What is it like working a Monday to Friday 9 to 5 office job?

Gerhardt said:
It probably shouldn't surprise me much that the field of project management has exploded in the last 15 years or so. It tends to pay more than the hands-on programmers and analysts, which is odd considering that many PMs have never written a line of code. I've always thought the pay range should be about half of what it is.
Click to expand...

In my entire career, I've worked with one PM that was worth her weight in gold. Too bad they couldn't clone her, as she was fantastic.

For all the others, even if their salary was cut in half, they'd be making more than they deserve.
 
I did physics and computer science in the best research facility on earth, so life was always interesting. But 9 to 5 doesn't really describe "science" hours very well. Mostly it was go in early, leave late. It's tough to turn the brain off when you are working on something.
 
Maybe i'm too old, maybe i'm not old enough. Maybe I was born in a different country, so maybe I don't understand. But for the life of me, I can't figure out the thought process in someones head that goes something like, "well, I don't like it, so I can't possibly understand how someone else can like it either." At the age of 29, i'm currently working in an office, monday-friday, 9-ish hours a day on a set schedule. Do I like the work? Ehh, its pretty good, and something new always comes up. Do I like the set schedule? I love it. It allows me to plan out my week/month/year/decade/life because I know when I will have free time, and when I will be unavailable (for the most part).

From reading the comments, it seems like most people aren't complaining about being in an office/cubicle/whatever for a set period of time every day, but about the work itself.

To each is own, and as long as you're not suicidal from working your job, have at it....enjoy your cubicle, print out that "Stress Reduction Kit" on the 8.5x11 sheet of paper with the words "Bang Head Here" printed in the middle and hang it up on your cube wall for all to see.

I don't know where I was going with this mini rant....maybe I was just bored at work... :dunno:
 
jtheune said:
I work 8 to 5ish but my office is a sunroom off the back of the house. I come and go as needed but I do have to cover golives on weekends sometimes and I spend about 50% of my work day on the phone with customers so it has it's ups and downs. Like ost jobs it's what you do that matters.
Click to expand...

Yup....we do something similar, but, different. 9-10 hrs a day and flexible hours and many of those are working out of the house....with Friday's off. :yesnod:

Last couple of jobs were very flexible with work hours.....
 
Last edited:
I get a regular check. I can plan everything based on that check....I enjoy what I do, and the company I work for.

I miss the sun. I'd rather work construction some times. My employees are top notch, but when they fail to accomplish something, I have to pick up the slack, which means often I don't get days off.

It isn't miserable, by any means, but it isn't the greatest life. It allows me to support my family and have some fun when I do get away from the office.
 
Interesting hearing others input! I work random hours, no guaranteed pay (100% commission), no set schedule. Sounds great to my friends but starts to wear on you over time. I make more than 9-5 jobs I have thought about and probably average working 30 hours a week. I do get stuck working nights and weekends and typically get really really busy when I try to take a vacation!
 
My "9 to 5" office job was more like 8am to 6 or 7pm. Tack on a 35 minute commute to either end of the day and be expected to answer emails 7 days a week.
 
I ran away from engineering in part due to what I consider the drudgerous nature of the work, something I mostly attributed to the shift in that job's primary focus into one of de facto coder/programming, job detail which I found even more soul-crushing than engineering musing. Which meant IT work was also out for me.

Even in professional flying (albeit military) I've realized office politics exist everywhere, and so I've shifted my views of office work somewhat. These days I'm a fervent believer in the idea that: it's not what you do, it's who you do it with. Your peers truly make or break the workplace, at least it does for me now. As such, as an older man now, I consider a job doing something I would have killed for in my youth but with toxic co-workers and supervision, as less desirable than a job I'm not inherently excited about but which I get do do in the company and laughter of great people. That shift in mindset occurred for me rather recently, 10 years into full-time professional flying life. It's been a game changer for me though.

As such, the future of my vocational choices looks a lot more variable, now that my criteria for what constitutes a satisfying job has shifted so dramatically into the social merits of the job. Of course, the rest of the criteria are still valid. It has to be lucrative and afford me recreational flying, and it has to allow me the ability to provide a desirable location and the time off to connect with my family, something my current military job is critically lacking and continues to negatively affect the mood and options of my family, and one I plan on vacating soon for those reasons.
 
Fact is civilization is a complex beastie and takes all sorts. There are likely folks who work in an office and hate every minute of it. I'd place Mrs. Steingar in that category, or near to it. There are people who work in an office an can't wait to get there. We know an accountant who wants to do nothing more. We're worried we may have to take his wife to the hospital and participate in the birth of her child because he may be away accounting.

