What is good about work?
October 29, 2022 11:52 AM Subscribe
What's a part of your job that you actually like? What task or part of your work day, other than lunch, do you really enjoy, to the point of thinking, yeah, this is it, this is where I fit?
This is a sponsored post (from MeTa) but also because I, personally am re-entering the workforce after some "taking care of business" time off, I'd like to know what sort of things to be looking for as I talk to people about their workplaces and workload. Thank you.
This is a sponsored post (from MeTa) but also because I, personally am re-entering the workforce after some "taking care of business" time off, I'd like to know what sort of things to be looking for as I talk to people about their workplaces and workload. Thank you.
I'm a software developer. I'm senior enough that I spend a lot of my day in meetings, but every now and then I get a clear chunk of time to tussle with a problem, usually in the form of "Spec says X, how do I use available APIs Y and Z to get there?" Lately I've had a problem that's complex enough that I spend a while figuring out a small change that moves me closer, then test it, get excited, and then ruminate for a while on the next step (while getting a coffee or something). Those little bursts of progress are the stereotypical programming dopamine hit.
There's also something really satisfying about executing the social side of the job well enough to get a bunch of folks on board with creating and executing a plan to solve a bigger problem. That's harder for me, and leaves me more drained, but it's also satisfying when you play your cards right, since then you've got a bunch of people solving a bigger problem than you could solve alone.
posted by Alterscape at 12:13 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
There's also something really satisfying about executing the social side of the job well enough to get a bunch of folks on board with creating and executing a plan to solve a bigger problem. That's harder for me, and leaves me more drained, but it's also satisfying when you play your cards right, since then you've got a bunch of people solving a bigger problem than you could solve alone.
posted by Alterscape at 12:13 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
Besides my colleagues, and the intellectual and humorous conversations we share, I love the autonomy I have to decide which aspect of my job I do at which time. As long as general deadlines and conditions are met, I can pick and choose according to my priorities and desires. I also enjoy that I am allocated a more creative task for 20% of my work week, and given the opportunity to pursue it without needing to break my concentration for unscheduled meetings.
posted by Thella at 12:20 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Thella at 12:20 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I love teaching in most of its forms. I'm not sure I love preparing for it so much, though I don't mind it, and I am not enthusiastic about the administrative part either, though I don't actively hate it.
I like the other aspects of my job too, they are research and management and they are challenging and often fun.
But being in class, wether giving a lecture, Q&As, tutoring or just hanging around and talking about stuff is literally my safe space, as a person with PTSD. I like the students, I like my colleagues and our collaborative dynamics, I like the buildings and the views, I like the course content. And again, I feel completely safe, surrounded by nice people who mostly want to be there too.
I can wake up in the morning and think this day is going to be too much for me because they can be nine hours without pause, and then at the end of the day, I find myself cheerful and happy to answer questions and encourage students, tired, but not drained at all.
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
I like the other aspects of my job too, they are research and management and they are challenging and often fun.
But being in class, wether giving a lecture, Q&As, tutoring or just hanging around and talking about stuff is literally my safe space, as a person with PTSD. I like the students, I like my colleagues and our collaborative dynamics, I like the buildings and the views, I like the course content. And again, I feel completely safe, surrounded by nice people who mostly want to be there too.
I can wake up in the morning and think this day is going to be too much for me because they can be nine hours without pause, and then at the end of the day, I find myself cheerful and happy to answer questions and encourage students, tired, but not drained at all.
posted by mumimor at 12:22 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
I do support for health care IT applications. I've had various jobs but I've worked at the same hospital (after a couple mergers) for about 28 years now. Back when I was working at Burger King, and into my years as a field service computer tech, I used to think having a desk job was The Dream. I'd know I made it when all I had to do was sit in front of a computer all day and do computer stuff.
I'll tell ya, it's not all it's cracked up to be. My job pays the bills. If I have to get up every morning and work, it's not really a bad way to do it. But it's also a job that brings me very little in the way of personal satisfaction. I would much rather be working with my hands. That ship has sailed though, I need health care and I need a decent salary to live the sort of life I want me and my family to live. So I do my job and then when I'm done I do the stuff I like doing.
But what do I like about it? The apps I support are departmental apps. Some clinical, some financial, some record keeping. Usually, when I am tasked to do something, it means that a bunch of other people are unable to do their job. A server is down, something is broken, and when they go to do the thing they need to do they are unable to do the thing. So my team is called.
And then I do something. Sometimes this is as simple as restarting a service, sometimes it's way more complicated and I have to get other teams involved. But when I'm done, those folks can do their jobs again. Sometimes they act like I'm some sort of wizard. I like knowing that I helped them out. I like when there is clearly Something Broken and when I'm done it is no longer broken.
Also, while there is certainly much to be said about the health care industry, working at a non-profit hospital I don't feel exploited by some corporation, I don't generally have to worry about the ethics of what I'm doing. I know that, even though I don't go near the patients, I am contributing in some small part to helping people get healthier. My joke is that when people ask me what I do at the hospital I say "I save lives."
I've been remote since March of 2020 and will probably be remote permanently. I didn't like it at first but now I absolutely love it and will never, ever want to commute again.
I really like my boss and my director. I've had a lot of bosses over the years, some not great, some absolutely incompetent, but my current boss, who I've had for maybe five years now, is really the first Very Good boss I've ever had there. He's just a good manager and a great guy. I'm lucky.
posted by bondcliff at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
I'll tell ya, it's not all it's cracked up to be. My job pays the bills. If I have to get up every morning and work, it's not really a bad way to do it. But it's also a job that brings me very little in the way of personal satisfaction. I would much rather be working with my hands. That ship has sailed though, I need health care and I need a decent salary to live the sort of life I want me and my family to live. So I do my job and then when I'm done I do the stuff I like doing.
But what do I like about it? The apps I support are departmental apps. Some clinical, some financial, some record keeping. Usually, when I am tasked to do something, it means that a bunch of other people are unable to do their job. A server is down, something is broken, and when they go to do the thing they need to do they are unable to do the thing. So my team is called.
And then I do something. Sometimes this is as simple as restarting a service, sometimes it's way more complicated and I have to get other teams involved. But when I'm done, those folks can do their jobs again. Sometimes they act like I'm some sort of wizard. I like knowing that I helped them out. I like when there is clearly Something Broken and when I'm done it is no longer broken.
Also, while there is certainly much to be said about the health care industry, working at a non-profit hospital I don't feel exploited by some corporation, I don't generally have to worry about the ethics of what I'm doing. I know that, even though I don't go near the patients, I am contributing in some small part to helping people get healthier. My joke is that when people ask me what I do at the hospital I say "I save lives."
I've been remote since March of 2020 and will probably be remote permanently. I didn't like it at first but now I absolutely love it and will never, ever want to commute again.
I really like my boss and my director. I've had a lot of bosses over the years, some not great, some absolutely incompetent, but my current boss, who I've had for maybe five years now, is really the first Very Good boss I've ever had there. He's just a good manager and a great guy. I'm lucky.
posted by bondcliff at 12:34 PM on October 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
I really enjoy going to meetings. I like learning about all aspects of the organization, the problems and issues and opportunities and personalities that are at play in other departments and the company at large. I like knowing how and why decisions are made, and learning more about how my role affects other people and departments, and how theirs affects mine. I am interested in hearing what other people think, understanding their thought process and the things that are important to them in their role with the company, as well as getting the opportunity to observe their behavior and intuit their motivations. I like knowing what is going on behind the scenes, and knowing where things are most likely headed based on having this knowledge.
I'm sure I would like meetings a lot less if they were sucking away time I needed to carry out other work responsibilities, though. But I don't get to go to all that many, so I'm usually glad for the opportunity to attend.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm sure I would like meetings a lot less if they were sucking away time I needed to carry out other work responsibilities, though. But I don't get to go to all that many, so I'm usually glad for the opportunity to attend.
posted by Serene Empress Dork at 12:35 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm a teacher.
You can't really teach people, but you can create a space where they can teach themselves.
I love figuring out what it's like for someone to *not understand* something , and helping that person use what they already understand, to bridge that gap.
One of the best part of being a teacher is gaining a student's trust, so they become confident in sharing who they are, especially the shy, apologetic, invisible ones.
posted by Zumbador at 12:36 PM on October 29, 2022 [26 favorites]
You can't really teach people, but you can create a space where they can teach themselves.
I love figuring out what it's like for someone to *not understand* something , and helping that person use what they already understand, to bridge that gap.
One of the best part of being a teacher is gaining a student's trust, so they become confident in sharing who they are, especially the shy, apologetic, invisible ones.
posted by Zumbador at 12:36 PM on October 29, 2022 [26 favorites]
I am helping improve state wide systems. It is slow going but I see improvement. My superficially useless actions will in the long run help thousands of people.
posted by kerf at 12:37 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by kerf at 12:37 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I’m an inpatient dietitian for a peds ICU, and I round with the doctors daily, and I love when I make a suggestion and the response is “we weren’t even thinking about doing that, but yes, let’s!” I’m fortunate to work in a pretty collaborative and respectful unit, so this actually happens pretty regularly!
I also love when I notice something relevant to my practice on an x-ray which no one else has noticed yet, which (fortunately, probably) happens much more rarely. Once we had a radiologist change his read on the XR based on something I pointed out! I peaked that day. [lol]
posted by obfuscation at 12:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [9 favorites]
I also love when I notice something relevant to my practice on an x-ray which no one else has noticed yet, which (fortunately, probably) happens much more rarely. Once we had a radiologist change his read on the XR based on something I pointed out! I peaked that day. [lol]
posted by obfuscation at 12:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [9 favorites]
[Hey, here's my question, yay!]
My favorite task at work, and the closest I come to that feeling of flow, is writing out patient consult notes.
I have seen the patient, I am sitting down at the desk, and I start writing down my summary of the case and recommendactions. I list the relevant data and the rationale for my recs. I love writing but do not have the passion or creativity to write fiction. Consult notes are my creative outlet, I love creating notes that are (hopefully) clear, and help understand the what and the why. It's one of my favorite parts of doctoring.
Another favorite part is swapping "war stories" with other team members.
Oh, and doing discharge. Writing the summary and recs, making a plan, and then sitting down with the patient and having a chat about next steps. Also usually one of the nicer parts of the day.
posted by M. at 12:53 PM on October 29, 2022 [11 favorites]
My favorite task at work, and the closest I come to that feeling of flow, is writing out patient consult notes.
I have seen the patient, I am sitting down at the desk, and I start writing down my summary of the case and recommendactions. I list the relevant data and the rationale for my recs. I love writing but do not have the passion or creativity to write fiction. Consult notes are my creative outlet, I love creating notes that are (hopefully) clear, and help understand the what and the why. It's one of my favorite parts of doctoring.
Another favorite part is swapping "war stories" with other team members.
