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You are not your job

jry.io

31–40 of 443 posts

Re: You are not your job

#31

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

> It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed.

Sounds like you’re young and early in your career.

Wait till you’re part of a layoff where an entire division or arm of the company is axed in a 750 person headcount reduction.

Doesn’t matter how good you are, how many years of service you have or even if the CEO loves you. You’ll be out.

Re: You are not your job

#32

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

Hate to say it but very appropriate username.

Re: You are not your job

#33

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

I am arguably a successful employee in a tech-focused role. I enjoy my job and others seem to feel I'm good at what I do. That said: I am NOT at all interested in identifying myself in social situations by my job. When someone asks what I do, I respond that I work in tech. I am not interested in giving more details nor talking in-depth about what I do to others I have just met. Why? Because that's not at all what mak…

Traveling? Lake home? I am glad to go to work just to not listen to my wife how we are so poor and cannot have nice things.

Re: You are not your job

#34

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

I am arguably a successful employee in a tech-focused role. I enjoy my job and others seem to feel I'm good at what I do. That said: I am NOT at all interested in identifying myself in social situations by my job. When someone asks what I do, I respond that I work in tech. I am not interested in giving more details nor talking in-depth about what I do to others I have just met. Why? Because that's not at all what mak…

Well said, thanks

I’d much rather know and learn about someone’s passion for woodworking, hill walking, flower arranging, whatever they enjoy doing in their free time, rather than having to talk about their (or my!) work.

Re: You are not your job

#35
post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am arguably a successful employee in a tech-focused role. I enjoy my job and others seem to feel I'm good at what I do. That said: I am NOT at all interested in identifying myself in social situations by my job. When someone asks what I do, I respond that I work in tech. I am not interested in giving more details nor talking in-depth about what I do to others I have just met. Why? Because that's not at all what mak…

Do you have any friends? Your job is a good topic that allows you to find something in common with another person.

Not if they work outside of tech…

Re: You are not your job

#36

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

I've known people who survived multiple rounds of layoffs, not because they were "distinguished", but because they were the cheapest. Meanwhile, their more talented counterparts got the ax for being too expensive. Simple as that.

Re: You are not your job

#37
post #17

There’s an old aphorism: “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I worked in tech, because I love tech . No other reason, really. I accepted a job, making maybe half of what I could make, elsewhere, because of the personal satisfaction I got from it, and the relationships I made, there. When I retired, I have continued to develop software, and am currently “leaning into” AI-assisted development.…

I have found that aphorism does not ring true for me. “Do what you love for work, and you'll stop loving it" seems more true to me. It always eventually turns into a chore once it is a thing you need to do.

IMO, there are more steps. Do what you love for work, someone will exploit you for it, and break your heart.

One of my kids has taken this advice, does art (really good art) for themselves and is pursuing a STEM career instead. The other is pursuing a game dev career, despite every current and former dev in his life warning him off for the last fifteen years. To quote Kissing Jessica Stein, “OY! This child will suffer.”

Re: You are not your job

#38
Agreed with the title and some of the broad sentiment, but two things stood out.

> I can't delegate my capacity to sit with someone when they're confused or scared or just need to feel known

Plenty of people rely on therapists and/or chat bots to listen to them. Not everybody feels comfortable burdening their friends and family with their problems.

> We possess the means to care for everyone -- yet choose not to

There is a trade-off between social services in a broad sense and the ability to pay for them. The stronger the social safety net, the more people at the margin will choose to work less, earn less, make less of an effort. In turn, the tax base becomes smaller, and thus unable to maintain those same social services.

For example, the vast majority of people choose to retire once they reach the age where they are able to collect enough from their pension that they no longer need to work in order to get by. If we lowered the age of eligibility by a year, most people would retire a year earlier. Just like we see people retiring later in countries that have moved the eligibility to the age of e.g. 67.

With this I am not advocating to increase or decrease the current social safety net in whichever region you, dear reader, are living. I am simply pointing out some of the real-world effects of moving the needle in one direction or another.

Thus, yes, in rich countries we have collectively decided that "caring for everyone" is not the best way forward, because we see that it becomes unsustainable when you go too far. Where exactly we place the needle varies from place to place, obviously. Thinning the social safety net too far also has massive societal and economic consequences.

Re: You are not your job

#39

I want to thank everyone who hates work, is mentally checked out of their jobs and quiet quitting etc. It makes it much easier for me to distinguish myself as a hard worker who cares about the business being successful. It also helps me keep my job during layoffs because I can assure you the managers have noticed. When you are old and have lots of formative experiences that are not work-based, we can shake hands and…

> worker who cares about the business being successful In most cases, this is a sucker mentality that makes you vulnerable to abusive employers. You will stress yourself out making your boss richer. They won't care or make reciprocal gestures. They'd be happy to replace you should you become inconvenient.

It’s not about stressing yourself out; that’s something you can ultimately control (though admittedly, many people are bad at separating the two) but more about _how good you are at putting on a show_ of giving a shit.

There is a non zero chance that the company I work for pivots into some weird crypto niche (low, but we’re already fintech-y). If that happens, I’m out, but no way in hell am I gonna pivot my work personality overnight because of a business decision made by the company’s board and investors.

If I need to put on a happy face for my boss to keep my job, then I’m gonna do it because I can’t afford not to at the moment. That’s not to say there is no line, but being a generally positive person in the workplace is a role I’m fine with playing. It costs me very little personally and opens a lot of doors because let’s face it, nobody likes working with a loathsome human being, even if they’re right.

Am I a sucker? Maybe by your definition, but I don’t feel like one currently.

Re: You are not your job

#40
post #17

There’s an old aphorism: “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” I worked in tech, because I love tech . No other reason, really. I accepted a job, making maybe half of what I could make, elsewhere, because of the personal satisfaction I got from it, and the relationships I made, there. When I retired, I have continued to develop software, and am currently “leaning into” AI-assisted development.…

I have found that aphorism does not ring true for me. “Do what you love for work, and you'll stop loving it" seems more true to me. It always eventually turns into a chore once it is a thing you need to do.

It's a bit fractal and tautological...

On the one hand, I think a lot of the ruinous parts are the extra things it forces beyond the parts you actually love. So the problem there is you are actually doing a bunch of things you don't love, so do "work" some portion of your day.

The other is that many of us do love a bit of oppositional defiance. Doing what is demanded of us by others is definitely not doing what we love in that respect!

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