Tell me about your non bullshit jobs

[MrsCremuel]

I have a meaningless job that is crushing my soul. It pays the bills and that’s what gets me through.

I’d love to hear from those of you that have jobs that give you a sense of purpose and that have meaning. The good and the bad aspects! I’m trying to be realistic before I plan my escape.

I’m an Independent Domestic Violence Advisor.
I help high risk victims of DV during crisis point while they are at high risk of homicide, I work within a multiagency setting with other agencies.
I also support and advise on civil orders and court proceedings.
I could say I have actually made a difference to women and children’s lives, and probably saved a few lives too. And I absolutely love working with clients.
The job can be great, but it’s awful pay for the amount of responsibility and stress. I’m on 22k. I go to meetings where agencies look to us for guidance and every member is on almost double.
The pace of it is unbelievable, it’s relentless and fast paced work where referrals come in thick and fast and all are urgent.
The role desperately needs development, but I guess the powers that be like paying shite money for what is a really specialist role and placed it in the Third Sector which is usually low paid.
Unfortunately it means I will have to be looking for something else this year, as there is little progression available.

You could look into training to be a Psychological well-being practitioner (PWP) This is what I do. You can either self fund or get a trainee post where the training is funded. It's one year where you do 1 day at uni and the rest on the job and your role is working with patients for approx 6 weeks to teach them different tools to support their mental health. Loads of room for progression, to either become a 'senior PWP', a team lead or go onto to do more intensive (funded) training to deliver full CBT therapy to patients for a much higher salary. Could then later offer this self employed if you got that training under your belt. All very worthwhile and has a sense of purpose. Great employment prospects. Can do it anywhere in the country. Fits with your interests etc..

I will add though it's very stressful and having a job with meaning is not always what it's cracked up to be. Can lead to complete burnout for some people.

I'm an academic. I love what I do, but I wouldn't recommend it as it took me a ridiculous number of years of FT education (I have a PhD) to get here.

That said, dh has a business that is in a trade that he loves (he has a uni degree, but this trade doesn't necessarily require any specific qualifications). He's very happy and makes a ridiculous amount of money (approaching 100K a year). I think a trade is the way to go if you have the inclination and can find a niche market where you can be really attractive to people.

I'm a teacher, and while I agree the job has bullshit elements, most of it's loaded on to me, not the students.

It has high levels of authenticity, that I can be who I am as I teach. Of course I put on a level of acting in the cause of professional demeanour, but it becomes second nature.

I've never been bored. Not once.

The massive bureaucratic workload should not be underestimated, especially in the UK.

I’m a teaching assistant, soon to be trainee teacher. I work 9-1 weekdays, term time only. I absolutely love it, but it’s definitely a vocation: I can completely understand why some people would hate it.

I love the kids, even especially the ones with more character! I love the satisfaction of knowing I’ve helped a child to understand a concept, to grow as a person and to achieve something.

I also enjoy laminating things, making displays and sitting through meetings that could have been emails. Communication is absolutely shocking, the government are a pile of shit who should stop meddling: education is not any governments play thing but it’s the first thing they always change because they want to be seen to ‘make their mark’ when they come to power.

TL/DR - love the kids/classroom/work-life balance. Hate the politics.

I am a paediatric nurse in a hospital. It absolutely gives me a sense of purpose.
I love my job. I care for patients of all ages from newborns to teenagers and their families. They make me smile and laugh everyday. Most of them are a pleasure to care for. I work in a brilliant team who really support each other. We make a difference to people's lives everyday.
However, it is really hard, physically and especially emotionally. The shifts are 13hr days and 12hr nights, usually both in the same week, and I rarely leave on time, sometimes I do the whole shift without a break. It has been brutal in this heat, I genuinely thought I might have heat stroke. I am short and many of my patients are bigger and heavier than me and need assistance to move and with all aspects of care. We often see heartbreaking situations and it is very sad. My patients make me smile and laugh nearly everyday but also regularly nearly make me cry. We are often short-staffed with very unwell patients and can't provide the level of care that we would wish. Management politics and not having enough equipment etc are frustrating. I often don't see my own children as I leave before they get up and come home after they are asleep. We have to work Christmas and miss other family occasions. It is not very compatible with a good family life/ marriage although flexible working etc is getting better. It is definitely not good for your mental health even in a very supportive team (my mental health is a disaster currently).
Nursing is the only job I have ever wanted to do. I love it except on days that I hate it when I have a problem because I don't have any idea what I would do instead so I put up with it until I remember why I love it again.