Oh, and doing discharge. Writing the summary and recs, making a plan, and then sitting down with the patient and having a chat about next steps. Also usually one of the nicer parts of the day.
posted by M. at 12:53 PM on October 29, 2022 [11 favorites]
[Okay, since I'm the OP, I was hoping that people would mention what specific parts of the job they most enjoy on a granular level. So for example, as a teacher, do you enjoy prepping? Or the last period of the day? grading? giving a quiz? facilitating small group discussion? talking to students during recess? - thar kind of thing. What is your favorite task at work, more or less.
posted by M. at 12:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by M. at 12:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
In volunteer-run and mostly volunteer-run organizations, I enjoy welcoming new people. Specifically, by connecting interested volunteers with people, roles, and responsibilities that are right for them, and then they grow into a role and find their own way and do amazing things.
posted by aniola at 12:59 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by aniola at 12:59 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
When I'm reading documents and I find one that clicks into my argument just so. This was true in my first career, equally true in my second. I once found an especially good document and ran down the hall waving a printout over my head yelling "Suc-cess!" like the Vicomte de Valmont in Dangerous Liaisons.
posted by praemunire at 1:04 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by praemunire at 1:04 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm an outpatient and dialysis dietitian. For outpatient work, I really enjoy helping people figure out how to translate the nutrition advice (eat more fruits and vegetables! eat less processed foods! etc etc) into daily actions. It's extremely gratifying to have follow-ups with patients 2-3 months down the line when they're so excited that their blood pressure readings have been normal for the last 2 weeks, or that their A1cs have come down to their goal, or even they have more energy to play with their grandbabies now! It's being able to connect with people and providing them with the nutrition counseling they need to fit their lifestyles and their desires that make the job for me.
For working with dialysis patients, I enjoy helping people realize that the renal diet is doable even though it seems really overwhelming at first. Lots of initial education provided by is couched as "you can't eat this," which leaves a lot of people thinking, "Well, what can I eat then?? Air???" I get the privilege of stepping in and showing them how to fit in their favorite foods while also helping them to prevent further medical complications down the line. And because dialysis is usually a long term treatment modality for most people, I really get to know my people really well, get to know their families, and help provide support that's goes beyond nutrition. I also work with a great team (nephrologist, renal NPs and PAs, and social workers), so we're able to really care for the whole patient.
posted by astapasta24 at 1:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
For working with dialysis patients, I enjoy helping people realize that the renal diet is doable even though it seems really overwhelming at first. Lots of initial education provided by is couched as "you can't eat this," which leaves a lot of people thinking, "Well, what can I eat then?? Air???" I get the privilege of stepping in and showing them how to fit in their favorite foods while also helping them to prevent further medical complications down the line. And because dialysis is usually a long term treatment modality for most people, I really get to know my people really well, get to know their families, and help provide support that's goes beyond nutrition. I also work with a great team (nephrologist, renal NPs and PAs, and social workers), so we're able to really care for the whole patient.
posted by astapasta24 at 1:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [10 favorites]
I love that I have freedom to control my day, that I get paid enough and have enough paid time off that I don't have to be worried and anxious about taking care of myself and my family, I love getting to make a human connection with people - sometimes quite intimate, that my job is about hope and belief in human potential, I love walking around to different floors in the hospital, getting to almost move through walls from the ED to the floors to the outpatient psych program to the specialty clinic and that people know my name and I know theirs (or at least their faces).
posted by latkes at 1:13 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by latkes at 1:13 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
The daily text I get from my bank that shows I still have cash in my account.
No, it's the feeling that I get when I feel that I've translated a complex concept into something that's understandable to a layperson. So that would either be the moment during research or an expert interview when a concept clicks for me.
posted by kingdead at 1:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
No, it's the feeling that I get when I feel that I've translated a complex concept into something that's understandable to a layperson. So that would either be the moment during research or an expert interview when a concept clicks for me.
posted by kingdead at 1:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
Public library worker w MLIS degree: I love processing boxes of new books that are on hold for patrons. I just like shiny new books, and it clears my mind because it is such a concrete task with a clear end.
Emptying our public suggestion box each month, reading the comments people have written, and scanning the suggestions for all our building to see. There is an element of surprise each time and a delightful mix of odd, impassioned suggestions from local kooks, people expressing love for the library, and messages written by kids who are figuring out that anonymous suggestions can be a way to try out mischief like swear words or endearingly childish insults. There are also sometimes small problems we can actually solve, like fixing a door handle that often gets stuck.
posted by lizard music at 1:21 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
Emptying our public suggestion box each month, reading the comments people have written, and scanning the suggestions for all our building to see. There is an element of surprise each time and a delightful mix of odd, impassioned suggestions from local kooks, people expressing love for the library, and messages written by kids who are figuring out that anonymous suggestions can be a way to try out mischief like swear words or endearingly childish insults. There are also sometimes small problems we can actually solve, like fixing a door handle that often gets stuck.
posted by lizard music at 1:21 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'm a K-12 enrichment math teacher, and I work for a company where we use a mix of prepared slides/scripts and our own work, for consistency among different teachers. One of the moments I knew "this place fits me" was during a training where our trainer said, "if you ever feel like something should be changed, go ahead & do it -- we hired you because we trust your judgment!" and after a string of ridiculously micromanaging college adjunct jobs, it was a huge breath of fresh air. Now that I've been with this company for a couple years, I've been able to see how they really put this in action, and being somewhere that I feel comfortable saying "hey, I think we should change [thing]" and have that taken seriously is invaluable for my growth & confidence as a teacher.
Another factor for me at that job is that they actually take support of LGBTQ+ staff and students very seriously. They have official policies on using people's correct pronouns and when someone went off with a bunch of transphobia on a staff message board as these policies were being introduced, it was treated seriously and not swept under any rug.
posted by augustimagination at 1:32 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
Another factor for me at that job is that they actually take support of LGBTQ+ staff and students very seriously. They have official policies on using people's correct pronouns and when someone went off with a bunch of transphobia on a staff message board as these policies were being introduced, it was treated seriously and not swept under any rug.
posted by augustimagination at 1:32 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
Public librarian here. I like 90% of what I do. Favorites include: advocating for staff, taking big projects and creating a system and organizing the details, creative collaboration on adult programming, creating changes in policy and our approaches to how we do things.
posted by sugarbomb at 1:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by sugarbomb at 1:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I’m a financial auditor in a large multinational. I am senior enough that I spend a good chunk of the day in meetings, have a lot of freedom to organise my day, prioritise as I see fit as long as deadlines are met. Most of my day is spent solving others’ problems and making sure the right things get done at the right time by the right people.
In addition to the very high degree of autonomy, I love two aspects of my job. The first is training/coaching people. Both facilitating formal training and ongoing on the job training. I enjoy taking complicated topics and distilling them into basic, actionable steps. I enjoy taking the at times useless material provided for the formal training and making it better, or at least less awful.
I also love solving technical problems - reading up on a topic, talking to knowledgeable people about it to make sure I’m not missing anything, solving my client’s problems while making sure we have the right accounting results and appropriate audit procedures and making sure anybody above me, who has to approve the solution, is on board.
My least favourite part of the job is dealing with administration and corporate dysfunction.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:57 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
In addition to the very high degree of autonomy, I love two aspects of my job. The first is training/coaching people. Both facilitating formal training and ongoing on the job training. I enjoy taking complicated topics and distilling them into basic, actionable steps. I enjoy taking the at times useless material provided for the formal training and making it better, or at least less awful.
I also love solving technical problems - reading up on a topic, talking to knowledgeable people about it to make sure I’m not missing anything, solving my client’s problems while making sure we have the right accounting results and appropriate audit procedures and making sure anybody above me, who has to approve the solution, is on board.
My least favourite part of the job is dealing with administration and corporate dysfunction.
posted by koahiatamadl at 1:57 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I also work in a public library.
I adore creating book lists for specific topics/themes, etc. It doesn't even seem like work. I love playing detective and finding non-obvious titles to match particular parameters.
I also love helping patrons who come in and are very nervous about faxing/scanning etc--and then I teach them how to do it and their faces light up and they leave more confident than they were when they came in. It's the best.
posted by bookmammal at 2:03 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
I adore creating book lists for specific topics/themes, etc. It doesn't even seem like work. I love playing detective and finding non-obvious titles to match particular parameters.
I also love helping patrons who come in and are very nervous about faxing/scanning etc--and then I teach them how to do it and their faces light up and they leave more confident than they were when they came in. It's the best.
posted by bookmammal at 2:03 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
The common thread across my career is: pulling together accurate information and presenting it to people in a clear and informative way. Often, this is information that allows the person to take an action or learn something. This was what I did as a historical researcher for documentaries, as a content editor at one of the first large how-to sites (Mahalo.com - I need to go back on the Wayback Machine and find our apple pie how-to because it's still the best one I've ever made), as director of marketing and communications at a California tourism organization, as a marketing consultant for a yarn shop and as director of marketing for an insurance company. It is without a doubt the thing I am happiest doing.
posted by rednikki at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by rednikki at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
I'm a creative director and it's a lot of work, but I do actually enjoy coming up with new concepts and working on stuff with designers and writers. But I'm lucky enough that I work at a firm where the vast majority of my clients are people and organizations I really care about. So it's great when a campaign we create actually does make people want to give money to fund a school system, or spend a weekend listening to young musicians, or learn about ways to protect the wildlife in a forest, or travel to a small, out of the way that they never heard of before and love it.
posted by thivaia at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by thivaia at 2:10 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a technical writer, which is kind of like being a full-time project manager with a part-time writing gig on the side.
I frequently work on documentation projects that can take months from start to finish. What I enjoy is the planning aspect: understanding the product, deciding what needs to be documented, breaking down those tasks into actionable steps, creating checklists to manage the work, and just getting things in order so that when I start working I can just punch through my writing tasks.
A lot of people think that technical writing is a "writing" job, and that's not really the case. I do a good bit of writing, which I enjoy, but I do more project management related stuff in order to manage the writing tasks, and I find I sometimes enjoy that part more.
posted by ralan at 2:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
I frequently work on documentation projects that can take months from start to finish. What I enjoy is the planning aspect: understanding the product, deciding what needs to be documented, breaking down those tasks into actionable steps, creating checklists to manage the work, and just getting things in order so that when I start working I can just punch through my writing tasks.
A lot of people think that technical writing is a "writing" job, and that's not really the case. I do a good bit of writing, which I enjoy, but I do more project management related stuff in order to manage the writing tasks, and I find I sometimes enjoy that part more.
posted by ralan at 2:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
When scientific research money dried up after the crash of '08 I got a job teaching 3rd level in a tech institute. I loved the theatre of teaching. Every Monday morning I'd put on my white coat and happy face to try to make science sing for other people. I was lucky to come to that position late in my working life. Many of my younger colleagues had been doing the same-old same-old for decades, had lost their whoomph and it showed. I live in my head while lots of our students were "a good pair of hands", so on my watch they had to figure out how to make things work rather being told what to do by teacher-as-expert. Very rewarding when it worked.
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:18 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by BobTheScientist at 2:18 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm a data analyst/scientist/whatever you want to call it. I much prefer behind-the-scenes work rather than in-front-of-customers work, so my best days are when I'm working on projects that either push forward technical capabilities of my department or make life easier for my colleagues. Usually that involves writing Python code, researching new tools we could be using, working on implementing new standards/best practices, or working with colleagues to recommend solution designs for projects they're working on. Also, my colleagues are pretty great, so just being around people who are good at what they do but aren't cocky about it is nice.
posted by noneuclidean at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by noneuclidean at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm an editor and I knew I loved editing, but I didn't realize until I moved from online into books that what I REALLY love is editing first proofs specifically. I mean, editing a manuscript is very rewarding! But first proofs are the first time the text has actually been laid out in the design, which in a very designed-up book (which mine generally are) means there are often many spots where you need to edit strategically to fill in a page or fit to a page or or avoid orphans/widows/double hyphens or whatever. It's very surgical and feels like a cross between editing and doing a logic puzzle. A lot of editing involves qualitative, honestly kinda woolly decisions like "is the point clear" and "do I care" and "is this timely," and it's honestly a lot of pressure; I love having something precise and quantifiable for a change (e.g. "did I add enough words to push this onto the next page").
posted by babelfish at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by babelfish at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [7 favorites]
I enjoy fixing small long term problems that have become so embedded in the system that people aren’t even aware that other options exist.
