UK DUers, what would be your ideal job/lifestyle?

[Anarcho-Socialist]

Poll question: UK DUers, what would be your ideal job/lifestyle?

[MercutioATC]

1. Beach bum/photographer...

10 years, 7 months, 23 days until I'm there...

[hippiechick]

2. a UW classmate of mine just got her PhD

... in feminist anthropology. :applause:

I could hit myself with a brick, I feel like such a loser.
I should be teaching somewhere. Writing.
Instead I'm an IT dork at an insurance company in the midwest.

Sucks to be stupid like me. :(

[whatever4]

6. Naw

I'm an umemployed IT dork; you're doing just fine :)

[ikri]

3. You're missing millionaire layabout

That'd do for me.

Although, if I did have that sort of money I might be tempted to become an evil genius

[tjwmason]

4. In my mind - tiny-scale organic farmer

Sort of self-sufficiency style - selling a small surplus to keep me in necessaries.

I say in my mind as I wouldn't be able to cope with getting my hands dirty, and certainly not with long hours &c.

[whatever4]

5. I'd be a work at home computer geek

Or a writer, if anyone would pay me for this drivel.

I miss programming. They always want us crammed into cubicles, cranking code out for a minimum of 8 hours, with lousy lunches, lousy traffic, lousy parking, spying on email and instant messages, cameras everywhere and phones are advertised as not private at work, drug testing is in, benefits and free time is out and frankly, I'm sick and tired of the dog-eat-dog information-hording attitudes of other computer geeks, better able to talk BS than they are at using logic or following good coding standards. Our jobs get outsourced, everyone gets competitive, and in the end, the creative endeavors are treated like a sweat shop.

I worked at a place that routinely had people work overtime. Didn't pay them for it, except in the form of a small bonus, if enough overtime was worked, and it equalled out to pennies for the hour, not dollars. I don't mean an hour here or there either, I mean 60+ hour work weeks, with NO overtime. I mean weekend hours that sometimes added up to more hours than were worked during the week. Out of town trips, taken at the last minute, for weeks or months at a time. Routinely. No worries about the family or financial dificulties of leaving home that long. Nothing. Just hours and hours, for nothing extra.

But, those overtime costs were charged to the customer. All of them. It was a mainstay of the business. They built weekends into the software development schedule. Then came around on Fridays to tell us we needed to work the weekend. "Something came up" Every time.

That wasn't the worst place I worked either.

Then there's the young idiots who don't even know enough to initialize their variables. They bring on board programming skills that have everything to do with knowing how to use software, but nothing to do with logic or actual programming. Causing errors and needed maintenance later on. It's the worst way to code. Think Y2K. They get hired to do a lousy job, and it's okay, because everyone looks nice and clean and talks a good game. Even the folks I used to look to for that friendly attitude of non-conformity, geeks and nerds have been turned into robots. That's how it seems to me.

Oh thank you for giving me a chance to rant about it. Again.

[Kicked in the Taco]

7. Evil genius, for sure

And hey, I'm already half way there! Muhahaha!

[obxhead]

8. Beach bum sounds great

[NuckinFutz]

9. I want to be a DJ for Sirius Disorder.....n/t

[antigone382]

10. A vampire or a witch...just because

But seriously, I want to do something in humanitarian aid/human rights advocacy...I don't know exactly what, or exactly how I'm going to get there, but that's what I'm working towards...

[lockdown]

11. 9 to 5

Ideal job is part-time, whatever it is. Less production, more "quality time". I vaguely recall the promises that robots and technology would give us a 3-day week utopia. Oh well.

As a kid, I wanted to be Carl Bernstein as played by Dustin Hoffman, or one of those grubby cynical 70s anti-hero private dicks people like Elliot Gould would play. Didn't quite work out, so I had to settle for evil genius. :(

[Taxloss]

22. Journalism begins at home.

The thing that astonished me when I started working as a journalist was how easy it is to get people on the phone - even the great and the good.The idea that journalism is a difficult profession to penetrate is a myth perpetrated by insecure hacks on the national dailies.

[lockdown]

25. Especially nowadays

I suppose, on the ease of reaching people, though I wasn't being entirely serious about the ambition of course. :)

I get paid for geek work in reality, no clocking in, and I enjoy that so I'm luckier than most.

[Taxloss]

27. "All the President's Men" was the film that made me into a journalist.

It sparked the twin passions in my life - journalism and American politics.

On a related note, I know that on some issues I appear somewhat reactionary to some of our more feverish colleagues.My reluctance to "buy into" the theories surrounding the bombings of 7 July and the killing of De Menezes is not based on a deep-seated trust of authority - far from it - but on a genuine empirical belief. I only wish that it could be demonstrated more clearly that my motives in those matters are pure and that I really am on the side of truth.

[lockdown]

28. No way

It is a great film, probably inspired many to good things dare I say.

Well, we've had disagreements on those issues, still do if I can respectfully say, as we all do from time to time, but I totally accept what you say and respect your motives. Fever doesn't help I agree, and disagreements springing from such motives have to be respected and appreciated, essential as they are. Nobody wants an echo chamber. :)

[mr blur]

12. What I used to be -

Graphic designer, guitar player, songwriter. Although since I was diagnosed with the MS I certainly have a lot more time to waste, so these days I'd go for Disreptable Ageing Layabout Sort-of Writer.

