In my last post, I outlined the things that I think are important to have in a job. I also took some time to explain why I am currently not terribly happy in the job that I have now, based on those criteria. If you haven’t read the last post, feel free to go catch up now if you like.
That explains how I got here. Essentially it says that I am not happy with the status quo. It provides a good explanation of what’s wrong. What I do not want.
So what do I want? Great question. After all, a map is only useful if you know where you are going.
Well in that last post, I introduced a three point scale that I use to evaluate jobs and defined a “good job” as having a score of 2/3 or better. Once again, the three criteria are 1) interesting work, 2) good money, and 3) good people. Let me use that three point scale as a means to frame the discussion and guide me on to the next chapter of my professional life.
- Interesting work. “Interesting” is an adjective that is in the eye of the beholder. To be honest, I’m the type of person who can find just about anything interesting, for a little while at least. And therein lies one of my current problems; I’ve just been doing the same thing for too long. Sometimes you just need a change, and that is where I am at now. Even if I were working on something I found absolutely fascinating, there’s a good chance that after a while, I would grow tired of it and need to look to something new. Of course, that’s not the current reality for me. My current reality is yet another case that I think is all too common: I am not doing the type of work that I want to do.
- Good money. I’m actually going to modify this one for the purpose of this exercise. I am going to invoke the old axiom that time = money and then apply the law of transitivity to make this item good money and/or time. Recall that I am currently a commuter, going from the ‘burbs to the city and back during a typical workday. Well this is another area where I also think I could benefit from a change. Would I be willing to sacrifice a little money for a lot more time with my family? Absolutely. (The challenge might be adequately defining “a little”.) If I could find a similar job, or even the exact same job I have now, keep my salary the same but ditch the commute, would I take that job? I definitely would. That wouldn’t fix any issues with item #1 but it would still be a big improvement. This area here is a big one for me.
- Good people. Hello, uncertainty. This one is hard to know ahead of time. Say you like the people you work with, and you’re considering a new job. What will your new coworkers be like? Well, the best you can really do is try and determine what it would be like to work with your interviewers. But it’s hard to really get a sense over the course of an interview or two of what it’s like to work with someone. You can try asking some good, well thought out questions during your interviews to get a sense of what the company culture is like, or the work environment, or generally what sort of place it might be. But even then, there’s only so much you can tell. A lot of this area is just guessing. Seems as though we’ll have to concede that this item has way too many unknowns and conclude that we must leave #3 largely to chance. The good news is that if I were to rank the three criteria in terms of their importance to me, #3 would come in third. Your mileage may vary.
Let’s recap, working backwards. #3 is largely out of my hands. We might even be tempted to relegate it from “must have” to “nice to have” status.
#2 is also simple; my clear preference would be to work closer to home, and I’m willing to forego a little bit of money (while still being able to provide for my family and increase my savings) if I can gain back some of time time I spend traveling. This is one potential goal: find work close to home. The thought of leaving work and being home in 10 minutes as opposed to 90 minutes is… a very nice thought.
That leaves #1 as the interesting item on our list. I feel that there’s a bunch to unpack here, so bear with me for a bit…
I have established that in the most general terms, what I want is to do work that is more interesting to me. Or at a minimum to do something different for a change. It sounds like a very simple goal. So why haven’t I managed to do this yet?
Well, how can one achieve that goal? Maybe you think the most obvious answer is “find a new job”. Or maybe you’ve noticed that there is another option I haven’t touched on yet, and that is “transition to a different, more interesting role where you currently work”. Fortunately, there is at least one thing I can do that will help in both endeavours, that will make me a better employee to both current and prospective employer: learning, training and skill development.
Look, there are lots of reasons why your current place of employment might not be giving you the type of work you really want. Some are out of your hands. For example, sometimes managers can get protective of their headcount and they’ll do whatever they can to keep you where you are, whether you want to be there or not, for fear of not having the personnel on hand for them to meet their objectives. You might find yourself in this position and thinking to yourself “yeah, but I’m bored so much of the time, it seems like they have more than enough help to get the job done.” Sure, that might be true now. But what about tomorrow? Your manager might be thinking “what happens if things get really busy and I don’t have approval to hire more help when that time comes?” In this case, escape might be a bigger challenge.
