Thursday, July 17, 2003
Getting promoted in your job. That seems to be the dream of a lot of people. I suppose it's OK for some, but why are those who don't want to be promoted often looked down upon. As if they have no ambition or something. Maybe they're just happy doing what they're doing? Have you heard of the Peter Principle? It was quite popular a few years back. Its basic tenet was that people are promoted to their level of incompetency. In other words, as long as you did well in your job, you would be promoted. Once you reached a level you were no longer good at, you wouldn't be promoted because you didn't do your job well.
When I joined the USAF way back in the olden days, the name of the game was to get promoted. Everyone told me that you really had to get your next stripe. Making Staff Sergeant (E-5) in under four years was supposed to be quite the feather in one's cap. And like a dummy I believed them. As a buck sergeant (E-4) I became a heavy equipment operator after a short time in avionics maintenance. I LOVED that job. Give me a big field of mud and a front-end loader and I was just as happy as a pig in shi-- let's just say I was really happy.
Of course I had to get my next stripe. So I tested and low and behold, I made it. I got my line number for E-5 in under four years. I put my fourth stripe on and became an instant supervisor in a pickup truck -- and did that suck! I was making more money and was quite miserable. I really-really missed the working part of it. I had absolutely no desire to make other people do the job that I had really enjoyed doing. I hated it.
I got lucky and found a job that I could be an E-5 and E-6 in and rarely have to supervise. I could go back to being a worker-bee. It was no-way near as enjoyeable as playing in the mud, but it was better than watching people play in the mud. I ended up tolerating that job for another 16 or so years until I could retire.
Since I retired in 1995 I returned to college for BA and MA and found a job as a technical writer for an Internet company. I'm expecting it to hurt me, but I made it quite plain right off the start that I had no intention of wanting to become a manager or supervisor. Just let me work and I'll be happy. I figured it was better to get that out of the way than end up being promoted into something I had no desire doing. The problem is that I'm a pretty good worker. Not the greatest around mind you, but reliable and reasonably intelligent. The kind of person that "should be promoted." I plan on doing my best not to fall into Peter's Principle. I have discovered that being happy at work is worth much more that making more money.
2fers: http://www.pse-net.com/promotion1.htm and Walden Pond
When I joined the USAF way back in the olden days, the name of the game was to get promoted. Everyone told me that you really had to get your next stripe. Making Staff Sergeant (E-5) in under four years was supposed to be quite the feather in one's cap. And like a dummy I believed them. As a buck sergeant (E-4) I became a heavy equipment operator after a short time in avionics maintenance. I LOVED that job. Give me a big field of mud and a front-end loader and I was just as happy as a pig in shi-- let's just say I was really happy.
Of course I had to get my next stripe. So I tested and low and behold, I made it. I got my line number for E-5 in under four years. I put my fourth stripe on and became an instant supervisor in a pickup truck -- and did that suck! I was making more money and was quite miserable. I really-really missed the working part of it. I had absolutely no desire to make other people do the job that I had really enjoyed doing. I hated it.
I got lucky and found a job that I could be an E-5 and E-6 in and rarely have to supervise. I could go back to being a worker-bee. It was no-way near as enjoyeable as playing in the mud, but it was better than watching people play in the mud. I ended up tolerating that job for another 16 or so years until I could retire.
Since I retired in 1995 I returned to college for BA and MA and found a job as a technical writer for an Internet company. I'm expecting it to hurt me, but I made it quite plain right off the start that I had no intention of wanting to become a manager or supervisor. Just let me work and I'll be happy. I figured it was better to get that out of the way than end up being promoted into something I had no desire doing. The problem is that I'm a pretty good worker. Not the greatest around mind you, but reliable and reasonably intelligent. The kind of person that "should be promoted." I plan on doing my best not to fall into Peter's Principle. I have discovered that being happy at work is worth much more that making more money.
2fers: http://www.pse-net.com/promotion1.htm and Walden Pond
