Are you happy in your job, or just not unhappy?

What does it matter if I am happy with my job...it pays the bills.

I know that there are a lot of people out there that hold this opinion. I have never been one of these people. I love what I do, and if I didn't, I would find something else that I loved to do.

Why is this so important to me? Well, basically because I will spend most of my life working. I don't want to waste that chunk of my life doing something that I don't enjoy...even if it does pay well.

Being unhappy with what you do increases your stress levels, and increased stress can cause all kinds of health problems, as I am sure you are aware. If I don't like a job, I certainly don't want it to make me sick.

I am sure that you have figured out by now that I had a job that I was less than happy with. Otherwise, why would I be writing this?

Well, here is my story.

I started a new job about a year ago now. I left a job that I liked. I enjoyed the people, and I was one of the more senior programmers there. People looked to me for answers, management (all the way up to the owner of the company) knew who I was, and respected my opinions. The job was a traditional (ie, not agile) style programming job. I was pretty sure that I was happy.

So, why did I leave this seemingly perfect job?

Well, I got an email about another job opportunity that seemed very interesting. I figured I might as well check it out. There is no harm in going to an interview, even if you are happy with the job that you currently have.

After interviewing there, I was impressed with the people who worked there and with the code that I saw. (Ok, actually I was kind of blown away by the cleanliness of the code!) The people were all very intelligent and had a lot of experience, and were true professionals.

It was a difficult decision for me to switch jobs. I was pretty happy where I was. It was a risk going to a new company when I didn't know if I was going to like it. I did my best to not close any doors when I left my old company (which is always a good idea), and was even told that if I ever wanted to come back, I was more than welcome, no matter how long I was gone.

Now I am at my new company for nearly a year (as I said before) and I LOVE it there. I am happier here than I have been at any of my previous jobs. I look back at my old job and realize that there was a lot missing there.

My new job showed me a lot of things that I didn't even know that I was missing. At my new job I get to work with some very talented individuals who care very deeply about the code that they write. The company also understands the need to keep the code clean and allows us time to refactor the code, even though that means sacrificing some enhancements. I am learning a LOT of new things and am one of a small group of senior programmers. I couldn't say the same thing about my old job. We worked in the "ninja coder" style. Get in, get out and change as little as possible...it was like playing Jenga with code. While that is fun for a while, it gets old fast.

So, I am sure you are thinking, that was a nice story...what does it mean to me? I don't care about you and your job.

While I am hurt that you don't care how happy I am in my job, I understand. I told the story above to illustrate how easy it is to be fooled into thinking that you are happy with your job. I thought I was happy...I didn't know what happy was. I was satisfied at best and not UN-happy at worst.

How do you know if you are happy with your job?

Do you ever wake up and just want to stay in bed? Does this happen a lot, or just once in a while? (I think all of us have those days no matter how awesome our jobs are!) Do you find yourself complaining about things at work to friends and family a lot (if you answered no, ask your friends and family, see what they say)? Is your job causing you a lot of undue stress? Do you have to work more than you would like? Is your pay below the industry standard? Do you find yourself bored with your work?

Look closely at how you answered these questions. Be honest with yourself. If you answered yes to some of these questions, you may want to rethink how happy you really are with this job.

Ok, so you aren't happy...now what?

Well, the first answer would be to go find another job. That is easier said than done in this economy. Of course, there are other things that can be done.

Take a good look at the things that make you unhappy at your job. Are there things that you can change? If you aren't feeling challenged, maybe you could talk to your boss and see if there are any more challenging projects that you can take on. An open, honest conversation with your manager is a bit intimidating, but it is good for you and your career.

Are there things that you can do with your colleagues that will make things better? Maybe set up some study groups, or technology groups where you can all get together once a week/month and talk about some books you have recently read, or some new technology that you or others have researched.

Are there other departments in your company that you could work in? If there are certain people that are causing you issues, perhaps it is best to try to get on projects where you can minimize you contact with these people.

If there are troubles with the amount of hours you are needing to put in, or with your compensation, then it may be time to have a discussion with your boss. Again, this is an intimidating thing to do, but it is well worth it. You need to try to remember that they aren't doing any of this as a personal vendetta against you, and try to keep your emotions in check while speaking with him/her. I have never had a boss get upset with me talking about my salary. For some time, I was being paid less than I should have been making, and I had many conversations with managers in order to try to remedy the situation.

I hope that I have helped you in some small way. Thanks for reading.