I've put some thought into it and here's what I've come up with:
At core, I want to, and to some degree need to, work at something I believe in; this is different from making myself believe in what I'm doing, which is more a function of practicality than necessity. I can convince myself that doing a good job at something in order to earn money is a good idea, but even then I won't believe in it, not fully. So I thought about what I want in a job, ideally, and it involves two things that are, to me, interrelated: playing and education. I think a number of fields provide the opportunity to be "playful," however that alone is not enough. Play, to me, is also educational, and as such companies that provide opportunities for play, via games, programs, events, etc. should by their very nature also be concerned with what those products teach the participants.
For example, I consider Sony's game products to be quality products, at least in terms of their capacity for entertainment; however, I think they fall short of Nintendo's line of products (esp. the DS and the Wii) in regards to their capacity to educate the customer. This doesn't mean that I'd have to work for Nintendo, per se, it's simply to suggest that the company's philosophy is more in line with my own when it comes to providing an experience to the customer. In a way, it's a natural outgrowth from my experiences in Australia, specifically, the education classes, where the notions of primary and secondary experience were used to illustrate the importance of learning both about a place by actually living in it and about oneself by becoming aware of how one changes while dwelling in that place.
I think, fundamentally, I want to work at a company that provides customers the opportunity to immerse themselves in an experience (be it a media product, an event, a retreat, etc.) with the intention of helping them discover something about themselves and the world in which they live. That to me, is meaningful.
]]>I'm about to go into my second year of college. Its time to start figuring out what I want to do. It does seem however that as soon as I feel like I picked something, something else comes up that seems better and more fun and that makes me want to go that way. Media influence me so much, it seems like the thing that I'm watching, I put myself into it and see how I like that life. Scrubs the TV show is always on TV at my house because my roommate John has every episode on DVD. So I imagine myself wearing medical scrubs every day to work and being in that kind of environment with that kind of schedule. For a little bit it seems great, but I'm envisioning all my friends being doctors in the same hospital on the same floor with me. That just isn't realistic. Then the actual dealing with sick people comes up and you loose me. There was a guy on this episode that had the worst sun burn I'd ever seen. He spent like 3 days outside or something like that with out any kind of uv protection clothing on and basically couldn't move. JD had to rub aloe over this guys whole body and that seemed to much. I couldn't do that. Pretty gross. I am currently in Physical Education and that seems to suit me well. It presents the type of life I want to have and that makes me happy. I want a life wear I have evenings and weekends (and summers!) off where I can relax and be with my family and have time to be a great father. I can sit on my porch as the sun goes down and sip a hot drink with my wife and discuss the day's events. Life is good, and it will be for a long time.
]]>Folks,
I recently resigned from my job and will finish up this week. I start my new job in about 2.5 weeks. It's all good.
What's not so good is having further reinforcement of my perspective that you cannot fully trust anyone but yourself, PERIOD!
Just when you thought your life and career were going somewhere, you will invariably get thrown a curve ball in the usual form of people letting you down. This is usually followed by the deflated feeling one gets when you feel someone's pissed in your pocket - as us Aussies are wont to say, to describe someone or some people who were eventually discovered to have told you porky pies all along.
And I thought I was getting too old to be going through this shit.
Still, life could be a lot worse - I could be out on my arse without a job. At least I've still got that.
I know one's job isn't supposed to dictate your being; but hell, when you spend the greater portion of your waking hours (sometimes even sleeping hours) doing nothing but work, your career isn't something you can turn off like a tap.
Ninja
]]>First of all, I apologize for the long hiatus . . . I took a little break after the spring semester and did a little traveling and a little teaching (and not so much resting).
Secondly, I have focused a lot on career tips, the pragmatic aspects of career opportunities, so I am going to shift for a while into the more nebulous arena of creatively cultivating career directions. What is that, you ask?
Let's start with dreams. I don't mean the psychoanalysis of dreams, their interpretations and meanings. I mean dreams for the future -- hopes, aspirations, big goals. Eventually we'll talk about goals and goal-setting, but we have to start with dreams.
I have a dream . . . of finishing my PhD and doing something fabulous with it. I'm not sure what that "something fabulous" is quite yet. I have a goal of finishing up sometime this decade. I need to hurry; time is running out on that! The dream is the bigger picture, the goal is detail of the picture. Cast another way, according to the Teaching Moments blog, you shoot an arrow (goal) at a target (dream).
