Jobs in which you've been happy

[Windbag]

As a type, we aren't known for job satisfaction. Work sucks - or does it?

Tell us about your jobs, menial or advanced, in which you were really happy. I'll start.

1. Kitchen and baths renovation project manager. I studied plans and tried to identify problems before the renovation started. I got to save the day by coming up with solutions to unique renovation problems once the project was underway, and respond to all manner of emergencies. Designing a realistic work schedule (knowing that real life would wreck it) was fun.

I could have done that job for life, but the company went under (not my fault!).

2. Laborer for a custom home builder. Yeah sometimes I just shoveled gravel and did a lot of sweeping and snow removal, but the rest of the time it was random challenges such as building unique wooden scaffolds inside houses, drywalling crazy angled interiors where the drywall hangers said "forget it", and responding to emergencies of all kinds. Each day I usually ended up going to two or three sites to carry out little missions. 90% of the time I worked alone.


I grew up on a farm and I've only had hands-on jobs, and I'm trying to tease out patterns of what sort of work style suits our type. It's easy to say: oh, INTPs like math or computers or engineering or whatever, but that is largely irrelevant because I believe job satisfaction has more to do with work style than field. I've certainly been very happy doing jobs that one would assume would be best performed by an ISTP, such as cabinet-making and mechanical work, provided there was enough variety in the job and I didn't do the same thing day after day.

So tell me of your bliss at work.

 

[not]

I have a strong aversion to the concept of 'jobs' but am a hard, dedicated 'worker' when I put my mind to something. Every job I ever had was a temporary construct in order to earn enough cash to be able to do real 'work.' In that sense, every job I ever had was tolerated, but not enjoyed. As you can see I draw a distinction between jobs and work. For me a job is something you do in the absence of real work, or as a stopgap. A job is always trading time for money, and mostly to the benefit of others, for your time is never adequately compensated. Work is something you do with a purpose and drive to create something new, or to solve a real world problem. If monetary gain is a byproduct of the work, so much the better...

The best 'job' I had was as a technical 'online editor' for a major television station. The reason I tolerated this job the best, was because it was highly technical, highly specialized, paid really well, was at night, limited exposure to people, and much downtime because once you did all the upfront work, the computers did the heavy lifting so there were large gaps of time where I could freely think of other things and still be paid for my time...

The best 'work' I've done to date was create a feature film.

I am still struggling with doing real work that still pays as much as a job pays.

 

[Ex-User (5841)]

I'm happy doing anything so long as I get to do it my way.

Research and field work are pretty awesome, and my latest gig of buying out the belongings of the recently deceased and foreclosed-upon is pretty sweet too. But it's time for something new.

I'd like to just quit everything tbh.

 

[Architect]

Programming/engineering jobs. There's been stress and bother too, can't get it perfect. But you get a relative degree of autonomy, money, interesting problems; a great combination.

 

[Vrecknidj]

Lecturer
Almost every year, at some point at the end of a semester, a handful of truly grateful students will, after their final exam, approach me, shake my hand, and tell me some variant of "This was the most influential class I've had while studying at a university, thank you so much." This year, I received two invitations: one from an artist who wrote on the back of the invitation to a showing of her work that one of my classes a few years ago changed her perspective as an artist; the other from a student who invited me to attend an induction ceremony for medallion scholars (the school's highest ranking scholarship) -- former recipients are permitted to invite one faculty member, I'm the only person from my department to have been invited to this honor.

I have received satisfactions and rewards from other work I've done as well, sometimes praise from others, sometimes just the joy of doing a job well. But, the rewards of being an influential teacher/mentor/lecturer are great.

 

[EditorOne]

Windbag, the official job designation may be "labourer," but you outlined a good fit for INTP: jack-of-all-trades, problem-solving generalist. You've got a good base of experience in construction and taking on new problems that can be solved by analysis and then creatively applying that experience is what INTP is all about. Especially if there's a fairly frequent inclusion of "something new" in the mix.

I'm taking on writing coach jobs a little bit now. Same idea: I just analyzed a newspaper operation and wrote up a checklist the reporters can use to avoid pukeworthy writing ("If your lead paragraph begins with a preposition, start over." Etc.) So far, so good. It's rewarding.

 

[Lot]

For the most part, I've really enjoyed pizza delivery. I learned to love maps. Maps are amazing. Plotting out routs, and dealing with traffic. Problems to solve. My favorite part is being left alone in a car with my thoughts. I get paid quite well to listen to music and get lost in my thoughts. Recently I got a new manager. She is completely incompetent. I'm looking for something new. 6 years of pizza, may have worn out it's adventure.

I also enjoyed construction. I did roofing work for three years. My boss liked talking about theology and politics. Many a deep discussions occurred on those roofs. I also did framing with my father for a few months. I liked it, but I think a position delegating tasks, or deciding how to do things, would have been more rewarding. But once again, these two jobs left a lot of room for getting lost in my thoughts.

 

[sushi]

Librarian, so I can read books and masturbate, learn about the world and still get paid.