Here's Why You Want A Really Boring Job - How Money Works

i was watching the 1999 movie office space the  other day a comedy set at the peak of the 1990s   corporate culture it is one of my all-time  favorite movies but the more i watch it the   more i notice something the core of this comedy  is its cynical commentary on working a boring job   at a boring company but the more i watch it the  better the jobs of peter and his co-workers look   because it's a comedy the writers took a  lot of creative liberties to make peter's   working environment especially terrible but even  still 20 years later it doesn't look that bad   his office cubicle would be a luxury to most  workers today in an open plan office with no walls   in sight he is allowed to go on extended lunches  with his colleagues and even his over dramatized   shitty boss knows that working on a weekend is  a big ask rather than an expectation this made   me think of the classic anecdote find a job you  love and you will never work a day in your life   most of us go to work because we have to not  because we want to and that means a lot of us   are stuck spending a good portion of our waking  hours doing things that aren't very enjoyable   a cunning strategy that school career planners  and linkedin gurus will promote to get around this   unfortunate predicament is to find a job that you  love doing so that you are excited to go to work   every day and you don't feel like you are working  at all on the surface this sounds sensible now   more than ever with new technologies there are  millions of different job titles out there with   new professions and career paths being made every  single day my job as a now full-time youtuber   didn't exist 15 years ago but now it's the career  that children want most beating out traditionally   popular options like astronaut but i want to  do what i do best which is to rein in on this   parade of finding fulfillment through your work  instead i want to try and convince you that what   you want instead is a really boring job a job  that doesn't make you or anybody else excited   a job that nobody would dream of so it's time  to learn how money works which was made possible   today by morningbrew morningbrew is a completely  free daily email newsletter that gives you the   news you need to know in a way that makes it fun  to read morningbrew has quickly become one of   my favorite news sources because it gives you the  stories that you need to know and it does it in a   way that gets directly to the point their stories  cover a range of topics like careers real estate   world news politicians education and smart living  find out how much more informed your day can be   by starting it off with morning brew by  using the sign up with the link below   there are lots of very attractive jobs out there  that for a number of factors would appear to be   preferable over other jobs there is being a doctor  lawyer or high-level corporate executive which is   enticing because these roles are traditionally  very well paid and are very well respected by   society at large if you tell someone that you  are a c-suite executive at a fortune 500 company   you are instantly going to get more respect  than if you told them that you work in retail   is this how it should be of course not but it is  and people are willing to sacrifice a lot for that   respect these roles come with the expectation  of very long and irregular hours to say nothing   of the years of grueling study or corporate butt  kissing needed to get the jobs in the first place   now there's actually nothing wrong with these jobs  most people know what they are getting themselves   in for when they pursue these kinds of careers and  the trade-offs are clear most people do these jobs   because of prestige not because they love them so  what about jobs that people are more passionate   about the jobs that people would supposedly love  to do i am talking about jobs in the fields that   people get excited about like gaming fashion  travel and sports imagine getting paid to make   video games or attend fashion events around  the world sounds like a dream right well no   big name companies in aspirational industries  are more often than not terrible places to work   the reason for this is simple they know that  people want to work for them so if you as a worker   aren't willing to put in unpaid overtime deal  with abusive management and accept comparatively   low pay then there are dozens or sometimes even  hundreds of equally qualified candidates who are   willing to put up with these issues because they  get to work what they thought would be their dream   job turnover in these companies is extremely  high especially when it is considered that   these businesses are attracting skilled career  driven workers the type of worker that you might   normally expect to stick around for longer than  a regular employee now of course changing jobs   regularly is actually a good idea employees that  change companies on average every two years are   paid significantly better than their peers who  attempt to work for internal promotions but you   need to be quitting for the right reasons quitting  your current job to start a new more senior role   at a company offering double your current salary  as a great career move quitting your current job   because you can't mentally handle another week of  a coding crunch is probably going to stall your   career development another reason it's best to  avoid doing what you love for work is that you   won't love it forever even the most exciting jobs  you can imagine have a lot of boring work that   comes with them a video game tester will spend  most of their time doing the same mission over and   over again to make sure there are no bugs and most  people that work for nfl teams spend their days in   an office answering emails just like everybody  else even if a dream job does manage to live up   to its type initially there is one surefire way  to end up hating something you originally loved   and that is being forced to do it for 40 hours  a week with the threat of homelessness hanging   over you if you don't really you are much better  off working for money and then using that money   to enjoy things you love in your own time in  your own way hopefully i have convinced you   that exciting jobs are not all that