On Jobs

Working is a large part of life. I find it bordering on criminal that I have to spend half of my life with people that do not go through the same rigorous vetting process that my friends and M went through. Sometimes you get extremely lucky and your co-workers become actual friends. For me that has rarely been the case. In all of my years of working, I have made one friend and he lives in Albany.

I grew up believing that because you spend so much of your life working, you'd better make sure that you like your job. I had the luxury of growing up middle class, so money was never a consideration when it came to employment (beyond being able to live, that is). Take money out of the equation and that opens the door to many professions like Archives.

Previously, I worked at an archives that I really enjoyed. I was there for 3 years before moving on and would have stayed longer had geographic circumstances been different. It was the perfect quirky, unique position. It was interesting and I had a lot of freedom to go in many different directions.

Then I had to move on and I moved on to a place that looked great on paper with a company that actually is pretty great. What should have tipped me off was the salary. It was way too high for an archives position. When the new car smell wore off I was left with a boring job, isolated into a cubicle. It was the exact job that I had worked so hard to avoid.

Why is he using the past tense?

Because I have moved on once again; this time to a job that I am confident will be "all that and a bag of chips." No longer a corporate archivist, now (and perhaps forever) a photo archivist (or photograph curator as my actual title reads). I'll be working with (and for) the public and again it looks like I may have freedom to decide on projects.

Finally I'll be working with other archivists instead of just e-mail responses from lists; disembodied advice and misunderstood questions.

2008 is indeed looking like it is going to be a great year.