Do you hate your job?

[Yamcha]

Sometimes I hate my job. I work in a Japanese company doing business stuff. I've been here about 1.5 years and I'll stick aroundanother year or so at most. The undercurrent of racism and sexism not to mention pressure to conform is irritating.

[Gohron]

I've worked about a million and a half jobs. I wanted recently to go back in the Marine Corp but if the Congressman whose trying to help me out can't come through there's no chance, at least the second time they really screwed me over I didn't have to go to boot-camp.

I currently work back at a Volkswagon dealership. I drive people around a lot during the day and I wash/detail cars and do a bunch of other ridiculousness. It's not so bad, I like talking with the various people that I get to drive around and occassionally it'll be a hot chick but not too often. Before lunch break the day flies but the 4 or so hours afterward usually lag a bit. The pay sucks but they recently offered me more money though I'm not sure how much they're talking yet.

I was working for a Well Service company before this as a service technician. Was making over $700 a week easy but I didn't click to well with that job and they let me go over the whole Marine Corps fiasco.

Before that I was at the Volkswagon dealership (same one I'm at now) doing something very similar for also very sucky pay.

Before that I was at a factory making sucky pay and having to deal with lazy morons all day that were making the same as me, despite the fact I was their supervisor.

And before that was a short time of hell in the Marines

I was thinking of getting an apprenticeship in printing as it's easily a job you can support a family on comfortably and I've been offered some help in getting a job with that. I'm not quite sure what to do at this point though, I'd like to be able to do music full-time or close to but I've been thinking about the police academy and some college and maybe joining Federal Law Enforcement (DEA, ATF, etc...no shot for the FBI though, it just doesn't happen). And I've also been thinking about going to school to learn more about music, writing, playing, etc. but I'm not so sure if I could get accepted/afford that.

[Drinky Milk]

I work at the University of Nevada School of Medicine. So far, it doesn't seem half bad, but... knowing me, I'll find anything to bitch about when I'm working.

But I like money.

[Drewbacca]

getting experience to go to another print shop so i can
1. make more money
and
2. print out some of my work for a portfolio to someday get a design job

You should be getting on this now. Designers will see you as a prepress monkey and nothing more. If your designers are great then there's nothing to worry about, but you may be pigeon holing yourself as a prepress worker and nothing further.

So basically, start looking right now for design jobs and apply if you haven't already. Also, design a website. Busy employers like to see a graphic designer take intiative and it gives them fast access to info they need anywhere. It also gives you the ability to show how you apply your skills to different areas of the industry. (web, print, I know broadcast too but that's not really necessary) Just a heads up.

Also take this with a grain of salt, because I've only been in this industry as an employee for all of 4 months. But both of my positions were and are design oriented and this is the buzz I get from all of my bosses.

I don't think I could do prepress for more than a month without imploding. I tip my hat to you.

[Dyne]

You should be getting on this now. Designers will see you as a prepress monkey and nothing more. If your designers are great then there's nothing to worry about, but you may be pigeon holing yourself as a prepress worker and nothing further.

So basically, start looking right now for design jobs and apply if you haven't already. Also, design a website. Busy employers like to see a graphic designer take intiative and it gives them fast access to info they need anywhere. It also gives you the ability to show how you apply your skills to different areas of the industry. (web, print, I know broadcast too but that's not really necessary) Just a heads up.

Also take this with a grain of salt, because I've only been in this industry as an employee for all of 4 months. But both of my positions were and are design oriented and this is the buzz I get from all of my bosses.

I don't think I could do prepress for more than a month without imploding. I tip my hat to you.

i remember you saying before that youre in the toronto area and theres design houses all over right? my area is the polar opposite. the thing about my education (and i look back and kick myself now, being away from it) is that i see it as shitty. the school focused too much on the old ways and we were offered a one semester class to cover quark/illustrator and photoshop. there was no web side, no flash side. so right out of school i landed the prepress job and have a 2nd job to pay the bills. because of this i have had no time to significantly develope myself and know jack about web. after doing this for the last 2 years ive decided i need to go back to school and learn something. my creativity has since dwindled because of the job and i dont think i have it in me unfortunately. but now im thinking of two options. both are labeled "computer systems support" associate degrees.

the first would be a long shot but focuses on web design. but like i said my passion/creativity is pretty dry.

the 2nd i feel as of late would be a better fit because ive worked on and with computers all my life but never had that "paper" to get in. this one is a hardware concentration focusing on networking and hardware certification. currently thats what i enjoy. something breaks from somebody i know, i fix it.

then again i dont even know if i can conceiveable fit a school schedule into my life. doing it isnt the problem, actually finding a school and fitting a schedule in is. blah.

