Are people getting fed up with the modern "career" world? Whatever happened to just having a "job"? (degree, employer)
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In larger corporations, there are many roles where you are not expected to move up. You can be doing the same thing over and over, get modest pay increases and have stability.
Let me preface this by saying that I like my job. I just want to comment on what I've been observing as a "young professional."
We hear a lot about how society gives women "unfair standards of beauty" by barraging them with pictures of super-thin models. I would submit that the same type of thing is happening in the career world. That is, Americans are being given unrealistic ideas about the role of their vocation in their life and self-esteem.
The following are a few of the phenomenons I've witnessed.
Employees are supposed to feel proud of who they work for. The problem with this is that every career field is a pyramid structure where those who are competitive enough to be in the top 5% get to work at top-tier companies that they feel proud of and the other 95% has to work for low pay at boring companies. It's a recipe for dissatisfaction.
Talk of "Average is over" or "No tolerance for C performers." In other words, there is no longer room for Dilbert-type people in the corporate world. The pudgy guy who works in a cubicle and does an average amount of work can no longer survive.
You're supposed to "enjoy what you do for a living" or "live to work". There is no point in debunking this idea since it's complete nonsense. My ideal job would be a professional tennis player, but if I actually decided to pursue that career then I would make $0/year since no one would sponsor me and I couldn't any tournament prize money.
Needing to "keep your skills up-to-date." I imagine that if you were a union worker in an auto plant in the 1950s or a blacksmith in the year 500 A.D., you didn't have to spend your free time outside of work learning more skills to stay competitive enough to be employed. What's worse is that today "staying competitive" often means paying for overpriced degrees or certifications.
I guess a lot of holes have been poked in this theory, but I'll poke a few more because I also don't see the issues you seem to be having.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KonaldDuth
Employees are supposed to feel proud of who they work for
I'm proud of the accomplishments I have made regardless of the company I work for. I am proud to have a job that I can succeed at. I am proud to be working and of the efforts I have put in. There's nothing wrong with that. If more people took pride in their work, you may notice work ethic grow.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KonaldDuth
Talk of "Average is over" or "No tolerance for C performers."
I don't see anyone saying that.... but what I DO see is more drive in people to compete and try to be above average. We have plenty of average performers here that skate by doing the bare minimum. Many of us don't want to just skate by in life, but instead we strive to be the best at what we do because we know that is where the money lies. I don't want to just get by or survive paycheck to paycheck. I want to thrive, make money, and retire when it's time to retire.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KonaldDuth
You're supposed to "enjoy what you do for a living" or "live to work".
I also don't see anyone saying you should live to work. But to a degree you should enjoy what you are doing to make the days you spend at work more manageable. We spend a lot of time at work. We can choose to be happy in everything we do, or choose to be miserable. Guess who the better performers are? Most of the people I hear complaining all the time are less than average performers who don't want any responsibility. But they do want a check.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KonaldDuth
Needing to "keep your skills up-to-date."
Well duh.... In today's world of quickly changing technology we have to keep our skills up to date to remain relevant. Our skills make us valuable and in some cases are the only way we can perform our job. If you didn't keep your skills up to date, you would still be filling out paperwork with an inkpen and performing manual calculations on a piece of scratch paper. This is common sense.
I been coasting in a Government IT Hourly entry level job for years
I never care about advancement or anything as long as got my paycheck
In some places it depends you could get away with a mediocre average work attitude like me.
To be honest I like it that way
One of the reasons I like being a help desk/ desktop person is because its one of those few IT jobs you can leave the work at the office and not take work home with you.
If you can be content to remain complacent in your career, then more power to you. I'm sure you still expect annual salary increases, correct? Eventually the time comes where you become too expensive to be a 10 year employee still sitting in an entry level position. You may be forced to move up or move out.
In larger corporations, there are many roles where you are not expected to move up. You can be doing the same thing over and over, get modest pay increases and have stability.
Even thou desktop support can get repetitive and boring sometimes
its very fun helping students and teachers getting their computers running again
Pays well for me and like my job but at the end of the day its just a job and a job i enjoy leaving work at the office
If you can be content to remain complacent in your career, then more power to you. I'm sure you still expect annual salary increases, correct? Eventually the time comes where you become too expensive to be a 10 year employee still sitting in an entry level position. You may be forced to move up or move out.
Depends on the place you work for
There are many entry level IT folks I work with that have been here many years more than me.
its a good place to work and despite it being entry level it pays decent.
I could always try and be an IT Supervisor ( those guys that manage the help desk or supervise other technicians)
There are many entry level IT folks I work with that have been here many years more than me.
its a good place to work and despite it being entry level it pays decent.
I could always try and be an IT Supervisor ( those guys that manage the help desk or supervise other technicians)
I don't know if I will like that job thou
There may be places that are ok with paying someone $50k per year to perform a task that others are doing for $30k, but they are few and far between. Believe me when I say it eventually gets noticed.
Eventually someone is going to go "Hey, why do we pay Susie $20k more per year for the exact same level of work we are paying others to do? Why isn't she moving up when the senior positions open up? Our budget doesn't allow for a senior person to remain in a junior role this long. She is outside of the pay-scale of this position so we either have to promote her, or freeze her raises."
There may be places that are ok with paying someone $50k per year to perform a task that others are doing for $30k, but they are few and far between. Believe me when I say it eventually gets noticed.
Eventually someone is going to go "Hey, why do we pay Susie $20k more per year for the exact same level of work we are paying others to do? Why isn't she moving up when the senior positions open up? Our budget doesn't allow for a senior person to remain in a junior role this long. She is outside of the pay-scale of this position so we either have to promote her, or freeze her raises."
I have Never heard someone say something like that after 10 years
Here we have a cap on our pay after a certain time and we are notified.
After your final step pay raise, you don't get another raise again until you get promoted .
With that said thou help desk typically pays a little more than what you putted at least here in Los Angeles due to the cost of living
Desktop support pays more than help desk here the average range is 45k to 63k
Still good money ( in my opinion)
I guess if I was working in the private sector then yea you might have a point
Last edited by CosmoStars; 02-06-2017 at 12:30 PM..
I'm not sure if there has been a major change, but there is definitely little tolerance for not toeing the line and contributing to the rah-rah cheerleading.
I have Never heard someone say something like that after 10 years
Here we have a cap on our pay after a certain time and we are notified.
After your final step pay raise, you don't get another raise again until you get promoted .
With that said thou help desk typically pays a little more than what you putted at least here in Los Angeles due to the cost of living
Desktop support pays more than help desk here the average range is 45k to 63k
Still good money ( in my opinion)
I guess if I was working in the private sector then yea you might have a point
They're not going to tell you that... it will be discussed in management. But as long as you're happy.
They're not going to tell you that... it will be discussed in management. But as long as you're happy.
I don't even think we are even overpaid thou we are paid reasonable at least based on the average here in California.
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