1 post tagged “philosophy”

My job history is manic.  Since graduation I've had 4 jobs, all of which lasted for more than 6 months, but none of which lasted as long as a year.

With every company thus far I've found some reason or another why the company/environment upset/angered me.  Usually they'd revolve around painful exchanges with coworkers, overtime demands, or tight-fisted corporate policies that wouldn't foot the bill for a pretty LCD monitor, training program, etc.

I've watched my coworkers suffer similar abuses, and they agree it sucks, but manage to shrug it off.  I certainly have never, nor do I think I ever will, develop a sense of loyalty to what is an organization whose undoubted singular goal is to make money.  So my job choices are always selfishly my own.  If I am working somewhere it is because it is in my own best interest--I am not charitably contributing for the better of my company.  If anybody finds themselves staying put simply because they don't want to hurt the company, they may want to re-evaluate, and realize that unless legally obligated, that company will not take care of you for very long if you aren't contributing to their bottom line.

Loyalties aside, there are still good reasons not to switch jobs TOO often.  Primarily because it looks bad on the resume.  So I am trying my hardest to learn patience, and stoically sail past annoying coworkers and/or unfair corporate practices.

I just read in Newscientist about two kinds of people when it comes to decision making:  Maximizers must try every option to make sure they get the best, but they are driven nuts by never settling, whereas Sufficers settle with the first thing that seems "good enough", but may miss out on something better.

They followed college grads and found that those who were "maximizers" got 20% higher salaries in their first jobs, but were actually less happy by almost any psychological measure, because they kept fretting about what better job they may still have missed.  I am definitely a maximizer--hoping to reform to be a bit more sufficing...