Urban Habitat

Yes and no?

Is that an acceptable answer?

By the definition things I get paid for, I have several jobs right now. I’m a Database Administrator/Data Tech contracted at Meta; I’m an educational content creator at Numerade; and I freelance doing audio and video editing & design at the startup WINii. As a blanket statement: those second two jobs, I most certainly like. They are fully on my own schedule, I do them from home, and I feel like I’m making a real difference in lives when I contribute to them.

My current work-from-home setup.

For working in tech the answer is more complicated. I do enjoy the day-to-day; I work with an awesome diversity of people with interests and backgrounds spanning the imaginable; I get tasty lunches made for me, fresh-squeezed orange juice, and relatively alright pay. However there is a politics (and lack of benefits) to being a contractor and not a direct Meta employee, including lower pay and more hoops to jump through, which I do not appreciate. I also don’t feel like I’m doing anything that I love or making much of a difference for the better; it sort of just feels like being a corporate cubicle employee, as much as it strives not to with open-office floorplans and social engineering.

The thing is though that I wouldn’t really say I have a “dream job.” As my roommate likes to say, “Who dreams of labor?” I don’t know that there’s anything I feel particularly passionate enough about to dedicate a full 40 hours out of my control per week to it, at least not in a capitalistic sense. If I could just hang out with my cats, drink pinot noir, cook, decorate interiors, paint, help the homeless and under-loved humans and animals, walk in the woods and go to the beach – sure, those are things I’d dedicate all my hours to. I’m hoping that I can somehow meld the things I am passionate about into a career that makes the world a better place for folks (and animals) left behind (i.e. I don’t care about helping some trust-fund white guy afford a new Tesla; but I do care about getting women more financial power).

Here’s hoping.

✿