[MarkRyan]

Fuccccck. Youuuuu.

If it makes you feel any better, for the first month I was working here I was still living in Sacramento. Three hours to get to work in the morning :/

Now that I live in SF, I drive out of the city to get to the office in Brisbane, going the opposite direction of most commuters. Like so.

[Drewbacca]

i remember you saying before that youre in the toronto area and theres design houses all over right? my area is the polar opposite. the thing about my education (and i look back and kick myself now, being away from it) is that i see it as shitty. the school focused too much on the old ways and we were offered a one semester class to cover quark/illustrator and photoshop. there was no web side, no flash side. so right out of school i landed the prepress job and have a 2nd job to pay the bills. because of this i have had no time to significantly develope myself and know jack about web. after doing this for the last 2 years ive decided i need to go back to school and learn something. my creativity has since dwindled because of the job and i dont think i have it in me unfortunately. but now im thinking of two options. both are labeled "computer systems support" associate degrees.

the first would be a long shot but focuses on web design. but like i said my passion/creativity is pretty dry.

the 2nd i feel as of late would be a better fit because ive worked on and with computers all my life but never had that "paper" to get in. this one is a hardware concentration focusing on networking and hardware certification. currently thats what i enjoy. something breaks from somebody i know, i fix it.

then again i dont even know if i can conceiveable fit a school schedule into my life. doing it isnt the problem, actually finding a school and fitting a schedule in is. blah.

Yeah. I guess you're kind of between a rock and a hard place. You know, you CAN learn this shit on your own after work in your free time. It took me 3 weeks of 4 hours a day to learn Adobe After Effects. Practical work and experience speaks volumes over a degree. I know a lot of design programs. The biggest problem is your creativity in regards to layout and design. You need that in order to survive in this field.

I'm pretty sure design houses are like this everywhere. You could always try to get in to a bigger company. I know it sounds harder but it isn't. In a bigger environment you have a team of 15 people or more to cover for you while you get your legs. In a smaller one you only have 2.

[lithium]

My industry is 70% gorgeous women.

Yes, yes it is. I was a designer for 5 years. My current industry, software, is about 99.99% pasty men with no social skills.

[marwan]

i work for a telecom company, and about 7 months ago i got shifted to spectrum department(they do frequency licensing, monitoring, coordination...technical work), keep in mind that i got shifted from a marketing analyst position(i'm a marketing major), i thought what the heck i will accept since i like technical stuff....little did i know i was gonna work with geeky engineers! i've been in spectrum for 7 months and hate it!!! my boss is a total workaholic, all he does is work like a fucking machine, and he expects us to be the same. our working hours are from 7am to 3pm......and get this, if you leave at 3, you would give a bad impession that you're not a hard worker or not a dedicated employee! my boss stays in the office till 8 or 9 pm at times, and expects everyone to do te same. Not only that, he always seems to give us work 30 minutes before anyone could leave home....forcing some of us to stay past 3pm to finish off the work(his work is long and never ends!!!!!!!!!) ....and worst of all, you don't get paid over-time.

also my job deals with alot of customers, meaning i have to be on the phone to answer questions and track licensing status and crap.....ofcourse there are always deadlines that drive me insane.....i fucking it, this job is making my life miserable, i wake up every morning dreading every second of it!

currently i'm looking for another job in my field, i have had enough of spectrum and my dick head boss that expects everyone to work like a machine.....i mean seriously, I HAVE A LIFE OUTSIDE OF THIS OFFICE!!!!!


EDIT: pay is great where i work, but what's the point when you're miserable?

[voltz]

Hey you should talk. I just spent the entire day in bed last nite till I got up for work this morning, no thanks to the pain and misery I'm going through.