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How long have you had your current job?
| 12% | 25 votes |
| 8% | 18 votes |
| 9% | 19 votes |
| 12% | 26 votes |
| 14% | 29 votes |
| 25% | 53 votes |
| 17% | 35 votes |
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- Don't complain about lack of options. You've got to pick a few when you do multiple choice. Those are the breaks.
- Feel free to suggest poll ideas if you're feeling creative. I'd strongly suggest reading the past polls first.
- This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you're using these numbers to do anything important, you're insane.
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How long have you had your current job?
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If the thunder don't get you, then the lightning will.
(Score: 2) by Webweasel on Tuesday July 05 2016, @03:23PM
Motivation for staying in a job varies.
I have just completed fifteen years at my current company. (Got a weekend hotel stay in London, with a musical or play. As I am single, I gifted it to my parents. Also had lunch on a cruise ship, silver service. I had Quail)
Why have I stayed fifteen years?
1. Became a single Dad in my second year there.
2. 12 Minute drive to work
3. Company is not bad. Not great, but not bad.
4. Internal promotion over the years has been OK.
5. Drop off/Pick up my son from the local grammar school, its next to work.
6. I'm trusted a lot in my role, I get to make decisions and give advice that is sometimes listened to
7. I get to play with some awesome kit/software I might not get a chance to work with elsewhere.
8. Its a large firm, I can vanish as a cog and not be noticed. Just another nobody at a desk.
9. Social anxiety makes me scared of taking a new job (Interviews are OK, but there is comfort in the familiar that I can't get past)
10. I don't think Ill get fired or made redundant any time soon.
I could probably have moved on many times, had other experiences... who knows.
I'm content, I feel I am doing OK and don't want to work in London (There's not that much employment outside of London for IT)
Oh 11. My manager is a decent one.
So fellow soylentis... what has motivated you to move or stay?
Priyom.org Number stations, Russian Military radio. "You are a bad, bad man. Do you have any other virtues?"-Runaway1956
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Tuesday July 05 2016, @04:13PM
Job hopping pays off when you're trying to make it, but once you've made it, why hop? I bet the 10+ crowd skews older/more experienced. You get 20% pay raises when you are a noob job hopping from "I know fizbuzz" to "I know fizzbuzz++". But I'm pretty far beyond that and the reward is minimal to zilch, maybe even net negative plus or minus benefits and stuff.
I'd have trouble going back to less than one month per year of paid vacation. My pension is vested and worth quite a stack of money and starting over would suck.
I've architected and built a lot of the local stack of stuff... if I don't like it I'm the guy paid to fix it. So there's not much friction between what I like and what I got. But moving somewhere else I might be stuck using someone else's stack of enterprise java and object oriented cobol and wtf knows until I'm the old timer there. I've built a comfortable, smoothly operating, quickly reacting, nest for myself here.
Since moving here it seems impossible to avoid non-flex time, forbid work at home, and open office type jobs. So I'd be stuck working precisely 9-5, sitting in traffic jams, in a distracting children's preschool work environment. The majority of modern working environments suck, mine doesn't so moving would suck.
There's not as many jobs as you go up the pyramid. So if I were downsized or whatever, I'd go ... where? For quality of life reasons I'm not moving to the coasts, which limits where I can work. I'm not willing to trade lifestyle for job title or trade a good childhood for my kids for a promotion for me.
I currently have good bosses. I've had enough bad ones in the past to know the difference. Unfortunately they're reaching the age where they're gonna retire "soon" and I'll have to become the graybeard in charge. Not necessarily looking forward to that.
When you're a noob you can experience new stuff at a new employer. There's nothing new under the sun for me, been there done that. I can't get a new technology fix by moving to a new company.
My coworkers are OK. Again I'm old enough to have experienced working with useless coworkers and didn't enjoy it much.
I have virtually no social contact with my coworkers outside work and I like it that way. Current hiring fad is to hire for "culture fit" which means only someone with identical political and hobby views and demographics would be able to hire me. I work very well professionally with a wide variety of people but I dread the idea of having to research and spam social media services for weeks (months?) to fake being the bland cookie cutter new hire. I should be able to outsource a manual labor task like social media profile management. I should look into that.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by isostatic on Sunday July 10 2016, @10:58PM
I bet the 10+ crowd skews older/more experienced.
