I just started working at a fast food restaurant and am really just blown away by how much rewarding it is that my last job working at a social welfare agency “helping people.” There is almost ALWAYS something to do AND my work can be objectively measured, two things untrue of my last job.
I’m trying to figure out what I want out of life, and work, and career, and I think this is really important to me: I actually need to be DOING something, something that I have direct control over, and something that I don’t NEED to say, “Look what a good job I did” because it is transparent.
Part of the reason I think this is important to me is if these requirements are NOT met, then the job is essentially convincing OTHERS that you are good at your job and/or that they like you. If what you do is opaque, unclear, or hard to measure, you have to constantly be policing the social narrative around yourself and your work–two things I have absolutely no interest (or ability?) in doing.
What’s been your experience?
I found this out after I spent several years working in multiple group homes. I liked that I was physically moving all day but, there was no “finish line” there was no “obvious change” or anything to feel accomplished by. Then I worked a desk job where I got assigned a queue and had to work through it and as soon as you’d get toward the end, it would refill.
After that I went for a more manual labor job. I started doing utility locating which was cool because you were one of the first steps for a lot of big jobs. I worked on lot of cool buildings that were built, roads that were moved or replaced, and all kinds of crazy stuff. That led me into water and sewer which I love.
What I love about water and sewer is every day is a little different but, without you there’s no clean drinking water and there’s poop everywhere. You know your worth, you know what you’re doing matters, when your part of a water main break repair you know you actually helped people. It’s super rewarding.
Edit to add, it can also be hard on the body and sometimes your coworkers suck but overall it’s been my favorite work so far.