Uncle Roger's Notebooks of Daily Life

Career Choices

After dropping Jared off at school, I chatted with Teacher Carol for a moment. She said it was a beautiful day (it was) -- a beautiful day to go shopping. I agreed, but lamented that instead, I was on my way to work. So she asked me if I liked what I did.

I answered, honestly, "No, not really."

I explained that twenty-five years ago and even ten years ago, I did like what I do. Five years ago, even, it was okay. Now, however, it's really not what I want to be doing with my time.

So she asked what, if I had my choice, I would like to do.

That was easy. "Stay-at-home-dad."

Since that's not financially possible, however, I went on to tell her about TechSynthesis. Then I read a posting http://thehomesickhome.blogspot.com/2005/12/failure-to-cause-i-never-joined.html about stay-at-home-moms and that pointed me to a New York Times feature about class. While I scored an average of 77, Rachel actually had an average of 84, her occupation being a little higher than mine and her education considerably so.

But all of that got me thinking about what I'd really like to do with my time. Off the top of my head, here's what I'd like to be doing:

• Stay-at-home-dad
  I would love to be able to spend my days playing with the kids, taking them to the park or the museum, helping in their classrooms, cooking fresh meals, shopping at the farmers' market -- all that stuff that one has time to do if one isn't spending 9-10 hours or more every day doing what someone else wants you to do. Unfortunately, there's no way I can do this, short of winning the lottery.
• Synthesist
  I'd love to be able to make a go of it. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened, and, honestly -- what with the kids and all -- probably won't. Still, it would let me spend a lot more time with the kids and let me be a lot more flexible about when and where I worked. I haven't given up on this.
• Mayor
  This is something I've thought a lot about for a long time. I'd love the opportunity to get things done and make some positive changes. I'd be polite, but I wouldn't stand for stupidity or dishonesty. The only problem is that no one in their right mind would ever vote for me. Oh, and I don't have the kind of unmitigated wealth it takes to get elected.

That's really about it. There are a lot of things I'd love to learn more about and even take up as a hobby -- architecture, photography, writing, electronics, among others -- but they're not things I'd want to do for a living. The good bits wouldn't make up for the day-to-day drudgery of any job.

That, of course, is the problem with computer programming now. Sure, there are the occasional bits of interesting work, but the vast majority of it is plain old work. Unfortunately, plain old work is about the only thing that pays the bills.