What are the pros and cons of your job/work/career?

[Lurker1999]

I have a small senior (the politically correct term is now "older adult") companion company.

Basically, I rent myself out as a Grandson to senior citizens and take them to Doctor's appointments, lunch, Church, museums, walks or we just sit in their house and watch the news or talk, etc.

The Pros:

1.) I provide critical help to families and literally add years on to the lives of my clients because they don't have to go to a nursing home.

2.) 3 families have called me a "savior" or "life saver" in the past 5 years.

3.) I meet some amazing people; brilliant, caring and kind.

4.) The work is easy for the most part. It's not like work; it's like hanging around with a friend. It's like being on break at a real job all day.

5.) Free food.

6.) No boss.

7.) No office work.

8.) There is a HUGE need for this work as America ages and our citizens become older and older.


The Cons:

1.) The pay isn't great. I'll never get rich if I continue this path.

2.) It can be isolating because I spend much of my time alone with a senior citizen that has dementia or Alzheimer's. (early term though)

3.) Dealing with the family drama can be tough, especially the wives who often have a different idea of care that I do.

4.) The client can get belligerent and repeat themselves over and over again so I have to be very patient.

5.) The clients die because most of them are in their 80's.

6.) No paid time off. If I don't work, I don't get paid.


Overall, the pros are much better than the cons.

How about you?

 

[ggmike1992]

Pro: Early retirement. Mandatory 57 and I’m going on the 28th of this month at 51.
Con: 26 plus years working with convicts (pun intended).

 

[Lurker1999]

Pro: Early retirement. Mandatory 57 and I’m going on the 28th of this month at 51.
Con: 26 plus years working with convicts (pun intended).

What do you do?

 

[ggmike1992]

What do you do?

Federal Bureau of Prisons.

 

[Lurker1999]

Federal Bureau of Prisons.

Yeah.

What do you do?

 

[NDallasRuss]

Internal Audit / Risk Management Consultant

Pros:
The job changes all the time, so I always get to do something different and never really have the chance to get bored/stagnate. This is by far the reason I'm doing what I'm doing. I get super-bored with repetitive tasks, and this keeps me doing different things.

I get paid to ask questions, identify problems, and come up with potential solutions. Then I get to leave. I don't have to implement anything, which is usually where all the intra-organizational pushback occurs. I'll tell you what's wrong, you deal with the office politics.

The pay is pretty good for what I do, which I enjoy.

I get 5 weeks vacation per year.

I can change up my schedule to fit my needs. I work more 9:30am-6:30pm because it fits my needs (avoiding traffic).

My firm takes us all on a vacation every year (with a +1 if you want). It's not mandatory, and there's no work component beyond a big group dinner one night in which there's a brief "state of the firm" speech. Other than that, it's your trip. So far I've chosen to go on the ones to: DR, PR, Jamaica, Playa Del Carmen. I could've gone to Aruba and a different Mexico resort, but didn't.

My job tends to make me feel more important than I am. I get access to c-level executives and state/local government officials that I think a lot of other people might have a harder time getting in front of. And when I meet with them, they listen to the things I say, and it usually drives some kind of change. It's a pretty good feeling.

Travel, if you like it, is a part of a lot of the jobs in my industry. My current job keeps me pretty local, but previous related jobs have let me see baseball games in 20/30 MLB parks, as well as a CO ski resort, Cheyenne Frontier Days, Chinese New Year in SF, Australia, and India. That travel also meant really high hotel status (Starwood has an "Ambassador" program that I was in) for a long while, which was great.

Lots of happy hours, teambuilding, and networking events means lots of free drinks.

My co-workers are all pretty bright, and generally fun to be around.

Cons:
I have to wear a suit, or at least a tie, more than I would prefer to.

Once you get into internal audit, it becomes hard to get out of it. I have a working knowledge of literally hundreds of business processes across several different industries. Yet, I am a master of none of them. This makes it hard to make equivalent (or more) money in a different business unit/ department.

