Living the dream?

I’m sure we all have days like this.

Sat there at work (if you work of course) and wondering “Why am I doing this?”

I don’t know how most people choose their career, but personally, I just fell into this line of work.  At school I never really knew what it was I wanted to do, but by the time I’d got to the end of secondary school I’d started a part time job in a call center for a chain of car dealerships.  I think the original plan for me was to become some kind of salesperson, though it was soon apparent that sales were not my forte, but I did seem to be rather good at administering the computer systems in the department.

With a strong interest in computers, I decided to follow up secondary school with a couple of years at college studying IT to further my knowledge of computer development, and so when a few years later the call center was shut down, I was moved to the IT department of the head office to develop new systems for the company.

After that, my career in software development was clearly my calling in life.

But what if things had turned out differently?  What if the money and glamour of software development was not important and I could choose any career I please?

Archeology always seemed glamorous

I’ve often mused over what else I could do in life to make a living, and what my dream job would be.  If I had even the slightest maths skills I may have chosen the career of a scientist, as physics have always held a particular interest to me, and was the one other subject in school I was good at.

Then there’s other dream jobs which have always sounded exciting in my mind; such as archaeologist, architect or actor, none of which I have the skills for, but I can always dream.

So, do you have your dream job already?  Doing what you always planned you’d do?  And if not, what would be your dream career?

Social Pressure

Recently I’ve found myself feeling the pressure of social networks, and am wondering if anyone else feels the same.

Plurk is the best example of this; I currently have 168 Friends, and probably several who I mutually follow.  By comparison of some other people, this is a small number, but I still find keeping up with all those people a near impossible task.

In essence, this exposes two of my biggest personality flaws; I can’t say no and I don’t like to hurt peoples feelings.  If somebody sends me a friend request I automatically accept, because as I see it, I’ve accepted others, why shouldn’t I accept this person.  I also feel like saying no to them is a snub to this person who is probably a total stranger to me at the time.

Endless Unread

Because of added work pressure, I can’t use Plurk in the office, apart from a quick peek on my mobile, so everything piles up throughout the day, not to mention the overnight backlog from those in other timezones who have been talking through the night.

By the time evening comes, I’m faced with an unmanageable pile of unread messages to wade through, and reading every one would be impossible.  And then another feeling of guilt creeps in; If I reply to one person, why am I not replying to another?

Many of the people I know online I consider good friends, I’d like to keep up with them all and not feel I’m favouring anyone, so now I’m sat there with a feeling of all or nothing, and with all being an daunting task, I default to nothing.

Now I’m probably an over sensitive example of this, but I’m sure there must be other people who feel the same about it, and I’d love to know how you feel about it or deal with it.

In the meantime, just because I’m not replying, doesn’t mean I’m not listening!