While it’s unlikely the Five Monkey Experiment ever happened, it stands with any one of Aesop’s fables as a lesson for humanity. Cleaning up that mess has been a happy sideline for 35 years or so.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
While it’s unlikely the Five Monkey Experiment ever happened, it stands with any one of Aesop’s fables as a lesson for humanity. Cleaning up that mess has been a happy sideline for 35 years or so.
posted by Tell Me No Lies at 2:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
What is your favorite task at work, more or less.
The joke in my line of work is, "I mix the band for free, what I get paid for is all the other shit." (Move heavy stuff in and out of trucks, set this heavy stuff up with 9 zillion wires, dealing with musicians and promoters and other technicians and the general public in various states of altered consciousness and innate assholery.)
posted by soundguy99 at 2:42 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
The joke in my line of work is, "I mix the band for free, what I get paid for is all the other shit." (Move heavy stuff in and out of trucks, set this heavy stuff up with 9 zillion wires, dealing with musicians and promoters and other technicians and the general public in various states of altered consciousness and innate assholery.)
posted by soundguy99 at 2:42 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I work as Head of Marketing and Business Development and it's cool for a few reasons. I work in space and space is inherently cool. My job is hands-on creative, which I enjoy; I create all the brochures, the websites, etc. I am very bored of social media but I love doing PR.
If I move on from this position, I'd really rather do educational outreach and public engagement. I enjoy programming for public engagement and developing materials for education and outreach. I love creating and managing all kinds of events that capture the imagination of kids and adults.
And if I got to do it all over again, I honestly might be a phlebotomist. Blood is neat, I love a hospital environment, love a 3 x 13 shift schedule, like overnights, and enjoy the challenge of ER and NICU.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:49 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
If I move on from this position, I'd really rather do educational outreach and public engagement. I enjoy programming for public engagement and developing materials for education and outreach. I love creating and managing all kinds of events that capture the imagination of kids and adults.
And if I got to do it all over again, I honestly might be a phlebotomist. Blood is neat, I love a hospital environment, love a 3 x 13 shift schedule, like overnights, and enjoy the challenge of ER and NICU.
posted by DarlingBri at 2:49 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a financial analyst. I like seeing how all the moving parts of our very, very complex company fits together. I prepare reports for the C-level execs and potential investors, but I also handle some banking and tax stuff. It's challenging without being stressful.
But what I love most about my job are the people. My boss, the CFO, really respects and values me as an employee and is very vocal about it. All my co-workers are great to work with, probably because we all really believe in what we do as a company. Also they pay well :)
posted by ananci at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
But what I love most about my job are the people. My boss, the CFO, really respects and values me as an employee and is very vocal about it. All my co-workers are great to work with, probably because we all really believe in what we do as a company. Also they pay well :)
posted by ananci at 2:56 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’m a television director. I love many things about it -
Big overarching thing:
Telling stories that have the power to change the world
Workplace things:
Solving problems quickly under pressure
Figuring out exactly why something isn’t quite working and what to say to make it work
Having a great idea on the spot and it being just the right thing to make the scene even better
Being allowed to bring my vision to an existing project (I don’t like having to have the vision first like a writer does - that stresses me out - but I love adding to something that exists)
The adrenaline of a fast-paced environment
Public speaking to get the team working together with purpose and clarity
Joking around with funny people
Getting to use my emotions to help make scenes work and tap into the emotion of the story. When it’s good I genuinely guffaw or weep and I love that authenticity.
Contract jobs, so there’s lots of novelty which I enjoy and minimal stale office politics which I suck at
Creating a safe environment where people can be collaborative and creative in a productive way
The pay is good (although the work is inconsistent)
I get to hire people and it’s very satisfying when i make a great hire
I get to be in a flow state for HOURS a day. The dopamine drip is constant and satisfying.
Small things:
Being able to dress however I want (there’s some pressure to look artsy and cool but that can be quite broadly interpreted)
Meals are provided at work so I don’t have to think about food, there’s always lots to eat. Even better, it’s fairly easy to eat healthy, since COVID means we now pre-select food from a menu instead of the old days when it was a tempting buffet.
I get a good parking spot.
I like having a high rank because it means I get to set the tone, which I do with a huge amount of care and intention.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:57 PM on October 29, 2022 [9 favorites]
Big overarching thing:
Telling stories that have the power to change the world
Workplace things:
Solving problems quickly under pressure
Figuring out exactly why something isn’t quite working and what to say to make it work
Having a great idea on the spot and it being just the right thing to make the scene even better
Being allowed to bring my vision to an existing project (I don’t like having to have the vision first like a writer does - that stresses me out - but I love adding to something that exists)
The adrenaline of a fast-paced environment
Public speaking to get the team working together with purpose and clarity
Joking around with funny people
Getting to use my emotions to help make scenes work and tap into the emotion of the story. When it’s good I genuinely guffaw or weep and I love that authenticity.
Contract jobs, so there’s lots of novelty which I enjoy and minimal stale office politics which I suck at
Creating a safe environment where people can be collaborative and creative in a productive way
The pay is good (although the work is inconsistent)
I get to hire people and it’s very satisfying when i make a great hire
I get to be in a flow state for HOURS a day. The dopamine drip is constant and satisfying.
Small things:
Being able to dress however I want (there’s some pressure to look artsy and cool but that can be quite broadly interpreted)
Meals are provided at work so I don’t have to think about food, there’s always lots to eat. Even better, it’s fairly easy to eat healthy, since COVID means we now pre-select food from a menu instead of the old days when it was a tempting buffet.
I get a good parking spot.
I like having a high rank because it means I get to set the tone, which I do with a huge amount of care and intention.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 2:57 PM on October 29, 2022 [9 favorites]
Data analysis and finding hidden patterns
Crafting and Expressing big picture ideas
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2022
Crafting and Expressing big picture ideas
posted by St. Peepsburg at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2022
Oh! And people speak in a pretty authentic way on film sets (sometimes too authentic, there can be tantrums). But I love being able to speak openly or swear enthusiastically and not use corporate-speak. It feels so much more natural and less exhausting and fake to me.
posted by nouvelle-personne at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by nouvelle-personne at 3:04 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Thanks all for your contributions. For those who have already answered but for new readers, a bit of an update "what task or part of day will make [someone in your specific job] think, this, this is the good part, this is actually something that feels fun to do."
posted by jessamyn at 3:19 PM on October 29, 2022
posted by jessamyn at 3:19 PM on October 29, 2022
My work specifically involves making physical things.
When I make a thing, and it comes out well, often I hold it in my hand, admire it, and think "This is the good part". There's a sense of pride, a bit of disbelief, and a kind of reward-after-a-long-time kind of feeling, which can be hard to find.
posted by fake at 3:27 PM on October 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
When I make a thing, and it comes out well, often I hold it in my hand, admire it, and think "This is the good part". There's a sense of pride, a bit of disbelief, and a kind of reward-after-a-long-time kind of feeling, which can be hard to find.
posted by fake at 3:27 PM on October 29, 2022 [8 favorites]
Design/user researcher here -- my absolute favorite part is doing in-depth interviews with people about something that's important to them, and then noticing when patterns emerge. Ideally as I'm talking to them! "He's the third person in a row to use that analogy!" for example.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 3:34 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 3:34 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I do administrative work that facilitates scientific research. The thing I feel that way about is when I do a one on one consultation with a new researcher who is just getting into {the area of regulatory requirements that is my specialty}. They inevitably come in thinking I'm the dream crushing police who will forbid them from the important work they have in mind. Usually with half an hour I can turn them around, find a way for them to do the work, get us both on the same team moving toward that, and also come away with knowledge about some cool new area of science. Those are some of the most fulfilling things I do. It's also very cool seeing the results on the far end of that, but that might be five years after my direct involvement ends, so it's a more secondhand satisfaction.
posted by Stacey at 3:41 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Stacey at 3:41 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I work in financial services, leading a team of specialized experts who are brought in when folks really bork something up, or when really complex modeling needs to be explained in layman’s terms. I love the part of my job when we figure out the disconnect, and are able to really answer the clients questions, not just technically, but on a personal level. Those meetings feel really good.
On the education front, I’m often talking to powerful people about why they should care about climate modeling when moving money around, and seeing people get that little lightbulb that “oh caring about sustainability isn’t just a trendy thing, it’s responsible investing” is really awesome. I meet them as a peer with my decades of financial expertise, treat them seriously and often am able to convince them to care about climate risks and opportunities. It’s a different way of trying to change the world, less splashy, less satisfying than a big protest, but change how money moves through the world, and you change the world.
posted by larthegreat at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
On the education front, I’m often talking to powerful people about why they should care about climate modeling when moving money around, and seeing people get that little lightbulb that “oh caring about sustainability isn’t just a trendy thing, it’s responsible investing” is really awesome. I meet them as a peer with my decades of financial expertise, treat them seriously and often am able to convince them to care about climate risks and opportunities. It’s a different way of trying to change the world, less splashy, less satisfying than a big protest, but change how money moves through the world, and you change the world.
posted by larthegreat at 4:14 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I like being in court. It's one all-consuming project. You drop everything else, and talk about it constantly with brilliant colleagues.
There's the intellectual dynamic between counsel and judge. Senior counsel have war stories and wise advice when you find out who it is. You discover if they know everything or nothing, and adapt to provide what they need to decide. I love pivoting when a judge hates the argument, and making it work anyway. If going well, the flow of questions and answers are like a good conversation. Then you try to read the tea leaves:
Writing when you feel good? (great) Writing when you feel bad? (worse than you thought) Writing randomly? (decided)
Expected questions? (great) Impossible question? ("I will be getting to that later") Question you thought you already answered? (be very afraid) No questions? (decided)
Nodding? (excellent) Lengthy staring at you? (very bad) Looking bored? (decided)
Adding flags? (good) Flipping around? (chart after lunch) Reading nothing? (decided)
Thanking you for your adept counsel work? (you've lost, with dignity) "Do you have anything else?" (you've lost, with less dignity) A decision right when you stop speaking is instant gratification. A reserved decision is a (much) later surprise, to celebrate or commiserate.
However – a judge ranting about limited court resources, numbers of reserved decisions, and how they haven't read your materials? And how they won't have time, other than the four hours scheduled (on a phone lottery two months ago on your third attempt)? Then being asked after if you want the "rough" version of the decision or no decision? Bad day. Court work is dying – the government won't pay for enough judges. Instead of judges' views of the law, we have lawyers' blustering emails or nothing.