It can be frustrating to have to work with career government people who don't care what you say because they were in that chair long before you got there, and they'll be in that chair long after you're gone, and nothing you say is gonna make them work any harder. These are the people that I rely on for providing documents and data, so I have to be really nice to them.

CPE: I have to have 40 hours of CPE every year, which can be hard to do. So you end up doing a bunch of online CPE courses in December to get it all in.

Health. My job has me sitting in front of a computer typing pretty much all day, every day. Some days I get to go out and tour warehouses or fleet yards, but most day I sit here for hours on end staring at a computer screen - well, three computer screens really. My death will certainly be related to sitting in front of a computer all day.

That's what I can think of for now.

 

[skramer100]

Ortho sales

Pros:

Good money
Really fun life. I get to go into OR and watch surgery most of the day. Lots of fun.
I can generally get me or my friends into any doc. Good friends daughter broke her arm and she was with best peds guy that day.
I will always know who to go see and not to see if anything goes wrong.

Cons:

Hours suck. Like really suck. Haven't been home this week before 8 pm and am usually out before 6.
Pay is going down and will never get back. Why a lot of guys are looking elsewhere.

Overall it is a really fun lifestyle and I enjoy it. Say lifestyle cause it is not a job. Hard on the family and takes a special spouse to deal with it.

 

[totallynot321Nole]

Freelance message board poster

Pros: I met FreeFly and I get good advice on restaurants and beers to try

Cons: I occasionally get into cussfights with strangers over minor disagreements. Also, my boss (DFSNole) is notoriously cheap on per diem.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Professional Nazi Puncher

Pros:

There seem to be more and more of them coming out of the woodwork “for some reason” so there’s plenty of job security.

Cons:

People whining about good people on both sides.

 

[fsu1jreed]

GIS Analyst/Water Utility

• Pros
  • Positively impacts the health of my community/species (I'm really proud of this)
  • It's really easy or I'm really efficient at it
  • NO stress
  • Benefits are above average with pretty good pension
  • Get to work directly with UWF/PSC interns in a mentor capacity
• Cons
  • The pay isn't great, but currently in the middle of a position salary review
  • It can be rather tedious sometimes
  • Political component/Good ole' boy network
  • Can't work from home
  • No research component

 

[phideltflg]

Pros

I get all the free booze I can drink.

Cons

I’ll never be able to afford a yacht

 

[LesClaypool]

Job: IT Sales (sort of - it's hard to explain)

Pros:

• Good money & benefits
• Work from home or anywhere else I choose
• Very little travel (I used to travel 3 weeks/months for many years before this)
• Exposure to lots of areas of the corporate world: Sales/Business Development, Marketing, HR/Staffing, and Tech Consulting, as well as continued exposure to Higher Education Administrators and Faculty, which is where I've spent most of my career
• Exposure to many different types of people and cultures - I spend a lot of time on calls and WebEx's w/people from India, Indonesia, Singapore, Australia, and Brazil, among other places.
• I've become way more technically proficient (and becoming moreso every day) than I ever thought I would, given I have a History degree w/a Philosophy minor.

Cons:

• While my salary is good, the bonuses are nothing to write home about. 1st world problem yes, but it makes it hard to ever really stockpile a lot of cash (my daughter's starting college next year, so this is a concern/isn't ideal).
• 3 weeks vacation. Grateful for that, and I realize it's not a bad amount, but my last gig provided 5 weeks by the time I left. I tried like crazy to get my current employer to match it, and they were like, "Ummm, yeah...no."
• I'm not sure that my job really exists elsewhere, if I needed to leave and go somewhere else tomorrow.
• I'm not sure that I've given myself the best chance of upward mobility at my current firm, given how specific my job is either. I'm trying to mitigate that by learning other skills, like Computer Programming Languages, Agile App Development, etc. and I'm doing as much as I can to position myself to get into a more purely Tech Consulting role, should my current job go away for any reason...which thankfully, I don't think is a threat anytime soon.

