I can't work in an office for the next 50 years...

Django x2 said:
Clearly another example of someone who doesn't understand the saying. I love my job, therefore, I live for it. Rather than having to work to live (i.e., working in order to pay the bills and put food on the table).

But you're right. My life outside work sucks. I'm currently sat 1500m above Lake Garda at a 5* Spa with £3m worth of SLRs sat in the hotel carpark. I guess, I could be at Centre Parcs....;)
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But i do understand the saying, yes of course we have to work to pay our way, i know that's very important, but still you have to work to live and enjoy your free time with family and friends, hobbies.
 
Fuggan said:
I just can't. Bit of background...

Finished uni, and felt like I need to get a job fast. Felt almost pressured into it but I'm not blaming anyone, I was naive and was all OMG MUST GET REAL JOB mode. Anyway I got a job working in the city centre, pretty decent pay, work with some good lads and it keeps me ticking.

There's no real direct route for progression, and there is so much corporate ******** that it irks me. The 9to5 lifestyle is really not for me and I feel like I'm living for the weekends (well some of them, I work some too). I feel life should be so much more than this grind.

Last year when me and my pals were on holiday we joked about all moving out there and opening a bar or something, imagine the life! I've just been away again and it's made me think again, I can't waste away in this god forsaken office for the rest of my life!

Seeing some of my friends travelling pics/stories on FB makes me regret not doing something like that.

Has anyone given up a decent job and moved abroad to do something? I don't know what to do..

Halp mah GD
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Don't worry - after a few years you'll start to get numb to it and the world will turn grey. The rhythm of your life will become a monotonous plod and your hopes and expectations will slowly dwindle. You won't notice this happen. You'll meet an average girl, get married, buy a house, have average sex and average kids. Occasionally you'll play a video game that, for a few minutes, reminds you of the joy-like wonder you used to feel when stepping out into the world, but eventually even that you'll write that off as childish fancy and you'll hang up your joypad for good. Soon after that you'll start to feel the smug, thin smiled satisfaction of being a responsible adult and be able to look down your nose at anyone who still looks at life the way you do now.
 
I work in an office as a base but luckily not 100% of the time. I have zero tolerance for other peoples irritating noises etc so I would end up killing everyone if I had to do that every day.

As I type this I'm listening to someone eat an apple like a ****ing horse and someone else eat crisps which must be the crunchiest crisps ever made. Or we have the tea slurpper who drinks 1ml at a time, just ****ing wait for it to cool down!

Then we have the guy who sits opposite who needs to go on a mouse operation course. For some reason he picks the mouse up pn EVERY single operation instead of sliding it so it's a constant clunk clunk on the desk.

I could only work in an office if it was just me in it or I would end up in prison.
 
Django x2 said:
Oh, really, please continue? How would you rephrase it? If you work to live, it means you're poor and a sucker to the 9-5 routine, living pay day to pay day. Living to work means you enjoy / love what you do for a living. You can't just bum around serving drinks at a bar for the rest of your life. Find something you're good at, and make a living from it.
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I do thanks. A very good living. And you know what? I've just taken further steps to ensure that my work life does not encroach on my family and personal life, for more money. So I will have more time to enjoy doing what I really enjoy doing. I also fortunate enough to really like my job; but the thought of living to work is not for me.

How would I rephrase it? I'm not sure.

I think we probably actually have the same outlook we just use differing terminology. I would have said that working to live is exactly my outlook on life. I wouldn't consider myself poor, a sucker, or living pay day to pay day. I work and enjoy my job, and get well remunerated for it, and as a result can really enjoy the things that I like doing. I suspect you're the same, but really love your job and so don't mind making the sacrifices for work that I perhaps would not. And so the phrase living to work to you means exactly this, rather than the complete nightmare I consider it to mean which you describe conversely to myself.
 
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dannyjo22 said:
I work in an office as a base but luckily not 100% of the time. I have zero tolerance for other peoples irritating noises etc so I would end up killing everyone if I had to do that every day.

As I type this I'm listening to someone eat an apple like a ****ing horse and someone else eat crisps which must be the crunchiest crisps ever made. Or we have the tea slurpper who drinks 1ml at a time, just ****ing wait for it to cool down!

Then we have the guy who sits opposite who needs to go on a mouse operation course. For some reason he picks the mouse up pn EVERY single operation instead of sliding it so it's a constant clunk clunk on the desk.

I could only work in an office if it was just me in it or I would end up in prison.
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After reading this I feel like doing most of these simultaneously
 
Django x2 said:
But you're right. My life outside work sucks. I'm currently sat 1500m above Lake Garda at a 5* Spa with £3m worth of SLRs sat in the hotel carpark. I guess, I could be at Centre Parcs....;)
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Must be brilliant, so great you're on the internet :p Can't people put their phones down for half hour these days :(
 
Fuggan said:
I just can't. Bit of background...

Finished uni, and felt like I need to get a job fast. Felt almost pressured into it but I'm not blaming anyone, I was naive and was all OMG MUST GET REAL JOB mode. Anyway I got a job working in the city centre, pretty decent pay, work with some good lads and it keeps me ticking.

There's no real direct route for progression, and there is so much corporate ******** that it irks me. The 9to5 lifestyle is really not for me and I feel like I'm living for the weekends (well some of them, I work some too). I feel life should be so much more than this grind.

Last year when me and my pals were on holiday we joked about all moving out there and opening a bar or something, imagine the life! I've just been away again and it's made me think again, I can't waste away in this god forsaken office for the rest of my life!

Seeing some of my friends travelling pics/stories on FB makes me regret not doing something like that.

