work thread

I like my job. I would rather not be at work, but I'd rather work than not work.

my company sucks. For the past several years they've been talking about trying to transition from a market research company to a software-as-a-service company. Without saying so, theyre basically trying to phase out my job.

So I work with clients to create surveys for products/services/companies (rate these products 1-5 stars, how likely are you to recommend this business to a friend, etc.) The client will usually write out the questions and design some pathing so the survey asks more specific follow up questions based on previous answers.

my job involves reviewing the questionnaire because theres usually repeat questions in these surveys or logical inconsistencies that will not work in a functional digital survey. They pay a lot of money for our services so o have to identify these problems so that they get data that is good quality and usable for their research. I compile my notes and present them to the client and offer different solutions for these problems. When the surveys are in field, the client can download the results either in spreadsheets they can run through data analyzation software or in visuals like bar graphs and other shit for powerpoint presentations.

My position is not a very high paying position, but we get sweet quarterly bonuses that make up for it. The CEO makes a projection for each quarter and sets a revenue goal for us and we get a sweet payout if we reach the goal, and more if we exceed it.

The first couple years i worked at this company, its been on the up and up. The CEO has been setting exponentially higher goals but somehow we were still hitting it. So that was cool. However the economy has not been so well recently so weve been getting less work, but our bonus goals have been continuing to grow further and further away to severely unrealistic expectations, which has basically resulted in a massive paycut across the board for things pretty much totally out of our control.

Meanwhile, my company has done a bunch of trial runs with visual editors, applications that transpose survey questionnaire word documents into code, and a dozen other things but they are often clunky, loaded with bugs, not easy to use, not accomoadating to user error, and generally unappealing to clients and driving them away.

The problem with these things is always the same. The clients want results and they want them fast, and when they do things fast, they make mistakes. This can make this whole costly process a flop.

My company has been investing a shit ton of money in onboarding a bunch of software developers with absurdly huge salaries to come up with trash idea after trash idea, and its taking a toll on the company. But the company president is putting all his eggs into this basket. Last month they had to lay off a bunch of people, and I found out that next week theyre laying off more people, and im next on the list.

So im kinda pissed. My whole team has been trying to explain that the reason people pay a premium for our services is because we are professionals. When clients are left to their own devices, they fuck their own shit up and waste a fuck ton of resources. Theres a dozen other cheaper companies that let users create their own surveys but they're not going to get quality data if they dont know what theyre doing. if our company trains its users on how to make good surveys, they can just take that knowledge with them to another company. It feels like theyre burning money on purpose. I dont know how they plan to move forward if they keep heamhoragging their only revenue generators. Soon ill be out of a job so im pretty butthurt about that.

I'm in a somewhat similar boat 40oz . I worked in security for about ten years before stumbling my way into production. Absolutely loved security and helping people, literally saving lives and such but I was in the very intense side of the field and I'm not getting any younger. Wrestling with guys half my age wasn't going to get any easier so I got a temporary job at a smaller family run factory. Relaxing compared to what I was used to and it turns out I'm good with machinery. Coupled with all my managerial experience they really incentivized me to stay. We were able to achieve a huge amount of growth over the first couple years. Then the owners got greedy and tried reaching beyond their means. They sunk millions they couldn't quite afford into a market that was only experiencing a temporary boom despite warnings. Then they started cutting corners by not buying basic necessities and equipment to try and cover their losses while simultaneously trying to expand even more. A very slow death spiral began. They recently brought in new management to try and turn things around but they're blind to the unique challenges we face. There's a sort of delusional behavior. An assumption that things will just magically work, despite lacking of resources and personnel. A total disconnect from reality. We were assured that there was so much work coming in that we had to start twelve hour shifts company wide. The work never arrived and it wasn't long until shifts began getting shut down. Currently they are putting all their eggs into one basket that is crashing and burning in spectacular fashion. I had a good run but it's getting close to the appropriate time for me to step off the sinking ship. Unfortunately it is the best paying job in my area by a good margin so I'll have to take a substantial pay cut unless I convince myself to move, which I'd rather not do. My father just went through a major surgery and likely doesn't have a lot more life left in him so being able to spend time with him is a much higher priority than money.

Can relate. I've had so many jobs where I was one foot out the door and the bastards would promote me or give me a sizable raise.

Back in my early twenties I once got to watch my workplace burn down while drinking a bar across the street. Fire truck blocked me in so I had time to kill. That was a good day.

Considering I've walked off a job only to have them call me over six months later asking if I planned to come back like it happened just the other day I can believe it. The work force really is a shit show. Or maybe that's just society.

I saw this pic ages ago and it instantly reminded me of darknation.

Well said. I've experienced something similar. Now I love my job. I'll try not to take it for granted, though.