I'm a Perinatal Mental Health Midwife - I support women with mild to moderate mental health problems in pregnancy, act as liaison between community mental health teams and maternity for women with more severe mental illness and promote parity between physical and mental health in the Perinatal period. It is busy, often frustrating (not the women - the system) but is rewarding and I feel that it is meaningful work. I retrained as a direct entry midwife in my early 30's and have been lucky to get the opportunity to develop a really interesting career. I'm in my late 40's now and hoping to take a therapy qualification so I can make the service more beneficial to the families that use it.

This is a nice thread

Secondary teacher. Love it for all the reasons above.

@MotionActivatedDog I bloody LOVE my cleaner and wouldn’t be without her. Also not a clue how you do it- it takes me hours and hours to clean but she does it so quickly and efficiently!

I am an educational psychologist. I run a small independent practice working with neurodivergent children and young people and children who have experienced developmental trauma. It’s taken a long time to get to this point, years of study and cutting my teeth in some tricky posts, but I love what I do. Seeing children, families and teachers become more confident and positive is a real joy.

It’s also lovely to see teachers posting about enjoying their jobs. The kids I work with are complex and I’m in awe of the many teachers I work alongside who work so creatively, flexibly sad bloody hard to make school a positive experience 🙂

I work in retail and it can be very rewarding. I know it doesn’t sound it and some customers are the devil but many I get I have a little joke with them, the older ones talk about thier day, mums talk about thier kids and I feel happy that I’ve put a smile on at least one persons face. I actually like the work and I’m good at it so that helps....

Fascinating replies thank you all.

@ImBoiling I’ve heard of IDVAs as my mum works with them in her job as a Health Visitor and I’ve been fascinated by the role. How did you become one?

@cality I’ve never heard of a PWP - will definitely be researching that thank you. Can totally understand re the burnout and seems it is an occupational hazard for most of the roles discussed as they tend to be chronically underfunded and undervalued by governments. I have to weigh up if the burnout from being very unfulfilled is worse, and I think it might be.

@mindutopia academia was my dream. I was on that path but had a very difficult bereavement in my early 20s which sort of knocked me off course and sent me drifting a bit. Not sure when trade I would do but always say to my DH I’d be happy for our boys to go into trade as it seems like such a good career option!

@MaudebeGonne again, a really interesting job and one I’ve also considered as it combines a lot of my interests. What are the hours like and how easy was it to move into this area?

@badlydrawnbear I’ve (also) considered nursing but do have a young family and I think I’d struggle with not seeing them and the working conditions do sound quite brutal.

I am cheered to hear so many positives about teaching. @echt ‘high levels of authenticity’ really stood out to me as I am finding pretending to care and spouting corporate bullshit is just about pushing me over the edge. Though I’m sure there is an element of that in every job!

I'm an optometrist.

Degree based learning. On the job professional exams and qualifications. Dealing with the public (its own special type of hell) within a healthcare setting. A certain level of stress vis à vis clinic management, patient expectations, business expectations. Further stress if it's your own business. Financially comfortable but not megabucks. Day to day I know I'm helping people and receive enough positive verbal feedback to make it its own reward.

Still come home most days and have a moan and an offload! Not qualified to realistically do anything outside of my profession - I couldn't jump industries and match my wage. Equally I don't think the grass is greener elsewhere.