Yes, I bet not many 20 year olds have been in the same job for 10+ years.
(Score: 2) by jmoschner on Tuesday July 12 2016, @11:42AM
Yes, I bet not many 20 year olds have been in the same job for 10+ years.
Damn child labor laws! Those jam covered freeloaders should be earning their keep.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Tuesday July 05 2016, @04:16PM
Pros:
1. My boss is great: basically we scratch each others backs... I work my ass off and she reciprocates by giving me whatever i ask for (if i need a day off (or a schedule change) to look after my son, i get it, no questions asked)
2. The long term people around me are mostly decent, and some of the new people (harder to get good people now adays, rumble rumble grumble)
3. Close to home
4. Stable employment, can pay bills (but we are also not big spenders... second hand cars mostly, no 600" BIG SCREEN TV'S, garden in the back to help with food, gonna try preserving stuff/freezing or canning spaghetti sauce this winter), etc)
5. Linux server
Cons:
1. Working with linux on top of windows desktop..... wtf?!? I know, lets make linux all laggy by running it on windows.... that sounds brilliant (head office decision)
2. Not the GREATEST pay, but okay enough for me to stay
Basically, i also hate the idea of changing employment (interviews etc) but my big fear is that i would lose the ability to be flexible for my son: my wife takes a lot of time off for his appointments, etc and i usually take the days off for if he is sick/school problem.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Wednesday July 06 2016, @08:55PM
No possibility to bring your own machine, cleanly installed and use that instead of the Windows thing if it's just a glorified terminal anyway? Ie just leave the Windows machine to collect dust.
Btw.. You must have a 6000" TV so you can absorb all the spam lest you become spam deficient :-)
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 06 2016, @10:48PM
Oh, dog i love spam.
Spam with tomatoes and pasta (gluten free, of course)
or
Spam with spaghetti sauce (PC brand sausage spaghetti sauce) and pasta
///Add cheese with above maybe////
2 cans of spam instead of one with above....garghllllrmmmmmm so freaking delicious.......
Spam, spam, spam, spam.......
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday July 06 2016, @10:49PM
No... gotta use company machines.
:(
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1) by fraxinus-tree on Tuesday July 05 2016, @04:20PM
15+ years.
1. My boss is smarter than me. I cannot imagine working for some stupid one anymore. I tried a lot.
2. The pay is excellent (well, not always on time, but I learned to save)
3. I have almost absolute decision freedom (except when I do something really stupid).
(Score: 2) by n1 on Tuesday July 05 2016, @06:37PM
I've been self-employed for about 6 years, many different hats though.
Can't imagine going back to an employee style of working, even with the stress and financial insecurity of my current situation.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 05 2016, @08:02PM
but 23 years with my last employer. Retired at 55.
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Wednesday July 06 2016, @09:17PM
Saved money to live of?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday July 08 2016, @05:57PM
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2016, @04:49AM
I don't have a job, I'm ${FIRST_WORLD_DEMONYM}!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 10 2016, @12:48PM
Fuck you.
You know what I hate the most about you dipshits you don't have to work for a living? It's your holier than thou bullshit. Yeah, I drink. Why? Because my job is absolute meaningless shit. Because my life is absolute meaningless shit. Because I'm supporting one of your asses I should throw out and tell to go fuck themselves, and I can't go anywhere else. Because I can't even keep a savings account without some fucking disaster chewing through it. But no, you fuckers who don't have to work for a living, who are always going to have food stamps coming and always have a roof over your head and never have to worry about starving or losing a house just don't fucking get it. I'm such a bad person for drinking. I'm an even more horrible person for wanting weed.
Fuck you.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 06 2016, @03:05PM
I never intended to keep this job. I really don't know why I'm still here. I'm underpaid, frequently abused, don't get much respect - but I keep going to work. If I were willing to relocate, and went through any of the hordes of recruiters out there, I could make a lot more money, in better working conditions. But, that would mean selling the home, finding a new home, or renting . . . . I've been down that road before.
