Boring easy job or stressful interesting job?

[SparklyJumpsuit]

It's 12.30pm on a Tuesday and already I'm bored at work.

I work in a very niche job. I've been doing it forever. I earn a good wage. But I am VERY bored.

Any change of company brings a wage sacrifice I cannot afford (colleagues have done it, I seriously cannot afford to take less right now).

But I could make a sideways move in-house. But with it would come additional stress and additional calls on my time.

Would you stay with a cushy number job, or side move for personal satisfaction?

Young kids at primary school too (I am sole childcare outside school). Current hours fit perfectly...

Personally I think being bored is a luxury. Most of my jobs have been incredibly stressful and with little reward.

A well paid job that you can do easily and which affords you great work-life balance is the dream for me. But then I don’t find my personal satisfaction comes from working. Working is something I do to earn money. It doesn’t really need to be particularly interesting as I use the money I earn to do things I find interesting. If you feel like you want a job that you get more out of then make the move to the more stressful and interesting job. To me, being bored at work sometimes would not outweigh the stress of losing out financially and possibly struggling more for money.

Boring job all the way, then you can get excitement at your leisure and stop whenever you want!

Boring job. At least until DC are out of primary school. If you're like most of us, you will be working for 20-30 years more, plenty of time to move later on when you don't have dependent DC and need the money. You also mention being sole childcare out of school so need flexibility for this. And you never know when DC are going to become stressful!

How about some other activities to interest you? My job is boring but well paid, I write novels on my commute/in my lunch break.

I used to work in a job that was very well paid and flexible but easy and mindlessly dull. It was convenient while dd was little bit soul destroying in the longer term. I now work in a role which is often very stressful but much more interesting. I would choose my current job every time, but then, I have adhd and don't cope well at all with boredom!

I would add that I find boredom in itself immensely stressful, so it isn't really an either/or for me!

Bordem is stressful.

For now, I'd stay bored if I were you. Find some courses you could do to plan for a career change when your dc are a bit older?

There must be something you can do to make your job less boring? Improve some processes? Document some processes? Start a Continuous Improvement initiative? Organise some working lunches on interesting subjects? Do some additional training? Volunteer for a project? Learn something new?

I'm only 10-15 years away from retirement (older Mum) so no real scope for retraining and earning anything like a similar wage.

And I do like my headline job. Just my specific role is ultra dull. I don't find boredom stressful though. I suspect I quite like the stress of being too busy.

It's just the pangs of jealousy for people who love their jobs which I find hard.

I think having dc is enough stress in life personally for anyone.

@IamRoyFuckingKent There really isn't. I'm a dinosaur that people need to stay a dinosaur. They pay me to be a dinosaur but no-one wants me to do it differently or train others (or talk about it to others).

@toomanyleggings Yes - this is true - I keep thinking "what if there's a school year when they really need me?" - and that makes me stay.

Boring job while kids are young, exciting job when they're older.

What would stressful but exciting look like? travel (it you can make that work with the DC), progression opportunities, training, projects that you'd have a genuine interest in and would be impressive on your CV, an intellectual stretch leading to better jobs = yes. Just busier day to day or a bit of a change but nothing you could really take forward or get personal satisfaction from= not sure if hours and money don't make it work worth your while.

Being bored is stressful but current role sounds like a decent gig for your home circs. Do you feel you're treading water or actually learning anything? Are there secondment, temporary promotions or projects that could spice it up a bit? Are you a single parent (sorry, wasn't clear whether you are or just the only one managing childcare)? If not, don't be the only one bored to facilitate home life.

I done the same Artworker role for 10 years then was given the option to take voluntary redundancy. I was getting bored and wanted to work in a school for years so jumped at the opportunity, took the money and got a job in my children's primary school. Thought it would be easier around the kids school holidays, less stress, but lower pay. Man was I wrong!! Done it for 18 months and hated it!! More stressful, very boring when working 1-2-1 and working more to cover my awful wages. Finally had enough and contacted my old company and they offered me a job back artworking again. I now work from home, part-time and still earning more money than in a school. Yes it can be boring, but family life is much better!!

I struggle to relate to this as I genuinely don't find being a parent stressful! Maybe it helps that I only have one dc...

Fair enough. In which case make the most of it, do your online shopping, admin, email friends, whatever you need to do to get through the day

Are these the only options?

I work for an interesting company and am proud to work for them and get very well paid for what I do, but while the content is fascinating my actual job can be really dull. So much so I can listen to podcasts or music and am trying to learn a new language, all on work time. Wouldn’t have it any other way!

Boring job is OK as long as you don't have to act like you're busy and justify your existence there. That is stressful in itself! (Been there!)

I wonder if there's such a thing as an easy, interesting job...?!

Boring job 100%

I've had stressful jobs and while the day goes quicker, it did not make my life better in anyway, it made it worse. Plus it affected my sleep, health, wellbeing etc.

Boring job 100%. The transition to secondary school was a terribly difficult time for one of my DC and I needed flexibility to help her deal with it and the many, many trips I've made to the school. For meetings with teachers and to take/collect.

GCSE years are very tough going too mind you!

It doesn't get easier!!

I also wonder about this OP. Am in a similar situation but single parent and one DC has SEN to add to complication.

Ive realised however that for me the boredom of work was sort of seeping into the rest of my life as well ( I appreciate in some ways it is a luxury to be bored and well paid). I made a sideways move which was really challenging at first ( although luckily not too crazily stressed) and I feel so much better. Just more alive in myself. I also looked forwards and figured there probably never would be a good time to make a move with DC ( see others comments about secondary!).

I do slightly worry whether I will regret it after a while and feel it’s unsustainable but think I’m lucky as as I said it isn’t constant stress. I also realised I’d really lost a lot of work confidence staying in the same role and if I was honest that was also keeping me there - I’ve re discovered that moving roles which in turn has made me think longer term there may be a lot of other stuff I could do!