I earn £50k and barely do any work - AIBU?

[lexjoey]

I competed my MSc in 2020, managed to get onto a very good grad scheme and landed a role where my current line manager and his "right hand" woman barely have time to share work with me. TBF I would not have accepted this scenario if it had not been for Covid, I was just grateful to have a job but honestly I do about 15 hours worth of work per week and just waste time for the rest. I will say I complete one ouptut which the team hates.

It makes me feel like a great big lump of useless space and I plan to move jobs in the near-ish future. I've witnessed my sister go from being a wet blanket to the ultimate professional which has only highlighted the fact I have reached a dead end with this corp/team.

I'm really not gloating, just curious if anyone has found themselves in this position. On the one hand, I am lucky but it's only a ST solution and I really DO want to develop and I'm just stagnating.

The 2 people above me are very possessive with their work and don't have the time to upskill me.

AIBU?

What's the job, sounds great

Data scientist - have literally three weekly outputs

I've been briefly in your situation and it was horrendous so I feel for you. The boredom, the fear that you're stagnating. Definitely leave asap as skills fade is real. Once you leave I think you'll probably be surprised at how much it's impacted your self confidence

It makes me feel like a great big lump of useless space and I plan to move jobs in the near-ish future.

Im happy for you and your situation, but your perspective is similar to that of someone saying “I’m a size 10/12 BMI of average, but I’m not at my peak fitness yet and I plan to get back to trail running and my triathlon weight “.

It’s great and it’s valid and it’s your perspective. But I struggle with the whole premise of this post.

how can you feel useless when you’re earning money that supports you, and others if that’s your situation?

feeling like a useless lump COULD be someone who has done 15 job applications in a week, 4 Teams interviews, and week on week they keep getting rejected.

I know you’re just sharing your world but I think YabU because you have no perspective

It isn’t your fault that you’re in this position, but it will be your fault if you don’t change it. At that level you should be going out and finding things you can get involved in to expand the scope of the role, if there isn’t enough to keep you busy now. It definitely isn’t good enough to sit back and say they didn’t show you what to do- work it out. Find online courses, work out who your stakeholders are and find out from them what they need from you. It they wanted someone to sit and wait to be spoonfed, they’d be paying 20k less for it.

@HolyHoolie yes, my self-confidence is shot. Constantly questioning if they don't share work as I am perceived as useless.

What does a data scientist do? Analyse data?

Depends on your circs at the time. If you need / want to coast a bit it sounds ideal. Time to focus on you, your family and other big goals. I spent some quiet time at work getting fitter and losing weight for instance. Well worth it!

If you don't have any of that going on then I think you need to move on because realistically you're not going to have much to put on your CV.

Are you working from home and can do other stuff, or are you stuck in an office and have to look like you're always working?

I've n/c coz this is me only I am worse. I'm on 125 and I do about 8-10 hours a week.

I do a lot of keeping my knowledge up to date but in terms of outputs I do very little.

I'm so bored and I'm waiting to hear about a role I've applied for elsewhere because it's soul destroying.

I do know how fortunate I am but it's so demotivating.

Posted too soon. I'm also in data

I wfh. No kids. Would like them in the next couple of years. But I probably have the same skills (barring some excel upskilling) as I did when graduating. I was happy to coast during Covid but now feel like I've backed myself into a corner - can't move teams as I don't have the capability but enjoy the money!

Move when you can op it’s not good for your mh

I’m sure you can thrive better elsewhere

I wfh and I've been banned from reaching out to other teams or doing anything behind the narrow scope of my role (I have kept those emails! I've come up with ideas to work cross functionally and my boss has said a direct no).

If you're WFH then lucky you, you have time to do a hobby. We must be very different people if all this free time doesn't seem like a gift to you (and I doubt future employers will care whether you really worked 15 or 40 hours a week).

I wasn't on anywhere near as much cash but in my early 20s I had a job where I had pretty much nothing to do. I could complete my work for the week by Tuesday and was twiddling my thumbs the rest of the time. It sounds like it would be good but actually it destroyed any confidence I had in my abilities and I had to satisfaction in my work. I also found that boredom led to silly misdakes which compounded the lack self confidence.

@lexjoey sorry forgot to tag you. It's so difficult isn't it. I'm currently sitting in my garden crocheting and having a long lunch. I've a meeting 4-5 so I'll take an hour to prep for it and that's me for the day.

There's a lot of money in data, so I'm not surprised there's fat in the system like this.

it depends what you want longer term. If you're happy to take it easy, then happy days, sit tight. If you want to actually grow and develop I'd get out sharpish.

Use the time to upskill online?

It's the best way to work, to be able to earn a living and still have time for your own life, sounds ideal

In my case. I have a training budget. I've used it doing all kinds of courses. I still have money left. I'm debating asking them if I can do a language.

TBH I'm rubbish with numbers.

I feel shit because I saw my mother work 10X harder than I do for half the salary

ironically, this response here demonstrates a total absence of empathy.

Feeling like you are useless because you aren’t able to contribute at work is a totally valid feeling. One that has real effects on a person’s life, confidence and can impact their career.

Dismissing that because some people are unemployed is a really awful, supposedly ‘left-wing’ and ‘caring’, response that is really unpleasant. It’s race to the bottom stuff and hugely divisive.

Did you just see £50k and decide that’s all that matters? Same with your weight example. So what if the person is not overweight?

I'm in a similar position. It is a bit soul destroying but I am nearly 50 and not sure whether to just accept the situation for another 5 years and retire or whether to look for a job on similar money but more work, it may be more fulfilling but am I giving up an easy ride?

I am on anti-anxiety meds as I am constantly afraid of being found out. And I don't really spend the extra time on anything else as I make sure it looks like I am logged in via Teams