officer for the Navy (a civilian position). It's actually something I just sort of fell into after graduating college, but turned out to really love the job. I do something different all the time and the promotional opportunities have been fast and many. I'll likely stay here long term and make a life long career out of it. Of course there are some things I don't like about my job, but not enough to make me want to leave. Honestly, if I didn't like the job, I really don't know what else I'd do. My dream job is very similar to Tomhole's, I'd love to one day work with animals, maybe doing some sort of rescue. But based on the money that probably pays, I think that's something I'd probably do after I was semi-retired or just do volunteer work later on.

[jIM_Ohio]

I have a salaried job I would quit tomorrow if I inherited about $1.5 mil, which is what it would take for me to retire now.

I own a business, and the bo$$ for that is a complete a$$hole, but I like his vacation plan. I would do this job as a hobby even when I retire.

[disneysteve]

I'm a family practice physician. I enjoy being a doctor. I enjoy getting to know my patients and their families. I enjoy helping them live healthier lives.

There are many aspects of practicing medicine that I don't like. The reimbursement is a challenge. Patients have gotten more and more demanding over the years (I've been in practice for over 20 years) thanks to TV ads, the Internet, etc. Our society has moved far away from personal responsibility and everyone expects the doctor to fix problems that are predominantly self-induced by poor lifestyle and behavior choices. When a 40-year smoker is upset that I can't stop his chronic cough or a 300-pound 5'2" woman is disappointed that I can't make her knees stop hurting, it gets rather frustrating to say the least.

If I could fix one thing about my job, it would be the volume of patients that I need to see to pay the bills. If I could spend 30 minutes with each person, I think I could help them a lot more and not feel the pressure to "treat 'em and street 'em" that is so prevalent. I end up writing prescriptions when I don't really believe that is the best way to go but it's all I have time for.

As Jim said, I would quit tomorrow if someone handed me $1.5-2 million.

[bjl584]

I enjoy my job.

But, as others have said, something around $2 million could make me leave.

[cschin4]

I like my career. But, in reality I think it instead of "do what you love", there should be more focus on "love what you do". Choose something that is of interest to you and then make it work. I have seen far too many people toss away good careers searching for some elusive dream. Your job won't make you "happy". Only you can make you happy and you can make yourself as happy as you want to be. Of course some jobs are better than others and not saying your shouldn't find a new job or change careers. Of course you should always look. But, no job is all roses and sunshine. And, even in not so great jobs there are still things that may positive as well.

[kork13]

I'm honestly sitting on the fence right now with this question... I've always said that I'll stay in the military for as long as I continue to enjoy doing my job, which I always have. .....at the present time, the "enjoyment" factor is still there, but the level of frustration has been spiking rather significantly of late...... So I actually am considering a possible career change, though I haven't made any decisions yet. There are definitely alot of risks involved with the change I'm contemplating, so there's alot of back-and-forth going on right now... What transpires in the next 4-6 months may dictate what I end up choosing. So I guess we'll see what happens.......

With all of that said, no regrets and I wouldn't change much of anything. I've learned alot, had many fantastic opportunities, met & worked with some outstanding people, and I have truly enjoyed myself a great deal.

[kv968]

I'm a researcher for a pharma company. I enjoy my job and have been doing it for 25 years; however I found my true passion years ago and that's finance and investing. So with that I'm currently going for my degree in finance.

I would like to switch careers and go into the advisor field (mid-life crisis? ) but just getting started and leaving a "secure" job seems daunting.

So I'll continue to persue my degree and see what I can do in the meantime. I get asked all the time what I'll do when I finally get my degree and my usual response is, "by the time I get it I'll either be dead or retired" but hopefully I can find something useful inbetween.

[ua_guy]

I've been an IT analyst for billing applications and electronic medical record systems for the past 7-8 years. The field itself is a good fit for my personality and skillset.

Job happiness is different from happiness as an overall human being, in my opinion. But a job is a big piece of who we are from the standpoint of time/energy investment, regardless if it defines who we are (or doesn't).

Happy at my job? I go through phases of happiness and unhappiness. The things that make me unhappy are pretty tough to change. The nature of the work is conducive to being packed into a cubicle farm where I find it difficult to tolerate proximity to other people some days. I also disenjoy superiors who micro-manage and treat us like we're hourly employees.

All of that is to say, I'd leave this job in a heartbeat if I could make ends meet without working, or find something I love to do that would pay the bills. Until then, it's a relationship of necessity. I've reached a point in my career where I'm good at what I do, and I find the above things hindrances to success. The IT shop I work for is slowly modernizing and allowing limited remote work (i.e. work from home), and bosses seem to cycle through at the rate house plants live and die. Some of them last reeeeeeally long, and others only a few months. I'm hoping my current boss moves along quickly.

That said, jobs in my field are not in short supply right now. I took an interview last week with another company who does allow for more remote work. For one, it felt really good in a period of relative unhappiness in my current job to realize that there are more and potentially better opportunities out there. If waiting for our current shop to modernize becomes untenable, then it wouldn't be unthinkable to line up another opportunity and lay a bit fatty letter of resignation on my boss's desk. Sometimes the problem is determining what marginal gains are worth doing that for and how many bridges would burn in the process.

If I could parlay this into an opportunity where remote work was anywhere from 40-100% of my time, and I had a boss that cared about results and not seat-time in office, or the specific way and order in which I accomplish things, I can see this line of work as something that could carry me to retirement.

[TBH]

I got a graduate degree in my 20s and then hated my career, pretty much from day 1. For the past 6 years I've been doing that job very part time and freelancing in another field. I like that better. I like having two different jobs, and I like my second career better than my first. I wish I could leave the first career entirely, but the part time job gives me some stable income during lean freelance years, and also provides benefits. I can't really afford to leave it completely.

If I had a big windfall? I'd totally leave the first career and I'd scale back the second career. I wouldn't want to stop working entirely, maybe ever, but I'd rather not have to hustle quite so much.

[QuarterMillionMan]

For 15 years I was a plumber busting my back/butt. Everyday while I was carrying pipe or digging trenches in the hot sun I'd think to myself how I wished to go to college and get a degree. So I did. I took night classes at a community college got an AA degree and transferred to a 4 yr college and got a BA in psychology. Later I got my Masters in Social Work and I've been in this field now for 15 years. But as Jim, disneysteve, and bji584 mentioned if I win the lottery for $1 million or $2 million, I'm so outta there. Oh and to answer the OP's question, yes I'm happy compared to where I've come from and there would be no way I could do plumbing for the remainder of my life (it is too physically demanding).

[YLTL_Dan]

Like some others, I've found a career I can excel in and make great money with. At the same time, I'm developing my next thing that I hope will become full time in a couple of years. My goal with this job is to pay off my debt (done), save a good chunk for retirement (on our way), and for us to save up a bunch of cash to help us to our next thing (on our way). I'll continue to use my job to help get me there!