Is your work Satisfactory, to you?
 

Do you feel the work you do is satisfactory? Do you ever question whether or not you could have done more even though you've met all the requirements?

So, I'm working on a computer for this guy, He's a friend of the family so I'm doing it for free(hopefully a reference) he's computer illiterate and all he wants is the computer reformatted. I explain exactly what I'm going to do, and he agrees. He leaves and I get to work. I boot up and yup he needs a reformat, So I plop in the Windows ME rescue Disk(First peeve) 5 seconds into the install I know the cd drive is about to die. The install keeps failing at 42-43 precent and I know it's the CD drive. So I pluck the one out of my computer to finish the install. I can't replace it because I don't have an extra one I can give away free. His still works, but It quits when it has to keep thinking for long periods of time.(second peeve) The computer only had 56mb of ram so I put an extra 64 in it that I took out of my computer recently. After getting everything installed, and got the aol, and other Gateway preinstalled crapware off the computer It's working fine.. Here. I know exactly what's going to happen when he gets home though. He's going to plug it up and be stuck in 640x480 256 color mode because he didn't bring his monitor.

I explained that his cd drive is about to die and told him someone who can hook him up with a really cheap one. I didn't even try to explain about Windows ME, and I told him that he MIGHT run into a problem with the monitor and if he did I'd come to his house and fix it for him.

I might end up replacing the cd rom in a few days/weeks but as of right now I don't feel like I did my job satisfactory even though I did what he wanted, gave him free ram, and even diagnosed his other computer problems for him.

I got to thinking about it and I do this ALOT. It's like every day is the first day at work, and actually that's quite true because I am working for different people on a daily basis. I think this coupled with my problem trying to constantly impess is really causing alot of undue stress in my life.

uhgh... I have a headache..

when I do support I'm most fullfilled. I love to help people understand technology. It's hard it takes patience, it takes a special person to do it without making the person feel stupid.

:) I enjoy it.

I only find my job fullfilling when I'm able to get all the links working optimally and all my subscribers can make phone calls and get on the net without any problems. The rest of the time I feel like a tool.

I do tech support for a living and I have found one thing that is very important. You can only help someone out as much as they want to be helped. I have been in plenty of situations where I could have done a lot more with the customer to address their situation but they were the unwilling party.

Do the best you can and you have nothing to worry about.

In your situation it sounds like you hooked him up with extra memory and a contact for his CD drive plus the work you were asked to do. All free of charge and you offered to help if he ran into problems with the resolution settings. I could easily walk away from that situation feeling satisfied.

The best feeling is helping someone to *understand*, rather than just fixing their computer. Its even better when they get curious and want you to take the whole computer apart and show them what each little piece does :)

Such an awesome feeling. Someone who actually wants to learn about their computer instead of just have me fix it. I look at it this way - when they stop calling me as much to help with their computer problems then I know I'm doing my job right.

Now I do day care. I'm constantly second guessing myself and thinking of better ways I could have handled this or that. Wishing I'd taken time to do certain things with the kids. That's the way it is with kids though. There is an unlimited array of possibilities with them and no ONE answer is technically right. You just do the best you can, love them, and look out for them. The rest will take care of itself.

cybermike I would definately say you did a satisfactory job. If they don't really want your help - just want the problem to go away then there's only so much you can do.

My work is satisfactory when it is appreciated. I may not have gotten everything finished or completed everything to what I think is right but if the people who I have helped or helping feel satisfied then I have done my job. The times I don't feel good is when I am simply filling a hole or the goals are unclear but hey you are doing a great job. How can I be doing a great job if I am just a warm? How can I be doing a great job if I don't know the goals. If left alone and I know what to do then I feel like I can get stuff accomplished and I feel good about it.

i get paid for much more than i put in...but it's not because i'm lazy, there's just no projects i can do that fit into our budget. i miss the satisfaction of finishing something difficult, but getting paid to do very little is also cool

No. I guess that's why I haven't gone back in 6 months.

Everyday at work is just another day of self loathing.

I know I'm early in the game but my job just sucks. I usually work from 4 oclock in the afternoon until 1-2 am. It pays well but I put in far too much work for no appreciation and no rewards. My boss is an asshole and there's so much bullshit involved with my job that they could pay me a million dollars a year and it wouldn't be worth it - well yeah it would be worth it for a million.

I hate the fact that I have to smile and be nice to people constantly. I'm sure if I could see myself with that fake smile plastered on my face I'd look away in utter disgust.

I feel a part of myself dying everyday and I don't know how people deal with feeling like that for 50 years of their lives.

We've all gotta deal with the monotony of everyday existence and surviving in thie society but sometimes it makes me wonder why we all just don't focus on the things that are acutally worth our attention.

Bla bla bla.

Not much satisfaction in my job. No matter how much stuff you get right it seems they are just sitting waiting for the time you get something wrong. Half the time I get something done it gets killed in commitee, making me wonder why I put in so much effort in the first place.

I work for a TV studio, and it gets depressing that every show, the producers find something to nit pick. You can bust your ass for 3 days to make the show look great, the audience loves it, but the producers will say "but there was a little wrinkle in the tablecloth in that one shot that we saw for 2 seconds." Just give us a pat on the back every now and again.

p.s. Producers don't really have any skills, which is why they do this. They think this is their job.

I absolutely LOVE my job!!!!!!! I work with people that are just as crazy as I am, a bunch of artists....

Please tell me your secret. I have a hard time teaching people who don't really want to learn how their computer works. They just want it to work.

Then they turn around and tell you they're interested in X detail or something!

Just lemme fix your damn computer without explaining and get it over with! You don't really care!!! AARRRGHHH!

A lot of users I've seen don't seem to get the hints in a program as to how to use it. Are computer paradigms too subtle or something?

If they don't really want to learn how it works, you won't be able to teach them, no matter what you try.

Most people aren't interested at all, they view it like a car or something. If it has problems, you point a mechanic at it and go read a magazine while they fix it, then smile and nod when the mechanic tells you what was wrong.

Yes, my work is satisfying without being totally intrusive on the rest of my life. I did tell my supervisors recently that I don't want to be doing my similar work in 5 years and that I would like to look for growth opportunities in project management.

Edit: My Vice President just stopped by to congratulate me on a great year and to tell me that I will be reassigned sometime in the 3rd quarter. This is a very welcome change.

Hey! I resemble that remark! Among other things I produce newscasts for my station. There are good producers and there are bad producers. Good producers are always trying to improve the product, but also make sure their people know what they're doing right. Bad producers either do nothing but criticize or they never criticize. Either way, the product suffers.

And yes, I feel quite fulfilled. My crew is freakin' awesome, and all I basically have to do after putting the show together is sit back and let them do their thing. Before this gig, I'd never worked with a news / production team where EVERYONE is motivated and wants to give 150% to put out a great product. The weakest link in our chain is equipment. Too bad more producers can't say that about the people they work with.

You know what, I think it's great that your natural instinct isn't to feel satisfied with the work you've done. That way you are always looking for improvements on your methods, your communication, your style, whatever.

The way I see it, the key is not think you need to do something perfectly everytime. The key is to feel you did everything you could have in that case at that time (which you did and more!) and look forward to doing even better the next time through.

Everybody has room for improvement, but only the best people know it.

I like my work... I do part time web design and webmaster-type things. This isn't what I've been training for, but instead its what I've been doing for myself a long time now, as a hobby.

Now that I've finished the last of my finals, and am ready to graduate, I am not sure that my job can take me very far, and definitely does not pay enough to live on independently, but at least I'm enjoying the work.