Midwife, it's made up of about 5% lovely moments and 95% soul crushing.

Love caring for women and babies, love getting to know them throughout, love making them feel supported. Hate the rest.

@PullTheWeeds

I work in a school as a pupil support assistant. It's 9-3, Mon to Fri, term time. I enjoy my day in school, love working with the kids, I have lovely colleagues and I walk out the door at 3pm with no worries about deadlines or planning for the next day, able to enjoy my life outside of my job and of course we get 13 weeks holidays and don't have to worry about holiday childcare for my own children.

However, the flipside to that is that I earn £13k per year and there is no room for progression. Sometimes I do feel a bit restless and that I could do more but actually I think I find more enjoyment in this work/life balance. This may change but for just now I enjoy what I do.

Our 21 daughter who has just finished uni has got a PSA job at the secondary school she went to. Part of me thinks she should go for a full time hours job for more money, but I know she’ll be ideal for the role and it’s what she really wants to do, so ultimately that’s what matters. Certainly a job that makes a difference.

I bloody LOVE my cleaner and wouldn’t be without her. Also not a clue how you do it- it takes me hours and hours to clean but she does it so quickly and efficiently!

@TheZeppo I cannot clean my own house anywhere near as efficiently as I do my clients. I think my house exists in a parallel universe where I am the opposite of who I am at work! I wish I knew what it was- it’s very frustrating. That’s why I love going to work! Satisfaction of actually cleaning and completing the tasks I start!

@Chiffandbip

I’m a primary teacher. It’s so lovely.

To me, that is exactly the attitude a primary school teacher should have. I strongly suspect you are a brilliant teacher that the kids love.

I teach English to international students at a uni. I love the environment and getting to know students, talking about language. Very little admin, small classes, lots of flexibility in what you teach, Little stress, easy to work part time. It's about £40k full time but I work 4 days a week as my kids are young.

I work in a university managing grants.
It’s so interesting and I get to see all sorts of interesting things and talk to a massive range of people and students. I love it!
I may not be saving the world, but I’m helping to make sure a research grant for a vaccine, or how well a new system being implemented will help people run smoothly.

If you are in hr area already, how about doing some occupational health work or employee assist work? I haven’t had experience of it directly but have signposted people to it and it seems like a good resource for people going through a tough time who need a bit of support getting on track. I imagine there’s lots of people who need that right now and it would be rewarding?

I'm a primary school teacher. Love the children, the teaching, the parents (mostly...) don't love the bureaucracy.

But there won't be many people who went to work today and played on a field with a hosepipe with their colleagues and 'clients' to cool down in the heat..!

I work in finance but in a sustainability role. To some people it would appear to be soul-crushing corporate nightmarishness - I work long hours mostly sat in front of my computer and on zoom calls - but I have a brilliant team and absolutely love 99% of my job (there are of course the usual annoying bits that there are in any job). It makes me genuinely happy to feel like I'm doing a little bit to try and solve climate change every day. And on top of that it's well-paid.

This thread is extremely heartening! I’m about to leap out of a very well paid city career into primary teaching. Teaching chat on Mumsnet is often so gloomy, but in real life my teacher friends mostly love their jobs.

I’m a detective. I love my job. It’s stressful and can be emotionally tough at times but there is nothing more satisfying than protecting vulnerable people and seeing victims get justice. On the other hand you can get really frustrated with the many issues with the criminal justice system that make it hard for us to get the right result and treatment for victims. The current rape review is finally getting some of these issues into the public arena and I hope will lead to some progress. Nevertheless I wouldn’t do anything else because I know despite the issues I’m still at the coalface trying to do the right thing for people who need it the most.

It’s not the job for everyone granted! But maybe it gives you hope that there are people out there who love their job. You spend too much time in work to hate it and if you are in a position to be able to change careers (not everyone is) then definitely grab opportunities with both hands!