Ship of Fools: Which jobs make you happy?

Thread: Which jobs make you happy? Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by Lucia (# 15201) on :

So according to this BBC Magazine article the job with the highest reported life satisfaction in the UK is the clergy and the lowest is publicans.

Sadly my own profession did not appear on the list but do you think it correlates with your experience? Anything surprise you? In the light of this who's up for a career change?

Posted by Jane R (# 331) on :

Certainly doesn't correlate with my experience. I was a lot happier as a librarian than I was as a primary school teacher.

Posted by Highfive (# 12937) on :

Just left graphic design for forklift driving. I'm happier because I'm being paid on time, but I've just broken my toe so...

Posted by cliffdweller (# 13338) on :

Cross-pond question: What's a "playworker"?

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

My name is Sioni Sais and I'm happy in my job. There, I've said it now.

(I'm a business analyst in the civil service)

eta: Interesting to see publicans and clergy at opposite ends of the table. Both have no say in who comes into their houses, they both deal with a succession of lame ducks and the hours are equally demanding. I suppose publicans make fewer house calls while clergy have to break up fewer fights (but not necessarily). If they swapped, would both be happier?

[ 21. March 2014, 14:58: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]

Posted by lilBuddha (# 14333) on :

quote:
Originally posted by cliffdweller:
Cross-pond question: What's a "playworker"?

The people who truly keep a theatre running. But some people mean this, people who help parents hang on to sanity whilst sacrificing their own.

Posted by Lamb Chopped (# 5528) on :

I was asked this two weeks ago. I am, and I want to be, a writer/missionary. I am very very happy in both those roles (well, until the latest book/latest person starts being a major pain in the arse, but that goes with the territory). The big problem is that you can't make a living in either of those roles, unless you are exceptionally lucky.

Posted by Og, King of Bashan (# 9562) on :

For all the hell calls they generate, I'm surprised to find quality assurance on the "happy" list. Getting yelled at by unhappy consumers doesn't seem like a ticket to happiness.

Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :

I enjoyed being a nurse, though I hated ward management. I loved being an outpatient sister. The experience of dealing with difficult patients in clinic would be beneficial for someone running a pub and I've always suspected I would rather enjoy it (I have considered it before!). I'd have no problem breaking up the fights either, despite being 5 foot tall.
I wouldn't fancy being clergy, I'd hate having to preach and all the admin bits and I don't like meetings. I'd be good at the people skills bit though.
I'd suggest the happiness ratios of clergy and publicans have little to do with their day to day jobs and more to do with their status and class. Their experiences of health are likely to be very different. Publicans usually have few holidays too. The list itself suggests that status is a big factor.

Posted by Doublethink (# 1984) on :

Job satisfaction is known to be fairly well correlated with how much automnomy you have in your working life. Conversely, night working is known to be associated with poor health and shorter life.

I can see how being a publican would be hard.

Posted by Schroedinger's cat (# 64) on :

I get mid-table, which is probably right - software people are very varied, and I am reasonably fortunate in my current role.

I would like to be an author, which would make my life happier, apparently.

My wifes job is far higher up, but she is not happy in it. So I think it is as much dependent on the particular role you currently have than the broader definition of job title.

[ 21. March 2014, 16:33: Message edited by: Schroedinger's cat ]

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
Job satisfaction is known to be fairly well correlated with how much automnomy you have in your working life.

Which is why many teachers, including myself, had great job satisfaction until the national curriculum came in and told is what to teach and how to teach it - using content and methods which we know to be detrimental to pupils.

Also the balance of the job changed - 20 hours with kids BUT 40 hours on box-ticking, form filling paperwork per week.

Posted by jedijudy (# 333) on :

My occupation is number twenty-two on the list, and yes, it makes me very happy!

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

They don't have Pensioner living in Paradise on the list - job satisfaction rating pretty darned high!

eta: ...even given the long hours and tough working conditions.

[ 22. March 2014, 03:00: Message edited by: Welease Woderwick ]

Posted by Sir Kevin (# 3492) on :

As a supply teacher who often teaches primary students, I would be in thirteenth place. I am seriously thinking about going back to university to get a degree in primary education with an eye to teaching 7 and 8-year-olds when I can no longer do heavy stage and trade-show work.

Posted by Boogie (# 13538) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sir Kevin:
As a supply teacher who often teaches primary students, I would be in thirteenth place. I am seriously thinking about going back to university to get a degree in primary education with an eye to teaching 7 and 8-year-olds when I can no longer do heavy stage and trade-show work.

Thirteenth is not bad!

I have been a primary school teacher since 1978 and I have loved it. You are NEVER bored and the kids are great. I like 7 to 11 best but infants are good to teach too.

But, I would say, the paperwork has become rather crazy. It takes so much time up the job takes up many hours in the week + one weekend day. So a LOT of energy is needed. I would say it's a young person's game these days. All our staff get to school before 7:30 and leave at about 5:30, then mark at home.

I now teach two days a week, which is ideal as I have plenty of time for planning, preparation and marking with leisure time too.

The holidays are great - but few teachers would do the job without them! The level of vigilance/alertness good teachers have is that of an air traffic controller (and they get a break every half hour!)

[Smile]

[ 22. March 2014, 12:54: Message edited by: Boogie ]

Posted by Wild Organist (# 12631) on :

Being an organist can send me to Heaven (the playing side, not the admin/choral training/clergy bits). [Yipee]

Being a Civil Servant (which is what pays the bills) is frequently Hell. [brick wall]

Posted by Sioni Sais (# 5713) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Wild Organist:

Being a Civil Servant (which is what pays the bills) is frequently Hell.

I know what you mean. The civil servant part of my job is all constraints and frustrations: fortunately the actual job content is so poorly understood by others, even those up the line from me, that I can do what needs to be done pretty much the way I want to do it.

[ 22. March 2014, 13:23: Message edited by: Sioni Sais ]

Posted by Welease Woderwick (# 10424) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Sioni Sais:
...fortunately the actual job content is so poorly understood by others, even those up the line from me, that I can do what needs to be done pretty much the way I want to do it.

That was what I loved about being in the AIDS Industry back in the 1990s - nobody else in the Department had a clue what I was doing most of the time and The VD Regulations meant that most of the time I couldn't tell them even if I wanted to - in that sense it was bliss! I could just get on and do it without interference and I had a network across the country of folks in similar jobs so plenty of chances for peer review and support.

Posted by The5thMary (# 12953) on :

I was pretty darn happy as a video game tester. I liked trying to break the game and get paid for it! I liked the fact that one had to be a good writer in order to secure a contract job as a game tester--if you were illiterate or couldn't string two sentences together, you didn't get hired as a game tester.

I also really enjoyed being a proofreader. Maybe, if my wife and I can ever move to the Seattle area, I can get a job either testing games or proofreading...or both!

Posted by Heavenly Anarchist (# 13313) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Welease Woderwick:
That was what I loved about being in the AIDS Industry back in the 1990s - nobody else in the Department had a clue what I was doing most of the time and The VD Regulations meant that most of the time I couldn't tell them even if I wanted to - in that sense it was bliss! I could just get on and do it without interference and I had a network across the country of folks in similar jobs so plenty of chances for peer review and support.

Yes, being a clinical nurse tutor in Ophthalmology had a similar effect, nobody knew what my role was. I was basically given free rein to develop my own post. I've had some lovely nursing jobs. (I ran an Ophthalmic HIV clinic in the mid-90s as well, possibly my favourite clinic).

Posted by piglet (# 11803) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Schroedinger's cat:
... it is as much dependent on the particular role you currently have than the broader definition of job title.

Good point, SC. I'd add that your perception of your job satisfaction is bound to be coloured by your relationship with your boss and/or colleagues - good ones can make a hell of a difference to your overall well-being.

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

I notice that primary school teacher = 12th, special needs teacher = 99th. The Special Needs teaching can give you huge highs (when there is a breakthrough) but also a lot of hard graft as well. And even more admin than general teaching; these days exacerbated by very high (and sometimes sadly unrealistic) expectations of what can be achieved. So one hell of a lot of hard work, punctuated by times of elation. A roller-coaster of a job. Sorry, I mean vocation.

Posted by Sandemaniac (# 12829) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Doublethink:
Job satisfaction is known to be fairly well correlated with how much automnomy you have in your working life.

Given that biochemists score highly (38th, I think), my problems are obviously due to micromanaging twats...
(how does one micromanage a twat, I wonder?)

AG

Posted by balaam (# 4543) on :

It isn't the job that makes me happy, it's appreciation. Being told I've done a good job is what makes it worthwhile.

Posted by Uriel (# 2248) on :

My main role is househusband, which I love and gives me a lot of satisfaction. But it isn't on the list because although it is a lot of work and many, many people do it, it isn't paid.

