[PhotoBrew]

This has probably been asked many a time, but I'm kind of at a cross roads right now, and wanted to see where others like me were at. So I am now into my second job out of college. I started in engineering and moved to marketing, and neither quite satisfy me. There were too many mundane details of the first one, and I don't have the initiative, people skills, or patience for the second. Basically, I don't see the point of either job. They don't make a difference for anything. I do my job well, and the company gets more money. But that is NOT exciting to me. Like most INFP's, I want to do something that I am happy to come to work to everyday.



On the contrary, I have been told that I should be happy with what I have got: steady income, good company. But money just doesn't excite me, and goals of improving profitability are not motivating to me. I don't make a difference in anyone's lives. Likewise, I have been told that I should find other avenues outside of work to find that happy medium. But, I still feel 8-9 hours a day in one place should be enjoyable if you are going to do it everyday.

My dream job would involve lots of free time, very little oversight, and time for creativity. Photography would be amazing, but I don't know how to get started (nor make enough money to get by).

So what jobs are you doing? Are you happy with it? Did you always know you wanted to do this particular job?

Thanks!

[Blue Butterfly]

You would not like my job. I work as a programmer analyst. It is a job I always wanted to do but now I have been doing it so long I am bored with it. There is no real mental challenge in the branch that I am in. I write mostly financial applications, insurance submission, client billing and stuff like that. Nothing really creative in the least. I would be happier in the writing video games. But I was not thinking.

[hasenj]

I'm a programmer and I currently work a boring job. It gives a decent steady income, but it's just so boring and I feel it's rotting my brain.

I plan on quitting sometime soon and working on my own projects, which would probably be some cool web 2.0 startup. Something that can change the world even if in a small way.

I have been told that I should be happy with what I have got: steady income, good company. But money just doesn't excite me, and goals of improving profitability are not motivating to me. I don't make a difference in anyone's lives.

That's exactly what I'm feeling. There are people who would kill to have a steady income, but for me it means almost nothing. Money is only useful to supplement what's really important: living a meaningful life and making a difference.

[hasenj]

You would not like my job. I work as a programmer analyst. It is a job I always wanted to do but now I have been doing it so long I am bored with it. There is no real mental challenge in the branch that I am in. I write mostly financial applications, insurance submission, client billing and stuff like that. Nothing really creative in the least. I would be happier in the writing video games. But I was not thinking.

Yea, most programming jobs are boring beyond all hope.

Try to read Paul Graham's essays about startups, they might motivate you like they did me, for instance: Why to Not Not Start a Startup

[infpblog]

I'm a C# programmer for a fairly large company. I like my boss. I like my co-workers. Some days the day-to-day tasks are better than others. What I love about my job is that it fits my lifestyle. I quit focusing on creating a workstyle years ago. Your workstyle is who you work with, why you work there, the tasks, responsibilities and your advancement. Your lifestyle is how you play, your relationships, how you spend free time, personal growth and all so many other things. Some people make their workstyle their lifestyle. That's not me. Some workstyles conflict with certain lifestyles. I like that I get to go home and not have to think about my job.

I wrote a post about the 6 critical needs: www.infpblog.com/favorites/fulfilling-our-needs/

Tony Robbins talks about the 6 critical needs: Certainty (freedom from worry), Uncertainty (need for change), Love and Connection, Critical Significance (feeling your life has meaning), Growth, Contribution

The problem is that INFPs stick too many eggs in one basket. We want our job to meet all our needs. We want it to provide Certainty (job security), Critical Significance (want to feel we're doing something important), Uncertainty (we don't want it to get stale and boring), Growth (we want it to challenge us and make us better), Contribution (we want to feel like we're helping others), Love and Connection (we want to be able to be friends with co-workers).

It's even worse when that basket is another person and not a job.

The more needs you want your job to meet, the harder it will be to find a work that fits all those needs. This is fine if work is the highest value of your life. But what if family is your highest value? Any job that meets all those needs will most likely require a good deal of time and energy that will take away from family.

[MilkyLatte]

I work as a cleaner at a hospital. It's a really stressful job that only pays minimum wage. There are so many things to attend to during an 8-hour work day.

And, surprisingly, sick people everywhere! I often clean to the distant sounds of people vomiting and the other day I was cleaning the room of an old lady who was so sick that she already looked like a ghost. It's hard to watch all these people suffering. I think I'm gonna quit soon though, even though I (lol, I actually stopped writing right here to send out an online job application and have now returned, 20 minutes later) don't have any sure way of getting another job (you know you're an INFP when....)

Anyway, I found that in hs I didn't care much about what I was doing. I showed up late, ditched school and failed to hand in papers so many times that I was riding of the edge of being expelled. But when I started working and it became a responsibility, that is enough responsibility for me to do my job. It doesn't feel like a chore, but like an obligation.

My dream job is to become a psycho therapist. It pays like $72 per hour, so I wouldn't have to work full time. I'll become my own boss, so everything will be much more free and easy once I've learned about all the legal aspects of running one's own business (sucks, but has to be done ). And best of all: I get to help people the way I enjoy the most; through conversations about deep stuff helping people find themselves.