How do you feel about your job/career?

[RNwastash]

I like my job, but I don't want to do it until I'm 65.  I'm a registered nurse and I love doing what I do.  My schedule is flexible and my co-workers are fun to be with.  However, the days do get long... I work 12 hour days and sometimes are very stressful when a patient is not doing well.  I want to pay off my house so I can work 2 days a week.  I may let my hubby retire early if he wants.  He helped support me while I went back to school.  I'll probably keep working full time though while my kids go to college so I can help them out.  We'll see... Time will tell. 

[JLee]

I like my career field, but I don't particularly like my current job.

[hred17]

I actually took an almost four year break from my job in the software industry as I was just completely run-down and done with it all. I swore I would never go back (despite the money being great) and lived life to the fullest during those four years off (did loads of volunteer work, slow-traveled on the cheap, and tried out a job in another industry which just did not work out).

I have recently returned to a job in the software industry as I convinced myself I had had enough time away and it would be different now. That, along with the paycheck convinced me to go back. It has been 6 months in now and while I love the paycheck, I hate the job. I should have trusted my gut and not gone back at all.

I am nowhere near FI so I will stick this out for at least a year more to get enough money saved to possibly buy/build a small house mortgage free and then who knows what I will do. Maybe retrain in another field? Start my own business? Not to sure what I will end up doing but I know it won't be anything close to what I have gone back to doing now.

[act0fgod]

The thing I've realized is because I don't HAVE to do my job I enjoy it more.  I never like doing things I have to and that extends to a job.  It's weird that being forced to do something makes it so much less enjoyable (even if it's something I really enjoy doing).

I've had a few different careers making good money.  Each time I felt like I had to do the job it lost its appeal.  In college I flew aircraft for fun, when I had to do fly it wasn't fun.  In high school I enjoyed volunteering in hospitals doing admin work, when I worked as a hospital administrator after college it really wore me out.  My wife and I are probably in a position financially where we could stop working and survive quite well.  It allows both of us to enjoy our jobs a bit more.  We can say no to things we don't really want to do.  We don't have to play politics/brown nose because we're not interested in promotions or power.  I still do things at work that aren't all that enjoyable but knowing I don't have to do them makes it more tolerable.

[happypup]

Objectively, my job is great and a solid fit for me. It gives me about as close to an ideal life as I think I could get while still working full time -- nice salary, good hours, excellent vacation time. So lots of time/energy left outside of work for all the other stuff I like to do.

I just don't really like working, especially I think in an office environment. It's just such a slog. Projects around here have really long timelines, so day to day, nothing really feels like progress. Days when I can do some direct support, solve a problem for somebody, or the days I teach, etc., are awesome and I feel like I've actually done something worthwhile, but a lot of the time it's just making the next incremental step on a multi-year thing.

[Static Void]

So it will be a win-win situation if they ever want to lay me off.

I've been waiting my whole career for one of those sweet layoff packages! And I've been through some high profile faltering companies. But nooo, it was always the other guy. Oh well!

[LadyDriver]

I answered "like it but...". As truckers running under our own authority, we work as much as we want. Right now, it is a lot. We have a good gig that pays well and that we enjoy. When the economy tanked a few years ago and independent truckers were basically working so they could cash flow their truck payments we rarely worked.

[Philociraptor]

Hate working in general, FI-seeking is a result of that hate.

[Melanie A]

I love what I do and have known since I was a child I wanted to get into this type of field. I'm very passionate about the work but I don't want to wait till I'm 65 to retire. My plan is to aim for 55 and give myself the option to retire if I want to. As much as I love what I do, the 9-5 and overtime hours get really tiring and all the tight/unrealistic deadlines.

[Pooperman]

The work, I don't mind, but my job - meh. I'm an analyst, and I find the problem-solving to be interesting and engaging. If I could set my own work schedule and location, I could see myself doing this indefinitely, and being very happy. But sitting in a room the size of an area rug 5 days a week for 8 hours a day pretty much spoils it for me. I'm getting out as soon as I can.

Do you mind me asking what kind of an analyst you are what kind of degree you need for that? Just curious because at this point it's pretty much it in terms of career for me! LOL but never too early to inform myself so my future kids have some advice/options. :-)

I'm not the poster above, but in a similar position. I'm a business analyst for a consulting firm. I haven't had to travel yet (thankfully). I work 9 hours a day, 5 days a week. Startup feel with far less of the bullshit some people go through. I have an engineering degree, though I certainly don't need it for this job. If you want to be a business analyst, have a BA/BS in something (business is nice, tech is nice, neither are 100% necessary). I work in NYC, so the salary range is something like $50k/yr to $75k/yr for the base level. Senior business analyst (my next step if I haven't gone freelance by then) can get into 6 figures. After that you can get into project management, engagement management, etc. Those pay good 6 figures, but take 5-10 years to get to. If I went out on my own, I'd double my salary probably.

[Dr. Doom]

Tough question to answer.