In a way I like my job sneaking under the radar. It means the government doesn't introduce OFParent, and send failed parents with clipboards to my house to measure how badly I am doing.

Posted by sabine (# 3861) on :

Social Worker/Anthropologist/Poet

I can't say that being a social worker makes one happy, but it can be meaningful and has been for me. There were good moments. . . . Retired, but still doing it.

My anthropological work (ethnography) has always made me happy. I love the diversity of life, and to have been paid to explore it was wonderful. Retired but still doing it.

Writing makes me lose track of time. [Smile]

I guess, by virtue of the fact that I am still doing the three things I've always done, despite a reduction in income says that the good outweighs the bad.

sabine

Posted by Chorister (# 473) on :

One of the jobs which made me happiest was when I worked for myself, teaching young children to play the piano. No inspections, no lesson plans, no contracts. Just me and the children, sitting down and making music together. Bliss!

Posted by jacobsen (# 14998) on :

Singer and singing teacher - always good news as a job, though there is nowadays much more teaching than paid singing. I would list myself under musician. I do think that music teachers are a separate category from other teachers, especially when it's one to one. But I would absolutely agree that conditions of work and quality of colleagues can make it heaven or hell, depending.
I'd definitely put myself closer to 22 than to 169. At the moment, the satisfaction rating is high. [Smile]

Posted by MrsBeaky (# 17663) on :

quote:
Originally posted by Chorister:
I notice that primary school teacher = 12th, special needs teacher = 99th. The Special Needs teaching can give you huge highs (when there is a breakthrough) but also a lot of hard graft as well. And even more admin than general teaching; these days exacerbated by very high (and sometimes sadly unrealistic) expectations of what can be achieved. So one hell of a lot of hard work, punctuated by times of elation. A roller-coaster of a job. Sorry, I mean vocation

I've been both and loved both and now I'm working with the Anglican Church in Kenya and loving that too.
All of them have been very stressful at times but also joyful, maybe there is something in the word "vocation"?!

[ 28. March 2014, 17:52: Message edited by: MrsBeaky ]

Posted by Caissa (# 16710) on :

I have been happy spending 20 years working in university student services. I have worked as a Writing Centre Consultant, Academic and Career Counsellor, Student Development Counsellor, Student Employment Counsellor, and now, a Student Accessibility Counsellor. It is great helping university students year after year. It has slowed my descent into complete curmudgeon.

Posted by Timothy the Obscure (# 292) on :

I was certainly happier as a musician than as a psychologist--though the latter was pretty good for a while. If I could have made as much as the alleged average musician in the survey, I'd still be doing that, though.

Posted by Philip Charles (# 618) on :

The only thing extra I would like right now is $100,000 in the bank, but I would not swap anything for that $100,000. I put this down to being a Priest and so being in an environment that encouraged me to become more fully myself. I am certain that I am not the only Priest that feels this way. So I am not surprised we top the list.

Posted by Horseman Bree (# 5290) on :

One hand up here for high-school teacher - Math, Physics, and other - in a small rural high school. No, I didn't always get the most-academic students, or even the best-behaved, but I was (and am) able to get a good response and to make a difference. The relationship I have with former students shows that something about my being there helped.

Explains why I am still doing some classes in the local H. S., despite having retired in 2002 - the pension is OK, so I can afford to volunteer.

Mrs. Beaky's comment on vocation fits here. I never thought about doing anything else for just about every one of the fifty years I've been teaching.

Posted by mark_in_manchester (# 15978) on :

I was a university engineering lecturer for nearly 20 years - I loved taking classes, but the remainder ended up making me ill.

At the moment I'm a part-time lab technician in a different engineering lab. It's dirty, often heavy, low-paid work with two good colleagues, and I really like it. It's temporary, and it feels somehow selfish to say I'm really hoping something comes of it...but I am.

Posted by churchgeek (# 5557) on :

quote:
Originally posted by balaam:
It isn't the job that makes me happy, it's appreciation. Being told I've done a good job is what makes it worthwhile.

Yes! It's the same for me. Some of my satisfaction comes from knowing I've made a difference somehow, put my own personal touch to things; but it really makes me happy in a job if others value what I do. I've been quite unhappy for a few years now. But I'm being unappreciated right out the door at the end of the month. I hope I find a new job that will have the possibility for happiness once I'm back in Detroit!

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