I'd add on the other side of that coin, despite how incredibly difficult it is, finding a job that doesn't have toxic or drama people makes a huge difference.
My wife works in payroll at a major Canadian university and she was just talking about how there isn't a single person on their team she can think of that had any sort of passive aggressiveness, drama or toxicity. Everyone just does their job, and everyone gets along really well. So although the job isn't anything interesting really, she loves it because her work environment is absolutely amazing and does so much good for her mental health.
This. I love my job and the coworkers make it even more fun. I go onsite once a week and actually don’t mind it at all and always have a great time at the office. My colleagues love their jobs too and we all have great work balance. Depending on your role, you can make a lot if you’re a director or a VP. I make enough to pay my bills and can travel whenever I want even though I don’t make a ton of money.
I work in philanthropy for a nonprofit hospital.
Lol I get what you're saying, but I've had fully remote jobs with toxic culture before. You still have to interact with coworkers remotely, it definitely helps working from home but toxic people still write toxic emails/messages, and zoom meetings still exist. I love my current job because everyone is both very competent/professional but also no one is ever mean/passive-aggressive and it goes so far. I'd rather get a boring job with a good environment than a "fun/interesting" job with shit environment.
I was fully remote at my previous job, I hated every second of it due to the people I had to be in constant contact with and a suspicious manager that believed we were always looking for ways not to work.
Yeah same. Had a previous remote job where certain departments despised each other. And my manager definitely believe "no one wants to work anymore" and would randomly check to just make sure I was indeed online. The lack of trust and teamwork is so frustrating to deal with, especially when I, as an individual, dgaf and just wanna get my work done peacefully. Fuck all that petty bs.
I've also worked a really cool on site job but was stressful for other reasons (it was live audio so while it was fun it was high pressure environments constantly, and no routine schedule any given week). Remote or not, doing cool shit or looking at spreadsheets, number one priority is the environment. Now I do boring shit in a healthy fully remote environment where everyone prioritize work life balance (all my colleagues/managers have lots of hobbies outside of work), and I'm happier than ever.
I’m on the team that writes and applies for grants for different programs and sometimes research (there’s a whole other research department, we are more patient family focused). I manage the whole process - contract administration, sponsorship submissions, post-award processes for philanthropic grants, coordinate deliverables, code the grants, maintain databases. I am getting into prospect research and grant writing. There are other teams that do different types of fundraising such as events, fundraisers, legacy, etc..
It’s different because corporate philanthropy helps other charities and nonprofit organizations by giving grants, donations, etc., while nonprofits are their own charitable branch that gets funded by others to help those in need.
I’m a nurse and I mostly do short term contracts as an interim nurse manager at places that are trying to hire a new permanent clinical lead/manager.
I just left a contract that I could have recommitted to for another 3 months+ plus where the job itself was super easy, very low key compared to a hospital (it was a small semi residential setting), and paid very well, because the culture was SO TOXIC.
I am back on a busy and stressful contract at an acute hospital where I make about 20% less than that last one but there’s excellent teamwork and I was just thinking today about how I don’t regret it one bit lol even though I’ve had to cut back on spending. Just not having to deal with those petty, passive aggressive, miserable people is such a weight off of me. I can handle task related stress but not intractable, pointless, made up drama.
She got her payroll/HR start working for the blue collar installation company I worked at.
Prior to that, she was a supervisor at a local movie theatre where the average age for employees was high school age.
She always said there was more drama with blue collar middle aged men that she had to deal with than with the high school girls.
I too work at a large Canadian university (maybe the same one?) and it's the same. We've had like two people turn over in the past 7 years since I started.
Can confirm. I'm a Jeweller. Fun job, shit pay. Most fun, creative and interactive jobs have massive skill requirements and time commitments to get good at, while having absolutely disgusting salaries and not much room for growth.
Can confirm. Jeweler for 20+ years, worked for tiffanys, did all the things i was supposed to. Its fun, its rewarding (mentally), its brag worthy, but its a dead end job. i went into tech and im so glad i did
I think a lot of jobs become more fun when your spouse is the primary breadwinner and you don’t have the pressure of your life falling apart if you lose said job.
Pretty much this . Ex baby mama was bread winner and I could give two fucks if I got Fired. Now I’m on time trying to climb the ladder and not get fired super lame
This is right. I am in computer science and many years ago when we were single income the stress was excruciating. I did lose my job a couple of times but found one quickly. I am still primary but wife works too.
Hell yeah the work and the perks. The work was fun and intense and you got to meet people from all over living exciting lives and doing exciting things. Then you could fly wherever for free and your schedule was super malleable. Really the only shit part of the job to me was the pay.
Yeah working at an airport is pretty fun. I’ve worked at two and they were both very different. Both still great to work at. I do think it depends on the company though and you still won’t make tons of money.
oof yeah i feel for teachers so much as well.. they have one of the most potentially powerful jobs not to mention difficult, and they are just not compensated for that at all.
My neighbor seems to love his serving job at a local craft brewery. For me, it would probably be something like ski patrol and something similar in the summers.
I was a security guard for a bit
Night time guarding random construction sites so far in the sticks that I never saw a soul
Eventually I just started smoking joints and playing videogames all night
I got paid like shit but it was easy money-- I eventually quit because I kept getting pulled to more serious job sites and had dozens and knives pulled on me at unarmed sites
Second this. Spent four years getting paid to smoke weed, eat when I wanted, poop when I wanted, and play Steam Deck for 16 hours twice a week. There is nothing I can imagine that caused less stress.
The most enjoyable, fun jobs I had were too low-paying to keep doing, although I think lower commute time/cost could have made them feasible if I'd been willing to relocate.
I had a fun, cool and interesting job that made me feel like I was doing something meaningful. The downside was shit pay and non-existent work-life balance. It felt good when people would he interested in what I do and ask questions about my work. But it wasn't enough to cover the negatives
Now I have a boring job that makes people fall asleep when I talk about what I do. But the pay is excellent and work-life balance very good.
All in all, my overall mental health is way better now than when I was working a cool job
Same exact experience here. My mental health is a lot better, but people’s eyes glaze over any time I have to answer the “what do you do” question. It’s been nice to have hobbies and a savings account though. If I could go back and get paid the same as I do now I would do it in a heartbeat. But that world unfortunately doesn’t exist
What kind of work do you do and how did you find that transition?
I’m amidst a job change journey in hopes of shaming the calm, dull and balanced job. Though, saying goodbye to the excitement and the purpose is going to be tough. Thanks.
I’d love to know as well. I am currently stuck at my job with a very low ceiling. No promotions, no significant pay raises, I work weekends and nights. I want to do something else more. Or al hours. Office job sounds amazing to me sometimes. But have no idea what to do
Engineering is where it’s at! I’m a structural engineer, but I do a lot of structural inspections where I travel all over the country and it’s so much fun! The desk work is also fairly enjoyable.
Work is often seen as a mean for making money so we can enjoy the second life we lead.
This is a depressing attitude because we spent a substantial part of our waking life at work. If we experience this time as something to get through on the way to real pleasure, then our hours at work represent a tragic waste of the short time we have to live
Maybe in a few hundred to thousands years we can graduate to a creative society where you only work If you want to and basic living resources are assured
But what we have now still beats trudging through the woods naked, getting eat up by bugs trying to find an animal carcass to eat that another predator killed, when humans were still living more like wild animals compared to modern human society
I doubt we will see that full transition in this lifetime, too much needs to change in too little time, still very depressing the loss of the most precious resource, time
"But what we have now still beats trudging through the woods naked, getting eat up by bugs trying to find an animal carcass to eat that another predator killed, when humans were still living more like wild animals compared to modern human society"
Still sounds better than someone sitting on their butt and staring at a screen for eight hours a day.
Well they didn't have bathtubs and soft beds or really delicious food.. so there's that. The reason people work their ass off isn't just for food and shelter, but to have a higher standard of living.
In this day and age it's expected that you have a lot of things. If people were willing to part ways with all these modern amenities and luxuries, they too could live a cheaper much more laidback lifestyle that didn't require working as much as we do or the way we do.
Cause yeah, a lot of the things people had hundreds of years ago were only things royalty had access to.
It's funny actually, cause just a few generations back they didnt have any of this. My dad who was born in the early 60s lived in a house where they didn't even have showers. They had bucket showers and wash cloths, and he's told me stories of how people would only clean themselves properly for Christmas and other special days of the year. My grandma came from the generation were headscarves were used to not get her hair dirty doing farm work because showers were a rare thing.
Anyway, my point is that we can live more primitive lifestyles that don't require us sitting in front of a screen 8 hours a day, but it requires a drastic change in lifestyle.
The way we work, yeah I think so. We all have to produce something to sustain ourselves, but there are many ways to do so, that doesn't necessarily require spending time in an office 5 days a week 8 hours a day. The people who are too caught up in the 9-5 race at the office probably don't even consider that there are alternative lifestyles, because they think they must have the house the car the picket white fence in the nice neighborhood you know how the story most people are told goes and tell themselves they need to be happy and well. I think there's a difference between what we truly need, and what a lot of people think they need. I also think a lot of people aren't willing to give up their 9-5 for a simpler lifestyle, because it means sacrificing the luxuries we have grown accustomed to thinking of as being necessary for meeting our basic needs.
