IT Employment·20,064 discussions

Downshifting

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That yuppie catch-phrase from the late 90’s! Work has been hectic of late, and the heat is unbearable in the office. I’ve had a bad week (no sleep) thanks to ‘neighbours from hell’ and to cap it all I have just finished a 30 hour non stop stint at work to resolve some problems (basically annotating and reviewing 120 hours of security video footage) and feel completely wiped out. Well, to hell with it….if I can’t get any sleep at home I might as well not get any sleep at work and possibly acheive something!

I decided to take a five minute time-out, as my brain was reeling with fatigue, and pop out for a bit of fresh air and a walk to try and clear my head. As I left the office I spotted a man trimming the hedge across the street from our offices. I chatted to him for a few minutes and realised that his ‘life’ was very uncomplicated.

I quote…”If it’s raining, I stay home and read the paper or a book. If it’s not raining I trim hedges.”

How much more uncomplicated does it get?! He goes home when he’s finished, and not before. He won’t start on a job he can’t finish to his satisfaction if it means he’s not home in time to give his children a bath and put them to bed. If he’s not happy with the finished job, he’ll continue until he is happy, or come back the next day and do it again. In his own field (pardon the pun), he is an artist and prides himself on his work. Yes he collects a pay packet, but he says that is just a necessity of life and his biggest reward is pride in a job well done and a happy customer.

If you were offered an opportunity to ‘downshift’ and take that man’s place, trading financial remuneration, stress and long hours for less money but more contentment and less hassle…how many would jump at the chance to leave the ‘rat-race’ behind?

I’m seriously considering it!

Topic

a little burnt out?

In reply to Downshifting

This would be my first post, but I have been reading the boards for a month or so now. Initially it sounded like you are a little burnt out, as you should be. Working non stop and not taking time to ‘smell the roses’ My advice would be to try and’smell the roses’ catch up on some sleep. Right now, you aren’t in the best mind set to be making a decision such as leaving your job.

I believe we take a job and stay there cause one is passionate about it. So if you leave the job you are sopassionate about…where do you go? What else are you passionate about?

I am by no means an expert in anything. I’m 19, have been working on computers for about 8 years. It’s only in the last 6 months have a landed a real computer job. It’s great, but…I have always grown up around cars and racing. I love them more than computers. If given the opportunity to build race engines over working on computers, I would take it. That is me though, I am more passionate about cars than computers. Right now I sit in an A/C office, if I were working in a shop…no A/C and I would be on my feet all day (some times I think that would be better than sitting all the time). I make descent money for the time being, but I would take a big pay cutif I were working in a shop. There is trade offs to everything, but I get more personal satisfaction from building something, and seeing it come to life (an engine)

I’m sure it’s just me babbling on…I hope that I have helped.

A clone!

In reply to a little burnt out?

Sounds like we have something in common, I quit workiing for Ford bacause I was sick of being sore and tired for a measly $24/hr when my boss billed $84/hr for my time. It just isn’t worth it. I now just do the restoration, rebuild and repair thing in my own garage when I feel like it.
(just finished a 74’cuda with a 360 {.202 valves like the 340)) Runs like snot, tune in to the Mission raceway site to see it run in August.

As for your statement-
“I believe we take a job and stay there cause one is passionate about it. So if you leave the job you are so passionate about…where do you go? What else are you passionate about?”

People take jobs for MONEY, only MONEY and nothing but MONEY. When I worked Fulltime, I always wanted a job I’d enjoy and believe in (passion?) BUT, the bottom line, I wouldn’t have needed to be passionate about a job if I didn’t need money. I always made it clear to my boss that I worked there for a paycheck, if I wasn’t paid, I wouldn’t have gone towork, who would?

NOBODY, I don’t care who it is, actually works because they want to (unless working for themselves). People work to pay bills and live in a chosen lifestyle.
you work for a nice company, they pay you well, you have the A/C but if you didn’t get a paycheck, would you be there much longer? NO, of course not. We all work for money, it’s just that some of us enjoy the job at hand.

Good first post, hope to hear more from you in the future.

working only for money

In reply to A clone!

People work only for money? A couple of years ago the boss called 12 of us in and told us that we were all laid off. We would get paid till the end of next week but need not appear at work any more. Most of the dozen just quit showing up. But I had just started learning about Cobol Report Writer, in which I had been interested for over a decade. I stayed till near the end of the week and completed the immediate project I was on so as to learn something which I believed and still believe should be a lot more popular than it is; also something which filled a definite gap in my knowledge. I could have gone home – I lived 450 miles from the work place – early and started my new job search a little sooner, but I chose to improve my mind and my skills.

Contradiction?

