This phenomena was described to a t in Dan Ariely's The Upside of Irrationality. In it, he first describes a situation in which one would be paid a high salary (I think a million dollars) for creating power points that were immediately deleted. He asserts that most people would not be able to handle the job. To test, he does some interesting experiments wherein students are paid for assembling simple lego figures. If the figures were then disassembled in view of the student immediately after their completion, students on average, constructed far fewer figures. Worth a read.
Reminds me of some government work I've done. The worst case was when I wrote a best-practices manual for Java/database/security for their internal development, and it was basically taken in draft form, put in a big 3-ring binder, and put on a shelf to never be read by anyone. They paid a solid 5-figures for it, but more than anything it was a checklist item that could be signed-off in order to appease the auditors. "Yes, we did the required review and policy and procedure development".
If you're heavily in debt, you would stay. I know - I'm in a job that's not quite as bad as that, but it's far from rewarding, and extremely political, with other people taking the praise and few willing to do what's needed.
I would quit, but I have to work off my debt first.
The environment is not doing me good - I'm slacking off (like here at HN), working worse and feeling tired and burned out even when doing little actual work.
Why not try and find another job? In your situation I'd even make a lateral move to something I enjoyed.
Ultimately your current attitude will catch up with you could set your career back. Getting labeled as a slacker could result in you getting crappy projects where you can't grow professionally and personally. You'll become even more bitter/jaded and eventually hit a death spiral. Crappy projects <=> more bitter and jaded. It's very tough to get out of this death spiral once you're in it....
Thank you for your advice. I thought about that. I'm trying to get out in another way - I'm starting a Master's (MBA) :) and reducing my debt at the same time.
The thing is, here in Uruguay job security is king - if you switch jobs you're a kind of pariah for a couple of years (OTOH if I get fired it's like winning the lottery, about 6 to 8 salaries plus benefits plus 6 months unemployment which for my sector is very good).
So I have to endure another 2 years while I do the MBA - and it's very likely that I'll get a significantly better job offer while I'm doing the MBA due to connections - I'll try to network heavily on the MBA, it's my number one goal from it.
Ironically I haven't been labeled a slacker (and I used to be a top student and respected worker) - my boss is too incompetent to even realize I'm slacking. My projects can't get any crappier though (ever heard of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forte_4GL ? Not a marketable skill ).
I hope to either get into a project management / CTO position, or start my own company.
I know a few employers that basically cackle with glee when an employee buys a car or a house, because they now consider that they "Have them" no matter how low they keep their salary.
They're not nice people, suffice to say, and working for them is apparently no fun. Go figure.
This is rational behavior, because nobody works only for the money (unless you are a bank robber). If you're doing something that has no repercussions, then you're losing a lot of the additional value of your work.
Comments
This phenomena was described to a t in Dan Ariely's The Upside of Irrationality. In it, he first describes a situation in which one would be paid a high salary (I think a million dollars) for creating power points that were immediately deleted. He asserts that most people would not be able to handle the job. To test, he does some interesting experiments wherein students are paid for assembling simple lego figures. If the figures were then disassembled in view of the student immediately after their completion, students on average, constructed far fewer figures. Worth a read.
Reminds me of some government work I've done. The worst case was when I wrote a best-practices manual for Java/database/security for their internal development, and it was basically taken in draft form, put in a big 3-ring binder, and put on a shelf to never be read by anyone. They paid a solid 5-figures for it, but more than anything it was a checklist item that could be signed-off in order to appease the auditors. "Yes, we did the required review and policy and procedure development".
If you're heavily in debt, you would stay. I know - I'm in a job that's not quite as bad as that, but it's far from rewarding, and extremely political, with other people taking the praise and few willing to do what's needed.
I would quit, but I have to work off my debt first.
The environment is not doing me good - I'm slacking off (like here at HN), working worse and feeling tired and burned out even when doing little actual work.
Why not try and find another job? In your situation I'd even make a lateral move to something I enjoyed.
Ultimately your current attitude will catch up with you could set your career back. Getting labeled as a slacker could result in you getting crappy projects where you can't grow professionally and personally. You'll become even more bitter/jaded and eventually hit a death spiral. Crappy projects <=> more bitter and jaded. It's very tough to get out of this death spiral once you're in it....
Thank you for your advice. I thought about that. I'm trying to get out in another way - I'm starting a Master's (MBA) :) and reducing my debt at the same time.
The thing is, here in Uruguay job security is king - if you switch jobs you're a kind of pariah for a couple of years (OTOH if I get fired it's like winning the lottery, about 6 to 8 salaries plus benefits plus 6 months unemployment which for my sector is very good).
So I have to endure another 2 years while I do the MBA - and it's very likely that I'll get a significantly better job offer while I'm doing the MBA due to connections - I'll try to network heavily on the MBA, it's my number one goal from it.
Ironically I haven't been labeled a slacker (and I used to be a top student and respected worker) - my boss is too incompetent to even realize I'm slacking. My projects can't get any crappier though (ever heard of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forte_4GL ? Not a marketable skill ).
I hope to either get into a project management / CTO position, or start my own company.
Interesting. Best of luck!
I know a few employers that basically cackle with glee when an employee buys a car or a house, because they now consider that they "Have them" no matter how low they keep their salary.
They're not nice people, suffice to say, and working for them is apparently no fun. Go figure.
This is rational behavior, because nobody works only for the money (unless you are a bank robber). If you're doing something that has no repercussions, then you're losing a lot of the additional value of your work.
Even if you are a bank robber. I'm sure some people rob banks for the thrill/challenge. (It fits with every movie cliche anyway...)