Since I was a literature major in college, I figured I needed to get a job teaching. So I took an intro to public school class. It didn't take the whole semester to discern that option was not a fit for my skills, abilities, desires. I hated bureaucracy and paperwork and compliance with government educational programs and humanistic institutionalism. And on and on.
So I ended up using business and technical electives to fast track me to a masters in MIS and started interviewing for jobs in good ol' corporate America.
Before I graduated, a friend referred me for a role at a regional wireless company with a big name. When I applied for that job, I asked the hiring manager what he liked best about working for the company. He said, without hesitation, “the benefits.”
At 22, head of a newly minted DINK household in the year 2000, I had no idea what he was hinting at and didn't give it a second thought until much later. I didn't realize it then but in that answer, he tied together my could've been career (teaching), my then job offer and gave me a metaphor for evaluating all of my jobs thereafter.
If you're not familiar with the term, it's just as simple as it sounds. If you're teaching for the summers, the best part of what you do is the not doing what you do.
Twelve years and many different roles later, when I finally left the company with the awesome benefits, I understood that prescient statement. I had six weeks of vacation every year. But the last job there was a grind. And my last year there I only took the entire month of December off. It was amazing and January came way too soon. It was then knew without a doubt I had fallen in the trap and I needed to move on.
If you're a teacher and you're only in it for the two months off, you're like I was, my friend.
Burned.
Out.
No one does their best work burned out. No one thinks clearly, interviews for the next job well, gets hired and transitions nicely. No one is pleasant to be around. Even at home. I wasn't.
So ask yourself as you take your next gig, as you think about getting involved in a new project - will the best part of what I'm about to start doing be... not doing it?
Think twice. My advice: it's not worth it.