The Criteria By which you Judge

I think the value of any job needs to be judged by a different set of criteria that you are probably using right now. People tend to think about money and type-of-work, and co-workers. I think if you truly look at your life as a whole, there are other things that make a big difference. Having lived with minimal income for a while, I recognize that money isn't such a big issue. My lifestyle was virtually unchanged. Sure I used lots of savings for getting by, but the quality of life was good (with the intellectual freedom etc) that it was a good trade off.

In fact, I would raise a few less considered elements much higher than before. Drive time - time wasted sitting in your car - has got to rank highly. Plus the social environment at work. I eat lunch alone and read mostly because the classic geek in his natural environment can't get away from his monitor during lunch, and so few venture to the caffeteria.

I've been listening to Librivox.org audio on my MP3 player on the way it. It's a bit fiddly to cue up the right chapter, but Aldous Huxely's Crome Yello is quite good, and the amateur reader does a good job, although with a bit of hiss on the recording.

Now, salary is important as a score-card. I mean I wouldn't want to earn a measly amount as it would indicate some diminished level of satisfaction with having my contribution to the company. But I would happily work in a 20% lower salary range if I could drive only 10min to work. I'd give up another 10% if there were chatty happy people to have lunch with. Hell, I'd give up another 20% to get away from the noisy, hacking, snorting cubicle loser who seems to have reached adulthood without any basic hygiene or etiquette from parents.

I'll give up fifty bucks a year if I could get a decent chair, and another fifty for a decent cup of tea. A busty co-worker who keeps dropping her pencil? Nah, I should say that would be too distracting - take that off the list.

A caffeteria with a bit more choice - maybe some Chinese food or a do-it-yourself sandwhich bar with real bread. Yeah. Oh, and why is everything $6.95. They should subsidize that sucker and sell me a sandwich for $3 tops. Sure I can get a small salad, soup and a roll for $4.50, but it's a bit tired after a few days of the same thing.

What also sucks is not feeling like you're contributing. I don't know enough people, or the subject matter deep enough to be autonomous from my leader yet. I could really use that.

Anyway, give it a couple of years and see what happens. I'm a bit worried that the big company thing will keep me mired in meetings, reports and circular travel without any real opportunity for a strong outcome.

So to sum up - I'd put my job satisfaction at the end of an equation comprised of drive-time, people make-up, desk/office location, authority, salary, caffeteria quality. Yeah, that sounds good.

What's your criteria?