Unfortunately, I strongly dislike most of the other aspects of being a lawyer! This is an awesome thread that is giving me ideas about what to do next.
posted by lookoutbelow at 4:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
There's the intellectual dynamic between counsel and judge. Senior counsel have war stories and wise advice when you find out who it is. You discover if they know everything or nothing, and adapt to provide what they need to decide. I love pivoting when a judge hates the argument, and making it work anyway. If going well, the flow of questions and answers are like a good conversation. Then you try to read the tea leaves:
Writing when you feel good? (great) Writing when you feel bad? (worse than you thought) Writing randomly? (decided)
Expected questions? (great) Impossible question? ("I will be getting to that later") Question you thought you already answered? (be very afraid) No questions? (decided)
Nodding? (excellent) Lengthy staring at you? (very bad) Looking bored? (decided)
Adding flags? (good) Flipping around? (chart after lunch) Reading nothing? (decided)
Thanking you for your adept counsel work? (you've lost, with dignity) "Do you have anything else?" (you've lost, with less dignity) A decision right when you stop speaking is instant gratification. A reserved decision is a (much) later surprise, to celebrate or commiserate.
However – a judge ranting about limited court resources, numbers of reserved decisions, and how they haven't read your materials? And how they won't have time, other than the four hours scheduled (on a phone lottery two months ago on your third attempt)? Then being asked after if you want the "rough" version of the decision or no decision? Bad day. Court work is dying – the government won't pay for enough judges. Instead of judges' views of the law, we have lawyers' blustering emails or nothing.
Unfortunately, I strongly dislike most of the other aspects of being a lawyer! This is an awesome thread that is giving me ideas about what to do next.
posted by lookoutbelow at 4:43 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I do IT stuff, specifically networking. I love solving problems. I really like doing stuff where if it works, nobody really notices it that much and if it doesn't work, nobody can do a damned thing. "Oh god what if this thing goes terribly wrong" is fodder for fun thought exercises about how to set things up to be resilient in case of failures. I do not enjoy management type stuff and have avoided management roles throughout my career, but as I've become a senior-level individual contributor, I really enjoy helping nudge more junior folks along and help them figure out how to do stuff.
posted by rmd1023 at 4:45 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 4:45 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a neurologist. I really love the stories I hear from my patients. There's the History of Present Illness stuff, which is of course important, but the stories I love best are all the other things I learn about their lives. Like the #relationshipgoals couple traveling around the world -- every time I see them, they've got cool pictures to show me. (I have asked them, only semi-jokingly, if they'd consider taking a private physician along on their next European adventure. In case of emergency. You know.) Or the older guy who is frankly pretty demented and loves to tell me about his dog. (I am not sure if the dog is real or if it's a pooka situation, but he's a VERY good boy.) I also learn some really heartbreaking things, and I'm always so honored and humbled at the things people share with me.
I also really enjoy the neurological exam. It's so elegant and exquisite! It's like this beautiful dance where each step tells me something new about the way a person's brain and body are hooked together. I have heard cardiologists wax lyrical about the qualities of such and such murmur, but can cardiology diagnose someone by watching them walk across a room? It's like having access to this magical skillset, except that it's not magic at all, but beautiful, elegant logic. Like the look in my students' eyes when the physical exam lines up with the neuroanatomical pathways in their textbooks is just *chefs kiss*.
In summary, neurology is the best, thank you for coming to my TED talk.
posted by basalganglia at 4:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [13 favorites]
I also really enjoy the neurological exam. It's so elegant and exquisite! It's like this beautiful dance where each step tells me something new about the way a person's brain and body are hooked together. I have heard cardiologists wax lyrical about the qualities of such and such murmur, but can cardiology diagnose someone by watching them walk across a room? It's like having access to this magical skillset, except that it's not magic at all, but beautiful, elegant logic. Like the look in my students' eyes when the physical exam lines up with the neuroanatomical pathways in their textbooks is just *chefs kiss*.
In summary, neurology is the best, thank you for coming to my TED talk.
posted by basalganglia at 4:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [13 favorites]
I create content for an agriculture company and sometimes I've gone whole hog and made something really cool by pulling a bunch of people together and having a vision. I've made some stuff that's far beyond what the company normally has. That is very satisfying. Like we have plenty of boring science articles, but I made an interactive page for a new corn disease that detailed the history, identification, management, had an ID quiz, videos, etc. People were really appreciative, and it's being used quite a bit. That's cool to me, I made something that actually is doing a useful thing.
I also am just a general problem solver by nature so any time I can iterate and solve a problem, really use my range of testing and fixing, I love it.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 4:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I also am just a general problem solver by nature so any time I can iterate and solve a problem, really use my range of testing and fixing, I love it.
posted by OnTheLastCastle at 4:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I write code.
When the job is good (which isn't happening as often as I'd like, of late), the good part isn't being really clever and solving a hard problem in some elaborate way.
The good part is turning the hard problem over this way and that and looking at it from different angles, like a broken prism, until you find the one way of looking at it where it's actually an easy problem and solving it is effortless.
posted by sourcequench at 6:15 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
When the job is good (which isn't happening as often as I'd like, of late), the good part isn't being really clever and solving a hard problem in some elaborate way.
The good part is turning the hard problem over this way and that and looking at it from different angles, like a broken prism, until you find the one way of looking at it where it's actually an easy problem and solving it is effortless.
posted by sourcequench at 6:15 PM on October 29, 2022 [6 favorites]
I worked at the branch of a family-owned company that sold dental equipment and merchandise. I was an administrative assistant, but my role was non-traditional. The moment I was hired, I was "in". We had so much fun joking around, going for drinks after work (and even sometimes after work at work ... we kept a bottle of booze in the cupboard), dressing up for Halloween, etc. And I could cuss like a sailor and no one cared. A company named Picatti Brothers called one day to say the wire nuts our service department had ordered were ready to be picked up. So the note I wrote to the service department to let them know said, "Picatti Brothers have wire nuts".
I really liked working somewhere that contributed to healthcare. I loved all the steps involved in processing and billing work orders and dental equipment. I liked being the point of contact for the company, mostly via answering the phone. I loved that I had a huge variety of duties. I loved that the manager and assistant manager were competent, honest and supportive. The assistant manager was so funny that every single day he would make me laugh so hard I couldn't breath.
Something I especially appreciated about that job was that they would listen to my input and act upon it. I was truly allowed to be a team player. There was never any of that, "Oh, she's just an administrative assistant" crap. I gave it my all when I worked there. I would have done anything for them. The manager appreciated my hard work, and because of this, I received amazingly good raises each year for the 14 years I worked there.
The whole day was fun. There wasn't one single thing I did there that I didn't enjoy. I really lucked out.
When my son went off to college, I decided to move to a bigger city, so I left that job. I still have my good memories of it, though.
posted by SageTrail at 6:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I really liked working somewhere that contributed to healthcare. I loved all the steps involved in processing and billing work orders and dental equipment. I liked being the point of contact for the company, mostly via answering the phone. I loved that I had a huge variety of duties. I loved that the manager and assistant manager were competent, honest and supportive. The assistant manager was so funny that every single day he would make me laugh so hard I couldn't breath.
Something I especially appreciated about that job was that they would listen to my input and act upon it. I was truly allowed to be a team player. There was never any of that, "Oh, she's just an administrative assistant" crap. I gave it my all when I worked there. I would have done anything for them. The manager appreciated my hard work, and because of this, I received amazingly good raises each year for the 14 years I worked there.
The whole day was fun. There wasn't one single thing I did there that I didn't enjoy. I really lucked out.
When my son went off to college, I decided to move to a bigger city, so I left that job. I still have my good memories of it, though.
posted by SageTrail at 6:17 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I’m an interventional pain physician. Calling people the day after injections and hearing how much better they feel, and how they slept well for the first time in x amount of time, or how they got to play with their kids or grand kids always makes me realize what I do is pretty special and that the 11 or so years of training maybe was worth it. I’ll second basal ganglia and say that neurology is amazing, and the neuro exam is legit black magic if done well.
posted by ghostpony at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ghostpony at 6:24 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
There are a couple of things that I enjoy about working in insurance that fit well with hobbies of mine. I love learning foreign languages, and sometimes it feels like insurance is its own language. I'm sure that's true of a lot of industries, but insurance just makes sense to me in the same way that, say, German makes sense to me.
I'm a humanities person at heart, and I love when I get to package some ideas into an interesting narrative. Every once in a while, I think about moving to a more technical role (I'm a business analyst in IT), but I worry that I wouldn't have the same opportunities to, well, write.
That said, I do enjoy technical problems. If you'd have told me in high school that I'd say algebra is one of my favorite things about my job, I don't even know that I would have had the capacity to form a response. But it is! It turns out solving for variables is pretty engaging. It's a puzzle. And it's pretty cool when I get paid to solve puzzles.
NGL though, my favorite thing about my job is at 5:30pm. The great thing about legacy industries is that they don't expect you to work 14 hours a day. As an old supervisor used to say, "we aren't saving lives here". So many places are "changing the world". Not my company. They expect me to shut my laptop at the end of my day and go play with my kids. I appreciate that. The combination of that with the other stuff above is really special, and makes me pretty thankful for what I've got.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:35 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'm a humanities person at heart, and I love when I get to package some ideas into an interesting narrative. Every once in a while, I think about moving to a more technical role (I'm a business analyst in IT), but I worry that I wouldn't have the same opportunities to, well, write.
That said, I do enjoy technical problems. If you'd have told me in high school that I'd say algebra is one of my favorite things about my job, I don't even know that I would have had the capacity to form a response. But it is! It turns out solving for variables is pretty engaging. It's a puzzle. And it's pretty cool when I get paid to solve puzzles.
NGL though, my favorite thing about my job is at 5:30pm. The great thing about legacy industries is that they don't expect you to work 14 hours a day. As an old supervisor used to say, "we aren't saving lives here". So many places are "changing the world". Not my company. They expect me to shut my laptop at the end of my day and go play with my kids. I appreciate that. The combination of that with the other stuff above is really special, and makes me pretty thankful for what I've got.
posted by kevinbelt at 6:35 PM on October 29, 2022 [2 favorites]
When I was a copy editor, I loved most of the work: They paid me to read! And learn things. And fix copy! I can't help fixing copy anyway. I enjoyed correcting the mechanics, make the words flow better, making it more concise, and fixing factual errors, and fixing holes in the stories. I also enjoyed when I could write a headline that sung. I also loved talking to my colleagues about language.
posted by NotLost at 6:56 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by NotLost at 6:56 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]
I like working in a team that helps a larger team. I’m really good at identifying a problem through talking to users and figuring out options and helping them come up with something sustainable for their resources to do long term. Usually that is a mix of consulting, service design, training and documentation, all of which I enjoy. I would not want to specialise in a single part so the mix as what has ended up being a product owner in tech is great - I can bounce from one to another over a range of problems.
I am also enjoying sprints and planning. I’m very lucky to have a manager who does the budgets and corporate side and has given me room to develop my own skills. My job ends in February because of regulations and I’m thinking hard about what I’ll do next - tech product owner is high on that list.
It is very satisfying to make something work for people who have been struggling with a bad system and see them settle sustainably into a better method. Like solving a crossword puzzle but with people and processes.
I also get satisfaction from working out cooperation with difficult people. This is definitely my own psyche at work but getting buy-in from people resistant to changes means using communication and empathy. I am deliberately tamping down on this though because I think it’s a boundary I should observe at work.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:02 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
I am also enjoying sprints and planning. I’m very lucky to have a manager who does the budgets and corporate side and has given me room to develop my own skills. My job ends in February because of regulations and I’m thinking hard about what I’ll do next - tech product owner is high on that list.
