Who enjoys their job?
Discussion
Civil Enforcement Officer (or as some think of us, Traffic Warden)
Apart from the abuse, death threats, rain, wind, snow and ice, its a great job, where else do you get paid for walking the streets noting down car registrations and occasionally giving tickets to naughty people. You get given your beat and left to it (unless you are subject to a beat visit from the boss). See some strange sights (and that's not just the driving/parking), when its nice you can top up the tan on the arms and face, and you can meet some really nice people.
Best beat for me is when the local footy team are at home, it's a ticket bonanza!
Apart from the abuse, death threats, rain, wind, snow and ice, its a great job, where else do you get paid for walking the streets noting down car registrations and occasionally giving tickets to naughty people. You get given your beat and left to it (unless you are subject to a beat visit from the boss). See some strange sights (and that's not just the driving/parking), when its nice you can top up the tan on the arms and face, and you can meet some really nice people.
Best beat for me is when the local footy team are at home, it's a ticket bonanza!
speedchick said:
Civil Enforcement Officer (or as some think of us, Traffic Warden)
Apart from the abuse, death threats, rain, wind, snow and ice, its a great job, where else do you get paid for walking the streets noting down car registrations and occasionally giving tickets to naughty people. You get given your beat and left to it (unless you are subject to a beat visit from the boss). See some strange sights (and that's not just the driving/parking), when its nice you can top up the tan on the arms and face, and you can meet some really nice people.
Best beat for me is when the local footy team are at home, it's a ticket bonanza!
Are you on commission? Apart from the abuse, death threats, rain, wind, snow and ice, its a great job, where else do you get paid for walking the streets noting down car registrations and occasionally giving tickets to naughty people. You get given your beat and left to it (unless you are subject to a beat visit from the boss). See some strange sights (and that's not just the driving/parking), when its nice you can top up the tan on the arms and face, and you can meet some really nice people.
Best beat for me is when the local footy team are at home, it's a ticket bonanza!
speedchick said:
Nope. Doesn't matter if we come back with zero or twenty. It's about moving the vehicles not booking em
That's the first sensible thing I've ever heard re parking penalties!I was always amazed at the whole 'clamping' thing! Surely (most) parking restrictions are there to keep the roads clear and avoid obstacles like parked cars. How can you have a penalty which prevents the driver from moving their car and clearing the obstruction?!
mostly.
i have lots of tiresome stuff but also enough "made a difference" days.
today i have discharged a medical student back to his family in SE Asia via LHR. the reasons i was involved are largely irrelevant but his career in medicine and therefore his life plan was definitely on the line. following 3 reviews, some medical treatment and extensive formulation, his place on his training course is secured, his fitness to practice is conditionally established, the appropriate treatment is now waiting for him back at home and his family are reassured that their seldom seen loved one is safe.
i'll take that
paul
i have lots of tiresome stuff but also enough "made a difference" days.
today i have discharged a medical student back to his family in SE Asia via LHR. the reasons i was involved are largely irrelevant but his career in medicine and therefore his life plan was definitely on the line. following 3 reviews, some medical treatment and extensive formulation, his place on his training course is secured, his fitness to practice is conditionally established, the appropriate treatment is now waiting for him back at home and his family are reassured that their seldom seen loved one is safe.
i'll take that
paul
Mostly.
I work as a Technical/Specification Sales Manager in the Construction industry. Earnings are good, probably better than most of my clients/contacts and equals more senior level roles elsewhere in the industry. Benefits like company car, bonus, expenses, phone, laptop, iPad, 28 days holiday, employee discount scheme are nice perks.
The role itself is a combination of lots of travel (UK only), presentations to construction professionals and site meetings to discuss technical solutions/use of company products - all of which I enjoy and get to use my sales experience and technical qualifications. I work from home and get left alone (completely) to make my own diary and meetings and no targets on numbers of meetings etc.
So on the whole I enjoy it. The downside (and is actually major enough to make me consider changing to a different company) is that the current company I work for are not investing sufficiently in the side of the business I work in. There is a major lack of investment in marketing/lead generation and resource from the team has been slowly whittled away from 15 to 3 people. The boss although a good commercial leader is new to the dept and has no knowledge of the industry or technical and doesn't seem overly interested in knowing more.
This combination makes for a cushy but somewhat unfulfilling position with not enough colleagues around to feel like working as part of a team. However I think the company is mostly the problem as opposed to the role, having worked in this role with previous company which ticked all the positive but didn't have the negatives above.
I work as a Technical/Specification Sales Manager in the Construction industry. Earnings are good, probably better than most of my clients/contacts and equals more senior level roles elsewhere in the industry. Benefits like company car, bonus, expenses, phone, laptop, iPad, 28 days holiday, employee discount scheme are nice perks.
The role itself is a combination of lots of travel (UK only), presentations to construction professionals and site meetings to discuss technical solutions/use of company products - all of which I enjoy and get to use my sales experience and technical qualifications. I work from home and get left alone (completely) to make my own diary and meetings and no targets on numbers of meetings etc.
