monkey nonsense

a year ago today (the ides of march!!!), i quit my job. it was the best day of my life. i know it’s not good to advertise quitting (”winners never quit! and quitters never win!”) but for me, i think that was one of the best things to happen to me.

this past year, i’ve been the happiest since probably high school! (college kind of sucked because i hated my major :P) sure, i haven’t found what i love yet… but i feel like i’m eliminating and narrowing my options. and on a day to day basis, i don’t feel like i wasting time away like i used to. it’s tough to do something for 8 hours a day that doesn’t reward you. i’m not talking about monetary reward and i know not everyone can discover the cure to cancer every day, but at least feeling like you’ve accomplished something and that you’ve contributed to something that i care about makes every day a little better.

i know a bunch of other people who are in “crappy” jobs. i feel like everyone is still searching for what they want to do in life. or maybe they’ve decided what they’ve wanted to do, but obstacles (entrance exams, schooling, getting a foot in the door of a tough-to-enter industry, heck… applying for jobs, etc.) are in the way. i say…

try quitting :D. if the company doesn’t provide what you’re looking for in a job, you shouldn’t feel obliged to stay. people told me that i should wait awhile and give things a try. i think that’s good advice, but you’ll always know before anyone else whether you’ve given things a fair shot and when it’s time for a change. i waited waaaay too long in my crappy job (nearly 2 years… and i hated my job within a month of starting).

also, for those who can’t quit because they don’t have anything lined up…. i gave notice at my old company without having another job lined up. it’s very scary… make sure you have enough savings stored up to last awhile (and helpful parents who give you mcdonald arch cards!), but it can also be a good thing. you’ll have more time to search for a job you’ll enjoy (no more excuses about working on job searching after work) and some times, you just have to get out of a negative environment before it makes you jaded about everything.

p.s. let me know if you want to work for my new company… i am very hesitant to say i enjoy work because of my previous experience, but i am willing to go so far as to say i like the variety of work my new company offers and i think the product it develops is more worthwhile than say…. a COBOL decision engine used by large corporations to help collect delinquent accounts on the little guys.