they seem but  surely that doesn't mean that a boring job is the   best alternative right well they have a few big  perks that a lot of people don't really consider   a boring job at a boring company will on average  be easier to get than the rare more prized   jobs at exciting companies having more options  available to you especially early in your career   can be a big head start over your peers who waited  out or go through extended internships to get a   traditional dream job boring jobs will also on  average pay better ford's median employee made 64   316 dollars in 2018 including bonuses overtime and  stock awards gm's media and employee made slightly   more than 77 849 dollars tesla a far more exciting  business paid its median employee just 56 163   this of course will not be true for every company  but again if there are more people that want to   work at a company then generally that company  can get away with paying their workers less   this is even more apparent when we  zoom out to look at entire industries   on average web developers will earn more than  game developers a marketing manager for exxon   will learn more than a marketing manager  for the patriots and an administrative   assistant at a bank will earn more than  an administrative assistant at vanity fair   if you are doing a job to make money you should  maximize the amount of money you can get for   doing that job you won't see the name on the  side of your building from your desk anyway   now if making money isn't the most important thing  for you when considering a career a boring job   still has its perks boring jobs are just genuinely  more enjoyable a boring company is more likely to   be filled with employees and managers who realize  that a job is something people do to put food on   the table this type of corporate attitude tends to  result in more productive workplace relationships   a manager at a generic boring company that has  been in their job for decades and has no ambitions   of moving up the corporate ladder is not going  to take it personally when you ask for a raise   a promotion or a reference letter contrast  that with a company where the management has   drunk though we are changing the world kool-aid  and you are much more likely to face opposition   when doing these things that all employees  should really be doing as regularly as possible   time and time again we hear stories about high  staff turnover and toxic workplace culture in   companies that sound exciting from the outside  this is because when managers believe what they   are doing is more important than just working a  job to make a living they naturally expect their   colleagues to work harder than should reasonably  be expected to toxic workplace cultures are almost   inevitable in environments where managers will  think to themselves that straight-up verbal abuse   is really just a heated disagreement amongst  peers who are too passionate about what they do   these types of managers are also much more likely  to go unchecked in exciting fields because again   staff turnover is not a big deal when there is an  endless line of new candidates now before anybody   says it in the comments yes you're absolutely  right there are great managers and there are   terrible managers in every kind of company but  you are much more likely to run into one in a   job that you thought was going to be exciting and  that's the biggest bonus of a boring job better   management on average that boring company manager  from earlier that has been at the job for a decade   will have one big advantage over the manager  from an exciting company with high staff turnover   they will have more experience at their job  working for a manager that has seen every possible   problem the job can throw at them is going to be  a much more pleasant experience than working for   a manager who is figuring it out as they go along  a more experienced manager also has less to prove   if they feel secure in their own position then  they won't feel the need to work their employees   to the bone to avoid becoming one of those  turnover statistics themselves last month i made   a video about why management is always terrible  and the reason that video was so important is   because people don't quit jobs they quit managers  even the best most exciting job in the world would   quickly become unbearable with a useless manager  that takes their shortcomings out on their workers   working a boring job gives you a better chance  of finding a good manager who will make your   time at work not totally miserable and also help  to progress your career so that you can make more   money and use that to enjoy the hobbies that other  people were dumb enough to try and build a career   around i have a theory about why we all love  movies like office space or tv shows like parks   and rec and the office so much these shows all  highlight the realities of a boring workplace to   a comically ridiculous degree but at the same time  they are also very comfortable places to work the   people stick around and even the bad guy bosses  are not abusive towards their employees maybe   this is an indictment on how low the bar is for  what we consider comfortable working arrangements   in america but i think it's something more we turn  to these kinds of shows for comfort binge watching   we wouldn't do that if we didn't secretly think  that maybe working alongside these people in these   boring offices wouldn't be such a bad thing now if  you want to learn more about why good managers are   so hard to come by go and watch my video on why  company management is always terrible a special   thanks again to morningbrew for making it possible  for everybody to keep on learning how money works

Channel: How Money Works

Views: 2,265,160

Keywords: best paid jobs, business, management, financial management, project management, ceo, personal finance, career planning, small business, why are managers bad at their jobs, business management, top ceo, worst ceo, micromanager, bad manager, job creator, bull jobs, working, career, easiest jobs, hardest jobs, finance, easiest jobs to get, 40 hour work week, wage vs salary, work from home, jobs that do nothing, unemployment, boring job, easy job, easiest job for pay, passion job

Id: 4hiVQf9MPzg

Length: 10min 28sec (628 seconds)

Published: Tue May 31 2022