So on the whole I enjoy it. The downside (and is actually major enough to make me consider changing to a different company) is that the current company I work for are not investing sufficiently in the side of the business I work in. There is a major lack of investment in marketing/lead generation and resource from the team has been slowly whittled away from 15 to 3 people. The boss although a good commercial leader is new to the dept and has no knowledge of the industry or technical and doesn't seem overly interested in knowing more.
This combination makes for a cushy but somewhat unfulfilling position with not enough colleagues around to feel like working as part of a team. However I think the company is mostly the problem as opposed to the role, having worked in this role with previous company which ticked all the positive but didn't have the negatives above.
Edited by T1547 on Sunday 28th August 11:42
5 years in the same role now. I work in IT, I'm an Infrastructure Engineer so its pretty varied, especially when our parent company is investing a load of money to modernise systems that have been ignored for nearly 20 years. Its a big challenge to modernise while maintaining the older stuff I haven't got to yet. Every day is varied and I love it. I've not once woken up on Monday morning dreading the commute. I'm also pretty proud to be working in British manufacturing, I have a personal interest in making the company I work for, great again.
European Technical Gimp/dogs body - Love my job more because after 25years I can confidently deal with most stuff so despite my workload being high and there being a fair bit of pressure at times its no real drama.
I get paid well, my benefits are really good & my bosses are not based in the UK and just let me get on with it. Even better is I am the only one that dose what I do and knows how to do it. Like was mentioned above, my bosses have no real knowledge of the industry/products or technical requirements and don't seem overly interested in knowing more - their position is I get paid to sort that & tell them what is needed.
Whilst it does not make me indispensable it would cost them a s
t load to get rid of me + they would be dead in the water for quite some time whilst a suitable replacement was found which would upset customers.
I get paid well, my benefits are really good & my bosses are not based in the UK and just let me get on with it. Even better is I am the only one that dose what I do and knows how to do it. Like was mentioned above, my bosses have no real knowledge of the industry/products or technical requirements and don't seem overly interested in knowing more - their position is I get paid to sort that & tell them what is needed.
Whilst it does not make me indispensable it would cost them a s
t load to get rid of me + they would be dead in the water for quite some time whilst a suitable replacement was found which would upset customers. Edited by shep1001 on Friday 2nd September 00:06
tankplanker said:
I have worked in IT for ~20 years now. The technology has changed dramatically in that time but the people haven't. The actual hands on job I do is great and I have worked on some fantastic projects where my work has been in daily use by 10,000s of people.
There are some amazing people who work in IT that are an absolute pleasure to work with but the opposite is also true, and for some companies there are far more of the latter than the former. With the mass take up of outsourcing and offshoring due to companies seeking to treat IT as an overhead they'd rather not be paying for, more of the former seem to be around every year.
If IT had forced in a proper professional qualification like a Lawyer or an Accountant early enough then I'm convinced most of the problem would have been nipped in the bud.
High salaries in the old days of IT attracted large numbers of the talentless, especially at senior management level. It has never really recovered. The problem with a qualification is the sheer diversity of what IT is.There are some amazing people who work in IT that are an absolute pleasure to work with but the opposite is also true, and for some companies there are far more of the latter than the former. With the mass take up of outsourcing and offshoring due to companies seeking to treat IT as an overhead they'd rather not be paying for, more of the former seem to be around every year.
If IT had forced in a proper professional qualification like a Lawyer or an Accountant early enough then I'm convinced most of the problem would have been nipped in the bud.
I'm actually not that happy with my job it turns out.
I love what I actually do at the core. and the company I'm at now seems nice, with decent people.
but what I actually want to be doing - consultancy, going out to site once or twice a week to meet with clients and actually solve their issues and what not, is taking a back burner to being a support desk bh.
It's not too bad, some days it is very busy but other days I am doing literally nothing other than answering a few calls - so the Work / Life balance is very good but I feel numb and worry that in 5 years when our company gets swallowed up by a larger company what would I have to offer??
I love what I actually do at the core. and the company I'm at now seems nice, with decent people.
but what I actually want to be doing - consultancy, going out to site once or twice a week to meet with clients and actually solve their issues and what not, is taking a back burner to being a support desk b
h. It's not too bad, some days it is very busy but other days I am doing literally nothing other than answering a few calls - so the Work / Life balance is very good but I feel numb and worry that in 5 years when our company gets swallowed up by a larger company what would I have to offer??
Software Developer
I like:
Creativity of writing code
Problem solving
I don't like:
Having to commute to the city centre. (Scotland - almost no tech jobs outside Glasgow/Edinburgh)
The health impacts of sitting still and staring at a screen for 8 hours a day
I've tried being freelance, working from home - no commute & time to go to the gym every day - great!
I've tried a more creative career (was a wedding photographer for a while)
I enjoyed both of those more, but they didn't pay enough.
So I'm still rotting away in front of a screen in the city centre for 8 hours a day.
