I like my job enough that, in order to catch a 6 AM flight tomorrow morning, I'm going to have to get up at 2:35 AM so I can drive to Denver in time for the flight. I don't mind.

Your pet preserve idea sounds interesting, Josh, but that's a retirement job. You shouldn't try to live off grants/donations without a solid backup plan.

In that vein, the only advice I can give you is that while it's important to enjoy what you're doing, it's more important to pay the bills and secure your future. It's about sustainability. If you're financially independent, in the sense that you can retire any time you like, today if you really feel like it, then you're ready to do what you enjoy.

I've had things dry up on me far too often to suggest otherwise.

The other thing I can suggest considering is to work where you are for a while longer, but live like you're on the lower income. Save the rest. If you're comfortable and happy at the 'lower' income for a good while, and you have a solid six-to-twelve month reserve so that if things dry up, then I'd say go ahead and do something you enjoy.

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And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

I liked teaching well enough that I'm comfortable enough at the thought of doing it for the next thirty years or so.

Actually, I enjoyed spending time with my two youngest classes a great deal. My older classes, not as much, but they were a rather 'exceptional' bunch. Stunningly so.

__________________
And you, to whom adversity has dealt the final blow
With smiling [faces] lyin' to ye' everywhere ye' go
Turn to, and put out all your strength of arm and heart and brain
And like the Mary Ellen Carter, rise again.

I do my job because I need the money.
But if I didn't need the money I'd still do it, 'cause it's interesting and challenging and they probably wouldn't let me play with all that cool hardware if I did it for free.

__________________
‘To those who regard “crime fiction” as some sacred icon which must follow a rigid formula, I will always be the man who writes 18-syllable haiku.’Trying to make sense of computers, The Error Log.

For the most part, I like mine. The work is always a little different each day, it's not boring, and projects only last six months on average. I have flexible hours, can take off most any time I want to, have good health benefits, my boss is OK, I like the people I work with and they are good at what they do, decent office environment, I live only 25 mins from work (17 miles), the company I work for is healthy, I have a good pension to look forward to, company-contributed 401K on top of that, casual dress (and I do mean casual--shorts and a t-shirt are OK), I can work from home if necessary, . . .

But, I feel like I haven't done something "important" or fulfilling. I sure won't be remembered.

I have thought about this very much lately. I changed careers from pig farming for wages to the electrical trade at the age of 26 or so.

I wish I had gotten a trade sooner.

My advice to all ages still in the work force (and students) is to set a goal of getting a 'ticket' in a 'trade' you feel you would enjoy for your remaining life.

Unskilled labourers will always be at the bottom of the pay scale. Business and PHD types, will always be at the top.

Night school and online universities are a good option for those already working.

Aprentices are usually paid less than labourers for the 1st year or so.

Research the field you think you want by asking people that are close to retirement in it. Ask them what 'bad bits' you can expect for the next decade or 5.

The wages will be on the net or classifieds.

__________________
'Sir........, I don't like these numbers.'
'Then hire somebody that can change them!'
("`-/")_.-'"``-.,,
\. . `; -._( );, `)
(v_,)' _ )`-. \ ``'`
_.- _..-/ /((.'
((,.-' ((,/

It is summer break and I'm ready to go back to work. Have another five weeks to go.

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Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
Albert Einstein

I had a job I liked once. Of course, it was a "compensated volunteer" position--they paid me for four hours a week, but I worked until the job was done--but I'd do it for a living were circumstances different. Such as people actually being hired for the job instead of "oh, the computer'll catch it."

I think I have three friends here (other than ren faire merchants) who really like their jobs, and oddly, two of them work retail. Now, of course, one of them closed last night and opened this morning and was none too happy about it, but he likes the work. Another friend has a job he'd like if he had better coworkers. As for my ren faire merchant friends, well, that's not something you'd want to do if you didn't like it, because it's a lot of work for not terribly much money, at least for most of them, and a lot of the merchants I know also have to have day jobs, at least during the off season.

__________________
Gillian

"Now everyone was giving her that kind of look UFOlogists get when they suddenly say, 'Hey, if you shade your eyes you can see it is just a flock of geese after all.'"

"You can't erase icing."

"I can't believe it doesn't work! I found it on the internet, man!"

I've been fortunate, I guess, in having chosen a profession (engineering) that has been both reasonably interesting and reasonably lucrative. It hasn't been the sort of thing that I can't wait to get to in the morning, and hasn't made me rich, but it's been comfortable and steady. That's not like shooting for the stars, but it's better than most people have it.

The past couple of years my job has provided something a bit different. I've become responsible for the care of my elderly parents and mother-in-law; and my wife's health isn't too great either. My job has now become the least stressful part of my life, my main chance to talk to "normal" folks, and a respite from the stresses of my "real" life. That's an aspect of work/life tradeoff that had never occurred to me until it happened.

I had planned on retiring a couple of years ago, but kept postponing it. Now I'm really glad I didn't.

__________________
Cum catapultae proscribeantur tum soli proscripti catapultas habeant.

If there was no one but me, I'd quit tomorrow and hit the road. Too many things I haven't seen. Be happy to die poor.

But that's not possible for me. Kid just starting college. Wife who wonders if her job will exist come fall. Insurance bills, fairly large. I'm not so self-absorbed to think I always come first. My father was a semi-invalid the second half of his life but managed to work full-time and pass on free and clear. How can I do less?

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If they can get you asking the wrong questions, they don't have to worry about the answers.

As always Mike, an excellent post. For me - my post-grad qualifications have never been used, because to do so would mean relocating my family to country NSW and reducing my income by 75%. I'd be more than happy to do so. My job is dull and doesn't stretch my intellect at all.

But when I married and had children, I assumed a responsibility to look after them to the best of my ability. My job is dull, but every fortnight I get a salary that ensures that my wife and kids have a secure, unencumbered future. That's my job now.

__________________
"I'd take the awe of understanding over the awe of ignorance any day." - Douglas Adams

"Certainly, in the topsy-turvy world of heavy rock, having a good solid piece of wood in your hand is often useful." - Ian Faith