I guess I'm to worn out to play that game any longer, so I'll continue being abused for to little money.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 06 2016, @08:25PM
How long have you been there and how much longer do you think you'll stay?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 07 2016, @12:49AM
Been here ten years. How long will I continue? That's hard to say - I guess when I leave this job, I won't be seriously looking for work anymore. I'll certainly not be looking for work that is physically demanding - I'm worn out.
(Score: 2) by bitstream on Wednesday July 06 2016, @10:28PM
What pay per hour would you get if you were willing to move anywhere?
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday July 07 2016, @12:56AM
Best possible case? Top jobs in the field are factory reps for the machines we run. They get between 50 and 100 bucks an hour, plus per diem and allowances. Pay structures vary though - some are salaried, some are hourly, others are "contract workers". But, that gives you an idea.
I'm simply not up to that kind of a hectic schedule though. I've done similar things in the past, and there is no question of going back to it. Among other things, I need my sleep these days. Ten or fifteen (or more) 20 hour days strung together are out of the question.
(Score: 2) by archfeld on Thursday July 07 2016, @02:13AM
I'd love to find a permanent position, but contracting is about all I can find, and no place I've been in California will employ a contractor for more than a year because they would then be liable for benefits. So I get let go every December 15th and re-contracted the 1st week in January. I kind of like the flexibility that 6 month or 11.5 month contracts offer but a permanent position has its' bright sides also.
For the NSA : Explosives, guns, assassination, conspiracy, primers, detonators, initiators, main charge, nuclear charge
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 07 2016, @02:43AM
I was working at a job I liked. Was there almost 12 years. Consistent good/great reviews, good raises.
Then the boss got promoted. The anti-social new guy who we barely knew was there was hand chosen to be the new boss.
Long story short, he's a genuine, authentic sociopath. New boss decided that he didn't like me, and want on a systematic campaign to get me fired.
He somehow managed to get several of my previous year's HR records changed, including years he wasn't even there.
Three different co-workers came to me saying they noticed the unfair workload & work expectations.
The sociopath crossed a few lines building a case against me- and got a reprimand from the compliance dept.
I managed to leave (huge pay raise at the new job), but he's left to destroy other people and the department.
I would have stayed & been productive until I retired, at low market rates. Now the company has to replace me at a higher pay rate, plus training the replacement.
One sociopath is all it took. I don't feel bad at all for the projects that got dropped when I left.
They say the best revenge is living well - and I'm getting awesome revenge.
(Score: 1) by shanen on Thursday July 07 2016, @10:16AM
Everyone wants to be in Quadrant 1 of good work with good compensation, and no one wants to be in Quadrant 4 of bad work with bad pay. Quadrants 2 and 3 are the decisive ones. I would always prefer Quadrant 2 of good work with poor pay over the opposite, but I still got stuck in Quadrant 3 for a while at the end there... Most of my career has been in Quadrants 1 and 2, so I can't complain too much overall.
Tempted to throw in the ontology of invisible managers...
#1 Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice{5} ≠ (Beer^4 | Speech) and your negative mods prove you are a narrow prick.
(Score: 2) by Hyperturtle on Sunday July 10 2016, @10:33PM
what quadrant are you talking about? I thought most of those quadrant things were just so executives dont have to pay attention to the real details? and that's why gartner is so popular with management and not so much with anyone dealing with details?
I guess I am at a disadvantage because I am not aware of your quadrant type to even be an ignorant executive. If I were to measure such things I would likely stick with Maslow's pyramid rather than some sort of quadrant, but the pyramid doesn't reflect pay. It does, however, define needs and the achievement of meeting them.
Back to this you saying everyone wants to win/win? And those that do are in quad 1? That goes without saying that everyone wants satisfying work that compensates them well. That's the only context I can think of with your quadrant designation. And even without a quadrant, no one wants to lose/lose... People that can't win and won't play to lose end up in whatever degrees lie between, which I guess from your context of quadrants are in 2 or 3. I'd imagine people are put in those squares mostly by circumstance if you were to ask them.
From your context, whatever quadrant 2 is sounds like work one finds satisfying but not financially rewarding. I am going to guess #3 is ... what? High paying work that one does not like? And that quadrant 4 is work that is not paid well and is not satisfying either, the lose/lose?
