| Author |
 Topic  |
|
|
enthuTIMsiast
Alien Abductee
6990 Posts |
 Posted - 10/22/2002 : 01:41:31 AM
|
This is something I've been thinking about for quite a while. Long before the new job, so the two are unrelated. I fully expect for this topic, like all others, to stray from this idea quickly, but I'd love to hear from a few of you before that happens.
What I want to know is what is your motivation for doing your job? That applies to part-timers, full time people, salaried, hourly...basically any job you do. Do you do what you strictly for the money? Or do you enjoy helping people? Just to pass the time?
It's hard for me to sum up why I want to understand this better. I haven't formulated it fully in my head yet, and so I have an even harder time trying to explain what answer I want to get (not that I want to lead you to a specific answer, just that I want to ask the right question).
In any event, I'm really having trouble justifying any motive I can think of for myself to have any job. But this isn't really about me in the sense of me pitying myself (I don't), I'm just trying to relate it a little. When I was delivering office supplies, I certianly didn't do it for the money. I had bills to pay, sure, but I could have done anything and gotten paid what I made there. It wasn't so that I would be helping people, even tho I did help people. It wasn't to pass the time, because I would have much rather been taking a really long hiking trip or various other things. So why bother?
My job now is slightly different, but only slightly. Yes, the money is more. It might be easy for me to say that's my motivation. I don't help people in the sense that what I do directly leads to someone's life improvement; it doesn't. It does pass the time, but like I said, I'd love to hike or rock climb or just go.
It'd be easy for me to guess about some people. Liz probably enjoys seeing people be made better. And Fluffy probably really enjoys music, specifically TIM's music. But I can't even guess about myself.
Man, I don't even know what I'm asking. PJK, this is the post I was talking about earlier, but I just think I've driveled all over the board...I've made no sense, and unfortunately haven't cleared anything up for myself. Usually posts like this allow me to get my head straight about what I think...
Well, let the flaming begin.
Actually, maybe what I'm thinking is this: There are all kinds of answers to my question. I've named at least three. But each one of them has also a very good reason that it's not a good reason. But there has to be a good reason to do your job, else why would anyone do it?
Aaah, I think now I'm seeing the reason I wanted to understand this... |
Tim Reynolds Downloads
I am not the albatross of love, I am the human ellipsis. I am dot dot dot. - Leo Kottke
I hate beating people over the head with anything. We can all make up our own minds. What we don’t have is enough music. More music please. - Leo Kottke |
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2002 : 02:12:47 AM
|
Well, I sure you don't want me to answer first because I'm a student....but I'll talk about why I've chosen mechanical engineering as my major. OK......I've never had a good idea of what I wanted to be when I grew up. I would always be influenced by something. For example, I wanted to become an archaeologist after reading Jurassic Park in the 4th grade. Then I wanted to be a professional basketball player when I started to play the sport.....you know, stupid ideas you had when you were a kid.
But the original reason I wanted to a an engineer was because my friend in high school said that that's what he wanted to be. Althought it was not the best reason to choose the major, I stuck with it because I came to the conclusion that there is nothing else that I can do. I mean, I hate art (painting, film-making, poetry......just doesn't make sense to me)...my sister was a business major and the stuff she did didn't interest me in the slightest...and music doesn't offer the type of job security that engineering does.
However, the most important aspect was that I am good at math. Obviously, if I couldn't take the workload, I would have left long ago. And simultaneoulsy, I enjoy math (I've wondered a lot if the only reason I like math is because it comes easy to me, but that's just stupid). The problem-solving that we do in class actually intrigues me. Right now we are studying statics, where basically you calculate the forces acting on a body and try to add another force to maintain its equilibrium. After all, they always say that you should do what makes you happy.
But as for my real job right now. I just do it to get paid so I can buy stuff like electric guitars and Asterix comics.
|
Gay marriage killed the dinosaurs. |
 |
|
|
PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 10/22/2002 : 07:42:40 AM
|
Jason, great topic! As I said in the other post Iwas a lab tech. for agricultural researh. Motivation there, Money, benefits, great hours, no weekends and I had a social life again. Previously I was in a veterinary hospital which was my intended occupation when I went to college. Low salary, but mostly the hours...we almost always got an emergency in right before closing...made ag. research look real good.