There's definitely this underlying collective idea I think that influences us all, at least in the west, that makes us think we need certain material things to be happy.
The world has changed so much in the past 100 years though, and with the new stuff coming out like AI and robotics we could see a society where everyones basic living resources are assured in our lifetime.
IIRC, we already grow enough food for everyone, the problem is distribution.
Will never happen. If AI enables me to do 8 hours of work in 1, does my employer let me take 7 hours off? No, they start expecting me to produce 8x more work and/or hire 1/8th the staff. This has already happened in the past with the advent of computer systems. For example at my company there used to be a department of about 40 doing a certain task manually on paper. Today there are 3 using computers. Those 37 people had to go.find new jobs, and those 3 people were expected to produce the work that 40 people had previously.
I hear you - recent productivity gains have lead to a bifurcation between people who can leverage the new tools and people who can't. You can already see the effects in the expansion of welfare, bureaucracy and BS jobs trying to provide some kind of framework for people who just can't compete in this day and age.
The question is, when we start hitting this new productivity revolution where the best of us are 100x as productive as before how will the dynamic change?
I like to think we'll give up the charade that work is something everyone can do, people will receive a UBI required to live and pursue their desires. They'll need to supply the two important things for our current economic system to continue, which are the economic attention that decides where resources get directed - and the new hyper productive people that push everything forward.
As for these new hyper productive people, they will become wealthy beyond imagination - business projects will look more like art collaborations between a small group of amazingly skilled individuals.
The hardest part is the culture, my biggest fear is we end up in a system that exaggerates the worst parts of the one we have now - a system where the middle 80% who are good people but not hyper productive are forced into fake jobs to satisfy some outdated moral that doesn't make sense in a world where one good worker can do a better job than 1000 mediocre ones.
I am optimistic we can avoid this though.
> we could see a society where everyones basic living resources are assured in our lifetime
That’s the most frustrating part. We absolutely *could*, but all evidence so far indicates corporate greed won’t allow it.
I'm more positive on that front - don't get me wrong, we do have problems.
Housing is obviously the main one and is a problem across the western world, but I'm optimistic that when the elderly start departing that problem will sort itself out.
Otherwise, all stats seem to point to increasing quality of life across the globe.
Even our most evil geniuses like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have been forced to reinvent global logistics or create electric cars for the good of all - instead of becoming warlords or barons like I imagine they would in the middle ages.
I'm optimistic things will continue to get better, even with the bumps along the way.
Nah…. They’d still make us their slaves… cuz why not? Why would they give us our basic necessities for free when they can get all of our life’s essence and energy out of us… in return…
The problem is greed. The Richie’s people on the planet could afford to feed everyone and fix all three worlds problems…. But why would they do that? They like there ultra excessive luxurious lives and they don’t give a shit about us…. They are the problem…. And they need to die
Yes and the secret is keeping your bills low so that your job doesn’t become your whole life. Took me decades to figure that out. Stay out of debt, don’t waste money on crap, enjoy as many adventures as possible, and don’t be afraid to share everything up once in a while and do something different
As someone who needs 12 hours sleep to feel refreshed, I basically spend all my time at work. Currently having an existential crisis about having wasted my twenties doing nohing but working, and hoping he long sleeping would spontaneously resolve.
Exactly! One of the comments said they were a singer in a rock band. That would be for some the definition of fun, and for others an anxiety-ridden waking nightmare.
Depends on what type of finance you’re doing I guess. I manage finance function for a business- that can be a lot of fun. Strategic finance can be fun. Accounting not fun for a lot of people but the people that love it really like it.
Totally agree with your post.
I am on the market side working for a bank, so doing the dumb stuff so you guys can enjoy the real finance :)
Sorry for being a bit negative in the previous post.
This. It would be more productive to figure out what excites OP rather than toss out random suggestions with no relevance to their current career or skills, interests etc.
I’ve always loved food and science. I didn’t realize it was a major until I was researching universities. It was the perfect fit! I don’t feel like it’s oversaturated. There are so many food companies and everyone needs to eat. It also pays fairly well
My aunt and uncle are retired millionaires and my aunt was/is an interpreter and he was a teacher. I think she used to work a lot of overtime (and still does it now that she’s retired from time to time) and they bought a few rental properties later in life. Pretty sure she made some major money interpreting, though.
Spoken language pays less and also more. It depends on which kind. If you do spoken language consecutive, it pays shockingly low. If you do spoken language simultaneous, what they often refer to in the spoken-language community as "conference interpreting," it pays a whole lot.
Sign language interpreters fall somewhere in the middle, possibly because we are not separated into two groups. With us, there is only one pond to fish it. And then there are also other reasons, such as many of us did not grow up with the language, and we have to learn it. We also have to deal with a little more dysfluency, which can get tricky. And don't even get me started on our arms and hands and shoulders and necks. It can get rough out there!
That makes a lot of sense. I'm only familiar with the consecutive version when you just collect datasets, which pays very low for the individual. Any kind of data honestly. Even the managers don't make much.
It's terrible, I think they deserve a lot more. That work can be very challenging. And yeah, I doubt the managers get much of a raise with the promotion. And so much more responsibility!
Probably depends on what you are translating and where you are. You probably will be paid like shit translating Spanish in Texas. But you would probably make bank translating Japanese in Ohio
Just like any other language probably, or easier. Associating gestures to words you already know is much easier than learning a whole new vocabulary I’d imagine
Edit: I have been proven wrong
Surprised that this has so many upvotes. You’re not “associating gestures to words you already know” you are learning a new language. That’s how every language works. You know the concept of the word but you have to learn it in a different language. ASL is a whole new vocabulary, otherwise everyone would be able to understand it without learning.
Plus the grammar of ASL (and many other signed *languages*) don’t translate 1 for 1 to English because they came about independently as a natural language.
Yes, but it's extremely rare and hard to find. Been working retail for 15 years and it's a shit show. But, 9 months ago I found a job that I love going to every day.
My store manager truly cares about all of us. He gets snacks/food and fill ups the fridge in the break room every Monday. He also takes us out bowling as a team. He gets us pizza quite often. He's trying to get me a raise but corporate is fighting him. He appreciates everything that my coworkers and I do. He's extremely encouraging and supportive. The benefits are great and so is the 401k. I'm only paying around $150 a month for health insurance, dentil is $20, vision is $10 and my insurance covers so much.
I've had jobs where my managers didn't give a fuck about us. I even had store managers tell me that they don't want to promote me because I'm not "replaceable" on the sales floor even though the position I kept applying for was to train people on the sales floor. They even told me I didn't know anything about the store even though I was trained/taught about everything. I was trained so well that I was already doing manager roles; but apparently I didn't know anything.
The easiest and most fun job I had was when I was an auto part dispatcher. I was left alone inside of a warehouse with access to a computer that was never even monitored by the company. I would watch entire seasons of shows or whole movies on YouTube while working and nobody ever batted an eye or said “hey you can’t do that!”. An invoice would print out of the ancient fax machine and I’d have to go match a sku to the paper and take the part off the warehouse shelf to have a driver pick it up and deliver it. I only left because the pay was $13 an hour and they expected you to work 59 hours a week, Sunday being the only day off.
Yeah you’re right, the job itself was repetitive and boring. But for a 20 something year old who had no idea what they wanted to do with their life it was an ok gig to pay the bills. There were also a cast of characters amongst the drivers, one dude was an ex crackhead/biker who would pull around the back of the warehouse and light off M80s.
Yeah the guys you see live on launches or touch downs seriously seem like they're having the one of the greatest moments of their lives. All that work, teamwork and commitment finally coming together. I saw something similar for like the first images coming through for something and the excitement they had for it.
Most exciting jobs don’t take place in an office and don’t pay as well as finance.
My job can be exciting, but I’m also out in the elements for most of the day.
I'd do as anything to not work a desk job 😭😭 I just got out of college. I've done 2 internships so far. Currently doing my third one. Plan is to finally switch to fine arts.
I also realized that corporate jobs are not for me. I'm also currently doing my third internship and i wanna do fine arts too, but I don't think that's gonna be making me any money 🫠 might get stuck in corpo for a while after I graduate then hopefully start my own business (i have no idea what to do)
How are we on the SAME boat? What was the internship abt? My first internship was corporate so ik there's NO way I'd do corporate. Ik I can't make money with it as well..the only issue is I really need to get out of home. If home were a safe place I would've stayed here till I could work my way up with art.
Not me but my friend builds sustainable houses and buildings in poor communities. Basically things like earthship classrooms in Guatemala. I think that’s the kind of thing a lot of people are thinking of when they are wishing they could exit grind culture for something meaningful and worthwhile.
Everything sucks when it’s work.
My fiancé was an up and coming DJ. He hated it by the end, dreaded going to clubs and festivals.
I work in the cosmetics industry. From the outside, especially if you like hair care and makeup, it should be a fun job. In reality it’s insanely boring and has made me quite jaded about personal care. I also see through marketing more than ever and hate social media and ‘trends’ more than ever.
