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Dream Jobs of 2004
prostoalex writes "We've read about the worst jobs out there, the most overpaid ones, the worst job postings and the outsourcing tendencies. Can an article on employment in scientific and engineering fields can have a positive outlook? February issue of IEEE Spectrum talks about the dream ('coolest, baddest, hippest, grooviest') jobs, where people have fun and enjoy what they're doing. IEEE publication covered the dream jobs for Electrical Engineering majors only. The linked article is actually a story about 9 different people with 9 different jobs, each leading to a separate article."
As a UI designer, I once saw somebody have my dream job: he was creating an application for JPL to visualize the data and state of a deep-space probe. It would reflect the health of the probe at-a-glance and give access to further data. So it had NASA, space, complex data, and cool visualization all rolled into one. It would be for Depp Space One.
He was not enjoying the work and the circumstances (like the pay). I would have given my left arm (i.e. learned to program on OpenVMS from nothing) for that gig. We all have different dreams.
Here's my question:
If YOU won the lotto, what would you do? Would you still work in IT?
Would you get bored or would you seek to challenge your self with a "dream job"?
I am such a workaholic, I am convinced that I would create my own company AND I would hire some of those IT people that were layed off!
There was a show on the History Channel this week about the autobahn. They did a short piece on some lucky bastard who works for a Porche tuner. His job? Take each new, handbuilt car onto the autobahn late at night, and certify just how fast it can go.
Why not get paid to have fun?
I really do hate my job, so I'm going to quit working for evil bastards. A VC friend of mine and I are starting an entertainment website.
I get to code, and hang out in nightclubs/bars/strip clubs. I can't imagine a better existence, and it sure beats working.
I realize not everyone can do this, but I think any enterprising geek *could* get away with working for yourself, and that kind of work is fun for most of us.
Whatever you do, semper ubi sub ubi.
I once read that you should make a career out of your second favorite thing to do. That way, when work got to you, you could relax with your hobby rather than your career.
... I automated it. I segmented the status report into different sections, created text files for each section, and then wrote some code, along with a Makefile, so that each Friday, I ran a single command, and out came my status report e-mailed to my boss along with other interested parties.
That said, I think far too many people keep thinking of better things rather than enjoying what they are doing at the moment. If somebody gives me something to do that I don't like, I try to figure out how to make it more enjoyable.
For example, I once had a boss that insisted that I send him a status report each week. (I hate paper work). So, I did what I often do in situations like that
Now, I could have spent time bellyaching about what a lousy job I had been given, but instead decided to make it more tolerable. After it was done, I actually enjoyed submitting status reports.
Now, certainly there are jobs with little or no redeeming value, but most of the people I hear complaining actually have it pretty good. Most have food to eat, a place to stay, and make enough money to make ends meet with a little left over.
Blaise Pascal, in his book Pensees, states that people spend too much of their time regretting the past and dreaming about the future, that they don't have time to enjoy the present. As a result, they are often unhappy when they don't need to be.
I am the Systems Admin at, what our marketing dept. likes to call, a world class ski resort.
In fact right now, after finishing a quick lunch, I am lacing up my snowboard boots and will be spending some quality time on the snow... and I get paid for this!!
It was kind of secret. Everyone walking by must have thought I was the worst robot programmer on Earth. But I still had that big grin on my face...
PHEM - party like it's 1997-2003!
Now I'm doing pure research and some teaching, in Boulder, CO. This turns out to be closer to my dream job -- more flexible hours and lots of self-directed variety to the tasks. It's certainly not for everyone -- I basically sit around staring at equations, or images, or image-processing software, most of the time -- but every once in a while I get to figure out something nobody's ever known before, and that keeps me going the rest of the year.
Of course, the problem with a self-directed job is that you're always with your boss... :-)
I'll hype my position: Instructional technologist
Yeah, the pay's not great, but here at least are a few of the perks, at least at my school.
It's not perfect by any means. Pay and benefits lag industry, there's some scut work, and I'd really like to get back to teaching students instead of faculty, but it's got some pretty nice bennies.
"Seven Deadly Sins? I thought it was a to-do list!"
- International Courier - Movie Producer - Astronaut - Virtual Reality Engineer - Rock Star - Vertebral Paleontologist - Chaostician - Professional Skydiver / SCUBA Diver - SWAT Team Member - Pyrotechnician - Demolition Expert - Entrepreneur - Emergency Room Doctor - Supreme Court Judge - Shaman / Rainmaker - Ranch Hand / Wrangler / Cowboy - CIA Agent - Striper - Detective / Private Investigator - Security Systems Auditor / Hacker - Catburgler - Magician / Illusionist - Black Hat etc. etc.
I'm involved with a lawsuit where a partnership is attempting to kick out one of its partners. For the last 2 1/2 years the partner has been locked out of his office, but he still collects a salary of over $90,000 a year while he sits at home. Sure it's a drop from his normal $250,000 salary, but I could certainly live on it!
If someone says he and his monkey have nothing to hide, they almost certainly do.
mod parent down for saying 'mod parent up'. Holy shit, how often does someone have to tell you this ... if you find it funny, chances are 500 other people do, too.
