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Your job, is it worth it!

Discussion in 'Serious' started by Mr Happy, 31 Mar 2010.

  1. Harlequin

    Harlequin Modder

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    We already are seeing it - the inverse care law is very much at work

    [​IMG]
     
  2. Archtronics

    Archtronics Minimodder

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    I agree with Corky, I think general support for the NHS is still quite high amongst the public especially for hospital staff.

    I think where people aren't so supportive is GPs, I think privatisation is likely to start there.
     
  3. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    It doesn't help that in real terms the funding for GP's has been falling while patient numbers have been rising.
     
  4. Mr Happy

    Mr Happy 4 8 15 16 23 42

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  5. Isitari

    Isitari Minimodder

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    Welcome to tory governments. Including me (teacher of 10 years) we have representatives from every major public service: crime, health and education. All of our departments are being royally ****ed over (and no I'm not sorry for swearing). The issues we're facing in education have become chronic and those issues all feedback into the 2 services that Mr Happy and Nexxo work for. That then passes onto the new parents and the whole screwed up torrid cycle starts again.

    Sent from my SM-N915FY using Tapatalk
     
  6. Parge

    Parge the worst Super Moderator

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    My new job certainly is! Absolutely loving it!
     
  7. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    In direct response to the thread title: no. For part of the week, I'm the ICT Technician of a 500 pupil primary school with somewhere between 65-70 staff. In education like so much of the public sector, I am paid a salary which is incremented each year to account for cost of living increases, but the increments are not the problem, the tiers are. In my case, I have been on the second tier of a possible three for the past three years and five months. I cannot be promoted to the third tier post without moving organizations because it's a level reserved for post-primary schools. What makes the issue worse is that my specific circumstances and the post I’ve been in for the past four years and five months have become what can only be described as a nightmare.

    I won’t go into the details because at this point I could write a short book about it and I know nobody wants to read it, but I’ll cut a long story short by saying that I made myself indispensable to the organization and in return, the staff and management eventually began to take the extra duties and favours that I was doing for them for granted, so I ended up doing parts of other people’s jobs for them as well as my own. It was originally a part-time post, I requested a change to full time which was granted just over a year ago, then they reduced it back to part time at the start of this year.

    It is a full time job. Most of it is not the most technically challenging IT work in the world, but the sheer amount of it is often overwhelming and the parts of it that aren’t challenging to me would be to someone who hadn’t been managing the equipment and systems that I have been for so long. I’ve become so familiar with everything and everyone in the organization that I’ve become extremely efficient and effective at solving technical faults or even avoiding them altogether.

    The school has steadily grown each year that I’ve been employed there, and with it my workload went through the roof. More staff, pupils, equipment, projects, schemes and so on has all caused my workload to roughly double in the past 18 months. As a good friend and former colleague in the same organization once said, I have “dragged them kicking and screaming out of the dark ages” and doing so has required a lot more than my original job description outlined, but it has been a costly endeavour.

    You see, there is only so much of that you can do for what can only be described as peanuts compared to the rest of the industry, before you get old, wise, tired or stressed out enough that you can’t do it any longer. Throw in some management problems, some personal problems etc. and you’ve got a ticking time bomb. That time bomb went off for me many months ago, and the final nail in the coffin was learning that my hours were to be cut back to part-time again just before Christmas. So on Monday morning I submitted my letter of resignation and gave the management the required four weeks’ notice that they would need to find another electrician, network engineer, IT technician, sound engineer, AV technician, software developer, infrastructure specialist and electronics engineer to overwork and under-pay.

    This is partially my fault; you might call me a glutton for punishment. I’ve been over-qualified for this job since day one and have been over-worked and under-paid since August of 2015, so I should have left then but didn’t. In hindsight, the cost of staying to my health and career development were far too great, and I wish that I’d been able to cut the cord back then. I will be there until the 10th of March, then I'll be moving to the private sector, working for a global engineering and manufacturing company who are well known for offering plenty of promotions to hard-working staff.
     
    Last edited: 14 Feb 2017
    davvy76 likes this.
  8. bawjaws

    bawjaws Multimodder

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    Sounds like you are making the right move, Unicorn. Good luck in the new job!
     
  9. LennyRhys

    LennyRhys Fan Fan

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    Yep good luck in the new venture - I feel sorry for the person who has to fill your shoes!
     
  10. Unicorn

    Unicorn Uniform November India

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    Thanks guys. I definitely wish that I was leaving on better terms, but that's not always how things work out and it's time to do what's best for my career and my health, instead of sacrificing them for the people and the organization I work for. It's not the same organization that I joined 4+ years ago anyway, and a lot of my colleagues would agree with that. It has taken a lot out of many of the staff over the past couple of years, myself included. I'm sad to be leaving behind a lot of great colleagues and friends, but at the same time I am looking forward to leaving behind the stressful workload, constant firefighting and mediocre pay grade.
     
  11. theshadow2001

    theshadow2001 [DELETE] means [DELETE]

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    Good job Uni. Sometimes it is hard to recognise when we should leave for something better. A bit like you I stayed where I was too long and can pin point exactly when I should have left. It annoys me a bit that I wasted time and motivation due to familiarity and sitting in the comfort zone. But hindsight is 20/20 and I got out eventually.

    Anyway since I'm posting in this thread: My current job pays less than my previous one and I live in a more expensive area. But I also have massive opportunity to learn more than I ever could where I was, so the trade off is mostly worth it. Plus I now have a career that will suit me in the longer term. So to answer the original question...yes.
     