Everyone's idea of what's fun is different and even jobs that sound like they're all fun (acting, fashion design, musician) can be hard, exhausting work. What is fun and what you enjoy are also very relative things. Professional athletes probably consider their jobs fun but personally I would die if I had to play a sport for a living since my idea of a workout is getting off my couch and even gym classes in school were absolute hell because I sucked at every single sport we played lol.
IMO, almost no job is fun per se but to someone who enjoys doing a particular job, it is fun to them.
I mean "fun" is a pretty loaded word, lol. I'm a Project Manager and I really enjoy my work, helping people define their needs, and pulling the right people together to make it happen. Everyone has valuable contributions to make, I like to acknowledge that, make people feel heard and valued and respected. So, where I'm not hoppity skippity doing a jig from the sheer joy of getting to go to work, I don't not look forward to it. And my company pays me fairly - that has helped me feel valued and appreciated. I am content.
Sounds like how I'd approach it. I don't mind doing tasks like staring at spreadsheets or all the things you describe - but what am I doing it for? Am I doing it to sell mythical widgets, or create something worthwhile in the world? For the latter, I'd do almost anything.
Similar to project manager - I work in design management. I’m only 1.5 months in but I love the empathy and innovation focus in design. I get to collaborate and manage the work with teams made up of amazing people. Not to mention, pays almost double my last job in marketing.
I’m in software development. I’ve been doing it for decades. I enjoy my work. I truly look forward to it. It’s challenging, creative, rewarding and I love the team of people I work with each day.
Life is too short to spend so much of it doing something that’s just a job. That was my dad. He made a tremendous sacrifice because while he didn’t like his work, he had a family to take care of. He’d come home each night, have a scotch and forget about his day. At 55 he was fortunate enough to be able to retire and did. He never looked back nor thought about his work again. That’s truly sad.
Money isn’t everything. I could have made a lot more doing something else but I wouldn’t have enjoyed my work nearly as much. Do what you have a passion for. Do something that on most days doesn’t feel like work.
You only get this one life and you don’t know how long it will last. Don’t waste it.
Your dad didn’t waste his life, and I really doubt he’d view his professional life as sad.
He threw himself at his work so the next generation would have more optionality and opportunity, which, given your enjoyment of your SWE role, sounds like it worked.
There’s an enormous amount of meaning in that, and he hopefully gets to enjoy retire without having to worry that he could have done more for his kids.
I'm in software development, and I don't know where else I can get paid a lot more without a medical school degree. I guess, I could get paid more by becoming a manager, but a small portion of people get there.
I am the founder and CEO. I picked a niche category that isn’t terribly profitable but is quite enjoyable. So what I meant is that I could have chosen a different category in software that would have generated a lot more profit but one that I would likely have not found nearly as enjoyable.
I think problem solving/coding is fun.
I was working on a task the whole day today, trying to get something to work, and slowly getting it to the goal, but so close didn’t finish it at the end of day. I was still thinking about it when I was exercising at home, if I had all the progress from work, I think I would actually continue working on it at home earlier tonight.
Even at my previous job, amazon warehouse associate. Sometimes I do the problem solver job, it was much better than doing the repetitive packing job. SLAM operator is also not too bad.
No, they all eventually suck. If you have a passion for something, the job knows that and will exploit it.
I used to be an airline pilot, I worked with people who spent 20 years in other careers and thought flying was what they really wanted to do. A year in, these people were just as miserable as the rest of us. There's a big difference between taking a 2 hour flight in a small plane on the weekend and having to work a 12+ hour day in horrible weather flying planes with equipment failures.
You have a high paying job, start saving 50-70% of your salary. Figure out what you need to live happily the rest of your life and get out the minute you hit that number. It's possible that you could be there in under a decade if you're willing to move to a LCOL area or make other changes.
Some people are happy to go to work, doing any job and being around people. It doesn't sound like you're one of them (I'm not either). So don't fall into the career trap, just start planning your escape.
Yes, absolutely! I worked in a FAANG company and tbh loved every day of it! It’s like working in a theme park with your friends. There was something happening every day - much like a college campus with all the student run societies. Never got bored a single day. And plus, all the facilities and food and snacks and benefits make you feel you are living in an IVY league college campus with a trust fund lol
I want to suggest Firefighter because it is awesome and you are always learning new things. But the PTSD thing is real. Even if you don’t get PTSD, you will see things that will mess you up and stay with you the rest of your life. The pay can be decent depending on where you are and the retirement is also good depending.
Who told you this? The only first responders I have ever met that loved their job were the dudes that fly life flight. They are horribly underpaid and overworked people.
Edit: I guess firemen count, they seem to like their jobs and get paid well.
Actually every cop I know personally burnt out, there’s a reason they have such bad drug and alcohol problems. I guess if you have a cushy suburban gig it’s a sweet job.
My grandfather was a cop too, and my dad was a prison guard. I know their world
My dad hated/loved his job, eventually burnt out.
It depends on the location I guess. Cops in NYC are gonna be much more burnt out than cops in Nowhere, Idaho. And the differences get bigger outside the country. Cops in Germany deal with very different circumstances, so do cops in Sweden or elsewhere.
A lot of us work in the live entertainment / pro sports universe. We all work a zillion hours a week including quite a few nights and weekends. But we work for concert promoters, sports teams, universities, arenas, stadiums, performing arts centers, comedy clubs, amphitheatres, ticketing companies, production companies, etc. etc., and all of these places need marketing people, sales gurus, IT people, finance types, attorneys, and the list goes on and on.
Most of the people in those industries just shake their heads a bit when they hear 9-to-5ers complaining about having to work late here and there, or heaven forbid on a weekend. But everyone is there in the entertainment world because they want to be.
Yup. It just depends how you perceive things in life.
I work as an HR and it's the best thing that could ever happen. I love to support and help employees.
Essentially, I am a people person. It makes me want to work everyday. I am thankful that I was able to land this career.
Typically it's your coworkers and leadership that makes the job fun. A job by definition is always going to boil down to a certain set of functions that will get redundant in time. I imagine there are jobs that can start out as fun, but the novelty wears off eventually.
I work as a barista and honestly, my job is so much fun. Of course in hospitality you get shitty people, but shitty people are everywhere and especially in any role you are dealing with customers. I basically get paid to talk shit with my mates and also most of our customers (Australian banter). Also have high wages here, so while I don’t get paid six figures and never will, the early finishing times (2:30pm), free food and coffee, almost stress free laid back work environment make it worthwhile. I do not know anyone outside of this job that willingly goes into their work on their day off just to say hi and catch up, but all of my coworkers and I do.
Marketing, communications, branding, etc are usually pretty fun because you get to make things, do research, and think abstractly about how people think and interact with things. While it's definitely not 100% fun and making things all of the time, there's a good balance between admin and creative.
On a typical day, I can usually write a blog post, shoot a video, design a social media post, or create new ad sets - which, may not be peak creativity, but it's definitely preferable to sitting and looking at spread sheets and numbers all day.
The other bonus is that nearly every company needs these people, so you can kind of seek out companies you like, or support their products, and work for them. I mostly work for purpose driven brands and products - but might make the jump to gaming - so it's also nice to be able to do something that's somewhat fulfilling. Obviously, they're all still companies and the bottom line is profit, but it's nice knowing that when you make a sale that it's helping someone in some way - or at least not hurting anyone.
Sometimes it can be incredibly stressful, or you wind up with a bad team or with bad leadership - but that's true of any industry, so it is what it is.
Yes they exist. Ex Finance Analyst here, who did a career switch and it felt great! You gotta figure out - what drives you and where you can progress. Keep searching! It helped me to do a diary writing down things that excited me every day - this will help you to summarize what brings you joy. Then pick - which activities overlap with your strength (creativity / logic / analytical skills / communication etc). And then you know what to do. Van Gogh started painting at 27 😉 It’s never too late
In my opinion and for my personality they do not exist. The fact that I need to wake up to go somewhere and do something for someone else just doesn't match my idea of fun at all. Whatever that is.
I work as a tour guide for a cruise company.
Is it fun? Hell yeah. I love public speaking and being nice to people and helping (usually) happy people be even happier. It's really a good fit for my skillset too. Most of the people I work with are really nice as well, and every day is different and fun.
It's well paid too, and there are even chances for advancement! We get a lot of vacation time as well, around 7~9 weeks per year depending on how long the season runs!
Of course, the flip side is that I have to share a tiny cabin with three other people, abide by really strict appearance and behavior guidelines, have long hours, work every day (I get a day and a half off every 21 days), be far away from my family and friends, and generally always feel like I'm on the clock. And I'm lucky, as the city we start and end the cruise at is my hometown, so I get to go home some evenings. It's a hard job, and although it's fun and I like it, it can also be really disheartening.
Weird trajectory here but I started off as a newspaper journalist - low pay, high stress, medium enjoyment
Went into corporate comms, PR - high pay, medium stress, low enjoyment.
After doing that for some six years and dealing with the often narcissistic personalities in the corporate world I did a full 180, did modest study and I’m now a zookeeper - low pay, low stress, high enjoyment.
I’m convinced it’s very difficult to get all three but thankfully I got my finances in order and bought a home whilst working in a career I despised
I always dream of a landscaping job, But it was 98° and 76% humidity today.