Along the same lines, you might have a clear idea of where else within your company you would like to work, but that group might not be interested. They might be fully staffed and not need any more help. Or maybe they do need help but in an area where you don’t have the knowledge or skills to provide for what they’re looking. Well if that’s the case, then that’s something that you do have some control over.
Your place of business might not think you are qualified to do the type of work you really want. So it’s your job to show them otherwise. If you’re missing a crucial skill, then go and learn that skill.
We live in a bit of a golden age, in terms of access to knowledge. There are so many ways to learn so many things. There are websites and blogs, not to mention communities dedicated to just about any topic. There are multiple online learning options to pick up skills of basically any kind. Personally, I like Coursera. Coursera partners with learning institutions like colleges and universities to deliver instruction on all sorts of things. Seriously, go and check out their offerings and you might be surprised at the breadth of their offerings. They also will provide certificates of completion to help prove that you have acquired the skills in question. I’m fairly certain that you can even take some of their courses for free, although to get the certificate and have full access to all learning materials you typically need to pay, but in my experience their prices can be quite reasonable. For most of the courses that interest me, the going rate seems to be about $50-70 per course, although I’m sure there is a range. Sometimes you can take a “specialization” program, which is a collection of courses. I have seen specializations with as few as 3 courses and as many as 10. I am currently on my second specialization program and Mrs. CIQY is working on her first.
The other obstacle is that your manager might not even know that you aren’t doing the work you most want to be doing. In that case of course, it’s your job to let them know. Good managers will want to help you achieve your career goals, though in reality their hands might be somewhat tied. In any case, I would actually urge a word of caution here: if you’re going to approach your boss or manager and tell them that you’re not happy in your current role, tread lightly and choose your words carefully. I have gotten burned by this in the past, and it cost me my job. It’s an interesting story but I’ll save it for a future blog post.
Bringing it back to my current situation, I have told my manager that I have some other interests that I would really like to explore. And I have made him aware that I’m using some of my downtime and my personal time to further develop the skills that those interests would require. So far he is being very supportive, which is great. He is making inquiries into potential projects I might be able to help with that would be in line with my goals. At the same time, he has been careful to let me know that he doesn’t want to part with me completely. He is still responsible for deliveries on our current project after all, and I respect that. But even a partial switch at this point would be welcome. For starters, it would give me that elusive change I have been needing. It would be more experience on something different, and that at least always looks good on a resume. And even if I can’t find anything better at a different company, might as well make the best of a bad situation right? I don’t know about you, but I would rather be busy than bored. Busy is good. Busy doesn’t have enough time to grumble about being unhappy at work.
But by taking some initiative and picking up some new skills that I would like to use at work, I’m making myself a better employee all around, whether I stay or go. It’s one of many things I can do to try and dig my way out of this hole. Worst case scenario, it keeps me busy. And like I said, busy is good.
It doesn’t help with #2 though. Ultimately I do think that my first choice at this stage in life is to find work closer to home. I want more time to spend with my current and future kids and The Missus.
But I haven’t shut the door on making things better at my current gig. I like to keep options open.
Fortunately, I have found at least one thing I can do that can help me with both. And it’s something I enjoy too. If you’re not happy at work and you’re the kind of person who enjoys learning things like I do (do you miss school? I miss school) then I highly recommend taking action. Upgrade your skills or learn a new one. Read blogs or books or take an online course. Look around at Coursera or some other online learning site and I’m sure you’ll find something you’d enjoy that might help you out. Especially if you’re ready to embark on a completely new career, I think it’s a great place to start and give you any new skills that you might need.
I have had to accept the fact that because I stayed too long in an easy job, my skills have gotten stale. The only way out for me, whether at my current company or a new one, is to freshen up those skills. I have started the freshening, and I actually find it really fun and rewarding. Hopefully this effort will pay dividends in the form of me finding interesting work close to home so I can spend more time with my family and less time in transit. But even if it “only” makes me better at my current job, isn’t that a step in the right direction?