Realized working in NGOs that at least 80% of my career satisfaction was just whether I had a good boss. All the stuff about mission, role, even salary was secondary.
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I have the same feeling in science. The principle investigator and the way they expect work makes such a huge difference. You can find the questions you want to answer but if the process is garbage the discoveries barely feel worth it.
I have thought a lot about changing jobs to be closer to home, I just don't want to throw away a supportive boss and good work environment. Id rather be grumpy about an extra 40min commute than miserable 8 hrs a day.
Same here. for the most part. I almost took a job a few months ago for a pretty sizable pay bump, but I got weird vibes from my prospective boss in the interview, and I would have been sacrificing a lot of flexibility and autonomy. I decided to stay put, which ended up being the right call for sure.
This is why I stopped working in non profits AND in journalism. Terrible useless bosses who seemed to exist only to bully workers. Do nothings who talked a good game but never actually accomplished anything
I look back on what was objectively my worst job by every imaginable metric as Actually Fine because I the person supervising my day to day work was normal and cool
At least 80%! And unfortunately NGOs have the worst management and a complete lack of leadership training. I've moved from NGOs to government and it is shocking how pleasant a workplace can be when managers are equipped with the skills to support staff
Never worked for an NGO but also true at regular company job. I like my boss but I had one project where I was basically reporting to another guy who was a nightmare. I was very close to quitting, when he changed roles. The job was the same but the boss made all the difference.
If you have a good or even decent boss, you can worry about that other stuff. If you have a really bad boss, it's like, sorry I need to get this knife taken out of my thigh before I can worry about anything.
The happiest part of my career I was doing work that felt meaningful and making real progress on my career goals and none of it would have mattered if I didn't have an incredible boss who took management as a discipline really seriously.
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