In reply to working only for money

Well you must be employee of the month, did they post your photo?
Actually what you did was for your OWN benefit, not because you loved the company.

ALSO:

“We would get paid till the end of next week… ”

“I stayed till near the end of theweek”

So what’s your point?

point

In reply to Contradiction?

If I had found a new job right away I could have been paid twice for the same time. I lost work search time. Oz Media is right that I was working for my own benefit, but I was not working just for money. And it was not just for my own benefit: the employer and its clients and their clients – the County’s poor – benefited by the earlier completion of that work.

Of course

In reply to point

Any time spent learning IT will benefit the company.
i must reinforce, you learned ti for you OWN benefit, in the process, it benefitted others, as it will benefit other company you work for in the future, lets call it a skill set.
Q: Why do you need a skill set?
A: To increase your value to present or potential employer(s).

Q: Why would you want to be more valuable to an employer?
A: SO YOU CAN MAKE MORE MONEY!!! Who are you trying to fool, if we didn’t need money to live on, we’d all be fishing, golfing or F&^#%$g our day away. Don’t even try the “I want to be a better employee so I can benefit the world” BS

I’ve done it

In reply to Downshifting

I got away from the tedium of working for a corporation some time ago.
Although I spwend much of my day logged into a client’s domain (as I am now) and p-issing around on the net, I don’t actually have MUST DO responsibilities. As many of you know, work with a few bands that seems to get me off the office track and into a near party mode, yes it is work but can you really consider touring, recording, meeting with labels and drinking beer an actual job?
I sometimes I take time off and fix cars in the area for a change because I used to be a mechanic, sometimes I don’t even feel like doing that so it’s off to the driving range to hit a few buckets.

If any of you have ever been to BC or seen Vancouver Island, you’ll see how laid back life here really is, mind you all that whale watching and kayaking gets a little tiring sometimes (well… not really).
When I need a city dose, I can head to Vancouver for a bit but when I’m sick of looking at people in the race I can escape home tothe island again.

As for the corporate life, I’ve been there and done that as a Sales Manager, Marketing Officer, Office Administrator, Operations Manager etc. Siut and tie, looooooong boring meetings that accomplish nothing, idiotic people who think they are ‘in the game’, the politicallly correct BS, it just got sickening.

Many people said I’d get so bored living at the lake but it grew on me fast and there’s a ton of stuff to do around the home and yard if it gets too slow.

No, I don’t regret leaving the busy world behind, in fact I get a good dosage of the life every now and then.
CONT.

Well…

In reply to Downshifting

currently I’m in a cush job being underutilized (aas far as my tech abilities go), but am very satisfied in it, so in a sense I already relate to the guy.

For years though, I worked very underpaid positions at a tech svcs division of a major copier company, and was very frustrated. At the pay level I was receiving, I was very tempted to do something like that if my desire for a better posision hadn’t kept me going so well through it.

You know, some cool people I used to work always said “Lowe’s Knows”, meaning their backup plan was to go to Lowe’s for the same reasons! Clever!

CONT.

In reply to Downshifting

…..
A friend once told me to get away and do my own thing, he’d been doing his own thing as an independant advertiser and copywriter since he was 24. He did the Midas commercials, Vancouver Canucks advertising etc. and now writes portfolios for companies going public and looking for new investors.

The hard part was stepping out of my comfort zone and not having that bi-monthly paycheck to rely on. I found it was WAY easier than I thought and make more money now than I did as a company drone!

If you have skills, motivation and drive, go for it. Why earn someone else a paycheck, when you can write your own? The only thing holding back your personal progress is yourself, if you don’t want it, you’ll never have it, if you do want it and have the drive, you’ll have it easier than you thought.

Now Guru, I know that you have some steep responsibilities with your family and need security in your income. Don’t quit work on a bad day and be left wondering what happened and cursing my name for the push-off, but with a little thought and a stable set of working skills, you’ll be better off paying yourself instead of waiting for someone else to pay you.

Take some well deserved time off and get away from the office to cool a bit.

OM

Good luck

Not by choice

In reply to Downshifting

It was not by choice, but I did end up taking a step or 2 back and ending up with more enjoyment in my life.

I was downsized in the fall of 2001.

I was not aware of how much stress I was under, or how much of an impact the stress was having onmy health.

The day after I was layed off, it was like the weight of the world was lifted from my shoulders.

My present job pays 20 percent less, but is closer to home and the company has much better management than my prior employer.

Would I go back? NO WAY!!!

A former supervisor once told me that if you can’t enjoy what you are doing at work, you need to find a different job.

Many of the people I work with cannot understand why I smile all the time.
They have worked here for over 20 years on the most part, and have no idea how bad some other companies are to work for.

