Thoughts on Work Part 4
Over the last 10 years, I’ve written several blog posts about my personal working experiences and my career, such as it was. I touched upon working specifically in IT and how that industry changed over time, both technically and in the way that other people perceived it. I have also given my thoughts on the social dynamics of the modern work environment and the way we interact with our colleagues and employers. That is another area that has changed dramatically. Naturally my retirement from full time work has been written about, as it is such a radical change in one’s life. Especially if you’re the sort of person who is clearly defined by their job, which I personally was not. This time, I want to share a few thoughts I have about what I miss about “going to work” and “having a job”. I’m not sure if “miss” is the right word. Perhaps it is more a question of things being absent. Either way, there are some aspects of being employed that I use to enjoy or at least found beneficial that I now no longer experience.
Retirement
My carer’s duties ended on April 7th 2022 when my Mother moved into a care home. I stopped claiming Carer’s Allowance (£69.70) from the Department of Work and Pensions and decided to take a few weeks to rest and consider what I was going to do next. Naturally, being 54 years of age, the most immediate consideration has been one of employment. We all need an income to survive. At present the State Pension Age in the UK for men is 67. This is when you will receive your State Pension, which is based upon your National Insurance Contributions that you have paid throughout your working life. That is 13 years away, hence why I’ve been considering returning to work. However, Mrs P took early retirement from the Civil Service seven years ago and raised the point that if I returned to full time work, we would no longer have so much time together. Although caring for my parents has been tough, it revolved around a schedule thus affording Mrs P and I windows of opportunity to do things.
Thoughts on Work Part 3
As my caring commitments are now over, I find myself in the “interesting” position of being 54 years old and potentially returning to the job market. I use the phrase “potentially” because I am fortunate enough to have a financial safety net in place, so it is not as if I have to find gainful employment immediately. So there is no pressing requirement for me to claim Universal Credit and find work via the UK social security system, which is most fortunate. The DWP has a policy of actively pressuring benefit claimants into accepting any kind of work, irrespective of skills, after a few weeks as part of a policy of trying to keep the employment number low. I have no intention of going down that route and so will look for work in my own way and on my own terms.
Job Hierarchies and Thoughts on Employment
I appreciate that this is a somewhat ponderous blog title but I’m trying to consolidate several ideas and streams of thoughts into one post. So to begin with it is the third week of the Blaugust 2021 Festival of Blogging event. Specifically it’s “Developer Appreciation Week”. At first glance a laudable undertaking. An opportunity to praise the developers of a game that’s close to your heart. However, given the current debacle with Blizzard Entertainment, I think there’s a conversation to be had about how fans virtual deification of specific developers of World of Warcraft and how treating them like rock stars, may well have had some bearing on their subsequent misdemeanours. I would in fact go further and say that the video game industry is another sector of work, like film, TV, music and sport that is perceived to be glamorous, aspirational and generally put on a pedestal. Fans lose sight of the fact that these companies have a lot of staff who don’t get any kudos and endure tough working conditions. Just like more conventional jobs.
Thoughts on Work Part 2
In a previous post I wrote about my own personal employment history and the various ups and downs of my working life (so far). In this post I want to reflect upon the broader concept of work, because it has radically changed since I entered the job market in the late eighties. Contracts, job descriptions, the working environment and even the way in which we find work have evolved rapidly due to the internet and the advent of social media. Some of these changes have been good, but others I feel have been detrimental for job seekers. The job market is always subject to a lot of ebb and flow and depending on the state of the economy, it can either favour of the employer or employee. At present in the UK, it strikes me as being very much the former.
Thoughts on Work Part 1
During the course of my career (1986 – 2016) I have worked in numerous complex social environments. I worked for the UK civil Service and saw the final days of very traditional, formal employment hierarchy. There were people with academic titles such as Doctor or Professor and there were also those with honorary monikers such as Sir. I even met an ex-army officer who clung to the old school etiquette of still being referred to by his former military rank (which was Captain). I was later employed at the London corporate headquarters of a global Indian company. It was fascinating to see the cultural differences along with the class structure and prevailing social dynamics. Over 30 years, I’ve worked for numerous high-profile organisations such as HP, Fujitsu Siemens and Symbian as well as other smaller businesses. All provided gainful employment, acceptable financial remuneration and an opportunity to learn more. However, all of them suffered from two of the most common faults found in contemporary employment; namely office politics and problematic members of staff.
Working in IT
Working in IT is an extremely broad job description that encompasses multiple subsets and disciplines. Each specific field has its own skills and academic hierarchies. You may well be an experienced Network Administrator but that doesn’t make you equally as knowledgeable with regard to Database Development and vice versa. Saying that you work in IT is pretty much the same as saying that you work in healthcare. You could be working in procurement or be a Cardiothoracic Surgeon. However none of this is of any concern to those who work outside of IT. If you get collared by someone at a social event and tell them you work in IT, it’s only a matter of time before you get asked “I’m thinking of buying a new laptop, which one is best?” or something similar. I always tell them that Purple ones have the most RAM.