Ideal Jobs

Finally getting around to this week's homework assignments.  I was supposed to meet with CS today, but had to postpone due to severe lack of organization as well as sick kids.  We just got back from a week cruise to Bermuda.  I had been hoping to find time on the cruise to sit down and get at least part of my homework done there, but the only thing I was able to put any thought into was that fact that my ideal job is most definitely not within a 50-mile radius of a cruise ship.

OK so here's the first assignment:

Write about 1 or 2 ideal jobs and talk about a day or other period of time in the life of this job. What do you do? Who do you work with? What do you accomplish? How do you feel? How does it fit with the rest of your life? How does it match with your values?

One reason I've procrastinated on this for so long is that I'm worried that I don't *have* an idea job.  Ugh, what if the answer is something along the lines of "I don't want to work, I just want to bang on a drum all day"?  I feel like I could go on and on with lists of what my ideal job would NOT be, but it's so hard to figure out what the ideal job is.  But here we go - I'm going to dive into fantasy, let go and see what happens (not easy for me to do, BTW).

Ideal Job #1: working for someone else
I look forward to work days and I enjoy putting in a little extra time here and there when I'm home. I'm plugged in and engaged, but am not chronically under stress. I work a part-time schedule - maybe 5 days a week, but reduced-hour days. Or three days at work, one day at home. I have goals at work that are quantifiable and I can see/measure my progress. I work on projects that have a definite beginning and end. I feel a sense of accomplishment when something is done as I can see the results.

I am involved in a team and have a leadership role. I spend maybe half my day at my computer, but not the whole day.  I have a nice balance of doing work that I know and feel comfortable doing and work that is new and challenging to me. I have opportunities to learn new things and add new skills to my toolbox. I am leading a small team, but I also work with people from whom I can learn.  I have a mentor that I trust. I work in a collaborative environment where working meetings are both common and productive. I spend at least as much time in my day interacting with people as I do staring at a computer screen.

My work is client-focused and I get a good amount of feedback and constructive criticism. I don't spend a lot of time wondering if I'm going down the right path. I don't spend a lot of time worrying about internal politics and stepping on someone's toes. The work environment is open, supportive and trusting. I am evaluated based on the quality and quantity of work that I accomplish, not by how long I spend in my office. I am free to manage my time as needed to be productive.

I am self-motivated because I care about what I am doing.  I'm probably not actively saving the world, but I am probably not doing marketing, sales, e-commerce or building weapons.  My work is somehow tied into a community of people and there is a tangible cause and effect that I can observe.  Perhaps there is a component of teaching to my work.  I can see the results of my efforts and feel accomplished and proud when students or others on my team succeed.

My work environment is a balanced one.  I do not necessarily mean that there are an equal number of men and women, but rather that the environment itself has both male and female characteristics - that both gender aspects are represented in the management and mission statement of the company.  It is not enough, I think, simply to have one or two women in upper management if those women have to "play like men" to be there.  My ideal workplace is one that feels both male and female - drawing form the strengths of both genders.


Ideal Job #2: working for myself

I often think sometimes that the ideal solution for my life right now would be working for myself.  Maybe I'd be contracting engineering work or technical writing or some combination.  I'd be setting my own hours, working from home and putting together the life/work balance that is best for me.  I'd be working in a field that would allow me to remain current in some science/tech field - perhaps allowing me to return to work in the future.  The overall job would be purely customer-focused and would consist of a number of small projects that are well-defined, but still interesting.

The challenge in this type of scenario is finding a social and collaborative environment.  While working for myself would do wonders for my work-life balance (no time commuting, my own hours, compatible with school schedules) (#3 on my values list) - I worry about the growth aspect (value #1).  So any type of self-motivated endeavor would have to allow for collaboration and growth.  I would like to find work that gives me both computer time and face time with customers/clients.  I worry that the isolation of being on my own all the time could be crippling and demotivating.

One way to perhaps obtain the balance between working on my own and having a social outlet might be doing some teaching "on the side".  The combination of consulting work and a non-tenure track position at a local university teaching an engineering class is very intriguing.