Are There Any Fun Tech Jobs Left? 584
er0ck asks: "My first job out of college was working for an Internet Startup. They gave me some books and told me to learn Perl. Our office was a refurbished factory, with lots of light and open space. Best of all, we could bring our nerf toys in to work (and use them!). Four months later, the company went under. Several dot bomb jobs later, I work for my state government. Is anyone still having fun at their tech job?" I think that with the economic downturn, more companies are concentrating on survival more than being "fun". Are there any "fun" tech jobs left, or have they all suffered from the Economic Darwinism of the early 21st century?
"[Government work is] steady work, but boring at times. (I don't think they'd approve of the Nerf guns). Without the pressure of staying in business, projects sometimes stagnate, leaving us with little to do. During these slow times, I help behind the scenes at NerfCenter.com; It's a fun site, and they are switching to Perl for their admin backend. It keeps my skills sharp, and wards off the boredom.
My questions to the Slashdot community are:
- Can you have a fun tech job, without the worry of being suddenly unemployed?
- If you are you forced (as I am) to get your fun on the side what are some good projects to get involved in?
- What do you to unwind and have a bit of 'fun' in the workplace?"
I was better at work when it was more fun... (Score:3, Interesting)
It was actually really nice -- two or three times a day you could play a quick game or two, each time taking maybe five minutes. It was a great way to get away from your desk and get the blood pumping a little bit (nothing like some activity to get the brain working again).
Then our managers decided that we shouldn't play during the work day anymore. It was like night and day for me -- I couldn't get past the after-lunch sleepy feeling on most days, I didn't want to stay at work late anymore. Ironically, the amount of time I spent at my desk actually producing dropped dramatically.
It was just ping-pong, but I think it marked kind of a turning point in terms of morale at work. I know I wasn't the only one who felt that way.
A lot of the reactions I've been reading are reacting to the excesses of the dot-coms, like that "Generation Now" commercial where nobody in the office is actually working. That's fair, but it's important to remember that there's a lot of room between that extreme and a boring, soulless workplace.
Is being an NFL Quarter back "fun"? (Score:3, Interesting)
They work their tight little asses off though.
This is going to sound trite, especially considering all the other posts saying essentially the same thing, BUT. . .
You are basically still a child. You have now had your first *jobs,* but have yet to have any actually experience of working.
Give up the idea of "fun" at work. Find a job where you enjoy doing the WORK and bust your ass at it, eight hour a day. Then go HOME to play, with your paycheck.
How about starting your own company? Work 16 hour days, seven days a week, only to have nothing because your employees take it all while bitching about you. I used to tell people, " I don't work for myself. I work for my lawyer, insurance company, phone company, landlord, power company, etc. They don't let me keep anything for myself."
You'll probably go under just like everyone else, but just might have the time of your life anyway. Funny how "fun" works sometimes.
By the way, if you manage that you're doing better than the 99.9% of the population who end up performing work functions because they like to eat better than the alternative. You just might have to grow up and get used to that idea.
KFG