  12. Guest-16

    Guest-16 Guest

    Job: Project Manager/Digital Marcom @ MediaTek
    Wage: Doubled my ASUS pay, where I worked on or with almost every Marcom job available in the company, in every department. I'm not on engineer salary, but am doing pretty well for experienced/mid-level Marcom by Taiwanese levels. World's 3rd largest fabless semi should be able to pay well, though.
    Worth it: Mixed bag. Last 6 months I had to take days off due to extreme stress and my health has cratered since I started 18 months ago, but that could also be due to our second child and two very young kids. Little sleep + continual home/work stress takes it out of you. Promises to be better after MWC in a few weeks but there's only 18 Marcom in the entire company of 18,000. It provides for the family, nothing else out here pays as well and I'm good at it, so, I have to keep doing it. I have become become my father.
     
  13. Margo Baggins

    Margo Baggins I'm good at Soldering Super Moderator

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    Wow, this thread is good! I didn't realise I had posted in it twice. In the last 18 months i've been working my ass off, which is why i've stepped back from the forum a bit.

    Job: Senior Technical Manager

    Wage: Decent package - monthly profit share, BMW company car

    i'm responsible for the technical department at a managed service provider with over a million turnover a year, so not a massive company but not tiny, I train engineers of all levels and deliver projects from small, to a few hundred k. I also run the apprenticeship program and try and get a new apprentice in every year. All of which I find extremely rewarding. I personally contributed about 200k of the turnover last year, which also makes me very happy.

    Is it worth it?: Yes.
     
  14. Mr Happy

    Mr Happy 4 8 15 16 23 42

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    Bump time*

    I managed to get a job role change at work. I am still a Prison Officer, but I now work in the gym department. OH how life has changed. I wear a Nike tracksuit to work, I put on my shorts when I get in the gym, and then follow a set weekly gym programme for prisoners.

    What used to be the scum of the prison now want to interact with you in a positive way. They see you as a fountain of knowledge in regards to the gym. They also ask if you are training with them, or fancy a game of Football or Tennis.

    I am privileged enough to be able to train either weights, cardio, or play sports throughout the day, and I am getting paid for it. (never been so fit)

    I am starting to really enjoy my job now. And only just over a year ago I was ready to walk away.
     
  15. MLyons

    MLyons 70% Dev, 30% Doge. DevDoge. Software Dev @ Corsair Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Job: Apprentice software developer
    Wage: on the lower end of between £1 and £1m :winking:
    Is it worth it: Yes. I get to see and work with hardware I used to have no chance of working with. I've got an upgraded PC, I'm learning a ton professionally and personally and meeting lot's of cool people. Just a shame I have to put up with you lot... I actually really like the forums and it's one of the best bits of the job.
     
  16. creative

    creative 500rwhp

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    Job: Business Development Manager in real estate in Australia
    Wage: $60k pa
    Is it worth it: Yes.

    I love my job! I work for a real estate that manages 1000 properties with a goal of 5000 in the next 5 years. Every day is different, some are hard and some are very easy. Been working with this office pretty much since I moved to Australia in 2009. Because of that I have a very lenient boss that lets me do what I want so long as I get results. We have just taken over a second office that is located right on an esplanade of one of the best beaches in the area and the view from the office reminds me every day why I sacked off the UK and came back here. Best decision I ever made!

    I can see me being here for another 10 years easily.
     
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  17. Nexxo

    Nexxo * Prefab Sprout – The King of Rock 'n' Roll

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    In 10 years there won't be anything much to come back to. Stay in Australia, and stay awesome. :thumb:
     
  18. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    Job: Principal Strategist. What... shut up, that's a real thing. I was at the top of the consulting architect food chain previously. Had an in-place promotion a year ago but there was nothing official to be designated as. So Principal Strategist was what we came up with. Makes for a good introduction to clients, because I can claim my remit as just about anything depending on the scenario. "Oh, it just so happens the challenges you are describing are exactly what I'm in the business of fixing"
    Pay: All the Haribo I can eat
    Is it worth it: Yeah. Last year some weird and shady stuff went on that got to me, but in the grand scheme of things, still worth it.

    The actual job is (was) one of pre-sales consulting for a silicon valley software company. My remit was influencing certain clients IT strategy (see, so the title is at least relevant) to ensure our products were relevant and sticky.

    Primarily due to aforementioned weird and shady stuff though (and also because being at the top of my previous food chain, I needed a new food chain), I'm moving to a different part of the business. Title TBC but it won't be as daft a title as Principal Strategist, sadly. It will be a similar gig to before fundamentally, but one step divorced from the sales cycle with more influence on the product side of things. It's been a move I've been pondering for a while, so definitely looking forward to it.
     
  19. liratheal

    liratheal Sharing is Caring

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    Must be a ****in' lot of Haribo to keep you in AV gear!

    On topic;

    Job: "Technical Engineer" is what it says, but that's a load. I've not got a degree in Engineering.
    Pay: About 20% under the regional average for this role.
    Is it worth it: Nope. I work for a pair of self interested arseholes who reckon it's fair to pay peanuts, expect overtime for no additional pay, and claim they can't afford **** when they're buying themselves new cars left right and centre. While complaining at us, the staff, that they're making less than they were this time last year (Not recognising that three or four large customers have gone in said 12 months as the reason..) and that somehow being our fault. The people who aren't sales. While they are. Is it normal for sales to work half days every day of the week?

    They also have absolutely zero idea how to handle people. Employed a new lad recently, and have been on his case non-stop for a variety of reasons - My favourite of which being that he doesn't do the washing up.

    A task that was not in the job description. And has never been asked of him.

    Apparently there's a requirement for mind reading somewhere that we've all missed.
     
    Last edited: 29 Jun 2018
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  20. Mister_Tad

    Mister_Tad Will work for nuts Super Moderator

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    SSAV love their sweets. Pop in to the shop, do the secret handshake whilst palming a Moam Stripe to them and you're in.
     
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