 

[OrlandNole]

I'm a consultant in the field of urban planning (mostly transportation).

Pros:

• I get to do a lot of different things: technical analysis, storytelling/presentations, client selling/marketing, mentoring.
• Work from home: This has been a game changer for me. I can make my own schedule, make food at home, take care of the dogs. I put 4,000 miles on my car in the last year.
• Travel: I'm not a road warrior, but I get to do enough travel to keep things interesting (Chicago, SF, Austin, Miami, Atlanta, etc.)
• I like the people that I work with.
• Good salary.

Cons:

• I have a good salary, but have deferred a significant amount of additional income/equity based on the choices I've made to get here (I'm OK with that).
• That's really it. I'm content where I'm at, which may or may not be a good thing. I'll reassess in a couple of years.

 

[goldmom]

I'm retired. As of August of last year.

Pros are obvious. No alarm clock, no putting up with difficult people.

Con - this first year I have continued spending money like I did when I had a low six figure income.
Another con is that I'm bored. I'm looking for a part time job. I've discovered that I need structure-what a shock!

 

[ggmike1992]

I'm retired. As of August of last year.

Pros are obvious. No alarm clock, no putting up with difficult people.

Con - this first year I have continued spending money like I did when I had a low six figure income.
Another con is that I'm bored. I'm looking for a part time job. I've discovered that I need structure-what a shock!

This is going to be me (minus the low six figure income). While I initially plan to ride my motorcycle throughout the country, I suspect that will wear off quickly. People keep asking me what it's like to finally reach retirement and are shocked when I tell them it involves a lot of anxiety. My days have always been planned from when I get up to when I go to bed and that's going to be a helluva change come the end of next week.

 

[nole71911]

Banking/Accounting/Basel Reporting

Pros:
Can make good money.
Every bank does it so if you have some ability to move you should always have a job.
Living in Charlotte there is a lot of banking and financial services companies to move around to if you aren't happy.
My particular banking job is Quarter-End Focused. So the second half of the first month, the whole middle month, and first half of the 3rd month are pretty easy going.
Decent flexibility to if things pop up personally.

Cons:
I stare 3 screens all day in my cube contemplating slitting my wrist.
Can be kind of boring at times.
Technology at all major financial services organization suck, so that can make the job annoying at times.

Ultimately I am 34 and plan on retiring at 55. This job, coupled with my wife, will allow us to do that.....and provide a great life for our child. Ultimately that's all we ever wanted. Enjoying my career would have been great, but not necessary for me.............really can't complain too much about work.

 

[Nole-4-Life]

IT Director

Pros: my own boss...Pretty much don't have to answer to anyone.

Cons: I'm a one man crew. This cell phone never quits. No real vacation or day off or at least it's rare.

 

[Imtotallynottribe]

Ultimately I am 34 and plan on retiring at 55. This job, coupled with my wives, will allow us to do that.....and provide a great life for our child. Ultimately that's all we ever wanted. Enjoying my career would have been great, but not necessary for me.............really can't complain too much about work.

 

[GwinnettNole]

Software Engineering manager (I grew up as a QA Software tester)

Pros:
1. I like technology so it’s right up my alley.
2. In this profession it’s thrilling to know I’m in the career for determining how our lives are going to change (because of tech).
3. Incredibly intelligent people
4. Great pay
5. PTO time is great (been with the same company for 13 years)
6. WFH policy is good
7. Career growth in this profession is great (whether you want to stay technical, product focused, project management— lots of options)

Cons:
1. Yes the people are smart but some can’t talk about anything but technology.
2. There is off normal hours at times (world doesn’t shut down in the evenings or nights).

 

[EconSean]

Health economist (or pharmacoeconomist, but that’s a made up word that requires details that health economist doesn’t).

