Poll: Job Satisfaction

[Red Badger]

For many years, I did SCM software deployments and loved it. Job was near autonomous, projects were fun and highly profitable (with a fair degree of challenge). Then one year, my deployments were linked to a major ERP implementation.

The result was:
1. Deployments slowed waaaay down
2. The product quality sucked and always required months of (unplanned) stabilization
3. Productivity evaporated
4. Blamestorming was the culture de jour
5. I cashed out and miss not one second of it

 

[IMATERP]

I enjoyed my first 20 years - working for various corporations in the non for profit sector.

I relocated to NC and began a 13 year gig as a State Employee. The first 5 years were easy in that, when I started, if you worked for the State for 5 years, you received FREE health insurance from age 60 on for the rest of your life. (By the way, that benefit is long gone for new hires.) The next 8 years was basically a couple of BAD jobs working with POOR Supervisors.

I am so grateful to have received a buyout in December 2017 as I would have left around Spring of 2018 anyway.

 

[GalaxyBoy]

This is a hard one to answer, but I guess overall the work was ok but a few people drove me away. I liked what I did but the workload was constantly overwhelming. I got tired of project managers promising more than could reasonably be delivered and I got really tired of dealing with comments on my work from idiots. (I actually welcome good comments but I’m talking about genuine idiocy.)

I decided to look into ER and I found this forum when I had to work with an engineer who was young, but very smart. Unfortunately he was also an emotional infant. After hearing him scream into the phone, at his neighbors, and at me one time too many, I decided there had to be a way to save enough money that I wouldn’t have to go to work any more. It was true!

 

[38Chevy454]

I mostly liked my work, and the people I worked with. But the gov't regulations and rules were a PITA. I worked on nukes, the giant mushroom cloud type. Tremendous gov't involvement even though I was not a fed gov't employee. So ultimately when I decided I was FI enough to meet my needs, I retired to escape the administrative BS as the biggest reason.

 

[thepalmersinking]

I love the people I work with. I Love mega Corp for benefits and they treat people great. I hate the fact that I cannot let loose and really grow he business. At 53, I have friends get sick and die. I was lucky early and and want to punch out as soon as I can.

 

[harley]

Couldn't answer, nothing fit. I liked lots of parts of the job, and disliked other parts. I liked some of the people, was neutral on most, and hated a few. I absolutely hated the politics. But mostly I just didn't want anybody else telling me what to do and when. I've been that way since about the fourth grade, my first authoritarian teacher. The job was there to pay the bills until I didn't need the job to pay the bills. Then it was gone.

 

[Badger]

I enjoyed my career as a college professor teach aspiring medical professionals. However, I told myself from the start that if the time comes that I believe I am not being as effective as I should be that I start thinking about retirement.

After 30 years in academia with a 10 year interruption as a Chemical Engineer and Industrial Microbiologist it was time. There was also the change in many students attitudes, work ethic, and focus in addition to administration changes as well as some medical issues that gave me the final push.

It was difficult to leave a career path that for me was a "calling". The two most important events in my life that have been the most important and enjoyable have been my marriage and career.

Cheers!

 

[Amethyst]

Change a few words, and I could have written this. Although I did work with/for a few genuinely horrible people, most were decent, and one was good enough to marry.

I liked what I actually did. I liked the people I worked with closely. I liked most of my bosses over the years.

I didn't like artificial deadlines, politics, some of the corporate culture and decision, and general BS. I didn't like being told that I couldn't take my team out for a lunch - even if I paid for it - because of "optics". Or that the best person who worked for me couldn't get a stellar rating because they weren't on the super-star project. Or that I had to fire someone quite good, and keep someone quite terrible, because the terrible person was more technical. Or working on a 10 page powerpoint for 2 months only to have the CEO cancel the meeting the night before.

So it's more nuanced than job or people - it's the BS factor.

 

[marko]

I liked what I actually did. I liked the people I worked with closely. I liked most of my bosses over the years.

I didn't like artificial deadlines, politics, some of the corporate culture and decision, and general BS. I didn't like being told that I couldn't take my team out for a lunch - even if I paid for it - because of "optics". Or that the best person who worked for me couldn't get a stellar rating because they weren't on the super-star project. Or that I had to fire someone quite good, and keep someone quite terrible, because the terrible person was more technical. Or working on a 10 page powerpoint for 2 months only to have the CEO cancel the meeting the night before.

So it's more nuanced than job or people - it's the BS factor.

How about when your 'stretch goal' quietly becomes the hard number that your bonus depends upon? We had B-School nit-wits try to pull that one. Once. Once.
I had to step in and shut that one down.

Or in the middle of a lay-off, one genius manager decides it's a good time to take his team golfing (with a nice notice on the bulletin board)

 

[DEC-1982]

My job was mostly good, and I liked most of the people I worked with. I was simply tired of the job at the end.

 

[exnavynuke]

I really like the people I work with for the most part. Most I call friends or good friends. One manager has an excellent habit of making the job suck however. Sometimes the job is okay, sometimes the job is interesting, and sometimes the job sucks. So I went with the second option, though none quite "fit".

 

[Midpack]

Interesting so far, given this select group.

• More than half liked their jobs for the most part.
• More who didn’t, disliked the people they worked with more than the job itself almost 3 to 1.

One I expected, the other was a mild surprise.

 

[Amethyst]

Bonus, what bonus? LOL. (Actually, we did get performance bonuses, or anyway 50% of us did. Mine was usually 1.5% - 2% of salary - a govt salary, never more than $155K - and that was considered enviable).

How about when your 'stretch goal' quietly becomes the hard number that your bonus depends upon?

 

[mokan]

Corporate ladder actually goes down into a pit . . .

