I liked history myself and still chose a very different path. I have to reasons for that, and if I must be brutally honest I don’t know if they are really good reasons or rationalizations, although I do know I more or less had a hunch of them before choosing and that mattered:
1) In some lines of work you just apply for a job ad, in some lines of work it is all about networking. I am a misanthropic guy probably on the spectrum. Go figure. It is far more easy for me to show a bunch of certification showing that I can do stuff with a complicated technological tool businesses absolutely need to use than to be that sort of guy other historians like enough to be offered a position.
2) This is a terrible thing to say, but almost everything is far less fun as work than as non-work, because as non-work you can fish out the fun part, while as work you need to deal with tons of terrible, boring, tedious details. This means almost no work is enjoyable when you need to really do it for a living. I love reading history because the writers have fished out the interesting parts from the tedious parts. But I imagined going through tons of WW2 material like all the military orders stuff, logistics like orders to deliver a bunch of underpants into El Alamein or the court-martial records of Cpl. Cocklepoppy who got drunk and choked someone with them. And having to fish out the interesting stuff from all that noise. I imagine that is what historians do. YAWN. Almost everything we enjoy as a hobby is a “pop” version of it and the work version is far more tedious. I learned it at high school. In elementary school I loved chemistry as it was about making green flames. I went to a high school specialized in chemistry. 5 classes a week. It was tons of calculations. Quickly got bored. I realized real work is boring no matter what because details, details, details so better get paid for it and suffer through it. I intended to save money, retire at 45-50 and then do what I like. Then I started a family so well, it won’t work like that.
I think this is very rare, but more importantly, I think the cases where it happened the “introvert” way i.e. some business advertises a job that requires knowledge X, I have a degree/certification in X so I apply are very close to zero. It may happen the “extrovert” way that you have a gazillion friends and a hobby of fixing up old bikes and this leads to some friends friends giving you a bike mechanic job. The problem is not even whether the “extrovert” way is compatible with your personality or not, the issue is it being hugely uncertain. You cannot base your life plans on that. I guess uncertainty may not be the best word for that… rather unsystematic. There are lower and lower chances of getting a job that requires experience, degree or certification in assembler or COBOL but still there is a system for finding them, such as searching Monster. The “extrovert” way of having productive hobbies and just hanging out with a lot of people with similar interests and hoping for a job one day is scarily unsystematic to me.
That means, it happens, but you cannot prepare for that scenario when you choose your studies. And that is the important part. It can happen, but it is not to optimize the plans for.
And that is where the enjoyable jobs are, sadly.
Let me put it this way. People generally try to recruit people from their network, people they trust. They put on a job ad when they cannot find someone. So in an office consisting of 10 people 6-8 will more or less form a network of acquantainces or friends. Having to hire someone from a job ad is something they already dislike, they would have not done so if doing it otherwise i.e. from the network would be possible. As an advertisement-hire, you start from a position between slight distrust to dislike. So you are the perfect person to dump the unpleasant tasks on! :)
Writing COBOL might not be enjoyable but a variety of computer programming jobs are at least partly enjoyable provided the person likes to program.
Outsides programmers it’s also possible to find enjoyable work I have a friend who’s a massage therapist and who enjoys his work very much. You can learn message in a course.
As an advertisement-hire, you start from a position between slight distrust to dislike.
That depends on the first impression that you are making.
I agree with Lumifer’s comment. It does depend. I find that for myself doing history work that goal factors with my passion for historical analysis is quite motivating and enjoyable. Sure, there’s lots of tedium, but I much prefer a job from which I get lots of hedons along with the tedium, rather than one that is just for $ and also has tedium. Besides, there are ways to cut out tedium from any job the more experienced you get in the job.
Besides, there are ways to cut out tedium from any job the more experienced you get in the job.
Aka “dump the busywork on the noobs” :) Let’s be honest :) Trading mentoring/experience for taking over the dull tasks with an assistant, trainee or intern is a fairly ethical, win-win scenario, my issue is that our organization is not big enough for that but this may be something to look into in the future.
