This morning I landed on another blogger’s site, where he had a photo of himself in his cubicle.
I physically twitched at the site, and not because of the guy. He was average looking. No, I was reminded of similar pictures of myself in what is now an almost very distant past by career standards. January 2007 marks 6 full years since I’ve left the world of cubicles behind. It boggles my mind sometimes that it’s been that long. But when I look at the standard grey coloured separating walls, or the office chair that’s supposed to be ergonomically sound but your butt still hurts because you’re still sitting on it for 8-9 hours straight, I can’t help but be thankful I’ve been out of that cubicle jungle.
That’s not to say that a cubicle career isn’t rewarding or doesn’t have its merits. I know myself well enough to know that had I not had any other option for work, I have continued in that cubicle infested call center environment that I worked in in 2000-2001. Since then my income has been mediocre, although averaged out over a 6 year period, my home based income scores higher by at least 10,000-15,000 per year higher. And that’s with taking a lot of liberties in my life, oftentimes working part time or not at all. In the last 6 years I’ve been able to travel extensively with my laptop to California (where my wife lives), to other parts of the states, and to Europe last fall, while still being connected to my work.
The total brutal truth about my life at this point is that my income is on par today to what I could earn at a call center as a technical analyst (assuming no advancement to management positions for at least 2-3 years). I would be working or suggested/forced to work longer than 45 hours per week or be at the whim of an inflexible part time schedule.
This spring, my dependent mother-in-law will be coming to visit for a few months giving a much needed break to my wife who happens to have a solid, union backed, well paying but busy job in the states. A call center let alone any other position I’d qualify for in the work force would give me any kind of flexibility that I’m looking for these days. I think most of us with dependents at home can understand this at a deep deep level.
I dabbled in entrepreneurial ventures on and off since 1993. In later years, I lived with my ex girlfriend and her son, and at the time, after much discussion, we concluded that regular school wasn’t an option for him at that point, and home schooled him for 2 years. If it wasn’t for our business venture, he wouldn’t have had the opportunities to go to a private school shortly afterwards. Around that same time, we cared for, or made sure my girlfriend’s mother was cared for after hip replacement surgery. And finally, as recently as last year, I was able to visit my ailing mother and spend in total, about 2-3 weeks before she past away from a year long battle with a rare blood disease.
Hmm. It’s funny as I think about this. I didn’t think I’d be getting this personal in a technology blog, but the reality is I’ve come to really value self employment with all of its ups and downs, with all of my personal mistakes and oftentimes, lack of followthru or lack of confidence to venture in areas I’m perfectly capable of doing. These days I think a lot of it has to do with continuing to find your passion.
My passion died at the call center in 2001. The gray walls did nothing for me.
So, my apologies to cubicle inhabitants. I know your pain well, I really do. But I got off that spinning wheel a long long time ago, and don’t have any intention of ever getting back on. Not without some serious serious compensation.