I worked for a Megacorp for 34 years and held a wide variety of jobs. It seems a little known fact that the corporate ladder actually goes down into a pit & not up into the clouds. The more I moved along the corporate ladder, the more exposure to over-promising, ego-centric, petty & just plain incompetent managers. There were many good people to be sure, but the others were rampant. There is something about huge ambition, narrow skillsets and severe stress that can bring out the worst.

I agree that people create most of the BS but there are other kinds as well: huge amounts of international travel, teams scattered all over the world, clumsy corporate systems, etc...

Once I realized that I was FI, I couldn't build any enthusiasm for dealing with the BS and the toxic people.

 

[athena53]

As others have said, it's more nuanced. I'd been feeling twinges of jealousy over the past few years when former colleagues close to my age ER'd. (One was 57 but she'd had a high-power, lucrative job and Hubby had a long tenure with IBM- made it easier.)

The last project I had in my last job was actually something I loved- throw me large amounts of data and tell me to find interesting stuff and I'm happy. Throw in some new software (I had to migrate it to SQL and then Qlikview) and I'm even happier. I really liked and respected most of the people I worked with but a couple of them were toxic and I decided I just didn't want to deal with it anymore and didn't have to. I quit at age 61, almost 4 years ago, and life is good.

I'm still on "hugging" terms with some of my former coworkers and occasionally attend meetings of my professional society or regional affiliates. They meet in Hawaii at the end of 2019. Since they always get a good hotel rate and retired members pay half the registration fee, I've pencilled that in and will likely add a cruise form Honolulu to Molokai on UnCruise before or after.

 

[Amethyst]

No surprise there. ER people like to do things their own way. Doesn't mean they hated the other people; just got fed up with having to craft every word and deed for crowd approval.

And then there are the nuisance aspects of being around people all day. The other day at my PT job, which I like, a woman whom I like was clearing her throat every 20 seconds. The poor thing has allergies, and has no choice. But if I had to listen to that all week, unable to move to another location, I'd probably resign.

Interesting so far, given this select group.

• More than half liked their jobs for the most part.
• More who didn’t, disliked the people they worked with more than the job itself almost 3 to 1.

One I expected, the other was a mild surprise.

 

[kcowan]

Loved my jobs at megacorp. Jumped at the chance for a golden handshake at 49.

Independent for 10 years, including 2 executive (CEO) assignments. Retired as planned at 59.

Every job had the chickensh*t components but I viewed those as necessary evils. Built a new circle of friends after retirement. Still keep in touch with selected "old" friends.

 

[harley]

Loved my jobs at megacorp. Jumped at the chance for a golden handshake at 49.

Independent for 10 years, including 2 executive (CEO) assignments. Retired as planned at 59.

Every job had the chickensh*t components but I viewed those as necessary evils. Built a new circle of friends after retirement. Still keep in touch with selected "old" friends.

I can guarantee the chicksh*t components are more annoying to those below the C suite than those in it. It flows downhill and is deeper the closer you are to the bottom.

 

[Hyper]

I was ok with most of the work besides it was extremely physical and started taking it's toll as I got older. It was also extremely technical and you had to have much training to keep up which really burnt me out at the end. Glad I kept up though as I was able to get farther away from the physical part. I watched those that didn't keep up technically and they really suffered as they aged as they were always stuck doing physically brutal type work at an older age! I was never meant to be around ppl. Could never understand why ppl cause others so much grief and drama for no reason. The recession was HORRIBLE! Back stabbing thinking they had a better chance of keeping their jobs. Don't miss it at all!

 

[jimbee]

I can guarantee the chicksh*t components are more annoying to those below the C suite than those in it. It flows downhill and is deeper the closer you are to the bottom.

+gazillion harley. The chicksh*t got so deep we needed snorkels.

 

[Scuba]

I enjoyed most of my career, but did not enjoy the last year of my final job. I was planning to RE anyway as we were FI and I worked the last year primarily to get a large time-dependent bonus that I felt I deserved. Eighteen months before my planned ER, I got a new boss. The first six months were fine, but once his true colors began to come out, the job became less enjoyable. The commute was also a killer. I was kind of glad about the leadership change, because I would have felt really guilty leaving my former boss. With the new boss, it made the timing of my ER a no-brainer, and I decided to stick to the 30-day contractual notice requirement rather than providing a longer notice period of 90 days or maybe even six months. So in a strange way, I’m grateful I had a difficult boss at the end - made it SO much easier to leave quickly and on schedule!

 

[N02L84ER]

I loved my job. I liked the people with whom I worked. I hated the commute and it was causing me high anxiety the final 6 months. I have driven less than 1000 miles in the 6 years I have been retired. DH still enjoys driving so I am just a passenger most of the time.

 

[foxfirev5]

In retrospect the job just ran it's course. After 36 years I pulled the plug. No regrets. The last couple years of BS are but a distant memory. I'm slowly trying to become a better person to my family. My health has improved significantly and I'm more productive on a daily basis.

 

[Dtail]

Took a package, then couldn't get work, then retired. So everything happened rather quickly over 1.5 years. So when I did officially retire, I still didn't miss one thing about work, even though loved the job and most of the people.

 

[Jerry1]

Took the job for money 20+ years ago. Never liked it beyond a means to an end. Once I had enough money, worked on my exit plan. Thankfully enough people were great to be with. Not sure I could have stayed as long without them. Sure, the job changed and the BS got worse over the years, but since I was never really vested in the position it wasn’t that big of a factor. Plus, I knew there is BS everywhere. No guarantee it would have been better elsewhere. I left with no animosity and wish everyone well. I also haven’t missed it for a minute.