I start a new job this week – on a Wednesday for some reason – my first new job for several years. It wasn’t planned but as my first day approaches I’m getting more and more eager to get going.
Throughout my career working life I’ve only ever really wanted to do something useful, I’ve never really had a mind for building a career as many do, not had a view of where I want to be in 5 years and, as I get older that’s increasingly the case. Que será, será and all that.
My first full-time job was in my local McDonalds. I’d worked there through college/uni and transitioned to full-time hours for a while before landing a job in a small software company, made redundant from there I moved down south for another job that I would get made redundant from a year later. A third job for a year or so before moving back to Scotland to a small ‘family’ software company that moved to Glasgow city centre and remains (so far) the only company I’ve voluntarily left! From Glasgow city centre to another small ‘family’ software company which went through numerous mergers and buyouts before, some 10 years later, making me redundant again. And so to my last role, my first as a contractor, which lasted almost 7 years before they terminated my contract the day before our recent holiday in France.
My roles have changed throughout all those companies, I’ve never been one for rigid job definitions and preferred the smaller companies where there was more opportunity to get involved with other things; I’m joining another small family company this week and it sounds like there will be similar opportunities there.
That and it’s an hour cycle away so, weather permitting, I’ll cycle to the office when I do go in (2 days a week). Given public transport takes an hour as well, it’ll be good for my health and bank balance to get back on my bike.
And at the end of the day, whilst I am hoping to will be fulfilling and interesting, it’s just a job. One thing I have learned through COVID lockdowns, and the birth of my son, is that work is just that, a means to an end. As long as we can pay the bills, feed the family and keep a roof over our heads then what else is there to worry about?
