A lot has happened in the past weeks. I finally took a step back from architecture
and accepted a financial assistant position at a local Sanitary District. It wasn’t exactly an easy decision, but
architecture just was not working out anymore…for me…and others I know. It really starts to wear you down hearing
about all the Illinois teachers striking.
Let me state that the starting salary in the Chicago Public School
teacher’s union is more than I made as an architect in the past four years
(don’t even get into health benefits)…and is more than what I will be making in
my new position. Since all of the IL
teacher’s salaries are public – I looked up everyone I knew. Surprise:
I made the least out of everyone.
And some (only a handful of years older than me) – make nearly 3x as
much as I do. Anyhow, all of this made
dealing with the chaos of architecture even more difficult.
Well – I still make less than the teachers, but I have
gained a full benefit package with health insurance – surely that is worth
millions to someone with skin cancer in their more recent history. Hopefully, the environment will be less
stressful with more stable hours. After
being there for a couple of weeks, there are some difficulties…one of which is
missing the drawing and creative portions of architecture.
And of course – starting in a new work environment almost
instantaneously brought up the question of children. ‘Do you have children?’
they ask...and I can only politely answer ‘no, no I do not’. Luckily, thus far, the questions stopped there.
One of the negatives about the new job is being back to a
strict two weeks of vacation for the next five years. It is very difficult to digest given our love
of the parks across the country. But,
that hasn’t stopped the planning. We are
looking at a shorter trip to Great Basin National Park (Nevada) and Capitol
Reef National Park (Utah) around April/May.
I would like to hike to the top of Mt. Wheeler (13,000 feet) at Great
Basin, but have not yet figured out when the snowfall would be gone. Any tips anyone has on these two parks would
be appreciated.
7 comments:
A job isn't All about the $$s. Hope this works for you for as long as it needs to.
I agree that a job isn't all about the dollars. But I also know that having wonderful benefits is worth more than a better salary when you are sick. You can no doubt appreciate that and it will give you some peace of mind. In terms of the creative aspect missing from the job, just think of it as an opportunity to explore your creative side on your own time. I bet you have a lot of creativity just waiting to come out.
In these times, a good job with benefits is something to be thankful for. My job isn't the greatest, but I look at it as a means to be able to afford my hobbies. Congrats and good luck!
When you see the teachers strikes all over Chicagoland, it really is hard to take. In lots of ways you see the benefits of being in a union. I know for us, without the Walgreens union, our jobs would not be as good as they are. I definitely appreciate the health insurance we have and benefits we have.
Hope the new job opens up some opportunities that you didn't know were out there.
Hope even with the two weeks of vacation you can get two good vacations in a year! :) Just remember 2 weeks is better than no weeks----and there are plenty of Americans out there in that boat.
Good luck with the new job. I agree with the frustrations of some of the union members and their expectations - there were large strikes of the union employees in my company last year, and they do much better than we do for easier work!
Good luck on your new job! I work as an Accountant so welcome to my area of the working life. You are also coming to my state, Utah! Sadly I haven’t made it to Capital Reef. I live at the North end of the state, and there are so many cool parks in Utah to visit... Have a good time when you go and take some pics for us.
I was at great basin in June 2010. There was still some snow on wheeler. I'd never be able to hike that. Just driving up it freaked me out & we had to turn back! I know that's not real helpful :-). Oh and there is NOTHING around that park. Nada.
Good luck with the job change. Mr H just became jobless so we're reeling over here.
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