In the end, I marked "like my job, don't want to do it to 65."  I've held roles in software and IT throughout the years -- sometimes more software, sometimes more IT.  Hardly matters, as I've found that technology in general is a decent fit for me, functionally.  Because functionally, it's just about learning, problem-solving, and being persistent. 

Despite the fact that I generally enjoy the core job, I have consistently struggled with all of the surrounding bullshit of it, i.e. the "jobby" aspects - the sameness of days, commuting, cardboard cutout coworkers, paperwork, reviews, employment instability, erratic personalities, reporting, brown-nosing, politics, back-stabbing, gossip, useless meetings, and so on.

Most shocking to me was the quantity of business knowledge that programmers are expected to know.  When I started programming, the _last_ thing that I wanted was to like, get my MBA or learn about the inner workings of corporations.  But, turns out, programming and dev are tightly wound up in business because the vast majority of software is created ... wait for it ... to satisfy business requirements.  (obvious looking back.  not so obvious when I started out.)

Still, no regrets about my path whatsoever.  I'm not convinced that there's a single job out there that would have made me select the "I'll do it forever" option on the poll.

[BlueHouse]

I usually love a job for about 3 years and then I just get bored and lose interest.  I'm pretty sure I could stay interested in my own thing if I RE.

[HawkeyeNFO]

Job sucks, but career is excellent. 

The thing about the military is that I have another job starting when I finish this tour in a few months.  That next job should be excellent.  I'll be leaving the cubicle farm known as the Pentagon, for a job flying planes in Europe.

[hunniebun]

I used to like my job but changes have happend and it has become a complete 'bullshit' job.  Like if I didn't come to work for the next two years, no one in the world would suffer and the 'work' I do would not be missed by anyone outside of my office environment.  So I can take it or leave it. It is not hard, I like my co-workers, but having to sit at a desk 7.5 hours a day 'making' work, knowing that there is very little value in it can be tiresome and soul sucking.  The grim part is that it pays so well and the benefits are so great that it makes leavings for something more invigorating very difficult.

[ontario74]

I chose my career carefully, making sure it suited me; although I do admit that I was happier when I was freelancing and doing odds jobs, so I may go back to that at some point.

I freed myself of the shackles of a DB pension (invested it) and can take my new pension anywhere - one small step towards a goal of using my time the way I want :) Either I stay on for 20 to 25 years with my new pension (set to grow to up to 500K if returns are decent) or retire a bit early from my "career" and work for myself.

Gonna wait until I hit 50 before I make any decisions, however.

Still working on ideas for plan B

[Roxy]

I like my job. I'd like to retire before 65, but that's still 30 years away. I fell into my career quite by accident, and it has nothing really to do with my degrees, but that's ok. I make good money, have good benefits, 9-5, lots of vacation. It checks all the boxes, so to speak, and right now, I like the people I work with. Having had two horrific jobs before this one, based on people I worked with/for, I've decided that one probably needs to move up my list of priorities a bit. ;)

[OutBy40]

I select the "It's okay" option.  I do computer work, so sitting in front of a computer screen all damn day isn't my idea of a good time.

However, this particular job does allow me to work from home (score!) and it provides me with enough salary to help ensure that my wife and I retire by the time that I'm 40 years old.  But, whether I do this or something else, honestly, I don't give a shit.  Work is work however you slice it.  What I care most about is my future, my retirement and my happiness.  The job always has, and always will, come second.

[spokey doke]

I have had a lot of hate built up toward the things that make an otherwise satisfying and meaningful career in academia maddening (working on that).

Perhaps because of the above, I also have recently gotten completely and utterly bored by everything to do with the the work - particularly the enormous distance between the bulk of what I do and any real world effect.  I can barely read another book or article some times, and would rather go do something physical and immediate (real?).  Questions that I recognized as significant don't really get me engaged.  I'm burnt.

I'm about at my number, but probably have 2-5 years to go, and really making an effort to just let go, enjoy what is possible, and do well at what I do while I'm still at it...

Didn't respond to survey because I didn't fit the categories well...

[darkadams00]

60% of the year = 32-36 billable hours/week
30% of the year = 37-44 billable hours/week
10% of the year = deadline time w/ no time to add up the billable hours until I get the nag email reminding me to do so

70% of the week = intellectually stimulating
15% of the week = easy department-level tasks, e.g. mentoring, internal seminars
15% of the week = mind-numbing boredom, e.g. email, documentation, presentation prep

So I've learned to be glad for the 90% of the year's hours and 85% of the week's tasks (although the afternoon after meeting a deadline feels pretty good as well). During crunch time and during the mind-numbing tasks, I just focus and remember that every day includes tasks that I don't care to do--even if I were at home enjoying ER. I would still have to go to doctor visits, clean the car, trim the hedges, etc.

As to my career--pretty awesome. My team will save taxpayers millions of dollars this tax season. We will also help taxpayers, senior citizens, and motorists save millions of dollars in costs that drive auto and health insurance premiums as well as social program benefits.

I have had a tough day but never a bad week.