It is very satisfying to make something work for people who have been struggling with a bad system and see them settle sustainably into a better method. Like solving a crossword puzzle but with people and processes.
I also get satisfaction from working out cooperation with difficult people. This is definitely my own psyche at work but getting buy-in from people resistant to changes means using communication and empathy. I am deliberately tamping down on this though because I think it’s a boundary I should observe at work.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:02 PM on October 29, 2022 [1 favorite]
Read the clarification: I put together a 15-tab spreadsheet that walks people through a complex project. We tested it with three groups to start and keep making updates as we get feedback, but it’s taken an enormous challenge and made it measurable and possible for people with little technical knowledge and/or time to get it done. I love that spreadsheet because it works and I got to include cat pictures with the instructions. Another sweet spot is for me is identifying risks that no one saw and coming up with a solution. It is a delicious scheudenfreude because the people pushing a product often don’t know or care how it works for the user so finding a significant flaw and coming up with workable solution feels like a double win. Especially when it is my work frenemy.
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:21 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by dorothyisunderwood at 8:21 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm a landscape architect (esp. industrial, rural & historic). Despite being asocial in personal life I enjoy meeting people who own, lease or work with land, and help them make more functional enjoyable spaces. It's sometimes a fraught process (many designers ime avoid hard discussions) but they will normally know their space (implicitly) more than I ever can and it's about getting their site knowledge, plus my concept (& research), on paper so it can be made.
I love the concept generation process as it's so unknown, altho' best results take time. Also love it when clients realise what I'm try to accomplish.
I also do (and really enjoy) onsite advice (where I charge hourly), sometimes with these I know almost nothing about the problem beforehand. Enjoyable as it's a real challenge but not committing beyond the consult.
I make most of my early concepts in colour pencil or digital watercolour, this is nice and slow and is a kind of real-time creative visualisation where I surface a lot of problems and solutions.
I've done about thirty different things before I discovered landscape and it's just the best thing for my easily bored, wide ranging mind, and the forced social side probably keeps me sane.
posted by unearthed at 9:47 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I love the concept generation process as it's so unknown, altho' best results take time. Also love it when clients realise what I'm try to accomplish.
I also do (and really enjoy) onsite advice (where I charge hourly), sometimes with these I know almost nothing about the problem beforehand. Enjoyable as it's a real challenge but not committing beyond the consult.
I make most of my early concepts in colour pencil or digital watercolour, this is nice and slow and is a kind of real-time creative visualisation where I surface a lot of problems and solutions.
I've done about thirty different things before I discovered landscape and it's just the best thing for my easily bored, wide ranging mind, and the forced social side probably keeps me sane.
posted by unearthed at 9:47 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I research Country of Origin Information, such as the socio-economic, legal, political, human rights or conflict situation in a given country, which is used to support refugee and other immigration decisions. The Canadians put their work online, what I do is broadly similar to this: IRB response. Like many of my colleagues I have a background as a research librarian.
The main things I love are firstly the fact that I'm constantly learning - I could theoretically look at any country in the world, and on almost any topic. Secondly the challenge, probably familiar to any reference librarian, and the feeling of satisfaction when I solve something difficult. Sometimes the answer is as easy as looking up a human rights report, sometimes it takes days of digging and running searches using Google translate or on archived pages. I once solved something by finding an old MeFi link to a blog that was no longer online, and digging through it on the Wayback Machine.
And thirdly there's the satisfaction that if I can find good information, it can help someone's asylum claim (we're meant to be, and are, neutral, but if I turn up correct information that supports someone, that's still neutral....).
posted by Pink Frost at 9:49 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
The main things I love are firstly the fact that I'm constantly learning - I could theoretically look at any country in the world, and on almost any topic. Secondly the challenge, probably familiar to any reference librarian, and the feeling of satisfaction when I solve something difficult. Sometimes the answer is as easy as looking up a human rights report, sometimes it takes days of digging and running searches using Google translate or on archived pages. I once solved something by finding an old MeFi link to a blog that was no longer online, and digging through it on the Wayback Machine.
And thirdly there's the satisfaction that if I can find good information, it can help someone's asylum claim (we're meant to be, and are, neutral, but if I turn up correct information that supports someone, that's still neutral....).
posted by Pink Frost at 9:49 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I'm the service director at a busy, casual restaurant and 10-lane bowling venue in a unique market. I've been a FOH restaurant guy for nearly 30 years, so some of these this is the good part examples are from the past.
Every night people raving about the food and the service. Making someone's night with a birthday dessert or special request, or better still fixing a problem for a guest with a complaint. Standing up for my staff when a guest is out of line with them. Teaching green staff fundamentals. Banning customers when they get WAY out of line, like the guy who destroyed the men's room a few weeks ago. Watching staff grow into larger roles, developing skills and staying in the industry, but also moving on to chase their dream in the non-restaurant world. Getting into that zone when it is so busy and you just start to move and think and work so quickly while cracking jokes and being everywhere and it becomes a blur that works.
Also that moment when chef and I call the kitchen closed and I can start thinking about getting home to my sweetie.
posted by vrakatar at 9:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
Every night people raving about the food and the service. Making someone's night with a birthday dessert or special request, or better still fixing a problem for a guest with a complaint. Standing up for my staff when a guest is out of line with them. Teaching green staff fundamentals. Banning customers when they get WAY out of line, like the guy who destroyed the men's room a few weeks ago. Watching staff grow into larger roles, developing skills and staying in the industry, but also moving on to chase their dream in the non-restaurant world. Getting into that zone when it is so busy and you just start to move and think and work so quickly while cracking jokes and being everywhere and it becomes a blur that works.
Also that moment when chef and I call the kitchen closed and I can start thinking about getting home to my sweetie.
posted by vrakatar at 9:58 PM on October 29, 2022 [3 favorites]
I work in medical device design, which is hugely intertwined with risk assessment (what could go wrong when someone tries to use the device you’re designing) and then controlling/mitigating any risks that are identified. When I was a much greener designer and my boss guided me through this process the first time, I was in raptures that this was how it worked. I get to systematically define all the worries I have about a device I’m designing and then, plan out how to mitigate them all so I don’t have to worry? And there’s even ISO standards that define how all this should be done?!?!? If only life worked this way. And as a chronic worrier and ruminator, it’s amazing to be valued for my (overactive) ability to see all the possible ways something can go wrong.
posted by Tandem Affinity at 11:19 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Tandem Affinity at 11:19 PM on October 29, 2022 [4 favorites]
So I play MMORPGs and I lead raid teams, the main challenge is building a cohesive group that will dedicate time and effort towards achieving a goal (yet I can't pay them). There are many aspects to this: level of skill, level of time commitment, personality clashes or synergies, alignment of goals. Ultimately the "game" itself doesn't matter: it's just an avenue for social interaction and skill expression. A challenge that is too easy is trivial and a waste of time, while a challenge that is too hard becomes frustrating. Also building a lasting mythos of the company: something that outlasts a merely charismatic leader. There are many organizations built around the cult of personality of the leader, where everyone disappears once the leader leaves.
I manage a team at work and this is... pretty much the same thing, except I'm ALSO paying people $100k a year to sit in their seats. But I strive to recreate the same environment where in a Star Trek utopian world where all physical needs are met through matter replicators, maybe people would come to work to meet their social / psychological needs.
It has to tick all the same boxes -
1. Tasks give opportunity for skill expression - it's something the person can take pride in mastering.
2. Recognition of your skill and contribution by your team - it's awful working in a place where you aren't recognized for your effort and ability.
3. Visible and steady progression (skill development) otherwise people feel stagnant. Need an actual employee development plan, not just a fake one.
4. Flexibility for work life balance (no brainer, otherwise the commitment can feel like a chain around one's neck and you think you're better off without it)
5. The feeling that everyone is on board to achieve the same goal - need clear, articulated objectives from your leaders, and a cohesive vision.
I could go on, but I feel like MMORPGs, it doesn't matter what the game / work is, if you nail those things people will be happy to show up. In my case, we have a policy of job rotations every few years, so you're expected to be a jack of all trades and just do whatever job they need you to do, which could be very different from your last one.
My workplace ticks these boxes, or rather, I make sure they do. If something is lacking I have the agency to ask for it and make sure we get it, and your influence will grow the more senior you get in the organization.
posted by xdvesper at 12:59 AM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I manage a team at work and this is... pretty much the same thing, except I'm ALSO paying people $100k a year to sit in their seats. But I strive to recreate the same environment where in a Star Trek utopian world where all physical needs are met through matter replicators, maybe people would come to work to meet their social / psychological needs.
It has to tick all the same boxes -
1. Tasks give opportunity for skill expression - it's something the person can take pride in mastering.
2. Recognition of your skill and contribution by your team - it's awful working in a place where you aren't recognized for your effort and ability.
3. Visible and steady progression (skill development) otherwise people feel stagnant. Need an actual employee development plan, not just a fake one.
4. Flexibility for work life balance (no brainer, otherwise the commitment can feel like a chain around one's neck and you think you're better off without it)
5. The feeling that everyone is on board to achieve the same goal - need clear, articulated objectives from your leaders, and a cohesive vision.
I could go on, but I feel like MMORPGs, it doesn't matter what the game / work is, if you nail those things people will be happy to show up. In my case, we have a policy of job rotations every few years, so you're expected to be a jack of all trades and just do whatever job they need you to do, which could be very different from your last one.
My workplace ticks these boxes, or rather, I make sure they do. If something is lacking I have the agency to ask for it and make sure we get it, and your influence will grow the more senior you get in the organization.
posted by xdvesper at 12:59 AM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I can't stand jobs that are composed of tasks. I like jobs that consist of a highly complex problem where it's not clear what outcome is even needed, let alone how to achieve it, with what technology or what people.
The best part is when I identify some theme or some narrative or mental model, and I explain it to people and they go "Yes that is exactly it!" and start using my concepts in their work.
posted by quacks like a duck at 3:18 AM on October 30, 2022
The best part is when I identify some theme or some narrative or mental model, and I explain it to people and they go "Yes that is exactly it!" and start using my concepts in their work.
posted by quacks like a duck at 3:18 AM on October 30, 2022
I used to work at a large university, like 55k students/faculty/staff, 50k+ ethernet jacks, 1k+ switches, even more wireless, scores of routers, and that's just campus. I wrote/maintained the bits of code that connected the equipment to the big back end database. We were heavy email based, lots of mailing lists and such. I am the source of 90% of the network reports that show up daily or in response to incidents.
The best part was spending a few long days writing up a new bit of something, and then turning it on at 3am and kicking it to send out that first email, then following it up with the announcement. "These are the things in the database that are janky, fix them. BTW, here's a list of what has been changed since yesterday. "
Pretty much the best thing was being an independent contributer sort of thing and the years of sorta like boss to bossbossboss (he may have even been the director by the end) and the general one word reply he would send when I did something.... "mahalo".
posted by zengargoyle at 5:57 AM on October 30, 2022
The best part was spending a few long days writing up a new bit of something, and then turning it on at 3am and kicking it to send out that first email, then following it up with the announcement. "These are the things in the database that are janky, fix them. BTW, here's a list of what has been changed since yesterday. "
Pretty much the best thing was being an independent contributer sort of thing and the years of sorta like boss to bossbossboss (he may have even been the director by the end) and the general one word reply he would send when I did something.... "mahalo".
posted by zengargoyle at 5:57 AM on October 30, 2022
First and foremost, selling my labour allows me to afford the standard of housing and nourishment that my soft body requires, on this planet where we're somehow the only animals dumb enough to have rigged up a system where one has to pay in order to exist at a reasonable standard of living. I don't love that setup, but I do feel fortunate to have found a way of dealing with that process that works for me more than it works against me.