Sometimes, one accepts a crummy unsatisfying job to get the skills necessary to achieve a more satisfying one, or pay off needs. Many people also have no problem whatsoever doing crummy work at a good wage so that they can afford to fulfill their other desires outside of the workplace. That does not get recorded in a quad like the one I believe you are describing.
Speaking of which, this question doesnt seem to consider career length... I think most people would have their 'quads' all over the place, given enough time and experience.
(Score: 1) by shanen on Monday July 11 2016, @11:46AM
Hmm... A bit hard to focus on your reply, but let me back up to the quadrant thing. You can think of it as a way to visualize something in two dimensions at a time. Let me try to clarify it with a little example from my college days, then I'll go to the example I created for work:
Methods
Reject Accept
Accept Innovator Conformist
Goals
Reject Rebel Ritualist
In that ancient example (thank you Professor Bill Martin) the horizontal dimension is the methods you are supposed to use, and the vertical dimension is the goals you are supposed to be seeking by using those methods. Someone who accepts the methods and goals is a conformist, while someone who rejects both is a rebel.
In my work-related ontology, the two dimensions are the type of work and the compensation, but I just numbered the quadrants instead of labeling them. You are also write to note that these things are somewhat subjective. One person might focus on pay as compensation, whereas another person thinks that promotions are more important than the current salary, so the first person might feel a boring job is Quadrant 1 and a challenging job is Quadrant 3, while the second person would reverse them. Here's the diagram I'm using:
Compensation
Bad Good
Good Quadrant 2 Quadrant 1
Work
Bad Quadrant 4 Quadrant 3
I'm trying to think of good labels for the quadrants, but not coming up with anything obvious.
#1 Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice{5} ≠ (Beer^4 | Speech) and your negative mods prove you are a narrow prick.
(Score: 1) by shanen on Monday July 11 2016, @11:49AM
Whoops. That certainly came out mangled and I had clicked on submit, too... No time to switch to HTML and fix it now, but let me know if you want a clean version and I might have some more time later...
Pretty high on the list of features that I might help fund if SN used such an approach would be a more flexible editing option, perhaps 15 minutes or until someone has started replying...
#1 Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice{5} ≠ (Beer^4 | Speech) and your negative mods prove you are a narrow prick.
(Score: 2) by Kell on Sunday July 10 2016, @11:12PM
Under the Australian system, I've gone 4.5 years from start of my faculty job to continuing - ie, "tenure lite". Now that I'm here, I'm in a good position to apply for Level C... but I'm not sure that I want to, or that I will even stay. The pay is good and I enjoy the creative technical aspects of my work, but in truth most of it is just writing grants and papers, and it's a hyper-stressful, 80 hour-per-week job. I think a generic public service job would be less of a burden, while also allowing me time to do my own research as a hobby. Unless you are someone's golden protege who gets all the breaks, academia is really for suckers.
Scientists ask questions. Engineers solve problems.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 11 2016, @06:07AM
In academia...hell by definition.
4 years at another academic institution before I started here. 15 years at yet another before that. Been fired twice -- once from the 15 yr place, and once from my current place...they decided to fire the guy that fired me and rescinded my pink-slip. Never met anyone who mattered in this environment who wasn't here to pass human knowledge forward. The others just fall off and go live in their own private suburban hells.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday July 11 2016, @06:23PM
"they decided to fire the guy that fired me and rescinded my pink-slip"
I was in that position once. Working construction, they made a "foreman" of a young man, about 23 years old. He was a go-getter, and he wanted things done quickly. I measured three, four, five times, slopping around in the mud, trying to get the foundations right. After a couple weeks, he told me he couldn't use me. I sat at home, enjoying being dry for a few days, when the super called me to come back to work.
I walked out into the field, and there's a crew wrecking a freshly poured foundation and wall because it was two feet out of position. The State of Texas was NOT going to tolerate such shoddy work!
They appointed another foreman, who told me to take all the time I wanted measuring - we would definitely NOT put concrete walls in the wrong place again.
Got any idea how hard it is to pull measurements in a sea of mud? Worse, long tapes are expensive, and that mud just eats them up, so you end up buying a new 100 ft tape every month or so. Smaller spring-loaded 25 or 30 ft tapes are even worse.