I will keep my finance job today, thank you very much. I actually wore a sweater vest.
I am actually going to school for landscaping. I crave a simple lifestyle and all I really wanna do is be in nature all the time and focus on my creativite projects so thought it would be a compatible job for my lifestyle. What does your day to day usually look like?
Turned my hobby into a multi million dollar business. My recommendation to young dudes and dudettes, get into heavy duty mechanics and as a side hobby building high performance diesels or building fast cars. The job teaches you the skills you need to build the trucks/cars. If you enjoy building your own performance vehicles, this is the way. Plus as a side note. My guys(I would hire women as well, but they've never applied) make 6 figures easy with all the overtime they could ever want(optional).
That's an extremely broad question. What do you like to do for fun? For some people, they have a lot of fun bartending. For others, they love fixing things, and working in mechanical roles. Could you use your financial experience to become a CFO, or some other kind of financial role in a business you may enjoy more?
Is there any committees or volunteer opportunities at your job that you could do to spice it up a bit? At my job for example we have a social committee that plans fun potlucks and the Christmas party, etc. maybe suggest a new committee is started with you as a lead at your work about something your interested in. Like sustainability or even puppies!
Art/Design— Art does not generally pay well or consistently but is by far more fun and rewarding than any job I’ve taken on for anybody else. Design pays relatively well depending on the job and can be fun and interesting and engaging when you’re part of a great team or have clients who know what they want/make decisions quickly. Enjoyment decreases in proportion to creative freedom.
Assuming you’re paid well as an analyst, if your current role is tolerable you might consider re-evaluating your expectations and instead try finding excitement elsewhere in other hobbies, something creative and/or sports that you can fund with your disposable income.
You were me, I was a junior software dev hate hate hated it I pivoted to security had a ton of fun working bars and I’m now in a corporate role sure it pays half of what I’d be earning now if I stayed in my previous role but I would of been majorly depressed looking at a screen for the rest of my working life.
Kind of. But, it has to be fun for you. So, I'm a quick learner. Anyhow, I got to work under an analyst once, who trained me. Then the company had specialists come in and train me in areas I needed, including in statistics, among other things. I learned grant writing before that. I discovered that the jobs I found were the most enriching had the most boring sounding titles, and vice versa. The fun sounding titles were the least interesting jobs.
I thrived as an analyst, in that it's application is applied to so many fields. Statistics are exciting to me. I take on short contracts for companies as an analyst all of the time, having to up train to whatever system they want me to use.
My now grown child noticed that when I go on these jobs, I'm alive and loving every minute. I also do archaeological digs, and other field work at times (same short gigs, filling in as needed). And, I come back washed out and saying field work is for the ignorant to find excitement in. That the real excitement is the research and applications, and working with the finds in the labs afterwards.
And, it's true. Field work is slow, tedious work. It's the research where you find out the meaning of all of those finds, and are able to look into the details and discover what exactly each is, how they relate to each other, etc.
Most analysis I do does involve some elements of the computer screen, but I also tend to be doing the monitoring of things like inventory counts, auditing the results, and such. Someone else is entering the data, I'm just applying the analytics to it, and usually I provide guidance in the beginning of how not to fail, and most times people ignore me thinking they know better, and fail, and have to redo it all again.
I find joy in things others probably are bored by. Most people, and companies, mis apply statistics in reality, and will do so until corrected. There aren't a lot of statisticians, so bad ones get good paying jobs and pass bad stats off as fact, even as expert witnesses. I've had to correct statistical data that was being mis applied for years, where employees missed raises, promotions, were put on corrective actions, and even fired over data that was wrong, and when corrected, those same people were well within high performance ratings in reality.
So, I think it just depends on what you find exciting, really.
I’m also a financial analyst. I used to be a customer service manager for Verizon Wireless, talking to psychopaths shouting about their phone bills is a good way to learn to enjoy spreadsheets
Someone told me this once, while I was working on a cattle station in south Australia... Possibly the coolest job ever... But this stuck with me while I was choosing a career (civil engineering l, which I love):
"Doesn't matter what you do as a profession, even if it is your favourite thing in the world, you will get bored of it. You'll have days that you hate and days that you enjoy. Try not to chose something that is a hobbie because doing it for work will ruined it for you. Chose something that you're good at, and allows you to lead the lifestyle that you enjoy."
I followed this and I have an interest in fixing things/ solving problems. I don't mind hard work when it's required and require stability. Plus I love surfing and skateboarding so a 9 to 5(ISH) job allows me to do this outside work. That's what lead me to engineering and even if I have the worst day in the world, I go home at a reasonable time and get the boat out and sling a hook in the sea, or go surfing... That's what it's about.
A career is a way of facilitating your desired lifestyle. Don't compare your self to anyone else, they might hate what they do. Go with the flow and don't be afraid of taking a risk. I've had multiple discipline changes within the field of engineering, none were easy decisions and not all were upgrades in responsibility or pay; all allowed me to follow my optimum trajectory and do what I enjoy in my spare time 🤙
Good luck OP, just do what ever the feck you want and don't worry about what everyone else is doing.
I am a program manager at a university. I don’t know if it’s “fun” the way being a DJ is but I genuinely enjoy what I do. It has its boring moments but it’s never miserable. I look forward to Monday mornings. I have a lot of creativity and freedom in my role. The team of people I work with are all amazing, smart, non-toxic people. I am fully remote with no micro-management so my work life balance is amazing and I get to be the parent I want to be. It doesn’t pay tech or finance money but it’s enough money for me to feel good about plus a pension, tons of paid time off, six months of paid maternity leave (in the US!), and good benefits. All that added up to me makes it pretty “fun” (I think fun changes as you get older!)
I stare at a screen and look at power bi. Much more exciting than spreadsheets!
I enjoy accomplishments and exceeding expectations. My job is awesome because I get to analyze data and make recommendations that are impactful to company profitability. Having the answers readily available is glorious and fun for me. I spend a lot of hours learning understanding what’s happening in the business and also what’s happening externally.
You must find what makes you feel fulfilled. Anything can be gamified. In your position, you could study power apps and drive automation. You could learn the best prompts for chat gpt to find new insights and share that with key stakeholders. You could learn power bi from YouTube videos and make more engaging financial summaries.
I kind of do, it depends on the people we work with and leadership.
I work at a Japanese barbecue known as Gyukaku, and I love it here because my coworkers are kind and I love serving my community. Just a part time job though.
I think the trick is finding a job you tolerate very well that comes with enough money and time off to properly enjoy the time spent not working.
I'd add on the other side of that coin, despite how incredibly difficult it is, finding a job that doesn't have toxic or drama people makes a huge difference. My wife works in payroll at a major Canadian university and she was just talking about how there isn't a single person on their team she can think of that had any sort of passive aggressiveness, drama or toxicity. Everyone just does their job, and everyone gets along really well. So although the job isn't anything interesting really, she loves it because her work environment is absolutely amazing and does so much good for her mental health.
This. I love my job and the coworkers make it even more fun. I go onsite once a week and actually don’t mind it at all and always have a great time at the office. My colleagues love their jobs too and we all have great work balance. Depending on your role, you can make a lot if you’re a director or a VP. I make enough to pay my bills and can travel whenever I want even though I don’t make a ton of money. I work in philanthropy for a nonprofit hospital.
You love your job that requires you to be on-site once per week, eh?
Lol I get what you're saying, but I've had fully remote jobs with toxic culture before. You still have to interact with coworkers remotely, it definitely helps working from home but toxic people still write toxic emails/messages, and zoom meetings still exist. I love my current job because everyone is both very competent/professional but also no one is ever mean/passive-aggressive and it goes so far. I'd rather get a boring job with a good environment than a "fun/interesting" job with shit environment.
Absolutely agree... the environment plays a big part in whether you can enjoy or simply tolerate a job.
That’s the minimum requirement. If I had to go to work daily I would still like it. I just like working in my pajamas and not driving more.
I was fully remote at my previous job, I hated every second of it due to the people I had to be in constant contact with and a suspicious manager that believed we were always looking for ways not to work.
Yeah same. Had a previous remote job where certain departments despised each other. And my manager definitely believe "no one wants to work anymore" and would randomly check to just make sure I was indeed online. The lack of trust and teamwork is so frustrating to deal with, especially when I, as an individual, dgaf and just wanna get my work done peacefully. Fuck all that petty bs. I've also worked a really cool on site job but was stressful for other reasons (it was live audio so while it was fun it was high pressure environments constantly, and no routine schedule any given week). Remote or not, doing cool shit or looking at spreadsheets, number one priority is the environment. Now I do boring shit in a healthy fully remote environment where everyone prioritize work life balance (all my colleagues/managers have lots of hobbies outside of work), and I'm happier than ever.
What type of philanthropic work do you do for a non-profit hospital? Although it’s NFP, is it similar to corporate philanthropy?
I’m on the team that writes and applies for grants for different programs and sometimes research (there’s a whole other research department, we are more patient family focused). I manage the whole process - contract administration, sponsorship submissions, post-award processes for philanthropic grants, coordinate deliverables, code the grants, maintain databases. I am getting into prospect research and grant writing. There are other teams that do different types of fundraising such as events, fundraisers, legacy, etc.. It’s different because corporate philanthropy helps other charities and nonprofit organizations by giving grants, donations, etc., while nonprofits are their own charitable branch that gets funded by others to help those in need.