I believe that true wisdom is the ability to see outside the lens of your own experience. Many are unable to do this, and cannot fathom how someone could have a really rewarding career doing something unfamiliar. I feel sorry for them. And I am truly glad that there are people who can see past this, so that we can have a vibrant society with all the advantages we enjoy.
 
Fearless Tower said:
It sucks. I currently work in an office cubicle farm that is literally Office Space in real life. We even have TPS reports (a reporting system that we constantly pinged on called TPS...no kidding).

One of these days I going to bring a drill in to work and disassemble the cubicle wall so I can look out the window.
Click to expand...

Dilbert and Office Space are documentaries.
 
N918KT said:
I will admit that I only worked in an office of a cargo terminal at a major airport when I was in college. After that, my job is mostly shift work with a mix of night shifts and day shifts during the week. But I always wondered what is it like to work in an office building, in a cubicle, 9 to 5, Monday to Friday being an average Joe.

Is working in an office by any means interesting or boring? What is the experience like? Would you work in an office job again if given the chance?
Click to expand...

It sucks the life right out of you.
 
My last employer was a major retailer that paid everyone hourly and had an hourly mentality on work.

I was a programmer... paid hourly like everyone else. Hours were their metric for productivity. We also provided support for our applications but most of the stuff I worked on didn't need frequent support so I did little of that. The worst was our manager only cared about things that could potentially get him in trouble if it was messed up. So unless I was on the important project of the week, I would frequently get completely ignored. I'd knock out everything they asked me to do.... then sit. We weren't allowed to use the internet(not kidding programmers with no internet) and they insisted we be there for so many hours so I was stuck.... in a chair... doing nothing for hours and hours. Sometimes whole days or most of days anyway. We were allowed headphones so I started listening to audiobooks..... it helped.

I tried being old-fashioned and taking initiative... tried creating some solutions to common problems we had.. response ranged from disinterest to being told to "not waste time on that".

On top of all this, this was around the time my dad became ill and I had to take over his affairs... we were 6-8hours away from all of our family and friends and this company gave little vacation time. I spent most of my "free time" working on stuff or traveling to things. I was tired all the time and generally miserable.

Looked around for other jobs but with my wife and I unwilling to locate to a major metro the jobs for a programmer were not plentiful. I became more and more and more jaded at work... started coming in and just listening to my audiobooks even when I had stuff to do.

The end is actually POA related... eventually after managing the family farmland for a couple years I had no loans and rental income that was greater than what I made at work. I calculated how long I had to keep working there to afford my airplane. A week or two after that date a particularly snotty middle manager caught me browsing POA on my phone. I was called in to discuss this terrible breech of rules, I gave them my 2 weeks right there. Best decision of my life after marrying my wife.

I will never work a full time office job again unless I'm desperate or the boss.
 
I started my career off working for a municipal government doing the 8-5 thing. It was good work, great people, ok pay, but felt a bit like being a hamster on a wheel. Everyone else in the department had been there 15+ years and I just did not see staying on that path that long. My next job was managing a call center operation that ran 24/7. I probably averaged 12 hour days, but I was single and the pay was good.

Now, for, the past 10 years I've worked for myself doing real estate or oil and gas work. Pay is great, but unpredictable, schedule is usually at others whim, but I've got the flexibility to be able to leave town when I want or need to, it is definitely not a career for someone that needs stability or predictable pay checks...
 
N2124v said:
I started my career off working for a municipal government doing the 8-5 thing. It was good work, great people, ok pay, but felt a bit like being a hamster on a wheel. Everyone else in the department had been there 15+ years and I just did not see staying on that path that long. My next job was managing a call center operation that ran 24/7. I probably averaged 12 hour days, but I was single and the pay was good.

Now, for, the past 10 years I've worked for myself doing real estate or oil and gas work. Pay is great, but unpredictable, schedule is usually at others whim, but I've got the flexibility to be able to leave town when I want or need to, it is definitely not a career for someone that needs stability or predictable pay checks...
Click to expand...
Ugh -- what is that even like, working for the government?

I've had friends tell me that, although it was like watching paint dry all day, and the inability to change anything literally sucked the life out of you, the freedom of being virtually unfireable and the ability to retire in middle age made it all worthwhile.

True?
 
Jay Honeck said:
Ugh -- what is that even like, working for the government?

I've had friends tell me that, although it was like watching paint dry all day, and the inability to change anything literally sucked the life out of you, the freedom of being virtually unfireable and the ability to retire in middle age made it all worthwhile.

True?
Click to expand...

Depends on your personal priorities. I work with a lot of federal government employees including military. Some are passionate a love what they do, some are content with just punching a clock every day and having a steady paycheck, some would be gone from any commercial company I've every worked for in weeks if not days (because they don't actually work and some impede progress!).

