Category: Career

Real Talk, I Sometimes Hate My Job

I wrote the following several years ago and never published it because I didn’t want anyone from my job to realize how I felt. Reading it now it goes to show how unsuitable the job I had at the time was. Later, I switched to a different job at the same company and my outlook changed drastically. I will write about that sometime. Hopefully.

 

I always read a bunch of FIRE people online saying that they don’t hate their jobs and that this is more about having the freedom to choose. I am not like those people. Its time for real talk. I do sometimes hate my job. I find times when I’m sitting at my desk staring out the window that I would rather be anywhere other than at my job.

I hear other people talk about the fulfillment they find in their work, that they feel that they get something from work that they cannot get other places. I just don’t feel that way.

I find myself during hour three of the meetings that I know will basically last all day completely zoning out to another world. I fantasize about standing up and screaming at the people who are arguing about whatever topic that probably doesn’t even matter. Or at least I don’t think it matters. I find them mystifying. My coworkers seem genuinely concerned and engaged in their jobs. That’s seems such a foreign idea to me.

I wonder if I fit in with them. Do I look defiant from the outside? Or do I mask it as well as I try to? I try to be a good little worker. A good little slave. Because that’s what working is. Its slavery. I try to be a good slave, and not let on that I am plotting my escape.

Because I am. I’m counting down the days until I am free.

Maybe I am not like most people. Maybe most people do not feel like ill-fitting cogs in a giant machine. But I do. I read this article entitled “An employee is basically an “obedient, housebroken dog.”” at LinkedIn recently and it deeply resonated with me.
As long as I am working I will be a dog. I have a good job. I am a pampered spoiled little lap dog but a dog nonetheless.

 

Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels

Interviewing Strategies: When in Doubt, Start Talking About Star Wars

As a graduating senior with an engineering degree, it was common for the topic of discussion among my classmates to be someone’s upcoming interview. Their nervous excitement would radiate off them and everyone would congratulate them and immediately begin offering their own version of advice. And then I would offer my own advice: “If you don’t know how to respond, smile, and start talking about Star Wars.”

This may seem like strange advice to some people. But before you completely discredit me, let me explain. When I say start talking about Star Wars, what I mean is start talking about common interests and try to develop a bond with the interviewer. In engineering, anything within general geek-dom will work. (Star wars, Game of Thrones, epic fantasy novels, Sci Fi, Firefly, gaming) I have spent time talking about The Wheel of Time books in interviews for 2 different companies. I got offered the job both times.

You want to get the interviewer to like you. Because once you’ve shown that you’re qualified, have the education, skills, and experience to do the job, the last step in the interview is to convince them that you’re the kind of person they would want to sit beside every day and share oxygen with. Because when you get to the in-person interview, they usually have decided they like you. You just need to convince them that you’re going to be more productive and a greater asset to the team then the other guys they interviewed. And part of that is making them want to get to know you better.

This only works as an answer to non-technical questions. If you are having a technical interview, you need to convince them that you know your stuff, that you’re smart and capable. That you are competent. Then work on getting them to like you.