[D-Notice]

13. Lawyer

I've spent too much money on law college for me not to choose it! :P

[...of J.Temperance]

14. I'd like to make documentaries

Nick Broomfield-type ones.

[Taxloss]

16. On what sort of areas?

What would you like to examine?

[...of J.Temperance]

18. Well

Some of the subjects, obviously very well might get me killed, but considering it's my dream job, I can choose them:

Liberia, Robert Mugabe, Adnan Khashoggi (the international arms dealer), The House of Saud's connection to Osama bin-Laden, The Khyber Pass (still actually being used as a route for the transportation of poppies that get turned into Grade A Heroin and sold on the streets of Western Europe), Ian Paisley, the monopolisation of the diamond industry by SA De Beers, British American Tobacco (BAT), the Israeli nuclear programme (that's kept secret, but isn't actually secret).

There's some others too, but those are just off the top of my head.

[Taxloss]

20. Do you work in journalism or the media at the moment?

[...of J.Temperance]

23. No

I work for my Dad, he's in the bio-chemical business. I've just always had an immense interest in factual documentary, in particular the taboo and/or controversial current affairs topics ala 'Panorama', 'Dispatches' etc.

[Taxloss]

26. You know, there are plenty of ways you can make an entry into that area.

A lot of the very best documantaries aren't made about the most glamorous (and/or life-threatening) international subjects. Consider the success of films such as Spellbound, Supersize me, Etre et Avoir, and so on. One of the best documentary films I ever saw was about a controversial mayoral race in a small Australian town - I couldn't have cared less about the subject matter, but the quality of the film made it fascinating. I have no experience in broadcast journalism (you need to ask emad) but starting small can be a very good move. Interesting subject matter is interesting subject matter, whether it's Robert Mugabe or Bogshire council.

[...of J.Temperance]

29. I agree

With everything you wrote there. But there's a wee problem...I can't operate a camera :( I could instruct camera angles and write the script for the documentary, but I'm afraid I'd have to have a camera crew from somewhere.

Bogshire Council and Robert Mugabe, now there's a combination ;)

I like elad, she's obviously very cool.

[Taxloss]

31. You know, modern digital cameras are surprisingly simple to operate.

And the results can be impressive. I imagine learning one would be fun.

[...of J.Temperance]

37. Maybe I'll splash out then

And get a digital camera. From a local perspective, it'd be interesting to make a documentary about what my local council spends our council tax on, because they've got me totally baffled.

[Taxloss]

15. Oddly enough, I was offered my dream job yesterday.

And I think I'm going to take it.

I can't go into details, but I have been offered the deputy editorship of an influential, campaigning and radical monthly magazine on the left dealing with a specific area of social policy that is close to my heart. Pure investigative journalism on a sound, socially responsible basis, while leaving enough time for my other projects.

Naturally, I'm thinking of taking it. I'm cock-a-hoop simply to be asked - and it was a pure offer, not an invitation to apply, very flattering. I could do what I love and do good at the same time.

Needless to say, I voted media.

[...of J.Temperance]

19. Do it

Go ahead ;)

[Taxloss]

21. I've been discussing the idea with Mrs Taxloss this evening.

There are some complicating factors in the shape of agreements I have with other magazines, which is the inhibiting factor, but I thinkwe can edge around those.

[...of J.Temperance]

24. Good

You KNOW you can be successful in this new job...and so does Mrs. Taxloss!

[Anarcho-Socialist]

30. Please keep us updated on how that goes

:)

[Taxloss]

36. Will do.

Check your PM.

[fedsron2us]

17. Evil genius

I have always had a sneaking admiration for the way that Ernst Stavro Blofeld ran SPECTRE. By comparison the manner in which most of the leaders of our society commit their crimes is banal. Nearly all our major corporations and government institutions are run by ruthless bastards but they nearly all insist on dressing up their wrong doing in touchy feely language and bogus moral justifications. Blair is a prime example of this particularly loathsome practise. At least Blofeld had the honesty to admit he was a crook and to revel in his crimes. He also had a refreshingly direct way of dealing with non performers at the executive board level. If he was Prime Minister then Charles Clarke would definitely be heading for a visit to the pirhanna pond.

[RogueTrooper]

32. I might as well be an evil genius

I already have the British accent.

Now, all I need is a plan and some cackling minions.

[Nihil]

33. Other: two or more of the above

Basically, I want to do the following for some of the time:
- Musician
- Author
- Fine arts/crafts
- Voluntary worker
- Teacher/classroom assistant

+ good parent/husband/friend all of the time

I just want to be able to do whatever I feel like,
whenever I feel like it and still be able to take
time "off" to do nothing except wonder at the world
for a while ... not unreasonable surely?
:-)

[Oggy]

34. I'm for small scale farming

Or anything that could mean I could go back to where I grew up.

[LeftishBrit]

35. I put teacher/ tutor...

which is what I am in reality (university teacher; also do research in child development). But I'm sure I can combine it with being an evil genius!!!