Now I work as an instructional assistant for 7th grade special ed. at our local middle school. In the summer I work with at risk high school kids. pcbdmb, you would not believe how low some of the kids are in math. One year I taught a group of 3 7th graders who were only at a 2nd grade level! They couldn't get the concepts and didn't even know that 12=a dozen! In fact every time I'd ask how many is a dozen they would say 8! I finally got them to see there's 12 in a doz. by bringing in 2 boxes of Dunkin Doughnuts, one full with 12 the other with 8....they just needed a visual and it didn't hurt to get something good to eat out of the deal as well.
This year we have about 10 kids at a 3rd grade level. Keep in mind the school I work at is in an upper class area outside of Philly. Our school just got the national "Blue Ribbon" status, which I could care less about, in fact I felt like telling the administrators where they could put that ribbon but decided not to.
The reason that motivates me....I truely love the kids. I never think I am superior to them and no matter what their acedemic level I know I can learn as much for them as they do from me. I have seen all kinds of things, delt with kids who were molested, one of my kids mother shot the father last year (he lived but she shot him 4 times!)I had a girl who was into self mutilation, and more than a few pregnancies. What is most upsetting is the fact that soooo many kids have no one who cares about them and they know it. It doesn't matter how much money their parents have....there are just so many who are lost and feel hopeless. I have to go to work now, but my worst experience was with a boy who I was very close to who one morning got out a gun and pulled the trigger. It happened many years ago, but I live with the pain and guilt every day. I know if I had done one thing differently he would still be alive and I guess knowing that for a number of kids I have done the right thing for them is my main motivation, not only for my job now, but for going back to school to get my teaching degree.
Sorry this was so long.  |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 06:43:39 AM
|
| As you suspected my answer would be: MUSIC. Unfortunately, you have to do something to exist. You are very lucky if you find something you enjoy that also pays you to do it. I have said on numerous occasions, I would rather be indigent than work at McDonalds. Not to say that working at McDonalds isn't a good job if that is what YOU want to do, but it is not for me. I must be happy, so I look for work outlets that allow to make money, albiet little money, and also enjoy what I am doing. I will probably never be rich but that is of little consequence to me. I enjoy my work, TR, the club and the record store, not to mention my hobbies which also double as work, merchandising, doing live sound, the recording studio etc etc etc. MUSIC is my SANITY, and I believe it keeps me sane thru all the workaday world bullshit we all have to endure. Hope this helps. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy         
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
|
|
|
enthuTIMsiast
Alien Abductee
6990 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 8:35:50 PM
|
I'm not sure exactly why, but I'm just having an extraordinarily hard time justifying 'to make money' as a good reason to do something.
I don't know...this topic just pisses me off, I think (and that's just my post above, not any of yours). |
Tim Reynolds Downloads
I am not the albatross of love, I am the human ellipsis. I am dot dot dot. - Leo Kottke
I hate beating people over the head with anything. We can all make up our own minds. What we don’t have is enough music. More music please. - Leo Kottke |
|
|
|
PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 9:02:27 PM
|
Jason, I know what you mean, but I think when most people say they do a job because of the money it isn't exactly the way it sounds. I know I have been kind of trapped in my current job which is considered part-time (my hours are 15min short of full time because then they'd have to pay for benefits)because I get paid extremely well and because I have a family and a lot of bills and responsibilities it kind of makes it hard to change. Ofcourse there are other reasons as I've stated for staying in my job and going for a teaching degree, but money is always in the back of my mind.(Actually the lack of money may prevent me from going for that degree.)
I guess money is so important to my family's well being that I would do another job that I like less, if I got paid more. I know you can't understand that and I hope you never have to settle for less than what you really want to do, but when other people you love are involved, the whole picture changes.
|
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 10/23/2002 : 10:11:35 PM
|
I do what I do because I like computers and tech-ie things. I became an engineer for much the same reason as Patrick. Math was fun and engineering sounded cool. I chose Aerospace Engineering because a) that's what my boyfriend at the time was majoring in and b) because I heard that most ROTC scholarships were given for Aero & Electrical engineering.
Because MIT was expensive, my parents suggested (not in a mean way or anything) that I find a scholarship or a cheaper school. Air Force ROTC gave me a three-year tuition/fees scholarship so that all we had to pay was room & board. All I owed for this "income" was four years in military service.
