For love or Money

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Hi Gents,

I know we all come from different backgrounds and have many different drivers in our lives that force us to do certain things to maintain a standard of life we are a custom to. So this got me wondering, from my own personal experiences why am I doing this and where do I see myself in my future.

Do you go to work feeling happy; this is what I've always wanted to do!

Do you go to work just to get by; there's another light at the end of the tunnel, or maybe you have family commitments that keep you locked into something you ultimately do not want to do.

I've always wanted to be a pilot and have seen the IT job as funding the flying. However, in the midst of this being the light at the end of the tunnel I've discovered I quite like certain elements of the job and its made me think twice about my ultimate goal.

**The villa on necker island is still a WIP**

Let me know your thoughts, and where you are on the journey.

 

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I always wanted to be a professional programmer, but I achieved that goal a long time ago, since then my motivation changes all the time, some days are great, some days are not.

I can make pretty good money, but it tends to mean living in expensive busy cities working in high pressure environments.

I keep my living expenses as low as possible so that I have options, I do not have a family, I guess I sacrificed a lot for my career.

The easiest strategy seems to be work hard, invest and take early retirement, but the daily grind can start to take its toll.

I'd also like to think my future work will have a positive impact on society.

Ultimately I'd like more money, time and freedom, so I guess running a successful business would be the goal.

It would be great to able to run much of that business from some remote part of the world, rains too much here.

 

It's funny, I used to do it for the money, I spent nigh on 12 years as a contractor and it was all about the pay packet for a long time (I used to buy new motor cycles every 6 months, go on lavish trips, live life to the max) but then I got a bit older and perhaps a little bit wiser and wanted more from work than just a pay check.

I got offered a perm role just over three years ago, I hadn't had a perm role since 1999, it was a shock to the system but the more I looked at it the more I thought "I can't take another 6 month stint looking for work" especially with a young family (my youngest is now 18months old). So I took the plunge, the role meant that for two of the last three years I was spending between 5 and 6 hours a day just commuting, work that out and that's a lot of time to be away from friends and family. For the last year my commute has changed and I now work from an office that's only 60 miles away from where I live, on a good night that's 1hr 20 minutes by car.

I get asked regularly why I am still here, yes I could go elsewhere and earn better money, work closer to home but my answer is always the same, I am doing something now that I love, I am playing with technology that quite simply excites me and is genuinely market defining, where else would let me do that on a day to day basis?

Add to that I was recently asked why I hadn't applied for an internal role within the company to take up the team managers position within my team, something I really hadn't considered because of my love of technology but having thought about it over night decided to go for, actually I am going for two roles, one being the managers position, the other as the principle engineer position within the same team, nothing saying I will get either but if you don't try you won't know.

I most definitely do this for the love at the moment, sure a decent salary is nice (it does after all let me buy my toys, yes the 640d included) but it's the exposure to the technology that drives me, to the point that I play with the same technology at home regularly.

Who knows where I will be in 2 years time, I could well be at the point in my life where it's back to the money (that Bentley is calling me Jim ;)) but for the here and now I am loving where I am at.

 

Ive never been a money mad person, although having its is nice. As long as i can get stuff from time to time and a few beers here and there im quite happy. I have my 6 month review on monday, which im not dreading one bit, im 80% certain that ill be kept on, but i wont count my chickens. If they dont ill get back onto applying for other jobs, as the 6 months ive done there will help me out.

Im quite lucky where i am at now, apart from the odd one or 2, i can honestly say im very happy with the way its going. Im getting exposure to stuff i could only dream of. I get asked my opinion on what to buy, not just me, we all do, and the team we have is very respectful of each other, we all get along famously and have a laugh in the process. For the future, i dont know yet, if i intend to move up the ladder ill need to see what i can achieve, i mean, yeah the role im at is perfect at the moment, but i dont want to be 1st line helpdesk all the time, i want to be second/third etc, i want to progress etc.

If im offered the chance ill stay here for the foreseeable future, im happy with what im getting paid, and if i dont get the wage rise then it wont be the end of the world.

Ed