Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I understand where you are coming from, OP. After graduate school, I took the first job I could get because of the economy and needing to pay off my loans. It was so corporate, the people I worked with were among the rudest, most cutthroat people I've met, there was much more busy work than skill-building, and I felt unsatisfied being a member of the rat race that worked at a corporate office park with 7 paid holidays, little vacation, and mediocre pay. Fortunately, I found a job that I get a lot more satisfaction from.
I think all my jobs have had deceiving descriptions to some extent. I think this is part of the employer struggling to gauge what is needed from a new employee's skills to keep them working. You have to remember how challenging it can be to create and get a position up and running, and sometimes funding, projects, and circumstances change between when the position is first created and by the time they hire someone. But it is also to partially "attract" you to the job so it seems more interesting. I don't think this will change with any career path, and you just have to accept it.
The missing part of the equation is that you haven't told us what you are passionate about. I think this will help steer you towards career satisfaction. Data analysis is used in every field so I think you picked a skill set that leaves the door wide open. For example, are you passionate about telecommunications, healthcare, the environment, making money, saving enough to start your own business, journalism? Malcolm Gladwell says to any budding journalist that the degree they should pursue is one in statistics since it is so important in our society, but get bungled so badly by the media. Anyway, I think you need to figure out the answer to what you are passionate about since that will help steer you towards your career satisfaction. It seems like you've come here looking for an answer, but I think that you can only answer that for yourself.
Have you considered working as a private consultant for healthcare analytics? It seems like that is something you are interested in but that your current job and boss limit your potential. You could use your current job to build your network and potential clients. I imagine this is something that would be a hot market, especially with the Affordable Care Act coming to fruition (assuming you're American).
Well what's wrong with thinking work can be satisfying?
Nothing, and good for anyone that is satisfied with their work. But that might not be realistic for many, or perhaps most, people. Its called "work" for a reason after all. My generation (millennials) have a skewed view of what work should be since we were told by our parents for years that we should "do what we love" for a career and we would "never work a day in our lives".
If we are honest with ourselves, there just aren't that many jobs that truly stimulate and satisfy people. On top of that, human nature being what it is, anything we HAVE to do is less desirable than something we CAN do. Most of us have to work to eat and have a roof.
I already gave the OP my advice, which is to find his satisfaction in pursuits outside of work. Barring that, find ASPECTS of your jobs that are satisfying. I think the mistake is looking at the job in its entirety as satisfying or not satisfying rather than looking at the component parts of the job. Every job has unsatisfying aspects, so its possible the OP is being unrealistic with his/her expectations.
I understand where you are coming from, OP. After graduate school, I took the first job I could get because of the economy and needing to pay off my loans. It was so corporate, the people I worked with were among the rudest, most cutthroat people I've met, there was much more busy work than skill-building, and I felt unsatisfied being a member of the rat race that worked at a corporate office park with 7 paid holidays, little vacation, and mediocre pay. Fortunately, I found a job that I get a lot more satisfaction from.
I think all my jobs have had deceiving descriptions to some extent. I think this is part of the employer struggling to gauge what is needed from a new employee's skills to keep them working. You have to remember how challenging it can be to create and get a position up and running, and sometimes funding, projects, and circumstances change between when the position is first created and by the time they hire someone. But it is also to partially "attract" you to the job so it seems more interesting. I don't think this will change with any career path, and you just have to accept it.
The missing part of the equation is that you haven't told us what you are passionate about. I think this will help steer you towards career satisfaction. Data analysis is used in every field so I think you picked a skill set that leaves the door wide open. For example, are you passionate about telecommunications, healthcare, the environment, making money, saving enough to start your own business, journalism? Malcolm Gladwell says to any budding journalist that the degree they should pursue is one in statistics since it is so important in our society, but get bungled so badly by the media. Anyway, I think you need to figure out the answer to what you are passionate about since that will help steer you towards your career satisfaction. It seems like you've come here looking for an answer, but I think that you can only answer that for yourself.
Have you considered working as a private consultant for healthcare analytics? It seems like that is something you are interested in but that your current job and boss limit your potential. You could use your current job to build your network and potential clients. I imagine this is something that would be a hot market, especially with the Affordable Care Act coming to fruition (assuming you're American).
Nothing, and good for anyone that is satisfied with their work. But that might not be realistic for many, or perhaps most, people. Its called "work" for a reason after all. My generation (millennials) have a skewed view of what work should be since we were told by our parents for years that we should "do what we love" for a career and we would "never work a day in our lives".
If we are honest with ourselves, there just aren't that many jobs that truly stimulate and satisfy people. On top of that, human nature being what it is, anything we HAVE to do is less desirable than something we CAN do. Most of us have to work to eat and have a roof.
I already gave the OP my advice, which is to find his satisfaction in pursuits outside of work. Barring that, find ASPECTS of your jobs that are satisfying. I think the mistake is looking at the job in its entirety as satisfying or not satisfying rather than looking at the component parts of the job. Every job has unsatisfying aspects, so its possible the OP is being unrealistic with his/her expectations.
You're right. You should expect that there will be aspects of every job that you don't like.
But here's where my situation differs. As I've explained throughout this thread, these are not just a few aspects of the job I don't like. The entire position was, IMO, misrepresented or the description changed from the time I applied for the job and the time I accepted the job.
I have elaborated on the types of tasks that are assigned to me in this job and I have elaborated on the type of work experience and career goals I have. The tasks that have been assigned to me, a Senior-level Analyst, are very remedial, administrative tasks. We have a Specialist on the team who is otherwise responsible for these types of tasks. I have not really been assigned any tasks/projects that would fall in line with my skill set OR the job description that was advertised to me for the position.
So, to me, this is not just an unrealistic expectation that all aspects of the job be of the highest caliber. It's an expectation that most aspects of my job fall inline with my experience, skill set, and (most importantly) the job description that was advertised for the position (Senior Analyst who will focus on data analysis and projects pertaining to analysis).
How much "flair" do you have on ? Maybe that is your problem !
I loved Office Space. Whoever wrote the script had a great understanding of some of the dumb stuff companies do and things they come up with. Whenever the company I work for comes up with some new idea, we all laugh and tell each other we need to get more flair on, not just the minimum of 17 !
I don't understand how you can be bored with an Office Space type of job. Don't you like TPS reports?
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.