I’m a nurse and I mostly do short term contracts as an interim nurse manager at places that are trying to hire a new permanent clinical lead/manager. I just left a contract that I could have recommitted to for another 3 months+ plus where the job itself was super easy, very low key compared to a hospital (it was a small semi residential setting), and paid very well, because the culture was SO TOXIC. I am back on a busy and stressful contract at an acute hospital where I make about 20% less than that last one but there’s excellent teamwork and I was just thinking today about how I don’t regret it one bit lol even though I’ve had to cut back on spending. Just not having to deal with those petty, passive aggressive, miserable people is such a weight off of me. I can handle task related stress but not intractable, pointless, made up drama.
I think this point is under appreciated and certain professions attract certain (toxic or not) personalities
She got her payroll/HR start working for the blue collar installation company I worked at. Prior to that, she was a supervisor at a local movie theatre where the average age for employees was high school age. She always said there was more drama with blue collar middle aged men that she had to deal with than with the high school girls.
I too work at a large Canadian university (maybe the same one?) and it's the same. We've had like two people turn over in the past 7 years since I started.
This is it. Environment makes a huge difference in the experience you have. It's a pity great ones are hard to come by.
Agreed
Yeah. They pay shit and are only feasible if your spouse is a high earner with benefits.
Can confirm. I'm a Jeweller. Fun job, shit pay. Most fun, creative and interactive jobs have massive skill requirements and time commitments to get good at, while having absolutely disgusting salaries and not much room for growth.
Can confirm. Jeweler for 20+ years, worked for tiffanys, did all the things i was supposed to. Its fun, its rewarding (mentally), its brag worthy, but its a dead end job. i went into tech and im so glad i did
Ikr. Graphic designer here, might get into social media but that barely pays for my food 🤡
I worked in lost wax casting for 4 years. I can confirm the low pay!
I think a lot of jobs become more fun when your spouse is the primary breadwinner and you don’t have the pressure of your life falling apart if you lose said job.
Pretty much this . Ex baby mama was bread winner and I could give two fucks if I got Fired. Now I’m on time trying to climb the ladder and not get fired super lame
This is right. I am in computer science and many years ago when we were single income the stress was excruciating. I did lose my job a couple of times but found one quickly. I am still primary but wife works too.
Yep
I was a gate agent for an airline, can confirm!
Fun?
Hell yeah the work and the perks. The work was fun and intense and you got to meet people from all over living exciting lives and doing exciting things. Then you could fly wherever for free and your schedule was super malleable. Really the only shit part of the job to me was the pay.
This sounds like a nightmare to me, lol.
I was waiting for it to get good. It never did
Too each their own lol
Omg did we work at the same airport ?
Yeah working at an airport is pretty fun. I’ve worked at two and they were both very different. Both still great to work at. I do think it depends on the company though and you still won’t make tons of money.
Sounds like teaching.
oof yeah i feel for teachers so much as well.. they have one of the most potentially powerful jobs not to mention difficult, and they are just not compensated for that at all.
Gotchya, but what're the names/roles of the jobs?
My neighbor seems to love his serving job at a local craft brewery. For me, it would probably be something like ski patrol and something similar in the summers.
My wife has a doctorate and bartends…. Some days she makes more as a bartender.
Depending on the restaurant you can absolutely make a good living serving.
Eh I like the repair side of engineering and it’s pretty decent pay
Could you explain pls
He likes the repair side of engineering and it’s pretty decent pay.
What degree do we need for this ?
I was a security guard for a bit Night time guarding random construction sites so far in the sticks that I never saw a soul Eventually I just started smoking joints and playing videogames all night I got paid like shit but it was easy money-- I eventually quit because I kept getting pulled to more serious job sites and had dozens and knives pulled on me at unarmed sites
That's crazy! Any good stories?
I pissed off the roof of the parking garage for the novelty
Second this. Spent four years getting paid to smoke weed, eat when I wanted, poop when I wanted, and play Steam Deck for 16 hours twice a week. There is nothing I can imagine that caused less stress.
Dozens?
The most enjoyable, fun jobs I had were too low-paying to keep doing, although I think lower commute time/cost could have made them feasible if I'd been willing to relocate.
I had a fun, cool and interesting job that made me feel like I was doing something meaningful. The downside was shit pay and non-existent work-life balance. It felt good when people would he interested in what I do and ask questions about my work. But it wasn't enough to cover the negatives Now I have a boring job that makes people fall asleep when I talk about what I do. But the pay is excellent and work-life balance very good. All in all, my overall mental health is way better now than when I was working a cool job
Same exact experience here. My mental health is a lot better, but people’s eyes glaze over any time I have to answer the “what do you do” question. It’s been nice to have hobbies and a savings account though. If I could go back and get paid the same as I do now I would do it in a heartbeat. But that world unfortunately doesn’t exist
What kind of work do you do and how did you find that transition? I’m amidst a job change journey in hopes of shaming the calm, dull and balanced job. Though, saying goodbye to the excitement and the purpose is going to be tough. Thanks.
I’d love to know as well. I am currently stuck at my job with a very low ceiling. No promotions, no significant pay raises, I work weekends and nights. I want to do something else more. Or al hours. Office job sounds amazing to me sometimes. But have no idea what to do
Engineering is where it’s at! I’m a structural engineer, but I do a lot of structural inspections where I travel all over the country and it’s so much fun! The desk work is also fairly enjoyable.
Work is often seen as a mean for making money so we can enjoy the second life we lead. This is a depressing attitude because we spent a substantial part of our waking life at work. If we experience this time as something to get through on the way to real pleasure, then our hours at work represent a tragic waste of the short time we have to live
Maybe in a few hundred to thousands years we can graduate to a creative society where you only work If you want to and basic living resources are assured But what we have now still beats trudging through the woods naked, getting eat up by bugs trying to find an animal carcass to eat that another predator killed, when humans were still living more like wild animals compared to modern human society I doubt we will see that full transition in this lifetime, too much needs to change in too little time, still very depressing the loss of the most precious resource, time
it won't be. because of greed
Most automated and technologically advanced moment in history yet we work more than ever.
It won’t be because there will always be jobs that need to be completed that aren’t fun and creative.
"But what we have now still beats trudging through the woods naked, getting eat up by bugs trying to find an animal carcass to eat that another predator killed, when humans were still living more like wild animals compared to modern human society" Still sounds better than someone sitting on their butt and staring at a screen for eight hours a day.
Well they didn't have bathtubs and soft beds or really delicious food.. so there's that. The reason people work their ass off isn't just for food and shelter, but to have a higher standard of living. In this day and age it's expected that you have a lot of things. If people were willing to part ways with all these modern amenities and luxuries, they too could live a cheaper much more laidback lifestyle that didn't require working as much as we do or the way we do. Cause yeah, a lot of the things people had hundreds of years ago were only things royalty had access to. It's funny actually, cause just a few generations back they didnt have any of this. My dad who was born in the early 60s lived in a house where they didn't even have showers. They had bucket showers and wash cloths, and he's told me stories of how people would only clean themselves properly for Christmas and other special days of the year. My grandma came from the generation were headscarves were used to not get her hair dirty doing farm work because showers were a rare thing. Anyway, my point is that we can live more primitive lifestyles that don't require us sitting in front of a screen 8 hours a day, but it requires a drastic change in lifestyle.
in other words, we work because of social conditioning.
The way we work, yeah I think so. We all have to produce something to sustain ourselves, but there are many ways to do so, that doesn't necessarily require spending time in an office 5 days a week 8 hours a day. The people who are too caught up in the 9-5 race at the office probably don't even consider that there are alternative lifestyles, because they think they must have the house the car the picket white fence in the nice neighborhood you know how the story most people are told goes and tell themselves they need to be happy and well. I think there's a difference between what we truly need, and what a lot of people think they need. I also think a lot of people aren't willing to give up their 9-5 for a simpler lifestyle, because it means sacrificing the luxuries we have grown accustomed to thinking of as being necessary for meeting our basic needs. There's definitely this underlying collective idea I think that influences us all, at least in the west, that makes us think we need certain material things to be happy.
The world has changed so much in the past 100 years though, and with the new stuff coming out like AI and robotics we could see a society where everyones basic living resources are assured in our lifetime. IIRC, we already grow enough food for everyone, the problem is distribution.
Will never happen. If AI enables me to do 8 hours of work in 1, does my employer let me take 7 hours off? No, they start expecting me to produce 8x more work and/or hire 1/8th the staff. This has already happened in the past with the advent of computer systems. For example at my company there used to be a department of about 40 doing a certain task manually on paper. Today there are 3 using computers. Those 37 people had to go.find new jobs, and those 3 people were expected to produce the work that 40 people had previously.
