Anyone dislike corporate jobs? Am I the only one?

[Zeze]

I don't know. I've been at it for 15 years and have 30 years more to ago, jesus christ.

In my 20s and early 30s I was all about being super driven and climbing the ladder. Today I do okay. But in the last 5 yrs or so, something ticked deep inside me. These are my findings:

• No matter what you do, whether you're making 30K or 300K, you're always one bad boss away from being miserable. Tell me someone who's not miserable when they're not doing well with their boss.
• Most jobs are all just deliverables, talking, working, meetings, anxiety, etc. It's all same BS.

I should be grateful and I am. The job is rather flexible and pays well. I don't know I just feel this way. And I don't think this will go away anytime soon.

 

[Platypus]

I don't blame you, I worked in a few fairly corporate environments and I certainly don't miss that trash fire culture.

Some of my clients are mega corporations, and going on site there and seeing that dead look in people's faces is disconcerting. I am happy I will never have to deal with that again. It's so much worse seeing the hours people have to put in in some of the Asian countries I've visited for work too. Like people who eat shit all day for literally 16 hours and feel proud of that. Different strokes.

 

[Platypus]

Also, life is short. It's never too late to look for another path. Those 30 years don't have to be like that.

 

[lxskllr]

Never had a corporate job, but I'm nearly 100% sure I'd hate it. I don't have the patience for bullshit and bureaucracy, not to mention whiny bitches that pay attention to everything but their jobs. No thanks.

 

[DietDrThunder]

If you don't like working in the corporate world, never go to work for a defense contractor.

 

[Zeze]

Also, life is short. It's never too late to look for another path. Those 30 years don't have to be like that.

The hard part is finding a nice outdoorsy job that pays just as well.

I worked through holidays doing 70-80 hrs (and handsomely paid). I also had jobs that was lazy as hell.

 

[Platypus]

The hard part is finding a nice outdoorsy job that pays just as well.

I worked through holidays doing 70-80 hrs (and handsomely paid). I also had jobs that was lazy as hell.

A poster here used to work with heavy drilling equipment in outdoor places constantly and it paid absurdly.. but also quite dangerous.

I am fortunate enough that what I love to do pays amazingly well, but I also just stopped chasing the money and started looking for opportunities to make meaningful changes and impact to things. That is so much more rewarding to me than chasing some arbitrary title or promotion or bonus. I could make a lot more if I moved to a different place, but my quality of life and my ability to make a difference is not something I would ever give up now.

 

[lxskllr]

The hard part is finding a nice outdoorsy job that pays just as well.

I worked through holidays doing 70-80 hrs (and handsomely paid). I also had jobs that was lazy as hell.

Your happiness is worth something. You'd be appalled getting one of my checks, but I pretty much do what I want, and for the most part, work as little as I want. If something *has* to get done, I make sure it gets done. Otherwise, tomorrow's another day, and it can be handled then. Wouldn't trade it for any fat check; not if it came from a corporate office anyway.

 

[Exterous]

I don't know. I've been at it for 15 years and have 30 years more to ago, jesus christ.

In my 20s and early 30s I was all about being super driven and climbing the ladder. Today I do okay. But in the last 5 yrs or so, something ticked deep inside me. These are my findings:

• No matter what you do, whether you're making 30K or 300K, you're always one bad boss away from being miserable. Tell me someone who's not miserable when they're not doing well with their boss.
• Most jobs are all just deliverables, talking, working, meetings, anxiety, etc. It's all same BS.

I should be grateful and I am. The job is rather flexible and pays well. I don't know I just feel this way. And I don't think this will go away anytime soon.

Most jobs are one bad boss away from being miserable - thats not limited to corporate jobs. Education has its own issues - mostly around the lack of accountability which ties into an inability\lack of desire to fire anyone. The bar is often so low its stupefying. Like I have a hard time constructing an argument as to why what they are doing is bad because it is painfully obvious they should NEVER have done what they did. And many don't have even the slight guardrails provided by profit need\budgetary\regulatory requirements.

 

[brianmanahan]

i'll take a corporate job over working outside in 100F heat or -20F cold, like almost everyone in my family has ever done

not that corporate jobs don't suck. hopefully 10 years and i'm out.

 

[Zeze]

I don't blame you, I worked in a few fairly corporate environments and I certainly don't miss that trash fire culture.

Some of my clients are mega corporations, and going on site there and seeing that dead look in people's faces is disconcerting. I am happy I will never have to deal with that again. It's so much worse seeing the hours people have to put in in some of the Asian countries I've visited for work too. Like people who eat shit all day for literally 16 hours and feel proud of that. Different strokes.

What do you do. Self incorporated consulting?

 

[nakedfrog]

The companies I keep working for start out as small companies, then with each progressive acquisition by a larger company become more corporate :|
Fortunately the role I'm in insulates me from a lot of it.

 

[Platypus]

What do you do. Self incorporated consulting?

I'm a hacker for hire, security consulting for a ton of different industries/companies. Mostly mobile devices/embedded devices and automotive systems these days. People buy X days of my time, and depending on the project, I either go to them (cooler gigs typically) or they mail stuff to me or I download it. It depends on if I am doing hardware or software or both, etc.

Edit: FWIW I work for a company, I am not self-incorporated.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

We as humans like change - and to be honest - I think a LOT of people's problems (ESPECIALLY women) are that they don't understand that they need to move around more.