Has anyone given up a decent job and moved abroad to do something? I don't know what to do..

Halp mah GD
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Move away on a working holiday visa for a year or two. I went to Canada for a year, but Australia is another option if that's more your cup of team.

http://www.canadainternational.gc.c...e_uni/experience_canada_experience/index.aspx
 
porushinobu said:
What did you change to ?
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I was classed as an IT Systems specialist (which basically involved me looking at a screen and answering calls from 7am - 7pm 4 days a week / sitting in meetings / doing presentations in rooms with no windows) - A job which payed very well, and one I found extremely easy, but so tedious / boring it drove me nuts. If I had stayed in it I would have gone bonkers - or ended up taking 10 years off my life.

I'm now an Engineering specialist (which is basically a fancy name for a maintenance technician :p - I fix multi-million £ machines used for semiconductor fabrication - so I'm a plumber, electrician, fitter, maintenance man all rolled into one - although most of the time I'm replacing mechanical bits that have failed on the machines)

I no longer have a desk, I never sit down on a chair at a table (unless it's lunch) - and I spend about 20 minutes a month in a office (less if I can help it) - Every day is different, every job is different. Most importantly, I have to interact with different people and different types of tools/tasks to fix problems.... and most days I feel as though I have achieved something.
 
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Heliospherez said:
I was classed as an IT Systems specialist (which basically involved me looking at a screen and answering calls from 7am - 7pm 4 days a week / sitting in meetings / doing presentations in rooms with no windows)

I'm now an Engineering specialist (which is basically a fancy name for a maintenance technician :p - I fix multi-million £ machines used for semiconductor fabrication - so I'm a plumber, electrician, fitter, mechanical man all rolled into one.)
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you basically used to do what I do now
8 - 4 5 vdays a week
2nd line support

fixing any sioftware issues tier 1 cant fix + getting lumbered with anything else anyone cant fix. even if they they are in a team above us or even if it doesnt fall within our teams scope. lol

working on becoming a vfx compositor, another computnig role but its the career of choice
 
porushinobu said:
you basically used to do what I do now
8 - 4 5 vdays a week
2nd line support

fixing any sioftware issues tier 1 cant fix + getting lumbered with anything else anyone cant fix. even if they they are in a team above us or even if it doesnt fall within our teams scope. lol

working on becoming a vfx compositor, another computnig role but its the career of choice
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Sounds like my old one too!

Ended up specialising through a postgraduate course and going off into a niche area of computer security/forensics.

I think the typicals routes are:

IT Support -> For life

IT Support -> Management

IT Support -> Specialist area of IT

IT Support -> Sales (Dark side)

IT Support -> Nervous breakdown -> Benefits for life
 
RedvGreen said:
Sounds like my old one too!

Ended up specialising through a postgraduate course and going off into a niche area of computer security/forensics.

I think the typicals routes are:

IT Support -> For life

IT Support -> Management

IT Support -> Specialist area of IT

IT Support -> Sales (Dark side)

IT Support -> Nervous breakdown -> Benefits for life
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IT Support = Most underpaid job I have ever had, I actually think macdonalds paid me more and thats saying a lot
 
porushinobu said:
IT Support = Most underpaid job I have ever had, I actually think macdonalds paid me more and thats saying a lot
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I can understand some employers that do skimp on the IT Support salaries - especially when threatening to out-source it at all times.

There are good IT Support places to work for though; most Universities, Councils (not schools); Blue-Chip industries; Banks.

I found a job earlier that is £5k more than what i'm on at the moment (specialist national law enforcement unit), and it is just IT Support in Education; and not in London.

Yet I have mates who work for private companies who are on barely £14k as Second Line support for international network systems. There is no logic.
 
RedvGreen said:
I can understand some employers that do skimp on the IT Support salaries - especially when threatening to out-source it at all times.

There are good IT Support places to work for though; most Universities, Councils (not schools); Blue-Chip industries; Banks.

I found a job earlier that is £5k more than what i'm on at the moment (specialist national law enforcement unit), and it is just IT Support in Education; and not in London.

Yet I have mates who work for private companies who are on barely £14k as Second Line support for international network systems. There is no logic.
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well we are outsource and because of my location they can get away with being barely over min wage.
 
porushinobu said:
well we are outsource and because of my location they can get away with being barely over min wage.
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Proper outsource was to India and neighbouring countries.

Unfortunately those employees are getting more qualified and more westernised and therefore are demanding more money, hence out-sourcing is becoming less profitable for the companies.
 
RedvGreen said:
Proper outsource was to India and neighbouring countries.

Unfortunately those employees are getting more qualified and more westernised and therefore are demanding more money, hence out-sourcing is becoming less profitable for the companies.
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Well our tech support is india, but we outsource for people who insist on uk only tech support.

They are probably better paid than me. I may go against my promise to myself and consider working in food prep again if I have to.

working at a job 2 grades higher than my last and still being on the original pay grade for 9 months is sickening.
 
randomshenans said:
Simple, don't do it then. If you know you're good at what you do, put your foot down.

People be crazy.
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Knowing you're good at what you do and getting others to see/appreciate it is something different entirely.

You'll often find most management/directors/CEOs obeying the scorched earth tactic of letting your human resource go and they'll worry about the aftermath later.

Likewise, even if you're brilliant at something, getting that across in interview can be tricky. Trickier still is doing it in such a way as to not threaten the interviewers or appear better than them. Psychology plays a big part of modern life, and most of it is subconscious ("I don't know about that applicant, he answered everything correctly, but something didn't sit right with me...").
 
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