Tim said:
Yeah, I guess so.
Although I was (mostly) blowing off steam after a memorably shitty day and hoping that one of the female GAF denizens was going to offer me a job warming their bed at night for something in the six-figure range, I suppose the fact that I feel this way every couple of months is a sign that I really OUGHT to consider doing something else.
My current job title is "systems engineer," which tends to mean something quite different outside of defense. I have spent a lot of time writing and analyzing requirements, done some UML modeling as part of design/architecture activities (use cases, sequence diagrams, etc.), generated test plans, and written documentation/training materials, mostly for software-intensive systems. Most of my time has been spent on new business capture efforts and program management, especially over the last couple of years. (My success on proposals is more or less responsible for screwing up my life, in fact.) I'm a very capable writer in a variety of styles -- this job has given me lots of practice in going from precise language in a TRD or SOW to concise, neutral language in business email to almost marketing-style writing in proposals to clear and verbose language in documentation or training materials. I don't have any kind of coding background, unless you consider LOGO to be a viable language, though I'm plenty comfortable poking around in a UNIX environment. I have no clue what the title of a job would be appropriate for my skill set in the commercial sector, but I assume that people HAVE to do those things, or nothing would ever get built or delivered.
My frustration is that it seems like EVERYTHING is always a damn emergency at my job. I don't mind putting in extra hours to see a deadline through to the end, but if you're doing it constantly, something is wrong. I'm also increasingly upset at the amount of time I'm redirected from projects I'm supposed to be running in order to chase proposals. When you're being forced to choose between either not executing on a project with your name on it, or working until ridiculous hours every day...what the hell do you choose? My work-life balance has been deeply screwed up for some time -- travel is fine when it's not excessive or is planned in advanced, but it's so unpredictable that I can't make plans for any weekday activity with any amount of advance planning. (Ask me about where I'm going to be on Valentine's Day night, by the way.) I'd have to think about the relocation issue. I'm in the Los Angeles area, and I have some personal ties here that I'd need to work through in order to move.
So, yeah, this is just venting. Probably.