Honestly, I make a stupid amount of money for, basically, thinking and putting words on paper. I write proposals, protocols, technical reports, and manuscripts for peer-reviewed journals. At this stage in my career I do a lot of mentoring of junior staff, reviewing their work, as well as a fair amount of business development.

I get to travel around the world a few times a year for conferences (Tokyo in September and Barcelona in November), and I work from home, traveling to our main campus as/when needed.

I truly struggle to come up with cons of this job. Health care and pharmaceuticals will always be important, so there is job security and most likely always will be. I guess one con is that I don’t really produce anything tangible. I worked for my dad after I graduated from HS, laying block. We would build a house a day, so there was something that I could actually see and touch that was a result of my labor. Don’t have that with what I do now.

I’m VERY fortunate, I realize.

 

[KitingHigh]

Charter and delivery yacht captain and sailing/yachting instructor.

Pros:
I get to run yachts, really nice yachts.

I meet lots of interesting people and sometimes spend a week or more with them and their families or friends in a somewhat intimate (not that intimate, perverts) environment and share whay I love about the sea and Florida with them.

The people I meet and work with want to be there and are in a good mood 99 percent of the time. With one exception that I can think of, no one on my boat has ever had a case of the "Monday's"

I'm not on the road 300 days a year (I was in my previous career)

Sometimes, I get ridiculously large tips. I once got a $500 tip on a 3 hour charter.

Cons
It usually doesn't pay much for the skill and responsibility required. It normally pays about a tenth of what I made before.

Sometimes I have to deal with extremely unreasonable requests. Recently, I had a lady that wanted to sail from st Pete to key largo and back in three days and didn't have a single experienced sailor on the boat aside from me and her best friend got miserably seasick as soon as we got into the gulf. Yet she still complained that we only went to Boca Grande.

When the booking agent, or dock crew, or mechanic screws up, I'm the one with the customer that has to fix or somehow excuse it.

Most of all, After the charter, I have to give the boat back.

 

[RangerNole]

Interesting topic and really hard to find the cons of what I do.
Technically I have 2 jobs, but only have to do my Army guy stuff 40 days a year. When I am in uniform I don't have a boss, was even told I am not worried about you, just send me the paper work when you are working and keep up on requirements DOD has for medical etc.
My real job is amazing and falls in line with what I used to do on active duty. Pay is great, my team is awesome, I travel a ton (guess if you didn't like travel that would be a con), solve issues and get to interact with Soldiers. Plenty of vacation that I don't really have to take anyways. I had planned on semi-retiring at 60, but my job is so awesome I might work longer.

 

[NDallasRuss]

I guess one con is that I don’t really produce anything tangible. I worked for my dad after I graduated from HS, laying block. We would build a house a day, so there was something that I could actually see and touch that was a result of my labor. Don’t have that with what I do now.

My dad always struggled with this aspect of my career also. "So, you don't make anything, you don't fix anything, and you don't sell anything?"

 

[KitingHigh]

My dad always struggled with this aspect of my career also. "So, you don't make anything, you don't fix anything, and you don't sell anything?"

I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career. I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed. You know, as a career, I don't want to do that.

 

[NYCNole]

Pros: work life balance is great. Never miss my kids games & coach their teams.

Cons: utility employees are so friggin boring & regulatory mandates are waste of time.

 

[GwinnettNole]

Pros: work life balance is great. Never miss my kids games & coach their teams.

Cons: utility employees are so friggin boring & regulatory mandates are waste of time.

What do you do? Utility as in lights? Gas? Water?

 

[NYCNole]

What do you do? Utility as in lights? Gas? Water?

Work for Duke Energy & involved with Project Management. Everyone preaches process and once meetings adjourn everyone does their own thing.

 

[Fijimn]

Work for Duke Energy & involved with Project Management. Everyone preaches process and once meetings adjourn everyone does their own thing.