You might have noticed that I'm still here after 13 years, though. That's another part of why I do what I do -- who I do it for. I do computer and tech-ie things in the Air Force for two reasons I think: tradition and patriotism. My grandfather was career Navy and my dad did 20+ years in the Army reserve. For some reason -- part of it being patriotism, I guess -- I wanted to continue this tradition. I like serving my country and knowing that I play a small part in keeping the United States free and safe (mostly).
Being in the Air Force has given me the opportunity to enable the U.S. to "fly fight and win" and to help with peaceful endeavors as well. - I've repaired A-10 aircraft that provided close air support during Desert Storm and other military operations.
 - In the past I've also repaired C-17s that today are delivering humanitarian aid to people overseas.
In my current assignment, I'm not as close to the Air Force "action" (we don't even have a runway here at LA Air Force Base) but I still feel like I'm doing my part.
- Because of the computer network that my people maintain, the Air Force is able to continue replenishing the Global Positioning System constellation that not only keeps military and civilian planes on course, but helps individuals (the ones with hand-held receivers anyway) all over the world to find their way.
  
- The work my folks do also enables the Air Force to provide launch vehicles for both military and commercial satellites that supply communications and other types of services for Americans and other people of the world. (Our next launch will be a Eutelsat bird in November.)
|
teri 
Twittering about the DC adventure since Dec '09...
(Micro)Blog * Photo Album
|
|
|
|
pcbTIM
Alien Abductee
USA
6501 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2002 : 12:01:52 AM
|
| Nice. That sounds really kewl. I don't think I'll go into the military, perhaps Boeing or DWP...I dunno.........but visual aids always make the story better. |
Gay marriage killed the dinosaurs. |
|
|
|
enthuTIMsiast
Alien Abductee
6990 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2002 : 12:30:34 AM
|
Yeah Teri those are great reasons. It really does sound like you love what you do.
And Pam don't get me wrong, I didn't say I loved my job so much that I don't do it for the money. Quite the opposite. I have to have $ too. But that doesn't mean that I enjoy doing it for that reason. Maybe it's this part of the equation that I'm hanging up on. I am not sure what I could do that I would love to do for it's own benefits to me. But what I'm doing now will do.
Ah hell, I'm going to figure this out soon and I'll lay it all down. |
Tim Reynolds Downloads
I am not the albatross of love, I am the human ellipsis. I am dot dot dot. - Leo Kottke
I hate beating people over the head with anything. We can all make up our own minds. What we don’t have is enough music. More music please. - Leo Kottke |
|
|
|
PJK
Alien Abductee
USA
4159 Posts |
Posted - 10/24/2002 : 07:07:54 AM
|
| Jason, I see what your mean. I am looking for something else too, but for now mine will have to do too. |
"It is hard enough to remember my opinions, without also remembering my reasons for them!"Friedrich Nietzsche |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 10/25/2002 : 5:51:34 PM
|
| Lots of people complain that the money in the military isn't good, but I think I'm doing pretty well. (I can afford to pay half the rent on a house that's $2400 a month!) Perhaps it's the enlisted force that gets the short end of the stick where paychecks are concerned... |
teri
Twittering about the DC adventure since Dec '09...
(Micro)Blog * Photo Album
|
|
|
|
Fluffy
Administrator
USA
10739 Posts |
Posted - 10/28/2002 : 06:59:53 AM
|
| I would agree with that, having never risen out of the enlisted ranks. |
Peace & Keep the Faith
Fluffy
"THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS A CRUEL AND SHALLOW MONEY TRENCH-- A LONG PLASTIC HALLWAY WHERE THIEVES AND PIMPS RUN FREE AND GOOD MEN DIE LIKE DOGS. THERE'S ALSO A NEGATIVE SIDE..." -Hunter S. Thompson |
|
|
|
tericee
Alien Abductee
USA
2579 Posts |
Posted - 10/31/2002 : 3:07:17 PM
|
TTT
We only got answers from PJK, Fluffy, and me. There are tons of other people to be heard from, no? |
teri
Twittering about the DC adventure since Dec '09...
(Micro)Blog * Photo Album
|
|
|
|
chatterballs
Chatterbox
117 Posts |
Posted - 11/02/2002 : 04:48:56 AM
|
Food and women. That's why I do what I do.
Food because it always satisfies me.
Women because they are almost as good as food sometimes. |
Turns out, not where, but who you're with, that really matters. |
|
|
| |
Topic |
|
|
|
Why Do You Do What You Do?
