I don’t want to be entirely down on “meetings” overall. I stop and chat with my two staff guys every morning to run down our list of ongoing projects, prioritize the day’s tasks, and get them off and running until they run into something where they need additional guidance. I also have a pretty strict policy of that the MD leading any research project has to come have at least one face-to-face meeting with us before we get started (even though we SHOULD be able to do these things via email, I’ve seen that a lot of things get lost in translation because MD’s don’t have a firm enough grasp of statistics to coherently articulate these things unless I can meet with them to tease it out; it’s also a way to screen out people who aren’t really invested in their research but only will do something if it’s convenient for them. If they can’t even squeeze out 15 minutes to come chat with us to make a proper analysis plan, they have nothing invested and it’s pretty likely we’ll just be wasting our time)
So I should clarify that “meetings” are not necessarily useless; they’re just overused and probably half of them (especially “recurring scheduled meetings”) serve no true purpose. I can explain WHY the meetings that I do have are necessary for productivity. My beef is the corporate-HQ-style “let’s all gather in a room while one person drones on” meetings that don’t serve any productive end.
I did it years ago when I packed in my advertising job. It’s amazing how much freedom you can obtain if you can live on less. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea but you get more life mobility when you aren’t tied to a job/career because you need the money.
Ya, I mean that’s the kicker. I’m a number crucher and I’ll always be a numbers guy. Maybe I’ll open my own firm or consulting practice. I donno… I think my biggest issue right now os that there’s a ceiling where I’m at with no real path around it. Corporate is in NY and I’m not moving anytime soon (just did and my wife is on the path to being a partner in her accounting firm).
I’m close enough to Baltimore to work downtown (not that I want to), but working for a Legg Mason or Under Armour for example would probably be a smart move.
“Usmc the rest of us are working on Sunday can you too? I think we’ve got plenty to do like ________(insert x,y,z). We’re probably going to need two meetings just to decide what allocation method to use for X person’s division.”
That sounds like a nightmare. I work weekends during tax season but everyone does and its understood as part of the job. I can’t imagine that type of environment fostering anything but complacency.
Ya, tax season I get (my wife’s a tax manager). This shit is just stupid. Last year I worked a number of weekends where I sat on here while also shredding old confidential documents (something I could have done at any time). There are genuinely times when overtime is needed, but they are few and far between, at least at my level of responsibility.
Anyway, I just applied for a Controller position at a local Corp. The company is much much smaller than this one, but at least it’s their corporate HQ with a direct line to the CFO. It’ll also be challenging at my current skill level so I should learn a heck of a lot if I can manage to get it.
Right, it depends on why the meeting is held to begin with.
But at a certain point, the number of meetings simply begins to eat into your productivity.
This is basically what’s happening at my company- The high level managers have to go to so many meetings (usually held by people higher than them) that they don’t have time to manage the people under them.
Currently working as an analyst for a healthcare IT company. Taking care of help desk tickets, implementing system changes, etc. It is a good job, but I figured I’d drop a question here, as I’m looking to explore other options (this is really the only career I’ve had)…
Has anyone changed fields/industries and NOT taken a pay cut (or maybe even increased salary)???
My company pays well, so I feel like I’m already at a “disadvantage” when looking for something new. I’ve put out some feelers, but even for what I consider to be a similar field, pay seems to drop about 15k…or more. Unfortunately, due to some financial things I went through a couple years ago, I need to continue at or above my current salary for about another couple years or so.
TLDL; Any tips for changing jobs when you’ve kinda pigeonholed yourself without taking a pay cut?
How many years of experience in your field do you have?
I jumped from non-profit accounting to corporate finance and increased my salary by about $5k and cut my commute from an hour to 15 minutes. Similar fields, but very different work and this was still very early in my career (mid 20s).
I’ve thought about the 2nd job thing for sure. I realize I probably just need to suck it up and do it, but also trying to find something I somewhat enjoy (ie, start some sort of a side hustle that I have more control over than bagging groceries - which I’ve done before haha, definitely not above it). I also realize I’m probably being too idealistic.
I’m approaching 6 years in the field. I worked retail through college and was on the “6 year plan”, so I didn’t get into a “real” job until about 24.
you would make an awesome Millwright @debraD - we are one of the last true craftsmen, that can build just about everything, and all within a thousands of an inch -
Why do we have to wait til they are ‘ripe’ if the cataract is making a nuisance of vision on the affected eye?
I had lasik (monovision) about 12 years back. My distance eye has drifted and has a cataract ‘starting’ to form per my optometerist. The opthalomologist that did the original surgery says the drift is not bad enough for enhancement, but in light of the cataract, he would not enhance anyway.
Bearing in mind that, because I haven’t examined you, I can only speak in generalities…It sounds like you are at the point where there are no good answers to your vision problems.
Here’s the rub. You had LASIK, with a good outcome. This is because the procedure successfully changed the shape of your cornea such that your eye focused light to a point on your retina. And you had good vision for 10+ years. This is because your eye’s focusing power was stable for that period.
But now you have a cataract–a decrease in the clarity of the eye’s native lens. In addition to decreasing its clarity, the cataract is also affecting the lens’s focusing power, and this has changed your eye’s once-stable refractive status. So rather than focusing light to a point on your retina, your eye is now focusing it either just in front of or behind the retina. Either way, your previous focal point is now a blur circle, and your previously sharp vision is now fuzzy.
So, what can be done? There are three choices, and they all suck in their own way:
Correct the recent-onset refractive error the old-fashioned way, ie, with glasses or CLs. (I know–you didn’t spend all that money on LASIK to wear glasses a few years later!)
Correct the recent-onset refractive error the new-fashioned way, ie, via a LASIK enhancement. This could be done very easily, so why is your ophtho hesitant to do it? Because he knows that, in the not-too-distant future, progression of your cataract will further alter your refractive status, and the enhancement effect will be gone. No big deal, you think–I’ll just get another enhancement at that point. Trouble is, every enhancement involves removing corneal tissue (that’s what the laser does–it lases away select portions of the cornea). And if too much corneal tissue is removed, the cornea will warp into a shape that cannot focus light, and cannot be corrected with glasses or contacts. At that point, you would find yourself on the corneal-transplant list–not where you want to be. So, an enhancement would be a one-time, short-term fix, after which you’d be right back in the jackpot you’re in now.
Take out the cataract that’s causing all the trouble in the first place. This is certainly an option–after all, it’s not a matter of if you’ll need cataract surgery, but when. So why not go ahead and take it out now? There are two main reasons eye docs hesitate to remove ‘unripe’ cataracts:
a) While very safe, cataract surgery is not foolproof, and there’s always a chance of a complication.
b) Once your natural lens is removed, your vision at ‘middle’ distances (eg, computer screens) would likely be compromised.
So you see, there are no simple, straightforward, 100% satisfying solutions to your dilemma.
As for whether you should find another doc, I would like to point out that, unfortunately, there are a (hopefully small) number of unscrupulous eye docs out there more interested in your wallet than in your eye health. And if you search long enough, you will find a doc happy to take your money for an enhancement, or for cataract surgery, or even both. The point being that, just because you can find someone to do it, it doesn’t mean it’s in your best interest to have it done. So if you like and trust your current surgeon, I would suggest sticking with him–because ironic as it may seem, the fact that he declined to operate on you suggests his decision-making is based on what’s in your best interest, rather than his.