I work in a mid-senior communications role at a tech company. I'm a writer and editor by nature as well as profession, and I get a huge kick out of drafting something important so swiftly and competently that it looks like magic to people who don't have that skillset. I also love taking a piece of someone else's writing that's 80% of the way there and giving it the final round of polish, so that it says what it's trying to say as clearly as possible while also making the prose sound more harmonious. I'm very good at getting the gist of what someone else is trying to express and writing that in a way that's clean, inobtrusive and intelligible.
I really enjoy the service element of the job, being able to take away tasks that are sources of stress to other people and deliver them to a high standard. I like feeling useful and needed. In my current role, things emerge a few times a year where our leadership realise that the number of people in the organisation who have the right skills to support the thing are few, and I'm one of them; I like it when my services are understood and valued to that degree. I enjoy being a known quantity to our CEO and leadership team, a tool in their toolbox that they can rely on. I'm working on a project where me and one other person are the only people well situated to help at the moment; the combination of that work and other less relevant & less critical projects I've also been asked to step in to support recently is making me realise that, while I like being pulled in as a fixer, I really like being pulled in as a fixer when it's high-profile work that's also deeply relevant to my skillset. I'm starting to find it annoying when I'm asked to play that role on less-critical, lower-profile work that's less relevant to the things I excel at, which is interesting because when I was younger I was so hungry to be useful to others that it didn't matter what the useful thing was or how important it was or whether it was something anyone could do and they just needed a warm body. That's starting to matter to me a lot more at this stage of my career.
I love the fact that my job exposes me to such a wide variety of different business functions, projects and people. Having a wide range of warm relationships within the company makes work less stressful, and makes me more motivated to support those people as best I can, because I like them and care about them. I was a weird autistic outcast kid, and would never have dreamed back then that I'd be able to make and maintain so many social connections so successfully as an adult. I'm a lot less of a loner in my professional life than I might have turned out to be, and given that I'm pretty introverted and not super social in my personal life, the socialisation I get through work is valuable.
I'm a manager, and I like being a humane boss, as anti-capitalist in my leanings and practices as I can get away with in that role. I like not having weird expectations about time and money and the importance putting the business first with the people who report to me, so that they don't have to navigate some of the odd shit I had to navigate with early career bosses who'd taken capitalism as a good and as a given. I like giving them the biggest raises I can get away with, and never once feeling like it's my job to save money for the business by shortchanging my team on salary. I like telling my reports to take as many sick days as they need and to leave early if they want to, and always approving their vacation days, even ones booked last-minute, because no one's going to die if that internal blog post is published a few days later than we'd originally hoped. I'm fortunate to work for a company where all of that stuff is fine, rather than swimming against the tide on it (but I'd still do it even if it did mean swimming against the tide).
I'm also trans, and transitioned while in my current role. It hasn't always been a seamless process at work (largely due to ignorance and unpreparedness rather than malice on the part of my employer), and I was profoundly nervous about making that change at a company where I'd been known as my assigned gender for nearly a decade, but I'm glad I did it. It's a very public role within the company (I host all-hands meetings and share a lot of internal updates from my own profile as well as supporting other people to share their own comms), and I like the message that this sends to the rest of the organisation: that it's an okay place to be both prominent and trans. That it's possible to be both trans and a people manager and reasonably senior. That's it's possible to have worked there for a really long time and still make a change of that magnitude and have it mostly go okay. Being visibly trans while also excelling in a visible role is satisfying.
There are plenty of things I don't enjoy as much about my job (more Zoom meetings than time to do the actual work; a culture of collaboration and consensus that easily tips over into analysis paralysis and painfully slow decision-making; currently having to work longer hours than I prefer [and than I can physically and mentally sustain in the long term] for the fixer project I've been parachuted in on recently, which thankfully will be done by mid-November), but on the whole I really like it. Disdain for capitalism (and weird feelings about being the kind of autistic person who slots neatly and successfully into working under capitalism) aside, I feel super fortunate to have found a niche that works so well for me and makes such good use of the things I excel at while allowing me to maintain a high standard of living. I'm enough of an inveterate weirdo that I wasn't initially confident upon entering the workforce that there would be such a cosy and rewarding and intellectually stimulating place for me in it. While I'd love to not have to sell my labour in order to meet my material needs, this is the next best way I can think of to live my life for as long as the necessity of working exists.
posted by terretu at 6:09 AM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
I work in a mid-senior communications role at a tech company. I'm a writer and editor by nature as well as profession, and I get a huge kick out of drafting something important so swiftly and competently that it looks like magic to people who don't have that skillset. I also love taking a piece of someone else's writing that's 80% of the way there and giving it the final round of polish, so that it says what it's trying to say as clearly as possible while also making the prose sound more harmonious. I'm very good at getting the gist of what someone else is trying to express and writing that in a way that's clean, inobtrusive and intelligible.
I really enjoy the service element of the job, being able to take away tasks that are sources of stress to other people and deliver them to a high standard. I like feeling useful and needed. In my current role, things emerge a few times a year where our leadership realise that the number of people in the organisation who have the right skills to support the thing are few, and I'm one of them; I like it when my services are understood and valued to that degree. I enjoy being a known quantity to our CEO and leadership team, a tool in their toolbox that they can rely on. I'm working on a project where me and one other person are the only people well situated to help at the moment; the combination of that work and other less relevant & less critical projects I've also been asked to step in to support recently is making me realise that, while I like being pulled in as a fixer, I really like being pulled in as a fixer when it's high-profile work that's also deeply relevant to my skillset. I'm starting to find it annoying when I'm asked to play that role on less-critical, lower-profile work that's less relevant to the things I excel at, which is interesting because when I was younger I was so hungry to be useful to others that it didn't matter what the useful thing was or how important it was or whether it was something anyone could do and they just needed a warm body. That's starting to matter to me a lot more at this stage of my career.
I love the fact that my job exposes me to such a wide variety of different business functions, projects and people. Having a wide range of warm relationships within the company makes work less stressful, and makes me more motivated to support those people as best I can, because I like them and care about them. I was a weird autistic outcast kid, and would never have dreamed back then that I'd be able to make and maintain so many social connections so successfully as an adult. I'm a lot less of a loner in my professional life than I might have turned out to be, and given that I'm pretty introverted and not super social in my personal life, the socialisation I get through work is valuable.
I'm a manager, and I like being a humane boss, as anti-capitalist in my leanings and practices as I can get away with in that role. I like not having weird expectations about time and money and the importance putting the business first with the people who report to me, so that they don't have to navigate some of the odd shit I had to navigate with early career bosses who'd taken capitalism as a good and as a given. I like giving them the biggest raises I can get away with, and never once feeling like it's my job to save money for the business by shortchanging my team on salary. I like telling my reports to take as many sick days as they need and to leave early if they want to, and always approving their vacation days, even ones booked last-minute, because no one's going to die if that internal blog post is published a few days later than we'd originally hoped. I'm fortunate to work for a company where all of that stuff is fine, rather than swimming against the tide on it (but I'd still do it even if it did mean swimming against the tide).
I'm also trans, and transitioned while in my current role. It hasn't always been a seamless process at work (largely due to ignorance and unpreparedness rather than malice on the part of my employer), and I was profoundly nervous about making that change at a company where I'd been known as my assigned gender for nearly a decade, but I'm glad I did it. It's a very public role within the company (I host all-hands meetings and share a lot of internal updates from my own profile as well as supporting other people to share their own comms), and I like the message that this sends to the rest of the organisation: that it's an okay place to be both prominent and trans. That it's possible to be both trans and a people manager and reasonably senior. That's it's possible to have worked there for a really long time and still make a change of that magnitude and have it mostly go okay. Being visibly trans while also excelling in a visible role is satisfying.
There are plenty of things I don't enjoy as much about my job (more Zoom meetings than time to do the actual work; a culture of collaboration and consensus that easily tips over into analysis paralysis and painfully slow decision-making; currently having to work longer hours than I prefer [and than I can physically and mentally sustain in the long term] for the fixer project I've been parachuted in on recently, which thankfully will be done by mid-November), but on the whole I really like it. Disdain for capitalism (and weird feelings about being the kind of autistic person who slots neatly and successfully into working under capitalism) aside, I feel super fortunate to have found a niche that works so well for me and makes such good use of the things I excel at while allowing me to maintain a high standard of living. I'm enough of an inveterate weirdo that I wasn't initially confident upon entering the workforce that there would be such a cosy and rewarding and intellectually stimulating place for me in it. While I'd love to not have to sell my labour in order to meet my material needs, this is the next best way I can think of to live my life for as long as the necessity of working exists.
posted by terretu at 6:09 AM on October 30, 2022 [6 favorites]
I'm a freelance translator and my favorite part of the job, the part that's fun for me, is researching and learning new things every day, whether it's specific terminology or more systemic things like how drilling rigs or foreign legal systems work.
posted by drlith at 6:36 AM on October 30, 2022
posted by drlith at 6:36 AM on October 30, 2022
I work in small business which is small but I love the speed of our decisions. Over Covid for example we ordered cameras/rolling tripods/TVs/lights with next day delivery and brought up a new schedule and online registration system over a weekend. I get to see entire systems through from concept to design to procedures to training to marketing to post-delivery surveys.
But my fav moments:
First, any day between 4 and 7 I can watch kids come in from school and the car dragging themselves, sometimes clearly beaten down, to line up for class. Then I, as the mysterious right-hand-of-the-grandmaster, walk along the line and say “who’s got black belt focus?” and watch them straighten up. Then I ask them each about their day. We have a technique where we listen and then turn it around so “how was your day?” “Bad, I got in trouble for x” “hey, that’s a hard day - but you put that energy in your kicks and you’ll come out even stronger.” Then I hang out for 45 minutes and get my team to stop dropping the lost and found in from of the fire exit or whatever.
95% of the time when that kid comes out they’ll tell me about their kicks being super strong.
Second, I do the same more complexly for my aftercare and summer camp teams. I take 15 and 16 year olds and train them in procedures and teach them about child development, how to break instructions down, how to look for “the pee dance,” why sunhats are important. I also coach them on how to handle things, again, walking around, pointing out the good, etc. In most cases, after a year or three, even though they don’t have fully developed frontal cortexes, they have learned they can turn a kid’s day around, and even teach them some STEM thing or how to do a spinning hook kick. It’s so cool to watch the learners become the teachers.
Third…I get to deliver and present swords, Sai, bo-staffs, etc. I have the key to the weapons closet. Never gets old.