I know that now is not the best time for you to make a job change.
It may however be a good time for you to step back and evaluate your personal and career goals and objectives.

My best wishes to you my friend.

Chas

can’t wait to do the same

In reply to Downshifting

right now, i’m seriously considering living the life of a hermit somewhere in the himalayas. or some remote place where there are no computers. but i’m too young for such slowdown. there’s a time for everything. =)

need sleep too. so does this computer!

eremitism

In reply to can’t wait to do the same

Why become a hermit in the Himalayas? There are at least 2 hermits in the Oakland Hills a little to the east of San Francisco. I know of 2 more, in the Sierra Madre behind the southern part of the California coast. But don’t think it’s a slowing-down: you must produce something in order to eat, so affiliation with a monastery or the like is a good idea for a link to the outside economy for the sale of your handiwork. And praying the hours regularly can be a grind. And, although a few days solitude sounds attractive, can you really stand weeks and years on end with minimal outside contact? But if coucherdusoleil thinks he can: try it in the less inhabited parts of the neighborhood, fter taking appropriate spiritual direction. I could use someone praying for me.

i’m actually a SHE not a HE

In reply to eremitism

i choose the himalayas coz there are lots of new and untouched things up there. exactly what i need to keep me interested for a lifetime. if i ever choose to live the life of a hermit. not exactly spent amongst the monks or in the monastery.

and i hear there are lots of rhubarbs there. rhubarbs interest me. this comment is really way too weird to be posted here.

she and he

In reply to i’m actually a SHE not a HE

So are the two hermits I know about in the Sierra Madre. And there are lots of things in the local hills as new to you as anything in the Himalayas.

going without Outside contact

In reply to eremitism

“And, although a few days solitude sounds attractive, can you really stand weeks and years on end with minimal outside contact?”

Have you ever gone camping for more than 6 months?
It is the absolute best thing in the world. You can grow a vegetable garden and fish for food. Who cares if you EVER see another idiot again!

Unfortunately, in the seventh month one of the 5 of us got quite sick and needed hospitalization. As far as solitude and peace, it is second to none, if I’d never seenanother street freak, it wouldn’t have bothered me. In fact I always get a laugh at the people who feel driving to a public campsite is getting away from the rat race, until some kid turns up and cranks Guns N Roses (doesn’t anyone get tired of that whiny, untalented crap?).

Reply To: Downshifting

In reply to going without Outside contact

i don’t know if i could stand weeks and years without outside contact but i’d like to try. i’ve been pretty much self-sufficient all my life anyway. but you’re right there’s a lot to worry like when you get sick or something.

it’s just so tempting. especially when you think about not hearing Guns N Roses for the longest time possible. =)

It’s also a matter of location

In reply to Reply To: Downshifting

For someone living in NewYork, this would be an unimaginable isolation. From someone living in Canada, we are used to getting out into the wilderness and spending time doing nothing but building a wood pile, kitchen etc. for a long undisturbed staywith nature.

Most odf my friends and neighbours take off for weeks and months at a time, why? Because we can.
The question is….WHY NOT???

numbers

In reply to going without Outside contact

You say there were five of you, but I thught coucherdusoleil was contemplating actual solitude.

Definitely

In reply to numbers

When I go away, even with friends, we don’t hold hands all the time. The idea of getting away is just that, being alone. While I often go away with friends, we spend much of our time doing things by ourselves and trying to forget the rat race. I have also been on an extensive survival camp alone which was truly an escape from what is thought to be reality but in actuality it was an adventure INTO reality. The daily world is FAR from real with all the manipulation, mistrust and disloyalty between people.

I would prefer to just disappear by myself most of the time but when you pack the truck and load the canoe, everyone else wants to get away too.

Reply To: Downshifting

In reply to Definitely

although most of the time, i prefer the sole company of the sunset and the wind whenever i want to be alone. but there are times when you feel like being alone with a few people who’d like to be alone with you. either way works for me. 😉

Yup, I love the woods

In reply to going without Outside contact

Been doing this I.T stuff for eighteen years now. Worked in Boston, Toronto, Ottawa. I moved to Prince Edward Island six years ago, bought two acres for 7k (cdn) had a log cottage built AND bought a house. I have to travel for work but hey, I havebeen off work for eight weeks now and can afford another fifty two, cause the cost of living is not as much out here and the pressure to get ahead in a career is just not there.

I am loving it, and I have built manny woodpiles in the last two weeks (mostly beech and maple 😉

My 2c worth

Reply To: Downshifting

In reply to Yup, I love the woods

a log cottage! how nice. i would someday love to do the same as you did. meantime, i’m still here in front of the glaring one-eyed machine 24×7! *sigh*…

GuruOfDos – You’ve rekindled. . . . .

