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Like someone else said. Love your job, but do not fall in love with your employer. You never know when your employer stops loving you.

by yanilkr 10y ago

kristopolous 10y ago
I'm not even on board with the first one. It's a financial transaction for my services. I'll be nice and polite, but I'm not going to enter into some personal relationship where I can be pressured to tender those services as a favor or for some kind of social capital.
- CuriouslyC 10y ago
  If you don't love what you do you are basically committing yourself to 40+ hours a week of unhappiness. Not to mention the fact that people who love what they do tend to do a better job, and improve more over the long term. I really encourage you to find a way to view your work that lets you love it, or do something else.
  - dingaling 10y ago
    But realistically only a small percentage of people will ever find a job they can love. I even know an airline captain who complains endlessly, and that's still a dream job for most kids. In those circumstances the coping mechanism is to desensitise and decouple so as to treat those 40 hours as simply an enabler for the other 128.
  - kristopolous 10y ago
    Not at all. "Love what you do" is an employer tactic to maximize value and minimize cost of their employees hoping they'll work extra for passion instead of more money. Unless you have substantial equity it's not your company. Don't be passionate about a profit, control, or ownership you were very intentionally cut from. In this case the employer desires to run their company without paying you or dealing with you because they don't want you there. But as of today, they need you. If tomorrow they decide they don't, you'll be packing your boxes. Remember that. If you enter into a work relationship where you are nice then you open yourself up for abuse and favors. People stop respecting your time and ideas and you slip into the role of company bitch. Set boundaries and never hesitate to leave if things are not in your favor. It took 150 years of worker struggle to get a minimum wage, a civil war to get rid of slavery, and decades of violence to get rid of child labor. You are a worker. Remember what you are selling to the employer. Don't foolishly give away your labor capital. Maximize your own profit and minimize your own cost. However, if you own a commensurate share, then disregard all of this as it doesn't apply.
    - gozur88 10y ago
      Sometimes you genuinely enjoy doing something, and would do it for free if you had a way to pay the bills. I had a job like that for a few years, and it was nice. Didn't matter to me how much my boss made or who owned what. I was having fun. Most jobs aren't like that, though, and no matter how much you love something you eventually get tired of it.
      - kristopolous 10y ago
        You could've been your own boss or negotiated for more. People are more careful with expensive things and treat them better. You aren't working at the leisurely indiscretion of the company. You become a more efficient, effective, objective, focused and self-directed employee when you focus on and realize your cost/value proposition. Of course if you were working for a foundation or charity then sure... This doesn't apply.
        gozur88 10y ago
        Oh, none of that was really doable at the time. It was a DoD contracting job, and the way they structure the contracts you pretty much either accept what they give you or you leave. Which I eventually did. But for a few years it was great.
    - CuriouslyC 10y ago
      If you feel you are being taken advantage of, negotiate a better salary, or go somewhere else they will pay you what you believe you are worth. Assuming you're at a job where you're being compensated in line with your abilities, you can either choose to view what you do as burdensome labor, or as a fun challenge. The only difference between these two views is that one will make you depressed, and the other will make you happy. How do you want to feel?
- biomcgary 10y ago
  Maybe GP meant, "Love your craft (which you do at your job, if you're lucky)"?

Like someone else said. Love your job, but do not fall in love with your employer. You never know when your employer stops loving you.

by yanilkr 10y ago

Like someone else said. Love your job, but do not fall in love with your employer. You never know when your employer stops loving you.

kristopolous 10y ago

I'm not even on board with the first one. It's a financial transaction for my services. I'll be nice and polite, but I'm not going to enter into some personal relationship where I can be pressured to tender those services as a favor or for some kind of social capital.

CuriouslyC 10y ago
If you don't love what you do you are basically committing yourself to 40+ hours a week of unhappiness. Not to mention the fact that people who love what they do tend to do a better job, and improve more over the long term. I really encourage you to find a way to view your work that lets you love it, or do something else.
- dingaling 10y ago
  But realistically only a small percentage of people will ever find a job they can love. I even know an airline captain who complains endlessly, and that's still a dream job for most kids. In those circumstances the coping mechanism is to desensitise and decouple so as to treat those 40 hours as simply an enabler for the other 128.
- kristopolous 10y ago
  Not at all. "Love what you do" is an employer tactic to maximize value and minimize cost of their employees hoping they'll work extra for passion instead of more money. Unless you have substantial equity it's not your company. Don't be passionate about a profit, control, or ownership you were very intentionally cut from. In this case the employer desires to run their company without paying you or dealing with you because they don't want you there. But as of today, they need you. If tomorrow they decide they don't, you'll be packing your boxes. Remember that. If you enter into a work relationship where you are nice then you open yourself up for abuse and favors. People stop respecting your time and ideas and you slip into the role of company bitch. Set boundaries and never hesitate to leave if things are not in your favor. It took 150 years of worker struggle to get a minimum wage, a civil war to get rid of slavery, and decades of violence to get rid of child labor. You are a worker. Remember what you are selling to the employer. Don't foolishly give away your labor capital. Maximize your own profit and minimize your own cost. However, if you own a commensurate share, then disregard all of this as it doesn't apply.
  - gozur88 10y ago
    Sometimes you genuinely enjoy doing something, and would do it for free if you had a way to pay the bills. I had a job like that for a few years, and it was nice. Didn't matter to me how much my boss made or who owned what. I was having fun. Most jobs aren't like that, though, and no matter how much you love something you eventually get tired of it.
    - kristopolous 10y ago
      You could've been your own boss or negotiated for more. People are more careful with expensive things and treat them better. You aren't working at the leisurely indiscretion of the company. You become a more efficient, effective, objective, focused and self-directed employee when you focus on and realize your cost/value proposition. Of course if you were working for a foundation or charity then sure... This doesn't apply.
      - gozur88 10y ago
        Oh, none of that was really doable at the time. It was a DoD contracting job, and the way they structure the contracts you pretty much either accept what they give you or you leave. Which I eventually did. But for a few years it was great.
  - CuriouslyC 10y ago
    If you feel you are being taken advantage of, negotiate a better salary, or go somewhere else they will pay you what you believe you are worth. Assuming you're at a job where you're being compensated in line with your abilities, you can either choose to view what you do as burdensome labor, or as a fun challenge. The only difference between these two views is that one will make you depressed, and the other will make you happy. How do you want to feel?
biomcgary 10y ago
Maybe GP meant, "Love your craft (which you do at your job, if you're lucky)"?