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With the recent turn of the thread, this seems like a good time for me contribute. I am professionally hosed, but perhaps I can contribute something. While I have many jobs over the years, the only ones that I consider relevant are the more recent ones. These actually paid a living wage (barely) and I cared about my work. I actually did a STEM degree at around normal university age and accumulated zero debt in getting it but, despite popular myth, I couldn't make a living with it and went back to a public university in the US which fortunately was "in-state" for me at the time and had world-class department in my area of interest. I had a wonderful time there, both scholastically and personally, but fell into the American trap of going into crippling, inescapable debt. I graduated something cum laude (whichever the middle one is; can't remember and can't be arsed to look it up) and had my pick of all of the best graduate schools in my field, but left without my PhD because I didn't want to spent my life doing pointless research like a lot of the people that I meant there. I decided to focus on teaching. I got my big break and my first full-time job was at a small college in the NW desert of the US. Non-tenured/tenure-track faculty at universities, even full-time ones, make considerably less than even public school teachers despite requiring a graduate degree to do so. I basically had to single-handedly manage my own university minor programme despite having only previously worked as a heavily-supervised TA in grad school and then one semester part-time. I worked 60-70 hours per week with no real help for two years and then they discontinued my position. I found a one-year replacement position for a faculty member on leave at a public university one state over. The cost of living was too high for such a rural area (milk was over $4 a gallon) and my wages were laughable, but the benefits were incredible despite this being a very "red" state. I got on very well with my colleagues and my students loved me, but the faculty member came back as expected. The only job that I could find was on the other side of the US and it wiped out my minimal savings and my meagre 401k to move. I was there for one year under a brand new supervisor who everyone hated and did nothing but mark exams and homework because they thought that "mountains of busy work" was a good substitute for "actual contact hours." My colleagues, most of whom were very experienced, were passive-aggressive with her, but I made the mistake of being aggressive-aggressive and we fought all the time. I was not sad to not get a contract for the next year and I ended up getting a much better paying job 90 minutes away. It was a 4th-rate college, but it was much less tedious than before. Despite having good peer and supervisor reviews and excellent student evaluations, they got rid of me after one year but refused to tell me why. I didn't find a job for the following year nor for this one that just began, so my career is in the toilet and I spent all of my piddling savings on moving from one gig to the next. I realise that this is not a happy CV, but that's the truth of it. For those of you who are happy in your work and doing well... good on you; I envy you that.
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Sep 4, 2018 01:47
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| # ¿ May 15, 2024 08:58 |
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Cicero posted:See, this is interesting to me. My perspective is, yes being "exploited" isn't exactly great, but I'll take a higher-paying job where some of my productivity gets "stolen" by my employer, over a lower-paying one where I keep everything. Because the tangible outcome of the former is superior. The attitude of, "yes I get less money this way, but at least I keep everything I make" to me feels like cutting off your nose to spite your face. I'm actually very much with Flowers for Algeria, who posted on the first page of this thread. The older I get and the more disdainful I become of capitalism, the more I despise working in the private sector. I would much rather be a public employee than a private one simply because I hate myself far less in doing so. If he has been able to only work in the public services all of his life, I envy him that. Unfortunately, I have had to work in the for-profit world many times out of necessity because the alternative was literally homeless and starving, and I suppose that I am not firm enough in my beliefs to die for them. Working in the public sector makes me feel like I am making my, admittedly modest, contribution to society and that I am part of a team working to make a better civilisation. Working in the private sector makes me feel a pawn of people whose every thought is "MAKE MORE MONEY NOW NOW NOW!!!" where I try to force people to buy goods that they probably don't need and can't really afford so that I can continue the cycle of overconsumption and exploitation that is global capitalism. Capitalism and private industry is built on either being the exploited or the exploiter and, as someone who is not a sociopath, I cannot morally justify a system where the very few leech ludicrous amounts of wealth from the very many who have to live on the scraps. JustJeff88 fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Sep 4, 2018 |
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Sep 4, 2018 18:26
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