Government jobs are more like academia than you realize. The first thing you need to understand about government jobs is no one wants you to be efficient, build a better mousetrap or, make a difference. The only thing more soul sucking than government jobs is the corporate world. You can use them in the short term to accomplish your goals but, never confuse the job you do with your passion.
I'm soon going to market myself for what I am : A Mechanical Engineer that is a Computational Scientist (NOT Computer Science major) that is going to develop the numerical models that save your R&D division money. And yes, I am good at it, and have the history now to back it up. Why I am good at it? Because I'm passionate about it and find developing code that simulates and accurately predicts reality just fascinating. It's like the beginnings of The Matrix.
A government lab will pay me $75-80K with benefits to work on pretty much whatever I want. So for the industry, I'd be looking for a solid $100K (or more depending on the area) to work on your project and have to deal with the salaried hours and additional stress. Other I have no problem taking every other Friday off, working a 4-10 schedule if I wish, getting like a month of vacation per year, etc, etc. But the hell I had to go through to open these opportunities... Passion drove me, and I feel like I'm one of the few from my generation that figured out what they were born to do, and thus had the drive to just... do!
No wonder I've had such an easy time finding positions, there are some real morons out there...
Start a business, it's the only way to become financially successful.
Give it 5-10 years and come back and tell us how your passion is going.
:biggrin:
I'd rather not. Because In another decade, I'm probably going to be more concerned with financial stability, worrying about a family, and my new passion of how I can reach my number as quickly as possible.
Except that its not
If you can't be happy with what you have TODAY, NOTHING you can buy or obtain will ever make you happy. Fine, temporarily....but it will wear off and you will be back to square one.
BS. While you can be happy at any given time no matter how little you have it is entirely possible to be happier by making more money. It has diminishing returns but it is there. If you've been an adult that went from having nothing to making a reasonable income I don't see how you can think otherwise. Just making enough to be able to have insurance and be able to deal with emergencies alone is a huge deal. You don't need a ridiculous amount but telling someone that makes $15k/yr with no benefits that if they aren't happy now nothing will help is wrong.
They did a study and found that the cut off was at $75k a year. Anything after that and a person's happiness factor didn't go up. It actually plateaued.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/07/27/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-be-happy-2/
BS. While you can be happy at any given time no matter how little you have it is entirely possible to be happier by making more money. It has diminishing returns but it is there. If you've been an adult that went from having nothing to making a reasonable income I don't see how you can think otherwise. Just making enough to be able to have insurance and be able to deal with emergencies alone is a huge deal. You don't need a ridiculous amount but telling someone that makes $15k/yr with no benefits that if they aren't happy now nothing will help is wrong.
They did a study and found that the cut off was at $75k a year. Anything after that and a person's happiness factor didn't go up. It actually plateaued.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/07/27/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-be-happy-2/
What about the second plateau, where you have the ability to buy private jets, private yachts, and politicians?They did a study and found that the cut off was at $75k a year. Anything after that and a person's happiness factor didn't go up. It actually plateaued.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter/2012/07/27/how-much-money-do-you-need-to-be-happy-2/
And some people translate "50% increase in gross pay" to mean "infinite spending power."It dramatically depends on the person. Most people mentally cannot handle lots of money. It's too much stress on them. Some people need to be distracted by employment or they get in trouble or get bored.
For others who can appreciate freedom and have enough personality to keep themselves occupied with hobbies and passions, money can be lots of happiness.
Vdubchaos is ridiculous. I would like enough money to be able to not have to work and buy the things I want within reason.
I currently spend 75% of my waking hours working. Is that happiness? Is he telling me if I was given $10m tomorrow and didn't have to work anymore I wouldn't be any happier? Bull.
It dramatically depends on the person. Most people mentally cannot handle lots of money. It's too much stress on them. Some people need to be distracted by employment or they get in trouble or get bored.
For others who can appreciate freedom and have enough personality to keep themselves occupied with hobbies and passions, money can be lots of happiness.
If you're going to refute my comments, a counter argument is appreciated. Otherwise you've wasted your precious internet ink typing that and my brain cells reading it.
Was interviewing for a position that required a lot of phone calls and inter-department interaction and one candidate mentioned that she probably wouldn't like talking on the phone and didn't like inter-department projects. Thats like 70% of the job YOU APPLIED FOR and very clearly in the description
Uh - the statement is the counter argument in this case given the lack of supporting evidence in your baseless claim. I guess I can make this simpler for you: You are wrong. Quick 10 second example: Most professional athletes are financially successful despite not starting a business. That doesn't mean they stay financially successful but there are hundreds of examples where you are wrong. Even if you want to get picky there are many that have stayed financially successful thus discounting your claim that the ONLY way is to start a business.
Look up lottery winners and where they end up.....
Go ahead
Another ridiculous comment on two points.
1. The majority of lottery winners do not end up broke. Look it up.
2. The majority of lottery winners are uneducated morons who are not psychologically or intellectually capable of managing large sums of money. They bought a ticket not expecting to win anything. Most of them have spent their whole life doing mindless labor for little money. This is not representative of the ATOTer. Sure there are some idiots here, but the average ATOT is more intelligent that the average American, especially the average lottery winner.
You speak so highly of this place. It makes me wonder if you have eyes or are able to comprehend.
ATOT members ARE your average Americans....
You speak so highly of this place. It makes me wonder if you have eyes or are able to comprehend.
ATOT members ARE your average Americans....
You make me weep for humanity.
ATOT members, on average, have significantly more knowledge of IT than the average American. Because of this they tend to be wealthier, more educated, and working in highly skilled positions.
To use the example of an athlete is ridiculous. That's not a career or a job. Those mostly are people who are born with physical gifts and they are exploiting them via capitalism. The big money is made in endorsements, which is not a job but a business. They are in the business of selling their image and brand.
I'm talking about what is within our reach as 30-40 year old unathletic white males.
You speak so highly of this place. It makes me wonder if you have eyes or are able to comprehend.
ATOT members ARE your average Americans....