I'm in a similar situation but on the other side of the spectrum - I did a degree in cultural anthropology which is neither recognised nor appreciated by the job market, virtually impossible to monetise the skills I learned. Here in my country nobody knows what anthropology is. The only hope for those who want to stay in the "business" is to beg for a lousy scholarship and starve for years doing a PhD and waiting for some old professor to retire and make a room for a young and aspiring researcher (who by the time it happens won't be young anymore).
Still, I've been very lucky compared with my friends from the university. I've got a decent job in a large insurance corporation, doing a little bit of PR and mainly monitoring the work of debt collectors abroad.
Mostly it's a very repetitive, limited, not creative, nine-to-five kind of job, with a very annoying, over-controlling, nosy, bipolar colleague.
I've had enough, although my salary rose by 36% in the last year.
I would like to move abroad, but I am limited by my predominantly soft skills and lack of serious experience (I'm 27). And I'm not a native Englih speaker.
During my studies I was researching new technologies in education and I am very much interested in human-computer interacion, usability and design. I know I cannot compete with so many great wizzard programmers, I am not an alogorithm genius, but I do not intend to be. Nowadays there are so many great software engineers all over the world and the market becames more and more saturated with sophisticated devices I believe it is the client's research which will make the difference and help to turn a good idea into millions.
However, at least here in my country, in order to get into R&D one has to graduade in some computer science related subject.
So next month I am starting a new degree in applied computer science :)
But going back to the core problem of not enjoying your job:
I agree with Arjuna - you should consider relocation. I live just 10 minutes walking away from my office. I pay high rent, but the comfort of life without having to commute anywhere is beyond description. I highly encourage all to consider it.
Secondly - if you are having a problem with a colleague, or with some aspect of what you do, then treat it not as an offence ("the world hates me!") but rather as an intellectual, personal challange ("hmm, it's interesting - why do I react in such a way?"), an opportunity to grow, an excercise that will make you stronger. As others said: there will always be things and people you don't like in your future jobs, but the goal is not to strive for a perfect environment without these problems, but to develop strategies to deal with them.
I hate reporting. But I knew it was something I have to turn into an interesting challange and to learn something new, or it would kill me. Now I must say I make the best reports our clients ever received. In the course of doing so I turned myself into an advanced user of Business Objects, automated the process to the furthest extent and delegated the manual stuff to my colleagues - what in the beginning took at least 2 days of solid work on the reports alone now takes just about 1 hour!
We're young. And I believe everything is possible. If I am able to turn myself into a mediocre computer scientist, working full time and having to pay for my studies, you are able to become whatever you want.
I'm in a similar situation but on the other side of the spectrum - I did a degree in cultural anthropology which is neither recognised nor appreciated by the job market, virtually impossible to monetise the skills I learned. Here in my country nobody knows what anthropology is. The only hope for those who want to stay in the "business" is to beg for a lousy scholarship and starve for years doing a PhD and waiting for some old professor to retire and make a room for a young and aspiring researcher (who by the time it happens won't be young anymore).
Still, I've been very lucky compared with my friends from the university. I've got a decent job in a large insurance corporation, doing a little bit of PR and mainly monitoring the work of debt collectors abroad.
Mostly it's a very repetitive, limited, not creative, nine-to-five kind of job, with a very annoying, over-controlling, nosy, bipolar colleague.
I've had enough, although my salary rose by 36% in the last year.
I would like to move abroad, but I am limited by my predominantly soft skills and lack of serious experience (I'm 27). And I'm not a native Englih speaker.
During my studies I was researching new technologies in education and I am very much interested in human-computer interacion, usability and design. I know I cannot compete with so many great wizzard programmers, I am not an alogorithm genius, but I do not intend to be. Nowadays there are so many great software engineers all over the world and the market becames more and more saturated with sophisticated devices I believe it is the client's research which will make the difference and help to turn a good idea into millions.
However, at least here in my country, in order to get into R&D one has to graduade in some computer science related subject.
So next month I am starting a new degree in applied computer science :)
But going back to the core problem of not enjoying your job:
I agree with Arjuna - you should consider relocation. I live just 10 minutes walking away from my office. I pay high rent, but the comfort of life without having to commute anywhere is beyond description. I highly encourage all to consider it.
Secondly - if you are having a problem with a colleague, or with some aspect of what you do, then treat it not as an offence ("the world hates me!") but rather as an intellectual, personal challange ("hmm, it's interesting - why do I react in such a way?"), an opportunity to grow, an excercise that will make you stronger. As others said: there will always be things and people you don't like in your future jobs, but the goal is not to strive for a perfect environment without these problems, but to develop strategies to deal with them.
I hate reporting. But I knew it was something I have to turn into an interesting challange and to learn something new, or it would kill me. Now I must say I make the best reports our clients ever received. In the course of doing so I turned myself into an advanced user of Business Objects, automated the process to the furthest extent and delegated the manual stuff to my colleagues - what in the beginning took at least 2 days of solid work on the reports alone now takes just about 1 hour!
We're young. And I believe everything is possible. If I am able to turn myself into a mediocre computer scientist, working full time and having to pay for my studies, you are able to become whatever you want.
Cheers!