Next time I get mod points, I'm going looking for mod-kibbitzers like you.
I worried too much about money (and to a secondary extent, the "prestige" of the job) with predictable results. Now, I make a good salary, I have a fancy title & I have days that are merely a tick on the calendar en route to my pension.
Of course, if you happen to absolutely love doing something lucrative (and legal), more power to you!
"Obviously, I'm not an IBM computer any more than I'm an ashtray" (Bob Dylan)
Moan like mad about everything from their pay to their training to the quality of coffee. The funny thing is that I've met people who do jobs that I would hate to do like working on checkouts or being janitors, and they love it.
http://www.internalmemos.com/memos/memodetails.php ?memo_id=2095
... and has decided to outsource these service offerings.
As previously communicated in the State of the Firm letter, the Company has chosen to reassess and restructure its internal IT development capabilities
Carlos was asked to provide the direction and a plan to make this happen. His strategy and action plan will save the Company significant dollars on an annual basis.
His plan included his departure as CIO, as the position would no longer be required to manage the reduced IT budget and staff. Recognizing this outcome, it took great courage, commitment and dedication on his part to support the Company in this, his last assignment.
Carlos' decision to leave the Company on January 31, 2004 was on very amicable terms and we are pleased he will remain available to us for consultation in the near term.
We appreciate and recognize Carlos' many valuable contributions over the years...especially his...visionary plans that regrettably include the elimination of his own job as CIO. We wish Carlos well in his new endeavors.
Table-ized A.I.
I worked in a morgue. It was a wonderful job
Think about it for a moment. The co-workers were (dead) quiet, I could play all the loud music I wanted and none of my co-workers ever complained.
I could read on the job, sleep on the job (overnight stay was part of the job) and no one cared.
Granted, it was a little cool at the place, but Management realized it was a dead-end job, so they allowed you free reign. We ordered pizzas, had friends over, watched movies, even got paid pretty well!
Only problem with the job was, as I said earlier, it was pretty much dead-end, though if I died on the job, they had full benefits.
So rise up, all ye lost ones, as one, we'll claw the clouds.
(I guess that is enough proof that I really am german ;-)
Frankly, I have often considered emigrating. Actually, it has been a constant theme for the whole of my life, given that my father is an immigrant (from Iran), my parents once considered moving to Canada, and it looked like it would be simply irresponsible to stay in germany during the pogroms of the early to mid 90ies.
The big, big problem is - THERE IS NO REALLY GEEK-FRIENDLY COUNTRY. Why on earth would I want to go the the USA, the land of the DMCA, where unfounded lawsuits are considered a respectable hobby? Mid- and South-America is a huge mess, as far as I understand (I only have first-hand information about Brazil, where an aunt of mine happens to live) Most of mid- and western europe is in exactly the same situation as germany is, and eastern europe tends to be worse. People in huge parts of Africa seem to be busy surviving in the first place (the causes of which deserve their own thread), and my experience taught me that I have trouble getting along in east asia, let alone wanting to spend my life there. Antarctica is obviosly not interesting, and, well, Australia might be, but I just don't know, never been there.
In other words, I agree, I would love to get out of germany. But I do not know where to go from there!
If anybody knows about the perfect society for a geek to live in, please speak up!
Programming can be fun again. Film at 11.
-Benjamin Meyer
Do you changes clothes while making the "chee-chee-cha-cha-choh" transformation sound?
Yes you can. You only *think* you can't afford it.
Let's get together and make SCO urine cakes!
Time to put our piss where our mouth is...
uh..something like that...you know what I'm saying..
Skip a few years.
Worked on a team with some of the coolest people on the planet in, Santa Cruz CA. Living in a place that has trees, beaches, geeks. (trees are a big plus) This fun and successful team designed a product so good, the owners of the company decided they would never need another one.(or design team)
1995: Followed the lead guy to a cable modem startup. (this is before the Web was a household term) Being an internet junky, I jumped at the chance. WhooHooo! what a ride. Being an engineer for a tiny startup which actually survived the bubble. 16 hour days, 7 days a week, working with a close team of geniuses, feining the "startup life", people with sleeping bags under the desk. watching it grow. watching the product of your work revolutionize communications. countless people addicted to your pet. becoming a paper-multimillionaire. driving the curviest, most leathal mountain road in the country 18 times per week in a sports car. All the while, married to an understanding mail-order bride, "Go make money".
Just when I think life can get no better, I get surprised.
By the way, we are hiring.
My work allows me to live a very nice lifestyle, with plenty of time for friends and family.
... and these numbers was brought to you from the same organisation that one year ago fabricated reports about weapon of mass destruction.
Congratiulation with that, just a pity that in the US more than 1 in 10 has to live on income below poverty line.
US : purchasing power parity - $36,300 (2002 est.)
Note these are estimate for 2002 not even final numbers from 2002. From Jan 2002 till Jan 2004 the USD has fallen 30% against the EUR. So once these information-twisters update their figures the numbers will surely look different.