A Better Life at the Office
by Don’t be an eight to five desk jockey. Do your research. Get feedback frequently. Make sure your work is appreciated. Stay away from gossip. Change job if necessary. Check the market to see what others are earning. You may have to turn in colleagues who become an obstacle. Have the right facts in hand before complaining.
You might have read somewhere that companies like Google offer all kinds of amenities to their software writers. Of course, you also heard of Henry Ford’s comment when touring his offices with a friend who wondered about this guy who had his feet on the desk while throwing little paper airplanes in the air. Henry F. replied that it was his most productive employee who did his best thinking in that manner. You don’t have to be caught in an 8 to 5 boring job at your desk, trying to fit in with the rest of the desk jockeys.
Do Your Research
Your first step is to do research on your company and on its competitors. We can’t all work for Microsoft or Yahoo; but there are hundreds of businesses in your line of work who would be very happy to make room for a guy (or gal) with a good creative mind. Do not hesitate to discuss your options with friends or colleagues. Yes, I know! They will snitch on me and my boss is going to call me in and ask what the deuce (replace with stronger word if needed!) is going on.
If you are confident that you are doing a good job and that it would be difficult to replace you, tell him (her) quite frankly that you need a bigger challenge. Companies spend a lot of money training their employees and hate to see some competitor enjoy the benefits thereof.
If you are not quite sure that they’d want to keep you around, good! Go for it! You have been wasting your valuable time in a dead end job.
Remember! Change does not mean that you are a failure! Heck, it took me 4 tries at desk jobs before I realized that I really wanted to work with teens in high school and supplement my income by writing about my life experiences. It may be less money, but the vacations are great! Seriously, I enjoy myself and no longer worry about office gossip around the water cooler (I’ve always wanted to include that gadget in my articles!).
Make Sure Your Work Is Appreciated
You may be all alone (in a matter of speaking) in a small cubicle amongst 200 other people doing something similar. How do you know that your output is really appreciated by those who count?
First of all, if you are not pouring your heart and soul into your professional responsibilities, look for another job; that’s not for you, since you obviously don’t care much.
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