This piece really resonates with me. There’s only one piece of advice I can give which eased this problem for me: to not take it personally. This isn’t about you: you are doing a role for a company. It’s just business.
Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
11–20 of 65 posts
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#12"Contrary to popular belief, burnout isn’t caused by a lack of work-life balance. It’s driven more by the lack of ability to do meaningful work." Couldn't agree more. I wish I was more like my peers who don't seem to get as fully invested in their work (emotionally, mentally, etc)...but if I'm dedicating 40 hours a week to something, it's hard to continue if the work isn't aligned with what I define as meaningful. Li…
Meaningful work will become boring. Pick your favorite dish and have it for 45 days straight and you’ll desperately want something else to eat. Ok, so the counter would be that we need variety of work. But, you can ask someone who travels a lot for work and see if they like this variety of places to see; they don’t. They get sick of variety.
All of these discussions IMO make no sense to me. For every claim, I can find a counter argument. It’s just intellectual masturbation. No progress or insight is to be gained.
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#13This piece really resonates with me. There’s only one piece of advice I can give which eased this problem for me: to not take it personally. This isn’t about you: you are doing a role for a company. It’s just business.
Quite literally: busy-ness!
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#14For older people, do you ever find what you are looking for, at least at a reasonable price? I was once the way of OP but then decided that fixing that would involve mostly eliminating other people (and I am highly risk averse, so doing my own thing is not acceptable to me) and I decided that was not feasible. So I embraced apathy and am now the time killing bureaucrat calling meetings about status codes that both OP…
So, you have basically killed your soul?
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#15OP does not understand risk management or product delivery and is therefore labelling it as "bullshit".
And yet, OP should feel blessed. Not because of the bullshit work, but because they are one of a lucky few who have managed to land a career doing what they love. Speak to any other person that managed to do that, and they all know what OP is describing.
My only advice for OP is - work on understanding the purpose, history and alternatives of the "bullshit", then move on to work at small (5-7) independent teams where you can control the "bullshit". If you do it well, you will find your gang and it will be liberating. Read about Kelly Johnson and his teams work on the U-2 and SR71, you will love it.
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#16"Contrary to popular belief, burnout isn’t caused by a lack of work-life balance. It’s driven more by the lack of ability to do meaningful work." Couldn't agree more. I wish I was more like my peers who don't seem to get as fully invested in their work (emotionally, mentally, etc)...but if I'm dedicating 40 hours a week to something, it's hard to continue if the work isn't aligned with what I define as meaningful. Li…
Getting paid well enough to afford a satisfying lifestyle is pretty meaningful, IMO. Is that not enough?
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#17For older people, do you ever find what you are looking for, at least at a reasonable price? I was once the way of OP but then decided that fixing that would involve mostly eliminating other people (and I am highly risk averse, so doing my own thing is not acceptable to me) and I decided that was not feasible. So I embraced apathy and am now the time killing bureaucrat calling meetings about status codes that both OP…
Can you do a good job, be creative, within the boundaries of your role?
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#18OP does not understand risk management or product delivery and is therefore labelling it as "bullshit". And yet, OP should feel blessed. Not because of the bullshit work, but because they are one of a lucky few who have managed to land a career doing what they love. Speak to any other person that managed to do that, and they all know what OP is describing. My only advice for OP is - work on understanding the purpose,…
Sorry but no. What you see in corporate environments has nothing to do with risk management or product delivery, it’s often just pure ineptitude and useless people artificially trying to justify their existence.
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#19"Contrary to popular belief, burnout isn’t caused by a lack of work-life balance. It’s driven more by the lack of ability to do meaningful work." Couldn't agree more. I wish I was more like my peers who don't seem to get as fully invested in their work (emotionally, mentally, etc)...but if I'm dedicating 40 hours a week to something, it's hard to continue if the work isn't aligned with what I define as meaningful. Li…
Getting paid well enough to afford a satisfying lifestyle is pretty meaningful, IMO. Is that not enough?
If doing meaningful work is part of the lifestyle, then it’s not enough.
Re: Why I Find Bullshit Work Intolerable
#20There is a lot of "bullshit work" disguised as busy-ness. But if you take a step back and capture the essence of this author's perspective, it is that they aren't able to regularly get in the "flow state" because their skills are not being utilized enough nor are the challenges hard enough for them to be utilized.
> Repeat this for several years, you won’t feel inspired to create anymore. Maybe someday I would need to come to terms with that. But right now, I am not ready to.
This is exactly what happens. You start to develop apathy. Look for a place that will use your skillset and/or has challenges that are within your ability.