Fourth…I was in a parking lot the other day and a large teen male attacked me…with a hug. This kid taught me how brutal teachers are to wriggly Black boys. The comments this child reported to me for 2 years and the notes in his agenda were so bad I used to sit with his mum while she read them. I used to take a few minutes in the office and drill him on spelling and grammar (as did my front desk team) so he’d stop getting Ds for good ideas. He is a gifted athlete, got his black belt at 12 and left to focus on basketball. Our Chief Instructor, also a POC, spent a fair bit of time taking to this individual about how he was going to have to master himself to change the world next. So how are you? I asked this kid.
Honour student. He did that, but I got to be at his side.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:47 AM on October 30, 2022 [11 favorites]
But my fav moments:
First, any day between 4 and 7 I can watch kids come in from school and the car dragging themselves, sometimes clearly beaten down, to line up for class. Then I, as the mysterious right-hand-of-the-grandmaster, walk along the line and say “who’s got black belt focus?” and watch them straighten up. Then I ask them each about their day. We have a technique where we listen and then turn it around so “how was your day?” “Bad, I got in trouble for x” “hey, that’s a hard day - but you put that energy in your kicks and you’ll come out even stronger.” Then I hang out for 45 minutes and get my team to stop dropping the lost and found in from of the fire exit or whatever.
95% of the time when that kid comes out they’ll tell me about their kicks being super strong.
Second, I do the same more complexly for my aftercare and summer camp teams. I take 15 and 16 year olds and train them in procedures and teach them about child development, how to break instructions down, how to look for “the pee dance,” why sunhats are important. I also coach them on how to handle things, again, walking around, pointing out the good, etc. In most cases, after a year or three, even though they don’t have fully developed frontal cortexes, they have learned they can turn a kid’s day around, and even teach them some STEM thing or how to do a spinning hook kick. It’s so cool to watch the learners become the teachers.
Third…I get to deliver and present swords, Sai, bo-staffs, etc. I have the key to the weapons closet. Never gets old.
Fourth…I was in a parking lot the other day and a large teen male attacked me…with a hug. This kid taught me how brutal teachers are to wriggly Black boys. The comments this child reported to me for 2 years and the notes in his agenda were so bad I used to sit with his mum while she read them. I used to take a few minutes in the office and drill him on spelling and grammar (as did my front desk team) so he’d stop getting Ds for good ideas. He is a gifted athlete, got his black belt at 12 and left to focus on basketball. Our Chief Instructor, also a POC, spent a fair bit of time taking to this individual about how he was going to have to master himself to change the world next. So how are you? I asked this kid.
Honour student. He did that, but I got to be at his side.
posted by warriorqueen at 6:47 AM on October 30, 2022 [11 favorites]
The best part of my job is getting to see babies turn into toddlers and toddlers turn into preschoolers and preschooler turn into school agers.
Right now, I'm doing double duty as a head start teacher in the AM and an infant teacher in the PM. I love looking for ways to teach science and math to little people. We cook, we do experiments. Then I go to the other side of the building and help my crawlers turn into walkers. And my nonverbal kids start using single words.
I love kids. But the best part of my day is getting to send them home to their parents and living my evenings in peace with my cats knowing I get to see them all tomorrow. All the joys of parenthood without the huge economic and social burden.
posted by kathrynm at 10:59 AM on October 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
Right now, I'm doing double duty as a head start teacher in the AM and an infant teacher in the PM. I love looking for ways to teach science and math to little people. We cook, we do experiments. Then I go to the other side of the building and help my crawlers turn into walkers. And my nonverbal kids start using single words.
I love kids. But the best part of my day is getting to send them home to their parents and living my evenings in peace with my cats knowing I get to see them all tomorrow. All the joys of parenthood without the huge economic and social burden.
posted by kathrynm at 10:59 AM on October 30, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'm an extrovert and I like being around people if the setup doesn't enable jerk behavior. I like technical support in a good environment because I like solving problems. Good environment = not a call center, having good tools and enough authority to actually solve problems.
Call centers are the new sweatshops, with time extremely monitored and controlled and rigid requirements/ prohibitions.
I loved teaching adult ed. courses because adults generally want to learn. I'm seriously considering substitute teaching because learning environments are stimulating. The drawback for me is Covid.
As a white-haired, female-presenting person, the sexism, ageism, and ableism in IT really ground me down.
posted by theora55 at 12:14 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Call centers are the new sweatshops, with time extremely monitored and controlled and rigid requirements/ prohibitions.
I loved teaching adult ed. courses because adults generally want to learn. I'm seriously considering substitute teaching because learning environments are stimulating. The drawback for me is Covid.
As a white-haired, female-presenting person, the sexism, ageism, and ableism in IT really ground me down.
posted by theora55 at 12:14 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I work in publishing, and I *love* proofreading. I feel delight when I find and fix an error. If fixing something requires some research, even better. I'm highly motivated by feeling smart. (The same basic motivation is why I also love problem solving. Obscure tech issue giving a coworker problems? I'm on that like fuzz on a cat.)
posted by velvet_n_purrs at 2:31 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by velvet_n_purrs at 2:31 PM on October 30, 2022 [2 favorites]
Coming up with the clever solution to a difficult problem (especially ones where someone says something can't be done).
Mentoring and training the juniors and getting their skills and confidence up.
posted by Candleman at 2:51 PM on October 30, 2022
Mentoring and training the juniors and getting their skills and confidence up.
posted by Candleman at 2:51 PM on October 30, 2022
I've aged out of kitchen work (body can't do it anymore, finances can't handle the low income) but there was absolutely nothing better than the weekend shifts where I came in early, getting the prep ready for a solid two to three hours alone. A massive list of tasks, with no real time for getting sidetracked: start the sauce, make the dough, cook the sausage, get the ovens going, get the dough in the pans, getting the pizza station stocked and ready.
Then, opening, and within minutes having so many tickets the rail would be full, with magnets holding tickets to the cabinet past the rail. The oven being full, and still more orders coming, working without thinking, just doing, knowing, on a good day, that the kitchen was stocked, that the other cooks could handle their work, that we could work seamlessly together in the cramped hot kitchen, no matter how many orders came in, or for how long, simply because we had done it before, we knew we could do it, and we were ready for anything the day could throw at us.
That feeling of unending work, of knowing that you can handle it, and that brief moment when the lunch rush is over, and you look around the kitchen to see just how much has been done, it's a little victory that you savor for a second before seeing what needs to be prepped for dinner, and getting back to work. God, I miss that.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:15 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Then, opening, and within minutes having so many tickets the rail would be full, with magnets holding tickets to the cabinet past the rail. The oven being full, and still more orders coming, working without thinking, just doing, knowing, on a good day, that the kitchen was stocked, that the other cooks could handle their work, that we could work seamlessly together in the cramped hot kitchen, no matter how many orders came in, or for how long, simply because we had done it before, we knew we could do it, and we were ready for anything the day could throw at us.
That feeling of unending work, of knowing that you can handle it, and that brief moment when the lunch rush is over, and you look around the kitchen to see just how much has been done, it's a little victory that you savor for a second before seeing what needs to be prepped for dinner, and getting back to work. God, I miss that.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:15 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I do environmental work for a government agency. Currently I manage a team of five, so I spend a fair amount of time doing supervisory stuff, but mostly it's meetings, reviewing correspondence, reviewing contract specifications, and working with engineers, architects, and planners to make sure that upcoming projects are done in compliance with environmental rules.
Probably the best part is when we successfully complete a project and everything goes right and nobody screwed up any of our environmental requirements. Or when I do some training and people actually learn something from it, and show appreciation for that.
Or this summer one of my junior colleagues came to me with a question, and I'm so glad she did, because we managed to avoid what would have been both a legal and a public affairs nightmare. And she did that because she'd learned from me to notice the issue. That was great and I will use it for a teaching moment for the next few years.
posted by suelac at 6:01 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Probably the best part is when we successfully complete a project and everything goes right and nobody screwed up any of our environmental requirements. Or when I do some training and people actually learn something from it, and show appreciation for that.
Or this summer one of my junior colleagues came to me with a question, and I'm so glad she did, because we managed to avoid what would have been both a legal and a public affairs nightmare. And she did that because she'd learned from me to notice the issue. That was great and I will use it for a teaching moment for the next few years.
posted by suelac at 6:01 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm highly motivated by feeling smart. (The same basic motivation is why I also love problem solving.)
Wow, velvet_n_purrs, that is me exactly, but I'd never thought to phrase it like that! I'm a sonographer (medical ultrasound technologist). There are a number of studies I find a bit boring, but often the length of a scan is just the right amount of time for an interesting conversation with the patient. My favorite part, though, is finding some unexpected pathology that turns the coarse of the treatment plan. It doesn't happen super often, but I can be energized for days by one good find! One example from a few years ago. The patient had a small recurring abscess on their foot, doctor ordered an ultrasound to look for a deeper abscess pocket. I found an inch-long wooden splinter with its tip at the end of the abscess, a perfect bacterial reservoir. Patient had no idea how they got the splinter, but had been having issues with that foot for 5 years. So - surgery to remove the splinter, healed foot, problem solved! I feel like I'm floating on days like that, so cool to get an answer, solve a thing! Even if I find a bad thing, at least now we know what we're dealing with, can move forward with a treatment plan, instead of uncertainty.
posted by dorey_oh at 8:46 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
Wow, velvet_n_purrs, that is me exactly, but I'd never thought to phrase it like that! I'm a sonographer (medical ultrasound technologist). There are a number of studies I find a bit boring, but often the length of a scan is just the right amount of time for an interesting conversation with the patient. My favorite part, though, is finding some unexpected pathology that turns the coarse of the treatment plan. It doesn't happen super often, but I can be energized for days by one good find! One example from a few years ago. The patient had a small recurring abscess on their foot, doctor ordered an ultrasound to look for a deeper abscess pocket. I found an inch-long wooden splinter with its tip at the end of the abscess, a perfect bacterial reservoir. Patient had no idea how they got the splinter, but had been having issues with that foot for 5 years. So - surgery to remove the splinter, healed foot, problem solved! I feel like I'm floating on days like that, so cool to get an answer, solve a thing! Even if I find a bad thing, at least now we know what we're dealing with, can move forward with a treatment plan, instead of uncertainty.
posted by dorey_oh at 8:46 PM on October 30, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a librarian (currently academic, formerly high school). I like answering reference questions. It's often a quest to find the information or article the patron is looking for. I want to like teaching library lessons, but I feel like every time I teach, my lesson is a variation on the same boring "Welcome to the Library, here is our website, this is how you search the catalog, here are our databases, do you have any questions?" lesson. I prefer teaching library orientation and taking the students on a tour.
I do not like having to be on committees that are meaningless to me because I need to do "service" to the university for promotion and tenure. I do not like sitting in meetings that should have been an email. I do not like processing invoices in our Library Management System. I do not like that I have to sit in a glorified cubicle all day. I hate that I have to do research and write papers to get tenure. I did not read the fine print when I applied for the job regarding how much of your continued employment depended on being published and sitting on committees.
posted by DEiBnL13 at 9:34 PM on October 30, 2022
I do not like having to be on committees that are meaningless to me because I need to do "service" to the university for promotion and tenure. I do not like sitting in meetings that should have been an email. I do not like processing invoices in our Library Management System. I do not like that I have to sit in a glorified cubicle all day. I hate that I have to do research and write papers to get tenure. I did not read the fine print when I applied for the job regarding how much of your continued employment depended on being published and sitting on committees.
posted by DEiBnL13 at 9:34 PM on October 30, 2022
I'm a software developer. The things that are most satisfying to me are, in no particular order, 1. investigating and diagnosing bugs, 2. refactoring code to make it cleaner and more maintainable, and 3. looking at a layout or an interaction path in the application itself and working out how to make it better.