Generally creative types (and I include good tech people in this) don't stay long because mostly they don't get to build anything, just supervise contractors who get to build things.

I've always been more entrepreneurial and risk tolerant than many and so have worked for startups including the one I work for now which I helped found. Being an actual government employee would probably drive me nuts. But I am friends with folks who are and it suits them just fine. They like the predictability and stability (usually!) and that's what they value. They get their enjoyment from other areas in their life which wouldn't support them.

John
 
The other good thing is the 9-5's are becoming more flexible.
After lunch, I came home to finish the day here as I have no more meetings.

Nanny is playing with the kids in the other room and I just finished tinkering with a pool valve. Settling in to get some work done in the home office. No rush hour for me today.
 
Nanny? As in Au Pair? I want one of those. A cute college-age co-ed one.
 
Gerhardt said:
Nanny? As in Au Pair? I want one of those. A cute college-age co-ed one.
Click to expand...

They are all in college, and they keep graduating.
Hard to find good ones when they move on to the real world.
 
N918KT said:
I will admit that I only worked in an office of a cargo terminal at a major airport when I was in college. After that, my job is mostly shift work with a mix of night shifts and day shifts during the week. But I always wondered what is it like to work in an office building, in a cubicle, 9 to 5, Monday to Friday being an average Joe.

Is working in an office by any means interesting or boring? What is the experience like? Would you work in an office job again if given the chance?
Click to expand...

It pays the bills, I'm going home now. (and i'll see in person if there is any sun outside)
 
This thread made me that more appreciative of my current job. Life is too short to put up with something I don't like.

My fiancé works in an office. She loves it. I'll visit but I dread stepping foot into that building. To each his own.
 
N918KT said:
Is working in an office by any means interesting or boring? What is the experience like? Would you work in an office job again if given the chance?
Click to expand...
Do you like what you do?

I've been working in commercial real estate since 1974. Lots of the job has been out of the office, and really fun. This last lap has been mostly in the office. Ugh. Retiring at age 70 in 35 days. Can't wait!
 
Jay Honeck said:
Ugh -- what is that even like, working for the government?
Click to expand...
It gave me the opportunity to do things in and with airplanes most people can only dream about.

The downside is I still have people who have never worked for the government tell me what it's like to work for the government.

Nauga,
who treasures his logbooks
 
jsstevens said:
Depends on your personal priorities. I work with a lot of federal government employees including military. Some are passionate a love what they do, some are content with just punching a clock every day and having a steady paycheck, some would be gone from any commercial company I've every worked for in weeks if not days (because they don't actually work and some impede progress!).

Generally creative types (and I include good tech people in this) don't stay long because mostly they don't get to build anything, just supervise contractors who get to build things.
Click to expand...

This. One thing I love about my job is that even though I'm a govvie, I'm in a highly specialized office that also sets a lot of the standards used by various agencies.

I get to see a lot of cool stuff, mostly make my own schedule, travel about as often as I can stand, actually see stuff built, and if I can survive the office molasses- make a fairly significant impact worldwide while bringing some sanity to my jobs.

So far it's been worth the civil service BS. But I also have a rep as the office disruptive influence, so YMMV.
 
Last edited:
nauga said:
It gave me the opportunity to do things in and with airplanes most people can only dream about.

The downside is I still have people who have never worked for the government tell me what it's like to work for the government.

Nauga,
who treasures his logbooks
Click to expand...
You fly (flew ?) for the government? Or for the military? (Yes, the military is technically controlled by the government, but is as different from the unfireable bureaurats as night and day.)
 
Jay Honeck said:
You fly (flew ?) for the government? Or for the military? (Yes, the military is technically controlled by the government, but is as different from the unfireable bureaurats as night and day.)
Click to expand...
Yes, as a (past tense) DOD civilian...special crew and/or selected passenger depending on the time, place, and purpose. I doubt you've worked for DOD any more than any other agency...so tell me more about what it's like?

Nauga,
from both sides
 
nauga said:
Yes, as a (past tense) DOD civilian...special crew and/or selected passenger depending on the time, place, and purpose. I doubt you've worked for DOD any more than any other agency...so tell me more about what it's like?

Nauga,
from both sides
Click to expand...
I have no idea. I'm just going on what friends have told me, which is essentially that being military is quite different than working for the rest of the government.
 
If the job is interesting, it's not bad at all... Having a consistent schedule is really nice. In my case along with my consistent schedule is an incredibly flexible schedule. It'd be a rough transition if I ever switches industries.
 
I spent my early 20's working outside jobs like roofing, running delivery routes, fixing/moving vending machines, etc. Entered the IT industry at age 26 (the 'office' job).