I like:
Creativity of writing code
Problem solving
I don't like:
Having to commute to the city centre. (Scotland - almost no tech jobs outside Glasgow/Edinburgh)
The health impacts of sitting still and staring at a screen for 8 hours a day
I've tried being freelance, working from home - no commute & time to go to the gym every day - great!
I've tried a more creative career (was a wedding photographer for a while)
I enjoyed both of those more, but they didn't pay enough.
So I'm still rotting away in front of a screen in the city centre for 8 hours a day.
ffc said:
High salaries in the old days of IT attracted large numbers of the talentless, especially at senior management level. It has never really recovered. The problem with a qualification is the sheer diversity of what IT is.
The salaries are still there if you are in the right sector and are prepared to move jobs a few times. Accountancy, law, etc. all have specialisations that you need to learn as part of the qualification, IT is no different. A basic tracks covering Project and Service Management, Architecture, Infrastructure and Programming should cover most things, although I suspect Infrastructure and Programming should be a big part of the qualification's baseline. Further specialisation down into something like Brocade networking gear or Ruby at an expert level should be beyond what is required of the basic qualification.
Nope, i'm giving it till XMas before I kick off and find another job.
I've been with the company 4 years straight from college, i've got trained up and have picked up a vast amount and i'm now the go to guy for most things, I work very hard and am consistantly the top performer. Which is getting me down as i'm not getting the pay I deserve for what i'm doing.
Work have promised me a pay rise once I have passed the next set of training, problem is they dont want to book me out on training due to the amount of work I can consume. I've been waiting around 8 months for this training to surface and it still hasnt. We have had leavers and big projects which has hampered the company as we're not huge in terms off staff. I've kicked off once and they have promised to sort it, but nothing has yet surfaced.
Starting to get really annoyed with this, i am only in my early 20s but still feel like i'm being mugged off.
I've been with the company 4 years straight from college, i've got trained up and have picked up a vast amount and i'm now the go to guy for most things, I work very hard and am consistantly the top performer. Which is getting me down as i'm not getting the pay I deserve for what i'm doing.
Work have promised me a pay rise once I have passed the next set of training, problem is they dont want to book me out on training due to the amount of work I can consume. I've been waiting around 8 months for this training to surface and it still hasnt. We have had leavers and big projects which has hampered the company as we're not huge in terms off staff. I've kicked off once and they have promised to sort it, but nothing has yet surfaced.
Starting to get really annoyed with this, i am only in my early 20s but still feel like i'm being mugged off.
Not enjoying mine at the mo.
I work in Compliance. Trouble is - most of the employees (95+) are in the Barcelona office with just three of us here in a £12K per month office in the City where the environment is akin to being in a library. Ridiculous waste of cash!
Monthly travel to Barcelona which is great, but after becoming accustomed to the four star hotel, I now get put in a pretty shabby apartment, where the bed is far worse than I have at home. My boss, on the other hand, still gets the hotel - I wonder how haha.
Am looking around. Have started with other companies in the building!
I work in Compliance. Trouble is - most of the employees (95+) are in the Barcelona office with just three of us here in a £12K per month office in the City where the environment is akin to being in a library. Ridiculous waste of cash!
Monthly travel to Barcelona which is great, but after becoming accustomed to the four star hotel, I now get put in a pretty shabby apartment, where the bed is far worse than I have at home. My boss, on the other hand, still gets the hotel - I wonder how haha.
Am looking around. Have started with other companies in the building!
tankplanker said:
he salaries are still there if you are in the right sector and are prepared to move jobs a few times.
Accountancy, law, etc. all have specialisations that you need to learn as part of the qualification, IT is no different. A basic tracks covering Project and Service Management, Architecture, Infrastructure and Programming should cover most things, although I suspect Infrastructure and Programming should be a big part of the qualification's baseline. Further specialisation down into something like Brocade networking gear or Ruby at an expert level should be beyond what is required of the basic qualification.
It's mainly PM's and SDM's that form the ranks of the highly paid talentless group. In more than 30 years in IT the number of good and effective PM/SDM's I have met can be counted on one hand. They have no accountability, which comes back to poor management.Accountancy, law, etc. all have specialisations that you need to learn as part of the qualification, IT is no different. A basic tracks covering Project and Service Management, Architecture, Infrastructure and Programming should cover most things, although I suspect Infrastructure and Programming should be a big part of the qualification's baseline. Further specialisation down into something like Brocade networking gear or Ruby at an expert level should be beyond what is required of the basic qualification.
On topic I do enjoy my job. I like the technology, the rapid rate of change and the challenge of keeping up. The downsides are mainly based on dealing with those mentioned above.
ffc said:
It's mainly PM's and SDM's that form the ranks of the highly paid talentless group. In more than 30 years in IT the number of good and effective PM/SDM's I have met can be counted on one hand.
Lucky you. I only need one finger and that guy had something of a nervous breakdown in the end, so I don't envy him.The suggestion of a qualification above sounds like an A level in IT, or at least what I imagine it should be. Of course, degrees in Computer Science exist too, but I'm not sure they're a strong predictor of either who does or who should do well in the profession.
Gassing Station | Jobs & Employment Matters | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff