think tank forum

trent's post: If I wasn't majoring in IT I seriously wouldnt do anymore research into new OS's or anything IT. It's just gotten old trying to learn more and more new crap all the time and I dont really have a passion for it, so you might ask why am I majoring in it? Mostly because I had work because it is "Work" and I wouldnt really enjoy anything ive realized so I might as well finish what im doing. LR I think thought is better expressed on the fly rather than in a forum. Sure thought can be expressed here, but I think its missing the in for your face, human interaction.

dbrown's post: trent: if you're not happy with what you're doing then you best get out quick. i do it in school because it's a complete obsession for me. i read whitepapers, text books, anything i can get my hands on constantly because it interests me. i'm quitting my second job so that i can study again, even if it means i won't have much money at all. as i recently told ck, i'm doing my best to become a crusader against those who resign to sadness or mediocrity because they feel they're obligated or it's easier.
that's my rant.

trent's post: db: I hate work , no matter what it is. There are a million other things I could be doing besides being someone elses paid slave.

trent: what if it doesn't feel like work? let me ask you this, what are your hobbies? and the cliche question: what would you do if money was no issue? for me it would probably be writing about networking and researhing networking technologies. now what if i could do one of those things for a living, would you still consider it work? i think the thing that people forget is that there are jobs that offer almost any service. i thinik the thing that keeps most people from achieving their dream jobs (excluding pro sports, although i think the arguement is still mostly relevant) is a lack of belief that they can achive those jobs. that lack of belief keeps them from working for that job. it all seems very idealistic but i truly think it can work.
thoughts?

"as i recently told ck, i'm doing my best to become a crusader against those who resign to sadness or mediocrity because they feel they're obligated or it's easier."

i wanted this pullout out of context and broadened philosophically.

as for the job/career stuff, i agree with djb.

My hobbies are basically sports and computers. Thats why im doing IT, and sure it doesnt feel that bad to be at work compared to normal jobs i've had in the past. But still im at work because I have to be to get money bags. My goal right now is to work for about 10 years and get enough money to open up a business (i.e a restraunt) work that for about 5 years until I can get it established and then if all goes well never work again. You asked what I would rather be doing in my free time db; I would much rather be hanging with friends, playing sports of any kind, taking road trips everywhere, viewing the world. Maybe even go into space one day, that would be awesome. But honostley like right now during the summer if I didnt have to work my day would consist of hanging with friends, working out, playing ultimate frisbee, boxing, racquetball, and doing martial arts which are all things that I have an actual passion for. Are any of these going to pay the bills for me? probably not, so therefor I must resort to work.

Don't feel too sorry for yourself. Almost everyone has to "resort to work." And I don't want to get all Republican here, but I love the feeling of earning money for myself. Everything I want to buy required someone else's work to make, so I don't feel cheated that I have to work to get it. Some of my friends here are really loaded, and they don't seem particularly happy about it because they didn't earn any of it, they are just resting on their parents' past hard work and success. I guess I am kind of lucky because I enjoy what I will likely be doing for the rest of my life, mechanical engineering and maybe business. But I have had my share of crappy jobs and put up with them.

Work..hm

It's kind of interesting that work and friends has to be so separate. So far my jobs are very much an experience I would never want to miss out on. I've learned a lot about people by working with them. It's different than having the regular ebbs of drama with a group of friends.

It doesn't sound too good trent, that you're resorting to work. Don't fall into the mediocrity.

Friends and work? I'm the young guy. I work with a bunch of older women that want nothing to do with me and my loud "heavy metal" music (People can't tell stoner metal and black metal!). It's why I sit in my office with a stack o' movies... At least I get to do that. :)

It's kind of interesting that work and friends has to be so separate. Odds are you're not going to be getting a job with someone you truly consider a friend. Most people we meet in this life time are acquaintances. Sure i've met new people working, but seriously from all the jobs I've worked (5 different ones now) I haven't stayed in touch with any of them and actually consider none them as being a solid friend. And with my good friends its pretty rare I have drama with them, and if we do its over with pretty quick. Im not necessarily resorting to work. I work becaue it pays cash and in order to live in this society money is of the essence. I would say work is more of the human condition.

I work about 2 feet away from my best friend. Actually we are a bit too close. Me and my two roomates (a guy and his girlfriend) all live together AND all work together. We live like 3 minutes from work. They both do webdesign and I do sysadmin. Me and the guy have been friends since elementary school. The girl is from Brazil, they met at U of Texas. Luckily he is the only person on the planet that doesn't get on my nerves or I'm sure we'd kill each other. He is very laid back, as am I.

Work:
Come in anytime before 10:30, leave whenever, absolutely no dress code, always a keg of shiner in the kitchen, hack with your friends, play with new technology.Sounds perfect. But we constantly fight the owner. He is a moron. Absolute moron. He doesn't charge enough, doesn't focus on core business (tell customers we can do everything. tickets, ringtones, website, fanclubs, forums, custom software, media, etc) when we could focus on 2 or 3 of these and make a fortune. but unfortunately he is a bitch and can't say no. running the biz into the ground, when we could be exploding as a company. one problem actually is that we were a mom and pop shop one day and the next we were big league and we couldn't handle the growth. not it just seems like everyday is rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.

now there is internal strife, lack of communication, anger and just plain crappy atmosphere. no time to develop things the right way, shit is just hacked together because the owner skimped in the beginning because "we were the little guy". now there is a dump ass foundation to build off.

we actually had a new guy come in with alot of managerial experience in IT industry (Dell, Cisco, etc). He kicks complete ass and he restored all my faith. But then the owner didn't follow any of his advice so back to where we started in a flat spin.

oh well. i got alot of experience and also the connect to move to microsoft. i guess it was just a failed experiment. the company will blue screen any day now. could have been awesome, if only we could have fired the owner....


wow. sorry. i had a really shitty day at work today and i just took it out on the forum. haha

interesting story, glad you gave that venture a heave-ho and went on your merry way.