First, yes. I think you should finish the book. It got you mulling, so let's see where it leads you. Second, 🗣EVERYTHING YOU SAID!!! Here's my standpoint---I've had some "Bullshit Jobs" that were well paid, highly titled, and didn't do anything except make a bunch of rich people richer. I feel like most of us were there to kept up the appearance of something important going on. On paper, these seemed like dream jobs. However, I would much rather have had the salary I had, but be able to greet visitors, give tours of the campus, and hand out new computers to employees because the human connection, at least, would make the work feel less bullshitty than it really was.
OK, thanks for the encouragement. I'll try to finish this weekend!
Your point about keeping up the appearance of success or importance is one the author makes in the book...especially having senior leaders. I remember when Lisa Jory and I first started building BlogHer, one of our goals was not to replicate mistakes we had seen in the start-ups where we had worked...where people hired VPs right away, but left managers and contributors under-resourced. We let it go a little too long (so we became bottlenecks unnecessarily) but I still think it was a better plan to hire contributors and teams who got to do the actual work, not higher priced senior people who may have been able to lead, but didn't really have the team to lead. (Like, there's totally a place for wisdom and experience and leadership, but so many orgs over-hire at that level.)
Elisa, If you are in this deep, keep reading. My thoughts: Every job at every level offers opportunity to learn skills we may find useful in our kaleidoscope careers. I spent a summer working in a factory, using an ink dip pen with an ink that could withstand high temperatures marking small metal casings that would house electronics sent into space in airplanes and spacecraft. Does that sound like anything I do now? No. But I learned about the people around me doing assembly line jobs and how they found camaraderie, and their opportunities to learn about the products and potential promotions. I learned how they supported their families. I saw the dignity in work that I would never have seen in white collar jobs or newsrooms. Around me were immigrants from many countries, an array of races and religions with a variety of talents and interests and responsibilities on the line and at home. I could have looked at it as a B-S job–just a few months of summer work. But my father, a senior manager there, taught me otherwise. He stoked my curiosity even when I was bored with the task by asking about quality control (QC), what I had learned and who I met. Later as a journalist, I understood more about factory labor, unions vs. non-unions, raising families on minimum wages, single parents, and the new immigrant experience than my peers who coasted from college to newsrooms. Every opportunity to learn is valuable for the individual who does it with an open mind.
That's a great story, Helen. I certainly learned when I was a receptionist, office manager, and admin that those are folks who often have tremendous gatekeeping capabilities AND that many people look to how you treat those staffers to learn what kind of human you are!
Love youe questions. I have not read the book. I think jobs are called jobs not hobbies because they essentially provide means to live our lives. Having just retired from being a workaholic for 30 years, I still work hars but not for money which is liberating - but had to cover life costs first. There is something to be learned from every job, but the bullshit part is being mistreated. Hope the book focuses too on the human bullshit that many people bring to otherwise respectable work.
I've definitely been convinced I need to finish it...if for no other reason than I need to get to the potential solution segment of the book, AND I think you're exactly right...will the book address how some toxic people *insert* bullshit unnecessarily into work, and how to avoid such people!
First, yes. I think you should finish the book. It got you mulling, so let's see where it leads you. Second, 🗣EVERYTHING YOU SAID!!! Here's my standpoint---I've had some "Bullshit Jobs" that were well paid, highly titled, and didn't do anything except make a bunch of rich people richer. I feel like most of us were there to kept up the appearance of something important going on. On paper, these seemed like dream jobs. However, I would much rather have had the salary I had, but be able to greet visitors, give tours of the campus, and hand out new computers to employees because the human connection, at least, would make the work feel less bullshitty than it really was.
OK, thanks for the encouragement. I'll try to finish this weekend!
Your point about keeping up the appearance of success or importance is one the author makes in the book...especially having senior leaders. I remember when Lisa Jory and I first started building BlogHer, one of our goals was not to replicate mistakes we had seen in the start-ups where we had worked...where people hired VPs right away, but left managers and contributors under-resourced. We let it go a little too long (so we became bottlenecks unnecessarily) but I still think it was a better plan to hire contributors and teams who got to do the actual work, not higher priced senior people who may have been able to lead, but didn't really have the team to lead. (Like, there's totally a place for wisdom and experience and leadership, but so many orgs over-hire at that level.)
Elisa, If you are in this deep, keep reading. My thoughts: Every job at every level offers opportunity to learn skills we may find useful in our kaleidoscope careers. I spent a summer working in a factory, using an ink dip pen with an ink that could withstand high temperatures marking small metal casings that would house electronics sent into space in airplanes and spacecraft. Does that sound like anything I do now? No. But I learned about the people around me doing assembly line jobs and how they found camaraderie, and their opportunities to learn about the products and potential promotions. I learned how they supported their families. I saw the dignity in work that I would never have seen in white collar jobs or newsrooms. Around me were immigrants from many countries, an array of races and religions with a variety of talents and interests and responsibilities on the line and at home. I could have looked at it as a B-S job–just a few months of summer work. But my father, a senior manager there, taught me otherwise. He stoked my curiosity even when I was bored with the task by asking about quality control (QC), what I had learned and who I met. Later as a journalist, I understood more about factory labor, unions vs. non-unions, raising families on minimum wages, single parents, and the new immigrant experience than my peers who coasted from college to newsrooms. Every opportunity to learn is valuable for the individual who does it with an open mind.
That's a great story, Helen. I certainly learned when I was a receptionist, office manager, and admin that those are folks who often have tremendous gatekeeping capabilities AND that many people look to how you treat those staffers to learn what kind of human you are!
Love youe questions. I have not read the book. I think jobs are called jobs not hobbies because they essentially provide means to live our lives. Having just retired from being a workaholic for 30 years, I still work hars but not for money which is liberating - but had to cover life costs first. There is something to be learned from every job, but the bullshit part is being mistreated. Hope the book focuses too on the human bullshit that many people bring to otherwise respectable work.
I've definitely been convinced I need to finish it...if for no other reason than I need to get to the potential solution segment of the book, AND I think you're exactly right...will the book address how some toxic people *insert* bullshit unnecessarily into work, and how to avoid such people!
Agreed! Sorry for early morning typos. :)