I do, in fact, like my job (most days, anyway)

National Blog Posting Month – December 2012 – Work

Prompt – Do you enjoy your current job (or your last job)?

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It should be clear from almost all of my blog posts that I do enjoy my job. Sure, there are days when I don’t want to go into the office. Certainly there are people there that I would rather not interact with. There is no doubt that I’d like to get paid more than I do. But also, there have been ample opportunities for me to move on if I wanted to.

Why don’t I leave? In the current economy, I realize I’m pretty darn lucky to be employed for one. For two, I have really great benefits! But what about the work? you ask. Do you like your job?

How can I go wrong with my job? I get to teach. I pass on my knowledge and inspire students to move forward in their lives and careers. I get to do research. And nobody tells me what kind of research to do! I just do it. Whatever feels interesting to me that day. So long as I manage to stay on top of my prescribed responsibilities: keeping the lab running and teaching classes, I am flexible as to how and when I accomplish these things. I don’t clock in or out. I work from home some days. But I also sometimes have to work on the weekends (not very often). I have the flexibility to engage in all manner of extracurricular activities like blogging and scientific outreach. Plus, because I’m not considered “faculty” (despite the fact that I teach), I don’t have to worry about tenure or going to faculty meetings. These are two huge perks that I’d give up if I went anywhere else!

So yeah, sometimes there are long days. But they’re almost always satisfying (at least after the fact). And I know that I am the only person where I work that is fully qualified to do what I do, so I have a bit of job security as well (which can be handy when I have a spell of laboratory problems).

Do I enjoy my current job? Why yes. Yes I do.

For 12-10-12