At least within the context of my current job, I enjoy improving things more than I enjoy creating new things, I like doing things that are helpful to others, and it's more important to me to identify the solutions to the problems than to implement them (although it's best when I get to do both). I'm motivated both by feeling smart and by feeling useful.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:24 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
At least within the context of my current job, I enjoy improving things more than I enjoy creating new things, I like doing things that are helpful to others, and it's more important to me to identify the solutions to the problems than to implement them (although it's best when I get to do both). I'm motivated both by feeling smart and by feeling useful.
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 4:24 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm an applied statistician. I like figuring out what shape a dataset needs to be in to address a given question, and then getting it in that shape so that we can enjoy the three seconds of suspense while we ask it. I like using this skill to help people make practical decisions, putting some bounds on their uncertainty. And I like figuring out how to display a colleague's cool finding in a graph. What I like most about these things is that they're small puzzles that will really help someone's work life be smoother, because most people I work with do not like this part of the work at all, and so the gratitude is immediate and sincere.
This stuff is not what I thought I would like about science. I thought I'd be all about the discovery piece, but I'm not really. I don't have the unjustified faith in myself it takes to live at the bleeding edge of things. And I don't really want to! It turns out I find that trait sort of annoying. I'd rather solve small puzzles and get small thank yous.
posted by eirias at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
This stuff is not what I thought I would like about science. I thought I'd be all about the discovery piece, but I'm not really. I don't have the unjustified faith in myself it takes to live at the bleeding edge of things. And I don't really want to! It turns out I find that trait sort of annoying. I'd rather solve small puzzles and get small thank yous.
posted by eirias at 11:02 AM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I'm a data librarian. I like the puzzle of trying to construct a SQL query to get some data to tell me what I want to know, and I also like the satisfaction of turning ugly spreadsheets into pretty data visualizations so that the data makes sense to other people.
posted by missrachael at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by missrachael at 12:13 PM on October 31, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’m a speech language pathologist and I genuinely love every second of it that isn’t related to documentation or insurance. I solve problems and brainstorm creative solutions on the fly every single day, which is perfect for someone with ADHD. No half hour looks the same, and my time is neatly cut into chunks. I get to sit on the floor and play as much as I get to have serious conversations with parents. There are mysteries every single day, and sometimes they’re solvable but sometimes they aren’t. I never get bored. I’m good at it, and people are genuinely appreciative of my skill set. I feel like I’m genuinely making a difference in people’s lives. To me, all of those upsides massively outweigh the shitty hours, the occasional bite, and even talking to Blue Cross Blue Shield representatives. I’d hate working in any other setting, and finding this perfect mesh of structure and constant chaos is perfect for me.
posted by a hat out of hell at 7:03 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by a hat out of hell at 7:03 PM on November 1, 2022 [2 favorites]
I've been in management for 9 years now. The best part of the gig is hiring someone into a role that it super-familiar to me but an entirely new person.
To wit: I work in sales for a large IT company and am usually hiring techs, admins, operators, and architects who are leaving the day-to-day grind of production work for sales (sorry, solutions) engineering. For many of the people I've hired, moving to a sales role represents a huge career change, and it's a privilege to be there when it happens.
posted by jquinby at 7:40 AM on November 2, 2022
To wit: I work in sales for a large IT company and am usually hiring techs, admins, operators, and architects who are leaving the day-to-day grind of production work for sales (sorry, solutions) engineering. For many of the people I've hired, moving to a sales role represents a huge career change, and it's a privilege to be there when it happens.
posted by jquinby at 7:40 AM on November 2, 2022
I build websites, mostly for non-profits, mostly using Drupal.
The two things I love the most:
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
The two things I love the most:
- Making something work for a client. It can be a large thing like building a new feature or a small thing like fixing something that used to work but then broke. Either way, the client is really happy that their site is doing something they need, and I feel really good that I made that happen for them.
- Getting something working. I love it when I think up a solution to a problem that will PROBABLY or MAYBE work, but I won't know until I actually get it working. Especially if there's some stubborn weird mystery about it NOT working, right up until I get it working (and also, especially, if it just works beautifully on the first try). Seeing it actually do the thing I wanted it to do is just so fulfilling.
posted by kristi at 12:10 PM on November 2, 2022 [1 favorite]
I’m a research administrator at a VA hospital. It’s cool working in a mission-driven environment, I have a great boss, my direct reports have mostly been great people to work with.
It’s really kind of weird to admit it but damn, a well-built form can make so many people’s lives better, and I enjoy all of the weird, tedious steps required to build out that form, automate it, stress-test it, and make it accessible. The first time it goes live into the field and someone tells me “wow, that was so much easier than the old method” it truly makes my day.
I’m trained as a scientist, not as an administrator. My background is zoology/ecology/evolutionary biology/animal behavior, but it turns out I’m really GOOD at being an administrator. Without intentionally trying to do it, I’ve become a resource for people in similar positions at other VA sites, and I regularly get calls or emails from people who just know that I will likely know how to handle a specific situation.
Writing protocols, building out processes to make people’s lives a little less difficult, figuring out ways to use my (admittedly limited, self-taught) skills with various types of coding to automate things that used to be tediously done by hand. And sharing. Because building something great for our program is fine, but giving it away to others to help THEIR programs is even better. I’m willing to throw a ridiculous amount of work into making something better, why would I want to keep the end result to myself when I can share it? I think that is the core of why I love my job - and why I actually HAVE my job. My boss told me when she first asked others, before hiring me, how they would describe me, they unanimously said that helping other people with their problems was just something I did, because in my mind it was the right thing to do. 2023 will mark the beginning of my 9th year in my position, and despite the headaches that can come with administration - HR struggles, budget issues, personality conflicts, regulatory hassles - it’s the satisfaction of helping our staff that keeps me showing up every day ready to pitch in.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:02 AM on November 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
It’s really kind of weird to admit it but damn, a well-built form can make so many people’s lives better, and I enjoy all of the weird, tedious steps required to build out that form, automate it, stress-test it, and make it accessible. The first time it goes live into the field and someone tells me “wow, that was so much easier than the old method” it truly makes my day.
I’m trained as a scientist, not as an administrator. My background is zoology/ecology/evolutionary biology/animal behavior, but it turns out I’m really GOOD at being an administrator. Without intentionally trying to do it, I’ve become a resource for people in similar positions at other VA sites, and I regularly get calls or emails from people who just know that I will likely know how to handle a specific situation.
Writing protocols, building out processes to make people’s lives a little less difficult, figuring out ways to use my (admittedly limited, self-taught) skills with various types of coding to automate things that used to be tediously done by hand. And sharing. Because building something great for our program is fine, but giving it away to others to help THEIR programs is even better. I’m willing to throw a ridiculous amount of work into making something better, why would I want to keep the end result to myself when I can share it? I think that is the core of why I love my job - and why I actually HAVE my job. My boss told me when she first asked others, before hiring me, how they would describe me, they unanimously said that helping other people with their problems was just something I did, because in my mind it was the right thing to do. 2023 will mark the beginning of my 9th year in my position, and despite the headaches that can come with administration - HR struggles, budget issues, personality conflicts, regulatory hassles - it’s the satisfaction of helping our staff that keeps me showing up every day ready to pitch in.
posted by caution live frogs at 7:02 AM on November 3, 2022 [5 favorites]
caution live frogs: A well-built form can do many things, good and bad.
posted by rmd1023 at 11:25 AM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by rmd1023 at 11:25 AM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
what task or part of day will make [someone in your specific job] think, this, this is the good part, this is actually something that feels fun to do.
I am a Site Reliability Engineer for a world famous AI you have definitely heard of. SRE is basically code for "works in IT" but for systems where outages lose thousands or millions of dollars per minute of outage. That's super stressful in situ. There's a couple hundred services, and not nearly enough monitoring for them all. There's tons of errors in the logs all the time, even during normal operations. And there's always a risk that making a change to the system makes it worse not better.
So yea, outages suck. Canary outages, on the other hand, are fun. In a canary release, we test a new software release with a small sample that won't cost millions or end with executives second guessing where you landed on the timely versus informative curve on status updates. It's a planned operation so you won't lose any sleep over it, and you know what exactly changed when it does break. From there, its fun to build dashboards and systems that analyze the results, which is admittedly a narrow niche. We have a great many systems working in concert to produce final results and it can be hard to identify causation. Or even, at times, to locate which components are broken.
Over the past 5 years I've developed an expertise in the systems, their interconnections, and their internal metrics. I replaced an adhoc "canary deep dive" meeting with a well designed dashboard that massively reduces the risk of shipping busted code. It's been an iterative process where every few weeks something would go wrong and I'd get to test how feasible it would have been to detect in canary.
The best part though, is getting to apply the same A/B analysis systems to those stressful outages. 'Here are the top 5 log message patterns in the broken cluster that don't appear in the healthy cluster next door,' or 'Here are the four services out of two hundred that started failing at the same time top level request metrics show a problem.' And to go in, even after its mitigated, and figure out what went wrong.
It is, basically, the same thing as others have stated above: the opportunity to solve small puzzles, and build systems to help you solve them. Perhaps this explains why I have not thrown myself into automating this puzzle solving step as rapidly as other part of the job.
posted by pwnguin at 9:38 PM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
I am a Site Reliability Engineer for a world famous AI you have definitely heard of. SRE is basically code for "works in IT" but for systems where outages lose thousands or millions of dollars per minute of outage. That's super stressful in situ. There's a couple hundred services, and not nearly enough monitoring for them all. There's tons of errors in the logs all the time, even during normal operations. And there's always a risk that making a change to the system makes it worse not better.
So yea, outages suck. Canary outages, on the other hand, are fun. In a canary release, we test a new software release with a small sample that won't cost millions or end with executives second guessing where you landed on the timely versus informative curve on status updates. It's a planned operation so you won't lose any sleep over it, and you know what exactly changed when it does break. From there, its fun to build dashboards and systems that analyze the results, which is admittedly a narrow niche. We have a great many systems working in concert to produce final results and it can be hard to identify causation. Or even, at times, to locate which components are broken.
Over the past 5 years I've developed an expertise in the systems, their interconnections, and their internal metrics. I replaced an adhoc "canary deep dive" meeting with a well designed dashboard that massively reduces the risk of shipping busted code. It's been an iterative process where every few weeks something would go wrong and I'd get to test how feasible it would have been to detect in canary.
The best part though, is getting to apply the same A/B analysis systems to those stressful outages. 'Here are the top 5 log message patterns in the broken cluster that don't appear in the healthy cluster next door,' or 'Here are the four services out of two hundred that started failing at the same time top level request metrics show a problem.' And to go in, even after its mitigated, and figure out what went wrong.
It is, basically, the same thing as others have stated above: the opportunity to solve small puzzles, and build systems to help you solve them. Perhaps this explains why I have not thrown myself into automating this puzzle solving step as rapidly as other part of the job.
posted by pwnguin at 9:38 PM on November 3, 2022 [1 favorite]
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posted by carmicha at 12:06 PM on October 29, 2022 [5 favorites]