I miss the physical activity as sitting in chair for hours on end is really bad for you ('sitting is the new smoking'). However, I do take breaks or stretch or go downstairs and walk around the building and run treadmill at home. I wear dry cleaned clothes to work and I know exactly what the weather conditions will be [in] my office. My current gig has an open office concept, so no cubes just a 2' glass partition between us (I hate cubes and offices). We're off 1/2 day on Fridays the rest of the week is reasonably flexible.
 
Jay Honeck said:
I have no idea. I'm just going on what friends have told me, which is essentially that being military is quite different than working for the rest of the government.
Click to expand...

I work (and have for 15+ years) with DoD civilians, military folks and some other assorted government employees. They run the gamut as do the employees in every company I've ever worked for. (One exception, really small companies tend to have all good employees-barring nepotism. There's nowhere to hide in a really small company.)

In general, people are people-good & bad. Now having said that, government (and military) both tend to have a hard time getting rid of marginal performers. But the very large companies I've worked for are the same way. I lost count of the number of employees who were "laid off" at the first down turn because we couldn't get HR to "fire" them. So think that's more about big bureaucracy than government.

Do you run across real *******s in government who try to make your life miserable? Yes, occasionally. Have you ever had that experience with the cable company? I have. Do you run across people in government who try everything they can to help you? Yes, yes you do. I certainly have.

John
 
I actually rather like working at the airport (Municipal). It's never the exact same thing, I get to look at and interact with all kinds of neat aircraft, and I get paid to be around planes. I get to learn stuff that's relevant to my interests and shoot the breeze with pilots and swap stories.

1 year exactly tomorrow - I remember my first day at work. After dealing with the day, my boss said there was a fireworks show going on and that I could come watch it...from the airport side. So I was told to grab the golf cart and my GF and drive over. I got to hang out with the paramedics and firefighters on the field near a trailer full of fireworks while everyone else was a good distance away.

I worked in aviation sales for 7 months and to be honest, did not care for it. Same computer, same desk, same emails, same problems, same parts. The pay was pretty great (14/hr) but I just couldn't get excited about it. At the airport, I will stay after hours because I want to, not because I have to. One of the few jobs I've had that I've felt that way, it's nice.
 
Gonna be over a 100 degrees the next 10 days around here, max of 108....

9-5 in Air Conditioning sounds pretty good.
 
JoseCuervo said:
Gonna be over a 100 degrees the next 10 days around here, max of 108....

9-5 in Air Conditioning sounds pretty good.
Click to expand...
For sure.

I just spent several hours replacing another LG HVAC unit that died after just 33 months in service. Worse, I had to replace the shroud, which had corroded to the point where I wasn't sure it could support the new unit.

94 degrees, 78% humidity. No breeze, if course. By the time I was done I couldn't kneel on the tile floor without leaving a little puddle of drywall/rust/mud/sweat.

Ah, the glorious life of the small business owner. :)
 
Jay Honeck said:
For sure.

I just spent several hours replacing another LG HVAC unit that died after just 33 months in service. Worse, I had to replace the shroud, which had corroded to the point where I wasn't sure it could support the new unit.

94 degrees, 78% humidity. No breeze, if course. By the time I was done I couldn't kneel on the tile floor without leaving a little puddle of drywall/rust/mud/sweat.

Ah, the glorious life of the small business owner. :)
Click to expand...

It's the glamor Jay. Like the guy grumbling along cleaning up after the circus elephant. A bystander asked "Why don't you quit?" He hotly replied "And leave show business?!"

John


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
I took my current job because it was supposed to be M-F, dayshift, weekends and holidays off. After one year and a reorganization, things changed including my job description. Now I work midnight shift, Saturday night through Tuesday night, 10 hour shifts. It sucks.
 
jsstevens said:
It's the glamor Jay. Like the guy grumbling along cleaning up after the circus elephant. A bystander asked "Why don't you quit?" He hotly replied "And leave show business?!"

John


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
lol! For sure.

Of course these things never become apparent on a Monday, when I could replace the unit in a leisurely fashion, with proper water breaks, etc. NOOOOOOO....

They always break on a sold out weekend, three hours before check in time, making for a semi-frantic, very unpleasant experience. Thankfully, we have taken to keeping an extra unit in stock (after experiencing so many early life LG failures) and I just had a new, experimental, all-aluminum shroud manufactured...
 
Jay honeck said:
Thankfully, we have taken to keeping an extra unit in stock (after experiencing so many early life LG failures) and I just had a new, experimental, all-aluminum shroud manufactured...
Click to expand...

So, you're having problems with AC units and sleeves corroding, and your solution is to put copper coils next to an Aluminum box while exposing it to salt air? Have you consulted a galvanic chart recently?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top