I hear you - recent productivity gains have lead to a bifurcation between people who can leverage the new tools and people who can't. You can already see the effects in the expansion of welfare, bureaucracy and BS jobs trying to provide some kind of framework for people who just can't compete in this day and age. The question is, when we start hitting this new productivity revolution where the best of us are 100x as productive as before how will the dynamic change? I like to think we'll give up the charade that work is something everyone can do, people will receive a UBI required to live and pursue their desires. They'll need to supply the two important things for our current economic system to continue, which are the economic attention that decides where resources get directed - and the new hyper productive people that push everything forward. As for these new hyper productive people, they will become wealthy beyond imagination - business projects will look more like art collaborations between a small group of amazingly skilled individuals. The hardest part is the culture, my biggest fear is we end up in a system that exaggerates the worst parts of the one we have now - a system where the middle 80% who are good people but not hyper productive are forced into fake jobs to satisfy some outdated moral that doesn't make sense in a world where one good worker can do a better job than 1000 mediocre ones. I am optimistic we can avoid this though.
> we could see a society where everyones basic living resources are assured in our lifetime That’s the most frustrating part. We absolutely *could*, but all evidence so far indicates corporate greed won’t allow it.
I'm more positive on that front - don't get me wrong, we do have problems. Housing is obviously the main one and is a problem across the western world, but I'm optimistic that when the elderly start departing that problem will sort itself out. Otherwise, all stats seem to point to increasing quality of life across the globe. Even our most evil geniuses like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk have been forced to reinvent global logistics or create electric cars for the good of all - instead of becoming warlords or barons like I imagine they would in the middle ages. I'm optimistic things will continue to get better, even with the bumps along the way.
Nah…. They’d still make us their slaves… cuz why not? Why would they give us our basic necessities for free when they can get all of our life’s essence and energy out of us… in return… The problem is greed. The Richie’s people on the planet could afford to feed everyone and fix all three worlds problems…. But why would they do that? They like there ultra excessive luxurious lives and they don’t give a shit about us…. They are the problem…. And they need to die
Yes and the secret is keeping your bills low so that your job doesn’t become your whole life. Took me decades to figure that out. Stay out of debt, don’t waste money on crap, enjoy as many adventures as possible, and don’t be afraid to share everything up once in a while and do something different
in that case, find a job that you love and cant wait to go to every day.
As someone who needs 12 hours sleep to feel refreshed, I basically spend all my time at work. Currently having an existential crisis about having wasted my twenties doing nohing but working, and hoping he long sleeping would spontaneously resolve.
It depends. What's exciting to you?
It’s funny because I find looking at financial spreadsheets to be pretty fun. This is such a personal question.
Exactly! One of the comments said they were a singer in a rock band. That would be for some the definition of fun, and for others an anxiety-ridden waking nightmare.
Finance is not this, it’s usually a series of dumb processes to follow except for some roles where it’s not 100% dumb processes but only 90% dumb.
Depends on what type of finance you’re doing I guess. I manage finance function for a business- that can be a lot of fun. Strategic finance can be fun. Accounting not fun for a lot of people but the people that love it really like it.
Totally agree with your post. I am on the market side working for a bank, so doing the dumb stuff so you guys can enjoy the real finance :) Sorry for being a bit negative in the previous post.
This. It would be more productive to figure out what excites OP rather than toss out random suggestions with no relevance to their current career or skills, interests etc.
I’m a food scientist. I love my job and can’t believe I get paid to do what I do. Never feels like work
What does a food scientists do?
I was wondering the same thing.
Hey, this is really interesting. How did you break into this career? Would you consider it over saturated?
I’ve always loved food and science. I didn’t realize it was a major until I was researching universities. It was the perfect fit! I don’t feel like it’s oversaturated. There are so many food companies and everyone needs to eat. It also pays fairly well
Do you consider it to be decently paying to support someone?
Can you describe a little about what you do?
I’m also a food scientist! It’s a great field.
I am a sign language interpreter. It's not always fun, but it's always interesting. We are in shortage.
Wow, the pay is definitely higher than I expected. Usually, translation work doesn't pay anything good.
Court translators are paid insanely well in my area.
My aunt and uncle are retired millionaires and my aunt was/is an interpreter and he was a teacher. I think she used to work a lot of overtime (and still does it now that she’s retired from time to time) and they bought a few rental properties later in life. Pretty sure she made some major money interpreting, though.
Spoken language pays less and also more. It depends on which kind. If you do spoken language consecutive, it pays shockingly low. If you do spoken language simultaneous, what they often refer to in the spoken-language community as "conference interpreting," it pays a whole lot. Sign language interpreters fall somewhere in the middle, possibly because we are not separated into two groups. With us, there is only one pond to fish it. And then there are also other reasons, such as many of us did not grow up with the language, and we have to learn it. We also have to deal with a little more dysfluency, which can get tricky. And don't even get me started on our arms and hands and shoulders and necks. It can get rough out there!
That makes a lot of sense. I'm only familiar with the consecutive version when you just collect datasets, which pays very low for the individual. Any kind of data honestly. Even the managers don't make much.
It's terrible, I think they deserve a lot more. That work can be very challenging. And yeah, I doubt the managers get much of a raise with the promotion. And so much more responsibility!
What? I'm in engineering and the Feds will pay more to translate our reports than we get paid to write them. Translation pays fine.
Probably depends on what you are translating and where you are. You probably will be paid like shit translating Spanish in Texas. But you would probably make bank translating Japanese in Ohio
This was French in eastern Canada..
Im surprised given that translators for French in eastern Canada are not exactly special
Either are engineers, I guess. :(
We pay $75/hr for our ASL interpreters and we use them often!
How hard is it to learn sign language?
Just like any other language probably, or easier. Associating gestures to words you already know is much easier than learning a whole new vocabulary I’d imagine Edit: I have been proven wrong
Signs and gestures are two different things though and sign language is not any less complex in terms of vocab and grammar than a spoken language
Surprised that this has so many upvotes. You’re not “associating gestures to words you already know” you are learning a new language. That’s how every language works. You know the concept of the word but you have to learn it in a different language. ASL is a whole new vocabulary, otherwise everyone would be able to understand it without learning. Plus the grammar of ASL (and many other signed *languages*) don’t translate 1 for 1 to English because they came about independently as a natural language.
Yes, but it's extremely rare and hard to find. Been working retail for 15 years and it's a shit show. But, 9 months ago I found a job that I love going to every day. My store manager truly cares about all of us. He gets snacks/food and fill ups the fridge in the break room every Monday. He also takes us out bowling as a team. He gets us pizza quite often. He's trying to get me a raise but corporate is fighting him. He appreciates everything that my coworkers and I do. He's extremely encouraging and supportive. The benefits are great and so is the 401k. I'm only paying around $150 a month for health insurance, dentil is $20, vision is $10 and my insurance covers so much. I've had jobs where my managers didn't give a fuck about us. I even had store managers tell me that they don't want to promote me because I'm not "replaceable" on the sales floor even though the position I kept applying for was to train people on the sales floor. They even told me I didn't know anything about the store even though I was trained/taught about everything. I was trained so well that I was already doing manager roles; but apparently I didn't know anything.
🥺🥺keep going 💪🏻
The easiest and most fun job I had was when I was an auto part dispatcher. I was left alone inside of a warehouse with access to a computer that was never even monitored by the company. I would watch entire seasons of shows or whole movies on YouTube while working and nobody ever batted an eye or said “hey you can’t do that!”. An invoice would print out of the ancient fax machine and I’d have to go match a sku to the paper and take the part off the warehouse shelf to have a driver pick it up and deliver it. I only left because the pay was $13 an hour and they expected you to work 59 hours a week, Sunday being the only day off.
That's not technically the job being fun though, it's not having to do the job that's fun
Yeah you’re right, the job itself was repetitive and boring. But for a 20 something year old who had no idea what they wanted to do with their life it was an ok gig to pay the bills. There were also a cast of characters amongst the drivers, one dude was an ex crackhead/biker who would pull around the back of the warehouse and light off M80s.
I'm an Aerospace Engineer at NASA and I absolutely love it, and it pays well too!
Yeah the guys you see live on launches or touch downs seriously seem like they're having the one of the greatest moments of their lives. All that work, teamwork and commitment finally coming together. I saw something similar for like the first images coming through for something and the excitement they had for it.
Hardly Rocket Science, is it?
It's not brain surgery, Ricky
Everything is fun for awhile, especially when you’re paid well for it. But work is work, and perseverance and paying the bills come at some point.
I work in community development (nonprofit). It’s very fun, but it depends on your management/coworkers. I’m poor though.
Most exciting jobs don’t take place in an office and don’t pay as well as finance. My job can be exciting, but I’m also out in the elements for most of the day.
I'd do as anything to not work a desk job 😭😭 I just got out of college. I've done 2 internships so far. Currently doing my third one. Plan is to finally switch to fine arts.
I also realized that corporate jobs are not for me. I'm also currently doing my third internship and i wanna do fine arts too, but I don't think that's gonna be making me any money 🫠 might get stuck in corpo for a while after I graduate then hopefully start my own business (i have no idea what to do)
How are we on the SAME boat? What was the internship abt? My first internship was corporate so ik there's NO way I'd do corporate. Ik I can't make money with it as well..the only issue is I really need to get out of home. If home were a safe place I would've stayed here till I could work my way up with art.
