I Like my Job

We've all had those jobs ... the ones where you wake up and wonder why you put up with it all. I have to say that I am lucky enough to not be in that camp. I actually love what I do ... I like the people around me and I am energized by the opportunities I see to help shift thinking. It hasn't always been that way ... I've had my fair share of miserable jobs ... there was that gig in grad school where I sold mobile homes, and that other one where I painted houses, the one where I did landscaping from the time I got up until I headed home, oh and the one where I managed student housing for absentee landlords ... there are others ...

I hear so many people complain about their positions on a regular basis and it just got me thinking about it all. Do you like your job? Why do you (or don't you) like doing what you do. I assume most of my readers are in education ... what gets you excited about what you do? Why do you get up and come to work everyday? I do it because of the chance to get people interested in thinking about how they use technology in an appropriate way to impact teaching and learning ... how about you?

Comments

[dr. c]

dr. job; i hope you still have your EDDIE SHOES as an award winning mobile hone salesman of the week in cabin creek...oh, and about that landscaping job from sun up to sun down---i am totally impressed especially after getting the reports from ARNOLDS GOLF PRO ON YOUR DAILY ATTENDANCE. i must say , i am quite impressed with your ability to be in two places at the same time. And by the way, you should stop by and see my student housing projects; they are flourishing thanks to your dedication of work while I was away from my properties at grad school. Hopefully, I played some sort of role in your success now at PSU.

[Cole Camplese]

Let's see, the Eddie Shoes(the white ones made famous in Vacation) did come in handy. You are so vain, you probably think this post is about you ... the absentee landlord was Jeff McKee ... and if you read it again, never did I say I landscaped from sun up to sun down, just "from the time I got up until the time I went home" ... oh, you've shaped all my success and you know it.

[Randy Meredith]

Cole, there are some days that I look forward to going in to work more than others. But, overall I feel a sense of awe that I am getting paid to do something I really enjoy. For me, academic technology and online learning are a perfect match for the way I'm wired - a great reason to be thankful.

[D'Arcy Norman]

Still enjoying my job - just realized I've been here for almost 5 years, and my previous record was just a hair over 2 years at one job. Variety is good. Getting to play with stuff is good. Politics can suck, though. I just hope they don't figure out I'm having fun, or that anyone can do it... Wait - I should have posted anonymously. Crap.

[Jesse]

I have been here for 5 years now and I must say I have had my good years and my bad years but overall I do enjoy where I work. Sometimes I really don't like the politics of my job and just turning 30, I am just figuring out how not to take those frustrations home with me. Most of the time though, things are good. Especially when I get to work with students who have the task of solving a departments web woes in their 4 month co-op term.

I am not in learning technologies area (no strange terms for using tech in the class for me!), I influence things from the outside... through the home page and how my office communicates with the web.

[dr. c]

well, i have finally become a bloggster... following my son up the t-path. i must confess that i am enjoying my job too--hanging out with builder bob and digger dave is an education in itself--and believe me the tuition is extremely high. however, i have learned to wear longer tailed shirts when doing plumbing under a desperate housewife's sink, wear shoes when mowing lawns,the reality of time and a half and the pleasure of charging for upgrades. sometimes this new JOB is as exciting as teaching psychology or attending another faculity meeting. this blogging is harder than i thought--but i may be on my way to a new career and even win blogmeister of the hour...speaking of hour, i have realized that it is up and it is time to go to ARNOLDS ,, OPPS I MEAN FROSTY VALLEY i've upgraded...dr. boppy

[James]

I love the fact that even though there are days where I think I'm the only one excited about infusing technology in small ways to make online teaching and learning more connected that most of the time the rest of the team gets on board. ( Maybe that should have been two sentences). I know I say this all of the time (at least to myself) but it's an amazing time to be working on the technology end of the higher ed. Maybe it's because you get to read about all of the great things the greater higher ed community folks are doing, building, applying and experiementing with, but also because I've really noticed that there's a lot less skepticism or resistance from instructors when the words "online learning" enters the conversation. In fact it seems like the resistance to change, and trying new approaches has been replaced with an earnest and active desire to learn how technologies can be infused to support teaching...That's what I like to wake up to, and is why I love my job, becase there are enough days when What I believe is really cool about technology and learning is picked up on by someone who's willing to listen and then try it out in their class....