Moving jobs is SO beneficial - I honestly can't think of any disadvantages
1) Higher Pay - first and foremost
2) New Responsibilities - New things to learn. We as humans get bored with doing the same thing all day every day.
3) New people. We get sick of the same people, especially if they are assholes
4) The more experience you have the more demanding you can


I mean I'm 30 and I'm currently about to have my 4th job out of college. My pay has quadrupled. I've climbed the ladder no doubt, but as I've gotten more experience the more I can tell people to screw off instead of "Yes, sir"

To put that into perspective and tie back to what I was talking about at the top of my post: My wife hasn't left her first job out of college. I easily passed her pay, and they continue to shit on their employees. Don't tie yourself down to any one employer, job, or industry.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I hate the general corporate culture. I just like having a job where I can go in, do my thing, and leave. Whether it's corporate, or not, I just don't want to partake in the whole climbing the corporate ladder stuff. If it gets too stressful because of a bad manager, then it's time to start looking for something else. Easier said than done though. Not a lot of good paying jobs these days unless you live in a big city, but that is it's own stress in itself. Hustle and bustle, 45 minute commutes, cut throat competition for everything, not being able to own a house and having to live in a tiny apartment, no thanks. Not worth it. The further north you go the less stressful it tends to be and the less populated it is.

Less money staying put, but less stressful. Money isin't everything.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Welp. This is it. 30 more years of a cubicle... I made it? Shit. I made it. FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU...

And people wonder why middle aged middle class white dudes shoot themselves so often.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Welp. This is it. 30 more years of a cubicle... I made it? Shit. I made it. FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUU...

And people wonder why middle aged middle class white dudes shoot themselves so often.

Well that's your problem, move around more and you can work remotely instead of in a cubicle and you can rub one out during work hours

 

[mrblotto]

Just had my 20th year in December.........I dont get paid a whole whole lot, but I dont hate being a cog.

I enjoy my job, so that's something I guess

 

[Ken g6]

I suppose the opposite of corporate is academic? I hear schools can't get enough computer science teachers these days.

 

[Greenman]

I did a year and a half as a corporate drone. I enjoyed it most of the time. But my boss was 2500 miles away and I only saw him twice a year.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

I suppose the opposite of corporate is academic? I hear schools can't get enough computer science teachers these days.

#LearnToCode

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Corporate jobs are soul sucking pits of dispair. Physical labor outside is better.

 

[Zeze]

To put that into perspective and tie back to what I was talking about at the top of my post: My wife hasn't left her first job out of college. I easily passed her pay, and they continue to shit on their employees. Don't tie yourself down to any one employer, job, or industry.

It's always interesting to lay out salary growth... it's commonly seen underpaid people get big jumps later.

For me...after my bachelor's:
0-1 year: $36,000
2-5 years: $45,000
6-8 years: $52,000 (new job)
9-10 years: $75,000 (new job)
11-12 years: $140,000~ (LOL) (new job)
13 year: $130,000 + 20% bonus + 7% of free salary towards 401k AND match 100% of my contribution upto 6%. (new job)
today And I'm not in Cali thank the fack.

It's insane that kids TODAY out of college make $30K. What the hell. I barely made my ends meet with $36,000 13 years ago. Big Mac combo was $6~ then, not ROFL $9.73

 

[Red Squirrel]

I want to try to stay at my job as long as I can, as there is more to it than pay. I will never make more money at this job and I accept that (of course it would be nice). There's also no jobs within the company that pay more, other than management which does not interest me one bit. (you also have less job security due to not being in union). I hit my 10 years a while back, have some money accumulated into a future pension, have stocks (the company contributes too if you buy into the program) and I also have 4 weeks of vacation, and just overall seniority. Finding a new job means starting all over with that stuff. The grass is not always greener on the other side, is how I like to look at it.

Now if I saw an opportunity where it's local so I don't have to move, and I could make like 30k+ extra right off the bat, and I had a very good feeling about the job security or me liking the job/environment, I would possibly consider it. But it would have to be a dang good opportunity. Or if I felt my company was about to eliminate my job, or things were starting to get really bad, such as a bad manager, then yeah, at that point I would say it's time to jump ship.

One big perk of my job too is that it's shift work with so the more 12h shifts I end up working, the more time off I get. I would absolutely hate going back to a normal 5x8 job and would not go to one by choice.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

It's always interesting to lay out salary growth... it's commonly seen underpaid people get big jumps later.

For me...after my bachelor's:
0-1 year: $36,000
2-5 years: $45,000
6-8 years: $52,000 (new job)
9-10 years: $75,000 (new job)
11-12 years: $140,000~ (LOL) (new job)
13 year: $130,000 + 20% bonus + 7% of free salary towards 401k AND match 100% of my contribution upto 6%. (new job)
today And I'm not in Cali thank the fack.

It's insane that kids TODAY out of college make $30K. What the hell. I barely made my ends meet with $36,000 13 years ago. Big Mac combo was $6~ then, not ROFL $9.73

Really? I think it's pretty hard to make 30k out of college unless you're just dumb. Hell, my first job was credit and collections (albeit, credit/collections for major retailer accounts) - but nevertheless, it still paid me $46k starting.

Here is my breakdown

0 - 3 years: $46,000 (starting) - ~$49,000.... foot in the door job.
3 - 4.5 years: $65,000 (starting) - .. new job: moved to a major accounting firm after being layed off from my job being outsourced to Guadalajara. *COUGH* Connections *COUGH*
4.5 - 9.0 years: $74,000 - $102,000 (+ small bonuses [~5-8k])...new job: moved to 2nd major accounting firm. As you can tell, raises were much better here, which was a major contributor as to why I stayed so long
9 years+ That I'm about to start: $120,000 + ~20% bonus

Big Jumps later? Companies will squat on you and continue to give you shit 2% raises for the rest of your life as long as you put up with it.

NEVER put up with that shit IMO. I don't understand why for the life of me that my wife does, but whatevs.