I like to think of it in terms of a journey: you have the destination (dream) and the vehicle (goals). Both are equally important. Why own a car if you don't have any place to go? Conversely, if you have some place you want/need to reach, you need a way to get there -- just wishing yourself there or clicking your heels three times isn't likely to work!
So, what kind of car do you want to drive? By this, I mean in the realm of opportunities and possibilities, in career and personal pathways --
* Sports car: You want the fast track. You like to accelerate from 0-90 in a heartbeat. You want to stand out from the crowd with your style and features, get noticed, be envied. You are in a top-tier price group.
* Compact car: You are efficient and effective; you get the job done. You can be just a loaded as features as the next car, but your emphasis is more on pragmatics. You may not get noticed for your extra features or flair, but you bring things in under budget. You're great at going the distance.
* Hybrid car: In today's world, you're a mix of the practical and the possibilities, down to earth and head in the clouds. You have style, but you're sensible about it and you're looking for the best solutions for everyone. You're globally-focused and team-oriented.
* Concept car: You are the future, baby! The world is in your hands, and you are ready to run with your ideas -- as soon as someone gives you the company charge card. You are a visionary and a decision maker. You take risks and lead others. You are bold and people notice you and know who you are.
* Minivan: You always have a lot of people around, and you have a unique way of providing the help that people need when they need it. You can take charge, if necessary, but you probably prefer to be part of the support team. You're very organized, detail-oriented, and you like the add-ons in life. Your family values shine through and are at the heart of your aspirations.
* Pickup Truck: You're practical and hands-on. You like to be involved in making the details happen, not just planning them out, and you take initiative. You're usually traditional, conservative, and a problem-solver. People come to you to fix things -- and you do.
Now, not everyone fits perfectly into the above categories. Some people see themselves in more than one. Some people may not quite see themselves (but can picture themselves as a different type of car). You get the idea, though. Your personality, your work style, your approach to life and values -- all of that influences how you work out your goals. If you don't have the right type of car (goals) to get where you're going (dreams), now might be the time for a change!
]]>Makes me wanna gag and hurl. The students at Harvard are by-and-large herded into careers that put people before profits (shoutout to my boy Philip Parham '09 who appears in the video, however). It relates to another discussion going on as well.
]]>Nothing cures a blogging slump like a good meme....
The rules of the game get posted at the beginning. Each player answers the questions about themselves. At the end of the post, the player then tags 5 people and posts their names, then goes to their blogs and leaves them a comment, letting them know they’ve been tagged and asking them to read your blog. Let the person who tagged you know when you’ve posted your answer.
1) What was I doing 10 years ago?
Wow 10 years ago I was living in Northern Illinois and working in drug discovery for Abbott Laboratories. I had just finished my first NMR structure of a protein that was pretty important at the time. Important enough that the group that beat us to the structure by a few months published their structure in Nature, and so I had to settle for Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences* -- but that’s cool.
I was also about the mid-span of my time with She Who Must Not Be Named, though at that point I think she was more like She Who Is Causing You To Second Guess This Whole Thing – but that would still take a couple of years to play itself out.
2) What are 5 things on my to-do list for today?
Prepare for upcoming prioritization meeting with direct reports
Write up latest results
Meet a friend I haven’t seen in a year for lunch
Prepare slides for upcoming presentation
Practice piano
3) Snacks I enjoy:
Cheese and crackers (I’ve been really digging the big block of manchego cheese from Costco – though I will consistently mispronounce it as ma-cheng-o for reasons that I can’t quite identify), nuts (almonds and crunchy peanuts), gin.
4) Things I would do if I were a billionaire:
The self-indulgent things I would do would be to have a house on the shore, in the mountains and in a big city, and travel travel travel. Once I scratched that itch enough I’d donate a lot of my time (and that extra dough) to literacy programs, food programs for the poor and natural-space conservation efforts.
5) Places I have lived:
Camden NJ, Newark DE, Chapel Hill NC, Wilmington DE, Gurnee IL, San Diego CA.
6) Jobs I have had:
Janitor, paperboy, car buyer for leasing agency, college cafeteria worker, mass spec technician, organic chemist, biochemist-biophysicist, research program team leader
7) Bloggers I am tagging who I will enjoy getting to know better:
I thought I'd tag a few of the newer folks in my Neighborhood....SinCity Blonde; Jack Yan; Kellysouth; and Eli's Dad
*which has the unfortunate (and snicker-inducing) acronym: PNAS
just for stories like this:
Report: Women Increasingly Choosing Dead-End Careers Over Dead-End Relationships
Snip:
]]>"Avoiding dying alone at all costs is no longer the primary goal for many of today's women," Detweiller said. "Every year, millions of educated females discover that they can be just as underappreciated and ignored in the workplace as they can while doting on loutish and inattentive boyfriends."