In reply to Downshifting

…..some similar thoughts that I’ve had over the years.

However, this time I acted upon those thoughts, and I’ve decided to quit my “real” job. (I’ve been at the same place for well over 10 years and in the same industry for almost 20.) I’m moving on to the next phase, whatever that is, but I plan to work half as many hours and make twice as much income. How’s that for a lofty goal?

How am I going to do that, you might ask? Well, I’m not sure right now, but I’ll figure it out on the way.

More to come……….(maybe)……….

Good show Maxwell

In reply to GuruOfDos – You’ve rekindled. . . . .

Hats off Maxwell, it takes some pretty large cohonas to walk away from a career like that.
Bottom line, you’ll be happier and feel the weight slip off your shoulders almost immediately.

I felt like I was on top of the world when I first started doing my own thing. It’s an amazing feeling to no longer be told where you have to be and when you need to be there.
Not to mention laughing at your friends as they slog through a work week while you decide to play golf on Tuesday afternoon and work Wednesday morning instead, well maybe Thursday.

what’s next?

In reply to GuruOfDos – You’ve rekindled. . . . .

This is a spin-off, yet similar question…..

So you’re paid in a happy pay zone in a position that is way below your tech expertise… You just passed a career-changing certification to validate your position in the field, but you’re worth another 5-6k… You love your company, like your co-workers, but feel a small void when it comes to what you work on, it leaves you with no satisfaction of a challenge… Does that longing go away, or does it always burn? If I received a %5 raise everyyear for the next 10 years, I’ll be making 30,000 more than I do now, have my pension (and 401 investments) and be able to retire in style. If I got 5% for the next 30 years (would retire before 30 yrs), I would be making an amount I don’t see couldeven be a pay range for a guy like me…
.

So my question is this: Do you stay in the cush job or pursue the challenge, the raise, and keep raising the bar? Is there a day when you are working for the wrong company for the wrong reasons and wish you had stayed inthe cush secure job? Since I’m qualified for the next level, do you push on and just make sure you’re always working for good comapanies – so tha t you don’t have that feeling?

30 YEARS !!!!!

In reply to what’s next?

“If I got 5% for the next 30 years (would retire before 30 yrs)”

You can actually think that far ahead in life?
In 1987 and 1989, I learned never to plan for tomorrow. You can paint a picture and create goals to achieve (people always say to work toward goals)and die while crossing the street at lunch time.

I think goals should be set daily instad of into the future, my daily goals include, being a better person, helping somone else achieve a goal, and listening to others.

The best goal I’ve found is to constantly improve myself as a person (not necessarily learning new code or network techniques).

If I ever planned 30 years into the future it would be a misleading and inappropriate goal, especially if I was relying on 401’s to make it
(a little more trading knowledge is needed here I think). That’s almost like hoping an RRSP will provide your retirement.

Lastly, if I thought I would still be working in 30 years (especially for someone else), I’d just throw in the towel now and lay down to be planted.

Lastly,do you really think 30,000 is going to be a valuable increase iover 30 years? That’s only a grand a year in raises! I’d quit now.

There are much more lucrative careers than that, look at MacDonalds or 7-11 (AMPM in the US).

we have to move on

In reply to 30 YEARS !!!!!

Again just my peronsal opinion.

We have to achieve for higher things, and go on to better things. The job I have now, I replaced someone with less skills than myself, what would take him a couple of hours, only takes me minutes.

My boss told me to slow down, because they wouldn’t be able to justify keeping me on full time. I hate the fact that I have to slow down…Mind you, no difference in the quality of of my work whether I go as fast as I can, or take my time….More than anything, it is just to WASTE time.

I had intentions of going to college in the fall, and was going to work from my dorm room (ftp, terminal services, remote access, VPN), they were worried how they were going to bill them. I was going to bill minimum one hour per job…Mind you it would probably only take me like 5 minutes. One of the executives had asked me, it only took you 5 minutes to do something, you would have had to lie (about the billing)…I don’t see it as lying, I see it as business (and trying to survive while going to school).

I guess the point to my babbling is that we are a product of our enviroment. If you stay where you are, you don’t utilize your new skills that you have found with your certificate, you will losethose skills, and time has been wasted. We must go on and become more.

I prefer complete change

In reply to we have to move on

If I get bored of IT (happening fast) I will drive a truck or sweep chimeny’s. Who cares, as long as I’m doing ti for me and not for somebody else.

I agree, move on and get on with life but instead of planning to improve on a single skillset, try something new. There’s nothing to stop me from becoming a lawyer, banker, street busker, or circus clown (getting close to that one nowadays).

“Be all that you can be” (there you go guys!!)Mind you there’s other places to “be all that you can be” than in the Army.

[Author]

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