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I'm coming up on my two year anniversary at my current job, and I'm beginning to reach the conclusion that I"m really unhappy. I was fortunate enough to get the "dream job" really early in my professional life. I spent a lot of time and effort working towards the specific role I'm in, but I'm now feeling like I'm totally stuck. I like the actual work I'm doing, but I'm struggling a lot with a. my current supervisor (which could fill an e/n thread, let's just leave it at he's a bad mix of incompetent and arrogant) and b. the corporate culture. My job role, although its theoretically clearly defined by my company, isn't understood or respected by the majority of the people I work with, up to and to some extent including my boss. My work usually is disregarded unless it can make our metrics look better. I spend most of my time at work feeling like it doesn't matter how well I do the job, nothing I do is important or matters whatsoever. On the plus side, I'm decently compensated, and I have very good job security. I'm trying to figure out if that's worth dreading going to work every day and being miserable most of the time I'm there. So as I see it, I have a couple of options to change my situation. I can try to get on a new team at my job, which might help address the issues with my current supervisor. It would also maybe help illustrate whether the corporate culture is as much of a problem on other teams. I've heard that other supervisors are worse than my current one, but I'm feeling like a fresh start with a different supervisor might go a long way toward making me happier, even if they're also bad in different ways. That said, with my current supervisor, he does prioritize making sure I check the boxes for my promotion criteria, and I'm going to be working towards that in my next two years. There's a chance a new supervisor isn't going to be as concerned with working with me to get that promotion, which makes me a little hesitant to change teams right now. My plan at this point is to suss out what teams I could potentially switch to and see if my colleagues on those teams can talk about their likes and dislikes about what they're doing and who they work with/under. I can also try to change companies within my industry, which is something I want to do eventually anyway. The downsides to this are that if I were to get the same role I have now somewhere else, I would have to move. I would be okay with that, but my spouse's job doesn't have locations that aren't local. He would also have to change jobs, and for him to remain in his industry, it will likely be some time before he's able to do that. We also just bought a house here recently, so that's not making the idea of moving any more palatable. I also suspect I'm suffering from "grass is always greener" syndrome. I don't know that changing companies will address some of the corporate culture issues I'm experiencing. I have no idea if the way my job is viewed where I'm currently working is common to the industry as a whole, or unique to my employer. Finally, I can change industries entirely. If I'm consistently treated with a lack of respect in my industry, then I suspect no matter how much I like the work itself, that I'm never going to be happy in my current profession. Part of the reason I'm making this thread is to hear from people who changed careers in their early-mid thirties, and how that worked out for them. I've spent so long focusing on getting to where I am now, that I have no idea how to figure out what I would even want to do with my career besides my current job. I've been kicking around the idea of pursuing an electrical engineering degree from the local state university online (in my free time, not quitting my job to go back to school), because there are a lot of jobs available for engineers in my local area, but I don't know if I could get that degree quickly enough before the current demand for engineers in my area is sated. I also really don't know if I that's what I want to do. I also don't want to wind up sitting in a cubical in a new office being just as miserable as I am now, but in a different industry. So, I guess this is a two part question. How do I figure out which of my options is the best move in my current situation? Second, how do you go about figuring out what you want to do with your career, after you already started out in something you aren't a good fit for?
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Aug 11, 2019 21:22
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user experience designer?
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Aug 12, 2019 05:33
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You are way too personally invested in work. If your supervisor really is that lovely, don't take it personally. Treat him like the malfunctioning printer or the bureaucratic reimbursement process. Annoying, but part of the job. And not your job to fix. Treat him like an algorithm where if you can figure out the right inputs, you'll get the right outputs. Give yourself the beautiful gift of not giving a gently caress. Also, everyone eventually gets to the point of their career where they know and care about their role more than anyone else at the company. It's close to ubiquitous that people feel undervalued and overlooked. It's also almost a certainty that those same people overlook and undervalue their coworkers. It's fundamental attribution bias. Don't take it personally. Try to look at it objectively. Is the money good? Are there good parts about the job you like? How's the commute? Is the industry likely to be automated before you retire? On the flip side, ask yourself the question, "If nothing changed about the situation, how long would I be willing to endure it?" Week? Month? Year? Decade? That question sometimes has a way of clarifying things.
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Aug 12, 2019 12:16
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I recommend reading "The Quarter-Life Breakthrough" by Adam Poswolsky. He guides you through how to figure out what path to take in life, finding meaningful work, etc. It really helped me out when I realized I hated my job a few months ago.
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Sep 20, 2019 02:28
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Mid-Priced Carp posted:I'm coming up on my two year anniversary at my current job, and I'm beginning to reach the conclusion that I"m really unhappy... A couple of things stand out: 1) You like the work but nobody understands the value of what you do; 2) You aren't happy with your supervisor, but he is helping you get what you need for advancement; and 3) You've got security and decent compensation, but wonder if you could do better and be happier elsewhere or doing something else - but you aren't sure about that yet. That a fair summation? If so, I think there might be other options that you could look at in the short term, while you explore your longer-term strategy. There's not much that you can do to change the corporate culture, true, but you absolutely can figure out some ways to make your value to that culture clearer, and to expand your bubble within the culture. Metrics are here to stay, so maybe think about the times that your work HAS made the metrics better, and then use that the next time there's a problem to solve or an idea that you can apply your skills to. Offer to take the lead on it, even. Or see if there is a short-term detail available that would embed you in another team or another division for the duration of a specific project. Companies (and agencies) love those, because the employee gains insight and skill and the company doesn't have to do a new hire to get a project done. (And you get a wider skillset, a change of scene, and brownie points for being pro-active.) Also maybe think about ways to communicate what you do a little more overtly, and maybe invest in yourself a bit in terms of communication skills if that isn't a strong suit yet. If your firm has a training program or will pay your tuition for courses relevant to your job, go for it. If no training program exists, look for something like Toastmasters. If comms is already a strong suit for you, then maybe figure out some new ways to exercise what you've already got. Also,maybe look into whether your firm has a mentoring program. A good mentor can help you with perspective and help you to navigate the unarticulated parts of the culture. Do a couple of these things and you totally can affect how people view you and your work, and from my experience on all sides of the desk, I'm betting that that could make your work life less miserable pretty quickly. Any of these things will also help you buff up your resume for future use as you crystallize your thinking on what to do long term. One other thing: trying to move right away to another team carries the risk of burning bridges that you may want in the near future. It's worth being pragmatic about how bosses think. If you do end up deciding to move on, you may need a decent reference from your current supervisor, so until you are more sure what you want to do, it's probably good to keep that option open. So I guess that I am suggesting that you exercise some additional control over your current job situation, to improve it and hopefully improve your own happiness with it, or at the very least it will give you time to figure out some of the longer-term questions that deserve more exploration and thought before acting. I've switched careers several times, and one of those switches did involve giving up "the dream job." Thing is, dreams can change, so you aren't alone in that. Good luck!
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Sep 23, 2019 05:45
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