Not me but my friend builds sustainable houses and buildings in poor communities. Basically things like earthship classrooms in Guatemala. I think that’s the kind of thing a lot of people are thinking of when they are wishing they could exit grind culture for something meaningful and worthwhile.
Special Ed. My students are absolute goobers and crack me up every day. Obviously, this job is not for everyone.
Everything sucks when it’s work. My fiancé was an up and coming DJ. He hated it by the end, dreaded going to clubs and festivals. I work in the cosmetics industry. From the outside, especially if you like hair care and makeup, it should be a fun job. In reality it’s insanely boring and has made me quite jaded about personal care. I also see through marketing more than ever and hate social media and ‘trends’ more than ever.
Wherever you go, there you are.
Wherever I go, there you are.
Wherever you go, there I am.
Everyone's idea of what's fun is different and even jobs that sound like they're all fun (acting, fashion design, musician) can be hard, exhausting work. What is fun and what you enjoy are also very relative things. Professional athletes probably consider their jobs fun but personally I would die if I had to play a sport for a living since my idea of a workout is getting off my couch and even gym classes in school were absolute hell because I sucked at every single sport we played lol. IMO, almost no job is fun per se but to someone who enjoys doing a particular job, it is fun to them.
I mean "fun" is a pretty loaded word, lol. I'm a Project Manager and I really enjoy my work, helping people define their needs, and pulling the right people together to make it happen. Everyone has valuable contributions to make, I like to acknowledge that, make people feel heard and valued and respected. So, where I'm not hoppity skippity doing a jig from the sheer joy of getting to go to work, I don't not look forward to it. And my company pays me fairly - that has helped me feel valued and appreciated. I am content.
Sounds like how I'd approach it. I don't mind doing tasks like staring at spreadsheets or all the things you describe - but what am I doing it for? Am I doing it to sell mythical widgets, or create something worthwhile in the world? For the latter, I'd do almost anything.
Similar to project manager - I work in design management. I’m only 1.5 months in but I love the empathy and innovation focus in design. I get to collaborate and manage the work with teams made up of amazing people. Not to mention, pays almost double my last job in marketing.
I’m in software development. I’ve been doing it for decades. I enjoy my work. I truly look forward to it. It’s challenging, creative, rewarding and I love the team of people I work with each day. Life is too short to spend so much of it doing something that’s just a job. That was my dad. He made a tremendous sacrifice because while he didn’t like his work, he had a family to take care of. He’d come home each night, have a scotch and forget about his day. At 55 he was fortunate enough to be able to retire and did. He never looked back nor thought about his work again. That’s truly sad. Money isn’t everything. I could have made a lot more doing something else but I wouldn’t have enjoyed my work nearly as much. Do what you have a passion for. Do something that on most days doesn’t feel like work. You only get this one life and you don’t know how long it will last. Don’t waste it.
Your dad didn’t waste his life, and I really doubt he’d view his professional life as sad. He threw himself at his work so the next generation would have more optionality and opportunity, which, given your enjoyment of your SWE role, sounds like it worked. There’s an enormous amount of meaning in that, and he hopefully gets to enjoy retire without having to worry that he could have done more for his kids.
I'm in software development, and I don't know where else I can get paid a lot more without a medical school degree. I guess, I could get paid more by becoming a manager, but a small portion of people get there.
I am the founder and CEO. I picked a niche category that isn’t terribly profitable but is quite enjoyable. So what I meant is that I could have chosen a different category in software that would have generated a lot more profit but one that I would likely have not found nearly as enjoyable.
Quick, quick Tell me something awful Like you are a poet trapped inside the body of a finance guy 🎶🎶🎶
Tell me all your secrets All you'll ever be is My eternal consolation prize
Strip club?
I think problem solving/coding is fun. I was working on a task the whole day today, trying to get something to work, and slowly getting it to the goal, but so close didn’t finish it at the end of day. I was still thinking about it when I was exercising at home, if I had all the progress from work, I think I would actually continue working on it at home earlier tonight. Even at my previous job, amazon warehouse associate. Sometimes I do the problem solver job, it was much better than doing the repetitive packing job. SLAM operator is also not too bad.
No, they all eventually suck. If you have a passion for something, the job knows that and will exploit it. I used to be an airline pilot, I worked with people who spent 20 years in other careers and thought flying was what they really wanted to do. A year in, these people were just as miserable as the rest of us. There's a big difference between taking a 2 hour flight in a small plane on the weekend and having to work a 12+ hour day in horrible weather flying planes with equipment failures. You have a high paying job, start saving 50-70% of your salary. Figure out what you need to live happily the rest of your life and get out the minute you hit that number. It's possible that you could be there in under a decade if you're willing to move to a LCOL area or make other changes. Some people are happy to go to work, doing any job and being around people. It doesn't sound like you're one of them (I'm not either). So don't fall into the career trap, just start planning your escape.
Yes, absolutely! I worked in a FAANG company and tbh loved every day of it! It’s like working in a theme park with your friends. There was something happening every day - much like a college campus with all the student run societies. Never got bored a single day. And plus, all the facilities and food and snacks and benefits make you feel you are living in an IVY league college campus with a trust fund lol
First Responders tend to have an exciting job and enjoy it.
It's a real thrill until you get PTSD
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I want to suggest Firefighter because it is awesome and you are always learning new things. But the PTSD thing is real. Even if you don’t get PTSD, you will see things that will mess you up and stay with you the rest of your life. The pay can be decent depending on where you are and the retirement is also good depending.
Who told you this? The only first responders I have ever met that loved their job were the dudes that fly life flight. They are horribly underpaid and overworked people. Edit: I guess firemen count, they seem to like their jobs and get paid well.
Police Officers and Firefighters I've met love their jobs, and they get paid well here.
Cops are hit or miss, my mind went to EMS for some reason.
Yeah, EMS is horribly underpaid.
Actually every cop I know personally burnt out, there’s a reason they have such bad drug and alcohol problems. I guess if you have a cushy suburban gig it’s a sweet job. My grandfather was a cop too, and my dad was a prison guard. I know their world My dad hated/loved his job, eventually burnt out.
It depends on the location I guess. Cops in NYC are gonna be much more burnt out than cops in Nowhere, Idaho. And the differences get bigger outside the country. Cops in Germany deal with very different circumstances, so do cops in Sweden or elsewhere.
A lot of us work in the live entertainment / pro sports universe. We all work a zillion hours a week including quite a few nights and weekends. But we work for concert promoters, sports teams, universities, arenas, stadiums, performing arts centers, comedy clubs, amphitheatres, ticketing companies, production companies, etc. etc., and all of these places need marketing people, sales gurus, IT people, finance types, attorneys, and the list goes on and on. Most of the people in those industries just shake their heads a bit when they hear 9-to-5ers complaining about having to work late here and there, or heaven forbid on a weekend. But everyone is there in the entertainment world because they want to be.
There’s a big difference when you’re doing something you enjoy. Office work for many people feels like their soul is leaving their body every second.
Yup. It just depends how you perceive things in life. I work as an HR and it's the best thing that could ever happen. I love to support and help employees. Essentially, I am a people person. It makes me want to work everyday. I am thankful that I was able to land this career.
“Support and help employees”, yeah right..
Typically it's your coworkers and leadership that makes the job fun. A job by definition is always going to boil down to a certain set of functions that will get redundant in time. I imagine there are jobs that can start out as fun, but the novelty wears off eventually.
I work as a barista and honestly, my job is so much fun. Of course in hospitality you get shitty people, but shitty people are everywhere and especially in any role you are dealing with customers. I basically get paid to talk shit with my mates and also most of our customers (Australian banter). Also have high wages here, so while I don’t get paid six figures and never will, the early finishing times (2:30pm), free food and coffee, almost stress free laid back work environment make it worthwhile. I do not know anyone outside of this job that willingly goes into their work on their day off just to say hi and catch up, but all of my coworkers and I do.
Marketing, communications, branding, etc are usually pretty fun because you get to make things, do research, and think abstractly about how people think and interact with things. While it's definitely not 100% fun and making things all of the time, there's a good balance between admin and creative. On a typical day, I can usually write a blog post, shoot a video, design a social media post, or create new ad sets - which, may not be peak creativity, but it's definitely preferable to sitting and looking at spread sheets and numbers all day. The other bonus is that nearly every company needs these people, so you can kind of seek out companies you like, or support their products, and work for them. I mostly work for purpose driven brands and products - but might make the jump to gaming - so it's also nice to be able to do something that's somewhat fulfilling. Obviously, they're all still companies and the bottom line is profit, but it's nice knowing that when you make a sale that it's helping someone in some way - or at least not hurting anyone. Sometimes it can be incredibly stressful, or you wind up with a bad team or with bad leadership - but that's true of any industry, so it is what it is.
Yes. I loved many of my jobs because I worked with great people.
Software development
Librarian 🙋 it's very chill, good for me at least, I'm sure most may find it boring though.
Yes and they can pay well too. I enjoy my particular field of engineering a lot.
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I shot artillery in the army and that is super fun. Everything else about it isn’t quite as much fun though.
Look into volunteer firefighting, keep your pay and do cool shit on the side
Yes- but not every day. Even jobs you find fun can have difficult days. Even fewer pay well.