Your company that one that killed all this people in India, Clark.

 

[KitingHigh]

Work for Duke Energy & involved with Project Management. Everyone preaches process and once meetings adjourn everyone does their own thing.

Just tell me you didn't break the Crystal River nuke plant.

 

[OrlandNole]

Your company that one that killed all this people in India, Clark.

Unless Duke is getting into the pesticide business, I think you're thinking of Union Carbide.

 

[NYCNole]

Just tell me you didn't break the Crystal River nuke plant.

Duke inherited that debacle from Progress, I know the true story. It was comical watching everyone in PM scatter from that horsecrap engineering decision. They were all fired after being exposed by Duke management.

 

[NDallasRuss]

Your company that one that killed all this people in India, Clark.

No, they missed out on that one.

 

[OrlandNole]

Your company that one that killed all this people in India, Clark.

Never mind. I see what you did there.

 

[KitingHigh]

Duke inherited that debacle from Progress, I know the true story. It was comical watching everyone in PM scatter from that horsecrap engineering decision. They were all fired after being exposed by Duke management.

I guess it could have been worse.

 

[EconSean]

The Crystal River plant is closed? I grew up in Citrus County and we (and many others) used to go crabbing in the warm discharge waters at the plant. Wonder where people go now?

 

[Bill From Tampa]

Pros:
1. Creative which makes it fun
2. Not stuck in a cubicle for 8 hours 5 days a week
3. The actual job is not long hours.
4.. Involves a variety of venues
5.. Meeting and getting to speak with people who are well known in the industry and to the public in general
6. Travel to different places

Cons
1. Work opportunities are often sporadic; you have to go digging nearly every day
2. Pay is often low
3. A lot of travel that can get old
4. Cost pressures are eliminating more and more opportunities
5. Very competitive b/c of oversupply of workers and very network driven
6. The industry is geared more towards younger workers

 

[KitingHigh]

The Crystal River plant is closed? I grew up in Citrus County and we (and many others) used to go crabbing in the warm discharge waters at the plant. Wonder where people go now?

The nuclear part is. The coal part still runs Believe.

 

[DanC78]

Pros: I make money
Cons: they make me work for the money

There is absolutely nothing rewarding outside of the pay when selling software.

My father is an entrepreneur and has employeed hundreds of not thousands of people throughout his career. Recently we threw him a surprise 70th bday. He had dozens of people wanting to make a toast to say thank you for giving them their first job, helping in a time of need, or teaching them a skill that has allowed them to now provide for their family.

I was incredibly envious and proud of him and his good deeds. If I had a similar party tomorrow there would be no one there outside of close friends and family...I’ve impacted zero lives by selling software.

 

[Nole Daddy]

Diagnostic medical sales

Pros- the money is good and I have great benefits. I have a company car; don’t pay for gas; can drive my car anywhere in the country; don’t pay for maintenance on it; and don’t pay for gas or insurance. And get to meet a lot of interesting people in the medical field. I run my own business pretty much because my company is hands off with me.

Cons- I work for a very large company, but came from a small company which I liked better. I miss the small company feel. Regulations have hurt my business and it is never going back. It is a very cut throat industry and I have seen so many people fired or forced to quit that is not funny. People get burned out quickly.

 

[GwinnettNole]

Pros:
1. Creative which makes it fun
2. Not stuck in a cubicle for 8 hours 5 days a week
3. The actual job is not long hours.
4.. Involves a variety of venues
5.. Meeting and getting to speak with people who are well known in the industry and to the public in general
6. Travel to different places

Cons
1. Work opportunities are often sporadic; you have to go digging nearly every day
2. Pay is often low
3. A lot of travel that can get old
4. Cost pressures are eliminating more and more opportunities
5. Very competitive b/c of oversupply of workers and very network driven
6. The industry is geared more towards younger workers

Absolutely no idea what you do