A Really Good Job

  • bclyde-1080677 (7/25/2012)


    While I'm not working at my "dream job", (there are so few jobs that involve eating ice cream, reading books, and hanging out with your kids at home), I feel very blessed and happy with the job I have. No job or company is perfect, but it is possible to find a position, company, and location that feels like home. I know because I did.

    And for those looking for a great job, don't forget to check the 'SQL Jobs' link here at SQL Server Central.

    (I have a couple positions open that I would love to fill. :-D)

    Clue as to which ones? Curious if one of them is the one you posted about in another thread.

    Not that I'm looking. I do know of someone who might be, just don't know if they would relocate or not.

  • LOVIN' the kilts!

  • Joan OBryan (7/25/2012)


    LOVIN' the kilts!

    🙂

  • jshahan (7/25/2012)


    The last 10 years of my work life have been far and away the most rewarding and the last three in particular have been almost too good to be true.

    I won’t go into detail about the wonderful particulars of my current situation but rather explain that I first had to suffer, and then focus to get where I am. I suffered because I hadn’t identified a particular career path and was unemployed during a recession and experiencing a fruitless job search.

    I found a life changing book called “What Color Is Your Parachute” and following the advice in it literally changed my life.

    Long story short: Identify your favorite skills and jobs that allow you to use those skills. Put another way, “How can you use your favorite skills to make money for other people?”

    Answer that question and that great job may come your way.

    (we all like to talk about ourselves, don’t we :-))

    There is also an online aptitude test you can register for as well at http://parachute.capella.edu/faq 😀

    "Technology is a weird thing. It brings you great gifts with one hand, and it stabs you in the back with the other. ...:-D"

  • jshahan (7/25/2012)


    Put another way, “How can you use your favorite skills to make money for other people?”

    Answer that question and that great job may come your way.

    I'm not sure that is an accurate way to frame it. For those of you out there considering it, why not start your own business and work for yourself? It has it's own set of difficulties but for some, it's much more rewarding than padding someone else's wallet.

  • I'm not sure that is an accurate way to frame it. For those of you out there considering it, why not start your own business and work for yourself? It has it's own set of difficulties but for some, it's much more rewarding than padding someone else's wallet.

    I would suggest that many of the most lucrative businesses are those that make money for other people.

    Try it this way: "How can you use your favorite skills to help others get what they want?"

    Lotsa people want money...

  • jshahan, that's an even better way to put it. Ultimately, even if you run your own business, you're going to have people working for you. You want them to make money too right? So I guess you're pretty much always working for someone else, it just depends on in what capacity.

  • mdaughtree (7/25/2012)


    A really good job.. sometimes is not the one that pays the most nor the one with the expense account or travel. It's the one where ones efforts are validated and the person is valued for their input.

    +1

    Jason...AKA CirqueDeSQLeil
    _______________________________________________
    I have given a name to my pain...MCM SQL Server, MVP
    SQL RNNR
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  • I'm in agreement with mdaughtree's comment above.

    But, lt's be a bit more specific than that: Steve's editorial seems to say that a job with low pay, or long hours, or a bad boss can't be a good job. That's all wrong. Low pay doesn't make a bad job unless it's so low you and your family can't cope with it. Long hours don't make a bad job unless they are so long that they screw up your non-working life. A bad boss doesn't make a bad job unless he mekes things so unpleasant that you would be happier without the job. In fact there's only one question to worry about: are you happy in the job - or alternatively, do you enjoy the job. I've had good jobs - maybe even great jobs - which failed on Steve's criteria, but they passed on mine.

    And if you can't cope with a bad boss, learn how to do so - even if (like me) you are lucky and are only stuck with a bad boss for less than a quarter of your working life you will find things much more enjoyable if you can cope: and most bad bosses don't have the guts to fire good people, so standing up to them usually works (and may even educate them so that they become good bosses).

    For example I stayed with one company for nearly 25 years. For all but a small fraction of that time (that small fraction was roughly my fifth and sixth years there) the pay was low. For all but a different small fraction of that time, the hours were very long (that small fraction came in two chunks: the last four months of my fourth year there, and my last six months there); for some of that time (about eight years in all) I had bosses who were bad bosses - so most of the time there I had good bosses). But it was a good job (actually series of jobs - I moved around quite a bit with that outfit) except for the last few months (when the good/valuable bits of the job had gone and I would have quit if I hadn't known that if I didn't I would soon get pushed out with a large golden goodbye) - and mostly it was good because the people I worked with (whether in the company, or during the second half of those years academic or industrial partners) were great people to be with and we all had the feeling that we were achieving something valuable - you can't replace that feeling with pay, or short hours, or a nice boss.

    SO get real: are you enjoying your job? Then unless it is screwing up yourlife (by not providing enough money or by destroying your social/family life) then it's a good job, even if the pay is low and the hours are long and the boss is a waste of space.

    Tom

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