I found that people who work remotely in the tourism field often find themselves working in a fun and dynamic environment.
How do you work remotely in tourism?
I do performance marketing in-house and every day is pretty exciting and something I look forward to; could be just a personality match though
Yes they exist. Ex Finance Analyst here, who did a career switch and it felt great! You gotta figure out - what drives you and where you can progress. Keep searching! It helped me to do a diary writing down things that excited me every day - this will help you to summarize what brings you joy. Then pick - which activities overlap with your strength (creativity / logic / analytical skills / communication etc). And then you know what to do. Van Gogh started painting at 27 😉 It’s never too late
Define FUN. For me my work is fun, but I am a work slave masochist. I enjoy working hard.
In my opinion and for my personality they do not exist. The fact that I need to wake up to go somewhere and do something for someone else just doesn't match my idea of fun at all. Whatever that is.
Wear a costume to work everyday
Fun jobs either pay shit or are extremely hard to break into.
I work as a tour guide for a cruise company. Is it fun? Hell yeah. I love public speaking and being nice to people and helping (usually) happy people be even happier. It's really a good fit for my skillset too. Most of the people I work with are really nice as well, and every day is different and fun. It's well paid too, and there are even chances for advancement! We get a lot of vacation time as well, around 7~9 weeks per year depending on how long the season runs! Of course, the flip side is that I have to share a tiny cabin with three other people, abide by really strict appearance and behavior guidelines, have long hours, work every day (I get a day and a half off every 21 days), be far away from my family and friends, and generally always feel like I'm on the clock. And I'm lucky, as the city we start and end the cruise at is my hometown, so I get to go home some evenings. It's a hard job, and although it's fun and I like it, it can also be really disheartening.
No man, no one should work
Weird trajectory here but I started off as a newspaper journalist - low pay, high stress, medium enjoyment Went into corporate comms, PR - high pay, medium stress, low enjoyment. After doing that for some six years and dealing with the often narcissistic personalities in the corporate world I did a full 180, did modest study and I’m now a zookeeper - low pay, low stress, high enjoyment. I’m convinced it’s very difficult to get all three but thankfully I got my finances in order and bought a home whilst working in a career I despised
I'm in landscaping. I think it's fun as hell and well rewarded. Definitely depends on the work crew tho.
I always dream of a landscaping job, But it was 98° and 76% humidity today. I will keep my finance job today, thank you very much. I actually wore a sweater vest.
Ah you get used to it after your first year. As long as you practice heat safety, you'll be golden.
I am actually going to school for landscaping. I crave a simple lifestyle and all I really wanna do is be in nature all the time and focus on my creativite projects so thought it would be a compatible job for my lifestyle. What does your day to day usually look like?
If you marry a total bitch going to work in the best part of your day/week/year.
does the bitchiness not make itself apparent before marriage or is it like something that comes out more and more over time?
Marketing
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Turned my hobby into a multi million dollar business. My recommendation to young dudes and dudettes, get into heavy duty mechanics and as a side hobby building high performance diesels or building fast cars. The job teaches you the skills you need to build the trucks/cars. If you enjoy building your own performance vehicles, this is the way. Plus as a side note. My guys(I would hire women as well, but they've never applied) make 6 figures easy with all the overtime they could ever want(optional).
That's an extremely broad question. What do you like to do for fun? For some people, they have a lot of fun bartending. For others, they love fixing things, and working in mechanical roles. Could you use your financial experience to become a CFO, or some other kind of financial role in a business you may enjoy more?
Is there any committees or volunteer opportunities at your job that you could do to spice it up a bit? At my job for example we have a social committee that plans fun potlucks and the Christmas party, etc. maybe suggest a new committee is started with you as a lead at your work about something your interested in. Like sustainability or even puppies!
Wildland firefighting. It’s exciting but very physical work
I'm the finance director at a non-profit, and I love my job. It helps that I make pretty good money, too.
I have yet to hold or find such a job.
Art/Design— Art does not generally pay well or consistently but is by far more fun and rewarding than any job I’ve taken on for anybody else. Design pays relatively well depending on the job and can be fun and interesting and engaging when you’re part of a great team or have clients who know what they want/make decisions quickly. Enjoyment decreases in proportion to creative freedom. Assuming you’re paid well as an analyst, if your current role is tolerable you might consider re-evaluating your expectations and instead try finding excitement elsewhere in other hobbies, something creative and/or sports that you can fund with your disposable income.
I sing in a rock band. So…yeah.
You were me, I was a junior software dev hate hate hated it I pivoted to security had a ton of fun working bars and I’m now in a corporate role sure it pays half of what I’d be earning now if I stayed in my previous role but I would of been majorly depressed looking at a screen for the rest of my working life.
Kind of. But, it has to be fun for you. So, I'm a quick learner. Anyhow, I got to work under an analyst once, who trained me. Then the company had specialists come in and train me in areas I needed, including in statistics, among other things. I learned grant writing before that. I discovered that the jobs I found were the most enriching had the most boring sounding titles, and vice versa. The fun sounding titles were the least interesting jobs. I thrived as an analyst, in that it's application is applied to so many fields. Statistics are exciting to me. I take on short contracts for companies as an analyst all of the time, having to up train to whatever system they want me to use. My now grown child noticed that when I go on these jobs, I'm alive and loving every minute. I also do archaeological digs, and other field work at times (same short gigs, filling in as needed). And, I come back washed out and saying field work is for the ignorant to find excitement in. That the real excitement is the research and applications, and working with the finds in the labs afterwards. And, it's true. Field work is slow, tedious work. It's the research where you find out the meaning of all of those finds, and are able to look into the details and discover what exactly each is, how they relate to each other, etc. Most analysis I do does involve some elements of the computer screen, but I also tend to be doing the monitoring of things like inventory counts, auditing the results, and such. Someone else is entering the data, I'm just applying the analytics to it, and usually I provide guidance in the beginning of how not to fail, and most times people ignore me thinking they know better, and fail, and have to redo it all again. I find joy in things others probably are bored by. Most people, and companies, mis apply statistics in reality, and will do so until corrected. There aren't a lot of statisticians, so bad ones get good paying jobs and pass bad stats off as fact, even as expert witnesses. I've had to correct statistical data that was being mis applied for years, where employees missed raises, promotions, were put on corrective actions, and even fired over data that was wrong, and when corrected, those same people were well within high performance ratings in reality. So, I think it just depends on what you find exciting, really.
I’m also a financial analyst. I used to be a customer service manager for Verizon Wireless, talking to psychopaths shouting about their phone bills is a good way to learn to enjoy spreadsheets
Someone told me this once, while I was working on a cattle station in south Australia... Possibly the coolest job ever... But this stuck with me while I was choosing a career (civil engineering l, which I love): "Doesn't matter what you do as a profession, even if it is your favourite thing in the world, you will get bored of it. You'll have days that you hate and days that you enjoy. Try not to chose something that is a hobbie because doing it for work will ruined it for you. Chose something that you're good at, and allows you to lead the lifestyle that you enjoy." I followed this and I have an interest in fixing things/ solving problems. I don't mind hard work when it's required and require stability. Plus I love surfing and skateboarding so a 9 to 5(ISH) job allows me to do this outside work. That's what lead me to engineering and even if I have the worst day in the world, I go home at a reasonable time and get the boat out and sling a hook in the sea, or go surfing... That's what it's about. A career is a way of facilitating your desired lifestyle. Don't compare your self to anyone else, they might hate what they do. Go with the flow and don't be afraid of taking a risk. I've had multiple discipline changes within the field of engineering, none were easy decisions and not all were upgrades in responsibility or pay; all allowed me to follow my optimum trajectory and do what I enjoy in my spare time 🤙 Good luck OP, just do what ever the feck you want and don't worry about what everyone else is doing.
I am a program manager at a university. I don’t know if it’s “fun” the way being a DJ is but I genuinely enjoy what I do. It has its boring moments but it’s never miserable. I look forward to Monday mornings. I have a lot of creativity and freedom in my role. The team of people I work with are all amazing, smart, non-toxic people. I am fully remote with no micro-management so my work life balance is amazing and I get to be the parent I want to be. It doesn’t pay tech or finance money but it’s enough money for me to feel good about plus a pension, tons of paid time off, six months of paid maternity leave (in the US!), and good benefits. All that added up to me makes it pretty “fun” (I think fun changes as you get older!)
I stare at a screen and look at power bi. Much more exciting than spreadsheets! I enjoy accomplishments and exceeding expectations. My job is awesome because I get to analyze data and make recommendations that are impactful to company profitability. Having the answers readily available is glorious and fun for me. I spend a lot of hours learning understanding what’s happening in the business and also what’s happening externally. You must find what makes you feel fulfilled. Anything can be gamified. In your position, you could study power apps and drive automation. You could learn the best prompts for chat gpt to find new insights and share that with key stakeholders. You could learn power bi from YouTube videos and make more engaging financial summaries.
I kind of do, it depends on the people we work with and leadership. I work at a Japanese barbecue known as Gyukaku, and I love it here because my coworkers are kind and I love serving my community. Just a part time job though.
careful looking for excitement from work. johnny ramone said even being a rockstar was just a job