10 Best Things About My Job

I'm probably going to complain a lot here, so I don't want you to get the wrong idea about me. First off, I want to say that I have a great life, and as much as I may rant about particular aspects of my life, I feel intense gratitude at least several times every day for everything I have. I am lucky.

I also want to add that there are many things I love about my job, so I thought this would be a good way to start. Thus, I've composed a list of the 10 Best Things About My Job, and I mean these very sincerely. Of course, I could easily compose a counterpart 10 Worst Things About My Job as well, but I'm sure you'll figure those out pretty quickly as the school year gets under way.

1. I have a lot of flexibility. Aside from the times when I am teaching, I can pretty much do what I want. And I even have some flexibility when scheduling the meeting times for my classes.

2. I have a lot of vacation. It goes without saying. And it's not just summers off, but also a month in December/January as well. I am aware that this is a privilege. Of course, I am on a 9-month contract, so it's not actual paid vacation; however, I know plenty of people who would work for 9/12 of their salary in exchange for three months of time off, but that just isn't possible in most jobs.

3. I generally enjoy giving lectures. I enjoy the process of putting them together, making fun PowerPoint slides, and looking for interesting graphics on the Web. I think I'm pretty good at it, too. Students compliment me on my PowerPoints and laugh at my jokes. I am not a naturally outgoing person, so it's surprising that this would be the aspect of my job I like the most. Even after five years, I still feel slightly nauseous before each lecture, but it is usually in a good way. When I was an athlete in a former life, I used to feel nauseous before competitions: the more stressed I was, the better I did, and the happier I was when I was done. I think there's some of the same thing going on now.

4. I really enjoy a lot of my students. I have some really amazing students who are going to go on to do great things. I am honored to have been a part of their lives, and hope they will remember me the way I remember all my favorite teachers from the past. I also have a lot of not so amazing students who will most likely not go on to do great things, but who are perfectly lovely human beings nonetheless. And I'm also honored to have been a part of their lives, and hope they will remember me the way I remember all my favorite teachers from the past.

5. I enjoy being a role model. It is the narcissist in me. It also forces me to be at my best when I don't necessarily feel like being at my best. My job is also a lot of counseling. I enjoy that, too, as long as it's not an extreme case. (You'll undoubtedly hear about some extreme cases this year; I have some every year.) A lot of my students look up to me and ask me for advice about all sorts of things not related to biology. Some of the things students ask me about are things I am 100% not qualified to talk about with any authority, lol (I always tell them when this is the case). However, they usually just want to talk, and for someone to listen. I am a good listener. And I enjoy listening.

6. I have a really nice office. Like, really nice. I know I'm lucky. My office is nicer than the offices of many tenure-track faculty at my school, some of whom have to share offices. My office is nicer than that of most faculty at most schools across the U.S. It's unlikely that I'll ever have a nicer office in my lifetime, no matter what area I work in. I know it's somewhat superficial to cherish an office, and my office is certainly not a huge factor in any future decisions I make, but I do think it is important to my productivity to have an inspirational work space. And every time I'm in my office, I'm thankful that I have it.

7. I have some really great colleagues. It's hard for me to imagine another place where I'd have so many other good colleagues, at least not in this town. Of course, there are some not so good colleagues, which I'm sure you'll get tired of hearing about, but the ratio of good colleagues to bad colleagues is pretty good in the large scheme of things.

8. My job is generally well-respected. Not that what people think of what I do should matter that much, but... it does. Again, it is the narcissist in me. Whether or not people know I'm an instructor as opposed to a professor, when I tell them I teach biology at ABC College, the usual reaction is to think that's a pretty cool job, which is sort of is. At any rate, my job is never a conversation stopper.

9. I enjoy being part of the campus community. I think college campuses provide a sense of community that you just don't find in most other work environments. I have always worked on college campuses, so it's hard for me to imagine working elsewhere. Maybe it's like the people in jail who become "institutionalized." LOL.

10. My school is growing very quickly, and it's actually sort of exciting, like being a part of a start up you just know is going to be big someday. In the future, there may be many more opportunities for me to do cooler things and grow professionally. This struck me the other day as I was driving back from physical therapy and decided to pick my son up from the university daycare on my way home. There was a major traffic jam on the freeway, so I got off an exit earlier than usual. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea, so instead of being stuck in traffic on the freeway, I was stuck in traffic on University Avenue. I would normally drive quite fast down University Avenue, as it is technically not part of the university, it's just a big, huge busy street that runs past it. However, sitting in traffic moving at the rate of three blocks in 45 minutes, I noticed that there were signs all over announcing that we were entering university territory, and there flowers in the median, and there were strips of unused land just waiting to be developed by the university. I have no doubt that within the next five years or so, those empty strips will be full of university buildings. I know for a fact this is the Chancellor's vision. So while my job feels pretty dead end right now, it might lead to something better, if I can just hang on.

Reading this, I'm sure you are wondering who in their right mind would leave such a job. Sometimes I wonder the same thing. But I assure you that if you stick with me for a year of Adventures Of A College Instructor, you might start having your doubts, too.