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For me, satisfaction comes primarily from the perceived level of usefulness. If I'm either ineffective at my job, or my work doesn't seem very important(in a p
by ravenstine 6y ago
For me, satisfaction comes primarily from the perceived level of usefulness.
If I'm either ineffective at my job, or my work doesn't seem very important(in a proximal or distal sense), or bureaucratic structure prevents me from being effective, then my interest plummets significantly.
I believe this is why some of my best work experiences were in less prestigious organizations. Despite how terrible my first employer was, there were times where I got tremendous satisfaction because I was allowed to be effective and my work had significant impact on company operations. (in retrospect, this wasn't a good thing since it came out that this company was running a massive robocalling ring, but you get what I'm saying)
In contrast, I certainly got paid much more in later jobs, but there would be long periods where I became dissatisfied because the majority of meaningful problems had already been solved and most of the work I was doing simply didn't matter. The most dissatisfying work I had was around propping up systems that, in reality, were creating more overhead than they were worth(i.e. the employer making things harder than they needed to be). It amazes me how many companies think that all the software they have is important to keep, even though it would be cheaper and simpler to figure out what really matters and then trim the fat.
- jrochkind1 6y agoAbsolutely. i suspect this is a common trait for engineers/developers? Although what the article says about "if you have a good supervisor, like your coworkers, and are treated fairly by your organization" also rings very true to me. I wonder if it's possible for these to mismatch -- feel useful despite having a terrible supervisor and not getting along with coworkers? Maybe not so much. Feel useless despite having a good supervisor and getting along with coworkers and being treated "fairly" by the organization--maybe?
- roywiggins 6y agoFeeling useful-but-badly-treated is, I think, not uncommon in public service jobs (ex teachers, home care workers, etc)
- Talanes 6y agoYou can definitely broaden it past engineers. I work management in food service, and I can definitely identify with the grandparent post. I've worked for financial types who barely understood how to run a business, much less specifically a restaurant, and now I work for a giant multinational chain. Serious problems were way more common working with the former, but solutions were directly reachable. Now the interesting problems are all things that I just submit feedback into a void about.
- DEADBEEFC0FFEE 6y agoMastery and Autonomy are often intrinsically motivations. Usefulness is a nice suggestion and certainly resonates with me. Working for nonprofits has more satisfying than commercial organisation. I expect age is a factor. I used to value interest, these days I value paycheck a bit more.
- baccheion 6y agoDid you really get paid much better? You're only as much as you save. Standardizing expenses to ensure a fair comparison usually surprises many. Save to what? A bank account? Rather, let's say it's to buy some of the S&P 500 fund. Where's the savings leading? What's the growth rate? How much sooner does the extra dollars pull it into view? For some it's not relevant, as they weren't saving (much) in the first place.