The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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My job as a tax accountant is killing me with its sheer, soul-crushing boredom and monotony. Starting out it felt much better due to the fact that I actually had to pick up many aspects of the job on my own, but at this point absolutely no part of the job surprises me or challenges me at all, and it's effectively become a huge production line where I optimise for efficiency in tax preparation (sometimes even over the quality of the work, since I've gotten some comments that I should be striving not for perfection but trying to balance that with output). I'm certainly not the fastest employee in the firm in terms of efficiency, but as it stands I'm currently burning through all my jobs faster than people can allocate me new work (our billing/charge-out rate is still so high relative to the amount we actually end up charging the client that there are still write-offs). My managers state they're impressed with my ability to pick up concepts and the high quality of my workpapers, I personally think this is called not being retarded.
I was recently assigned one of the toughest workpapers in the firm. I looked through it. It does not look difficult. They're thinking of making me reviewer on certain jobs because they think I know the job enough well to do a high level review. I should be happy that they feel confident enough about my work to do such a thing, but at the same time every part of the job is an utterly predictable slog. It feels like they're essentially paying me to be the accounting version of a code monkey. Working for even 1 hour makes me feel like I'm being suffocated and I barely recover over the weekends. I keep myself awake through the workday with enough coffee to make my hands shake.
There's also the fact that I feel like people have effectively taken much of my work for granted - there was a time early in my career where I was working on one of the most demanding clients, and helped a superior of mine complete some work that was their responsibility by working until 4am on Friday and coming in on Saturday, just one day before I was supposed to travel for Christmas. That very same year, I effectively got a "Meets Expectations" (a score of 3) on my performance review, and a bonus... of 2% of my already-pretty-low salary. After many experiences like these I no longer care about going above and beyond, but even with that mindset I can't help but be bored to tears with the repetitious and unchallenging nature of my current work. How people can find this in any way rewarding is beyond me. It's fucking obscene.
I guess I should feel lucky I'm not saddled with super long hours (not typically, at least). It's certainly not the worst work out there - most jobs are pretty terrible. But the malaise from this is bleeding into my everyday life.
I don't have any advise sorry but how automatable do you think this job is by some combinations of OCR/LLM/GUI to keep humans in the loop when needed?
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Corporations in general do not reward professionals for staying. Performance reviews are justification pieces for why they will not increase your remuneration. If you're skilled as you say, you should jump ship.
As an aside I once had a line manager refuse my promotion due to being 'not quite' qualified in a field not directly related to my work. He told me 'don't worry I'm sure you'll easily qualify next year'.
I quit, started my own business and tripled my income.
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Some have suggested going it on your own. That's possible. Having been the first employee at a company, I can tell you if you're looking for excitement, it's uh... there. It ended well for me, and I think it would for you, but be prepared for a roller coaster.
Another option is moving to a better firm that values hard work and creativity. Culturally, it seems like Accountants like sticking with their firms come hell or high water, which is an alien concept to me as a software engineer. I'm not saying a better firm is common, but would moving after busy season be something you'd be interested in doing? Using your expertise as a Consultant to make more money and do more varied work?
I've considered it before and think it's a good idea, in fact I've been in the process of remodelling my CV in order to apply to other jobs.
The inertia sometimes does feel a bit overwhelming and there's the fact I do like a good amount of my coworkers, which does make it a bit more difficult to leave, but jumping ship is probably the best option. I don't think I could stay in this role for much longer without hollowing out entirely, and in terms of wages many jobs in the same field offer better salaries than mine currently does, so it's a course of action I certainly can't argue with.
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You're in a rut. You have my sincere sympathies.
Have you applied for other jobs? Just to see what's out there, if there's something that catches your interest or at least pays better? The advantage of applying while you're still employed is that (a) potential employers want you more than your unemployed competition, and (b) your current employer may make you a better offer to keep you. More money, or move you up to management.
The disadvantage is time and effort. Since you're employed and in no hurry, you don't have to put too much effort, just update your resume and start asking around.
(Unless you were just venting... it's ok to vent. In person, I have learned to ask something like: "Are you venting, or do you want to brainstorm solutions?" I have also got good at surrounding myself with people who are chill with those kinds of questions.)
Sorry for the late response, could barely get up the energy to respond to these the past few days. I was partially venting, but also did want to crowdsource solutions.
Regarding your suggestion, I think it's probably the best way forward. My firm really doesn't pay much or offer much in the way of career progression because it's a small/medium size firm (albeit one which poached clients from a larger entity when it branched off from them, so it handles a much wider and more complex array of tasks than your typical small accounting firm), so I know I'll eventually have to move anyway if I want a better deal. The longer I stay here the more pigeonholed I'll be. Moving is just not that easy, especially when you actually like some of your coworkers and have grown somewhat fond of them.
Still, I can't argue against the logic of the decision, and I think if I stay here any longer I'll be a shell of myself.
I hear you and sympathize. Do feel free to rant, no matter what you decide to do. Sometimes a rant is just what's needed to realize that you're not happy with the way things are and are on your way to constructively consider your options.
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I second starting your own business. You have to get out of there for the sake of your own soul it sounds like. Starting your own business comes with PLENTY of challenge and surprise, plus you clearly have the skill to handle it. What do you thnk?
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Have you considered starting your own firm targetted? Money to be made with niches like digital nomads, I think. More generally, what do you want from life? If you have a family, can you derive meaning from supporting it?
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