I liked history myself and still chose a very different path. I have to reasons for that, and if I must be brutally honest I don’t know if they are really good reasons or rationalizations, although I do know I more or less had a hunch of them before choosing and that mattered:
1) In some lines of work you just apply for a job ad, in some lines of work it is all about networking. I am a misanthropic guy probably on the spectrum. Go figure. It is far more easy for me to show a bunch of certification showing that I can do stuff with a complicated technological tool businesses absolutely need to use than to be that sort of guy other historians like enough to be offered a position.
2) This is a terrible thing to say, but almost everything is far less fun as work than as non-work, because as non-work you can fish out the fun part, while as work you need to deal with tons of terrible, boring, tedious details. This means almost no work is enjoyable when you need to really do it for a living. I love reading history because the writers have fished out the interesting parts from the tedious parts. But I imagined going through tons of WW2 material like all the military orders stuff, logistics like orders to deliver a bunch of underpants into El Alamein or the court-martial records of Cpl. Cocklepoppy who got drunk and choked someone with them. And having to fish out the interesting stuff from all that noise. I imagine that is what historians do. YAWN. Almost everything we enjoy as a hobby is a “pop” version of it and the work version is far more tedious. I learned it at high school. In elementary school I loved chemistry as it was about making green flames. I went to a high school specialized in chemistry. 5 classes a week. It was tons of calculations. Quickly got bored. I realized real work is boring no matter what because details, details, details so better get paid for it and suffer through it. I intended to save money, retire at 45-50 and then do what I like. Then I started a family so well, it won’t work like that.
Do you really think that there are no people out their who enjoy a lot of their working hours?
I think this is very rare, but more importantly, I think the cases where it happened the “introvert” way i.e. some business advertises a job that requires knowledge X, I have a degree/certification in X so I apply are very close to zero. It may happen the “extrovert” way that you have a gazillion friends and a hobby of fixing up old bikes and this leads to some friends friends giving you a bike mechanic job. The problem is not even whether the “extrovert” way is compatible with your personality or not, the issue is it being hugely uncertain. You cannot base your life plans on that. I guess uncertainty may not be the best word for that… rather unsystematic. There are lower and lower chances of getting a job that requires experience, degree or certification in assembler or COBOL but still there is a system for finding them, such as searching Monster. The “extrovert” way of having productive hobbies and just hanging out with a lot of people with similar interests and hoping for a job one day is scarily unsystematic to me.
That means, it happens, but you cannot prepare for that scenario when you choose your studies. And that is the important part. It can happen, but it is not to optimize the plans for.
And that is where the enjoyable jobs are, sadly.
Let me put it this way. People generally try to recruit people from their network, people they trust. They put on a job ad when they cannot find someone. So in an office consisting of 10 people 6-8 will more or less form a network of acquantainces or friends. Having to hire someone from a job ad is something they already dislike, they would have not done so if doing it otherwise i.e. from the network would be possible. As an advertisement-hire, you start from a position between slight distrust to dislike. So you are the perfect person to dump the unpleasant tasks on! :)
Writing COBOL might not be enjoyable but a variety of computer programming jobs are at least partly enjoyable provided the person likes to program.
Outsides programmers it’s also possible to find enjoyable work I have a friend who’s a massage therapist and who enjoys his work very much. You can learn message in a course.
That depends on the first impression that you are making.
I agree with Lumifer’s comment. It does depend. I find that for myself doing history work that goal factors with my passion for historical analysis is quite motivating and enjoyable. Sure, there’s lots of tedium, but I much prefer a job from which I get lots of hedons along with the tedium, rather than one that is just for $ and also has tedium. Besides, there are ways to cut out tedium from any job the more experienced you get in the job.
Aka “dump the busywork on the noobs” :) Let’s be honest :) Trading mentoring/experience for taking over the dull tasks with an assistant, trainee or intern is a fairly ethical, win-win scenario, my issue is that our organization is not big enough for that but this may be something to look into in the future.
Sure, there is a dumping of busywork, but there is also cutting the busywork. The Pareto Principle functions in work like anything else :-)
I disagree. It depends.