In addition to an overall increase in those settling for absolutely futureless secretarial or librarian positions, the study showed that more women are now choosing dead-end occupations conventionally dominated by men, such as accounting and data entry.
I'm totally in love with "The Big Bang Theory" on CBS. There are people who feel so uncomfortable watching it, but I feel that it's innocent enough that it's not a problem. For me, at least. I really appreciate Kunal Nayyar the most - he really makes the show for me; conversely, I feel that there may have been better options than Kaylee Cuoco (though none come to mind at the moment).
I was just going to say that I had nothing to say until I thought of this: Jenna Bush.
It pisses me off that the entire area is making a big deal about her arrival. I would really hate to be the person living in close proximity to her and her husband - all the press this is generating is exasperating. So she decided to move to Fed Hill? So her husband works for Constellation Energy? That's one more reason to dislike him, in my opinion. I can't stand Mayo Shattuck, and Molly just irritates me. I can't make up my mind, however, if that's because she's a trophy wife or because they're rolling in money.
What hypocrisy. I just looked CE's career postings. I should be dragged out in the street and shot. Actually because I want to be rich and greedy and rolling in money, I should actually be strung up by my thumbs.
As much as I want to be pissed about my current (non-graduated) situation, I can't, because I know that I wouldn't be able to get a job in HR if I had graduated. I'd be stuck in a hole with nowhere to go (hey, that rhymes!) and that would just bite. Still, it's a wishful situation: I find myself looking at HR jobs I could have a good chance at getting, but I know I'll be more qualified when I'm ready. I'm just bitter (get over it, Elle).
Which brings me to something else: it irritates me that people in the business world have this vendetta against HR. I'm willing to concede that in some companies that don't have a good department, HR would actually suck. Companies that do have a great HR team, though, should be given credit. There are some people who genuinely care about their jobs and the people that they impact while they're doing their jobs and/or making decisions pertaining to the workforce. That's just irritating that people take HR's functions for granted, because in many cases, working conditions would be shit without that kind of regulation. I'm fortunate to work with a team that is amazing at what they do. The Assistant knows literally everyone and everything that is going on in the organization, no small feat when you think about what goes into even a mid-sized company (which I work for). That's a lot of stuff to keep track of, a lot of politics to watch out for, a lot of things to watch for that are being thrown your way.
I used to work for an organization whose HR left much to be desired. That's all I'm going to say.
I think my dog hates that I make him feel/seem subordinate to me. This dog is so funny.
Oh, so last week I saw an old friend who I had a falling out with some months ago. We actually live near each other, and I'm surprised it's taken this long for us to get a glance at each other; our falling out was over a year ago. I'm not experiencing any heartbreak over it, though I thought it was funny that this person thought it necessary to tear through the intersection we were both stopped at after the light turned green. I can take this one of a few ways:
1. That he assumes I have some kind of ridiculous emotion to him/his car and feels the need to emphasize on this (theoretical) fact. [If this is the case, it's really not that serious. I don't have any kind of feelings about anything, though a year ago I was still fuming about something. Besides, I know the Accord has something like 210hp, tearing out of the intersection like that does nothing but waste one's gas.]
2. That he's still irritated and doesn't want to look at me. [Which would amuse me greatly. We exist, we might as well coexist peacefully.]
3. That he probably thought I would pull an ignorant driver move and attempt to beat him out at the light in order to cut in front of him (a frequent occurrence until the HOA put in two designated lanes). [It's ridiculous. I can drive like a moron frequently, but it raises my blood pressure when someone does that to me, and therefore I am in no position or want to be a hypocrite.]
Perhaps that I'm writing about it just proves that I'm still irritated about the whole situation in some way, shape, or form. Whatever, I'm working on getting over it.
My boyfriend and I are planning a trip to Montreal, which is incredibly exciting. Honestly, I feel so grown up! I'm sure my father will have a cow, but no matter, he's not paying for the trip, and I'm frankly in a position to be making these kinds of decisions, anyway. (Good Lord, who am I justifying these decisions to?? I must be trying to just reassure myself.)
Le boyfriend bought a Wii and I want to play Mario.